The clock tower chimed ten o'clock. I woke up, stretching my arms over my head. I looked at the floor, and saw my Quantum Leap book laying on the white carpet. . . . Wait a minute. We didn't have white carpet! We have oak floors with a multicolored oriental rug, which once was as bright as one of Al's suits.
"Wake up, Princess," I heard someone call as he shook me on my shoulder.
"Sorry, George," I said drowsily.
"What happened to calling me dad?" he said.
"You're not my dad!" I said. "You're my step-dad. My dad lives in--"
"What's wrong, Princess?"
"And stop calling me 'Princess'!"
"Ok, Princess," he agreed.
"Dad!"
"Sorry, Leia."
At that moment, a boy my age came down the stairs and into the den. He is of average build and had blond hair and either brown or blue eyes (I couldn't tell.) He was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt and light beige (almost white) khakis. "And, let me guess, this is my twin brother, Luke!"
"Well, it's nice to be introduced, sis."
"Let me guess. Our last name is Skywalker!" I laughed with my mouth covered by my hand, letting out an accidental farting noise.
"Huh?" my twin, which I just found, grunted.
Leia! Princess! Princess Leia! Star Wars! Luke! Great! I just leaped into Darth Vadar's daughter! "Don't you need your helmet, Mr. Vadar?" I laughed.
My step-dad looked at me, not having a clue about what was so funny. "Skywalker? Mr. Vadar? Where did that come from?"
"That movie. Star Wars."
"Never heard of it," Luke stated. The older man nodded in agreement.
"It's as old as I am. Well, the episode IV is."
"Probably another sci-fi B-movie."
I looked around the room. It wasn't a spacecraft and was not at all futuristic. It was identical to the living room set on HAPPY DAYS, and just as old fashioned. Could be worse. Could be the Ingell's or Dr. Mike's living room. "Let me guess? Cunningham, right?"
"You know perfectly well our last name is McGillis."
I giggled again, since that is the name of the family on Major Dad. He was even wearing an outfit like that on the show, but a different color. "Major McGillis?"
"No. Rear Admiral," he corrected.
"Is he a bad Yugoslavian or an Iraqi?" I asked Luke. After all, Darth Vadar was on the opposite side of his kids.
"And not a commi either," Rear Admiral McGillis stated proudly, secretly wondering why she mentioned Yugoslavia and Iraq. "US Navy and proud of it."
"Like Al," I mumbled, thinking out loud.
"Al?" Luke caught on. "Is he your boyfriend at college?"
"No. Just a guy from somewhere."
"Ooo!" my 'just discovered' brother taunted. "Leia has a new boyfriend."
"He's not my boyfriend, and I'll never go out with somebody like him." As for Sam, I added to myself, smiling. "Any way, he's totally fictional."
"Is he one of the guys you read about in one of those comic books you have?" dad added.
"You might say that," I said.
"You're way too old to be reading those things," Admiral McGillis stated.
"Which one?" Luke asked. "I never read about him back about ten years ago when I was eleven."
"I'm not eleven! I'm twenty-one!"
"I know that, sis, but your reading level is that of a ten-year-old."
"Is not!"
"You would think it is by the way you read the comics. You should read about homemaker stuff so you'll be a good wife someday."
"Well, you'd probably give up after reading the text books I have to read for pre-law."
"A woman lawyer!" McGillis snorted. "That will be the day."
"Well, I think I'll be a better lawyer than Johnnie Cockran."
"Who's Jon--" Luke asked.
"You know, O.J.'s lawyer."
"Since when does orange juice need a lawyer?" McGillis asked.
"Not orange juice," I corrected, not having a clue on how they could forget only a few years later. "O.J. Simpson! That alleged-killer's lawyer! Remember? The trial of the century?"
"What does orange juice have to do with the commi trial or the Charles Linburg baby trial?"
"That airplane guy had a baby?" I know and love anything and everything having to do with history of airplanes, and did a report on women of early aviation for my freshman (should be freshperson) composition class. Part of my love of American history.
"Back up a little, princess," McGillis asked. I gave him a glance telling him not to call me princess anymore, makes me feel like I should be traveling on a starship and battling one of the guys I'm talking to. Somehow, he didn't notice my look. "Since when do you want to be a man."
"I'm fine being 100% woman, and a woman could do anything a man could do."
"Women aren't equal to men. Any way, you're studying journalism. Probably your mom was the biggest influence in your career choice, since your mom puts out that little paper about recipes and kids with those other military wives for the women on the base." This is too uncanny! In MAJOR DAD, the mother is a reporter on a base newspaper but covers tough news stories, especially about the environment. As for my mom, she's an artictect like Mike Brady. "You'll probably cover the same fluffy pieces she does"
"If I'm going to be a journalist, I'm going to cover real news, not flower shows and 'Dear Abby' crap."
"Like what, sis?"
"Wars and stuff. Like what's going on in the former Yugoslavia."
