Tyler by Karen Blayne 

Oh by the way red tape first.

© Karen Blayne 2020.    All copies must be of the complete document.    

Be warned these short stories contain mature content or naughty bits and as such may corrupt you if you’re under 12, 16, 18, 21 or 25 depending where you live thus if they are not suitable for you put them back on the shelf and let them age for a year or two.

They were sort of scribbled for fun. They were first posted on asstr.org. If you’ve paid money for this book just be aware the author has not received any payment. In fact no one has permission to charge money for this book and copyright is retained by the author.  Asstr.org accepts donations if you’re feeling rich or even if you’re not.

Luv Karen  

"Now I want you to find a partner to work with for your science projects."  Science wasn't my scene and just how had I ended up on this choice of subject  I wondered.  Well I knew really my dad had read somewhere that STEM students earnt better money than English majors so I was doomed to fail. I was looking round for another loser so we could fail comfortably together when Tyler approached.  “Would you mind having me for a partner?”  I heard the words but really I must have been dreaming.  Tyler looked at me uncertainly “Are you really sure?”  I asked him.  He nodded and that was that we were a team. 

What could I say about Tyler, well he sort of didn’t put himself forward and the teachers didn’t ask him questions often. One had and regretted as Tyler first  corrected his question so it made logical sense then gave a complete answer of the sort that gets you full marks in an exam.  Tyler didn’t do friends and he didn’t do girls especially.

I watched him as he just sat quietly after asking me as if it was the most difficult thing he’d ever done.  “We could go back to my place and have lunch and then discuss what we have to do?”  He looked nervously at me and gave a little nod.  I lived five minutes walk from school so lunch was a no brainer. 

I fed the brute then asked “Why me?”  “You’re better at writing and it needs a written report.”  “OK so what are we doing?”  He started explaining things and I was totally lost.  “Stop let’s try again.”  I asked him questions and he answered and finally I grasped he was intending to do something with a computer rather than bake a pie.  “Do we need lots of expensive equipment?”  “I have a few things lying around.”  “Where will we work?”  He looked thoughtful “I don’t know.”  “School but someone might mess up the experiment.  My place but dad might get ideas.  Your place?”  “My bedroom?”  Well with Tyler I’d ace the course so fine I could live with that so I smiled at him and he looked puzzled.  “Yes Tyler that’s fine.”  I replied remembering that Tyler social skills weren’t the greatest. 

That evening I went to his house and cooked us supper whilst he pulled out some comics that had a sort of moon rover thing in them.  “I thought this?”  He pointed to the sketch.  I looked at it.  It looked six foot tall against the space suit besides it.  “A model?”  “Yes a model.”  “In Lego?”  He pulled a face “So not Lego then?”  “Not Lego.”  

I heard a key in the front door then his mom arrived.  “Sorry I’m late.”  Then she looked at me in amazement.  “Hi I’m Kayla.  We’re doing a science project together.”  Her eyebrows raised “Well since you’re here want some supper?”  “We’ve already eaten.”  Came from Tyler I cringed, “Sorry I wasn’t thinking I just lifted out the sausages from the fridge.”  “And he remembered to eat them.  You must come again and feel free to use the kitchen anytime.”  She said with a grin.  “I’d best be going.”  I slipped away as fast as I could escape.

That evening I wondered into the garage and pulled out a lump of wood and set it on the lathe.  Soon I had a cylinder.  Then I chopped it into slices to make disks.  I pulled out a block of wood and trimmed the length down finally I stuck the wheels on with Blu Tack and admired it. 

I stuck it in a box and the next day being a Saturday I carried it over to Tyler’s.

Tyler looked at my model and frowned.  Then he carried it off to the basement.  His mother made us all coffee.  “I’m really his stepmother and it’s a very difficult relationship sometimes so I’m glad he has a friend.  He needs looking after in many ways and I never know if I have it quite right or not.” I carried my mug and Tyler’s mug down the basement steps. 

My Blu Tack had come off and I pouted.  I thought it had looked rather nice.  My wheels got drilled with a drill press and my block of wood got drilled as well.

