Storiesonline.net ------- An Awkward Awakening by Crumbly Writer Copyright© 2011 by Crumbly Writer ------- Description: A young man, just 17 years old, suddenly finds women mysteriously attracted to him when he visits New Orleans for spring break with his family. He acts as a catalyst to activate strange abilities in them that he doesn't understand. There are no superheroes or world saving, it’s character and not action based, more an examination of people’s reactions and what is involved in building a movement from the ground up. Codes: mF Ff cons rom ESP inc harem 1st oral slow ------- ------- Prologue Amanda Petes was riding in the family van with her husband John and their daughter Amy. They were bringing Amy from her father's and were still a short distance from home. Amanda was talking with John about Amy's schedule for the week when she felt her mind begin to wander. There was something about the car ahead of her which just seemed to bug her. No matter what was being said, her eyes kept moving back to it. She could not figure out what it was about the vehicle. It was a pretty non-descript 4-door passenger vehicle, but there was just something about it that just wouldn't leave her alone. Amanda wanted to tell her husband to move up closer to the car but didn't know how to ask him about it. As traffic eased, their van moved over and she could now see a little more about the vehicle. It seemed to hold four people who looked to be a family with the two adults in the front seats with two young adults or school age kids in the back. As she observed these facts, she also began to realize the thing that occupied her attention wasn't simply the car, it was the young man on the far side, someone she could barely make out. In fact, she wasn't even sure it was a young man; just that he/she seemed to be young. Amanda wondered what it was about the person that kept distracting her but... "Are you even paying attention, Mom?" Amanda heard from the back seat. "Huh, what?" she asked, taking her eyes from the car ahead of them to glance back at her daughter. "She's got a point," John told her, "your mind is definitely drifting. What's going on?" "Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about the coming week," she lied, trying hard to keep from glancing forward again, yet knowing it was only a matter of time before she would. "She keeps looking at that old car ahead of us," Amy complained. "Is that it Amanda? Is that what keeps distracting you? You do seem to keep staring off into that direction and losing your train of thought." She resisted the temptation to look and instead focused on her husband. "No, everything is fine," she insisted. Amy eased up between the seats and glanced through the front windshield. "No, she's watching that car. I can see her eyes from back here and she keeps looking over at it for some reason." "Is it someone you know or something?" her husband asked her. "No, it's ... damn it, I don't really know what it is. I just can't keep my eyes off of it," she confessed, still feeling the desire to glance up like the call of an old friend, or the desire to have an innocent little puff on a cigarette she had been free from for the last five years. But, just like the cigarette, she knew that as soon as she gave in and took a look, she'd be sucked in and she'd have to quit it all over again, the temptation was just as strong. "Hey, do I need to be worried about someone else?" John teased, fully confident in the strength of their relationship. When she didn't respond he glanced over at her and saw a look of anxiety in her eyes. "No, it's nothing like that," Amanda assured him. "I can't really explain it, but there's something about one of the people in the car that just pulls me like a moth to a flame." "Really, I can't possibly see what," Amy responded, glancing out the front window with her parents. She wasn't very impressed with it. The car wasn't worth much, the people inside didn't seem to be very well dressed or particularly impressive. It was just some ordinary family driving somewhere, certainly no one she'd ever be concerned with, she thought dismissively. "Do you want me to get closer so you can have a look?" John asked, which seemed particularly understanding of him since she couldn't even tell him why she was interested. "Could you? I don't have any idea why it seems important, but I just want to see whoever it is," she tried to explain. So John maneuvered the car around and pulled even with the car on the right, giving Amanda a perfect view of the young girl and her mother, but only a partial view of the young man in the back. However, it was the closest they could manage. They were at least close enough that Amanda could finally identify the figure as a young man. The young girl turned, saw them all looking, and awkwardly waved. Amanda felt her face flush in embarrassment. Amy waved while Amanda had no idea how to respond, and John pulled away, figuring the game was up. "Well, does that help explain anything?" he asked. "Nope, all I know is that he's worth noting for some reason but I have no clue what reason that might be." They had to exit soon thereafter so she never saw the car or its occupants again, but she remembered the car for a long, long time after that day. ------- Susan Baker was getting in later than she'd wanted to. She had been pushing hard on the Interstate and just wanted to be done but she knew she still had a way to go. Still, she'd been driving for too long and knew she needed a break, so was pulling off the interstate to get some gas and simply walk around a bit to relax. Susan was set to begin a new job in Texas soon and was relocating from Georgia. That was a long drive for her, made even longer by the van full of shit she had to carry. All her earthly possessions, as few as they were, were all packed in behind her. Still, she knew she'd appreciate having something from her past along with her in this new life, so she couldn't complain too much. It would have been easier if she hadn't tried to do the trip all at once, but she didn't have the extra funds to waste staying overnight if she could help it. But there were still a lot of hours of daylight, a fact which was helped by the early springtime afternoon. Everything seemed brighter, greener and more full of life than it had for awhile. Even as far south as she lived, it was always nice when spring came and the trees all came into bloom. It always felt magical to her. As the car pulled off the interstate and she was watching all the signage that showed where the various stops were, she felt an odd pull. Somehow she knew there was something very important here at this insignificant stop that dwarfed her need to fill up or pee. There was something here that could clearly change her life and, not only that, she could feel a presence that was so important it was likely to affect a great many others as well. She had no idea how she could possibly know all of this, she just knew that it was true, even without any evidence to prove it to herself. She'd always been good at reading people. Unlike her sister, who went after one sweet talking bad boy after another, Susan always managed to find the good, kind men who also proved themselves to be dedicated workers. She'd always told her sister she simply had to watch the person to know what they were really like, but her sister just never got it. Susan herself wasn't sure how she figured it out, she just would know by being near someone and watching them that they were either a good person or had an evil soul or, like most people, they were simply plagued by so much doubt and insecurity that they'd always waffle between the two extremes and never measure up to much. She frequently commented to her girlfriends that if she could only bottle what she seemed to be able to pick up so easily, she could easily retire on the proceeds. This feeling she was now experiencing was much different however. In judging people, she never knew what it was that was affecting her decision. Now she could feel it and she felt it in such a way that there was absolutely no doubt about it being a purely physical presence, inasmuch as a feeling can ever be physical she had to remind herself. As the van moved onto the main street, she ignored the gas stations situated ahead of her and instead tried to figure out where this feeling might be directing her. She knew it was only a pure accident that she'd pulled into this stop, on this route and at this time. She couldn't risk that all these odd influences would keep lining up for her. She, like everyone else, liked to believe that God managed to arrange things in our lives, except she had to admit that most of the time the good things that happened to you had much more to do with your role in life. Rich, white people, tended to favor other well educated white people. She had no illusions that she was any more favored by God than the poor black and Hispanic people around her, but she found herself in a position to be favored more than they ever did, and she also knew it wasn't likely due to God's selections in the process either. She found it strange but she knew just where to find the source of the feeling she was following. She wasn't used to following her 'feelings'. In the past, she'd always told herself that her ability to judge people was due to her capacity to somehow read them and that's what she'd always told others about it. Now she knew better. All she had was a vague feeling and it had a very real physical presence, one that she could locate and follow. She knew to take the next right and, even as she did, she knew the unknown thing she was following was located in a simple McDonald's on the corner. She almost felt like she should simply drive over the embankment and over the curbs to get to it, but she knew she'd never be able to do that. She'd have no way to explain what the hell had motivated her if she got caught, but she felt taking the time to make all the appropriate turns was simply taking way too much time. How long does it take to make a pit stop in a McDonald's? With luck, whoever or whatever it was she was following wouldn't be making a quick break. If they had stopped for lunch they wouldn't be likely to stop for more than 10 or 15 minutes. If they stopped for a cup of coffee it would be even less than that. She just knew this was such a small opportunity she had been blessed with, that she had to ensure she made the best of it. Driving all the way around the restaurant, she found herself cursing whoever had designed the intersection. She had to move completely around the building, then ease past the various cars farther from the restaurant until she could approach the little fast food enclosure itself. As she did, she noticed there weren't any spots immediately available and started looking for any nearby. She spotted one a row back that she quickly headed for. She jerked the brake on, tore off her seatbelt and ripped the keys from the car as she jumped out at a run and headed into the McDonald's. It looked just like every other McDonald's at every other highway off ramp across the country. How she'd ever found this one she had no idea but ... No, she didn't want to jinx herself by thinking negative thoughts. She'd been brought here by something, she'd have to trust in its benevolence. She shoved her way through the door, having to avoid smashing into people. Somehow she knew that whatever she was following wouldn't be impressed by her harming or inconveniencing other people. But that might have been her own guilt and morals working through her and, since she had no idea what was calling her, she had no way of knowing what it'd be impressed by. When she finally made her way into the building, she immediately began looking about, both trying to feel the mysterious presence as much as looking for whoever might be important in the crowd. Not that she expected some prince. She imagined the figure she assumed it would belong to would look as much like an eastern mystic in a white robe as it would a successful western business person. After looking about wildly she calmed down and again felt the essence, but this time she felt it moving away from her. She could again feel its presence and hurried through the restaurant looking for it. She could feel it outside at the far end of the restaurant and she knew she had a very limited window to try to catch whatever it was. Just as she managed to near the door, she isolated the car it currently resided in. It was backing up, already clear of its former parking spot. Again, she could isolate just where it was coming from and realized what she was feeling was coming from the person sitting in the back seat on the far side. She pushed through the doors and exited, running into the street just in time to see it pulling out of the exit, the exit now conveniently placed, unlike the entrance she'd needed access to earlier. She was crushed, knowing there was no way she could possibly catch it, no way to reach her car in enough time to possibly catch it, even if there was some way to know where it might be headed. What the fates or God or something else had put in her hands they'd just ripped out again. She knew there was no way she could have hurried any more or skipped any corners, short of driving over that embankment like she'd wanted to. But she also knew she'd always regret that she couldn't have been just a little faster. She only hoped that she'd be granted yet another opportunity like this to learn what it was that she'd just missed. ------- Amber Blossom's head jerked up in surprise. Here she was, with a wealthy, well kept, attractive client who'd shown her many favors in the past. But now her attention was yanked from her like a toy train yanked by its pull string from a toddler by a spiteful uncle. One second she was completely focused on doing her job well and on pleasing her client, the next she couldn't even think of him. Something had happened, something significant. She had no idea what it might be, but she could feel a presence nearby; an important presence which called out to her and demanded her attention. Without knowing what it was, she immediately realized it was important and powerful. In her professional duties she'd been around many, many important, rich and influential people. She'd never felt herself in the presence of anything as powerful as the feelings coming to her now. Whoever or whatever it was, she knew it demanded her presence now! She pulled herself up and unceremoniously climbed off of her client's reclining form, searching about quickly for her scattered clothing, no longer concerned with her performance or her appearance, something which normally she focused on most of the time. "What the hell? What's going on? What do you think you're doing?" called the man lying on the bed, full of annoyed impatience. "It's something important Tony," Amber told him, knowing there was no way he was going to take it well but also knowing that what she had to do now was also more important than whatever impressive tip he might leave her with. Sure, she might be able to buy a nice something with what he gave her, but she could also tell that what she felt would be able to influence her life in some personal, significant and life altering way. "I'm sorry, I'll make it up to you but I've REALLY got to go now. There's no charge for this evening and the next one is on me but I just can't stay right now," she tried to reassure him as she hurried into her few clothes and grabbed her purse. She ran for the door and was closing it before any of his curses even reached her. She tried to consider herself and what she was doing once she'd reached the hallway. She knew she had to hurry, if for nothing else she was sure Tony wouldn't come looking for her in the hallway. If she wanted a chance to get away, she couldn't be caught in an unpleasant scene in a hotel hallway right now. However, the more important consideration was how she could locate and find this presence she felt nearby. Amber Blossom, or the simpler Allison Livermore that only her few friends and family knew her by, was no stranger to feeling things about people. She spent a long time refining her ability to read feelings from people. It had helped her win over reluctant professors at her college. It had served her well when she finally took to hooking to pay for said university. It was also what finally allowed her to go into business for herself, dating and sleeping with only the most influential people in New Orleans, her home for the last seven years. Somehow she was always able to feel their needs, their wants and also their basic characters. It helped her avoid the demanding pimps who would break her to their own will, while it directed her towards those who could help her and reward her in her personal ambitions. She'd never been afraid of hard work; she'd worked hard trying to earn her parent's love, although it never came easily. She slaved away at college but soon found she could accomplish more by reacting to the unseen feelings she had about the professors than she ever could by doing the difficult and tedious work they'd assign. In fact, she put her all into each and every client she had, working to touch all their nerves and serve all their needs, even the ones they themselves never knew they had. That was what had allowed her to succeed so well. It paid her way through university, it paid for that nice townhouse nearby, it paid to keep her girlfriend happy and it paid for her ungrateful parents. Yet this was different. In the past, she had gotten vague feelings about someone that she'd only slowly learned to trust over time. Now, as she ran down the hall heading for the elevators, she could feel a very distinct and physical presence out on the street, many floors below. It was a presence that she just knew she had to find and meet somehow, and that it'd make more of an influence on her life than all the cheap dates, self-important professors, rich playboys and senators that she counted as clients now. With that thought, she pulled up short, having gained the elevator and pushed the button to carry her away before her latest client came out demanding some accountability. What would this thing she felt calling her think of her, dressed for a client encounter, disheveled and probably still reeking of sex and alcohol. True, she didn't do more than take a sip of well watered drink. She never let herself get very carried away during these encounters, as they left her unable to anticipate what her clients required of her, that is the emotional things they needed and not the raw sex they all demanded. They called her for sex, but they always came back for what she could do for those holes in their souls. But whether the smells were her own or someone else's wouldn't matter. Whoever it was that she felt nearby certainly wouldn't be impressed to encounter a wanton whore, no matter how high class. Shit, she swore to herself, she couldn't possibly show up in front of someone like this in her present state. Damn, she'd have to run home and hope she could change and get back before they left. About all she could hope was that they were staying here at the hotel and not just stopping nearby for a brief visit. Otherwise, she'd miss her opportunity completely. If only she had some idea of whom or what she could feel was now outside on the other side of the hotel's lobby. The elevator doors had finally opened and she quickly headed out. Just as she had intuitively known that this thing she felt would be able to affect her life, she suddenly realized she knew that it was a person. She'd been picking up on the wants and needs of people for long enough to realize that what she was feeling could only come from a person of some sort. She also somehow knew that, although she felt it was powerful and strong, that it might not present itself as such. She'd been used to powerful men in the past. The power they wielded was usually other people's that they claimed as their own. Somehow, this one felt different. She surmised that he wasn't so much powerful in what he did or what he might do as he was a source of a great deal of power and that the sensations she felt were her picking up on the outpouring of that source of psychic power. She considered leaving a message of some sort at the desk, but what could she possibly tell them? She had no idea who she was looking for or what they might look like and thus had no idea of how to describe them. Henry behind the desk might be understanding, an understanding bolstered by the constant tips and bribes she fed him, but even he wouldn't be able to figure out what to do about this. No, she could physically feel his presence. Only she would be able to find whoever this was. She just had to be damn fast about it. She had to rush home, shower, change, and hurry back in order to find this mysterious person before they left. She was certainly no stranger to knocking on strange doors and talking her way past security guards, so she wasn't worried about wherever she might find him. No, she was worried that she simply wouldn't be able to find him. If that happened, she knew she'd always blame her present occupation because, despite everything it offered her, it would have impeded her reaching someone who could really affect her life in some way unimaginable. These thoughts and many more, each more dread-filled, flipped through her mind as she ran off to a nearby cab that would carry her off, away from her ultimate destination. She could only hope it'd be here when she returned. ------- Donna noticed the young man almost as soon as he wandered onto the street where she and her friends were hanging out. They were all down enjoying spring break and having a great time, but for some strange reason, Donna felt her attention drawn to the young man. He certainly wasn't her type at all. He was way too young, he wasn't built and wasn't athletic at all. He also didn't have that strong he-man persona she usually went for. Heck, he wasn't even all that attractive. Still, she couldn't seem to take her eyes off of him for some strange reason. When Donna pointed him out to her friends they scoffed at her. "Him? You've got to be kidding me," they all responded. She thought about the attraction then and acknowledged that it was odd. Although she felt like he must be famous or recognizable or something, that was definitely not the case. Famous people are surrounded by people, even when they're dressed like normal folk. They're all doing fabulous things in terrific places. This young man was clearly just a kid out visiting with his family, yet she still couldn't tear her eyes away from him. He seemed to walk like someone who had no idea how interesting he was. He carried himself slouched over, as if he didn't expect anyone to notice him. She wished he'd just stand up straight so she could get a good look at him. There was also a girl that just kept hanging around him all the time too. Donna quickly discounted her. She must be a sister or something. They looked enough alike to assume that much, but she kept getting in the way of her ability to look at him directly. It didn't take long before her friends were pulling her arm, trying to get her to follow them along on their own adventures. As much as she didn't want to, as much as she really just wanted to stay and watch this unique young man, she really had no reason to. She had no justification for her fascination, so she let herself be drawn aside. However, she managed one good, long, look back. Although she promised she'd remember him for some time, she also knew that she'd soon transform him in her dreams into a hunkier, more universally attractive figure. At the very least, she'd try to imbue her usual litany of movie stars and football players with whatever he had that made him so unique. In any case, she'd be featuring either him – or a stand in for him – in her dreams for a good while. In minutes he was gone again, probably never to be seen again. Yet, Donna knew some form of him would stay with her for a long while. ------- Chapter 1: The First Encounter I'm deeply honored to have been granted the honor of writing this incredibly important biography for you, my people. I consider it a generous gift and a terrible obligation and I plan to do the best that I can with it. I'd just like to state though that I think you may have committed a grievous error, as I must state that I'm certainly no writer. I've tried to wrap my head around how I can properly do the story justice but haven't been able to convince myself of any inherent skill. About all I have going for me is a certain familiarity. And like the subject, my familiarity had nothing to do with any inherent talent on my part. Anyone reading this will already know the effects the central character has had on all of our lives. You wouldn't have been trusted to read this without already having a vested interest in our community and that would assure that you've already been exposed to many tales and yarns about his many activities. Yet, for the fundamental impact he's had on so many people all over, no one outside of our community has likely ever heard of him. He was certainly no celebrity and he never did anything to label himself as someone famous. In fact, he went to great lengths to make sure he never stood out in any way other than to those he included in his life. He tried his entire life to lead a low key life. Probably the most central thing about him was that he never expected any of the events that soon became his life. What I'm trying to say is that in my limited abilities I've had real trouble properly portraying him. You'll notice the story is primarily in the first person narrative. I tried writing it in the third person form, and it certainly was easier to write like that and certainly explained everyone's involvement in his life much better, but it never quite captured the essence of his experience. I soon found myself drawn to the back to the first person perspective because it was the only form where I could convey what was so essentially him. That is his own sense of self depreciation and wonder that all these things and all these people that found him so utterly fascinating. He simply could never get over it. Even after he'd built quite a following, he was still amazed whenever someone strange would walk up to him with this glare in their eyes and would say something glowing about him. He never really understood the initial attraction, the powers themselves or the potential explanations of the source of those powers. Oh sure, he was always kept appraised of all our theories concerning them, but he could never quite believe that any of them were true. But then again, he could never see what any of the rest of us could so clearly see, even if our first initial glance was our last view of him we'd ever receive. For that we all owe the inventors of photography a deep debt of gratitude. You'll also notice a distinct lack of details in this book. This was because of his own desire to avoid any sense of worship about him. He didn't want any memorials, any kind of ceremony, any sort of remembrance akin to Elvis's Graceland. He didn't even want anyone to remember his birthday for fear it would become a yearly holiday after he passed away. Again, he was so surprised by everyone's fascination with him that he simply couldn't understand why anyone would want to lavish such attention on him. He was, and will always be, a very low key, unassuming young man. So here is my rendition of his life. Most of the dialogue is, quite simply, invented by me. Most of those who followed him can quote quite accurately a great many things he told them, word for word, but trying to flesh out a man's life requires one to invent many things about him in order to reveal what it is we feel necessary to convey about him. If I misquote something about him, blame me as a poor biographer. He never gave me much input, once again telling me that nobody would ever care about his specific words and that anything I wanted to say would fit much better. However I like to believe that I've captured his essence, if you'll pardon my misusing that term that's so often used to describe him. I think I've captured what he would've liked to have said even if I didn't capture his words exactly. In any event, this is but one perspective of his life, and unfortunately for me, the only one selected as his 'official' biography. It will never have a wide readership and will certainly never be published by an official publishing house, but I know many, many people will keep it close to them and will read it repeatedly, trying to remember central events or to explain to their children and grandchildren just what he accomplished. Just keep all of that in mind when you read the misspellings and the frequent use of repeating words. ------- My mind vacantly drifted as beautiful scenery floated by; vast expanses of misty twilight waters, little shacks housing potentially proud families, pelicans drifting by on the breeze. I glanced to my right and observed my sister Cate, who sat studying one of her various popular science books. Not that science is ever terribly popular, just that this was a mass market book on science regarding DNA theory or something. My sister is a cute kid, not really beautiful yet, still a bit awkward and bookish. She has somewhat chubby cheeks with a nice shy smile with a gentle sprinkling of freckles across her cheeks and nose. She also has a really big, heartwarming smile, but her best feature is her eyes, which are large and round with an incredibly penetrating stare. She's not very social, neither of us is actually, but I'm simply shy. In her case she's too busy studying. My parents, Frank and Linda Jennings, are typical parents, always watchful and ready to comment or respond to something we do. Well, maybe they aren't that typical after all. My father is tall and thin, with a little paunch and a receding hairline making inroads into his scalp on both sides leaving a little island of hair in the center of his head. He's got a long hooked nose, a strong chin and forehead, none of which I particularly share. I'd describe him as kind and generous but also bearing firm and foreboding looks. My mother is where Cate and I both get our looks. She was beautiful when she was younger, although she's gotten a little plump during the years due to her own excellent cooking she still retains her classic beauty. She has the same curly, twisty hair we inherited that frames the face so picturesquely, with a bit of a pudgy nose that curves up, beautiful little dimples and, also like us, long, curving lashes. Like my sister, Mom started off small chested but has since graduated to a fairly ample chest, providing lots of cleavage when she wears a low cut dress, so at least she gives my sister hope for the future. Cate is flat. There's no other word for it, she just doesn't have much of a chest. Not that I have any problem with that, she looks good as she is, with her slightly chubby cheeks, freckles and small chest. She has a nice total package that works well for her; that is it would if she'd use it instead of hiding behind books all the time. As for myself, I'm Alex Jennings. I have the curling hair, the freckles and broad nose. I don't have a smile as big as Cate, but I try. Unlike her, I have really heavy eyebrows, but then again, maybe she just plucks hers in secret. I seem to be unique in the family for my eyebrows. I've also got a bit of my father's strong, pointy chin. Actually it's more pointy than strong, which is why I still claim it isn't my father's chin. Otherwise I'm slim, not skinny and definitely not built. I've been on the Gymnastics and Tennis teams, but just to join something, not because I'm in any way athletic. That's another thing we both inherited from my mother. Both Cate and I are currently in high school. Cate is a Junior and 16 with a relatively new driver's license whereas I'm a Senior, my last year, 17 years old and just a month and a half away from my 18th birthday. Guess I'll have a big birthday when it occurs, being officially a man and all, but it'll still be awhile before I can drink. Cate is actually more than a year and a half younger than me, but the combination of my birth date and her being so bright meant she was only behind me by a year in school. Anyway, the reason why I was staring at drifting pelicans and little shacks on the water's edge was that we were nearing New Orleans where we were going to be spending our Spring Break. 'We' being Cate, my parents and I; Cate and I were the only kids currently living at home. The trip was kind of a send off for me as they'd told me they'd allow me this trip if I managed to do well in my last year of high school. Yep, it's true, I was off to college, out of the ol' homestead. I had images of coeds prancing around campus in my little head. Whether it was true or not I didn't really care, it kept me in a pretty good mood, even though I spent most of my time reacting badly to my parent's inquiries. Cate had been invited along because she always does well. She's really bright, at least in a bookish way, and she has a decent sense of intuition to go along with it that certainly helps her solve whatever ungodly problems she's trying to solve. I say "ungodly" because I can't understand most of the things she gets into in her "Advanced Studies" classes. That, plus frankly, I'm not much of a "god fearing" soul. Now don't get me wrong; my parents, Frank and Linda, are decent sorts, and they certainly tried to teach me to be respectful and to pay attention in church. But, strictly aside from all the hundreds of scandals continually following the church around like a puppy dog, I basically just don't buy the central premise of the whole operation. That's right; I basically don't accept the whole concept of a 'soul'. I've never seen any indication of one, no limited proof of an existence. The best that's offered is a couple of folk reporting seeing a 'light' when near death, but that's hardly evidence, that just means the optic nerves start to fry when starved of oxygen. I'm being facetious of course, but still, you get the idea. And basically, once you've given up on the simple concept of a pre-existing soul, then the rest of the idea of a religion just dissolves in the wind. If there's no soul, then there's no possibility of eternity, no paternal entity watching over us, no ultimate good or evil scheming behind our backs. Nope, the only good or evil needed is right where it's always been, sitting inside of us, waiting for an excuse to get out. Of course, in the current mindset most Americans are offended by anyone who disagrees with them on anything. For as 'All American' as they like to proclaim themselves to be, they sure don't seem to believe in ANY of the basic American values. No, I don't mean the 'modern' American values of profits, being feared and being agreed with, but the 'old values' like freedom of expression, religion and personal options. In case you haven't noticed, I tend to take after my sister in being a bit of a brainiac. I don't do it intentionally like she does, but I read extensively and did well on my verbal SATs without really studying so I tend to drop big words at the drop of a hat. When I call Cate a 'brainiac' I really mean it. She's really smart and studies hard. She's effectively skipped a year but instead of jumping ahead she just takes various advanced studies courses, a combination of high school advanced placement courses, a couple of courses scheduled by the school at a local college and one self-study Internet course. Quite frankly she's obsessed. She fashions herself as a scientific scholar, always researching, doing projects or trying to figure things out. I guess we can blame our older sister Becky for that. Becky's several years ahead of us, working on her post doctorate as a medical researcher. Cate decided early on she liked what Becky was studying and it fit in with her idea of 'interesting' college plans so she sees herself as a researcher as well. "Well kids," my father's voice issued back from the driver's seat, "we're here. Get your stuff and let's get organized." We quickly cleaned up all of our crap from the backseat and stowed it wherever it would fit. The hotel was an old one, apparently somewhat recently redone so it was nice, but still 'quaint', with rough brick walls, only a couple of blocks from the nearby casino; not that I expected us to be able to appreciate such facilities. Our excitement at finally being at our destination led to quite a discussion as to what was on the agenda. Since it had taken so long getting here, we all knew that most of the activities would take place the next day. Dad then firmly told us that, while we could walk along the streets and visit the park until 10 p.m., he thought our staying any later than that would only lead us to try sneaking into a bar for a drink. Besides, he and mom wanted to do exactly that, by themselves. That would leave Cate and me on our own in the hotel fairly early. We all decided easily enough to spend most of the time feasting ourselves on wonderful Cajun cuisine, and then simply wander along the avenues watching street performers and listening to the sounds emanating from the various bars. After dinner we just felt like quietly walking off some of our recent excesses. My parents had bid us adieu, retreating to a nearby pub, so we were on our own as we started to wander towards the hotel. While there was still a lot of activity in the streets, most of the real activity, and the people, were all in the various bars playing variations of Jazz and Blues. We could enjoy them, and we did, but it was kind of like enjoying the music of a loud radio at a stoplight; it's just a bit hard to focus when you're wandering from one storefront to the next. At one point Cate nudged me with her elbow and asked, "Haven't you noticed any of the looks you've been getting since we got here?" "What looks, are you crazy? No one ever looks at me, I'm the most invisible person at Eldorado High School," I protested. "That may be, but ever since we got here you've been getting these looks from various women. I've been watching them. You may not have noticed but a girl always notices when the guy she's with keeps getting looks from other girls." "Really? You're my sister, you're not supposed to care who looks at me," I told her "Yeah, that may be, but it's kind of an inbred trait, each female is always well aware of every other female's interest in someone they're close to, even if it's only a close physical proximity," she explained. "So, who's been looking at me then?" I challenged her. "I'm not going to point them all out to you," she told me. "First, it would be rude to point them out, not to mention having you staring at them after I did, but the whole fun of this kind of thing is for you to start to notice them on your own. It shouldn't be hard, there are plenty of them." "Now I know you're kidding. I don't think anyone has ever given me a second look, including the few I've asked out on a date." "I know, but I'm shocked too. At first I noticed a few people looking into our car, but I kept noticing they weren't looking at the car, or at me, or Mom, or Dad. They were each looking at you and it was always women. Granted, many of those looking weren't all attractive, young high school girls, but still. It's just gotten worse while we've been out walking the streets. At the hotel, on the way over here, in the restaurant and while we've been wandering along, you've been getting a series of people glancing meaningfully at you. I know you're too shy to ever do much about it, but if you could get over yourself and recognize what's been going on you might actually find yourself a cute spring break girlfriend or something." "Yeah, as if," I scoffed but I was already scanning the people around us, trying to perceive anyone who might find me attractive. I even tried to stand up a little straighter and walk a little more 'manly'. While it wasn't Mardi Gras, the streets were certainly crowded since it was a warm and lush evening and a perfect Friday evening for a night on the town. As a result there were a lot of potential female observers to consider. I tried to guess what someone interested in me would look like. "Don't be so obvious about it," Cate hissed. "Just act casually. You don't want to scare them all away." "Hey, scaring attractive people away has long been my trademark. If these women down here aren't scared by my natural looks and personality then they aren't likely to be scared by a simple glance back." That was part of the relationship that Cate and I had. We'd frequently tease each other, I guess like most siblings do. Ours was usually a bit more sexually inspired than most siblings I guess, but it was something we'd started early and we'd always cloak it in clever comments or smart word plays so our parents couldn't easily object. In fact, we'd eventually won them over and now, as often as not, our parents were as likely to make a ribald, off color joke at our expense as we would of each other. We all knew it was in good fun and that we didn't mean anything by it. We were all close enough to each other that we all knew how we felt about each other. At least I hope we all did. We walked a little more, although I was a lot more conspicuous in the way I was looking around, trying to catch anyone showing an interest in me in the act, but I did begin to notice quite a few who seemed to be more than a bit interested in me. Most would look away, embarrassed when I'd glance at them, but a few would steal second or even third glances after that. I tried smiling at a few but usually got weak, unsure smiles in return. Mostly they just seemed shy and uncertain so I wasn't' about to force the issue by trying to walk up to one and start a conversation. We wandered along a bit further, with me still glancing around to see if I saw anyone looking at me, when suddenly there was the sound of hurried footsteps behind us. "Please Sir, please stop. I've got to..." came an abbreviated greeting from behind us. Turning, I saw this attractive, older black woman. Older being relative due to the fact I was still a teenager and considered anything over 18 as ancient! Anyway, she was rushing up to us a bit out of breath from running. She was relatively light skinned, her hair fairly fine and done in a short, ironed hair bob. She was a bit heavier set than most of my thin classmates, but not as heavy as the other, inactive classmates around the school. All in all, she had some relatively nice curves. However, she was on us before I could observe anything else about her. As she reached us she looked up at me and our eyes met for the first time and suddenly she just stopped and her head jerked back like someone had just slapped her and her knees seemed to grow weak and she weaved a bit like she might fall down. I immediately leapt forward, always being the perfect gentleman even if no one had ever shown the least bit of appreciation for such behavior. Well, aside from Cate and my mother that is. They both seemed to think women should fawn over me because I was such a gentleman but I guess women had their own idea on that subject. I ran up to her and tried to catch her but she put her arms out, waving them back and forth a bit. "No, no," she stated unsteadily, "I'm OK. Just give me a second to get used to this." I glanced at Cate and she had no more idea what this woman was referring to than I did. For some reason she was shielding her eyes and wouldn't look at me, although she kept glancing at everyone and everything around us. She'd just look at someone and stare, wide eyes for several seconds without regard to what they'd think about such behavior before she'd shake her head and look at the next person in a similar manner. I was beginning to wonder just who this off person was and even if she'd been speaking to us when she'd called out a minute ago. "I ... I just need a few seconds to adjust. I don't really know what this gift you've given me is, or what any of it means. I knew you would affect me and my life in a very personal way but I had no idea you'd affect it as directly as giving me visions," she stated. This time it was I who had to shake my head. "I have no idea what you're talking about lady," I protested, "I haven't done anything to you or even seen you before. There's no reason I would have done anything to you and I'm not the kind of person to do something to someone I don't even know." She immediately stepped forward and dropped to her knees right at my feet and threw her arms around my legs. I would have stepped back defensively, as one normally does when one invades their personal space, but had no way to do so with my legs entrapped. She didn't look up at me, but started wailing at me. "Master, Master, please. What can I do to serve you, Master?" this crazy woman started crying to me. Now I knew she was crazy as a bat and was beginning to have my doubts about all the others who'd been looking at me recently. "What?" I brilliantly responded, completely befuddled by the onslaught. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry or simply run away from her. "Master, Angel, Saint; I don't know what you are, but I'm here to serve you. You've opened my eyes and let me see a completely new world; I never imagined it could be so beautiful or wonderful. You've got to tell me what to do with it!" she insisted, pleading with me and glancing up at me but without ever meeting my eyes, mostly simply looking down at my feet as she continued to cling to my legs. I wanted to yell at her to cease and desist from any more strange behavior, but before I could even think of any way of stating such a sentiment in an open forum she recoiled from me, never letting go of the tight hold she had of my legs. "I understand," she stated, head bowed before me. "I won't embarrass you," she continued more quietly this time, "just tell me what I'm supposed to do." "Excuse me, miss," interrupted my sister, kneeling down beside the distraught woman, "but I think you're mistaking my brother for someone else. He's never met you, he's never been here before, and he's never given you anything or done anything for you." "No, no, I can see who, or rather what he is. There's no mistaking an Angel. I could feel his presence from blocks away. He's the one that awakened my vision. He's the one that's changed my life," she continued to rant, although more quietly than before, still tightly grasping my leg in one arm while she used the other to gesture wildly to my sister. Pausing to take all this in, my sister remained quiet despite the stranger's awaiting a reply, but before she could start ranting again Cate placed her hand under her chin and lifted her face up to examine it. The woman let her do so; shifting her head away from me and squinting, as if it were painful for her to look at me. "You look normal," Cate stated to both the woman and I in her typical, analytical style, examining the woman just like a bug under a microscope. "Your eyes aren't dilated and you're speaking sensibly enough despite saying some senseless things. I'm not sure what you have in your head about my brother Alex but he's just an average kid here on vacation. He hasn't done anything to you. If you can discuss this rationally then we'll humor you for a bit, but..." she let her voice trail off with the implied threat that we'd only entertain her for so long before we'd either have to leave or call for some help. "Alex!" whispered the strange woman at my feet, as if amazed by my very name. I quickly looked about, noticing a quickly amassing collection of onlookers. "Yes, that's Alex and I'm his sister Cate. Please, can we help you get up? I'm sorry, but kneeling at my brother's feet, calling him 'Master' in the middle of the French Quarter is, frankly, kinda freakin' me and everyone else out." "Oh. Oh, I'm sorry," the woman replied, suddenly struggling to stand up, all without moving away from me at all. Instead she moved her hands away from my legs to grasp my hips to help herself stand without backing up. "I have no desire to cause any trouble for either of you, it's just that I had to find you. I was at a dinner with a few business associates and we were preparing to leave when I felt you nearby. I don't know how but I knew just where you were, despite my being indoors and you're being a few blocks away, I could track you as you walked away from me. I followed as quickly as I could, afraid I'd lose track of you before I could reach you. It helped that I could feel you and didn't need to see you but, what with all the traffic, I was afraid I'd lose you." "Yes, yes," stated Cate, in a calming, almost purring voice, attempting to placate the crazy lady that was now standing beside me, "that's all very nice. But who the hell ARE you?" "Oh, I'm sorry. That was so rude of me. My mother would be ashamed; to behave so badly, especially before someone so important." "I'm not import..." I began, feeling a bit overwhelmed at all the talk of my being her master and a possible angel. It was very unnerving I'll tell you. "My name is Shaniqua Sharp. That's 'Shaniqua' with a 'Q'. I'm sorry to embarrass you, but I just didn't know how to address someone like you. You're too magnificent for words," she finished off, almost whispering the words, eyes still downcast, almost closed as if she were ashamed by my wonder or some other nonsense. "Please," I finally managed to gather the wits enough to respond, "Let's get out of the street where we can discuss this. I'm certainly not an angel. I'm just an average high school student on spring break with his family." I was watching a one-man band walking by, loudly playing cymbals, blowing a horn, playing the harmonica and playing a guitar. HE was attracting less attention than we were! "Do you happen to know of any place nearby where we can talk quietly?" Cate inquired. "Yes, yes I do. Follow me and I'll show you." With that she disengaged herself from me and set off like a woman with a mission, having to stop a dozen steps away to make sure we were still following her. We both hurried to keep up with Shaniqua with a 'Q' as she led us down the crowded street, away from the curiously gawking crowd that had formed around us. I noticed several women staring at me now, but had no of knowing if it was a result of that scene or whether they thought I was cute. Guess there's no worrying about it now. She led us to a small set-aside that housed a tiny combination coffee/shake shop and pushed to the back where all the tables were taken but positioned us so we could all stand along a counter. The music from the nearby Jazz clubs reverberated through the walls, but it wasn't so loud that you had to actually shout to be heard. We all gathered ourselves, though no one took any effort to think about anything as pedestrian as getting something to drink, we were all too fascinated by the recent strange events to go anywhere. I took a moment to regard this strange woman who had so unexpectedly entered our lives. When I said she was older I really meant that she older in relation to the two of us. She was actually relatively young, clearly an adult but apparently only in her mid to late 20s or early 30s. I certainly wouldn't mind being seen with her. She had full lips, a noticeable gap between her front teeth and fine straight hair. But she had absolutely beautiful skin with perfectly fine pores that made her skin look like creamy silk that you just wanted to run your hands across. Cate had nice skin, the key word being "nice". There wasn't anything wrong with my sister's skin, but it simply didn't shine like this woman's did. She also had large, deep set eyes that showed a keen insight and seemed to reflect an inner truth and honesty, though I was sure I just imagined that because how do you see inner truth and honesty? "So, you say you felt drawn to my brother despite you've never having seen him?" asked Cate. "Yeah, it was unlike anything I've ever experienced before," she explained. "Somehow I just felt this strong, powerful presence and when I stopped I could feel exactly where it was in space and distance from me even though I was indoors and couldn't see anything beyond the nearby walls." She continued on, without needing any prompting, apparently discussing my other worldly properties seemed like a fascinating topic for them to discuss. "Then, when I ran up to him and I called out, you both stopped and, in that moment when our eyes met..." Her voice simply trailed off at this point as if she were lost in the memory of it, despite its only having just occurred. Both Cate and I were dying to hear just what had triggered this strange event so Cate prompted her, "What happened then?" "I thought at first that it was a dream, a vision or something but it wasn't really a dream. It was a revelation. The moment our eyes met I saw this blinding flash and suddenly the whole world changed. In an instant I saw the world in ways I had never seen it before. I saw colors and images I never imagined. Everything had a new color. I guess 'color' is a bad word, but I don't know how to describe it. It's like describing a beautiful musical score to a deaf person, or describing a wonderful perfume to someone who had never been able to smell. It completely filled my soul with wonder and I instantly knew that my life was forever changed." "Please," I quietly begged, "let's not get carried away. It can't be that wonderf..." "Oh no," she quickly replied, briefly turning to face me before quickly averting her eyes again. "If anything my words are only a poor imitation of the wonders my life is now filled with. It's as if the blind could see. It's like Helen Keller must have felt when she suddenly understood that those motions in her hand were concepts. It's like you've spent your whole life with only 5 senses, never knowing you were missing anything, then someone gives you a 6th and suddenly the world is brand new. This new thing, you can't get enough of, yet don't know anything about." "Whew," I whistled, overwhelmed by the intensity of the whole presentation. "I'm curious Shan ... Shanita?" "No, no, it's Shaniqua, spelled with a 'Q'. 'S', 'h', 'a',..." she went on as she spelled out her name. Finally my sister got it. "Shaniqua? That's right?" she asked again, pronouncing it slowly. Cate hated to get basic things like pronunciation wrong. "Yes, that's very good," Shaniqua replied, though I thought to myself, no, it would have been good if she had heard it the first time, but luckily I didn't say anything to anyone. However Shaniqua shyly lifted her downcast eyes at me a little, as if to hint at some kind of meaning with that minimal motion. "So when Alex first looked into your eyes you started seeing these ... colors?" Cate asked hesitantly, still not able to wrap her mind around the idea and asking for a more definitive statement from her subject, again reacting more like a scientist in her lab than a girl taking to an adult woman. "No, colors doesn't do it justice," Shaniqua explained. "It's like I'm seeing the energy inside of things. As far as I've been able to figure out, and it's only been a few minutes I've been seeing these things, it seems to surround everyone and also a smaller glow around plants and things. I expect it'll show up with animals as well. It seems to reflect a life energy of some sort. Except each one is unique, each person has a different glow, a different color if you will, but surrounding this central glow there's this constant dance of colors all around them. I have no idea what any of it signifies but it's all fascinating to watch." "So it's like you're seeing people's auras?" Cate ventured. "Yeah, that seems like a good description of it, it's like I can see their life energy reflected in an aura surround them. I know there's some significance to these displays but I can't even begin to guess what it might be. I was hoping you'd be able to tell me, but you seem as surprised by it all as I do," she told us, seeming to trust speaking to Cate more than I. I still had no idea how to deal with the whole thing so I just sat silently and tried to take it all in. I still thought she was certifiable myself. "So I guess that was what made you react like you did. When Alex first looked at you, you wheeled back like you'd been slapped or something," Cate told her, trying to establish exactly what had happened when. It was clear she was examining the whole occurrence as a big, real life science experiment rather than a simple deranged woman talking nonsense to us. "Yeah, that's right," Shaniqua explained. "I reacted to the bright light by pulling back. I'm not sure what the light was. I thought at first it was simply Alex. I don't seem to be able to see him. Just like I told you, everyone seems to have their own glow or aura about them, but Alex, just like I expected, has so much power inside of him that his aura shines like a beacon, almost like a huge spotlight shining straight into your eyes. Except that first vision seemed more like something else, like maybe he did something to my eyes or my brain or something and it kind of knocked me silly for a few seconds." "Wait, wait, I've got to get this all down," Cate stated excitedly, reaching into the handbag she always carried around with her that she always kept her ever ready art supplies in so she could draw whenever the mood struck her. She pulled out a new notebook - I've never figured out why a girl like my sister would carry around science notebooks when most girls carry cell phones but I guess that's just her - and immediately started taking notes and trying to document Shaniqua's crazy ramblings. "So you can't actually look at him?" she asked as she began to catch up on her writings. "That's the reason why you keep shielding your eyes and squinting whenever you look at him?" "Yeah, ever since he awakened this new vision in me all I can see is this bright glare whenever I look at him. If you think of it in terms of a person's life force, then most people have a slight glow surrounding them, but your brother's is like a beacon, calling in everyone around him. I could tell he was powerful when I felt him in the restaurant and I just knew I had to reach him because he was going to affect my life somehow, but I had no idea what he'd manage to do to me," Shaniqua explained. I hated to give her credit, but Cate was right, this woman was well reasoned, spoke quite sensibly and told a reliable and highly detailed story. I was almost willing to believe what she was telling us. I would have except I was there and I'd had no part in anything she was describing. "Hold on, hold on," Cate insisted as she jotted rapidly in her notebook, trying to capture every damn detail. "You could feel him ... through buildings, and his aura is so bright you can't look at him?" Cate asked, trying to flesh out the details in her damn notebook. "Yes. His brilliance is overpowering. That's why I can't look at him. It's just too bright. I can hardly make out what you look like because you're standing next to him," she stated. Personally I found all of this a bit too fantastical to believe, things like this just don't happen! "Brilliance?" I queried. "I don't know if that's the proper word for it. Aura seems like a better word but it just doesn't' describe quite how much stronger yours is than anyone else's. Since you first looked at me, I can see multicolored auras around people and certain living things. However, yours is so strong that it's like a super bright floodlight. It completely overwhelms the senses, at least my new senses anyway, as it doesn't seem to affect anyone else. How they can stand under its sheer intensity is unfathomable," she told us, unable to comprehend how everyone didn't see the things she thought she was seeing. She gently touched the side of my face, "Although I got a brief glimpse of you, I can't make out any details of your face now. All I remember is you're light skinned, without much sun exposure, wearing a bit of stubble with a cute little bookish look. I love the little flowing bang you have with that unique curl, it gives you an almost magical appearance. And I remember the heavy brows now that I can feel them as well. Alas," she sighed, "it's all lost to me now, as all I see is a bright light." "You're very well spoken Shaniqua. Have you had a lot of education?" asked my sister, quite conversationally, ignoring the outrageous conversation going on at the moment. "Yes, quite a bit. My family comes from Jamaica. Unlike a lot of Jamaican immigrants, my grandmother was from a fairly well-to-do family, so we were all raised with certain expectations concerning comportment and education." I'll admit it. I giggled a little. I'm so used to silly self-absorbed high school kids that suddenly finding someone so well spoken, that wasn't afraid to sound smart and actually took immense pride in it, left me feeling insecure about my own feelings of self worth. "In fact," she went on, as if the prior discussion had never taken place, finally warming up to talking to us as two fellow human beings and not a mythical angel and his sidekick sister, "my roots go back to the early days of the Jamaican Revolution. My ancestor was Samuel Sharpe. We've changed the name generations ago but he was an early preacher in Jamaica and taught the various slaves. When he led them in a general strike against some plantation owners, a riot broke out and the British authorities reacted badly. Those actions eventually led to the end of slavery in Jamaica. My family thinks we have some Carib Indian blood in us. They were very warlike, and couldn't be kept in captivity because they didn't know what it was. They thought that if they were captives today, then they'd be captives forever, and would just die. However, it's that intense fighting spirit that filled my ancestor with such strength, and that my family hopes still infuses us; that it will carry us through anything we encounter." Shaniqua was clearly very proud of her history and you could tell that her quick description was refined and abbreviated over the years through repeated retellings. The fact that she was so highly educated, so proud and had such a strong family background seemed to run counter to the crazy-assed things she was telling us just moments ago. "Anyway," she continued, "that's my history. So, you're really both still in High School? Wow, that's amazing. So, you don't know any more about this than I do? I'm like your first disciple?" "Uh ... look, I don't mean to rain on your parade or anything, but I don't quite buy into this idea of my representing angels or anything, and any parallel to collecting followers like Jesus did is just wrong. I have no idea what you think you're seeing, but I certainly didn't do anything to allow you to 'see the world' in any new ways. I'm just ordinary. I'm average. I've never done anything spectacular in my short life," I protested, still trying to keep my distance, despite her constantly clinging to me and the loud background noises washing over us. "He's really humble, isn't he?" Shaniqua asked my sister, smirking at her about me. "Yeah, he's always been like that. He hardly talks to anyone, but he's bright and has great grades. He seems to lack motivation, which our mother blames on his own self imposed isolation. There's no getting him to admit he can do anything. "Again, getting back to the topic at hand," Cate interrupted herself. "I was curious, when you first threw your arms around Alex, you shank back unexpectantly, much like when he first looked at you. Was that a similar occurrence?" "Oh no," she informed her, "That was when he told me to cease and desist. That's why I tried so hard to calm down and not make a scene." "Really?" Cate asked her quizzically. "He didn't say a word. I was right there beside both of you and he never said a thing." "No silly," Shaniqua laughed easily, as if what Cate was saying didn't amount to a hill of beans, "he spoke in my mind. He told me to be quiet and so I knew I'd better stop making a spectacle of myself." "He spoke in your mind?" Cate asked, quite unbelievably. "Yeah," Shaniqua explained, "It didn't surprise me because I knew he had all kinds of unexpected powers. Someone as powerful as he is wouldn't be expected to behave according to the normal laws of physics." Cate turned and looked at me. "This is just crazy Alex, did you actually say something to her?" I was about to protest that it WAS crazy, but then I remembered the event, still crystal clear in my mind. "Actually, that was exactly what I was thinking at the time, but I didn't try to think it at her or put it in her mind or anything like that." "Wow! So this is some innate ability Alex just seems to have," Cate stated, seemingly in awe about a fictional power I clearly didn't have. "I don't speak to people in their minds," I protested. "Telepathically," Cate offered, in a completely unhelpful manner, "You don't speak to them telepathically." "Right, I don't speak telepathically to anyone. Look how long you've known me, have I ever spoken to you or anyone around us telepathically before?" Cate sat and thought it out logically, which is what I'd been hoping she'd do. I knew she'd see that this was all too farfetched to be believed. "No, but maybe there's more to it than that. Maybe you had to trigger something in someone to do it. Maybe whatever you did to Shaniqua enabled her to receive your telepathic messages?" "That's just crazy Cate, there's no..." "You know, I thought he was going to change my life immensely when I first felt him. I had no clue how he was going to do it but I could tell he had an incredible amount of..." "Excuse me ladies, but let's get this little fantasy factory under control," I protested. "Shit! You're talking about mind reading sis," I gasped. Now I didn't have problems with a single crazy individual but two, as my sister joined her in her insanity. How could my otherwise intelligent sister, immersed in the whole of scientific principal honestly expect us to believe anything as wacked out as this whole crock of shit? "There's no way I could do what you're describing. It's just not physically possible, Cate," I argued with her, my mind reeling at the insanity of it all. "Mind reading is like amnesia in Soap Operas. It's popular in stories and fantasy, but it has no bearing on reality. I mean, if there was any 'telepathy', then there'd have to be some kind of radio waves being broadcast from my head to hers." "You've got a point there," she conceded. "Luckily you've got a good scientifically minded sister, plus another sister with access to medical research equipment we might be able to use to test that theory out. I think I may have discovered my academic calling. I can see the Nobel prize options in the offing." She was just soooo proud of herself at that moment. "Just wait a minute Cate," I warned, "I'm not sure I want you experimenting on me. Not to mention, if what you're saying is true, wouldn't we both be in a whole lot of danger because of it? If word got out I mean." "What danger? You communicate with one other person. Sure, maybe you could cheat in a single poker game with one other person at the table, but you can hardly read minds. You're the equivalent of a mobile phone, though to only a single person at a very limited distance. If there were more of you, they might put you to use like they put Native Americans to work during WWII, but that's about the extent of your usefulness to anyone." "Still," I hedged, trying as much to protect my fears as anything, "we shouldn't tell anyone about this until we know it's safe." "Granted," she acknowledged. "We'll keep it under wraps. After all, we don't even know if it's real yet. It's just a crazy, cockamamie idea at the moment. However..." she teased, drawing the word out in a lilting tune, indicating there was more to come. I was afraid to hear what it might be, although I was equally as intrigued by it. "We could do a little 'experiment' right here," she suggested. "What kind of experiment?" asked Shaniqua, finally breaking the silence she'd held throughout this whole diatribe of Cate's. "Here," she began. She grabbed her backpack again and began riffling through it, finally coming up with her sketchbook and two pencils. She opened up her precious sketchbook and tore out a couple of sheets, handing me a single sheet of paper and a pencil. "Now," Cate continued, seemingly intent on whatever it was she had planned. However, she pulled up short. "Shit," she whispered, a habit we both shared due to my mother's influence on our use of profane language. "We can't do this without an outside, independent assistant. Oh hell," she temporized, "we'll just do it with us. Course, we may have to do it again at some point to make it 'authentic', but it'll give us an idea if my thoughts are correct or not." I took the sheet and looked at it in confusion. "Just stay here and hold onto the sheet. Write down any sudden things that might pop into your head, whether they're words, concepts or just images. Just don't write down 'Hot girl, Want sex'," she warned me, giggling, which Shaniqua joined her in. "Try to keep it to things other than random synaptic firings." She grinned teasingly at me as she led our new friend across the room and eventually out the door of the establishment. I waited patiently, though it's hard being patient when you are expecting something you don't know is coming or not. I felt especially awkward standing there all alone, without a drink in my hand, taking up enough space for three people. I was getting ready to walk over to the service counter when suddenly some thoughts just popped into my head. The numbers 9 and 13 were there. Not as numbers though, just the knowledge of those amounts along with a questioning sense. I thought such an uncertain response was strange, when Shaniqua claimed she had received such a clear statement but I decided to go with the flow, whatever that was. Damn, I thought, it's a question about 9 and 13. What would Cate want to know about 9 and 13? Which is greater? What's 9 + 13? What's 9 times 13? What's 9 to the thirteenth power? Nah, that's just too far out. Cate would want an answer I knew off the top of my head. I thought about each option for a second until I felt secure about one of them and hoped it was the right answer. I quickly wrote 'What's 9 times 13?' on the sketch paper and jotted the date and time beside it since I knew about my sister's obsessions with her silly scientific principles. Then I tried the harder task, I thought of the answer, '117'. It took a bit, I tried a variety of ways of 'thinking' it, and suddenly got a sense that it worked. Just like that. I waited again, this time getting quite excited, and again being frustrated that it seemed to take forever since I was waiting so anxiously, when again I was suddenly struck with a response. This time I got a questioning feeling along with a brief flash of red, but couldn't figure out anything else. Figuring I missed something I tried to think my confusion back, unsure if it would work, as I was unsure if any of this was working, but making sure to jot times down as I was doing so. I knew Cate would be pissed at me if I forgot her protocols. A moment later I imagined a rainbow in my mind and hoping it wasn't just random neurons firing in my brain, guessed at the question and immediately wrote down 'yellow'. Well, to be truthful, it took me a few moments to remember what color came next, not being an artist like Cate the answer wasn't quite as easy for me, but I'd played around with Photoshop on the computer enough to remember the basic color spectrum fairly well. I started to force a response, but noticed I was puckering my lips in an odd way and wrinkling my forehead and thought I must look an odd sight and would certainly attract attention that way, so I forced myself to relax and tried to do what I'd just done as simply as I could. Again, I was met with a feeling of having succeeded, although I really had no way of knowing if it was true or not. Again, I waited anxiously for another message to appear, but was beginning to grow nervous again when the two girls came walking into the store, giggling at east other like lifelong friends. "Well, it worked Alex," Cate enthused, grinning wildly at her victory. "Wait here with Shaniqua while I go buy us some victory juices. I think this deserves some celebrations. Nobel prize here I come!" She walked off proudly, smiling the whole way. At this point her new compatriot snuggled up against my chest and smiled, although it was made difficult by the fact she still couldn't look directly at me. "See Alex," she cooed teasingly, "I told you you're anything but 'average'. How many other teenagers can read minds, draw people to them who can sense them, sight unseen, or who have the ability to grant people with new abilities they've never had before?" She had me there. I'd have trouble trying to pretend I was nothing special from now on. Still, the thought I might be 'special' scared me; quite a bit actually. "I think we should be careful throwing words like that around in a public environment," I whispered to her. "Ha, I doubt there's enough sobriety in here for anyone to notice anything we're saying. Still, you have a point. But, you're whispering is just as telling as anything I'm saying." She grinned at me, knowing she had a valid point. She let that thought soak in for a moment then rubbed her chest against me as I stood against the counter with her leaning against me. "Now, what kind of things can you think of for me to possibly repay you for what you've managed to do for me?" she whispered sexily, with a low, throaty whisper that sent shivers up my spine. I could feel her nipples pressing into my chest, despite the layers of clothes between us. It was then that I suddenly noticed her clothing. In all the strange excitement before a matter as minor as her clothing just hadn't registered. However, now with her rubbing her large breasts up against me it was suddenly very important to me. I was wearing the typical Spring Break attire. Namely a simple patterned t-shirt and loose, very short shorts. It was much warmer here than in Southern Illinois where we lived, and, despite it still being fairly chilly for it, I was anxious for the chance to shed some clothes for the thought of potential warm sun. My companion, however, was dressed much finer than I. She was wearing a light, multicolored, wildly patterned sundress. It rose to just above her knees and was relatively low cut. I could see a fair amount of cleavage, and it was certainly a sight to behold. She certainly had more of it than most of my female classmates did. I also noticed she was wearing a nice perfume. Having had almost no experience with perfumes, other than various flavored ChapSticks and some cheap varieties worn by my past girlfriend, I had no basis to judge its relative merits, but it certainly seemed to enhance her appeal. I really wanted to look into her eyes, but again she was unable to bring them up to look at me, instead looking down in an apparent submissive pose that matched her earlier attempts to call me her master. Her hand found my hip and ran along it, just grazing it lightly enough to again bring up goose bumps on my flesh; mostly the flesh of my arms and stomach and of certain other things, or thing. She pressed even more firmly against me, which I really had no problems with, but didn't quite know how to respond to, so in reticent instinct I tried to back up, only to be blocked by the wall, while she slowly ground her summer dress covered crotch against my rising erection. "I might be able to think of a thing or two," she continued to whisper to me, making me frantically try to recall what she was referring to; all my recent thoughts having already erased a simple comment from just moments ago. I guess that's the penalty of trying to think with a tiny head. "Just think of what other powers we might discover if we got our minds thinking of the same thing at the same time?" Jeez, she was getting me too hot to think. Despite my insecurity, and my fear of adults, I felt my hands moving of their own accord and they slid around her waist and I slowly leaned forward to hopefully press my lips against hers. "Hey you two, get a room," called Cate, completely destroying the mood. I jerked my head back guiltily, hitting it against the wall in my haste. My co-conspirator didn't retreat at all, she simply giggled at my apparent discomfort. "He's so cute," she laughed. "Is he blushing? I can almost feel the heat of his blush from here." "Oh, he's soooooo blushing," my sister laughingly replied, as she handed me a frozen concoction of some sort. The one she handed to Shaniqua ended up being gently rubbed against my naked arm, which you'd think would be anything but sexy, but it still was somehow. I shivered delightedly as my head grew light with excitement. "So Shaniqua," Cate started off, completely ignoring the fact that her new friend was about to seduce her brother right in front of her. I just hoped I could keep from blowing up before we even got out of the little juice bar. "How do you reconcile being a proud, educated, I'll assume professional woman with prostrating your body before a teenager and calling him 'Massa'?" How she managed to say all that with a straight face I'll never know. "Technically," Shaniqua answered, without seeming to be offended by the term, "I never called him 'Massa'. But, let's face it, when faced with the divine, you do what you gotta do." "Now wait one..." "No one's talking to you stud muffin," they both managed to answer at the same time before breaking into giggles. How they arranged that I can't guess, but they probably started out on the street. I shut up as I recommenced blushing furiously again. "Seriously though, doesn't the age thing bother you?" "Well, it's a little hard to think of him as that young. I really can't see his face at all, and as for the legality of it, I see him as existing on a whole separate plane than the rest of us. Just think, if Jesus were to come down to Earth again, and give you a beautiful gift; say raising you from the dead or something, what would you be willing to do in return?" "You've got a point there," Cate responded. "So how does this all relate to your ideas on religion? You know, my silly brother doesn't even believe in God." "You know, my entire world has just been turned upside down. Right now I couldn't tell you what direction 'up' is, much less evaluate what's 'true' when I found out my entire world was just a lie." "Don't let me influence your..." Shaniqua just kept on talking despite my attempts to interrupt. "Personally, Alex seems to be the only person in the world who can help me navigate this new world I find myself in. He doesn't believe in himself at the moment, probably based on his insecurity in himself and his maturity, but I figure I've gotten in on the ground floor of something earth shattering, and I have a feeling he's going to be the one to teach me whatever I need to know to get by in this new world." "I think I agree with you, even knowing nothing about it and not being able to see his 'glow'." Cate laughed again at her own humor. "Anyway," she hedged, "we're going to have to be getting back before too long, as I don't doubt my mother may call to check up on us and make sure we're in the hotel room. What about you? Do you have work tomorrow? It's Saturday after all." "No, I'm finished with work for the week. I work in HR, that's Human Resources if you're not familiar with it. But with all that's happening, I'm tempted to just up and quit. This is certainly much more important than filling in some company paperwork." "No way!" I insisted. "Look, whatever we have going here, I don't think it's going to pay many bills, much less pay for all the research that Cate is salivating over. I think keeping your job makes a lot of sense." "Don't forget about Becky," Cate reminded me. "You know she's going to want a piece of my Nobel, plus she's the one with the resources and the degree." I rolled my eyes at this additional information, hopefully letting my sister know I really didn't need that kind of help at the moment. However Shaniqua jumped in, ignoring Cate's interjection. "That makes sense," she responded. "You two won't be independent for a while. When do you graduate Alex? And what are your college plans?" "I graduate in June and I start at SIU in September. I'm 17 by the way, soon to hit 18 in a bit over a month while Cate's still 16. While Cate's obviously interested in science, I'm thinking Design, but I'm thinking it might have a limited future with the way publishing is going." "Given the events of tonight, are you sure you want to continue with Design? Wouldn't focusing on something related to this new discovery make more sense?" Cate suggested. "Cate, I have no idea what the 'events of tonight' are. I don't know if this is a onetime thing. I don't know how long it will last. I don't even know that I'm not imagining it all right now. At the moment, I have no idea what to think. Personally I think tomorrow morning I'm going to wake up terrified and run off screaming." "You both have plenty of time to think about it. By the way, how long are we staying here?" "What, here in this restaurant?" Cate asked, although the meaning was pretty clear. "No silly, here in New Orleans. When are we all returning to wherever you live?" I actually choked at this and doubled over I was hacking so hard. I had a hard time catching my breath. Both girls immediately came to my aid, leading to a lengthy pause. Finally straightening up, I managed to gasp out a reply. "What?" It wasn't much of a coherent reply, but it was better than choking. I couldn't believe I'd heard what I thought I'd just heard. "There's no point in me staying here. My new world is wherever you're at Alex. I can find a job wherever you are," Shaniqua explained quite patiently, as if explaining simple facts to a very slow individual. "But ... you can't give up your life. I'm ... I'm not ready for something like that. Shit, I haven't even had a serious girlfriend yet and you're talking about moving to live near me." "But I'm starting a whole new life and you're going to be the central influence in it. You're going to guide me as I learn about it, and we'll all learn what's going on together. But I'm convinced that you're the central figure controlling what's going on. So, where ever you go, I go," she stated simply and calmly, boding no objections. "But ... but..." "My brother, ever the linguist," giggled Cate. "Hmmm, I don't know how cunning a linguist he is, but I plan to put him to the test soon." They both laughed extensively at the clearly overused and tired old joke. Personally though, I was too busy having a major heart attack at the implications to be able to respond in kind. I actually stumbled a bit I was gasping so desperately. All thoughts of Shaniqua's breasts pressing against my chest were completely forgotten. "I think I'm going to have to 'expand his horizons' before he's going to be able to cope with this." Shaniqua grinned at me like a cougar advancing on a frightened rabbit. "Yeah, it looks like it," replied my sister, grinning like a little banshee. ------- Chapter 2: Introductions Amongst the raging beats of many songs from multiple Orleans pubs, and amidst the varied lights and sights the city offered at this time of night, Shaniqua walked us both back to the hotel. She never moved more than a few millimeters from my side, pressing her large, soft breasts against me the whole way. It was a bit awkward walking like that, especially if you aren't used to it, but it was an exquisite awkwardness. Cate just kept grinning at me while she and Shaniqua kept up a running commentary. I was still in too much shock to remember much of it, however. The combined excitement of recent strange events, plus the promise of a romantic interlude on an inexperienced young man was enough to keep my functioning neurons working on an even lower level. Much lower, think 'too much blood pumping south of the border' lower. I was amazed at what had happened this evening. A strange woman shows up and starts calling me both Master and an Angel. When we finally got her calmed down and had a chance to speak quietly, she'd related a story so unfathomable I could hardly believe it, but Cate's little experiment had been pretty convincing. This would all require a lot of thinking, but it just didn't seem like the time, I gently told myself as I again felt her press against me. Not only did this woman think I was a magical being, but she seemed to be interested in me semi-romantically as well. To me, a shy and retiring little high school senior who has only been on a few dates before, the various implications made my head want to explode. Shaniqua told us a bit more about herself, much of it interesting. My fascination peaked by my attraction to her, I'm sure, but not as Earth shattering as the other news of the night. We did talk about those topics however. "So, can you describe these lights you keep seeing?" Cate inquired of Shaniqua. "Actually, aura is the best word I can think of. They're similar to what psychics refer to as auras surrounding people. Only these are different, well, I'll call them 'colors' for lack of a better term. It looks like most people have a central color and a varying outer color, but I can't really be sure about that. After all, I haven't been at this for very long." "So, do these auras always show through physical objects?" Cate continued, trying to get Shaniqua to focus on her descriptions rather than just on me as we continued walking. "No, not normally, but Alex's is just so strong it just overpowers whatever gets in its way. I assume his would be strong enough to show through walls, although..." "Yes?" "I guess most auras show through clothes and things. So I guess that means that they're not affected by physical limits; although physical things limit them. Like walls and things. Guess we'll have to test what I can see from a distance with various things blocking my view." "Great, more experiments," Cate exclaimed, clearly excited by the prospects of future research. "You realize you might not be qualified for all of that," I warned as we reached the edge of the French Quarter and waited for the light to change, allowing us to cross Canal Street. We were now leaving the constant excitement and noise of that tourist mecca for the quieter regions beyond, where we'd be able to be a bit freer with our speech, as well as a bit less distracted by all the activities. "Yeah, but who else are you gonna get to do it?" Cate asked in response. "You can't trust anyone else. You know no one else is going to be as dedicated to it. And figuring it's going to take years of research to figure all of this out; doesn't it make sense to have someone that can be trained completely from scratch so that she learns all the relevant expertise?" she asked sweetly. "Alright, you're hired," I told her, "at least until we can afford somebody cuter." "Hey, you might find someone cuter, but you'll never find someone who can get into your head better than I can," replied Shaniqua as she tried to wink at me, but failed miserably given that she couldn't even look at me directly. I'd have laughed if I hadn't been afraid of offending someone who seemed to be intimating they might let me do things with them. "I'm not so sure that's exactly something I'm looking forward to," I cautioned, still wary of this whole theoretical telepathy nonsense. The last thing a shy young guy like me needed was someone poking around inside his head. As Cate had repeatedly told me earlier, there were just too many dark things hiding in there. "You know," Cate confided to us both, whispering quietly so we wouldn't be overheard, "you're still getting a lot of looks, Alex. I wonder if it has anything to do with the attraction that Shaniqua felt. It's certainly nothing you've ever experienced before." I tried to smile and put on a brave face but I knew what was coming as Cate turned to Shaniqua. "I don't think anyone has ever given my brother a second look in the street before. If he wasn't so shy it would be one thing, but he's always walked so hunched over and keeps so closed off, that no one can ever get close to him." Man, here I am hoping I'm finally going to get some romance in my life, however brief, and my sister has to start telling the only one to show an interest in me that I'm a complete dweeb! "It just may be," Shaniqua answered her, ignoring any unintended jabs at my fragile male ego. "I can't imagine that I'm the only one to feel this attraction to him. However, I imagine there aren't many people who can feel it. I mean, right now I find it hard to believe no one can see his aura blazing like a miniature sun, but obviously no one can. I guess it's the same with his 'presence'. I can feel it, but for most people it just doesn't seem to register." "We live in a really small town in southern Illinois," Cate explained. "It may be that there just aren't enough people there to have ever run across anyone who's sensitive to whatever he's giving off. If that's the case, we'll need to figure out just what it is. I've been noticing various women all staring at him all day long, even on the drive here. And they're all women, no men. For some reason men seem to be immune to his charms." Luckily she smiled at the end of this comment, just to show me she was teasing. I think she knew I was feeling particularly awkward and was doing the gentle teasing thing to make me feel more comfortable about it. We walked along for a few more moments then entered the hotel and walked through the lobby, remaining silent or keeping the conversation general so we wouldn't attract attention to ourselves. "How do we know we aren't ALL suffering from brain tumors and we're all imagining this?" I asked. My sister Cate just rolled her eyes at me, while Shaniqua laughed at our sibling interplay. "There's not much chance of that," Cate argued. "Plus, what are the chances of us all having the same tumor, in the same place, at the same time, in the same stage of advancement, and having the same symptoms? All shared symptoms by the way. The chances of all those working together are less likely than alien anal probes." "But the anal probes are WAY more fun," teased Shaniqua. At least I hoped she was teasing. But given how much we knew about her, just about anything was possible. If she'd have goosed me right then I'd have probably jumped out of my skin. The elevator arrived with a distinct ding and we all pushed our way inside the classic, deeply stained wood elevator. "You know, we should see what Alex's aura looks like in an elevator while we're standing outside," Cate suggested playfully. This time I rolled my eyes at my sister. "You wouldn't learn much Nobel Prize worthy from that," I chided her as the elevator began its short journey up to the third floor where we were residing. "No. But it would be fun to do." They both laughed again. They were doing that together way too much. How had they managed to relate so well together in the short time they were outside of our little juice bar? The elevator dinged again and the doors opened to reveal our floor. "Nice hotel." "Yeah, we kinda like it. Course we haven't seen any others," my sister told Shaniqua. "I have. Believe me. It's nice. How ... uh, I hate to ask this, but just how is your family situated financially?" "Uh ... we're comfortable I guess. True, we go to a public school, but that's more my parents than anything else. Plus it's a fairly good school district so there isn't much crime," I explained to her. "So staying here isn't a strain?" "Uh, I'm not really sure. I don't even know how much it is to stay here. We don't get involved in our parents' finances much; other than to spend them into oblivion of course," I teased. "Yeah, I know how it is. How are you paying for college?" "A combination of loans, scholarships, a bit of work and about as much help as my parents can manage. We have two other sisters. One still in college and one in graduate school," I explained, telling her about our family for the first time. "Oh, I didn't know that. Are you all close?" Shaniqua asked me. All her questions seemed to be directed to me. I guess it was that whole deferential thing. Cate would frequently answer for me, but mostly she was just fascinated in me, and in hearing all she could from me. "Yeah, despite our being so much younger, we're all pretty close. Becky, the eldest, is doing her graduate work while working for a medical research company. Both she and Melinda are only home during the summer now. Melinda's attending college," Cate explained. "Yeah, a house full of women, four of them in fact; Dad and I sometimes have to run screaming from the house, just so we'll have an excuse to watch a football game," I teased them both. We arrived at our door and I swiped my card through the slot on the door, opening it for all of us. "Come on in," Cate offered Shaniqua, "our parents won't be home for a while. They're just gonna call to make sure we're not out getting drunk." "I guess I shouldn't stay too long. They might not like it. I mean, they might think I'm here corrupting their son," Shaniqua worried aloud, although the way she emphasized the word 'corrupting' led me to think she was mainly trying to tease me and really wasn't as concerned as she made out. "What? I don't get to be corrupted as well?" Cate demanded, pretending to be outraged by the oversight. "Well, maybe. It depends on how 'angelic' you can be." They both launched into another giggle fit as we all entered the room; the question of whether she should enter the room or not apparently forgotten. Shaniqua looked around the room, taking everything in. "Nice décor," she observed, looking at the exposed brick interior and the nicely finished wood floors covered in gorgeous carpets. "Yeah, don't know how much time we'll be spending here though. Want anything? We brought drinks. There's always the cable TV," I offered. I was just managing to get over my combination of basic shyness and complete shock. Shaniqua looked at me like I was nuts, so I just shut up and sat down on the bed. Cate purposely sat on the chair by the desk, leaving Shaniqua to sit beside me on the bed. She immediately curled up against me, resting her head on my shoulder, her eyes squinting and laying her hand on my thigh, running it back and forth. "So..." Shaniqua posed, letting the silence speak for her. "No. I don't think so," my sister responded. "I'm not going to wander around the hall, even if it's only for the entire 20 seconds it'll take for my brother to blow his wad at this point." I'm not sure how much I appreciated my sister telling someone I was a short distance runner, but I hoped Shaniqua had gotten used to our peculiar sense of humor by now. "You could always stay here," Shaniqua suggested to Cate sweetly. I couldn't believe the turn the conversation was taking. "No thank you. I don't think it'd help our sibling relationship for me to watch my brother get it on with somebody. Plus, it also wouldn't help having my brother watch me