Trust Me

stay.”
    “He’s not coming back to stay with me and Jason, either, is he?”
    “No,” Stark said. “He’s not coming back. But things will be okay.”
    “Yeah?”
    “Trust me,” Stark said.

11

    The card attached to the last birthday present read, “Happy Birthday to Desdemona from Stark.”
    Desdemona glanced up from the small, neatly wrapped package. A hush descended on the private dining room at the back of the restaurant. The colorful wrappings of a half-dozen recently opened gifts, including the turquoise and silver squash blossom necklace Desdemona’s parents had sent from Tucson, littered the surface of the table. Only a few crumbs from the demolished birthday cake remained of the feast.
    Everyone watched Desdemona as she went to work on the last package. The crowd of Wainwrights waited with piqued curiosity to see what Stark’s idea of a birthday present was. Juliet and Kirsten looked curious. Macbeth and Henry were intrigued. Tony’s eyes were narrowed.
    Stark, himself, had a stoic expression on his face. He was clearly prepared for his present to be hailed as an unqualified disaster. Desdemona wondered how many gifts he had given in his life. Then she wondered how many he had received. She smiled at him.
    “Hurry up and open it, Desdemona,” Jason urged. “We went with Stark to buy it, and it’s really neat.”
    Kyle grinned eagerly. “I bet you’re gonna love it.”
    “I’m sure I will.” Desdemona’s fingers trembled as she carefully undid the elaborate red bow.
    Her first gift from Stark, she thought with a sense of wonder. Whatever it was, she would cherish it forever.
    “Well? Let’s have a look at it.” Augustus spoke from the far end of the table.
    Desdemona gave her uncle a mocking scowl of disapproval. “I haven’t even got the paper off yet.”
    “Don’t rush her, dear,” Bess said.
    “She went through the others quick enough,” Augustus retorted. “Same way she always does. How come this one’s taking so long to open?”
    “Hang on a second, Uncle Augustus.” Desdemona carefully placed the bow on the table and peeled away the wrapping paper as though it were made of silk.
    When she was finished she found herself holding a small box. The picture on the lid showed a flat, high-tech-looking metal object no larger than her hand. The label beneath the picture read PDA X-1000.
    “It’s beautiful,” Desdemona breathed. “It’s the most beautiful PDA X-1000 I’ve ever seen. Thank you, Stark.”
    She jumped to her feet and went around the table to give him an exuberant kiss. The stoic look vanished from his eyes.
    “You like it?” he asked cautiously.
    “It’s gorgeous.” Desdemona opened the box and removed the object inside. She touched it lovingly. “Just what I’ve always wanted.”
    “I knew she’d like it,” Kyle said gleefully. “I was with him when he picked it out.”
    “Me, too,” Jason said. “It’s one of the new wireless models.”
    The majority of birthday party celebrants exchanged blank glances.
    Augustus was frankly baffled. “What the devil is it?”
    “It’s a PDA X-1000,” Desdemona said. Lovingly, she stroked the any little antennalike thing on the side of the strange machine.
    “What’s a PDA X-1000?” Bess demanded.
    “What does it do?” Juliet asked.
    Desdemona pretended not to hear the questions because she had absolutely no idea what a PDA X-1000 was, let alone what it did.
    Tony unwittingly came to the rescue. “PDA stands for personal digital assistant.” He leaned forward with grudging interest. “It’s a very small computer that Desdemona can carry in her pocket or purse.”
    “A computer?” Henry frowned. “But it doesn’t have any keys.”
    “You don’t need keys,” Tony explained. He took the gadget from Desdemona and examined it closely. “You write text directly on the screen with this little pen that’s attached to it.”
    “Sam programmed it specially for Desdemona,” Jason said proudly “It will do all sorts of things just for her.”
    Desdemona removed the PDA from Tony’s hand and looked at Stark. “You programmed it just for me?”
    “Yes,” Stark said.
    “How thoughtful. What special things will it do?”
    Stark took the small computer from her. “You can send and receive email, for one thing. As Jason said, it’s a wireless model. You don’t need to hook up to a telephone jack or a computer.”
    “I’ve always wanted to be able to send email,” Desdemona said.
    Tony