Upstairs in his room he pulled out four tiny electric motors and slid them into the block.  Then he slid the wheels onto the shafts.  “Six motors for $20 ebay.”  He said proudly. 

The wires from the motors were plugged into a white thing with lots of tiny holes in it.  A few more wires were plugged in and some other bits then he lifted up his smartphone as the model started to move slowly across the desk.

We both grinned at each other.  I thought we were done but Tyler had other ideas.  We spent a month refining things.  We started with a big raspberry pi on top that had lots of memory but Tyler wanted to use a smaller cheaper version.  I got given a manual and told to make the code smaller so it would fit on the tiny version. 

I wasn’t too keen on his dad who wanted to know if Tyler was applying to the football squad this year.  I looked at him Tyler wasn’t a sporty sort of person of didn’t he understand that.  Tyler mentioned he was his stepdad and I could sense they really didn’t get on or understand each other.

It wasn’t good at gripping things with its wheels so I added rubber bands to give it traction.

Tyler had me make a slightly different sized block and had me hollow it out.  We drilled holes to hide all the wires and I drew a face on the front to disguise the sensors as eyes.  

I wanted to tease the class so we built a ramp that we could vary the incline on and let our little monster roll down the ramp.

We had a light beam at the top of the ramp and one at the bottom to give the start and stop times.

Then I was ready.  I practised my pitch first and went with Tyler to pick out a really nice top.  I couldn’t decide whether to wear jeans or a skirt and which skirt.  Dad put his head round the door to tell me to hurry or I’d be late.  “But what shall I wear?”  I asked him in desperation.  “I thought you’d picked out a top with Tyler?”  “But we didn’t choose the bottoms.”  Dad helped me choose something that looked neat and we set off. 

I got up and announced our project was about measuring gravity on an inclined plane.  Tyler stood off to one side.  I talked about how I’d made the wheels by using my dad’s lathe and the body by sawing up a lump of wood.  I glanced at my dad sitting in the audience looking proud of his daughter.  I could sense my audience was losing interest.

The monster rolled down the inclined plane and I wrote the time down on the white board behind me.  I touched my phone and monster rolled back up to the start line all by itself.  My audience sat up.  The science teacher asked “Is it powered?”  “Well yes, it simplified repeating the test.”  I walked over to the other side of the stage and monster followed me.  “Is your partner controlling it with a phone?”  “No it’s programmed to follow my phone with its Blu Tooth connection.”

The teacher got up and reached for my phone.  Monster just followed him.  He placed the inclined plane on its side and stood behind it.  Monster arrived at it and climbed over the top.

Next the teacher placed one of the taller blocks of wood in monster’s path.  Monster sort of climbed vertically up the block and over the top even though it was slightly taller than monster.  “That’s why we had to put rubber bands on the wheels to give it grip.”

The teacher placed the really big block of wood in monster’s path.  Monster paused in front of it.  I could see it working out a path.  I managed to squeeze the code in but to do it I’d had to use lots of loops which weren’t really efficient.  Monster backed off and turned right a bit then it turned left before pausing.  The teacher had a grin on his face now.  “Well very impressive.  Did you manage to keep the cost below $50?” 

Monster turned back to the right then started up once more navigating itself round the block of wood.  The teacher’s jaw dropped,  “How did it do that?  Is someone controlling it?”  “No its programmed to do that but to keep the cost down we used the cheapest single board computer with Blu Tooth and it comes with not much memory so we had to overlay it onto a USB stick.  It works but it takes a bit of time to work it all out sometimes.”

Needless to say we passed the science project bit with flying colours.

We celebrated at my house in the kitchen.  Tyler was grinning  to himself thinking of how we’d got the better of the teacher when dad looked up from his phone looking glum.  “We’ve been taken over but they don’t want our bit so we’re being shut down.”  “Could you do a management buyout?” asked Tyler.  “Where would I get the money for that sort of deal?”  “How much would you need?”  “At least two million.”  I didn’t think anything more about it until a mysterious letter arrived for dad two days later from a lawyer offering to set up a limited company and saying five million was available if required.  