embarrass myself by playing with myself while I sat in the chair," she responded, enjoying the playful interplay they were both developing. "That's assuming you aren't in the bed with us at the time," Shaniqua added, further shocking me. I could just picture both girls in bed with me, and even though Cate's my sister, I couldn't help getting even more excited just by the suggestion of a group scene. Shaniqua's hand brushed over my erect cock to confirm what she already knew from the stress of the Levis under her hand. She smirked at me while looking at my sister. Cate just looked shocked, momentarily stunned into silence. About time, I figured. "I ... I..." Cate attempted to reply. "Relax. I'm kidding. When we finally do it I'll make sure you're hidden safely away in the closet." Cate still looked stunned. I was enjoying the turn-around. Of course I thought the idea was insane as well, but my cock, like any 17-year-old cock, was at attention and I liked the fact that Cate couldn't cope with this any better than I could with the other shit. Just then the phone rang. Cate jumped like a scalded cat. Flustered, she fumbled the phone until she finally got it centered against her ear. "Hello?" Cate responded, even though she already knew who it was calling the room at this time. "Hi, Mom." "No, we're fine. How're you doing?" I felt a certain hand resume caressing my crotch. I groaned and closed my eyes. When I opened them again Shaniqua was leaning into me, her own eyes closed. I leaned in and kissed her. "I'm glad to hear it. I've ... I've ... No. We've got something to talk to you about," Cate hesitantly responded, only to attempt to break the news to our parents before we saw them. Trouble's always easier to give and to receive when it's abstract and far away. I lost myself to the kiss. Her lips were soft and moist, and almost as soon as my lips made contact they parted, inviting my own tongue in to explore; which it did. "No, no, nothing that serious." It sounded like she changed her mind. Not that I was paying any attention to what Cate was saying as my tongue excavated the treasures I found in this mysterious cavern. A warm, wet, inviting cavern. "No, it's just that we met someone today that we'd like you to meet tomorrow. We figured we could spend the day with her," my sister temporized. Shaniqua's hand started actively stroking up and down my length, and my breathing grew deeper and deeper, as did hers. I brought my hand up to run along her side, pausing at the side of her chest, while I held it from play out of my typical fear of going too far, of committing myself. I heard her giggle and shift to the side, essentially shifting herself underneath my hand so it came to rest partially on her breast. My hand got the idea and crossed the remaining distance without any further assistance. "No, she's from here. We met her while wandering around the Quarter," Cate continued, sounding completely oblivious to our play, although I knew she had to be watching us; which didn't deter me at all. I gently grasped her breast through her sundress, nervous about just how aggressive to be. I didn't think I really needed to be, but years of inactivity wear on you and it's hard to make quick adjustments. She giggled again, so I took that as reassurance, the opposite reaction of what giggles while making out normally produce, and moved my hand off the breast just enough to slide under the V of her dress, sliding under it to revel in the beauty of my first contact with a naked female breast. "No, she's older." Shaniqua's tongue joined mine in its explorations. They dueled and worked smoothly together. I thought it was lovely. She leaned more heavily into me, gently rolling over and lowering herself, and us both, onto the bed. "No, she's out of school. She's got a job and everything." I rolled us both over until I was on top of her. I was slowly gaining enough confidence in my good fortune to take a bit more of a lead. My other hand ran over her hip to come to rest on her ample ass, giving a hungering squeeze, evaluating its heft and responsiveness. It was fine. "She's finished college," Cate continued, answering each question as tersely as she could; not wanting to offer anything that might lead her into admitting more than she was ready for. I shifted over and moved my leg between Shaniqua's, keeping my erection available for her roaming hand. "There's good reason for her to be friends with us. We're nice. We all get along well together. Plus she's offered to be our tour guide." Our combined moans were starting to grow in volume, enough to threaten to be heard over the phone by Mom and Dad, so I made an effort to tone it down, but it was tough. "OK. We'll talk to you when you get back. Or, if not then, in the morning. Have a good night. Bye, Mom." I heard her hanging up so I allowed my moaning to increase back to where I wanted it, something just short of screaming, I think. A moment later Cate jabbed me in the shoulder so, I regrettably broke the kiss, but not the other activities. "Ummm?" I asked her. "Hey, knock it off. If I don't get to play, nobody does," Cate challenged me. "Hey, yourself. I told you before, you can either play now, or wait until later when you're safely hiding in the closet," Shaniqua informed her. This time Cate giggled nervously, but at least she was giggling this time. "Seriously, Mom and Dad will be home ... sometime before tomorrow morning," Cate teasingly warned her. "Yeah, we'll be sure to be done by then, sweetheart," Shaniqua replied, still stroking me while our kissing was on hiatus. "I think maybe we should think about what we're going to reveal to our parents," Cate responded simply. Well, that certainly brought everything to a screeching halt. We both sat up and ran our hands through our rumpled hair and clothing. ------- Cate and I escorted my parents into the hotel's dining room for their early morning breakfast buffet, which Shaniqua had informed us would have the traditional café au lait that we should try. My parents were a bit anxious at the idea of meeting this "older woman" who had taken a sudden unexplained interest in their teen-aged children, but we refused comment, merely explaining we wanted to discuss some "things" with them. As we rounded the corner I glanced around to see where she might be sitting. She'd called us earlier to let us know she'd arrived as planned, so that we could get our parents organized for our little gathering. I spotted her, after a bit of searching, sitting at a quiet little corner table. She was sitting meekly with her hands folded in front of her, her back to the wall facing out, with a big smile on her face, which I assumed was from seeing either me or my 'aura' approaching. She waved to get our attention. She looked quite nice this morning, very nicely dressed in a professional but relaxed business suit that seemed to be toned down with a lower neckline, shorter skirt and more flowing material. She looked quite beautiful as I'd expected, but more importantly, she wouldn't immediately scare my parents by looking too sexy. Presentation counts, especially when you're planning to introduce your parents to a woman who plans to move in with you and dedicate her life to you. As I began to usher my parents forward, my father leaned towards me and whispered, "Don't look now, but the barmaid over there can't seem to keep her eyes off of you." This simple statement effectively floored me. I hesitated, imagining another encounter like I'd just had yesterday with Shaniqua. 'Just don't look in her eyes, ' I told myself, 'just don't look in her eyes.' Apparently Cate had heard my father's whispered comment to me and she came up to me. "Do it, Alex, go talk to her. Right now we need to find out if these various women who keep watching you are simply interested in your booty or whether they're like Shaniqua." When I hesitated she nudged me a bit. "Just think of it as research, just ask her who she is and see if she'll talk. It'll provide a good introduction for our talk as well. I'll explain what's going on to Mom and Dad. Go on," and with that she gently pushed me towards the young woman, who I hadn't even looked at yet for fear of making eye contact. I tried to put on a confident face and proceeded to walk up to her. When I got near, I made sure I looked her dead in the eyes, but this time she didn't recoil or react like I'd expected, instead she looked away nervously. She was cute as a button, obviously Hispanic, with short hair and thicker lips than I was used to, and her skin had a sort of golden hue to it. She wasn't exactly thin but she looked both healthy and very professional but also fairly hip. The most noticeable thing about her was her hair. Although a few strands of her native, darker brown hair showed through, most of it was dyed an almost white shade of blond, leaving the combination a sort of punk fashion statement. It made her look really cool, at least to my shy sensibilities. "Hi there, my name's Alex. May I ask what yours is?" I know, I know, I thought it sounded amazingly weak as well. However she smiled while keeping her face down in embarrassment but apparently I'd put her a little at ease with the introduction. "I'm Natalie," she informed me, "Natalie Mendoza." Yep, I was right, definitely Hispanic. Since I knew I could safely look at her now I took a quick stock of her. She, like most of the others I'd observed around New Orleans yesterday, looked quite attractive. True, New Orleans did have an abundance of overweight and unhealthy people, but it also had a very large collection of quite pretty people who all appeared to be ready to have fun in the Big Easy. Natalie appeared to be one, one of the pretty one's at least, I doubted she was in a mood to party while she was working at her hotel job. She wasn't particularly tall, I've never been very good at guessing sizes but, if I had to, I'd probably say around 5'4" or so. Her hair let you know she was young and hip, yet it certainly looked good with her little uniform. She was blushing a bit now as she observed me watching her and her demur look, with her eyes downcast just made the whole look. She was a little heavier than either Shaniqua or Cate, but lighter than my mother. Again, I wouldn't mind being seen with her, but I saw what a comment like that could result in. I'd said the same thing about Shaniqua and now here I was, being seen by my parents with her. I had to shake my head to get my thoughts back on track again. "Look, I was wondering..." I began before being unexpectantly cut off. "Hey there, sorry to interrupt but I could tell my shy brother needed some help over here," Cate rushed by way of an introduction, having snuck up on us without my noticing. If I ever needed a secret mental power it would be a spider sense so I could anticipate moments like this. "My name is Cate Jennings. I don't know if Alex introduced himself yet but, as I said, he's my brother. We're here with our family at the moment. I was trying to get my brother to ask you something we're both interested in. Namely, were you looking at Alex simply because you thought he was cute or was there something more involved in it?" I couldn't believe my sister. First, that she'd send me over here alone, then immediately pounce before I had a chance to actually say anything for myself, then that she'd just fly into a detailed explanation and finally that she'd ask a strange woman such a strange question. However, Natalie look relieved after Cate had asked her that very question. "No, no, normally I don't leer at customers, especially anyone so young," she informed us, effectively crushing any premise I might have had concerning my newfound sexual attraction to the ladies. "But there's just something about your brother. I don't know what it is, but I've been unable to keep from looking at him. It's like I can feel that there's something about him that..." "Yeah, yeah," Cate cut her off. "Look, can you hold that thought for a moment. Alex and I are introducing our parents to someone else who went through the same thing and it would help a lot if they could hear this from you themselves. Please, we'll tip you or order something if that would help, but we're in a bit of a pickle trying to explain all of this to our parents." Then, without waiting for her to respond, Cate grabbed Natalie's hand and pulled her along behind her, heading for our parents. I was left behind with my mouth hanging open and I found myself hurrying after them trying to catch up. "Hey Mom, Dad, I think you'll all need to hear what this ... Sorry, I don't think I got your name?" Cate began making an awkward introduction to our parents. "It's Natalie," I managed to get out, just managing to catch up to them. "Natalie Mendoza." "Well Natalie, these are my parents. I'll introduce everyone in a minute but I want everyone to meet someone we're meeting here." She started to turn but I decided I'd better make my presence felt, no pun intended. When we'd talked it over the night before, we all agreed that I should try to establish a bit of a lead role in order to make my parents think I wasn't being influenced or lead astray, so I decided to go with that thought now. I moved to the lead and eased Cate aside, taking Natalie's arm in mine and guiding her to the table where Shaniqua was now watching us with a curious expression. "Mom, Dad, this is Shaniqua. Shaniqua, these are our parents, Frank and Linda," I explained, making the traditional introductions as we got to the table. "Shaniqua, Mom, Dad, this woman we just met is Natalie Mendoza. She works here at the hotel. My father and Cate noticed her watching me and we all thought she may have some input that we could all stand to hear," I informed everyone. They muttered their greetings, being cordial if not exactly warm, mostly just looking perplexed about the whole thing, everyone except Natalie and Shaniqua that is. They just seemed to take everything in stride, as if they expected me to do this kind of thing every day. Dad sat down opposite from our friend, meaning he'd be facing away from the room, helpful if he got apoplectic over something we might say and Mom sat down beside him. Cate and I sat on either side of Shaniqua, or Shani as she told us to call her, while Natalie stood between myself and my parents, playing the role of the server simply waiting for us to begin to explain what was going on. "So what is this little assignation all about?" inquired my father as everyone settled around the table. "First, let's go ahead and order so we won't be unduly interrupted during our discussion. I'd suggest a nice cup of café au lait. It's kind of a requirement when visiting New Orleans, as well as some sinful little raspberry croissant things I saw before." My parents looked dubious at the apparent ease with which this woman took the introduction of a member of the waitstaff into our breakfast, but everyone else seemed to ease into the situation. "That's an excellent suggestion," Natalie told us all, "She's right, the café au lait is a well known New Orleans treat and the croissants are simply divine." Everyone agreed and we managed to order the selected items, Mom thanking Shani for her assistance. Finally we were all arranged and ready for the discussion, Natalie taking her former place ready to do whatever we decided was necessary. I didn't know if this was typical behavior for the hotels' staff, but I appreciated her easy manner. "OK, Natalie, I think we should begin with you trying to describe what you felt when you first noticed my brother Alex. I know it's not going to be easy to describe, but just try to describe it as best as you can," Cate stated, taking over the lead role from me, something I was all too ready to hand over to her. "Well, it's strange. I had this odd feeling and I looked up, somehow knowing intuitively where to look. I'd noticed you entering the dining room but hadn't paid you much attention since you weren't near my station. Somehow, once I looked at Alex I just couldn't seem to keep from staring at him. I have no idea what it is, he isn't even my type. I traditionally like older men with a more physical appearance but I just felt myself drawn to him." Natalie didn't seem to have any compunction about talking about this in amazingly personal detail before all of us. "Did you notice any particular feelings when you looked at him?" my sister asked her. "Well, aside from what I described, I had this feeling that your brother was someone important. I guess it wasn't as much important as I'd say powerful. He seemed like he was powerful." Cate smiled at this and was positively beaming as she took over the conversation. "You see, Mom, Dad, ever since we've gotten here I've been noticing a whole bunch of women watching Alex. Not just glancing at him but openly staring at him. At first I just thought maybe my brother was coming into his own and a few women were noticing how good looking he is, but more and more just couldn't seem to look away. Then Shani showed up. Shani, do you want to describe how you found us?" "Well, Mr. and Mrs. Jennings, my coworkers and I were attending a dinner. We were all getting up and making our way out of the restaurant when I had this sudden sensation of a strong physical presence weighing on me. I mean, I knew it was a spiritual presence, but it had a real physical component to it. I felt it while I was inside the restaurant but, right then and there, I could pinpoint exactly in what direction, and the distance it was from me, and I could feel your son as he moved about. "Needless to say I've never felt anything like that, but like Natalie just said, I felt this tremendous power and was compelled to follow it. I just knew it meant something and that somehow it was going to physically change my life when I encountered it. So I left the restaurant and followed this feeling out into the street. It was a couple of blocks away and I hurried up, not knowing how long it was going to remain. When I got close I called out to Alex to stop and wait and he turned and then he looked into my eyes." "You should have seen it, Dad," Cate continued on for her, her excitement taking over for her. "As soon as their eyes met her head jerked back just like something hit her right in the face and she stumbled a bit." I watched my parents to gauge their reactions to this. So far they seemed to be pretty guarded but they were following every word both Cate and Shani were describing. At least our presentation was good, we'd see whether it was believable or not a little later. "It turns out that Alex did something to her then," Cate continued. "He didn't do it intentionally. Nor did he have any idea of what it was that he did, but somehow he triggered something in her. Go on, Shani, describe to them what happened to you." "Well, I was already expecting something magical to happen as I approached him. I've never felt something so powerful before, nor have I ever heard it described so I knew I'd be encountering something unheard of. Still, I was completely unprepared for what happened. As soon as our eyes met there was this blinding flash and I stopped running toward him. When the flash faded I noticed that my vision had changed. I couldn't see Alex any more. All I could see was this tremendous glow where he stood. Looking around I saw that everyone around me had this glow about them. Each person had a different colored glow but, here's the strange part, each glow was in a color I've never even seen before. It's like Alex gave me a new sixth sense, a new sense of vision with a whole new range of colors." "We talked later," Cate jumped in again, her excitement making her overenthusiastic. "It seems like it may be some kind of life energy. Of course we have no real clue because we haven't been able to observe it, but Shani says that it surrounds people and plants to a lesser extent. She also says that when someone touches something it leave a little glow behind." "Wow!" Natalie let out. "I knew there was something about him. This is amazing. So how come nothing like that happened to me?" "I have no idea," Cate continued. "Nothing like this has ever happened to Alex before. Hardly anyone ever noticed he even existed. I think maybe it's just that there aren't many people who can pick up on whatever energy signal he's giving out and our small town just doesn't have anyone who can. Here in a bigger city there are quite a few who can detect it, but only one who seems to have been primed for whatever Alex did to her." Once again I watched our parents to gauge their reaction to all this. I could detect a strong hint of disbelief so I signaled Cate and spoke up for a change. "OK Dad, what are you thinking? You don't look like you believe any of this." He sat and thought about it. I've got to give my father his due, he's always a careful thinker. He likes to consider his words before he speaks and usually he makes pretty good points with only a few carefully chosen words. "Well, I'm not sure just how believable any of this really is," he stated carefully before turning to Shani. "Basically, aside from the word of our waitress here, we're taking all of this as gospel based upon your word that it's all true." "We thought you might be thinking along those lines, that maybe I'm a charlatan or a con man. I brought along a few things to help establish myself," she stated in her defense and looked into her purse. She drew out two letters and handed them over to each of my parents, handing them cards as well. "These are my resume and business cards. As you can see I'm gainfully employed with a well known firm." My father was preparing to say something so she hurried to complete her thought. "Yes, I know, those can all be faked. But you'll notice it's a well established firm. You can call the number on the card, but it would probably be better if you called the Better Business Bureau and asked them about the businesses, then get the corporate offices from them. It'll take a little longer to get through, but you'll have more faith that it's not a scam if you go through the extra steps. I work in the Human Resources department so you'll likely get someone who works with or at least knows me when they connect you, but I doubt anyone there would want to jeopardize their career by lying about a questionable coworker. I've been working there for several good and productive years so I'm pretty well established there. I'm also sure you'll be able to have your business do a background check on me. You'll find that I have no criminal record, that my picture matches my face and that I've got a decent financial record. I'm not a fly by night operator who's looking to get something from you or your family." Shani had to take a deep breath after she finished that little speech. My father just looked at her, again measuring his response before speaking. "I'm glad you came prepared, as that was exactly what I was thinking and those are the steps I'll be sure to follow. However, assuming you are being honest, just what does all this mean? It sounds like my son just happened to look at you when you had a sudden vision problem and your eyes got blurry. I don't know what these visions mean but there's no certainty that Alex had anything to do with it. Why are you assuming he's this powerful being that pulled you into him?" Cate steeled herself for this, we'd expected this type of response when we prepared ourselves last night, so she was ready to dive in. "There's something else we didn't explain yet, Dad," she told him firmly. "It seems that after Alex did whatever he did to her, that now they can exchange ideas with each other telepathically." My father and mother both drew back a bit at this but the surprise reaction was from Natalie. "Oh cooool, you mean he can read your mind?" she excitedly asked Shani. "Well, no, he doesn't really read my mind," she protested a bit weakly. "And the messages aren't very clear," Cate added. "When she first encountered us she got a clear message but when we tried to duplicate it we got definite messages but they weren't terribly clear. We tried to send specific numerical messages so we'd know if the exact information got through, and it did, but Alex and Shani had to struggle a bit with interpreting the messages." "I think I may have to see that demonstration myself," Dad replied, and I agreed that it only made sense. "There's no problem with that. We expected it. It's the only convincing evidence that we have that any of this is real," Cate explained. "OK, are there any other weird events we should know about?" my father asked us. "Well, we've got a few things to work out. First, Mom, Dad, I've got a highly embarrassing question to ask, but please bear with me, there's a valid reason why we have to ask it," Cate asked them, waiting for their response. My mother responded, "OK dear, go ahead, you can ask but we won't commit to answering until we hear just how embarrassing it is." "Here goes. Mom, Dad, is Alex really your own, biological son? Not that we suspect he isn't or anything," she hastened to add. Mom and Dad looked a bit taken aback. "Yes, of course he is. Why on earth would you ask something like that?" "Your terminology is going to seem funny in a moment," responded my sister, smiling at my Mother's turn of phrase. "But it's important for what we're discussing. If you don't mind, I'll probably do some DNA tests just to document that, but with something as unbelievable as telepathy one's mind just jumps to equally unbelievable explanations. Clearly humans just aren't capable of communicating telepathically, there just isn't any physical mechanism in the human brain to carry it out, which makes one consider different alternatives." "You aren't about to call your brother an alien are you?" my mother asked, her voice taking on a note of irritation. "The topic has got to be brought up, just because someone's going to raise it at some point," Cate attempted to defend what we knew was already a weak point. "It's not really a serious argument," I told them. "We just thought we had to address it. Both Cate and I are a bit hung up on the whole idea of telepathy without any means of doing it." "Yeah," Cate added, getting back into the discussion. "I'm looking forward to getting Becky involved and testing him when we get back to see if he's broadcasting any kind of waves that are strong enough to be picked up by someone else." "No doubt, I knew you'd want to do some experiments," replied my father, being fully aware of my sister's strange obsession with all things scientific, like the various Science Fair projects she'd dedicated months to doing each year. Again, Cate laid out the appropriate sheets of sketchbook paper before them. "The preliminary tests we conducted on their telepathy were simple, but they were fairly conclusive. We haven't done any extensive testing, like how far away they can be or what restrictions might apply. However the testing that Becky can do would be more extensive, she could test for various things more scientifically than just asking a few questions." "So what does the fact they seem to communicate telepathically mean?" asked my father, always a bottom line kind of guy. My sister knew this and respected it, as it always aided her presentations when she was preparing them at home. "Right now we don't know enough to have any clue. I could pretend to have some idea and say something about a common genetic trait but honestly, I'm not sure there is one. There very well could be something in Shani and Natalie that draws them both to him, but I think it's something inherent in Alex that triggered this ability in Shani. He's a catalyst if you will. He caused something to occur in her that allowed her to see these visions and allowed her to communicate with him. I don't think she had any of these abilities before Alex got there. I'm sure she'll tell you this is the first time any of these types of things have happened to her." Shani eagerly nodded her confirmation. "The only other theory that springs to mind is that maybe he and Shani are somehow related, and that maybe it's a shared trait. That's why I want to do DNA tests, to see if they're related in any way. But I'm guessing they're just two random individuals with no apparent connection. That's why I made the comment about your choice of words earlier, Mom, because in a case like this we'll have to make sure that Alex isn't some kind of alien spawn," she teased, helping to relieve some of the inherent tension from a revelation such as this. "So my son reads minds?" asked my mother, still not having gotten beyond that stage of the conversation. "No. He can read a single mind, Shani's. Or rather he can communicate with her, there's no mind reading involved. It's nothing too extreme to be worried about. It's about the genetic equivalent of a crude cell phone. Still, scientifically speaking, it's significant. Can you imagine, given a small minority of people with this ability; able to communicate telepathically with each other? This is a monumentally important scientific discovery. I plan on riding my brother's new ability all the way to a specially dedicated scientific career." "You're planning on basing your entire academic future and possible career options on a 'trick' your brother and your friend can do?" our mother asked. "Yes. Of course, it's possible this is just a temporary fluke. Maybe it's not as significant as I believe it to be. Maybe it's just caused by certain isolated conditions. But I think it's significant enough that it could be a major field of study." "I'm not sure I want my son to be a 'major field of study'," protested my mother. "Don't worry. As I stated, this really isn't significant enough to worry about government spies kidnapping them or anything. It's about as useful as a card trick at this time. But we're going to be cautious all the same. The last thing we need is to allow its study to fall into the hands of some big corporate biotech firm that'll allow the super rich to communicate together to avoid wiretaps." "Then how are you going to study it, if you can't tell anyone about it?" reasonably asked my father. "Very carefully and very discreetly. Luckily Becky may be able to hide her tests in amongst her other studies. I'll have to hide my interests in amongst my other studies, and pick subject matter related to this particular interest. We'll probably confide in specific trusted individuals, but that's unlikely as there'd be no sort of confidentiality agreement that would apply here." "So you're expecting your sister to jeopardize her temporary position at the university so you can run unauthorized experiments on your brother?" Dad asked, looking pointedly at Cate, luckily leaving me out of this part of the discussion. "I hope you're not implying that your brother is some kind of genetic freak or anything," warned our mother. "No way, Mom, as I said, I don't even think this is genetically based. You also know I care about Alex a great deal. I'm not going to let this affect our relationship. Besides," she smiled, "I'm going to be dependent upon him for years and years of important scientific study. I've got to be nice to him." My mother seemed appeased by this. "What does this mean for Miss Shaniqua?" queried my father. Shani spoke up for this one. "I'm taking this as a significant event in my life, Mr. Jennings. I'm willing to work with Cate and Alex to figure out just what is going on. Plus, it kind of puts Alex and me on a fairly personal level with our being able to talk to each other whenever we feel the need." I thought she was talking out of her hat on this one. After all, we didn't know the limitations involved yet. "How 'significant' and how 'personal'?" asked my father again, in an arched tone. Everyone had the immediate understanding of what he was implying. "I figure it's going to be fairly intense. I'm already willing to give up my home here if it'll help. I can do my job anywhere I might need to." "And is the interest 'personal' or 'intimate'?" he pushed. "Both, to be honest. Being in this type of intense communication tends to foster a 'special interest'," she responded, quoting the defense we'd all decided on the night before. "So, you're already planning on being intimate with my son," Mom stated, instantly imagining this new woman suddenly corrupting her son I'm sure. "Doesn't the age thing have any effect on you?" "Well, honestly, I was a bit worried about the potential of 'corrupting a minor' but I checked the age of consent in Illinois already, it's 17, so legally we're safe. However, don't worry too much; I'm much too indebted to your son to want to rush him into adulthood. I still want him to be able to enjoy what he can of his childhood," Shani stated, trying to both defend her planned actions while still appeasing our parents. "Well, don't wait too long," responded Cate, interrupting the conversation between my parents and Shani. "He's almost 18, nearing graduation and he's seen less action than anyone else his age I knew." I could feel my face growing warm as she spoke. "Cate!" I warned her but she just turned and stuck her tongue out at me, letting me know she was just teasing me. "I see," replied my mother, instantly cautious. "And just what might this all entail?" "We'll see what happens between us. We've only known each other a few hours. We can't speak about what may or may not occur," Shani temporized. "OK then. I guess we've been duly warned," responded my mother, only a bit frostily. "And what of you, Miss. Shaniqua? You've told us about your job and even supplied us with a resume, which I must say is fairly unique in the way of introductions, I never really expected Alex to introduce a potential girlfriend with a resume, but what else can you tell us about yourself? What kind of person are you?" inquired my father. I was proud of Shani for handling herself so well in the face of such pointed questions. "I work in the HR department of a food distribution company here in Orleans," she responded. "Although it's early in my career, I'm not exactly married to this particular job yet. I come from a proud and comfortable family. A family I'm close to, one that taught me my morals and dedication." My father actually smiled at this response, kind of killing the tough guy approach he was going for. "College?" "Mississippi State. Finances, accounting and financial services." "Good," was his only reply. "How can you, a reasonable, attractive young woman be attracted to my son, an innocent young man?" asked my mother. "As I stated, we've got this special common interest that unites us. As far as any attraction goes, only time will tell." "I'm assuming this common interest will be sexual then? Since you've already stated you aren't going to be deterred by the law," my mother pressed. "MOM!" I cried out in embarrassment. "Yes. In fact it will," Shani answered directly. "It's about time. They've already made out by the way," teased my sister, not helping at all. My mother couldn't help it, she grinned unintentionally. "He's so cute when he blushes like that," she enthused. "So, if you're so interested in my son, why can't you look him in the eye?" asked my father again. "I thought I mentioned that, while I can see this glow around everyone, Cate calls it people's auras, Alex is so powerful that his is amazingly bright. I simply can't look at him directly for long. It's like looking into the sun. It's simply overpowering. I even have trouble seeing anyone standing near him." "Oh," my father responded, caught short by her answer. "Anyway, that concludes this part of our presentation," Cate said in a teasing aside to her previous scientific studies prepared for my parents at home all too often. "Now if there are no further questions, we can discuss what we have planned for today." Dad quickly protested. "Wait a minute, don't push us off so quickly. What about a demonstration? All this build up and we don't even get to play with the samples?" "I thought someone else might want to play with the samples," my sister muttered under her breath, just loud enough for everyone to hear, but low enough for them all to get the impression is wasn't meant for public comment. They all laughed at that, despite the earlier tensions. So we conducted further tests. Natalie was disappointed she couldn't join us in our experiments, she seemed even more excited than Cate was, but we told her she could join us after she got off work, as we didn't want to get her in trouble with her job because of her interest in me. The various experiments were done with supplies Shani had picked up for us at a local drug store. We tested distance, between concrete hotel floors, with a variety of possible constraints involving various metals, insulation and such. It didn't seem to impede us, but the communications were sometimes quite clear, but other times just vague impressions that needed to be reworded just to get an intelligent response. This was going to take a little work. And my parents both seemed to take the exceedingly brief discussion of such an unbelievable event rather well. Cate stated that she couldn't explain what we didn't understand yet and that we'd clearly discuss things as they came up, but they just seemed to take it all in stride. As I said, maybe my parents weren't so typical after all. ------- Chapter 3: A Singer and Boyfriend After we'd finished our little demonstration experiments, we finally decided we'd wasted enough time simply hanging around the hotel. I was anxious to see more of New Orleans's famous French Quarter, but was still a bit hesitant about running into someone else like Shani. I didn't know if I simply shouldn't look anyone in the eyes, or whether I'd draw people to me like a magnet, resulting in a whole string of women following me down the street. Honestly, I simply didn't know what to expect. Everyone decided that since we'd only been to dinner and spent a few hours wandering around, that we should spend some more time simply exploring the French Quarter. Shani offered to take us on a brief tour; it wouldn't be any imposition because she'd only show us all the main tourist attractions that we could find in any tour guide. Everyone was anxious, but I hesitated. "Do you think it's safe for me to be wandering around?" I asked Cate and Shani. "What? Sure it's safe," Cate informed me, seemingly confused by my question. Then she got this look like she understood what I was really asking. "Look, you've just come to a big city and discovered that, with a little more exposure, several people are interested in you. Taking an interest in you doesn't hurt anyone. You managed to find a single person that reacted in an unusual manner," she explained, seriously downplaying just how unusual it was, "but it's unlikely you're likely to meet anyone else like that. Even if you do, it's simply a chance to find out more about whatever it is that you did." Cate seemed pleased with this explanation. "I didn't do anything," I stressed to them. "Alex, we can all go over this several times, but you're going to be outvoted each time," Cate told me, as if reminding a small child to tie his shoes for the 20th time. "We're all convinced that you did whatever happened to Shani, we're all convinced that you pulled her in to you with your 'presence' and we're all convinced that none of this would have happened to her, or any of the other people watching you, if it wasn't for your being here right now." "Is he going on about not doing anything again?" asked my father, picking up on our semi-private conversation. "Get over it, Alex, part of having a super power, however benign it is, is getting over the fact that you have it. Go forth," he called, imitating an ancient oracle crying out to the Gods, "Go forth and gather all the available maidens so that you may confuse them with fancy, imaginary light shows and garbled telepathic messages." He was grinning by the end of his little show, but I could feel my face burning with embarrassment at just how silly it all sounded. "Quiet, Dad, geez, what are you trying to do? Let everyone know what a freak I am?" "Honey," my mother soothed, coming to my assistance. "You're certainly no freak. Maybe an alien masquerading as our child, but you're certainly not a freak." So much for any sympathy from either of my parents, I thought as everyone broke out in heartfelt laughs. After a few moments I had to join them, it was pretty funny once you thought about it. The whole premise was pretty funny and the fact that having an amazing ability didn't seem to really change much in the real world just made it all funnier. Effectively all I'd accomplished so far was to make an instant girlfriend, who'd decided she was going to follow me home just by showing her a few 'imaginary lights', as my father had described it. While the idea of her being a potential girlfriend made me shiver with delight, it also filled me with dread as well. With that, we all set off. After walking a short distance while their minds were obviously working overtime, Dad cornered both Cate and I for a short discussion. "Alex, I think your mother and I need to say a couple of things about this. You're only few short months shy of being a legal adult. I think you need to consider how you are going to approach this. Your mother and I could simply take control and determine what you can and can't do, but I don't think that would be either fair or appropriate. I suspect the decisions you make concerning this will impact the rest of your life, as well as affecting a fair number of individuals, as these people seem to be drawn to you and will need to be handled carefully. "As a result, we're not going to dictate how you deal with them. We'll leave that up to you, since you are the one ultimately responsible for all these people and what happens to them. I realize it's a lot of responsibility to dump on your shoulders all of a sudden, but I think it's necessary as you've somehow been elected by fate or God for this position. "Now, if you need any assistance or help, both your mother and I will be glad to help out, steer you in the right direction or offer assistance and advice, but other than that, we'll leave it up to you. Just think about the implied responsibilities when you deal with each of these women. They seem to be depending on you for an awful lot." I nodded, acknowledging my father's excellent points, as well as agreeing to his assigning the responsibility squarely on my shoulders. I'd already assumed as much, which is why this all scared me so much. Next he turned to Cate, while Mom looked on over his shoulder. "Cate, you've clearly taken on a supervisory role in whatever is going on. I appreciate that and I'm sure your brother will appreciate it, as he'll need all the advice he can get. Frankly, neither your mother nor I have the slightest clue what might be going on, but you seem to have a good approximation of what's going on. Just keep in mind that Alex and everyone that approaches him from here on out, are depending on your good judgment. Now we're not going to decide how you should approach this, we're not even going to determine when and where Alex meets with these women he's attracting, but I want to make sure that you realize he needs room to make his own decisions as well. Is that all understood?" "Yeah, Dad, thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm not about to let Alex down now that he needs my assistance so much. I'll be careful how we both approach this. I don't think you need to worry about Alex either, he's certainly pretty cautious in his approach. We'll make you proud of our choices." "Very good," our father concluded. "Now let's get moving, we apparently have several anxious young women awaiting," he said, smiling at us in a teasing mood. Nothing major happened during the several block walk over to Canal Street, which is the start of the French Quarter. Several people still turned to watch me, several women I should say, I never noticed a single guy watching me. However, as Cate said, having someone watch you doesn't really bother anyone. I think it had an effect on both of my parents though. They'd taken everything we'd said lightly, more concerned about a young woman promising to introduce their son to the world of sex than in whatever wild claims we'd made, any crude experiments we'd performed not having counted for much. But they found the constant reminder of having several people gawking at me as we passed an unexpected reminder. It wasn't even that constant. In truth it was only a few people who watched me but the overall effect, given the number of people wandering the streets at this time of day, was that there were quite a few individuals they caught watching me. That alone can do things to a shy guy's ego, but having a beautiful, exotic woman on my arm did even more, especially one that seemed to be willing to do just about anything for me. I still wasn't sure of the attraction, or just how healthy it was, but it was hard to argue how strongly she felt it. Between her and Cate, it didn't look like I'd get a private moment for quite a while. I was never quite sure what it was but Cate never seemed to be far from my side. I'd grown used to this years ago, but at home she'd visit friends or play dolls (back when she was younger) or do homework for hours, and I'd have plenty of time by myself. Now that we were on vacation it seemed like she was always by my side, especially now that I'd suddenly turned into her new scientific lab rat. Suddenly she was watching me like she was expecting me to catch the smell of a piece of cheese and scurry off before she could find her lab coat. Or maybe that should be all the available mice would catch a scent of my 'presence' and came chasing me through the labyrinth maze of the French Quarter's streets. Heh, that was a funny one! I'd have to find a chance to drop that one on the group as soon as I could find an opportune time. As we prepared to cross Canal and enter the French Quarter proper, Cate suggested that I walk ahead of everyone else, reasoning that they could all watch me while their presence wouldn't intimidate anyone trying to watch me from afar. I figured things couldn't really get any weirder so I just figured, what the hell, and agreed to do it. I was certainly walking a bit prouder, knowing everyone was watching me; my family, my potential new girlfriend and several unknown females to boot. I felt like I was on a runway and everyone was anxiously watching my every move, however, I cautioned myself how popular YouTube videos are of the many models that happen to trip and fall while walking the catwalk. They didn't leave me alone for long however. They all joined me again, telling me they saw quite a few women watching, of all sizes and shapes, actually more than I had been aware of, but nothing untoward had occurred, so they all felt confident that their proximity wouldn't affect anything. The women all seemed to watch regardless of whom was watching them look, so their presence by my side didn't seem like it would dissuade anyone. Cate suggested she try to interview some of them but we all voted her down, telling her it would only humiliate people to press them on why they were doing something they clearly didn't understand or have any conscious control over. She wasn't overly fond of the group decision but she'd been running ahead and behind to film several women watching me surreptitiously, so she had enough to keep her occupied. Shani suggested a nearby, well known hotel for lunch and suggested I try the Alligator. Cate made all kinds of noise about my selection but I loved the idea. Shani told me she knew I'd get a big kick out of it, it seemingly being a big guy thing. It was actually called 'alligator sauce piquant', which consisted of fried alligator in a fancy French sauce. She said she just hoped I'd continue to be as adventurous when she suggested other native treats in the future, some of them possibly not quite as palatable as simple alligator. I told her I was pretty adventurous where food and new experiences were concerned, just not with the ladies or doing foolish things in front of others. They all laughed and told me that much was obvious. We were just finishing up when Shani poked me in the side with her finger and announced that I had another watcher searching for me at the entrance. She said the girl had simply walked into the hotel dining room and immediately noticed me, then she laughed and described her reaction when the maître d' tried to intercept her. I glanced up and saw the girl, but apparently there was a bit of a scene as she was busy trying to deal with the maître d' while some guy was arguing with him. I guess that the guy and the girl were together but I couldn't be sure. She didn't notice me observing her as a result, which I figured was better for her ego than having the object of her interest watch while she was embarrassed in public. I promptly forgot about her, figuring she was now just one of many, as I made sure I had everything I needed before we departed. As I was in the process of standing up Cate hissed at me and I looked up, confused at such behavior in a public environment. Suddenly this, this girl was upon us. "Please, please, I don't mean to disturb you..." she rushed to explain, until she was interrupted by the well dressed maître d' who insisted, "Miss, you cannot just enter the dining room and disturb the other guests like..." Just as I was trying to take in all this activity revolving around me, I noticed the man who had been arguing with him following the well dressed head waiter, going on about, "Listen, man, this woman is a famous performer who simply..." Everyone around me seemed confused, and since all this activity seemed to be centered around me, and knowing how centrally focused Shani had been on me yesterday, I figured that I'd better try to settle all of this. I tried to wave the maître d' away, telling him, "Never mind, we know her, it's really no problem." However, he was just as distracted as everyone else was by the man that was following him, arguing with him and apparently trying to defend the woman. As I was trying to assuage the maître d', I was focusing on him and the man behind him and not on the woman, knowing precisely what might happen when I did. Having not heard me, he rounded on the man. "Look sir, I don't appreciate your barging into my establishment like this and..." I raised my voice, "It's FINE," I insisted. "We know them both, we were expecting them." He seemed to notice me then and turned to regard me, looking me briefly up and down. Apparently not finding me too impressive, he then looked at my parents, both of which simply nodded at him. It felt odd; shy, little me taking such a forceful position trying to placate everyone. In the past I'd have just melted into the background and watched everything unfold, but this time I knew I was the cause of the trouble and thus that I was the one responsible for settling it as well, even if no one else realized that I was causing anything. "That's fine, sir," he addressed me, "but perhaps in the future you'll have a word with them about their sense of decorum in a public restaurant." I smiled at the man like I had to put up with such childish behavior all the time, which honestly I did, as it wasn't unlike the behaviors I encountered eating in the cafeteria at school. "I'll do that, sir, and thank you for the wonderful meal, it was much appreciated." I realized that he had absolutely nothing to do with preparing the meal, but I figured a little flattery would get me farther than anything else. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the woman fall to her knees at my side where she proceeded to bow her head and clasp her hands before her like she was preparing to pray to me or something, all of which I managed to observe without having to look at her. The strange man was still fuming, but now his attention moved from the head waiter to myself and the woman he was trying to defend. "Who are ... What the hell are you doing, Patty?" he asked her, distracted from his attack on me by the odd behavior of his companion. That was a question I'd have liked to ask myself, but I knew my central role at the minute was trying to maintain the peace and to keep as low a profile as I could. Steeling myself in the second's delay I had before she could confront me again, I turned and looked at her. She was really quite pretty, tall and slender, well dressed with noticeable make-up. She had shortish blond hair that formed waves of large ringlets and dressed very nicely in a long skirt that was pleated in the middle with an off the shoulder type thing that looked like it must have been a designer item. However, just as I took this in she raised her head and our eyes met and, just as I had feared, she reacted much like Shani had. Her head snapped back and she sagged back a little, leaning a little to the side. The man that had been defending her rushed up to her. "What's wrong, Patty?" he asked solicitously before looking up, his face quickly turning dark as he glowered at me. "What the hell did you do to her, you..." Just as he was about to get into a froth, my father came up on the man's side. "Perhaps you'd all like to sit and we can..." my father began but the man simply continued, unperturbed by the interruption. "I'd like to know what this little pissant..." he started again, but while this short but quickly heating discussion was taking place, the woman on her knees before me grew concerned and reached around, having to feel around a bit, still not being used to the new visuals she was having to deal with. "Henry, NO, don't antagonize him! Don't you realize how powerful he is?" she pleaded with the guy. This didn't seem to help his attitude much however. "What? This little nothing? He's no more powerful than a..." "Henry, shut up NOW or you'll be sorry!" she insisted crossly. "And she'll get plenty of help," added Shani, closing in on his other side. My father was smart enough to back up, seeing two highly angry females closing in on an unsuspecting victim. "Look, let's all sit down quietly before we all get thrown out into the street or someone calls the police," I told him, once again trying my best to keep the peace. "I didn't do anything to her but we can discuss what did happen once we all sit down." He seemed to consider this while the woman, Patty, turned and looked back at me with a strange look of combined wonder and nervousness. I also noticed the guy was making no effort whatsoever to help the poor woman out or to assist her in any way. I guess he'd rather fight than be nice to his girlfriend. So, perhaps stupidly, I held out my hands to her and she gratefully took hold and used them to help herself stand up. "Thank you, I feel so humbled in your presence. I knew you were..." "Please," I tried to subtly insist, "Let's not go into that all now. Let's simply sit down where we can quietly continue." The man was still staring daggers at me, but he also moved aside as my father managed to find a few nearby chairs. Both Shani and Cate managed to position themselves behind him and beside me as if in a protective detail, watching to see if he tried anything. I'd have to ask my sister later what she thought she'd manage to do if something had developed. Cate's just not very big. Shani I could see definitely causing some trouble, while the new girl looked like she was already ready to rip his head off. I led the woman to a chair that Mom was holding for her and she daintily sat. At least I think that's what she was doing, she might have been trying to curtsy, I really wasn't sure. Henry managed to situate himself between us but when I backed up she pushed forward until she was sitting right beside me, leaving him nowhere to go but the seat that she had just vacated. He didn't look like a happy camper. Everyone sat and I noticed we'd only just managed to avoid a scene, nearly everyone was watching us and several people in suits were standing nearby watching us. I had been sitting between Cate and Shani, but with these two new additions I was now between Patty and Cate. Shani was left to find a seat, still being held by my father on the other side of Henry. My parents both sat on the other side of that, meaning that my father was far enough away that he wouldn't be likely to get into a tussle with this new man. I wasn't sure what either Shani and Cate may try if he started for me. "Now, please," I began, trying to speak in a calming tone, "I imagine we've got a few things to discuss and it'd be best if we could do it quietly. We've already caused enough of a distraction and what we're going to discuss is a bit unsettling enough as it is." I measured Henry's reaction to what I said but he didn't seem to take it the wrong way. Henry and my father both took deep breaths and appeared to be trying to calm themselves, though both Shani and Cate seemed to be as watchful as before. Luckily Mom was aware enough to signal the waiter, which seemed to be just the thing to get the various guys in suits surrounding us to finally relax a little. The young woman, I guessed she must be in her late 20s or so, looked up at me with sheer wonder in her eyes. I told myself that was the next thing on the agenda, to try to deflate whatever grandiose view she currently held me if. Maybe if I farted or something, I told myself, smiling as I thought it. She looked at me, or tried to, at least, as she kept having to squint in order to glance at me. "What ... what did you do ... what did you do to me?" she finally managed to get out. "Yeah, I'd like to know that as well," growled Henry, which caused Patty or whatever her name was to spin on him and give a cold, hard stare. "That's ENOUGH of that, I brought you here to help me, not to cast aspersions on who I came to see," she insisted. "And if you try to do anything to him I'll find a nearby bottle or brick and you'll find your bloody brains all over the nice table cloth, so watch it," she hissed ominously. Boy, for a little thing she sure knew how to send a message. I was sure glad she wasn't angry at me. When she finally decided he wasn't going to try anything, she turned back to me. "I'm sorry for that," she began, just as sweet as honey. "I never should have brought him but when I tried to go out searching for you he insisted on coming along and..." "That's all fine," I assured her, figuring it wouldn't help any of us to accuse him of anything. "Now, before we go any further, how about some introductions. I'm Alex, this is my sister Cate, my mother and father, Linda and Frank Jennings," I stated, indicating each person in turn. "And finally, the one behind you is Shaniqua Sharp, who probably shares the most in common with you right now." "Thank you for being so gracious and accepting us at your table," she very politely recited, treating it as a kindly gesture to an undeserving soul rather than the pretext to avoid a scene in a public restaurant that it had been. "My name is Patricia Moore, I'm a singer performing nearby. This," she turned and looked dubiously at her partner, "is Henry Dunn, my business manager." I could see him stiffen at this introduction and instantly knew he thought of himself as much more than that and I had to wonder whether she had thought so too just a short while ago. "Man, you really weren't kidding," my mother stated, surprising us all. I don't think she'd believed what we'd told her about Shani's reactions yesterday but seeing it was a completely different matter. "Yeah, it's just like you described it," my father echoed her sentiments. "I'm sorry," Patricia told me, "but I feel like I don't belong here, sitting at the same table with you." "Nonsense, Patricia," I tried to reassure her, "I'm just a simple high school kid. I'm nothing speci..." "NO, you most certainly ARE something special," she insisted enthusiastically. "You look like an angel shining there in all your celestial glory. You're certainly no ordinary kid. I've never heard of any young man doing what you just did to me. Before I met you I could feel your raw power and, on top of seeing you like I can see you now, I realize that we don't dare anger you." "Shhh," I gently told her, trying to ease her anxiety. "I'm hardly an ogre and I think you're substantially overestimating my abilities. However, I'm sure you'd like to know more about what you're seeing at the moment. Actually, we're all as new to this as you are. The first time we've encountered this was just last night when Shaniqua here had the same experience you've just had." Shani saw her opportunity and took it, getting up and moving around Mr. Dunn to take Patricia in her arms as they began to whisper back and forth to each other, only pausing whenever Patricia would attempt to look at me or when Shani would point to me or signify someone else. In the meantime my father got the waiter's attention and ordered some coffees and a few desserts. No one had expressed any desire to eat more but he knew enough to assume that we'd be there for awhile. Finally the whispering came to an end and Patricia looked up at me again while Shani moved her seat so she could sit beside her, effectively positioning herself between Henry and myself. However, she did it very subtly, and I appreciated the benefits of having an older woman there to watch out for me. "Thank you, whatever you are, for taking the time to sit with me," she said, still with this silly sense of reverence. "I know you probably have much more important things to do. You say you're simply a student, but with the amount of power you possess, you must have so much you could be doing." I started to protest when both Cate and Shani signaled me to shut the hell up, Cate doing so with a swift kick to my calf. "You've opened the world to me in a way I've never expected," she continued. "I have no idea how to deal with everything that I'm seeing. Shaniqua mentioned that it's all some sort of life force but it's all so vivid and surreal," she stated, amazed at everything she was now seeing, again doing like Shani had and looking at the various people around her, apparently comparing each person's aura against the others. "I have no idea what any of you are talking about," Henry stated, finally ending his silence and attempting to get more information about what was going on around him. "What is all this talk about power and visions and auras and shit?" "Yeah, it's time we helped you understand it. I just wanted to make sure that Patricia was made a little more comfortable with what she's going through," I stated, stressing the fact that she was the one going through this and not him. "What's happened is something we don't understand and have no idea why it's happening, but somehow, by coming in contact with me, your girlfriend," I said, guessing about their relationship, "is now seeing things she's never seen before. She's seeing these auras around people which consist of various colored lights. Again, we don't know what they mean but the same thing happened to Shani, so that's why they were busy whispering so busily a second ago." "Yeah, right, you just say 'Boo' and suddenly she's having visions of shit? I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it. What is it you're trying to pull here?" Once again Patricia turned angrily on him and hissed, "Watch it, if you can't behave then, please leave!" "No, no," I hastened to add, "I want him as comfortable with this as we all are, which isn't saying much at this point. You're going through a lot and you'll need someone to help you through it. If you doubt anything that I'm saying you'll have to discuss with her what she's currently experiencing. However, we think these 'auras' or glows she's seeing around people have something to do with some sort of life energy or something, since it seems to surround people, animals and plants. That's all we know about it at the moment, though." After I finished my little speech, Patricia turned and looked at Henry again. While I had been speaking, she seemed to feel compelled to watch me, even though I'm sure she couldn't see much; but now she was back to staring daggers at her boyfriend. When he resisted saying anything stupid, she turned back to me. Before she could start apologizing again I thought I'd head her off. "Look, before we get any further afield, let's just start at the beginning," I suggested. "Tell us who you are and we'll tell you all about us. After that we can get into who is more amazing, OK?" My sister snorted rather rudely beside me, forcing me to turn to look at her. "What, am I supposed to pretend that was a real statement?" she asked. "Everyone here knows there's no one else in the world that can do what you've just done twice in the last 24 hours. Don't go pretending you didn't have anything to do with it, we all know better than to listen to you pretend that you're just a normal kid." "Alright, fine," I huffed, realizing arguing about it wasn't going to help anything. I knew I had to a lot of information to cover, hopefully without drawing any additional undue attention to us. Luckily the dining room was both busy and loud, so it would be hard for anyone to overhear us. As it was, we were all leaning in to hear our own conversation. "Please go on," I said, after turning back to Patricia. She then proceeded to tell us a little about herself. "I'm a performer at one of the night clubs here. I'm a blues singer and I spend a lot of time in the various bars both here and across several of the nearby southern states. I'm hardly a name act but I get by and manage to do fairly well for myself. As I started to say before, I could feel you outside while I was in the middle of my act. I wanted to just run out and find you but ... Anyway, when I finally called an early end to the set and got outside you were gone. I was completely devastated that I'd missed you. I searched up and down the streets of the French Quarter all night but couldn't feel you again. Henry thought I was nuts, chasing after someone I didn't know and hadn't seen but simply 'knew' was out there somewhere. This morning I got up early and drove around the downtown area but once again, I just couldn't sense you anywhere. Once again, Henry insisted I was imagining things but he insisted he come along to watch out for me. We ended up coming back here and have been wandering the streets hoping you'd show up again." "Jeez, that sounds like a lot of wasted effort," I told her, feeling sorry that I'd unintentionally forced all this unexpected emotion on her. "Have you eaten at all? Would you like something to eat?" "No, I haven't eaten anything besides a muffin this morning and some coffee to keep me going, but I'm too damn excited to eat anything right now." Both Cate and I looked at our mother, expecting her to say something about the language, but we both already knew that she'd never be so abrupt as to call attention to someone else's failings unless she felt it was necessary. "Please, here, take this, whatever the hell it is that my father ordered," I told her, now getting the very look my sister and I had expected Patricia to get a moment earlier. "You look like you need to eat." She accepted the dessert and a nearby spoon and started eating as if I had ordered her to under pain of death. Not that she seemed to fear me or anything, just that she didn't seem to be particularly enthused about what she was eating and her eyes never seemed to rest, they kept flickering from me to everyone around me, but always returning to me. "Anyway, go on, you were saying," I prompted her again. "Oh yeah, we were still wandering the streets, Henry continually trying to coax me to go back home, when I finally felt you again. I quickly figured out where you were and entered the restaurant to find you. That was when the man at the door tried to stop me," she said, almost in a snarl as if the thought of someone trying to restrain her with something as pedestrian a question as to whether she had a reservation or wanted a table was a capital offense. "I think you know the rest of the story from there," she finished. "OK, fair enough, you've told us about yourself, now I'll tell you a little about ourselves. My family and I are here on a vacation for Cate and my spring break," I explained. She looked up as if noticing Cate for the first time. "You're his sister?" she asked, as if asking Jesus' brother whether his feet actually touched the ground when he walked as well. "Yeah, I've tried to deny it in the past, but word keeps getting out that I'm related to him again," she teased but it didn't seem to register on Patricia. "Do you have any of his, uh, powers or anything? I can't feel any power coming from you but..." her voice trailed off as if she was trying to feel any powerful emanations she might have missed. "Nope, I'm the typical normal teen my angelic brother keeps pretending to be," Cate joked, again most of it being lost on its intended target, who was taking everything said about me as the gospel truth. "Yeah, I can see that now," Patricia confided to her. "Shani's got a stronger glow than anyone else, but nowhere near as bright as Alex's. I guess I'd know if you had any of his abilities just from your, what did Shani call it, your 'aura'?" This latest bit got my sister's juices flowing. "Yeah, that's what we've decided to call it. Tell me more about the differences in the auras you can see between everyone here at the table." They both began a private conversation, which Shani soon joined in, leaving me on my own again. Not that it was Patricia's intention. In fact, she kept looking up at me to see if I wanted anything or needed to tell her anything. But every time she did I'd just shake my head and either Cate or Shani would pull her back into the conversation. My mother just shook her head at everything that was going on while my father ordered a second café au lait, it seems he'd gotten quite used to them. Seeing that Patricia was busy and thus unlikely to be watching him as closely, Henry got up and moved around to join me for a more private conversation of our own. "So, are you really serious about all this shit?" he asked me. "Yeah, I'm afraid I am. I'm about as doubtful as you are but they keep convincing me it's true, although I can't imagine how it possibly could be." "So you see these silly light filled aura things too?" "Oh, no, for some reason everyone thinks I'm responsible for giving the girls the ability to see them but I'm not able to see them myself." He just looked at me a moment. "You know, this would be more believable if you were to play it up more, this whole 'I'm just a dumb kid who doesn't know any better' doesn't fly very well," he told me. It almost like he was giving me grudging advice, one conman to another. I couldn't help it, I laughed, which caused everyone to turn and look at me. I think the only one who had been following the conversation was my sister Cate. "You've got a point, unfortunately, aside from you and my parents, the only person that needs convincing about this is myself. Everyone is busy trying to do just that." Henry just shook his head and wandered back to his own seat. I briefly looked around the dining room, taking in a couple of new watchers, but I couldn't differentiate who was interested because of the spectacle we had made and who was interested in me or my powerful presence. No, that wasn't true; it didn't take long watching someone to figure out the difference. Those who were merely curious would just look for a second or two then look away again. Those who fit the second category would look and not look away. If they did, they'd look up again as soon as they'd finished with whatever had distracted them. I was beginning to feel stalked only the first day of my week long vacation. "Shani?" I asked as quietly as I could. Immediately both she and Patricia's heads popped up to hear whatever it was that I had to say. "Could you go around to the two ladies at those two tables," I told her, trying to not be obvious about where I was trying to point out, "and tell them what this is all about as discreetly as you can?" I asked her. She immediately agreed and got up like she was heading to the rest room. I watched as she circled around and came up behind each woman and quietly began whispering to them. I wondered what she was saying but if I had wanted to guide the conversation then I guess I should have just done it myself. She seemed to be doing a good job though, as neither of them attempted to join us. It didn't do much to dissuade them from watching me though, but I'm not sure I really expected it to have. By now Cate had her notebook out and was writing down copious notes, frequently paging back and forth to find some note she'd written before to either reference or correct. Somehow she was taking this more seriously than I, the person it was happening to, and who supposedly was causing it all. But then again my little sister frequently seemed to think she had to look after me. She'd always try to apologize to Mom on my behalf whenever I messed up. She'd also try to correct any problems I'd ever have, including trying to arrange the few dates I'd ever had. Not that it did much good though, as I was always so shy that the girls would lose interest midway through the initial conversation. I just wasn't much of a social creature. I seemed to be doing much better lately, but I figured that had more to do with the fact that I felt it necessary because no one else seemed to be able to talk to these girls when we first made contact. They had both been so fascinated with me that they simply wouldn't listen to anyone else, they both reacted as if they expected me to fly back up to heaven as soon as they could turn their heads. The girls' talk went on for quite a while. Shani eventually came back and joined in again while Cate would keep pulling me in to check my memory of events and both Shani and Patricia would keep looking at me for approval for various things. Finally they all began to run out of steam. "Say, there's really not much I can offer you, but could you come hear me play tonight?" Patricia asked us. Cate and I both immediately looked to our parents for their permission, the thought of getting into one of the music clubs scattered about the French Quarter really too much to resist for either of us. "Will they let them in with the drinking?" Mom asked Patricia. "Sure," she waved that worry away as if it didn't mean any more than a pesky fly. "This is a family resort. As long as they don't try to order anything they'll be fine. Besides, I didn't mean for you to wander in off the street and try to find a table, I meant enter with me. I'll make sure you get the best table in the house up in front. I'll arrange with Lawrence to make sure he gets you whatever you want. If you'll let them try a drink, he can even slip it into something else to make it look like a soda for you." Man, Patricia sure seemed accommodating. Unfortunately my mother wasn't nearly as much so. "No thanks, I don't think either one is ready for that yet. But are you sure you won't get into any trouble for arranging this? It sounds like a lot of trouble," Mom asked, sounding worried as if Patricia was going to get fired for finding us a good table. "Nonsense, the other performers are always hooking up the various women who walk into the bar and make goo-goo eyes at them. It's nothing for them, they simply assume it's part of the benefits package for the performers. Besides, I've only asked for it a few times whenever I've had a boyfriend interested enough to attend one of my shows," she professed, seemingly annoyed that none of her past boyfriends was interested enough in what she did for a living to pay much attention to it. I once again glanced at Henry and wondered just where he fit in the whole past boyfriend pantheon. "Hey, look, I hate to break this all up, but your other girlfriend from the hotel wanted to meet with us after work and we've been sitting here for hours," my father pronounced. "Oh, I'm sorry," professed Patricia. "I really never meant to take up all of your time." There she goes, I thought, always apologizing as if I was busy saving the world or granting fair maidens new visions or something, but I resisted the urge to protest, knowing it would only fall on deaf ears. "Yeah," Henry agreed, "Patty was up all night and all morning looking for you. She should really get home and get some rest before her show tonight." "He's right, I should probably get back and get organized, after all, I've been up for quite some time now," she said. However it was said with such a look of longing that I didn't feel I could break her heart by refusing to let her stay with us. "Look, it's not like we're busy, if you want to come along with us and spend some more time talking to Shani, Cate or our friend from the hotel then I've got no problem with it, but I'll certainly understand if you can't," I told them. Or rather, I told her and let him deal with it however he damn well pleased. Man, I'm glad my mother can't read my mind, I thought, considering just how much I'd found myself swearing to myself the last two days. Henry started to say something but Patricia rushed in, "Are you really sure? I'd love to spend some more time with you. It's not like I really need to sleep all day, I've gone on stage with a lot less sleep in the past and done fine." Henry did not look like a happy camper with that announcement. I just smiled at them both. "Stay with us then, why, I don't know how we could possibly get by with only two natives to show us around the local sites that are all clearly labeled," I teased. However she seemed to have overlooked my inflection or something as she jumped up and hugged me, then immediately backed off. The look in her eyes seemed to say that she was about to fall onto the floor on her knees, she looked so abject about overstepping her imaginary bounds. It looked like she was going to do just that when suddenly she just froze then very quietly stood up again. "Yes, sir, I will sir," she stated very formally and then very quietly took her seat. Cate rounded on me. "Just what did you say to her?" she protested. "I didn't..." "Don't go playing innocent with me, Alex," she warned me. "You yelled at her telepathically, didn't you?" I had to stop and think. I didn't actually mean to, or even try to, but I guess it was possible that I had and simply hadn't noticed it. I was pretty upset that she was about to abase herself in front of me, and my own feelings of ever being the gentleman told me that I shouldn't allow that to happen. I really had to review my memories from just a moment ago to figure out whether I'd accidentally yelled at her or not, but I eventually had to acknowledge that I had. "I'm sorry, Patricia, I guess I did," I said. Turning back to Cate I tried to explain myself. "Personally, I have no recollection of saying or thinking anything but I was upset about what I thought she was about to do. Besides, how come messages I don't even know I'm sending come across clearly while messages I try to send come across as vague, garbled feelings?" I asked, trying to change the topic and focus attention away from me. "That doesn't absolve you from abusing poor Patricia," Cate enthused. I knew I was in trouble when Cate started using words like 'absolve'. That was one of our family's 'mom words' that our mother only used when we were all in serious trouble. "But, now that you've brought it up, you've got a good point." I could see the lights go on in the back of her head as she thought about what new insight this newest tidbit of information might give her. "It may be that the emotional involvement triggers the strength of the message," she theorized, growing ever more animated as she went on with her potential explanation. "Your first message to Shani was for her to not make a spectacle of herself and she definitely got the message right away. When we were all experimenting, I kept the message all abstract and numbers based in order to ensure there wasn't any chance of misinterpreting or reading into the answers, but maybe I was approaching it all wrong." "Listen, this is all fascinating, but Dad has a point," I argued, thinking I'd already achieving the results I was looking for in getting her to quit attacking me for something I couldn't control. "We've been sitting here for a long time, Natalie's probably been waiting for quite a while and we've still got things to do and things to see. Plus I think my ass is starting to go to sleep from sitting for so long." I had to acknowledge Mom's warning glare at my language, but everyone got my meaning and we all managed to finally get up and moving. As we entered the street I now had two girls attached to my side, both older, professional and well respected ladies spending the day with two high school kids and their parents. Unfortunately, I'm not sure Henry saw it quite like that. He was quietly staring at me even as I tried to keep from showing any signs of taking advantage of the situation. As much as Henry's attitude irked me, simply because I didn't think he was supporting his girlfriend in the way that she needed him to, I really didn't want to be the one to break them up. I knew that she'd need someone to lean on in this difficult period of transition. I was also a little indecisive about Shani and hoped that maybe all three of them could get together and maybe that would keep her from trying to follow us all home. Having Henry as a stable platform here in New Orleans would definitely work in my favor. I mentioned to the two women Cate's newest theory about our telepathy and managed to get them all huddled together, thereby freeing me from their attentions and dropped back to speak to Henry again. I was feeling his antagonism towards me might become a problem and I wanted to do whatever I could to head it off. "Hey there, Henry, I hope you aren't taking Patricia's hanging around me personally. I think she's just glad to have people she can talk about what she's going through," I told him, hoping he'd take my weak olive branch offering of a compliment. "Yeah, that's what it looks like," he complained as we both watched the three girls talking together. Even now, they'd frequently look up to see what I was up to. "Don't take the frequent looks and touches seriously," I told him. "It seems to have more to do with whatever these sensations I'm broadcasting are than anything else," I lied. I was convinced their dedication to me was pretty deeply set in them. Whatever 'power' they felt radiating from me was sure to reinforce it, but I didn't think it was a simple passing fancy either. "Besides," I continued, "in another week I'll be gone and Patricia will need someone to help her deal with these new things in her life without our help." I wasn't sure how helpful a suggestion it was to tell a wary boyfriend I would only be stealing his limelight for the next week but it was about all I could offer. "Yeah, there is that," he sighed. As we walked, I tried to get him to open up a little about himself but he was pretty hesitant about it. "I was always good at organizing and scheduling things," he told me, finally telling me a little about himself. "Plus I knew a fair number of people in the industry. I'd managed a couple of people in the past. When Patricia and I connected she was having trouble handling those areas of her career so I stepped up and that's how we got started," he explained. There were several comments I could have made in those few sentences, but I thought it best to just bite my tongue for the moment. "Now she can focus on her art while I handle all the day to day stuff for her." "I'm sure she appreciates that," I told him, not having a clue whether that was true or not. "It's the day to day things that keep us going," I added, thinking of the constant work my own parents had put into us kids that had allowed us to do all that we'd managed to accomplish. While I knew how important all that was, I was more concerned with whether Patricia had the support, both emotional and otherwise, that she'd need to get through all of this. "I think the next month is going to be the hardest," I told him honestly. "You're not going to understand any of what she's experiencing. Heck, you're not even likely to believe most of it. But it's still essential that you be there for her so that she comes out of this stronger than ever. If you can't be there for her, you'll regret it and she'll end up resenting you. If you do, she'll likely treasure you for it." Again, I felt a bit like a hypocrite for spouting relationship advice when I'd never had a girlfriend yet, but still, it all made sense at least. Here's hoping that sensible things make any difference in relationships I thought, wishing the best for them both. "You're full of advice for someone who doesn't know anything about what's happening to him," he snidely replied. I sighed, knowing this was likely to come up. "Meaning you think I know exactly what's going on and that I've planned it all to pull poor little Patricia into my evil, 17 year old hands?" "Yeah, something like that," he replied, looking a bit taken aback by my question. "Look, it's quite simple. I never sought Patricia or you out. I've never met her before. I've only been in the state for a day. Actually, I'd say it was more likely that Patricia and you cooked this whole scheme up yourselves, possibly in conjunction with Shani. After all, I'm new in town, I'm an innocent teen unused to all your big city ways and I'm easily swayed since I lack a lot of self confidence. You come up with this whole tall tale and leave me so confused that I'm helpless to fend off whatever scheme you've cooked up." His mouth opened and closed a couple of times as he looked at me in momentary confusion. "Exactly," I said before he could decide what I was getting at. "My point is, that when nothing else makes sense, sometimes the simplest explanation is the best one. There's something going on that none of us understand. I don't think anyone is to blame for it, but it will take all of us working together to figure it all out. Pointing fingers at other people in the same position isn't going to help anyone, and certainly not Patricia or you." "Hmm, you may have a point there," he conceded, not appearing convinced yet. "I'll give it some more thought and let you know what I think." I left him to brood it over, figuring I'd prodded the bear enough for the moment. When we finally got back to the hotel Natalie was pleased as punch to meet Patricia and she just had to hear all the details of our little encounter. She seemed seriously disappointed to not be seeing visions and to feel beholden to me as a result. We ended up spending the afternoon in the lobby discussing the events of the day. Somehow the retelling took longer than the actual events did. Of course Mom and Dad had to put her through the wringer as well. "So, Patricia, what can you tell us about your background?" my father asked much the same question that he'd posed to Shani just this morning. "What is it about you that makes you who you are and, most importantly, why should we trust you around our son?" She regarded my father seriously, then responded. "Well, sir, you can trust me because I would never dare do anything to upset your son. He gave me these visions and he could very well take them away again. The most you could ever do to me was yell at me, or ask me not to see Alex again, but whether I did or not would depend upon Alex. I have no idea what Alex could do if I got him angry with me. I'm not sure I'd like to find out." I was about to protest when Cate simply shook her head, so I just sat instead. Henry had an odd expression on his face, I'm sure he didn't like her saying she'd see me regardless of what anyone else said to her. Luckily for us both he held his tongue as well. My father simply nodded sagely, as if acknowledging the truth of the statement, which I found as frightening as her own statement. "As for the rest, I grew up in Griffin, Georgia. I attended Juilliard in New York City, where I studied music and composition. After I graduated I returned to the south and started touring. I struggled for a while, trying to find enough performances to keep me going, but then I met Henry and he's been helping me book and arrange my tours and that includes a fair amount of time here in New Orleans. I travel for about 2 months at a time, 4 times a year. The rest of the time I either write and record music, visit family and friends or simply play in local clubs to test out my material. I've recorded a couple of self published albums but haven't 'hit the big time' yet. There's not as much of a market for blues singers anymore, but it's the kind of music that I like since it allows me to express a side of the human experience that reaches a lot of my fans and friends. I also play jazz and ballads, again, largely because of the emotional connections they convey. When I sit in front of an audience and start to play, I can feel the mood of the crowd and I'll know if someone there needs something really soulful or if the crowd is interested in something funny and I craft my music to the crowd." "So you're saying you feel the crowd, or the emotions in the crowd, in a similar manner to how you felt my brother's presence when you first became aware of him?" Cate asked, trying to lead the discussion back to her favorite topic, me. I'm not sure I appreciated it but Patricia didn't seem to have any problems discussing either me or anything related to what I could do. "Hmmm, I'm not really sure. I've always been good at sensing the crowd's emotions but I've always thought I was just paying attention. Although usually there are bright lights in my face and I can hardly see anyone or hear much but shouting from the audience, so you may have a point. I've just never thought of it like that before. Never really had a reason to think of it like that before," she admitted. "Cate, I think you're reading too much into this whole..." "Shhh," Shani hushed me, "I think she may be onto something." "Shani, do you have anything similar to that in your background?" Cate asked, turning to her. "Well, I'm not sure I do but I do have all that Carib blood, however watered down it might be. The native tribes were supposed to be more spiritually based than westerners are. I've always thought I was good at sensing other's moods but again, like Patricia, I've just always thought I was good at reading people's body language. I have no idea if I'm sensing something or not. I'm not sure how you could tell something like that. With Alex it's pretty powerful, otherwise I guess it would only be apparent if it led you to believe something you wouldn't ordinarily." "Yeah, I guess you've got a point. Still, it was an intriguing theory," Cate told her, a little disappointed that her newest theory didn't seem to have panned out. "Is it important that it all fit together?" Natalie asked. "Well, I was just wondering why these various women all seem to be attracted to Alex. There seems to be something that attracts people like you, Natalie, and there seems to be something in Shani and Patricia that makes them compatible with whatever Alex does to them. It's like he can tell intuitively whether someone is going to work out, and just does whatever it is that he does without even thinking about it. I'd love to know what it is that he does, especially the real nitty-gritty details of the mechanics but, barring that, I'd like to have some idea of why some women are drawn to him but most aren't. Especially why some are drawn, like you Natalie, but don't trigger whatever he did to the other two." "Yeah, I'd like to know that too," Natalie sighed regretfully. "So what was your family like and what's your relationship with them now?" my father asked, still trying to determine whether she'd be a good influence on his kids. "I've always been close to my mother but my father wasn't very good and was never very nice to any of us kids. He left when I was about 10. I have one sister I'm close to and an older brother that takes after my father, so it's really a mixed bag. For the most part I spend most of my time with other musicians so I tend to keep musicians hours, up all night and sleeping late. Luckily I've never felt the need to compete with them in their abuses. I drink a little, usually whatever they provide during a set but I don't drink a lot and I've never really liked drugs all that much. I've always felt it dulls my senses too much. I can never tell what an audience needs when I've got a buzz on." My father nodded sagely at this again, which made me think he'd have nodded sagely if she said Big Bird served her mixed drinks on a big cloud. "You sound like you have your head squarely on your shoulders," Mom observed. "Well, when you start in the business as young as I did then you pretty much have to; otherwise you burn out and blow away in no time at all. I've been performing for ages and I'm still doing pretty well. I've watched a lot of others either never amount to anything, or do well for a while, then fall apart afterwards." "Was anyone in your family known for their spirituality or have any type of association with fortune telling or having visions or anything?" I could tell that Cate was fishing but I couldn't see any harm in her doing so. "Nope," she stated simply. "Mom wasn't very intuitive about much, otherwise she'd never have settled for a loser like my father, and if she ever felt anything from a person's spirit she would have known John's soul was an empty husk and given up on him." Cate didn't seem happy that another of her theories was blown so she simply remained quiet. "You may be a little too harsh on them," Mom suggested to her. "People try and often fail but sometimes they can surprise you too." "Oh, we got surprised often enough," she answered bitterly. "Like when he'd come in at 3 or 4 in the morning and start beating us, or when he tried to sell my sister to one of his friends. No thank you. I believe in giving people a chance but I don't believe in giving them a chance to hurt you. Once they show themselves to be dangerous it's going to take a lot for me to take them back. John was just like that as well, he stole from my mother, my sister and me. Luckily I knew enough from my childhood to protect my assets so he couldn't touch them, although he tried to steal my identity to access my funds." It made me feel better to hear that. While I was hoping to ease tensions between Henry and me for her sake, I was still nervous about the honesty of his intentions. He seemed much more concerned about himself than he was about her. At least now I knew that she had likely protected herself and was wary of troublesome partners. "Well, there is that," my mother conceded. After that the conversation degraded into a discussion about me; what I was like, what I did, about my background and what I was like as a kid. I'd heard it all before and I always get uncomfortable when people start gushing about how wonderful I am, so I offered to do a drink run. The girls all seemed to take offense at that but I eventually talked them into allowing me to accompany Natalie on a snack run for everyone. As we were walking away Natalie turned to me, "Gee, that's really quite a group. I'm glad you allowed me to hang