Probably the most interesting thing he took out of the casual meeting with Daiyu and the follow-up was the fact that despite being a nerd, at least one pretty woman had found him attractive. He hadn’t really noticed it before but thinking about it on the way home from the airport, he came to the realization that things had changed. Whereas his usual treatment at the hands of pretty women was polite indifference, since the, ahh, magic revolution, yes, that was the term, it was clear that women tended to be friendlier towards him generally. There was nothing overt, and he quite obviously hadn’t suddenly become a hunk! But even so, he was getting the occasional smile here and there rather than the usual polite indifference. Daiyu had gone out with him repeatedly, and when she was all dolled up for an evening out, she really was a glamour, no two ways about it. Hmm. He was beginning to really like this sorcerer caper! Of course, it was his much fitter body, toned muscles from gym workouts with the team, and so forth, which probably had more to do with the apparent change in his attractiveness to the opposite sex than the magic he hid from everyone!

Chapter 13

Work’n for the man

England was cold and damp. At least that was his first impression coming from California. He stayed a night in London and was glad he had a week at the end of the ‘dig’ to do some sightseeing as there was so much history in the city. He chose to take the train to Carlisle, which was fast, not as fast as flying, but still pretty damn quick, and he got to see more of the countryside. Besides, The County, where the team was staying, was literally around the corner from Carlisle railway depot, or station, as they called them here in England. They were supposed to meet in the bar area about seven that evening, and he had arrived relatively early. As it turned out, he had no trouble booking in, being shown to his room, and still had time for a quick shower before getting down to the bar on time. He spotted Franny almost immediately, with her boyfriend, and a small group of young people, and a couple of older ones.

Everyone appeared to have a drink already, so he wandered over to the bar first, procured a scotch then headed over to the group. When he’d mentioned he was going to England to some of the lads from the Australian football team, they’d told him in no uncertain terms to be wary of the beer. Piss weak and warm were the most common terms used to describe English beer!

Franny happened to turn in his direction as he approached the group. “Jason!” Franny almost screamed, clearly delighted to see him! She rushed up and got the obligatory hug and kiss on the cheek before she dragged him over to the boyfriend, who shook his hand.

“You remember Louis, Jason. Yes. He is not staying for the dig but will come over on the weekends. Ah. Professor Schmidt. This is Doctor Jason Lerner.” She presented him to the older, more grey-haired of the two senior members of the group. “Jason, this is Professor Heinrich Schmidt of Berlin University. He is head of the dig.”

“Herr Professor,” Jason said, taking the man’s hand.

“Ha. Call me Heinrich.” The Professor said in German and was obviously watching Jason’s reaction.

“Yes, Heinrich. Please call me Jason.” He answered in German, then swapped to English. “That exhausts my German; I am sorry.”

“That is not a problem. And this is Professor John Armstrong from the University of Liverpool.” The Professor replied in faultless English. Jason shook hands with the slightly younger academic. “So. You are ‘The Expert’ on Linear A, and now you want to dig a Roman site?”

Sorry – a bit late this week


He’d never managed to chat a girl up at a convention before, so at least a maybe she will call was an improvement over his previous efforts. Just his luck that he’d find someone nice, and she’d be leaving the country almost immediately. His amorous adventures had all been fairly lame over the years. Most girls found him too nerdy and not all that attractive, a truth he had realized many years ago in High School when none of the pretty girls would give him so much as the time of day. The one girlfriend he had ever really had, had been a very strange, not all that attractive, girl who was his own age, whom he had gone out with for a couple of months just after he started college. He quickly decided that she was slightly mentally unstable. Her instability had become abundantly clear to Jason after only a few dates. Even after breaking up with her, it had taken him a couple of months to get her to leave him alone! She had so many mental issues it was almost scary being alone with her at times. Today, though, having a rather attractive girl give him a maybe was somewhat of a giant leap forward, all things considered!

He had tried some of the dating apps but never met anyone who had proved to be at all interesting in person. In fact, he was becoming quite disillusioned with those apps as he very rarely got any response, and the few responses he did get, well, the person he met, was usually nothing like the person he imagined he would be meeting from her profile on the app. Besides, with all his study load, girlfriend finding had largely been a summer break thing anyway.