Mum and dad sat at the table and I sat in.  “It’s not like having a job it risks everything if something goes wrong.”  “What’s the deal?”  I asked.  “Your father and the others can buy shares in the new company and a numbered company will invest up to five million depending on what your dad says.”  I looked at them blankly.  “If I accept then everyone keeps their job. If I don’t then they all lose their jobs.”  “I think it’s too much responsibility.  It’s too risky.”  “Didn’t you say that if you brought some new equipment then you could produce more with the same workers?”  “Yes, you mean the extra money would help.”  “Is it a loan or buying shares?”  “Buying shares.”  “So its not like the bank will foreclose on you?”  “It isn’t is it.”  “Why don’t you see how much they want for the site and equipment?”  You mean if it’s a reasonable price it might be worth doing?”  “I suppose if you do it quickly then everything stays in place.”  Dad offered them $200,000 lock stock and barrel as an opening offer. They just accepted it.  So a week later he and the others owned a bit of the company. 

He came through the door with a grin on his face.  “Hi dad what’s new?”  “We looked at the containers stacked in the yard.”  “And?”  “They were full of things  we use to make things.  Apparently a purchasing manager brought a massive amount at a discounted price then left for another opportunity.  The containers turned up two months later and have been stacked in the yard ever since as no  one had been given the paper work for them.”

School continued I hung out more with my friends than spending time with Tyler.  Then suddenly it was all over.  What did I do next?  College well maybe but with dad working all the hours setting up his company it didn’t seem right somehow.  Tyler approached me at school.  “Would you like a summer job?”  Was he kidding.  I fluttered my eyelashes at him and he looked puzzled.  “Tell him yes.”  Murmured Maria at my elbow.  I’d forgotten with Tyler you had to be  exact and you had to say the words.  “Yes please.”  “Good can we meet in the park after school.”  Maria dug me in the ribs with her elbow again and whispered in my ear “Tyler asking you out on a date?  He’ll be asking you to live with him next.”  Tyler gave her an odd look then wondered off.  “Maria he doesn’t have a normal sense of humour.” 

We walked together by the swings.  Tyler his usual chatty self,  I broke into his silence by asking him why were we walking in the park.  “I was thinking of what Maria was saying.  I want you to come and live with me.”  I clasped my hand to my bosom “Tyler this is so sudden but we could get married in the fall I guess.”  The look on his face was priceless.  “I’ve been misunderstood.”  He complained looking at me as I burst into giggles.  “What did you mean then?”  “I want to go to University and get away from my parents.”  “So?”  “When my mother died dad remarried then when he died in Africa my step-mother remarried.”  I wondered where this was going.  “And?”  “My dad arranged that my step-mom gets a pension for life and she is paid one for me until I’m 18, or 25 if I’m still in education but I can claim the pension directly once I’m 18.  The estate came to me in trust until I reached the age of eighteen.  Neither of my step parents know how much I’m worth and I’d like to keep it that way.”  “So how do I come in?”  “I need someone to buy me a house close to the university so I can just slip away quietly without them knowing too much.  You need to look round and find me a house, single family because it’s quieter.”  “How do I pay for it?”  “You just give the details to Natalie and she’ll do the numbered company bit.  The second part is more difficult.  If I paid your fees would you mind living with me?”  “How do I explain it to mom and dad?”  “Just the numbered company has hired you?”  “Maria?”  “What about Maria?”  “She might talk.”  “Offer her the same on condition she stays quiet.”  Maria not to gossip?  Well she was my best friend after all.  He gave me Natalie’s number to call later.  Then he stayed out of my way. 

Maria I cornered and on pain of death she promised not to say a word about me and Tyler especially when I mentioned the possibility of her getting her fees paid.  “But do I have to study engineering?”  Maria has base instincts you just have to appeal to them to get her to see things your way.  “Think of all those poor lonely engineers with only us on the course.”  “Well if you put it like that.” 

I  went and talked to Natalie to find out what my budget was.  “I don’t think there is a budget as such.  Just find something suitable and the company will buy it.  I’ve set your salary for $25,000 a month for four months of summer is that OK?”  I blinked and nodded.  She gave me the company name and surprisingly it was the same company that provided the money for my dad.  Something was going on. 