around. It's really fascinating what you're doing here. I don't understand any of it but..." I gently growled at her before adding, "Natalie, I'm not doing anything. I have no idea what's happened, it wasn't planned and I have no grand scheme. I'm simply along for the ride along with the rest of you." "Still," she argued, "you didn't need to invite me along. I don't share any of these abilities or anything. I just found you fascinating, although I guess I was always good at feeling other people's pain. I used to sit and listen to my girlfriends pour out their souls to me. Normally they wouldn't want to talk about it but I'd always get them to." I simply looked at her as we walked before addressing that. "That's the kind of information that Cate was looking for, you should have said something to her about it." "I didn't think it counted. After all, I'm not one of the chosen ones." "Aaargh!" I groaned in exasperation, "I DIDN'T choose anyone! I have no idea of what's going on and I have no control of anything." "Oh, I don't know," she laughed, "I'd guess you have a lot of control over both Shani and Patricia. You name it and they'd both jump to do it as fast as they could. Some guys like that. Some guys like that a lot." Again I simply growled and left it alone but it got me to thinking a bit. I wondered just how far they'd let me go if I decided to push my luck. Probably pretty far, alas the curse of the good guy I lamented. We can't do much but be nice, despite the fact that most girls just aren't interested in the good guy type. By the time we got back the conversation was breaking up and Patricia was getting ready to leave. Seems Henry was anxious to get her back. She stated that she really had to get home and get a little rest before she headed over to the club to go over things with her band but that she looked forward to our meeting her at the club. She told us that everything was set up and to just show up at the door at ten. When I asked what the name of the club was everyone laughed. "Cate and your mother assured us that if we left it up to you, they'd never arrive, so I gave them all the information. You're in their very capable hands. I hope you enjoy the show, your opinion really means a lot to me." I felt my face getting warm again. "That's silly," I told her, "I have no background in music and I wouldn't know whether you were playing the chords correctly or not." "That may be true, although I doubt it, what I'm interested in is your appreciation of it. I'm really interested in your opinion of it, and of me," she added, saying the last part in a soft whisper, though it didn't take anyone there much to guess what she was saying. She tugged on my shirt a bit, as if thinking about what to do, then gave me a quick kiss and set off with her arm around Henry. For his sake, he gave me a baleful glare after her kiss but didn't do or say anything else, something I gave him credit for. Everyone wished her well and then we began discussing dinner. ------- Chapter 4: Reservations and A Show We all had dinner at another excellent spot. I must say I was enjoying the meals on this trip tremendously. All the women groused about how much they were going to have to work in order to burn off all the calories but I could tell they enjoyed it, and none of them were really all that heavy to have to worry about it. Of course, not being 'all that heavy' doesn't mean much if your clothes don't fit but I meant it didn't detract from their looks. For myself, I had a very high metabolism and that I pretty much had to eat continually just to maintain my current weight. The thought of actually adding any pounds was a difficult achievement for me. Cate also 'suffered' from this affliction, helping her look good without really having to work at it. I guess it's what gave her all that excess energy she used to obsess about every little detail of her studies. I didn't have any more encounters. Natalie ate with us this time, and she had fun pointing out the few women we saw that were like her, attracted to me without knowing why, but not quite compelled to go any farther. I think she felt lucky to have been pulled into our group at random and enjoyed counting everyone of a similar state who didn't get included. The conversation was light for a change, although Natalie told Cate about relating to people based on her feelings about them, which only prompted further discussions on the topic. Neither Mom nor Dad had much to contribute, leaving most of the theorizing to Cate. I don't know whether they felt ill equipped for the discussion, or they simply still didn't believe it. I guess we'd have a long discussion at some point but until then I'd just go with the flow and deal with whatever questions were directed at me and just try to ignore the whole issue. However, it's kind of hard to avoid a discussion when you're the central topic and everyone keeps looking at you for your input. After we ate we wandered a bit, able to relax a little more. I was beginning to hope that maybe we'd met everyone we were going to meet, but we still had a long time here and there were plenty of people around. Plus, I was sure there'd be new people coming into town all week long. The show didn't start until later so we just walked around, enjoying the sights and sounds. Shani and Natalie both made excellent tour guides and we learned a lot. I wasn't as fascinated by the history, not being a huge history buff, but was more interested in all the people doing so many different things. Being from such a small town I wasn't used to all the activity or the wide variety of people available in such a small area. Finally, night descended and the various clubs began coming alive so we made our way over to Patricia's club. It was nice being able to walk into a smoky nightclub with my parents for a change, I was feeling grown up all of a sudden and I'm sure Cate must have been feeling it even more than I. When we told the doorman who we were, he immediately called the manager who personally escorted us to a table sitting only a few feet from the stage, just slightly off center. The doorman didn't initially recognize us though, since Dad had asked using his own name. When Mom mentioned my name, that got all the attention. I felt like the life of a party, I'd never been able to open doors before. Heck, I had never been invited anywhere before. The manager, Oliver, a large black man, told us that we were considered VIPs and to feel free to ask for anything we wanted. He introduced us to our waitress, Nancy, who mentioned that Patricia had told her all about us. I'd made it a point not to call Patricia by the nickname Patty that Henry had used, figuring that was a private thing between the two of them. She introduced herself as Patricia so that's what we all called her. Nancy brought Dad and Natalie a beer, Mom a Long Island Iced tea and Shani a Mojito. Shani's choice impressed me as an excellent choice, it was the kind I'd have chosen if I could drink. None of the other choices seemed as interesting or as sophisticated. Cate and I stuck with the basic diet soda, not daring to risk asking for anything illegal with both our parents watching us. The club was filling quickly with all types of people, from regulars, locals and tourists alike. As I said, the bar was smoky, all the new anti-smoking laws apparently not having taken hold here. Still, as much as I hated the idea of smelling like smoke once we were done, I simply considered it a part of the atmosphere, a dark and smoky blues club, attracting trouble in an exotic locale. It had everything I'd always imagined a bar should. It was certainly better than the crummy joints that the kids at school always hung out at. Just before the show started Henry came out to check on us. He told us that Patricia was really nervous about our being here and that this was the first time he'd ever seen her this nervous before a performance. Normally she just loved performing but now all her thoughts seem to be focused on me. I felt bad for both Henry and Patricia, once again feeling that I'd somehow inserted myself into their lives, but beyond that there wasn't much I could do about it. Yet Henry was nice, making sure we were all comfortable before hurrying back to help Patricia prepare herself. Finally the lights dimmed, everyone settled themselves for a show, the lights came on and the show began. Her band all came in and showed off a bit. I noticed a table near ours with the various girls sitting around it that Patricia had mentioned housed the various groupies that the band members had attending most shows. Patricia came on last to a nice round of applause, apparently she was known by the people here despite not being a local act. She strode up and took over the stage. She announced there was someone special here and that was to whom she was dedicating the performance. I started saying, 'Don't do it, don't do it' over and over to myself, only to realize that it may be reaching her but she never showed any effect. Luckily she didn't introduce me either. She had a guitar but she mostly just sang, really belting out the blues. She started with "My Heart Bleeds The Blues", and segued into "Don't Lie To Me", apparently both fairly common staples of the genre. Although I'd heard several blues songs and generally liked most of them, I hadn't been a particular fan of the music, but when Patricia started to put her heart into it I could feel her emotions and she belted them all out for everyone to hear. I noticed that she started out trying to sing to me, or at least our table, but she had to give it up, I assume because my 'glare' was proving distracting. Eventually she began singing primarily to the other side of the room. During a particular ballad, she began to wander around the room. She walked by me and put her hand on my shoulder and sang to the room, facing away while squeezing me. We all applauded wildly and even joined in as the audience all shouted their approval and made various comments to echo the sentiments of the various songs. The set went on for a long time but she finally ended it and she and the band disappeared. Shortly after Nancy brought out a fresh round of drinks and told us that Patricia would be out shortly as she was anxious to speak to us, though she was looking at me when she said it. She showed up soon after but was immediately swarmed by several well wishers. After speaking to them briefly, she finally came over to the table with Henry in tow behind her, and gave me a quick kiss and pulling up a chair, sat down to join us. "So what'd y'all think?" she asked excitedly. "We all thought it was excellent," my father told her. "Wonderful," stated Natalie. "I could really tell you really felt each word you were singing," Cate added. I could tell she enjoyed all these various comments but I also knew she was primarily concerned with what I thought of it. "It was unbelievable," I told her honestly. "You poured your soul out and I felt both depressed at the lyrics while being uplifted by the melody. I'm really proud of you," I beamed. Her smile just lit up the table as a look of relief rolled over her expression. "Thanks, I was worried what you'd think," she explained. "It was odd, the feelings I was getting from you really cut me off from feeling the audience," she told me. "I just couldn't tell what they were feeling so I had to look away from you. Still, it's like trying to listen to someone whisper during a rock concert. Finally I found I had to do something else so I tried to use the new vision I have. I found myself trying to get all the various auras to sync up. I'm not sure if we've properly explained what they're like," she told everyone at the table, "but each person's seems to be different. Their core color seems to remain steady but the various colors around that core vary, so I tried to focus on that and tried to get more of them to feel what the rest were. I think I did a fairly good job but it's hard to judge things when you're unused to the medium," she laughed. "You handled it wonderfully, the audience loved it," my mother told her. "That's what a couple of the regulars told me," she explained. "It was really great being able to share my talents with you," she enthused, taking my hands in hers. "Somehow knowing you were there listening just made the whole evening more special and I put even more emotion into my singing than I normally do." I turned and glanced at Henry, expecting him to take offense to this but he seemed to have figured out what I was thinking. "Hey, don't worry man, if she performs that well because of your inspiration you can inspire her all you want. She was wonderful tonight. If she can keep this up I can start pushing the club owners for a few more bucks," he added, grinning at me. We continued to chat, being frequently interrupted by other well wishers. I could tell that Cate was dying to press her for details on what she'd said about her new abilities but we didn't have the privacy or the time. We stayed for the next set and again applauded wildly as she seemed even better yet, but Dad left word with Nancy and Henry that we had to be heading off. Henry was sitting there at the time and agreed that she'd miss us but would probably appreciate the chance to see how she could perform using her new approach without me being there to distract her. He thanked us wholeheartedly and gave us each a hug as we departed. The streets were quite busy and noisy outside. Shani walked with my parents while Natalie excused herself, saying she had to be getting home in order to be prepared for the early shift at work in the morning. It seems she did the weekend morning shift then had much of the rest of the week off. I had the distinct impression that Shani was being especially attentive to my parents, hoping to positively influence them and allay any remaining fears they might have about her. I think she thought like Patricia did, in that, ultimately, it only mattered what I thought, but I liked the fact that she went out of her way to include them. That also managed to leave some time for Cate and I to converse somewhat privately. "Cate?" I quietly asked my sister as we walked, the evening having been largely free of most of the concerns that had been plaguing me since we first arrived in the city yesterday afternoon. However, now that the distractions were largely over, all my worries and concerns were returning with a vengeance. "Yeah?" she quietly asked. "I'm kind of freaked out by all this shit," I admitted, after dropping a bit further back from the adults who were walking ahead of us. "No shit!" she stated emphatically. "Who'd have ever thunk? You're in the middle of a significant scientific, cultural and personal change and you're nervous?" Perhaps sensing my mood, she moved closer to me and regarded me more seriously. "It's not just how weird all of this is. I'm a little scared of Shani. She's pretty intense. I've been on like a total of five dates, and here she is talking about giving up her life and family for me, someone she only met a day ago," I complained, staring up at the stars and thinking about how complicated my life had recently become. "Actually it's only 2 dates," I was rudely corrected by my sister, "group dates don't count." "Yeah, how many have you been on?" I challenged defensively, instantly regretting it. She wasn't as unpopular as I was and had gone on quite a few dates. "I've been around the block," she answered. "I'm not quite as terminally shy as you are. Plus it's easier for girls. Every guy in the world asks us out in the hope that we'll say yes, whereas a guy has to work up the nerve to ask. That ultimately means the offensive jerks end up having a better shot than the nice, quiet guys." She'd grown even more eloquent in the relative quiet that enveloped us after the recent din of the club, but I simply chalked her wordiness up to nervousness. She got that way frequently whenever we discussed something a bit awkward. "Honestly, how would you react if, out of the blue, this handsome older man suddenly appeared in front of you, professing utter devotion, calling you an Angel and treating you like a demigod?" I asked, ready to pour my heart out. Well, maybe not my heart, I always disliked guys who gush, but at least my fears. "Honey," she drawled in a fake Southern accent, "he'd better call me 'Angel'." I laughed, I couldn't help it. She continued, "And he'd better treat me like a demigoddess, otherwise we're going to have trouble. "Seriously though, I can see the stress, but it's not like you're in this alone. You've got me, you've got Becky who can help me do some testing on you when we get home. You have Shani and Mom and Dad. We'll all get through it," she explained, valiantly trying to console me. "I don't know. Right now I'm pretty nervous. Tell you what though, I want you to promise not to tell her where we live," I insisted, looking into her eyes so I could measure her response to my request. "What? How's she supposed to find us then?" my sister asked, suddenly concerned for the source of my fears, rather than for her brother who was suffering from them. "That's the point. I'm not sure I want her going to our house," I stated with a false note of finality. I knew she'd never let it rest with a simple declaration on my part. "It's not like she couldn't just Google it," Cate argued. "Yeah, I should have thought of that before and given her a false name but it's too late now." Geez, you just never manage to think to lie to a person while they're clutching your leg, on their knees in the middle of a city calling you Master. It just never occurs to you to invent fake names beforehand. If only I'd thought to create a fictitious background before leaving home, I mock scolded myself in exasperation over an impossible situation. "Look, I'm not sure I can do that to her," Cate replied, almost beseechingly, while she glanced at the subject of our discussion. She didn't look happy at the prospect of treating a new friend badly. I knew she felt that Shaniqua was important to my potential future but that didn't change the way I felt about the situation. "Come on, you're my sister. You're supposed to help me," I complained. I couldn't understand why she wouldn't be willing to stand up for me. She had for much of our lives. For all the times she wasn't tormenting me that is. "I'm not so sure this is helping you. Personally I think it's a terrible idea." "Still, I want the option to make my own decisions, not have them thrust upon me. This is my life we're talking about." "Yes, it's your life and your decision, but it's the wrong decision," she lectured me, frowning. "And that's for me to decide; not you and not her." I wasn't happy and I was getting fed up as well. Here was one woman deciding I should be the center of her life and my sister was fully supporting her in her delusion. Well, I just wasn't ready for that level of responsibility. I'm not ready to be a daddy or a husband or leader of people with new abilities. I'm just a kid and my only plans are to attend college in the fall. "Well what about Patricia and Natalie?" she asked, trying to raise objections so she wouldn't have to commit right away. "They're in a separate category," I rationalized. "Patricia is tied into business contracts here and probably won't be able to back out of them, plus she's never mentioned trying to follow me." "Only because she's too afraid you'd say no," my sister mumbled under her breath. "Still, I don't think I'll have a problem with her, besides, she's got Henry to lean on," I added. "Yeah, he'll provide support as long as she keeps paying his salary," she snarkily replied. "Still, she's got her own support system here. I don't think Natalie will be a problem either. She's fascinated by all of this but she doesn't really feel she's got any kind of claim on me. She won't object when we leave at the end of the week." "We'll see about that," Cate replied but I could tell she knew she was losing the argument with herself. "Still, I can deal with those two, but Shani's the only one who's talked about following me home," I stressed, "I'm not sure it's a good idea to let her abandon her job, her friends, her family and her home just for someone she just met." Cate sighed heavily. "Damn. All right, I'll agree, although I don't like it and I think it's a serious mistake. How are we ever going to learn about this if we don't have access to the necessary information?" Now that sounds like Cate, I thought, concerned more about her future research than for her own brother's future. Still, I'd managed to win her over, so at least I'd have some say over my future now. "Look, you can test me all you want, but you can't control my life. And yeah, no giving her our phone number or taking hers or anything like that. It's going to be MY decision if I stay in contact with her, no one else's." I felt firm about this. I didn't want to completely change my life just because some strange woman started seeing lights. It just wasn't fair, to either of us. "All right, I'll agree. Still, it's a terrible idea." "Who knows, I haven't really decided yet, it may not even be an issue," I tried to reassure her, though I doubted it. At least in the case of an unplanned pregnancy the guy actually does something to deserve what happens to him. I hadn't done, or chosen to do, anything. I just had this whole thing thrown at me out of the blue. "What about Mom and Dad though," she countered. "Don't you think they'll have something to say about your abandoning her?" "Ha," I replied lightly, "I'm sure they'll be glad some strange woman isn't going to come home, move in with me and corrupt their precious son." "Well someone needs to corrupt him, your right hand isn't getting you out of the house very often," she snidely countered. Cate took another breath and immediately launched into a new discussion. "OK, changing the topic, that leads to something else. I was thinking that maybe we should try a different sort of test. You managed to connect with Shani because you came to a large city where there were more people, thus better chances of being near someone with whatever it is you two have," she explained. She stopped walking and considered me. "And?" I prompted her to continue. "I want you to try and see if you can connect with some more people around here," she finally concluded. "There are a few million people around here and you won't have a chance like this again anytime soon." She had an excellent point. Our town had maybe a few thousand people and that was about it. We lived far off in the country. She had a point, but I still had my doubts. "But I have no idea how I did it in the first place," I complained, feeling utterly lost again. "Besides, it's not like we have any lack of interest in me. We've seen plenty of people around watching me and it's only the second day we've been here." "That may be, but I think it makes sense for us to get you out and about and away from the French Quarter. You're only likely to meet a few tourists here. So far it seems your reach is a few blocks. We need to expose you to more people," she explained. "I guess," I sighed, resuming walking. "It's not like I did anything to begin with. But there's logistics to consider," I argued. "How do I get close enough to anyone and give them enough time to find me, given how few people respond to me?" "Yeah, I'll have to think about that," she conceded. "You know, given the number of looks I observed before I mentioned anything, there's the chance there may be a few people that are still looking for you. Patricia waited a day before she could connect with you." "Yeah," I replied, thinking I'd won the mini argument, "if we leave the French Quarter, they'd have no way to track me down. Staying in one place would give more people a chance to find me." She acknowledged that I had a point so we both said we'd think about it, but only after I got her to agree once more not to give Shani our address. Having finished our discussion we quickly caught up to the adults since we were at Canal, they'd already crossed, so heavily engrossed in their own discussion that they were largely ignoring us. When we caught up to them they welcomed us back, mentioning they hoped we'd had a good discussion but none of them asked what we'd been talking about. Instead they brought us up on what they'd been discussing. "We've been talking about Ms. Sharp's credentials and what sort of opportunities she might find around our neck of the woods," Mom mentioned, causing me to groan inwardly, thinking that while I was trying to convince Cate not to encourage her, my parents were doing just that only yards ahead of us. Still, I had the good grace to not make any outward signs of my disappointment and told myself to have a talk with my parents at the first opportunity. "So what was the consensus?" asked Cate, smiling at me as she said it, twisting the proverbial knife in my back with a delicate little twist. "I think there are a fair number of opportunities," my father related, "if not nearby then at least not too far away. She said she's not afraid to drive a bit in exchange for being near us." I was about to explode in frustration. This was exactly what I didn't want them discussing. In explaining about the business opportunities they'd probably told her all about where we lived. If they didn't give her the address outright already she'd at least be able to call information and locate us with that much intel. "Well, that's good news," I lied, gritting my teeth as I said it. My mother had taught me to lie with the best of them, only not to do it in any useful manner, just to do it while being disingenuously polite. "Yes it is," Cate echoed, smiling at me the whole time, "Just think how excited Natalie and Patricia will be when they hear?" Yes, it was true, I planned to murder my sister once I managed to reach the privacy of our room. "I don't think that's such a good idea," I hedged. "They might be disappointed that they can't come as well." "Oh, I don't know about that," Cate began. "They could alw..." "No, no," I insisted, cutting my sister off before she could offer a viable alternative. "They both have too many ties here in the city. I'm sure they couldn't get out of their contracts and other obligations." I made sure to glare at Cate enough so she wouldn't try any more sneaky little tricks to undermine me. It may already be too late to stop it but at least I could try to salvage the rest of my life. However it was looking like I'd have to do the impractical thing and actually sit down and talk it all over with Shani. That was NOT my first choice however. The rest of the walk Mom and Dad told us all about Shani's resume and experience, and how it might fit in with the few industries and businesses near us while I remained mostly quiet and practiced my poker face skills, not that I've ever played or been any good at maintaining a poker face before. Cate was eating it up however, luckily she had stopped goading me by suggesting things to my parents though. As we neared the front of the hotel Shani stopped us for a moment and gave me a big hug and a quick, but emotional kiss. "I'll miss not being near you," she told me, simply reinforcing all of my fears. "However, I've got to get home and change and organize all my things and such," she explained, before confiding just loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Plus I think your parents will feel better if we do things the 'old fashioned' way and make out when they can't see us so they can pretend it isn't happening." We all had to laugh at that, despite our various reasons to dread the truth of it. I was disappointed though, despite my conflicted emotions concerning Shani. I really liked her a lot and I really wanted to spend time with her, especially if it involved any fooling around at all. It's just that I was feeling very put upon and wasn't quite ready to grow up that much, that quickly, just that soon. So we all waved goodbye to Shani as she got into her little car and drove away into the night. "Do you think she may have had a little too much to drink?" Mom asked. I remembered that Shani hadn't really been drinking much. I remembered because I'd been intrigued by the minty drink she'd been working on for most of the evening. "No, I think she'll be OK," I told her without explaining why. I think Mom was glad she'd managed to avoid facing seeing a strange woman going into my room for some carnal exploration and she really didn't want to have to examine the reasons why it really wasn't such a good idea. We all headed upstairs while rehashing much of what had happened during the day and suggesting things we might do tomorrow. At the door our parents wished us a good night as we entered our separate rooms. It had been a long, emotional day and we were all tired. Plus it was a late night having sat through the set and a half of Patricia's. I think we were all ready for bed. As Cate and I prepared for sleep she started talking while she was in the bathroom doing her nightly ablutions. "You know, I think we could try a little experiment here tonight if you're interested," she suggested. "Yeah, like what?" I asked a shade dubiously. "While you had a point about how it wouldn't make much sense to travel around to find additional people, sitting here in the room would be ideal for people to find us. I think you should try to see if you can reach out and contact some more people." "What? That doesn't make any sense, that isn't how it worked with Shani and Patricia," I argued. "I know, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't work, just that you haven't tried it yet. You've already demonstrated that you can send telepathic messages, maybe you can use them to pull other subjects in to you? Maybe you could even increase whatever it is that's currently attracting them?" I had to think of this to figure out if it made any sense at all, but like all of Cate's suggestions, I knew it was probably true as soon as she suggested it. I just couldn't think of any arguments against it yet. "So, how would you suggest I go about doing something like this? My telepathy with Shani and Patricia is anything but clear," I asked, filled with skepticism. "Well, I considered that. Just try letting your mind wander, see if you can sense anyone out there. If that doesn't work, try doing what you do when you communicate with Shani. Only instead of thinking of her, try directing it more generally to anyone who might be listening." Her recommendation made sense. It was a nice logical approach, something I could always count on Cate to come up with. Maybe this wouldn't be so difficult after all. Then I reconsidered. No, this didn't make any sense. "Personally, I think you're crazy," I told her. "Whatever happened before was accidental and it seemed to be due to proximity. I think the telepathy came after." "Yeah, but we'll never be sure until we try, that's what experiments are for," she reminded me. Yeah, like she had to tell me what experiments are for. "Anyway, just give it a try and see what happens," she reasonably suggested. It was hard to argue with that. What was the worst that could happen? I'd sit around and nothing would happen for 10 minutes? "All right, let me try lying down so I can relax. Unless you think stress is the key and yelling at me would help?" I asked sarcastically. "Maybe later, let's just try the simplest technique first," she replied and I growled at her in response. Still, I lay on the bed and rested my head against the big giant pillows the hotel used. I lay my arms out, palms up so nothing would bother them and took a few deep calming breaths; trying to ignore my sister who was nervously watching my every move. "Alright. Oh, and try picturing the front of the hotel. Try imagining the name or the title of the hotel on the banner outside and see if you can convey that, otherwise they'll never know how to contact us. So far they've been able to figure out where you were but if we can reach farther out this time they might need some assistance," she suggested. She'd apparently been putting a lot of thought into this. She apparently saw her new role of watching out for my new abilities very seriously. "OK, got it," I responded as I tried relaxing again and closed my eyes, trying to think peaceful thoughts. I tried to relax and just see if anything happened on its own. After a few moments with nothing happening I tried just thinking about theoretical peoples and imagined searching for them. It didn't have any effect. Finally I tried what I'd done a couple of times with Shani, only this time I did it while trying to project it out to the world in general. Do you have any idea how hard it is to think about something so general and nonspecific? All I did was sit and think about different ways to think, and I'll tell you something, there's basically only one way to think, even when casting out a mental call to addressees unknown. Suddenly I felt a sense of accomplishment and figured I must have been successful but couldn't tell for sure. After pausing to consider it I continued with the same tack, only trying for a clearer message. I felt a little confused and hoped someone was asking 'What?' so I tried to picture the front of the hotel, then switched to imagining the large neon name blazoned on the front of it. "You got a response?" Cate asked excitedly. I tried to ignore her interruption, but it's hard to do this kind of thing while someone's excitedly shouting out to you, so the moment was spoiled. I hoped the message got thru despite my doubts and finally opened my eyes and glared at my sister. "It's better when you don't interrupt," I suggested to her. "Oh, sorry, but I'm just so excited. Is there anything I can do to help?" she insincerely apologized, literally hopping from one foot to the other, reaching for her notebook in her backpack. "No. I'm not sure it worked. I got the sense that I got someone, but didn't have any kind of confirmation so I can't be sure. It's all sort of based on feelings and the messages are just random ideas that pop into your head, so it's really hard to quantify it." This telepathy stuff was nothing like you see it on TV. First of all there's no reading of minds, then, when you do get a message it's hardly clear at all; just a bunch of vague impressions. I was wishing magical, telepathic abilities were as easy as the movies portray them. But then doesn't everyone wish life were as easy as TV and the movies? We'd never have to work at anything and we'd finish all our major life events in an hour and a half. "We're going to have to talk about all of that so I can document it, that's important to the process," she declared, making a firm decision about what her future plans were. Again, she was focused on the scientific end of things. I was a bit more concerned about whether it worked and what the results might be. "What's important to the process is peace and quiet," I mumbled, sitting up. "Beyond that it's mostly just guessing and hoping, more than anything else." "Well, just focus on anything that's not images of naked ladies. Those are probably just your normal thoughts," Cate teased me, which I found strangely reassuring. It showed that we were both more or less back to our normal relationships, albeit in a weird happenstance of communicating telepathically with strangers. "Humph," I said, but was amused by her comment. "Do you want to try again? Did you imagine the hotel so they'll be able to find us?" Cate wanted to know. I couldn't fault her for her curiosity. We were in a strange circumstance, playing with powerful issues and my sister was trying to insert a little order into an otherwise invented environment. She deserved to know all that I'd seen so she'd better be able to advise me. "You keep saying 'they, ' I'm hoping it's not a whole bunch of people. A single one would be nice, maybe no one would be nicer yet," I complained to her. "Yeah, you're no fun," she responded. "Here we are at the forefront of science and all you want to do is roll over and go to sleep." "Calm down, I need to focus, that's all my poor brain can handle while battling all the images of naked ladies dancing around inside my head," I teased her right back. We worked best when we were in our little teasing ritual, it helped ease and relax us both while distracting me from the serious consequences of what we were doing. I tried various techniques but didn't achieve anything else. Still, I felt like I might have reached someone that one time so we hoped for the best. I couldn't deny it, as much as I tried to be annoyed by the whole process, it was exciting to be able to do something like this. Now that I could relax on my own for a change I admitted to myself that the whole process was pretty intriguing. Plus, I already had practically more friends than I had at home. Still, we couldn't stay up all night anticipating someone's arrival. We had plans for the morning so we eventually drifted off to sleep. ------- I suddenly came awake into a darkened room and lay there confused as I groaned, trying to will myself back to sleep. It was much too early for any kind of human activity and I certainly had no desire to be awake. "What the fuck was that," mumbled my sister, more aware of our surroundings than I was. I hadn't even been aware what had awakened me. "It was just a dream. Go back to sleep," I muttered and tried to ignore her. That lasted all of about seven seconds before there was a rapid knock on the door, which shocked me so much I almost fell out of bed. "Who the hell is that?" Cate asked, her voice masked with a combination of confusion, concern and annoyance. "I don't know. It's the front door so it's not Mom and Dad," I grunted as I tried to find my pants in the dark. It took a while to remember what we'd been doing before we fell asleep and what it might mean. "Do you think it might be whoever I reached earlier?" I asked. "I don't know, but I can't think of anyone else knocking at this time of night," she responded, much too coherently for my taste. I was just hoping this wasn't simply some drunk knocking on the wrong door in the middle of the night. Just as I got one leg into the wrong leg of my jeans, Cate managed to turn on the bedside light. Besides blinding me enough to fall back on the bed, it did help with dressing. I was stumbling toward the door when the rapid knock occurred again. Although it had sounded astonishingly loud before, now it seemed quiet but insistent. I opened the door a smidgen and glanced out to see Shani's worried face. "Hey, what's up Shani?" I asked, keeping my voice low to avoid waking any neighbors. I had no idea why she was knocking on our door in the middle of the night but figured she'd get to it. There's no need to be rude just because I'm annoyed. "Weren't you on the way home?" I glanced at my watch and saw that only about 40 minutes had passed since we'd parted. Cate and I hadn't managed to last very long with our experiment. "I don't know what's up," she responded a little testily. "And yes, I was on my way home." I held the door open for her just as Cate rushed up behind me and held onto my shoulders, looking past me at Shani. "I was on the way home when I got this impression you were calling me but I couldn't get a clear message so I figured I'd better get over here and see what's happening," Shani explained as she entered the apartment. "Oh, that," I said with a yawn, still trying to clear my mind enough to form a coherent explanation. "We were trying to ... see if anyone ... responded to a mental call." It was hard to complete a sentence when you're only partly awake. I gently closed the door with Cate continuing to hold my shoulders from behind me. "Oh. I was worried that maybe something had happened to you and you couldn't complete a message or something. I was so scared I hurried over so fast I was afraid I'd get stopped by the police. What the hell would I do then? Say 'Gee officer, I was hurrying over to this cute 17 year olds' apartment because I got this feeling he was trying to mentally talk to me but he couldn't complete the message'? I don't think that'd go over very well." I felt like laughing at the mental imagery but she was clearly still upset. Before I could do anything Cate abandoned my side and ran up and held her, just as a knock sounded from the adjoining door. "Damn, that's Mom and Dad," I hissed. Ignoring the two beautiful girls hugging in my hotel room I walked around them and opened the interior door to the face of my anxious parents. They saw Shani and got even more anxious. "What's up? Do you have any idea what time it is?" my father insisted. "No Dad, I don't. I managed to figure we've only been asleep for a little while but I didn't have the presence of mind to memorize the time." I was way too tired to be polite at this hour of the night. "What's Shani doing here?" my mother asked, despite my mumbled responses. "She got a partial message from Alex, Mom; she was worried that maybe something had happened," replied Cate, always the rational one. "Partial message? What ... never mind. Why's she concerned? What could have happened?" Mom continued. "I don't know," whimpered Shani, pulling herself from Cate's sheltering embrace. "I just imagined the worst. As I turned around and hurried back here I was imagining all the things that could happen to cause a garbled message and then nothing. I was scared for them." Damn, she even had tears in her eyes. Shit, this is really getting too much for me. Mom walked quickly over to her and held her as well while Dad glared at me as if it were all my fault somehow. "What? What'd I do?" I tried to protest my innocence. "Did you try to contact her? I'm assuming this is that silly telepathy stuff," Dad questioned me. Turning to Shani he asked, "Why didn't you just pick up a phone?" Before she could answer I jumped in. "Cate and I were experimenting earlier. She wanted me to try to see if I could find someone else in the immediate area that might also have ... whatever the fuck it is I have." "Alex!" announced my mother in that warning tone all mothers seem to have. "Sorry, Mom. It was Cate's idea that I may be able to reach someone with a generic telepathic message instead of simply ... waiting for them to show up," I explained, struggling to stifle a yawn. "Anyway, I guess Shani must have picked up on my crude attempts at trying to figure out how to do it." "So, were you successful?" Dad asked us. "No, I guess not," I replied, still trying to wrap my head around what actually happened and what everyone thought had happened. "You know, you two should really talk to us before trying these wild schemes of yours," my father said sternly. "We should?" answered back my sister. "So you can aid us with your years of experience in dealing with psychic phenomena and feeling unidentified presences and their potential physics considerations?" she asked quite condescendingly. I thought my father might get upset at her response but he just meekly shrugged. "At least you should wait until everyone's awake," he responded lamely. "What, you mean while we're wandering around the city? Or all excited so Alex can't relax enough? I figured the evening was the best time. Alex is relaxed, I'm here to help him and we're all in one place for several hours so someone could find us easily." "Ok, Ok. You've got very good points. Apparently you've thought about these things much more than I have," Dad responded weakly. "Don't worry, Dad. This is new to all of us. Alex was about to fall apart earlier. If you think it's overwhelming, just think how he's feeling," Cate explained, revealing all of my fears to the world. "Isn't it the same for Shani and Patricia?" Mom reasonably responded. "Not to mention Natalie," Dad added. "Well..." began Cate, catching herself before revealing anything about the other things that'd caused me to freak out. "I think she's trying to say that these things are more extreme for Alex," contributed Shani. "After all, he's younger. He seems to be controlling it. He feels responsible and he's inexperienced. Altogether he's not sure if he can handle the responsibilities yet. Is that right, Alex?" She tried to look at me for confirmation but had to shield her eyes, as always, so she couldn't measure my response. Something I was thankful for because I thought she'd figured out the real reasons why I was so distraught. Not that the reasons specified weren't all terrifying enough. "Oh, poor baby," Mom cried, abandoning the two girls to come running over to me. I tried to act annoyed, but when you're upset it's always comforting to be held by your mother, even if it is embarrassing as hell. "So you just thought some random thought and Shani received it and couldn't let you know she was the one you reached?" Dad asked, still unsure of the details. "It's not quite as clear as all of that," I tried to elaborate. "When you receive a message, it's just another series of random thoughts in your head. You have to try to distinguish them from the other random feeling and emotions running through you at that moment. I had a sensation of success, but it was just a hazy feeling and I didn't get a clear message in response because I usually don't get clear messages." "Patricia and I are the only one's who've gotten clear messages," Shani explained, "but only when Alex was upset with us." "I wasn't upset..." I began. "Yeah, yeah, we know," my father tiredly told me, familiar with my common complaint. "So now that you've managed to scare everyone awake in the middle of the night, how about if we all just go back to bed?" Mom asked us. "Uhh," Shani hesitantly replied. "It's really too late for you to return home again," Mom responded. "I really shouldn't have let you go before as we'd all been drinking. You'll have to stay the night. Why don't you sleep in our room and leave the two children alone to sleep the night away," she stressed, giving her a meaningful glance at the mention of children. "Thanks, it's a very gracious offer. Though don't you have a single double bed in your room?" "As a matter of fact, we do," stated my father hesitantly. "Well then I think it makes more sense if I just share Cate's bed then. That way I can physically restrain her the next time she gets a new idea she wants to experiment with," Shani responded to my mother's unspoken challenge. I knew right away that my parents had just been successfully played; and they didn't even see it coming. "Well I think..." Dad tried to protest. "Frank," warned my mother, glaring at my father, "let the kids be. They won't try anything knowing we're next door. Besides, how else are we going to end up with a bunch of nice telepathic grandbabies?" Her laughter echoed thru the room as she dragged my father, still mumbling protests, out the door. ------- Chapter 5: A Little Sinner in a Holy Place The sounds of movement in my room woke me in the morning. I was wrestling with trying to fall back asleep when someone leaned over me and kissed me. "Good morning sleepyhead," Shani enthused. Her face was bright and happy in the early morning light. The events of the previous night slowly came back to me. I had spent the previous evening bemoaning the sudden sense I had of my life becoming quickly overwhelming. Without forewarning, I now had a near stranger who wanted to dedicate her future to me. I was still a young man, finishing an uneventful high school experience and just getting ready for a new University life. The last thing I needed was an unexpected responsibility just when I was looking forward to a carefree existence of boobs, booze and drugs. "Good morning. If someone woke me like that every morning