      By their third date, he was used to the bodyguards always being in the background, and they had relaxed, just a little, with him. They had enjoyed long evenings of chatting about anything, and everything, of comparing stupid television shows the general populace of their respective countries appeared to enjoy and what video games she liked to play and the ones she didn’t like. Apparently, playing video games was one of her favorite ways of getting rid of the tension she often felt because of the restrictions placed on her due to her father’s position. Jason thought he would have gone mad having the same restrictions placed on him as she had growing up!             Their fourth date was the last. Jason tried hard not to be disappointed by their time together coming to an end, but she promised to come back to the US once she had finished College, and he promised to come to China if she didn’t! His single biggest regret was that they were never really private together, at least private enough where both of them would have been comfortable making love. She had hinted that she wasn’t averse to the idea, but the opportunity never arose. He saw her off at the airport, her bodyguards being surprisingly relaxed about him tagging along, but then he supposed they weren’t concerned as they were heading home, apart from the occasional references to her having to give up her Laowai boyfriend. He was finding it hard to let her go, never having met anyone whose company he had enjoyed so much. Was this what real love felt like? He didn’t know, never having felt this way before, but what he did know was that he was half tempted to fly to China and further his acquaintance with her. Not that he would have been allowed to contact her, even if he did fly to China.

“Normal students don’t have security details.” He informed her but smiled to lessen the sense of interrogation. “And they do not ask strangers if they who know they are, in the sense of being a someone and a person they should probably recognize.” He paused. “Which I don’t; however, I am guessing Chinese, perhaps the Ambassador’s daughter?”

She looked down for a moment before lifting her head with the look of someone who had made a firm resolution.

“My father is Lin Chou!” Her tone was a combination of proud and challenging.

Jason kept his face impassive as he racked his brain for who Lin Chou was. And then he realized. Oh shit! The Chinese Premier! He managed a shaky smile.

“Interesting. that explains the bodyguards, of course. So, have you enjoyed your time at USC?”

If she was surprised by his low-key response, she hid it well, simply nodding in reply and smiling. “Yes, very much. I wish I could have made it longer, two or more semesters, but it was impossible. It took months of arguments to get my father to allow me to come for just this one semester!”

Jason tried to look sympathetic. “How far along your degree are you?”

Daiyu waved her hand. “This is my third year. I am trying to decide whether to continue next year, which my father favors, or just try and get a real job. It will depend a bit on what happens at the Party conference later this year.”

Jason reflected that being the daughter of the Premier would no doubt be both a good thing as far as getting a job and a bad thing in not knowing whether you got the job because of your skill or who you are the daughter of. Interesting conundrum and something he supposed a lot of kids with famous parents would be affected by. It was never going to be his problem, of course. Still, she was pretty! And smart!

“You are only here for another two weeks, you said?” She nodded. “Damn. Well, can I take you out to dinner, say, tomorrow night?” He smiled at her.

She shook her head.

“I am not supposed to go out with American boys.” She replied but then stopped and cocked her head sideways. “You would not mind if my watchdogs come along with us, would you?”

He grimaced internally as that would limit how far things could go, but he managed a smile anyway.

“As long as I have your company, you can bring a whole squad of bodyguards.”

God, that sounded so lame. In fact, his whole conversation had been far lamer than anything he had ever attempted with an American girl. Hmm. Maybe there was a lesson there!

She laughed though at his sally. “We shall see. What is your number?”

He gave her his number, and she promised to call him the next day, one way or the other. Not wanting to push things, he let her wander off after they finished their lunch. Besides, he was booked into a seminar that afternoon, while she wanted to listen to a talk by a particular writer which happened to be on at the same time as the seminar. Oh well, hopefully, she will call, he thought to himself as he moped through the convention until he reached the auditorium where the seminar was being held. That had been by far his most successful chance meeting with a girl he had ever had, and while feeling hopeful, he was also miffed that it was not going to lead anywhere.