"What's going on in Yugoslavia?" McGillis asked. "I think you got your facts messed up. Yugoslavia is a satellite of the USSR, our enemy, but is only our enemy because it's a communist nation."
USSR? I asked myself. It was a term I did not hear since I was at most ten years old. Now, it's just Russia and a bunch of small countries (one of which has the same name as one our states, and another is Oksana Banul's home country.)
"I thought you'd learn something at that college your going to. No knowledge and no fiancee," he continued. "I think I got a raw deal."
"I remember when I was in junior high, we were on the brink of war with Iraq."
"You mean Korea," Luke corrected.
"Huh?" I said. I turned heavenward. "Professor Guidotti, is this a test?"
"Who?"
"My history professor."
"Back to the topic, Miss Lois Lane," McGillis said. "How can you be a mainstream reporter if you can't get your facts straight. A woman will never cover a war, no matter who's it is with. I think you read too much Superman."
"That's why I wanted to join the high school newspaper, and I covered hard hitting news in high school and I can do it as an adult (if I want to be a reporter, that is)," I rebutted. "I wanted to met something-Dean or was it Dean-something. That's the only reason why I was a reporter back then, but I was the best out of everybody."
"You mean Clark Kent," Luke informed.
"No the actor. What's-his-name?"
"The only actor I can think of named Dean are James Dean and that guy from Sons and Lovers," he commented, forgetting for a moment that McGillis was there. "That movie's very good. The book's even better."
"I can't believe that you read that filth!" McGillis stated angrily. "I bet that's your copy of Lady Chamberland's Lover upstairs. I never want either one of you to read anything by that filthy Brit."
"I had to read one of his books for English lit back at college."
"I really doubt you read it for class," McGillis said.
"What if I did!" I said defiantly.
He gave me a parental death glance.
"Can I join that class?" Luke asked, his eyes daydreaming about what we read.
Luke's comment went unnoticed. "I hope you're still unspoiled, Leia." McGillis said uncomfortably. He ran his hands over each other when he talked.
"I don't see you asking Luke that question."
"I just don't want you to end up like Admiral Fevit's daughter or Riker's daughter (heck, the whole Riker family is white trash)."
Commander Riker, please report to the star deck. This is Captain Picard speaking.
"Well, I think it's none of your business," I stated strongly. Truth is that I am 'unspoiled,' since I want to wait for the right person and don't want to die of the same virus that killed Forrest Gump's beloved. "It's partly the guys' responsibility as well."
"I guess you do have a point," McGillis said slowly.
"Don't worry! I'm not a slut like my sister."
"You don't have a sister," Luke stated matter-of-fact. "It's just me and you."
"I meant my roommate in college," I corrected. A few times is enough to make mistakes. "We're sorority sisters, that's what I meant."
McGillis gave me a displeasing look as my mom walked in the door. "Hi, honey."
"Hello, family." What caught my eye was the dress she was wearing. The only time I saw my mom in dresses or skirts, it was always power dresses or power skirts. Her green dress and short red hair made her look like Marion Cunningham from Rod Howard's old show. "Think I'll spend today around the house."
"Mom, put on a pair of jeans."
"Jeans are for young people, especially boys," she commented, shocking me.
"Jeans and sweats on you are like those outlandish outfits on Al Cal--"
"There's that name again," McGillis hinted.
"He's just some guy in a comic book," I stated without feeling. "Kind of an old Robin to a young Batman."
"Or is it somebody you were making goo-goo eyes at the Officer's Club when you went with Ruthie?"
"Who's that?" McGillis asked.
"I wasn't making 'goo-goo' eyes at anyone. I never even went to an Officer's Club. The only bar, club or whatever was on Main Street by the college, and I only went once. And I didn't flirt with anybody with my eyes. Next thing you know, you'll be saying I was grinding."
"What's grinding?" Luke asked.
"Dancing really close, but I never did it with anybody. Wanted to grind with Adam from Campus Ministries, but he's way too shy. Boy, do I have a crush on him."
"Cal--" Luke said slowly.
"Calhoun. That's Adam's last name. Real Irish looking: red hair, freckles, and green eyes I can get lost in," I sighed.
"--avicci," Luke continued.
"Don't know an Avicci."
"Put it together, sis."
"Calavicci?" I said as I wrinkled up my nose in confusion. "That's the guy in the comic book."
"Trust me, Leia. He's real."
"Anyway, he's too old for me."
"He's only about two years older or so."
"And a world of trouble, princess," McGillis informed. "Maybe, you should work at campus ministries over the summer, and get closer to Adam. He sounds like a nicer boy."
"But, how could he be an Admiral if he's in his twenties."
"Ha!" McGillis stated. "That slacker would never be higher than lieutenant."
Slacker? Who is he? The principal in Back to the Future? "But? He's an Admiral, and he at least my grandparents' age, and he --"
"Promise me you won't fall for him," Luke said, taking the words out of his father's mouth.
"No, I think I'll fall for Hans Solo. Ok, Luke Skywalker?"
© 1997 leiamcgillis@hotmail.com
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