I wouldn't be as late for school as I usually am," I replied, masking my unease with a smile as I briefly kissed her back. "Yeah," my sister cackled from across the room, "I can see Mom doing that every morning." "Oh yuck, oh yuck," I retorted, "just go putting thoughts like that in my head when I wake up in such a good mood." Thoughts of my mother kissing me awake, each of us under dressed in night time attire, filled me with dread. "Yeah stud," teased Shani, "we can both see what a good mood you're in this morning." I looked down and saw that I'd awoken, twisted up in my sheets, leaving my nether regions exposed. I blushed furiously and struggled for several moments trying to untangle my sheets in order to cover myself, all to no avail, so I finally just surrendered and sat up. At this point both girls were openly laughing at me. Well, giggling actually. They were enjoying my reaction, not taking pleasure in my discomfort. I guess anyway. My sister and I liked to tease, but I knew I could always trust her to look out for me; especially given her renewed promise of last night. I also knew that however nervous I might feel about Shani's influence on my life, that she really only wanted the best for me. "Does your brother usually wake up like that?" Shaniqua pressed while leering at the tangle of sheets tented at my mid-section. "Hell yeah, why do you think I always check that he's up. Mom just yells upstairs. It's my responsibility to actually make sure he gets up and stays up," my sister pressed on, refusing to let my torment lapse. Man, I don't think there's going to be any way I'm ever going to stop blushing this morning. My sister was clearly teasing, as she'd never caught me in inappropriate attire and rarely came in to wake me in the morning. That was something that I took pride in, that I wasn't a slobbish, bore that went around exposing themselves. I also made sure I wore a belt everyday so my butt crack wasn't showing. The girls went about starting their day. Man, two girls are much worse than just one in the morning. Usually I just have to beat my sister into the bathroom when getting ready for school, but today the two girls managed to monopolize the bathroom. They didn't even care if I was using the facilities, something my sister is normally very careful of, but apparently she was emboldened by Shani's cavalier attitude because she didn't let it bother her in the least this morning. "Hey, you mind?" I protested when Cate wandered past as I sat completely exposed on the toilet. "Nope. Though it'd be more interesting if you weren't hiding all the good bits," she teased. Somehow I managed to maintain my composure, though I was being horribly abused and could hardly stop blushing the entire morning thus far. Luckily, my parents soon rescued me. "Good morning all. Any psychic grandbabies on the way yet?" teased my mother, smiling gaily as I let her into the room. I'm not sure I've seen her quite this happy and relaxed in a long time. It was disconcerting to consider that the very things that so terrified me made her feel so good about her life, especially when you consider all the extremely weird circumstances surrounding recent events. "Morning kids," welcomed my father, trying desperately to change the topic away from any thoughts regarding his precious children creating progeny in the next room. "Any plans for the day yet?" "I was thinking I'd take y'all to a good ol' fashioned Orleans' Baptist church this morning; thought you'd appreciate some authentic cultural appreciation on a nice Sunday morning," Shani offered. It sounded like she was really trying to win over my parents. "Sounds great, is it your church," my mother asked. "Oh no," Shani stated, surprised by the question. "Like most Jamaicans, I'm Episcopalian. The Baptist church is just a tourist thing so you can see how all the American blacks sing out loud and proud on Sunday." "Episcopalian?" echoed our father, digging for yet more information. "Any reason why that denomination?" "Duh, Frank," Mom chided him. "She just said it's the basic church in Jamaica." Dad blushed but continued on anyway. "Yeah, I heard that part, but I meant why do you remain in that church?" "Well, personally I'm just comfortable there, but it's a fairly odd church," she began explaining. "It's one of the oldest of the Protestant religions, it's one of the most conservative and it's one of the most liberal. One faction wants to merge with the Catholic Church, the only concession being that the Episcopalian priests can marry. One faction wants to allow gay marriage and have both gay and women priests, while another faction remains fiercely conservative, bordering on fundamentalism. It's kind of a schizophrenic denomination." "That doesn't really speak to why you like it," my father reminded her. My mother sighed loudly. "He's asking you if you're religious and what your religious beliefs are," she explained. "Honestly Frank, if you're going to grill someone, at least have the decency to ask them what you want to know." We all chuckled at his expense and I felt a little better knowing I wasn't the only one being picked on this morning. I think Mom had definitely softened as far as Shani was concerned. But then I suddenly realized; if Mom was this accepting of Shani she'd likely throw a fit when I explained that I didn't want to remain in contact with her. I supposed I'd have to take her aside and discuss the issue with her. Only getting time alone to discuss things with anyone was getting to be harder to do with more people around me all the time. "Oh, I'm pretty religious, but I'm not real strict or anything. I try to be a good person but I'm not going to throw someone out because they don't agree with me. Clearly I don't object to premarital sex and birth control," she stated before she realized what she'd just said. "Oh, no," she gasped briefly, "That's not what I meant. What I meant was..." "We know exactly what you meant," my mother told her, patting her on the arm. "Don't be afraid of your beliefs, especially moderate beliefs. It seems nowadays that the only beliefs that are allowed are extremist. Part of life is getting by and being at peace, you can't very well be at peace if you're trying to fight the entire world." "So why the Baptist church instead of your own?" Dad asked Shani. "It's what I've found most people visiting expect to see. Actually most of the city is Catholic, so most churches in the French Quarter are too, but the Baptists are much more fun. It's pretty equivalent to watching a funeral march in the street. Lots of loud singing and waving around, just no jazz band leading the way. The Catholic churches in the area provide their own bands and even do the occasional funeral march, but, being Catholic, they're pretty reserved in their services," she explained to us with a smile. "So who's coming with us?" my father asked the room in general. "Coming with us?" I asked him stupidly, however everyone else seemed to be prepared. "Natalie told me she was interested in going with us wherever we chose to go," Mom stated, not specific if she had meant to church or any activities in general. "Patricia said that she and Henry would like to spend more time with us," Shani contributed. "Yeah, I can see Henry wanting to spend more time with Alex," Cate scoffed. I could tell that Cate took an instant disliking to Henry just because he didn't like me much. She was always pretty protective of her older brother. I'm not sure what I'd ever done to deserve it, but she was always quick to help me out in any way that she could. "Be nice Cate," Mom scolded her. "This isn't likely easy for him either." "After all, it is Sunday," Dad echoed, even though I knew he personally wasn't offended by speaking ill of people he didn't like, he just didn't think you should speak ill of people just before walking into church. "OK then, let's all start calling everyone and get this party organized. I assume we need to dress up for this?" Mom asked. "Oh yes, very," Shani insisted. "In fact, you're likely to see the biggest collection of hats you've seen in some time. I know big hats aren't much in fashion in most churches, but for black American women it's all the rage." "Oh good, it's been ages since I've known anyone to get fancied up for church," Mom stated. Cate and Shani already had their phones out and were busy making calls. "Before everyone gets carried away and calling everyone, let me see if I can contact Patricia. I figure that'll be more likely to convince Henry than anything else I can say. What's the address and name of that church?" I asked the girls. Shani, who was in the process of calling her, held up and told me the name. "That's a great idea Alex," Cate told me excitedly. "It's about time you started getting into the whole experimenting thing with these new abilities. There are just so many things we could be checking." "Now Cate, let's not get carried away," I told her firmly. "I don't want you getting too extreme. Just let everyone figure things out on their own. You can't control everything that everyone does." She looked down, seemingly embarrassed to be talked down to by her brother. I hated to constrain her in trying out things, since she'd been so productive in her suggestions so far, but there's a time and a place for everything. Right now it was time for me to try 'speaking' with Patricia. Thinking carefully I thought, 'Patricia?' but couldn't tell if it was effective or not. Thinking about what Cate had said about the emotional content of telepathic messages, I figured a weak willed question wouldn't have much of an effect so I forcefully thought the name and address, then added the thought, 'wear a hat'. Once again, I was left without a clear indication that the message had gotten through. When I looked up I saw that everyone was looking at me. "Did you get through?" Cate asked. "It's hard to tell," I tried to explain. "I usually don't get clear messages or distinct answers, it's mostly just vague feelings and impressions." "Except when he gets mad," Shani quipped. We all looked at her so she continued. "When he gets annoyed at you, his words resound in your head like the voice of God in a small temple inside your head, it kind of echoes around in there." "See, I told you," Cate insisted. "Er, sorry, I meant, I was correct in my theory." She tried not to gloat, having just been mildly scolded by me, but she let me know her theory was correct anyway. "Well, I remembered what you said Cate, so I tried to be a little more forceful when trying to send the message." I had thought I'd done the right thing but both Shani and Cate paled, leaving me confused. "Oh no," Shani told me. "We wanted to invite her to church, not scare the bejeebes out of her." "She's right, Alex. You speaking like that might be like shouting, and in her current frame of mind that might not be a good thing. She's been walking on eggshells around you already," Cate advised me. "Maybe we should call her up?" "No, that's not a good idea," I told her. "The idea was to impress Henry. Calling up to clarify a message he probably doesn't know about isn't going to send much of a message. If she takes him to a church and we show up, right on schedule, that's the type of message I'm trying to send him." "Yeah, unless you scare the poor girl in the process," Cate countered. "I don't think I was that harsh," I argued. "I just tried to think it in such a way that it'd be clearer." "Clearer?" Shani asked. "Alex, when a loud voice echoes in your head, insisting you do something, that's likely to have more of an effect than you're thinking of." "I don't think I was that pushy," I insisted. "Besides, she's heard me speak to her mentally before. She'll know what I meant by it." The women all shook their heads but didn't try to argue with me about it. "The service starts fairly early so we'll have to have a fast breakfast," Shani warned. "That should be OK; we'll see Natalie when we go downstairs for a quick breakfast. I don't know if she'll be off yet but we can at least keep her abreast of what our plans are," Cate informed us. I had thought it was awkward getting dressed with two women in the room with me, now I had to pick out my formal clothes and get dressed while the room was filled with people. Dad only had to slip on a tie, since he already had on his jacket. Mom and the girls all wanted to find their prettiest dresses and, of course, had to consult with everyone else on which one it might be. In the meantime, I was trying to find a nice quiet place to slip my pants off, but of course by now Dad had returned and was grinning at me as he watched my discomfort. "Face it son, if you keep collecting females like you have the last two days, you'd best get comfortable doing a lot more than just getting changed in front of other people." He seemed greatly amused by my predicament but he had a point. I just swallowed my pride and undressed right there in front of everyone. Heck, the worst they'd see is me in my underwear, and at least Mom had taught me to wear clean ones every morning. Something about buses, I think she'd said. We eventually got everything straightened out and got organized fairly quickly, but that wasn't the end of the show. The women had to fix their hair and do their makeup together. Dad just signaled me and we left with a short word about starting breakfast without them. We wandered downstairs, commenting on the difficulties of dealing with women. Actually that was something I was familiar with, having several sisters, but Dad proceeded to tell me that I hadn't seen anything yet. "Just wait, living with several women is one thing. Having one attached to you is another, but having several who feel they have a say in your behavior is something else again." He just grinned when I stated I didn't have it that bad yet. I hoped he was wrong. When we got to the dining room Natalie met us and led us to a table, acting like the professional hostess she was. "Has anyone spoken to you about our plans?" my father asked her. "Oh yes," she responded. "I've managed to have someone take over for the end of my shift so I'll be able to go with you. I've got a nice throw I can toss over this that should be OK," she assured us. "Shani called down and asked me to send her something she could wear to church, since she didn't have anything appropriate," she continued, giving me a knowing look. We told her that the other ladies would be down shortly and that they were busy getting ready for the service. "That's OK," she assured us, "I can have you all to myself until they all come down." Strange, but she was only looking at me when she told us both this. I need to have a word with her about appropriate business behavior when dealing with psychic teen agers with strong presences, I thought with a grin. My father shared my humor with me, instantly recognizing just what I was smiling about. "You do have a way with the ladies around here," he told me after we'd ordered our new tradition of morning café au laits. We were well into a couple of omelets with toast before the girls showed up. They simply looked at us and did a little, "tsk, tsk," type of thing, then told us to all to hurry as there wasn't much time to get there. I guess we weren't too hurried as we had time to walk, although the girls decided there certainly wasn't time for breakfast and a cab ride. Still, the walk was nice. I still attracted looks but Cate mentioned that she recognized a few from before, which my father seconded so I began to think maybe there were only a small number of people affected after all, and that many of them were either locals, people working here or tourists staying the week like us. We'd left early, a bit before seven I think, so we managed to get there, hurrying towards the end, in time to find a decent seat. As we walked up, I could clearly see Patricia and Henry waiting for us. It was the run that she suddenly broke into that attracted my attention. She was dressed in a nice, elegant black dress. I figured she must carry it with her on her tours as it was very egalitarian and could be used for just about any occasion and still look appropriate. However, the extravagant hat on her head was anything but. It was red and black with a wide brim curled up on one side with a large feather and some sort of fruit on top. Watching her run in it was quite interesting, as it was primarily interested in blowing away. She kept clutching at it as she tried to run. She finally had to slow down and walk at a hurried pace. Henry rushed to keep up. When she got close, she ran into my arms and immediately started apologizing. "I'm sorry, I got this from the first hat shop I could find," she insisted, seemingly afraid I was going to punish her over her hat choice. "I'm not really a hat type of person, but when you insisted I bring one I rang up everyone I could find until I found someone who could see me on short notice." Shani nudged me in the side and looked at me smugly, letting me know my message had been anything but subtle. Cate merely looked meekly at me, afraid to point out she'd been right after all, but I got the message. I'd have to watch my abilities in the future. "Sorry for yelling, Patricia," I told her, assuming what I'd done was the equivalent of a new computer user typing in all caps. "I'm still getting used to this stuff." She sniffed a little. "That's OK. I was just worried you were upset with me and that wearing a hat was important to you." I'm sorry, but I just had to sigh in resignation. I'd better watch what I said telepathically and, more importantly, how I said it. I guess sometimes it's less important that the message get through than the risk of sending the wrong message. As Patricia released me and stepped back Henry stepped up to shake my hand in greeting. "Wow, I wasn't sure what to expect when Patty insisted we find a hat shop first thing in the morning. She bolted up from a dead sleep and insisted we find a hat shop immediately. I almost thought she was going to head out to the first one without even putting on any clothes," he said, laughing a little. I was beginning to revise my initial estimate on the value of his support in helping Patricia adapt to her new abilities. "I thought we were on a fool's errand but here you are. You really didn't call her or arrange this all last night?" I didn't even bother to respond. If he didn't believe it after I arranged a show like that, it just showed there wasn't much sense in trying to convince skeptics. I doubted he'd accept what we were saying or that he'd be much help even if he did. I think he was too used to taking from Patricia to ever think of giving anything in return. Instead I took Shani's arm in mine and offered Patricia the other. She accepted and we set off, allowing my parents to lead us into the church. It was really a very nice church, not quite as ornate as the typical Catholic edifices but still nice. Shani had been right about the hats. It seemed the rows were filled with a wide variety of beautiful hats. I suppose if you're going to invest in a fancy hat then you'd be expected to wear it to the only occasion that provided the opportunity. We followed my parents a little way up. They clearly didn't want to sit in the front, but it was empty enough that sitting in the back would have looked funny. Still, I didn't notice a lot of other white people in the congregation. We'd developed into quite a group by now. There were the four of us from my family, plus Shani and Natalie and then Patricia and Henry. That meant we were now a party of eight, which meant we had to find a row to ourselves. Since my parents were leading this little procession they moved into the center of the row, followed by Natalie and Cate, Shani went next, pulling me along leaving Patricia to sit beside me putting Henry on the far end. We watched the various people fill in. I'd observed the amount of heavy weight people wandering the streets of New Orleans before, but you can ignore it when they're mixed in with lots of other people. Sitting here in a mostly local, black church about all you could see were wide women wearing pretty, colorful hats. I was sure I would reinforce lots of racial stereotypes if I ever told stories about it, but it was fun to watch it happening. It didn't take long for everyone to fill in and the music started playing. We each picked up a hymnal and started singing. Some of the voices there were beautiful but I was most taken by those around me. I knew that Patricia had a beautiful, soulful voice but I was astounded by Shani's as well. Hers was almost operatic in her range and vocal depth. I looked at them both, sitting on either side of me with a newfound respect for them both. While we were all singing, with me merely mouthing the words I was so intimidated by the two natural voices on either side of me, I saw Cate fussing around in her purse. I wondered why she'd be so rude but tried not to be distracted by it. Glancing at her again, I saw her getting her little portable camera ready and wondered what she was trying to do when I noticed the voices around me fall off a bit. Looking around I observed a woman moving towards us from the back of the church, about the only direction you could approach us from I guess, but she was about to reach over Henry trying to signal me. "Please Father, if I..." It was just then that our eyes met. I saw her face clearly. She was younger than both Shani and Patricia and still well above my age, although I suspected she looked younger than she actually was. She had bright red hair. Not the kind of red that's bottle fed, that extra bright look that's unnatural looking but it was a dark, consistent color that argued it probably was from a bottle. She had pale white, milky skin to go along with the hair but lacked the characteristic freckles to go along with it. She had on a very nice, off-white dress with long gloves on both hands. That was about all I could observe before she recoiled a bit and almost fell over onto Patricia and Henry. Everyone moved quickly trying to assist her and the motion effectively halted much of the singing and focused attention on us. It took a bit for her to recover her senses and I immediately recognized the glassy, squinting look to her eyes and knew what she was experiencing. Yep, she started glancing around the crowded church, focusing on the different people around her. "Quick, let's get out of her before she..." I managed to say before she refocused and turned to glance at me. Once again holding a gloved hand up to shield her eyes from me she asked, "Wha ... What happened?" "Shhh," I urgently whispered to her and I stood and tried to lead her away, backwards out of the aisle. It was hardly a graceful move but I accomplished it. When I managed to gain the clearing of the central aisle, I realized the music had completely stopped and everyone was watching us. "It's nothing, I'll make sure she's all right," I told those around us while feeling myself begin to blush. Unfortunately, the girl who'd just walked up to us, took that moment to fall to her knees beside me. I don't know if she was trying to humble herself, worship me or if she simply hadn't recovered from her shock but she was on her knees before I could stop her. "Do you need any help?" I heard a deep, baritone voice asking from nearby. I was trying to urge her up without making a scene but wasn't having much luck. "Please Father, forgive me. Forgive me for I have sinned," she began, sounding like she was on the verge of tears. Shit, I thought to myself, this is getting to be just too much. Just once, I'd like to have an encounter like this where it didn't cause a scene. No, I cautioned myself, Dad always told me to be careful what I wished for, because that was usually exactly what you got and you'd usually regret it when it happened. I wasn't sure how I'd regret anything more than a scene like this but, if it was possible, I was sure it was likely to happen to me. "Please, I'm not a reverend," I quietly insisted as I took a step in the direction of the entrance and tried to lead her into standing as well. "I'm sorry, please, clearly you're an angel sent from..." I could see where this was heading, however I felt stymied because I knew if I reacted instinctively I'd end up shouting at her mentally and then I'd have to respond by trying to calm her afterwards. Instead I simply hissed, "Please, stand up and let's discuss this outside." By now Henry had stepped aside and both Patricia and Shani moved in quickly and clasped both her arms and assisted me in leading her into standing and moving toward the door. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Cate, holding her camera to her eyes and thought some very unbrotherly thoughts about her. Something about a very nice location for her to store her camera but I left them unsaid as I was still trying to ease us gently towards the door. A few people began to move towards us, whether to assist us or to try to protect her from us I couldn't tell, but both Shani and Patricia began whispering to the unknown lady and she seemed to be listening to them enough to follow their lead. We ended up moving swiftly away, me walking backwards leading the new woman, my parents following us apologizing on our behalf, the two girls talking to the woman I was pulling behind me and Cate filming the entire event for posterity. When we finally exited the sanctuary, I was about ready to blow a gasket. Natalie had been thoughtful enough to have held the sanctuary doors for me. I was about to let loose with some language when I caught my mother's eye and thought better of it. Not only would I have to deal with her but there'd also be other complications for swearing in church, from Cate's teasing, my father's lecture and disappointment from the others I just didn't want to go there. Just as I was debating what I was going to do, I noticed movement at the doors and watched someone push them open. However, just as someone began to exit the new woman dropped to her knees again. She was physically prevented from anything else by Shani and Patricia but she started wailing, she managed to keep it quiet but it was still a wail. "Please, don't punish me for my sinful ways, I'll repent. I'll do better. I'll..." As she began a litany of all the things she'd do to atone for whatever it was she thought she'd done, the figure in the door entered and observed what was happening. The girls were busy whispering to her, trying to calm her once again. The man who was now standing in front of us was an older, darker man with balding, gray hair. He simply looked at the scene laid out before him and considered what he was seeing. "Look," I said, thinking I'd best get a handle on this before it got any further out of hand, "you can see a Priest later to repent. That's not my department." I know, it's a terrible thing to say to a distraught woman, but under the circumstances it was all I could think of. After I'd said that she looked up at me, or rather, she tried to look up at me and whispered, "What ... what are you here for then?" Feeling frustrated I simply leaned into her and answered, "I'm here to talk to you, but not here and not now. Now let's get up and get outside. Please?" She simply looked up at me and blinked a few times before nodding and getting up. Feeling like we were finally making some headway I turned to the man watching all of this. He still hadn't made any comment or tried to take any actions, simply watching us with a curious expression. "I'm sorry we've disturbed your service," I told him, assuming he was a deacon or something affiliated with the church. I assumed the minister must be at the front of the church and this man was likely simply here to make sure we didn't disturb the parishioners too much. After all, the service is most people's only connection to religion, and interrupting it is disturbing the church and the parishioners just as they're each trying to do their respective jobs. "I think we'll be leaving quietly now," I finished as I lead everyone out into the street. I noticed my father approach the man and slip him something for his troubles. It seemed like a nice touch and I'd have to remember it in the future. Once we were outside and away from prying eyes, I regarded everyone. Luckily for Cate, she'd already gotten rid of the damn camera. "All right," I started, "there's bound to be someone coming to check on us so let's just walk and talk." I started to lead the way again as I began to address the new woman, who was anxiously following, keeping close to me, Shani and Patricia never far from her. "I'm not affiliated with the church," I told her, assuming she'd understand I meant I wasn't an angel and not that I simply wasn't associated with that particular church. "I can't absolve your sins, I can't release your demons and I can't forgive you either. I'm just a simple kid who's gotten mixed up with a whole mess he can't understand." I glanced quickly at Cate, expecting some reaction to my oft repeated comment about being simple but she had that damn camera back in her hands again. I wanted to strangle her but I tried to keep my rage under control so I wouldn't scare the new woman. "I may have triggered the changes you just encountered, but I have no control over them and don't understand them any more than you do. I didn't do it as punishment or reward or for any other reason," I informed her. Shani and Patricia both began whispering to her again so I let them say what they could and remained silent until it seemed appropriate for me to speak again. I couldn't see what my parents or Natalie were up to. "Shani, a quiet, out of the way place?" I asked in a controlled tone. For once I got a simple response in my head, it was more an indication than a message, a feeling that I should turn left at the end of the block. We moved steadily there, only to pull up short when we ran across a new methadone clinic. "Well there used to be a coffee shop here," Shani insisted. I decided, based on her tone, that we were all feeling frustrated at this point and that we all needed to simply sit down and discuss this quietly. I hurried off, knowing they'd all follow, and led us away from the various crackheads around us and to a spot under a single tree by the curbside. "OK, we need a quiet place to talk," I began again. "Henry, did you two bring a car with you?" "No, we travel by van when we're on the road so we don't have one. We took a cab this morning." "All right, we'll have to try to find a couple of cabs to transfer all of us somewhere else. See if you and my father can flag some down. The girls and I will have to take the first one, you and my parents can take the next." With that out of the way, I again focused on the young woman who still looked traumatized. "Look, you're not in any trouble. This is not a divine intervention; it's just a random occurrence with unusual results." She clearly didn't look convinced but I certainly couldn't blame her. I took the route I'd taken with the others and simply tried introducing everyone as a way of demonstrating that we were just normal people. "Look, my name is Alex, Alex Jennings. I'd introduce you around but everyone's a bit busy at the moment. The two women helping you are Shaniqua Sharp and Patricia Moore, both have undergone what you're currently experiencing so they'll be able to tell you what it's like. I'll be able to describe more but it would be easier if we could all sit down and relax as it'll take a bit to explain." She looked up at me, then at the two girls and the others. "He's not an angel?" she asked Patricia. "We think he is," she said gently, "but he won't admit to it." I didn't think that was helping but it seemed to relax her somewhat. "Can you at least tell us who you are," she prompted. "Oh, of course," the woman responded. "I'm Amber, er, actually I'm Allison Livermore. Amber's my professional name. I haven't used my natural name for some time. I'm a ... well I'm a professional escort, very high end and all but essentially just a high class hooker. I..." I thought this was getting carried away; I didn't want to embarrass this poor girl into revealing all of her personal secrets. "Look, there's no need to tell us wha..." "No, there is," she insisted. "I've got to reveal everything. You can undoubtedly see and know everything about me already so it won't do any good to pretend I'm anything I'm not. How can you ever forgive me if I don't admit all the wrongs that I've done?" I sighed and tried to begin again. "Look, I'm really not an angel sent from heaven," I began just as Henry called out that he'd managed to secure a cab. Taking that as a handy break, I grabbed the woman's arm and hurried her away from the trash strewn curb with the various crack addicts and hurried her to the waiting cab. As I was helping her in I instructed Shani to tell Henry our destination, leaving its selection in her hands since she knew the area and I didn't. As they all climbed into the cab, I went around and climbed into the front seat, signaling Cate that she was to come with us as well. She finally put her camera down and hurried over and had to climb into my lap to fit into the crowded cab. As we sped off, I assumed that Shani had already given him a destination and hoped I had enough spare change to cover the fare. Turning around I was going to say something but found all the women talking amongst themselves so figured I'd best let them cover the basics. It didn't take long before we pulled up at a little coffee shop where we all piled out again. As I started to fumble through my pockets, looking for enough money, Patricia stuffed a couple of bills into my hand so I simply handed them to the cab driver. Walking into the shop, I noticed it was slow due to the early Sunday hour, and we wouldn't have a lot of crowd noise to cover our conversation, so I headed for the corner to afford us some privacy. On the way I told Cate to order us all some coffees. I figured if she had her hands full she couldn't keep the damn camera going. I figured they wouldn't be ready for lunch for some time yet but thought a round of drinks would serve until we could all get settled. When we finally got seated, I got the basic conversation going again. "I'm not sure what the girls explained on the way here but what you're seeing seems to be people's natural energy they give off. You've got the ability to see it now, thanks to me I guess. We don't know how or why I can do it but somehow I seem to be the catalyst that triggers this ability in certain susceptible people." I wanted to get as much information as possible out before she could start interrupting or asking questions. "I don't share these visions and none of us has any idea of what they mean or why they're all different for each individual, hopefully you'll help us to figure it all out. However, one additional side note is that somehow it entails the ability for us to communicate telepathically. Not well, by any stretch of the imagination, but we can send images and sometimes ideas." Just about that time, Cate came up with several cups of coffee so I cut my discussion short. "This is my sister Cate with the coffee, please have some and take some time to compose yourselves," I suggested, hoping she'd finally stop asking if I could forgive her. I knew the reason she was so focused on it would eventually come out but I didn't need the scene that her acting distraught would produce. The other women got her coffee for her and helped her prepare it while I took a cup myself to help steady my nerves. I thought I needed it after that little scene. Cate left the other cup and started back for more, but I caught her before she could leave. Since the girls were all busy talking together for the moment took the opportunity to speak with Cate. "Cate, what the hell were you doing with that damn camera?" "I thought it would be important to capture what happened when you do your thing so we could study it later," she responded proudly, like it was another of her bright ideas. "Cate," I sighed in exasperation. "First of all, I don't think it helps to humiliate people when they're already too stunned to speak intelligently. Secondly, all we need is someone else making an embarrassing situation worse. Now I want, no, I Demand that you cut off all these little schemes of yours. If you want to offer assistance, talk to me about it first. You're getting a bit carried away with all of this and you're going to have to control yourself. Understood?" She looked down, clearly not happy with being called to task again in so short a time. She mumbled something and, when I asked her to repeat it, she collapsed against me, telling me she was sorry she'd disappointed me. I was beginning to feel a bit confused by events once more, when we both noticed the other women watching us. Cate immediately stood up and hurried off, heading for the remaining coffee. I figured I'd never manage to figure women out. While everyone was distracted, I took in our surroundings. As I'd first observed, it was a quiet at this time of day with several people scattered about but no one near us so we should be safe having our discussion. It had a nice, homey feel so hopefully that would have a little additional calming influence as well. When Allison started to look like she was going to begin speaking, I tried to head her off. "OK, I want you to calmly tell us about yourself. I understand you have a lot to tell but let's just start at the beginning and try to avoid any excited proclamations. We're looking to figure out who you are, not pass any kind of judgment on you for what you've done in your life." She seemed to take what I ask into consideration and composed herself before speaking. "As I said, my name is Allison Livermore. I first felt your, uh... , well anyway, I felt you on Friday night. However, I was busy with a ... a client and didn't think it would be appropriate to approach you directly so I waited. When I got back, you were gone. Since then I've been searching for you. I mostly frequent the business district and the higher end hotels but I guess you haven't been in those areas recently. I've been frantically trying to find you so I've put all my business dealings on hold. I was preparing to go to church this morning and something just told me not to. I was really anxious to go to church but again some little voice in my head told me to pick out another one. I think it was the Holy Spirit guiding me because I picked the one where I met you, even though I have no affiliation with it and haven't even been there before. "When I drew up to it I was amazed, since I could feel you inside. I hurried and ran inside before something happened again to make me lose you. Luckily you were right there. I'm sorry if I made a scene, but..." Her voice dropped, signally her lack of a further response. "And..." I prompted her again. "Please tell us about yourself." I was upset hearing about yet another woman wandering the streets looking for me but I was more anxious to hear more about her than just that little detail. "I'm a professional escort using the name Amber Blossom," she explained, going into a more detail this time. "Essentially I go out and entertain wealthy and powerful men and it usually involves a fair amount of sex. Basically, I guess I got started back in school when I was trying to pay for college. I was having trouble and figured it was either hooking or working in a diner for the rest of my life. However, I found that I had a certain knack for relating to people. I'd been able to do well in college because I could get the professors to reach out to me and I applied the same sort of tact in dealing with the clients, well, they were simply Johns back then. But I quickly gained a steady group of regulars who pushed me to move out on my own. It seems my ability to pick up on their emotional needs allow me to reach them in ways that others didn't. Essentially, they'd come to me for sex but I'd get into their heads and soon we'd be talking and I'd be helping them with their lives, their loves, their frustrations and what was keeping them back in their lives. Those abilities continued getting me more and more exclusive clients until I got to where I am now, dealing with a very well to do clientele of people who have everything, but still aren't satisfied." Cate had gotten back for the end of this and had sat down to listen, giving Shani her coffee as she did. When Allison finished up her initial explanation of her life, Cate nervously looked at me, but she couldn't keep a very satisfied grin off her face. When I nodded at her she started to explain herself. "See, I told you it was all emotionally based," Cate told me, growing in enthusiasm as she talked. "She, like the others all have some innate ability to pick up emotional clues from people. I'm guessing they all are unknowingly tapping into whatever energy they're all seeing now. That must be how you pick them, they're the ones who are already tied into that energy to begin with, so they're better candidates for whatever you do to them." "I don't understand," Allison asked, sounding confused, "what's the connection?" Cate again hesitantly glanced at me, silently asking permission to speak. When I nodded she went on, explaining, "It seems the people who Alex has been able to do this to all seem to have a unique ability to relate to people emotionally, even those that don't quite reach that level but still feel an attraction to him. Shani deals effectively with business people, Patricia is a musician who manages to tap into people's emotions to win over her crowds and Natalie has always been able to relate to her friends. It seems like each of you has always been able to unwittingly tap into people's inner psyches in some way." Here Cate hesitated, again looking at me for permission to continue. I found this all strange, as usually Cate was very strong willed and assertive. Having her suddenly looking to me for approval wasn't typical of her, but I was more focused on dealing with Allison at the time. If we needed someone to explain things, this was the time. I again told her to continue and she did. "It seems that's what this new ability is tied to, you're seeing a life force that shows people's inner souls, showing you what you've always been able to feel somehow." Cate began to blush, realizing how carried away she kept getting and how she was stealing all of Allison attention. "Well, that's my theory anyway," she said a little more humbly. "You know, I think you may have a point," Patricia said, thinking aloud. "After you left last night and I was able to sing without your presence and your glare getting in the way, I was able to relate to the audience like never before. It was hard to do with you sitting there but I managed to learn how to put the new visions to use and once I could both see and feel the audience I could really tap into their energy. I had a great session." "Yeah, Henry certainly seemed pleased to see Alex this morning," Shani observed. "Whatever happened last night seems to have changed his perspective of him." Although she didn't say anything specific, the rest of us could pick up the implied critique of him, though I hoped that Patricia didn't. "So you all work with people's emotions like I do?" Allison asked. "Yeah, it would appear so," Patricia responded. "And that's what got Alex's attention, what made him aware of us?" Allison continued, seeking further clarification. "Well no, actually Alex didn't seek anyone out," Shani tried to explain to her. "Alex gives off whatever kind of energy or life force that we all see and feel. I guess we're all thinking that anyone with the natural inclination to that sort of energy can feel it and feels drawn to it. Those that can feel it but aren't aware of it, like Natalie here, simply find him fascinating and watch him like hawks, but don't take it any further. Others who are able to tap into it more directly, like us," she said, indicating herself and the other women surrounding her, "seem drawn to seek him out and when we do, BAM!" she shouted, sounding like Emeril Lagasse, "He manages to do something to you that gives you these visions." "I don't know," I hedged, still doubtful. "It's a nice explanation but..." "Alex, don't start saying how you don't do anything," Shani warned me. "You seem to do it unintentionally, but somehow you seem to have access to a tremendous amount of this energy. We can all see it as clear as day. It draws those like us to you like bees to honey. Somehow their ability to sense it makes them candidates for whatever you seem to be able to do." As Shani finished she looked over to Cate to make sure she'd described her theory correctly. Cate nodded and continued. "We now have the link we were looking for that explains who is drawn to you, Alex. Now all we have to do is figure out what it is that you're doing to them." The rest of our crew came in the door then; apparently it had taken quite a while to find a second cab. Natalie got up and directed them back to us, probably thinking the rest of us were too essential to the conversation to be interrupted but we all stopped talking in the resulting confusion anyway. "So, what have you all been able to relate so far?" my father asked us. "Cate's figured out what's been attracting everyone to Alex and what's the common, what's the term, the common..." Patricia foundered in her explanation of our discussion, lost in simple terminology. "The common denominator," Cate told her, finally starting to relax around me again now that people wanted the information she was offering. "It seems like they all, both the watchers and those that Alex gives the visions to, have a preexisting ability to feel the emotions tied into the energy field he allows them to see," she explained, describing her new theory to our parents. "I knew she'd manage to come up with some initial theory pretty soon," Dad stated confidently. "Hmm," he said, thinking this out, falling into the role he always played when helping Cate with her science experiments at home, "it sounds reasonable, do you have any evidence to back it up?" "Well, not any reliable evidence yet," she cautioned. "So far it's just anecdotal evidence based on how they describe their own histories. I'm not sure how we could test it to be certain," she continued, getting into her theorizing role. "Wait a minute," Allison interrupted. "THAT's what you're getting from all of this? Isn't my background of any concern to all of you?" "What?" Cate responded to her. "You were using sex to help people by using your natural abilities. I don't see that as a negative, you said you thought you were helping them." "What's she talking about?" Mom asked. "Oh," Cate replied, waving Allison's previous comments off like they were all of no concern, "she told us all that she's been working as a high class call girl for the last several years, but she's been doing it as a way of reaching out to the people who come to her and they keep paying her and coming back because of the emotional connection she establishes with them." "Are you sure that's all that brings them back?" our father asked, arching his eyebrow. I had to admit, Allison certainly had a lot of sexual chemistry going for her. I could see a lot of guys paying for some action from her. "Well, I can't say I'm sure of anything yet," Cate hedged, "after all we've just met and haven't talked much yet, but that's how she described it. She was saying how she got started in the business, preparing to ask Alex to forgive her again and it just fit in with what everyone has been telling us." "I think she's right," Natalie said from behind my father, causing