“Does he own the company?”  I asked innocently and from her expression I knew he did.  “That information I’m not permitted to disclose.”

I found an older four bedroomed detached home with a double garage and a granny flat over the top.  It was big and really needed gutting and lots of work doing on it.  I called and Natalie gave me the go ahead for both the purchase and the renovations.  I called Maria and she moved in with me. 

I dropped by the University and paid my fees early then asked in the lodgings office if there were any students looking for digs.  Soon I had three engineering students who were willing to work over the summer to get the house straight and fit to live in.  Dad rang following a suggestion from Natalie apparently his new company was paying college fees for any off spring of employees.  Independence from Tyler, well with my $100,000 and my fees paid  I could afford to be independant.  

We split the work up and got contractors in to do the heavy stuff.  We gutted the kitchens and the bathrooms and started over.  We replaced the carpets, the curtains and furniture and the girls picked out their own rooms and furnished them as they pleased.

I crossed my fingers and mentioned to them that I hadn’t mentioned to Tyler they were living there.  “That’s OK just tell him we’re staff.  We can go shopping before he gets here.”  I shrugged. 

A week later Tyler rang so I gave him the address and said we’d expect him the following day.  I spent the morning in the kitchen preparing food.  Then I sat and nervously waited for Tyler to arrive.  He rang the doorbell and let him in.  He looked round the hall and I led him into the family room.  “So what do you think?”  “It looks a bit big but apart from that it looks good.  Sort of like a real home.”  I grinned nervously then confessed.  “I hired some staff to help with the housework.”  “Sounds reasonable.”  He replied.  I beckoned them in from the open doorway where I could see a head peering round the door. 

I hadn’t gone shopping with them and hadn’t known what they intended.  The four of them were dressed in maids’ outfits of the type that left bare thigh above their stocking tops.  Frilly petticoats pushed out short skirts and necklines were worn low this year.  I stood there open mouthed.  “There are four of them?”  “Yes but they only work two hours a week each.”  “Where do they sleep?”  “They all have their own bedrooms.” 

“How many bedrooms do we have?”  “Four plus the granny suite.”  You could see him doing the mental arithmetic.  “Where are you and I sleeping?”  I swallowed hard, “In the main bedroom.  You did ask me to live with you.”  He looked doubtful.  “I could sleep in the basement.”  Maria straightened from bending over to straighten something that didn’t need straightening to show her sheer underwear off.  “Tyler think carefully.  You’re living with four girls who work for you part time which means no matter how much we tease you due to all the sexual harassment rules dipping your wick in any of us isn’t an option.  The only option left is sharing a bed with Kayla.  Well you needn’t but think of how many gold diggers would be making a move on you if they thought you were worth a million dollars.”  “But I’m not.”  “True but that just makes you a bigger target.” 

Ling sprawled on an armchair and ran her fingers over her crotch then underneath so you could see her fingers moving through the silk underwear.  “I suppose I could give you a hand job after I’ve finished lubricating my fingers.”  Tyler looked at me desperately.  “It’s a king sized bed and all you have to do is sleep with me to start with.”  I took him by the hand and led him unprotesting to our room upstairs.  “By the way did you know the company that brought this house is exactly the same company as owns 90% of the shares in by dad’s company?”  He gulped and I closed the bedroom door behind us.  “Tell all.”  “I kinda of liked your mom and dad and I had the money available.  They felt more family to me than my own.  I mean if I lost the lot it was no big deal.”  “Tyler just how much are you worth?”  “I’m not exactly sure.  Dad was working with companies in Africa.  The profits are good but sometimes politics get in the way which I suppose is how he came to be shot.  I have a couple of hundred million I know about but there are some investments I haven’t managed to sort out yet but Natalie’s working on digging out the details.  She’s recovered twenty odd million so far.”  No wonder Natalie was happy to pay me so much for working the summer.  I leant in and kissed him on the cheek.  He was a bit skittish but I had a few years to coax him into going a little further. 