both my parents to turn and regard her. "We've each had an unusual ability to pick up on people's emotions." "Their souls," Shani opined. "Yeah, I guess we've been seeing into their souls to see where people around us are hurting," Natalie continued. "Can you really call them people's souls?" Mom asked. "Well, probably not in the typical sense of a soul, but as something that shows their character I think you can." I wanted to establish that what Cate's was describing was much more complex than just feeling emotions. "I think we're actually seeing into their souls. Not only what they're feeling at the moment but also whether they're good people or not and what they're like. That's why no one was afraid of Alex even though we could all feel how powerful he was," Shani explained, glancing towards me with a look of awe in her voice. Cate excitedly suggested we focus on some research. I groaned to myself as she stood up and pulled me to my feet as well. She hesitated when she saw my frown, but I told her to go ahead, that I was interested in what she had to say, even if I was doubtful about her approach. She took a moment to compose herself, took a deep breath, then very theatrically asked Shani, Patricia and Allison to watch my aura. I was about to ask what she wanted to try when she spun around and slapped me hard across the face. "Ow! What the..." "Alex!" my mother cautioned, giving me a hard stare. "She HIT me!" "And I'm sure she had a reason. Cate?" our mother calmly asked my sister, knowing perfectly well that she'd already have a detailed explanation handy. "Yes I did. Girls, did you notice any changes in his aura?" my sister asked the three women equipped to answer. "Yes, the edges showed a different ... uh, color for a few seconds," Shani explained. "What about now?" Cate asked calmly as she proceeded to stomp on my foot. "Ow, damn it!" "Again with the language Alex," my mother chided me, ignoring me as I hopped about on one foot holding the other. "She just smashed my foot," I weakly protested, already knowing how it was going to turn out. My parents knew that when Cate got going with a demonstration that there was a definite point to be made, even if the demonstration was shocking or made no immediate sense. My sister was good at making her points and theatrical antics meant to shock was nothing new to her. "Don't whine, it's unbecoming. Cate?" "Girls," my sister stated, remaining unimpassioned about hurting me, "that was the color of pain and surprise." Everybody giggled while I continued trying to nurse my injured foot. "They register, but I think there's more there than just random emotions," stated Shani. "Yeah, but at least we're identifying some of what you're seeing. That's more than you had before." She turned to our mother and excused herself, "You may not want to see this next part, but I think it's necessary to the process." When my parents didn't move she cleared her throat and announced, "Alright then, I may not want you to see this next step." She glared at my father but he remained steadfast, stating, "I'm not about to miss this. First because I think it's very important and something we should all be aware of, secondly because it's a lot of fun and third because I suspect you're going to really embarrass yourself." They were both familiar with Cate's theatrics and performances whenever she put together science projects and they knew the lengths she'd sometimes go to make a point. I should have been prepared when I saw her getting into her formal presentation mode but I'd been a little slow in picking up on it. Cate pouted a bit at my parents' refusal to excuse themselves but could clearly see she couldn't influence either of them. "You'll have to excuse me then, this is going to seem extreme but it addresses something very specific that it makes sense to identify." Blushing heavily, she stepped back up to me, took a deep breath and said, "All right, tell me what you see this time," and she leaned in and suddenly kissed me, open mouthed, as she blatantly rubbed my crotch with her bare hand. I tried to jerk my head back but found Cate's hand holding my head in place. My eyes swept over to my parents, but my mother was smiling humorously while my father was rolling his eyes. Cate quickly finished the experiment and couldn't look either of my parents nor I in the face, so she instead looked at those gathered around the table, shielding her eyes from our parents like the girls did with me. "And?" she asked them. "Same color for the surprise," Shani answered, grinning widely, "but the lust and embarrassment might be blending, so I'm not sure which to attribute to which." "I'm not sure on the whole concept of these 'colors' yet," Allison said, "but I'm plenty familiar with lust. I think I can distinguish which color it is. It peaks and rises at just the right stages," she explained. Cate turned a mischievous eye on my parents, glanced at me briefly and asked with a straight face while blushing profusely, "Mom, you wanna give it a try?" "Cate!" I yelled, upset by the suggestion. Cate might have been embarrassed but I was horrified by the suggestion. Our mother caught onto Cate's teasing quickly and played along. "I think that'd just have the same effect, honey," she replied, seemingly enjoying herself way too much for my comfort. "You wouldn't learn much if I were to do it." "Well, before we turn it over to anyone else," Cate continued, smiling way too much for this to be good for me, "Dad, we need to do this with everyone who can observe the effects watching, would you like to give it a try?" she smiled wickedly at him. "That's quite all right," my father excused himself from the participatory portion of the experiment. "Maybe Natalie would like to fill in for me?" Natalie smiled a hundred watt smile like she'd just won the lottery and hurried up to do whatever Cate might ask her to do and I groaned again at what she might be planning. Cate simply nodded and Natalie leaned into my arms and gave me a great big kiss. It wasn't as overtly sexual as Cate's first attempt was but it was no less intense. Instead she focused on a deeply romantic, personal and intimate kiss that involved lots of tongue. She kissed me with a great deal of feeling and held me around the waist before sliding up against me and putting her arms around me pulling me close. I had to watch everyone around us, especially my parents but also the rest of the small restaurant as I returned the kiss. "Hey, no thinking about other things," Cate hissed at me. "Full attention on the experiment," she warned so I went ahead and closed my eyes and lost myself into the kiss. It didn't take long for me to develop an erection that pushed itself against her but she didn't seem to pay it much attention, she was fully into the kiss itself, moaning as she put her all into it. My hands wrapped around her waist and I savored the experience, thinking this was nothing like kissing my previous dates had been. "We need lust in there, simple romance won't do," Cate warned so Natalie slid her hand between us and started imitating Cate as she began to rub my expanding penis through the material of my jeans. I heard a wolf whistle in the background, but didn't know whom it was from. I was beginning to feel very good, enjoying both the intimacy of the kiss as well as the erotic intoxication of the caress. Then suddenly she stepped back leaving me clutching after her. "Yeah, I see lots of lust," Allison laughed, "but the romance and love is clear as well." I glanced at Natalie and saw her blushing profusely. I could feel my own cheeks burning but they'd been like that for awhile now. I vaguely tried to cover my burgeoning erection but gave up when I finally figured out they all knew it was there. I tried to avoid looking at Mom but the predatory looks from the others were no help either. Someone from the front of the restaurant called out, "Hey, can some of us get in on some of that as well?" Now I felt that blush coming into prominence. "No thanks, we're conducting an experiment," Cate called out in response. "I haven't experimented like that since I was back in school," a male voice called out to catcalls all around. But at least it broke the tension as everyone started to laugh about it. "Well that was very informative," Mom said, pulling us out of our laughter, "but I think it's time to call a halt to the experiments before somebody puts on more of a show than anyone here really wants to see," she cautioned. Looking around Patricia commented, "Nope, I don't see anyone who's likely to object here." "Well, it'll be more than his father and I would like to see," she corrected herself. "See, didn't I say that earlier?" Cate asked, sticking her tongue out at our mother. We all had another good laugh, feeling much better about all the recent events after a good chuckle. ------- Chapter 6: A Few Theories Get Tossed About "So, did you see anything else of note in their auras?" Cate asked, referring to the little experiment she'd just conducted, using me as a test subject, on what the girls could see in my aura as a result of her humiliating me. I wasn't terribly impressed. Still, it had resulting in some interesting insights. "I saw several things," Shani observed. "Again it was kind of hard to separate them when they all occur together. I think there's a lot going on in there. What we saw were in the changing colors on the fringe of the central colors. The central colors don't change much but the outer ones change so frequently they look like they're flickering. And the central color isn't really solid, it's more like it's speckled or mottled." "Yeah," Patricia added, "I know we keep saying color, but these visions we're seeing don't look anything at all like normal colors. But we have no way of knowing if we're seeing one color or several, plus, when you were doing the experiments we saw several 'colors' pop up, but they sort of overshadowed each other. It'll take some work to learn to differentiate them and figure out which means what." "Uh, I hate to interrupt," Natalie ventured, preparing to do just that, "but is this proper? I mean, I know you're supposed to be all about doing things scientifically, but do random comments from a couple of women make your assumptions scientific?" "No, not at all," Cate assured her, taking no umbrage at her question. "Right now I'm just trying to get a handle on what's likely occurring, so that we have some idea of what we're seeing. The next step would be to collect as much data as we can that's related to it. Then we could form a theory, and then we'd start to test that particular hypothesis. What's scientific is when we start to figure out the mechanics of what's involved, what goes on inside of Alex and the rest of you that allows all of this to occur. Right now I'm just guessing about things, trying to get a general idea about what it is we're observing." "Oh," Natalie considered that for a second. "So it's OK to make wild assumptions about it, as long as we're eventually going to form a theory?" "Sort of," Cate laughed. "We need some way of considering what data are relevant to what we're observing and what's not. That's the basis for my assumptions. Once we have that, then we can begin collecting some basic data on what Alex is doing. Essentially, we're just trying to figure out what the various components of the behavior are. And by behavior I mean, what's going on with Alex and all of you. Sure, he's attracting various women to him, but why is he attracting them? What's the commonality amongst them? What is it about you all that's causing the attraction? We need to have a clue as to what's happening before we can figure out what to investigate first." "OK, I think I understand now. Sorry I interrupted, I just wasn't sure..." "No need to apologize, it was a perfectly reasonable question. Right now I'm shooting at the stars with this particular theory, and I have no way to test it at this point, but it's the best theory I have at the moment. And by 'theory' I mean conjecture, which is basically a scientific guess, it isn't a scientific theory, that'd require the ability to test it." "Say, getting back to the whole discussion that started all of this," Allison asked, still feeling out of sorts in her own regards. "Are you saying that because I was helping those guys, that what I did with them was all right?" "Actually, I couldn't say," Cate told her patiently, Allison's question having ended the discussion of scientific principles. "I simply stated that you had told me that you thought so. Right now, we have no specifics about what you were actually doing. I'd love to learn more about how you might have used these particular abilities before you met Alex, but right now none of us knows much about them or about what you've been claiming you've been able to do. It's a piece of the puzzle that fit and that helps us understand it all. I'd like to think you helped them because that would help explain what's going on, but I have no idea whether what you were doing was justified or not. It'd probably take a while to form an opinion on it. I'm sure you were good at what you did, but if you want me to say whether your abilities had any additional effects you'd probably have to consider what the eventual outcome was. Did you 'cure' anyone? Did any of them no longer have to see you anymore? Did they stop sleeping with you because of your assistance? Since I've never met any of them nor have I known you for very long, I really can't judge for myself." "That sounds like a long winded way of saying nothing," Allison sighed. "But I guess I understand what you're saying though. I've been telling myself that I've been successful because of what I've brought to the table, but I've never allowed myself to consider just what overall effect I've had on their lives before." Cate smiled at her and reached out and grasped her hand. "As Alex said, he's not here to judge you. He doesn't even know you yet. He seems to be the source of all these new abilities, but none of us have any clue how or why. So far, we're all just guessing here. Don't expect him to sweep down from the heavens and anoint you as clean and forgiven. If you're uncomfortable with your life then change it. If you can live with what you're doing then that's your choice. But Alex really can't read your mind and figure out what's best for you, that you'll have to do for yourself." "It's so nice to hear my little girl sounding so grown up," our mother cooed at Cate. She blushed a little but not too much. "So, have you figured out any reason why I'm only attracting women?" I asked. "No, that's still a mystery," she replied. "I'm guessing that maybe this ability to perceive information this way must be tied into being female. Maybe that's why women have developed the reputation for being more emotional and sensitive, it might simply be the results of a fair number of people who could sense this. Of course you'd think there'd be some variance, strictly from a statistical point of view, but so far we haven't noticed a single male having the same reaction to you." "Any theories on why that might be so," prompted my father, once again in the role of pushing her to flesh out her presentations. Cate laughed, "Once again, a theory is something you can test. This is just a hypothesis at this stage. Since it affects women I presume it has something to do with a specific trait on the X chromosome of people's DNA. Specifically, I'm thinking it's a weird recessive trait that's requires the same trait on both of the X chromosomes. Again, I'm just guessing wildly as there's nothing to really suggest it, but that'd explain why so few women have it and also why no men have had it yet. Normally recessive traits show up in things like color blindness, where a dominant X chromosome overrides a recessive one, thus making men much more likely to suffer from color blindness than women. What we're talking about here is a doubly recessive X-chromosome. Men simply wouldn't have the opportunity to get it and women would have to get it from both of their parents, which would cut way down on the occurrence of it happening." "Are there many cases of, what did you call it, a doubly recessive chromosome?" "None that I can think of," Cate acknowledged, "but that wouldn't necessarily rule it out either." "And the likelihood of that being the case?" my father pushed her once again. "No clue, it's just such a far out guess. It would help to explain a few things, but there'd be no reason to assume it was true. A more likely culprit would be hormones or other chemical differences in the female body, but then we'd be back to why no men have experienced it. Men have varying levels of female hormones as well. Of course, we're still dealing with a very tiny number of subjects here," Cate concluded. "OK, moving on then, I think we've had about as much science as we normal people can deal with. So far you're suggesting that all these lights the girls are seeing are simply showing a person's emotional state?" I asked. "No," Cate said, getting warmed up again, "As they've all said, there's a whole lot going on in these little light displays. They describe a central color which varies for each individual, but also a variety of other colored lights that flicker around the edges. I'm guessing that the central color reveals something about the person, possibly their core personality. That's sort of like the person's soul, their essential being. What I've been focusing on is the flickering outer lights they've described, which seem to reflect the various emotional states that play on the inner characteristics of the person. They may feel happy or sad, but that doesn't change the core personality, it just shows up momentarily and affects the central personality." "That would describe much of what we're currently seeing," Shani said. "It makes a lot of sense." "That's a pretty sweeping conclusion from what's been suggested," Dad pointed out. "Yeah, again all of this is just wild assed conjecture, but it's the likeliest guess I've been able to think of so far," Cate explained. "It sounds pretty good," Patricia suggested. "We could see the outer colors change when you were doing your little, uh, experiment, so your theory makes sense there at least. But you're right, there's a lot more going on than we've been able to touch on yet." "I think my head hurts from all this theoretical stuff," Natalie stated, holding her head with one hand for effect. "I'm thinking maybe finally ordering some lunch would be good for that. I've noticed no one's asked us about food yet. It's still early, but we probably all need food since we skipped breakfast," Mom suggested. "I think that's my fault," Cate fessed up, "I told the waitress that we'd be sitting and talking for a bit, so she's held off interrupting us. I'll get her attention." So we all got busy ordering lunch and otherwise getting organized. We wasted some time talking about non-theoretical topics, mainly focusing on food and other things to do for the afternoon. Everyone seemed to be very accepting of everyone else so far. No one had made any comments about Allison's claim of being an expensive prostitute, simply assuming that she must be OK for some odd reason. Well, aside from Cate's questioning whether her abilities had added anything to her relationships, I guess. I supposed I'd see how everyone dealt with her over the long term, primarily my parents. I was sure they'd have a definite opinion about Cate and my spending much time with a known prostitute. I thought everyone was taking it easy in their discussions as a way of allowing Allison to get used to all of us. I noted that the women all seemed to focus on me whenever I mentioned anything, and they were always looking out for me, noticing when I needed anything but not watching anyone else like that. What's worse was they'd do it with a nervous smile. I wasn't sure whether they thought I'd call out a thunderstorm if I didn't get any salt, but given Patricia's nervousness around me, I wouldn't doubt it. Still, it was eerie. Especially since I thought they were more happy to be doing it than just nervous. It was like they'd all just found a new boyfriend and I was it for each of them. I certainly hoped that wasn't the case, but given how strange everything was happening lately, I wouldn't discount it quickly. Shani had certainly established she was interested in me early, although she hadn't shown any signs of jealousy in regards to any of these other women being attracted to me. Whenever a new girl would show up she'd make sure they had clear access to me and would seek to assist them in any way she could. However, given everything they'd said so far, what little they'd said about it, that is, they all seemed to feel they owed me for whatever I'd unintentionally done for them. Still, I couldn't see how that would account for much. Sure, it was amazing, but it was hardly personal, as I'd had no control over it. But they all continued to treat me reverently. Anything I said, they took seriously. I knew if I took a position, they'd likely all follow it, regardless of how they all felt about it. Of course, I didn't have evidence of this yet, but I was pretty sure of my beliefs given their general nature around me. I just hoped I wouldn't mess us all up as a result. After all, Allison was depending on me to forgive her, I could see them all depending on me to always know what was best for them, and that thought scared me quite a bit as I had no clue what the best options were. No one had ever considered me a good source of information before. As the meal progressed, I thought about this newest addition to our little group. And 'group' was starting to become a more appropriate word as I found more and more people following me around. I was hoping all the excitement would slow in a few days, but with someone new appearing every single day so far, I thought that unlikely. I hoped people didn't keep showing up this frequently. So far, everyone that I'd affected had first become aware of me on the first day we'd arrived. That must mean they'd all eventually find me and they'd stop showing up. That made me feel a little better, but then I considered the various looks I kept getting as well. While many of them were from people we'd seen before, we also had to consider some were just new people who hadn't observed me yet. While I might be whittling down the list of people still trying to find me, there was no stopping new people from reacting to me as well. Lunch soon finished and everyone, well, basically my parents, since all the girls were more interested in whatever I was doing, decided it would be good to wander the parts of the French Quarter they hadn't seen yet, which was mostly the old Saint Louis Cathedral and Jackson Square Park down by the water. So, as a group, we all trooped out, but again, most of the troop was centered around me, my parents having pretty much free rein of their own activities. However, my parents tried, and fairly well succeeded, in engaging the various women in conversations as well, especially since they all insisted on acting as tour guides. I also think they all took after Shani in that they thought they'd do better with me if they won over my parents first. "Alex?" Allison asked after sidling up to me so she could talk, despite the constant presence of all the other women around me. "Yeah?" I responded simply, awaiting her question. "I know you said you didn't know much about me yet, but surely you know how you feel about what it is I've done," she asked, clearly pensive about my view of her character. I couldn't help it, I sighed heavily. She wasn't going to be denied. She wanted to be absolved whether I was a capable of it or not. "Look, I know all of you think I'm this mighty character walking around judging who is worthy of my gift of sight, but that's not what's been happening. I'm just an ignorant, naïve high school kid who doesn't know what's going on. I've never met anyone in your line of work before, so I can hardly be expected to pass any kind of judgment on them. Surely there are others who know what's involved much more than I do." "That's not the point," she said, copying my tired sigh. "Everyone has an opinion on women of ill repute," she assured me. "Finding someone with a strong opinion on what I should do isn't my problem. Your opinion is what's important here. Like your sister said, we can all feel that you have a tremendous amount of power. I feel that God led me to you this morning when he directed me to search out a new church. Surely He trusts your judgment. I need to know if what I've been doing has been doing anyone any good, or if I've just been fooling myself all of these years." I noticed that Cate had edged closer during this little discourse, despite the fact that both Allison and I had been keeping our voices lower than normal. When she saw me glancing at her she nodded her head, silently telling me that I had to say something to Allison about this, apparently whether I knew what to say or not. Yet the fact that I could say the wrong thing to her and possibly hurt her practically paralyzed me with fear. In just a short time I'd grown to care very deeply for all these women who all worshiped me. I knew it wasn't justified, but they simply wouldn't be dissuaded. I knew my father would simply tell me that there comes a time when you have to simply grow up and accept what life gives you. "Well, Allison, as much as I feel uncomfortable saying this, I think you have to figure out something that's going to make you feel more comfortable doing what you seem to be doing. Maybe you're helping those men, maybe you aren't, but isn't there a better way to help them? Besides, you're limiting yourself in who you can help. You aren't helping the most needy here, you're only placating the rich and powerful. You're also limiting yourself to only helping half the population, and that's the more powerful half at that. Personally, I think you'd do better trying to become a Psychiatrist. That way you could help those that come to you and who need the assistance. With your intuition and your vision you should be able to help a lot of people that way, and you wouldn't be conflicted by your inner doubts. "Plus," I added with a wink, letting her know I wasn't trying to pass judgment on her behavior, "If you wanted to have some fun, you could do it on your own terms." She thought about that as we walked, but I could tell that her dark mood was lifting as we continued. "You know, that's a good idea," she replied. "I've saved up a fair amount of cash, so paying for additional schooling shouldn't be that difficult. I'd be able to still help those I know who need my assistance, but I'd just tell them I'm no longer in that line or work anymore. It's a win/win for everyone." Yeah, I thought, except for all those men wanting an uncommitted fling on the side at your expense. "It's not like there's a long career path in this sort of thing," she said, still reflecting on it. "I'll probably never make any more than I'm making right now unless I go public and write a book, embarrassing everyone I worked with. A new career might be a solid investment. It'll mean a lot of study and several years before I could begin though." "Not really," Cate suggested, finally joining the conversation. "You could study part time while doing something else. You seem to be motivated, so I doubt you'll have the lack of drive most students do. By studying on your own, you could move ahead more quickly. I'm involved in a lot of independent studies myself, and I'm sure we could find some Universities that'll be willing to assist you." "Yeah, especially if you're willing to pay them," laughed Shani, causing everyone else to laugh as well. Apparently our private conversation hadn't been very private. Since it had gotten later but was still too early to stop for lunch, the streets had become more crowded in the French Quarter again. We were strolling along when Patricia grabbed Allison's arms and said, "Wow, look at that, isn't that amazing?" Allison immediately sighed in pleasure, apparently seeing what was pointed out to her without any further explanation, but I couldn't figure out what they were pointing at. "What's amazing?" I asked. They both looked back at me. "I guess you can't see it," Patricia told us, "but we can see the woman over there has a tiny baby inside her that's apparently old enough to have its own aura. She isn't showing at all so it can't be very far along, she probably isn't even aware she's pregnant yet, but already her baby's aura has its own color, showing it to be unique and not just a part of her." "That is amazing," Shani echoed, apparently watching the same thing. "Wow," Cate stated, also enthused, "so all this talk about seeing people's souls is more accurate than we initially thought?" "I guess so, if you can all see the characteristics of the unborn," Natalie commented from the side. "Although it seems to lack the emotional colors at the edges of its aura," Shani observed. "I guess it's still too young to be feeling very much or to be aware of anything yet." "Let me tell Mom and Dad about this," Cate replied excitedly. "They'll get a kick out of it." She ran back and started relaying the information, causing everyone to watch the young woman who had no idea why our group was staring at her. Cate returned a moment later. "They were excited about it too," she stated. "So, what else can you see in the people walking around out here?" No one responded, but the women with the vision began looking around more thoughtfully, trying to determine just what they were all observing. Given the respite, I pulled Cate aside for a quick one-on-one. "So what was that whole 'experiment' thing earlier about?" I asked her. "What do you mean," she giggled at me. "It was clearly a valid experiment. I was testing a valid hypothesis and it provided some valuable information that we didn't have before," she tried to justify her behavior to me. "Yeah, well, it was a bit unorthodox," I complained. "Hey, it was unexpected, but that was the whole point. It wouldn't have worked if I'd told you I was gonna smack your head." "Yeah, but what about you kissing me like that?" I countered, still not able to get over my dismay over my sister's surprising behavior towards me in front of our parents. "The idea was to surprise you, and I think I did a good job of that," she replied, giggling quietly. "Besides, I was trying to generate as many different emotions as I could. I wouldn't have been able to do that without a long discussion otherwise." "No, no. You've made your point. It's just that you seemed to relish it," I argued, already losing much of my supposed outrage. "It had to be authentic. If you could feel insincerity then you never would have responded sufficiently for the experiment. We had to see genuine arousal and lust. I think it was very positive," she answered, somehow managing to craft perfectly logical explanations for all the weird behavior she'd instigated. "And what about rubbing my crotch in front of Mom and Dad?" I whined. "Again, it was necessary to generate the response we were looking for." "And you didn't enjoy any of that, then?" I asked, searching for what was left of my righteous anger. "I'm not saying that. In fact I'm not saying I did. I'm just saying that it was necessary, and that there was no one else who could have done it like that at that moment in time, unless I pulled some bimbo in off the street." "A bimbo might have been less embarrassing, at least she wouldn't have been related to me," I continued to complain, not being able to give up the argument after it was already abundantly clear that I'd already lost. "As I said, it needed to be a surprise, so Natalie couldn't have done it initially, and asking some strange woman, or that guy," she added, meaning the man making the comment about his gay experimentations in college, "would have been awkward as well." she stated, effectively countering my bluff. "No, I guess you're right. Still..." "You can't have your floozie and eat her too, Alex," she mollified me with a joke. "I guess," I said, still not convinced of anything, but feeling bamboozled enough to finally shut the hell up. Cate continued to look at me defiantly with a little smile, seeming to be enjoying herself, then her lower lip started trembling and her eyes began to get misty and then her facade suddenly crumbled. She broke into an unexpected sob and launched herself into my arms, which I instinctively wrapped around her as I'd done since we were both young children. "I'm sorry, Alex," she cried beseechingly. "I didn't mean to disappoint you or to be mean to you; after all, you're always looking out for me. I feel terrible about what I've done to you." There wasn't much I could say to her as I had no idea what had brought about this sudden change in her. One minute she's assertive and decisive, and the next she's a basket case, so I simply held her tight and let her get it out of her system. Then, a minute or so later, she simply pulls back, wipes her eyes, thanks me and backs quickly away. Now I'll be the first to admit, despite having lived in a house full of girls, I just can't figure women out. Was that just a showing of unexpected emotions, or was it simply Cate trying to pull one over on me, acting upset just so I'd come to her defense and tell her that everything was OK? I couldn't help but feel suspicious, which also made me doubt her honesty in telling me she was sorry for how she'd behaved earlier. Cate had always been like that, though. She'd be fine one minute, then suddenly get all emotional, either crying or getting upset. It would never take much to settle her, she'd simply come in for a few brief moments and get an offered hug, then she'd just get up and walk off as if nothing had just occurred, leaving me feeling confused and used. Of course I was always interested in looking out for my little sister, especially when she was scared as a little girl, but I'd never been able to figure out just what went through that little head of hers. I simply had to shake my head in confusion, as nothing else I could think of could enlighten me any further. Now that our little discussion had ended I noted that the other girls were all clustered speaking together, completely oblivious to Cate and my little scene, watching someone who had walked past them. "What's going on?" I asked as I approached them. "Cate, you're our local science expert, what's located right here in the human body?" asked Shani, indicating an area just south of where I guessed the stomach should be. "Oh, there's a bunch of stuff around there," she responded, showing no signs of her previous emotional upset. "There's the stomach of course, the liver, the kidneys, the top of the intestines." "Is there something specific you're looking for?" I asked. "You asked us to keep a watch for unusual things we could see about people with our new vision. It's just that for a lot of folk in this area, their auras have a dark spot right around here," she specified, rubbing her hand off to her side. "Which people?" Cate asked, intrigued to be playing scientific guessing games again. "Uh..." Shani hesitated, "mostly heavier people, especially the local blacks. In most of them it's just a bit dim there, but we just passed a young, skinny thing where it was much darker." "Could it be the pancreas?" my sister prompted. They looked at each other as they seemed to ponder her question. "It could be. That would certainly explain it," she agreed. "So what you're saying is you can use this vision to identify health problems?" I asked, amazed at the possibilities. "I'm not sure, but this is a very interesting development," Cate enthused. "I'm guessing the dim space they see in the auras is a lack of life energy caused by dead tissues. In an older diabetic, they'd see a dim spot as the pancreas is weakened, thus producing less energy. In a Type 1 diabetic the pancreas isn't fully functional, so it would appear darker." By this time we had attracted my parents' attention. After we explained what we'd been discussing we decided to keep a watch on folks nearby to see if anything became obvious. We had just gotten some drinks and were turning back to a bookstore we'd noticed earlier, when Shani hurried up to me and whispered something in my ear. "You're kidding me?" I protested, not sure if I wanted to do what she was asking of me. "No, seriously," she backed her request. Shrugging, I walked up to a man who had just passed us and stopped him. "Excuse me, sir, have you had any headaches or any unexplained symptoms recently?" He stared at me like he couldn't believe I was standing there. "That's a rude question, and no, I haven't, not that it's any of your business anyway," he huffed at me. "Look, no offense, but my sister just noticed from the way you're carrying yourself that she thought you might be showing symptoms of a possible brain tumor," I bald faced lied to the guy. He seemed to take me seriously though. "No, I haven't felt anything odd. What makes her think that?" "Well, she's a researcher for a medical project and has been studying the effects of brain tumors, so she's pretty knowledgeable about such things," I said, inventing stuff as I went along, trying to tie it all into things I could substantiate, figuring he or the doctors he might see would want to verify my claims. I never pointed anyone out, so he was free to assume my supposed sister was one of the adult women accompanying me. "I have been feeling quite tired and peakish lately. Maybe I should get a checkup or something," he suggested to me hesitantly. "I think you should get one done immediately," I stated unequivocally, hoping that what the girls were seeing was valid. "Uh ... maybe," he weakly replied, making me think he wasn't quite willing to take me too seriously. I motioned him towards Patricia, the oldest woman in our group besides my mother. "Would you like to ask her yourself?" I asked, hoping he wouldn't but confident we could bluff enough using our combined telepathy to get by. Instead he glanced up at my parents. I couldn't see what they did but assumed they nodded or something because he seemed to accept it a little more. "I'll consider it," he stated, noncommittally, looking noticeably paler; even more than he had been previously. "Who should I tell them referred me?" "Well, she's only a researcher so we really can't take a stand medically, but we can offer suggestions," I stated, hoping to cover our asses when the doctors questioned him about it. "Look," I continued, "could you give us a call and let us know how it works out? We just want to make sure you're going to be OK." Yeah, I thought, plus I'm sure my sister and friends would want to tell me how right they were. Thinking quickly I gave him my older sister's mobile phone number back home. I'd led the man to believe Patricia was my sister, but that wouldn't matter. Since she actually was a researcher it wouldn't look as odd for her to be getting a call like that, whereas it would look very odd for a couple of high school kids or the rest of us to be getting them. As the guy hurried off I turned to my anxiously awaiting entourage. "I just told him we thought he might be suffering from a brain tumor. He took it pretty well. He said he'd call a doctor about it," I explained. Turning to Cate I said, "Call Becky and tell her to expect a call from someone we met down here so she won't be surprised." She immediately took out her cell phone and started dialing. "Are you sure you should be handing out medical advice?" cautioned my father. "No, but we can't be sure unless we take a few chances," I responded. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen? It turns up negative and the guy is glad while a little pissed some ass on the street just asked him to have an expensive test done? As opposed to the very likely possibility the guy could up and die at any moment otherwise." "Maybe we should have just called an ambulance for the guy?" asked Cate, speaking out of the side of her phone. She seemed to have assumed what the girls were surmising was true while both my father and I still remained doubtful. "No, it'd cause too many questions we can't afford to answer. It's a risk to the guy this way but we won't get into too much trouble for a little unsolicited advice. Being named on hospital records is just going to cause major problems for us." Just then the call was answered, so Cate turned away so she could talk to our sister Becky. After a series of sharp retorts, she eventually handed the phone to our father. "Yeah, Becks?" he greeted her. "No, she's serious, and I think you should really listen to her on this. While we're not 100% sure right now, we're willing to bet on it," he continued, trying to convince her we weren't all out of our minds offering unsolicited medical advice. He continued, "Yes, I know it's not our place to make medical decisions on the spur of the moment, but you'll know more once we get back and have a chance to talk," the one sided conversation we were hearing went on. "Look, just do this for us for now, and if we're wrong you can harangue us all you want. But if we're right, then you're going to have to listen to us instead. OK?" He completed the call and handed the phone back to Cate and turned to the rest of us. "Well, she's going to accept the call under strict protest," he informed us. "I sure hope you're all right on this." "Me too," I replied. Despite a warning not to jump to conclusions before we had any official confirmations, the girls had diagnosed just about everyone they'd passed since that meeting. They were definitely getting carried away, but as long as I didn't have to confront anyone else, I'd let them just enjoy their new toy. We spent a fair amount of time just wandering and doing just that. After we got tired of walking we sat and had coffee at the Café du Monde, where we could observe the people wandering around the park while we sipped our drinks. Everyone was so busy playing this new game they gave me more privacy than I'd had lately, so I could relax a little more and pretend I was on a simple vacation with my parents. Finally we decided we'd wasted enough time and figured it was time for dinner. Since Allison was new, we let her pick a nearby restaurant. It was a short hike, but given the troubles I'd been having in restaurants lately I wasn't going to complain. It was another wonderful restaurant, though a little more formal this time. I was working on an endive and ricotta cheese salad when I suddenly noticed the appearance of a little girl beside the table. I looked up just as the others noticed her as well. "Please, sir," she politely began, the very picture of formality and bearing, "my grandma wants you to..." she took a moment to gather her thoughts, "to humbly ... No, to humble herself before your might," she responded, unsure exactly what she was trying to say. It was obvious to everyone that she'd been very carefully coached concerning her speech. "And where is your Grandma now, sweetie," asked my mother. However the little girl steadfastly ignored her as she continued to look up at me. "My Grandma is waiting outside, she was 'fraid of imposing on you," she repeated to us. It was apparent what this was about, and I was surprised that someone would formally request my presence, instead of merely stumbling upon me and requiring us to calm everyone down when they reacted badly. I think I preferred this approach. I immediately grabbed the cute little thing up in my arms and gave her a big hug, which she seemed to eagerly return, considering it was from a strange man. "Let's go see your Grandma and see what this is all about, huh?" I asked her. "Please," she pleaded, "I don't have no idea what this is all about." "None of us do," I reassured her, "none of us do." So most of us got up from the table and made our exit. My parents begged off, saying they'd already seen this show several times already and that they'd hold the table for our return, and would even grab a couple of extra chairs for our ever increasing party. We walked out the restaurant, trying to appear casual about it, and exited onto the street following the young girl. There sat a little, frail older Oriental woman, of unknown nationality, who having seen us coming out of the restaurant, prostrated herself upon the ground and wouldn't even look up as I approached. We could hear her mumbling in a foreign language as we drew near, her granddaughter clearly concerned for her. Apparently her concern was also for her rude behavior, as she ran ahead and joined her grandmother in prostrating herself on the sidewalk. Having been through this a couple of times, and seeing this particular woman seemed to have the foresight and control to formally ask to see me, I thought it was safe to approach her slowly for a change. When I reached her at the edge of the sidewalk, the woman, without raising her head off the ground, turned her head and rattled off a long speech to her Granddaughter. When she finished the little girl looked up nervously and began translating for her. "My Grandma says, 'Oh mighty Spirit Lord, that she recognizes your grand... , your grand... , your grandness and that she humbee asks you to entertain her presence'." I again thought this was a pleasant change from the usual introduction I had to the women attracted to me. Here she was, exceedingly polite and very formal, while her granddaughter was just as cute as a button. Still, we were attracting a fair amount of attention and that was something that I was hoping to avoid. There's just something about two Asian women bowing before a teenager surrounded by various women that attracts attention. "Please tell your grandma that, when she's ready, to sit up and look into my eyes. Tell her to be prepared, as it's going to be a surprise and she'll probably be unprepared for it, but that it's expected and that we can talk about it afterwards." She was really a cute little girl, right at that adorable age where their laughter just made the world seem right. She had little chubby cheeks and eyes that looked just like a couple of upside down grins. However she looked like she was clearly overwhelmed. The little girl began speaking rapidly to her grandmother, rattling off foreign phrases as easily as she did her English. Once she was done the older woman seemed to steady herself and slowly raised herself into a more erect form, and only then did she raise her eyes to me. As she did I could see her react, but only because I knew what to look for. Her eyes widened and she got that glazed look and her head jerked a bit. I figured there must be something happening inside her head if she still physically reacted after that warning, but we could discuss that later. She maintained her composure, and, without looking stunned or confused, she proceeded to stand up. She had the same problem all the others had in not being able to look at me, but when she had stood, she shielded her eyes and addressed me. "She says, 'Your immenseness and grandeur make it difficult for her to look upon you. She wonders at your ability to hide such an immen... , such an important visage from those around you," the little girl told us, amazing me that she'd know a word like 'visage' but not a word like 'eminence'. I guess grammar school isn't quite what it was when I was in it a few years ago. "Tell her that I'd be honored to discuss it with her, if she'd grace us with her presence," I told her though her little translator. "We're currently in the middle of dinner so we'd like to offer you both something to eat," I added. Again there was a quick exchange of messages, which wasn't doing anything to lessen the spectacle we were presenting, but seeing as how formal she was being I knew better than to try to hurry her. She considered this very important, and apparently felt there was a correct way to go about it. I certainly didn't want to belittle her beliefs in any way. While the translation was taking place I took the opportunity to appraise her. She looked vaguely Oriental in that her eyes had that little squinting feature, although it was largely lost because she was squinting at me. She had a short, square cut bob with gently graying jet-black hair. She had a pretty face, though older, and pretty skin with a very pale complexion and a pretty little upturned smile and a little pointed chin "My Grandma says: 'Thank you, and please beg you Mr. Spirit Master for ... for your ... well, for your being nice. And that if it won't insult you," she glanced up and nervously looked me in my eyes, as if expecting that to be a serious misstep, "she will gladly accept your kind invite-ation." And with that the woman looked up, squinting, to see what my response would be. I formally bowed to her then held my hand out for her. It seemed to take a second for her to see my motions, so I moved my hand in a wider sweep so she could see what I was doing, and then she smiled and accepted my hand, grasping it in a surprisingly firm grip. I pulled her forward and also offered a hand to the little girl, who also reacted happily and took it as well. I proceeded very formally and as if they were visiting dignitaries or something, to lead the new people into the crowded restaurant. I guess our strange entrance attracted some attention, but this time I didn't let it bother me. This woman clearly had a lot of pride, and obviously expected me to behave in a certain manner, so I wouldn't let myself embarrass her. I directed them to the table, enjoying my parents' look of amusement as we approached, and signaled them to sit. However, the woman refused, indicating that they'd wait until I was seated first, holding the little girl's hand to make sure she didn't do the wrong thing. Taking this as my due, I formally seated myself, after which everyone else arranged themselves around the table. "Look, just to get things off on the right foot," I said, the tiny girl rapidly translating my words as soon as I said them this time, "I'm just Alex; not 'your master', or 'Angel' or 'Spirit Master'." I paused for the little cutie to catch up. "These are my family," I said, indicating everyone. "That's my sister Cate... , my parents Frank and Linda... ," and I proceeded with all the introductions. She nodded her head with each introduction, and seemed to regard each with a severe respect. When I reached Shani I proceeded to spell it out for them, though I'm not sure how well it would translate. The frail woman nervously glanced up, still shielding her eyes and said simply "Anh Ngo". To which her Granddaughter immediately replied, "Anh means 'intelligent girl' in Vietnamese." So now we knew what nationality they were. Well, I corrected myself, their racial background, as I assume their nationality is American. "We were part way through our meal," I explained to the Granddaughter. While she translated, I managed to signal our waitress. When she finished I asked the little girl, "And what's your name little Princess?" She giggled prettily, blushing and shyly muttered "Victoria Luong." "Well, Victoria, it's a pleasure to meet you. Is it acceptable if I call you Vicky?" At her nod I continued. "I'd like to welcome you and your grandmother to our humble table." While the little girl quickly translated for us, I signaled my father that the waitress was coming, but instead he waved the little beauty my way, implying that this was my show and I should play the dutiful host. I asked for a single menu and a couple of plates for our new guests, as only the little girl could read English. "We have French menus, if that would help?" the waitress offered, immediately picking up on our language difficulties. Vicky translated that as well as a few other things I hadn't heard, and turned back to the young woman and smiled, "That'd be fine thank you." "Thank you very much, Susan," I offered, reading her name tag, "and thank you for being patient with us. We didn't mean to skip out on our delicious lunches," I said smiling at her. "That's perfectly fine," she responded, but I noticed her smile brighten and her eyes twinkle at me as I said it. Or maybe it was because I was being polite. I guess all those years of table demeanor drilled into me by my parents had taken after all. When I turned back to the table, Anh quietly but firmly started speaking to Vicky, who translated to us when she'd finished. "My Grandma says that you truly are a mighty Spirit Lord to have done what you have done for her. She says that normally spirits are very weak here in the mortal world, but that you seem to have abun ... abund... , you have plenty of power," Vicky informed us, still struggling with words a little too advanced for her understanding. "We're all new to this whole business Mrs. Ngo," I began, to which Anh quickly corrected me. "No Mrs., I humble servant," she got out. "Nevertheless, it's rude not to show respect to one's elders." After the requisite pause I continued, telling Vicky, "Please tell your grandmother..." I was interrupted by a rousing chorus of "But I'm just a typical high school kid." Everyone laughed, thinking they were clever finishing my statement for me, and I had to admit I was getting a little repetitious in my statements lately. Vicky quickly whispered with her grandmother then came up with a new question. "What was everyone laughing about?" "Nothing Vicky, they just all think it's funny how I keep telling everyone who comes up to me how I'm not a spirit lord and how I'm not special." Thankfully the menus had arrived while I was speaking, but Anh spoke before consulting hers. "You are most gracious kind Spirit host," Vicky patiently translated. I was about to protest again, but Anh's serious demeanor immediately put me off possibly insulting her by belittling her beliefs. "No," Anh continued through Vicky, "it's not unusual for spirits who have crossed over from the spirit world into our world to forget their history," the little girl related to us. "It's happened frequently in our traditional stories. When a mighty spirit crosses over to the living it takes great power, but they aren't allowed to know of their own power, for fear of what they might do in the world of the living. So Grandma says she's not surprised you don't know anything." We all just looked at her for a moment then Cate managed to jump in before I could say anything. "Do your ancient tales have any suggestions other than smacking his head?" she asked. I thought that was pretty cheeky of her, but when Vicky translated it Anh laughed. "That might be appro ... it might be necessary," Vicky relayed. "She says that they don't know the extent of their power, but that they must learn to trust their instincts. It is their instincts that reflect back to their true selves. It is their instincts that know their origin, and it is their instincts which will guide them while they remain lost." We all glanced at each other while I thought to myself, great, we find a story teller from the old country to tell me tall tales, but Cate seemed to be paying a great deal of attention. "You know," she said, "she has a point. You didn't want to absolve Allison, but when you followed your instincts you did the right thing. You were panicking about suddenly being responsible about something other than yourself, but when multiple women came forward, looking for guidance, you pulled yourself together and started to lead them. For someone who's always been shy, you seem to have a knack for talking to perfect strangers." "Surely you don't believe any of this," I started to object. "Well, I'm not sure there isn't a better explanation, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If someone with an old world view can explain to us what's going on, then I'm all for listening to them," Cate replied. "I think your sister has a point," my father added. "It would be rude not to listen to her, and she just may have insights that all these younger people who are all so awed by you may not have." "Oh, grandma is in awe of you," Vicky informed us all. "She instructed me to be polite and respectful because you're very, very important. She normally doesn't do that because she feels her age gives her great dignity, but she was worried we'd insult you somehow." I just stared at them all like they were crazy, but then I started to think about what my father had said. What's the worst that could happen? I listen to some crazy ramblings about crazy happenings and get some crazy explanation? Nothing else was working at the moment. Maybe she really had knowledge of things like this from her native country? While I was thinking this over, my mind off in never-never land, Cate and the girls began slowly relating to Anh just what had been occurring to all of us. Needless to say, the explanations took a long time when they had to be conveyed through the translation of a little girl. Luckily it occupied Anh and the girls long enough for Anh and Vicky's food to arrive, and continued while we all ate. Anh was intrigued and fascinated by what Cate and the girls told her about her new vision. They related how it showed both emotions and health issues, and how they all likened it to people's souls. "Ah yes, you Westerners and your fascination with your Christian souls," she replied, smiling at everyone kindly. "We have a slightly less strict belief in a person's spirits. We don't believe its only use is to carry us away into the sky. We believe that it is what links us to the other worlds." Here Vicky hesitated. "I don't mean worlds, I guess, I mean it links us to other places where spirits live, and our souls can sometimes cross between the two." Having established that, she continued, "Thus when our spirits return after death, it isn't because they are angry and want to scare us, but because they have something to tell us. We used to listen to the spirits that would come to us in the night. Unfortunately most of my people have adopted your beliefs, and not many believe in a world of spirits anymore." "Yeah, I think using that definition will keep us from getting into trouble with anyone's religious beliefs. But just to be safe we'll just use the term to mean a person's characteristics, both their inborn personality and all the various things that affect it," Cate decided. "Hey, Henry," my father called, "could you do me a favor and get us all another round of drinks. I don't think anyone will miss two normal types like you and me." Henry was cool about my father's request. He didn't even point out that the waitress would normally take care of that duty. Instead he simply replied, "Sure thing, Frank, and don't bother getting up. I can manage it. This is all getting a little too heady for me." I looked at my father, I could tell something was up. That was just all a bit too handy. He was up to something. "Look, I hate to rain on your parade here," my father interrupted everyone remaining. "But I've got a few things that Linda and I need to discuss as well. I thought it would be easier without Henry so Patricia can speak honestly. I should probably have asked Alex to leave as well, but I get the feeling none of you would speak unless he was here to hear it anyway." The women all nodded knowingly and my father continued, not wanting to waste any time. "What I want to ask is what exactly all of you are planning for our son Alex? I mean, you all seem fascinated with him, and he does seem to be responsible for whatever is happening with you all, but just what do you all see this meaning for each of you?" "Ah, very good question Mr. Jennings," Shani answered. "I was wondering how long you were going to take to bring it up. I was going to try to get all the girls together to discuss some of this, but I guess we can do it here just as well. I think it's important to understand what's at stake for all of us, and what's driving this 'fascination' we all have." "Actually," Patricia added, "I think 'fascination' covers what Natalie is feeling, although I think even she feels more than just that. I personally feel awed and humbled that Alex would choose me to give this gift to." I was getting ready to interrupt once again, but glanced at Cate first and could tell my shin would suffer if I did so I kept silent. My father considered this seriously. "So what, you feel appreciative? You want to do something special for him?" "No, it's more than that," she explained. "Imagine one day you felt yourself drawn to someone, someone you could feel was more powerful than anyone else you've ever met. When you confronted the person, he looked into your eyes and suddenly you have a new ability, several new abilities. You see life in a whole new way, you experience it in a new way, your place in life is completely new, and the only way you can appreciate it is via the one who gave you this amazing new gift." The other girls all nodded their heads about this revelation. "So thankful is just the beginning," she continued. "Beyond that there's trust, we all seem to be able to feel it in him, which is good because he's the only one we can't read anything from his aura." "Yeah, I'd be willing to bet that if he were to ask us all for our first born child, we may think about it for a little while, but I feel secure that we'd all willingly give them to him, simply because we trust him that much," Allison answered. "Really? You trust these new abilities of yours so much, even after having had them for so little time," my mother asked her. "Yeah, even if we don't know how to interpret the visions we have, we can all sense his presence. It contains an incredible amount of power, but it also contains this sense of trust, of fairness and compassion. I know your son is an important figure, a mighty spirit if you will, that will go on to do amazing things. I don't know what role he has for me in his life, but I'm willing to do anything he may ask of me, even if it means sacrificing my life for him." Anh began speaking, so we all waited patiently for her to finish before Vicky attempted to translate for her. "Alex is the embodiment of a mighty soul who's clearly come from the spirit world to accomplish something significant. He may not know what it is yet, and that's because that's part of the cost of becoming human, but we can all trust that his mission will be revealed and that we'll all have a role to play in it," she stated forcefully, I guess attempting to convey the same emotion she got from her grandmother. I thought it was interesting that sometimes she'd use fairly difficult words and other times she'd have difficulty with the words Anh spoke, but then I thought the words she spoke correctly were probably part of the stories that Anh had told, and that she'd probably heard them before. The one's she had difficulty with were the words that Anh used to describe me or what she wanted to say to me. "OK, so you're all willing to do what he asks of you, but how far does that go?" my father pressed. "Shani has already decided to give up her career and move back home with us. She's also told us that she plans to have sex with him. Is that what the rest of you are planning, or are there limits on what you plan on doing for him?" I suspected this might have been a mistake on my father's part. I had been shocked when she'd first confessed this to my parents. She'd been intimating that she'd be honest with them in an attempt to win them over, as well. However, I thought that by bringing it up now, he was doing nothing more than planting the idea in the other's heads, since none of them had mentioned it as yet. I noticed them all looking at one another, measuring the others' responses. "Wait a minute, Dad," I attempted to cut in. "Shani may have the freedom to decide such things, but I'm not sure the others do. I'm sure that Patricia has outstanding contracts that she can't break, Allison has already started talking about going back to school and Natalie has her job and home here in New Orleans." "Actually my job is pretty easy to quit," Natalie suggested. "I mean, it's nice but it's just a hotel job. I can easily transfer the skills to another hotel or resort job pretty easily. But I thought I wasn't included in all of this. I mean I don't have any of these amazing new abilities or anything." "Don't worry," Shani told her. "I think what Anh is getting at is that whatever Alex's spirit's mission is, it'll likely include you and others like you as well." "Actually I think so too," Cate added. "Alex seems to be attracting people, well female people, with a particular skill set. I suspect it's a genetic advantage that he's taking advantage of. But whatever it is, I think it's important to recognize and build on that basis. I think we should organize everyone with these abilities and try to foster their growth, with or without Alex's ability to grant them visions." "I do have a lot of contractual obligations," Patricia confirmed. "I told you all that I travel for about two months at a time several times a year, but New Orleans is at the end of my tour. I've got about another week and half and I'm done for a while. I'd love to spend some time with Alex and you if he'd let me. True, I'll have to go back on the road again, but I think that with what I've learned from him I can manage to finally make a name for myself. I think I'm going to get Henry to start pushing to arrange some auditions and some visits from some music people. I think I'll be able to sway a few. Of course that'll take a lot of planning, writing and practicing, but I can do those anywhere I can put together a studio." "I have family here as well, as I believe most of us do," Anh finished up this summary of everyone's willingness to follow me home. "However I feel that I've been called to guide Alex in his quest. I think I can assist him in achieving what he needs to do and I plan on making good on that obligation." That was just too much for me. Here I was having problems with Shani following me around and now they tell me that they ALL plan on moving in with me. I groaned pitifully, burying my head in my hands at this news. "I think Alex is having problems having to grow up in the course of a couple of days," Cate told everyone. "He's been having doubts about wanting that much responsibility in his life." "That's understandable," my father agreed, "but I think it's too late for you to be fretting. What's done is done. You now have four, or maybe five, people who are depending upon you, so it's time for you to step up. Everyone faces a day when they have to assume responsibilities they're not ready for. For most of us it's when we take our first serious job and have to go to work every day, and can no longer pretend we're going to be something else. For other's it's when they find they've been careless and they're now responsible for a new family. But when that day comes, it doesn't do any good to moan about it. It's time to step up and be a man, or, pardon me, possibly a woman as well," he added, giving Cate her due, "and do what needs to be done." I knew my father well enough to understand these grandiose statements of his. They were usually pretty well informed and I tended to trust his judgment in things. But that didn't mean that I had to appreciate it. This time I dropped my head into my arms on the table and groaned long and loud in frustration. I just wasn't ready for this. "Well, it looks like this is about all that Alex is ready to handle at the moment. Plus I think Henry is about done, so we'll have to wrap this up. I think you should all think about what it is you think you'll be able to do for Alex in the future, and figure out how you plan on being able to do it. Linda and I will discuss the various options with you, just keep in mind that we come from remote farm country, where the availability of interesting jobs is pretty slim." "Actually, Frank, I think Henry is aware of my conflicts over the last couple of days. But, given the tremendous showing I gave last night, I think he's pleased enough with my potential to do well in the future, that he's likely to be willing to trade success for our continued intimacy. I don't think he'll be that difficult. I'll try to talk it over with him delicately, but I don't think you'll have to send him away whenever we talk about this in the future." "Well, that's good to know. Still, I want you all to think about this. It's going to be a major commitment and I'm not sure I want my son's life overturned if you're all not absolutely serious about this. We'll also have to plan out logistics. Maybe we can plan on doing it in shifts, a few now, a few in another couple of months or something, switching off every now and then. Anyway, let's see what we can work out," my father summarized like he was conducting a business meeting with a table full of corporate stiffs. Henry arrived part way through my father's little summation and began handing out the various drinks, seemingly paying no mind to the conversation, but I was sure he had a fair idea of what we were likely speaking about. I may have had doubts about his being able to provide Patricia with enough support, but I never doubted his intellect or his ability to read people. But I still had a few things to say. "Look, you all may have my life planned out, but I am still the one being affected here. You may all be right, but I'll have to adjust to it in time. I mean, you're all planning on deciding what my mission in life is, sitting around the table without any input from me. I mean, Jesus already knew he was the chosen one, the son of God, and he still had to spend three full years living in a cave before he could figure out what he wanted to do. I may not be able to decide as quickly as you all expect me to." "Good point, son," Mom assured me. "You just sleep on it. The rest of us will all talk about it tomorrow, though. If you're feeling too shell-shocked you can skip it, but I have a feeling if you do you'll only be picking up a few more followers when you do. So far you've been averaging one a day, at this rate the only way they're going to stop is if you leave town." "Tell me about it," I groaned. "I'm ready to leave right now," I stated, starting to bang my head on the table. I really didn't need this kind of complication in my life right now! ------- Chapter 7: A Crisis and a Change of Heart The general conversation pretty much broke up after the last item was discussed. We got into a more in depth discussion of all the new abilities, although trying to communicate with dear little Anh Ngo was agonizingly slow. Clearly she knew some English words, but she simply didn't trust herself to misspeak in front of me, so I bore with it. Victoria, or Vicky as I'd taken to calling her, was just a cutie, though, so she made it all worthwhile just to see how seriously she took her important role as translator. She'd beam whenever one of us would tell her how well she was doing. I'm not sure how much she picked up herself, but as I said, she seemed to be very intelligent, so I'm guessing it was the majority. We managed to duplicate some of Cate's previous experiments and demonstrations. Anh was clearly amazed when she not only could understand me, but also when I could apparently pick her thoughts out of thin air. Still, she looked like she had expected no less of me. Vicky was intrigued as well. "You read MINDS?" she asked, clearly excited. "Not really, Vicky. Actually I do read minds, but only four very specific minds. I can only talk crudely with your Grandma, Patricia, Allison and Shani. It's nothing like in the movies. But you can't tell anyone, as it'll cause a lot of attention and no one will believe it, and they'll call us and your Grandma liars and cheats. I don't think any of us want that. I don't think it will happen because we all know we can't talk to anyone about this, not your family, not any strangers, nobody but us and your Grandma." I hoped I wasn't piling the guilt on too far, but there really was no way of getting around it. I was afraid of any trouble a misspoken comment was likely to bring up. After that Cate played with her a bit to help alleviate the tension that I'd built up, which helped, but it was still a very hard evening for a girl so young to handle. It turned out that little Vicky was only 8 and was in the 3rd grade at a local elementary school. She lived with her parents, along with 2 sisters and 3 brothers and a couple cousins and a few other relatives. All in all it was a pretty large household, which fit into a slightly larger Vietnamese fishing community on the shore. Anh kept the Vietnamese sensibilities strong in the family, and the children were all becoming quite Americanized while still keeping their sense of who they were and where they came from. They were as proud of their heritage as Shani was. We got talking again, and went on until I noticed Vicky standing beside me again. It occurred to me then that I hadn't heard from either her or Anh lately, but I'd thought that was due to Cate's playing with her. No, I corrected myself, Cate had been involved in this latest discussion so I realized we'd been talking longer than I'd thought. As I was considering this, Vicky spoke up. "Scuse me, but Grandma says she needs to get me back for school tomorrow. She's sorry she has to leave. She says she'll try to be back tomorrow after my school gets out." We all told her that we were sorry we couldn't spend more time with them, then the girls and I escorted them out to her nearby, little, used compact car. They both made a big deal out of kissing me goodbye, still very formally, as if this was an important act in a special ceremony. When we got back to the restaurant Mom and Dad had finished paying the bill and were waiting for us, along with Cate and Henry. We discussed what was next when Patricia and Henry made their exit, no doubt to have the discussion she'd been putting off, and the rest of the women decided they'd accompany us back to our hotel. There was no going home for most of them. Heck, Allison was still dressed up in long white gloves from church this morning. No, the way things were going they'd expect to stay in Cate and my room tonight. The French Quarter streets were still busy, even after dark on a Sunday night, so it was still a pleasant walk. Everyone was busy discussing details about the issue my father had raised, so they mostly talked amongst themselves, the women moving into little groups to discuss things privately, or with my parents or Cate. There always seemed to be someone to watch over me, though, perhaps because they were afraid I'd become morose about all the plans being made. More likely it was just because they all felt it was their duty to watch over me. As a result I still had a little private time to sulk. However, I was forced to sulk with several attractive women clustered loosely around me. I thought about the women that had been attracted to me so far. They covered a wide variety of ages, races, education and experiences. There didn't seem to be many commonalities other than they all seemed to be quite bright, but I figured that was more likely either dumb luck or they were still trying to influence me. Oh, and there weren't any fat women yet either. I thought that odd considering just how heavy the residents of New Orleans were, but I simply attributed it to the fact that, so far, I'd only been exposed to busy professional people. Besides, the one black woman I'd pulled in was Jamaican, instead of a native of New Orleans. When we got back to the hotel my parents decided they wanted to participate in more discussion, so we opened the connecting doorway between our rooms and everyone wandered back and forth. Natalie had to head home to be prepared for work the next day, although she casually announced she would also put in her resignation notice. Most of the discussion was still about future plans. Specifically regarding what everyone wanted to do about me, so I pretty much stayed out of it. We sat there and continued to hash out details for quite awhile, I mainly focused on issues not having to do with multiple women moving in with me. I think I was starting to doze off, as it had, once again, been a very busy day. A while after we'd been back at the hotel Cate's phone rang. She answered it while the rest of us listened to her conversation. "Yeah?" she answered informally, figuring it wouldn't be a stranger given the late hour. "Oh Hi, Becky!" she responded happily, enthused that she could get some feedback from her sister. "Wow? Really?" She covered the phone and told us, "She says that guy is having emergency surgery on his brain as we speak." We all sat up and took notice. "Here, you'd better talk to Alex. It was his women that figured it out," she said after a pause, and handed me the cell phone. "She wants to know how we knew something was wrong." "Uh, hello Becky?" I hesitantly greeted her, already dreading questions about new insights and strange women. "Hey there, hope you're having a good time," she greeted me. It'd been a while since I'd spoken with her. "What's this about 'your women'? Does she mean her and Mom?" Having made the basic assumption Becky was off and running, so I didn't feel any pressing need to correct her. "Anyway, getting back on target, the hospital staff is very interested in how you detected his condition. They said it was completely asymptomatic but that there was a sizable tumor about the size of a large plum in the right hemisphere of his brain. They said he might have noticed it sooner if it had been in his left hemisphere. Since it was asymptomatic they're all questioning how I detected it," she stated, emphasizing how they thought she had been there when she had, in fact, been back working in a lab in Illinois. "Wow, sounds like we caught it just in time," I replied, ignoring her implied question about my knowledge of the event. Oh, I knew the subject would come up, but I was just hoping to postpone it until I had more of a feel of how much trouble I was in. "Yeah, he walked into the emergency room and demanded a brain scan. As a result of what they saw they rushed him straight into surgery. It took a bit to organize a team that fast, but they wanted to address it right away. It seems the tumor was impacting areas of the brain around it and was causing them to atrophy. They're not sure what effect the surgery will have, but are hopeful since it hadn't yet affected his performance, but every brain surgery is major so they'll all be watching him very anxiously. "Anyway, how'd you detect it? They said there were no obvious signs." Ah, here it is, I thought to myself, the heart of the problem. "Just lucky, I guess. A friend of ours saw him walking funny and thought we should ask him about it." "Hmm, this friend a doctor? And if so, why couldn't you use him as a reference? And how'd he notice his walk when the neurologists at the hospital didn't notice it?" she pressed. "Boy, you're just full of questions," I stalled. "Yeah, the local doctors have been grilling me for awhile. They seemed to think it was me who saw him on the street and spotted it. I had to bluff my way through and it made me sound like a real idiot. Especially since I have no medical training whatsoever. What's more, I have no actual experience with patients, just with lab work and theoretical situations." "Ouch," I commiserated. "Don't you get any brownie points for spotting it?" I hated putting Becky into a difficult situation. "Not really. Doctors always want answers. They're not very good at giving credit; they seem to think it makes them look fallible. Anyway, I'd avoid the hospital for a bit. The doctors are all full of questions, and the guy and his wife aren't very likely to be speaking with you right now. The guy's going to be out of it, and his wife is now faced with the sudden onset of crippling medical bills and all." "Geez, you just can't win for losing, huh?" It was amazing just how complicated saving someone's life could be. "Nope, not in today's world with lawyers around every corner. Anyway, you should be OK. But I'm dying to hear the full story," she stressed, already guessing there'd be a fascinating story behind the day's little adventure. "We'll have to explain it when we get back, if then. It's pretty complicated, but we shouldn't really discuss it over the phone," I told her. "Ahh, suddenly all mysterious are we?" "Yeah, you know me, full of mystery and such." I normally wasn't very quick with the clever responses when things started getting awkward. "The only mystery you're full of is the mysterious smells coming from your bedroom," she joked, returning to our old teasing ways. "Anyway, I'll talk to you later. I had a long day and I've got to get ready for a lot of questions tomorrow. Bye," she said, finishing off without giving me time to respond to her last statement. "Bye," I finished and hung up, relaying the information to the others. We sat around discussing the implications of this bit of additional knowledge. Soon it was getting late, nearly 11 p.m., when I was suddenly hit with this feeling of dread, then a sudden feeling of being wet, cold, miserable and lonely, and the single image of a dark, empty road stretched out before me. Reacting quickly I was instantly on my feet. "Quick, Anh's in trouble, we've got to go get her," I informed everyone, wanting to immediately do something but not quite sure what. "Whoa, whoa, what the hell?" my father protested, demonstrating he was personally exempt from Mom's warpath concerning inappropriate language. "Dad, she's cold and lonely out on the street. She might have had an accident or something. We've got to do something." "Surely it is late enough that she's been home for some time," he said, glancing at his watch. "She shouldn't be on the road at this hour." "She's on the road and she's wet and upset," I answered with certainty. "OK, OK, don't jump down my throat. I'm just trying to establish a degree of common sense. Are you even sure it's her and not Patricia?" "No, I'm sure it's her. Don't ask me how, but I just seem to know. Besides, she's the only one who lives out in the country." "Did you guys get anything as well?" Cate asked Shani and Allison, looking straight at them. "I picked up something like a distress call," Shani responded, "but I don't think I get these messages as strongly as Alex does. I'm sure if she's in trouble she's calling for Alex and not me." "I'm not even comfortable with the idea of telepathy yet, I've got no idea how it works but yeah, I felt something," Allison agreed. "Do you even know where she is?" my father asked. "No. I don't," I stated, realizing just how unprepared I was for any kind of rescue mission. "Sit down and focus then," Cate counseled. "Just relax and think about her. Try to feel her out and see if you can pick out her location." So I slowly made my way to the bed and lay back, closing my eyes and tried to relax, despite the feelings of panic coursing through me. I was just starting to cast about my mind for her when the sharp ring of the hotel phone jolted through me like an electric shock. "Hello?" answered my father, having reached it before anyone else could respond. Reaching across I snatched it right out of his hand. "Yes?" I asked a bit curtly, desperate for more information. "Alex? Alex, I can't talk long. I just snuck away so I could call. Grandma's in trouble. She and Daddy had a big fight. It was all about you. He threw her out into the street. She's out there all alone." "Can she drive or call a cab or anything?" I asked. "She doesn't have a cell phone, Alex. She doesn't have a purse or anything and Dad locked the door behind her. You've got to help her Alex." She was starting to sound a little panicky so I asked her to tell me her address, which helped calm her down. I quickly jotted the address down. I was struck by how the panicky Vicky didn't sound like the awestruck Vicky. Her sentences, while quick and simpler than before, were plain and spoken clearly. Apparently the scare put more emotions to her words. "Oops, I gotta go. Help her Lãnh ... uh, Alex, please!" and with that she hung up. I briefly wondered what she had started to call me. Turning to everyone else I brought them up to date. "OK, I've got an address. That was Vicky. She says Anh's been thrown out by her son. The vision I have doesn't show any houses so I'm guessing she's walking away from the house." "Before you go rushing off, who's going with you?" asked my father, always the responsible one. "Going?" I stupidly asked. "Someone's got to stay here, in case she or Vicky calls again," he cautioned. "Who's going with you?" Looking around I took in all the concerned faces around me. "Well, I'm not really sure..." I hesitated. "The two of us are coming," Shani answered for herself and Allison. "We're not going to stay here when one of us is in trouble or when you need us." I looked at Cate. "Relax, Alex. Remember what Anh said today. You know what to do, just trust your judgment." I took a deep breath then turned back to her. "OK, you're going as well." "They aren't going to be much of a help if there's a confrontation," Dad countered. "Why would there be a..." "I'm assuming you're the source of the fight?" he posed. "Yeah," I acknowledged disconcertedly. "So you've got to assume there's a possibility of a confrontation. I think I'd better go with you, which only leaves your mother to stay here to cover us." "All of you go, I'll keep watch here. Just don't get into any trouble," insisted my mother. "OK, that leaves six of us in our little car," he warned. "I've got my car right outside, Cate can ride with me and you can decide who rides with whom after everything is said and done," Shani insisted, not questioning the fact that I was the one making all the decisions for them all. "Next, what are you going to do?" My father pressed again. "Are you going to try to reason with her son, an adult, and probably the head of the family, or are you going to bring her here? And, if you bring her here, does that mean you're going to be taking care of her?" I sighed heavily. "Dad, I can't decide all of that now. We've got to help her right away." "Just be aware of what's involved. That's all. You're assuming a lot of responsibility here. You were nervous about it when we broached it at dinner, but now you're facing it directly. If you're going to accept it, then I want you to be willing to commit to it when the time comes. It's time to stop being a child now that you have people who depend on you." It seemed a bit harsh seeing as how I'd only known the people involved for a couple of days, but I took his guidance as I was heading out the door. Everyone came tumbling out behind me, while Mom called out her wishes for our success. I ran down the hall, down the stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator, and out into the hotel's parking lot. I didn't know if anyone else was keeping up, but I got the car unlocked and settled myself, buckling up as they started to drift in. I hadn't driven the entire way down here, but that was due to my father's concerns about 'distracted teen agers'. Well now I was focused. I was highly focused! I was already pulling out by the time Dad finally reached the car, so I stopped just long enough for him to dive in. Luckily Allison already had her smart phone out and was calling up Google Maps to give us directions there. There was a lot of anxious discussion in the car as I sped through the night. I was lucky I wasn't stopped, driving so fast through the city, but it was late on a Sunday evening so I guess the cops weren't out in force at this hour. I emphasized that Anh wasn't in any immediate physical danger, just that she was disconcerted and a bit scared. That stopped most of the panicky reactions; well, all of them but mine. I felt personally responsible. I had brought all of this upon them. All the women looked up to me to lead them in this new life, and I'd already gotten Anh kicked out of her home. I had to make this better somehow. I think the others were discussing options and possibilities, but my mind was so busy racing through my own thoughts that I think they eventually gave up when I stopped responding. Instead I just focused on the road ahead as I drove as fast as I thought I could safely get away with. As I drove, I sought to reach out to her, trying to sense where and what direction to go. I felt she was relieved that I was coming, but was still distressed by the entire event. I felt right making a few turns, but that was probably just wishful thinking on my part. If I was right she was walking rapidly away from the house, probably in our direction, whichever direction that was. It had begun drizzling just after dinner, and had been raining off and on since then. No one dared try to turn on the radio since I wanted my mind clear of interference in case I got any further messages. It occurred to me I should really have discussed the matter of my driving with someone, seeing as I didn't know how I got when I received a telepathic message. If I got all glassy eyed and spaced out I probably shouldn't be driving, but I wasn't about to relinquish my personal sense of responsibility just yet. Bringing it up at this point would just worry people and confuse the issue. Right now the issue was crystal clear, I had to get to Anh right away and fix things! I got a brief feeling of alarm, aside from my own, and instantly knew it must be Patricia. I could distinguish it because mine was a calm panic, whereas hers was a more complete panic, clearly set off by my own state of mind. I guess I inadvertently sent out my emotional response without thinking about it. It seems I did that a lot anyway. Allison kept me going, supplying me with gum so I wouldn't grind my teeth too much, talking me through the directions, keeping me informed of the remaining miles and estimated arrival time. I careened around a few corners but nobody complained, everyone was instead just hanging onto the safety straps above the doors. I'd insisted everyone fasten their seatbelts when we started. No one had yet developed any powers of clairvoyance or telekinesis, so I'd be on my own if I encountered any troubles. Allison was also handling phone calls. Cate called just to check up on our current status so Allison relayed what we knew. Mom called part way there to check in and to relay that she hadn't heard back from Vicky. Chances were that she'd been caught using the phone by her parents. I briefly got angry at Victoria for giving the story away to her family, but I couldn't keep that going. She was only a kid, and asking kids to keep secrets just wasn't fair. Besides, her parents probably already let her have it for being involved and for being silent about it as well. I wondered whether I'd have to rescue her as well. Then I began imagining the difficulties involved in trying to take a little girl away from her parents. No, I knew we had no choice there. If Anh wanted to come with us that was one thing. However, if she chose to abandon us for her home and family after some tears, then we'd just have to buck up and accept it. Until then she was my responsibility. She had expressly put herself, her entire future, into my hands. Of course, dealing with Anh without Vicky there to translate was going to be a major hurdle! Allison relayed information to Natalie and Patricia as well as the other calls, letting them both know how little we knew but emphasizing that she wasn't injured or anything, just scared and alone. That seemed to have halted the panicky messages I was getting. Now I just felt my own panic and worry, which seemed to be enough for all of us. As we neared the house I had to cut back on the speed significantly. It was rural, dark and tree lined; the heavy scent of the water on the night air. The headlights didn't do much good as we'd go around curves in the many poorly paved sections of road. Just as I came around one particular curve I felt a sense of relief and immediately hit the brakes. I almost panicked again, remembering that Shani had been following me as I rushed speeding throughout the trip here, and I expected to feel a crush and the tiny tinkling of broken glass but it failed to pass. I felt a giggle in my head, a relief in itself, along with the sense of not being there yet, so resumed driving until I found her standing almost in the middle of the road. I stopped and jumped out of the car, rushing to her and lifting her off her feet and hugging her tightly to me. She felt good and safe in my arms. Hearing motion behind me I was suddenly reminded that we were sitting in the middle of traffic, as little of it as there was. I carried Anh still clutching me back to the car. Allison took over from me, moving her into the back seat with her, while shoving my father into the front seat beside me. They were clucking at her, making no sense at all, when I turned and looked her in the eyes. "Where to?" I asked slowly, being careful to enunciate. I still had no idea just how much English she knew. "I need things," she stated plainly. "Either t'night or morrow. Spect fight," she warned. Looking her in the eyes I answered, "Expect a fight then," as I started to get into the car. Cate ran up to the window then and asked what was happening, so I said that Anh was safe, and that we were headed to the house to get her things. I could tell from Cate's expression that she expected there to be trouble, but I was still hoping we could handle this all amicably. As she ran back to Shani's car I started our own car moving forwards towards Anh's house. I didn't even ask her where she was going to go. I figured that was her choice. She'd decided she didn't want to stay at home. Anything further was her choice, but it was my responsibility to give her that choice. In that, my own choice was significantly narrowed to only a few simple options. "Maybe I'd better go..." my father started as I came to a stop in front of her house. "No, Dad, you can come in to back me up, but you'll stay in the background. This is my responsibility and it's an issue between her son and me. You didn't start this, so I don't expect you to finish my fight for me." "I'm just hoping it won't be a fight," he stated flatly. "So am I, Dad, so am I," I answered. ------- Chapter 8: Meeting the Family I knocked loudly on the front door and held Anh tight as we waited for a response. We heard rapid, firm footsteps approaching and figured her son was prepared for a fight. When the door swung forcefully open I saw a smallish, slim, but well muscled man staring back at me. I didn't let his small size fool me. For all I knew he was versed in whatever the Vietnamese version of kung-fu or jiu jitsu was. The man glared at me, looking me up and down before addressing me. "So you're the mysterious Alex, huh?" he leered at me in accented, but fluent, English. "Yes, I am. I believe you have your mother's things. She'll be needing them," I answered, returning his glare with a steady, confident gaze, hoping such an approach wouldn't be considered confrontational. "You're not going to get her money, you know," he told me simply. "Money? Is that what this is all about? What makes you think I want her money?" "What else is a pretty boy like you offering that sweeps a little old woman off her feet? I don't know what kind of scam you're pulling, but it stops here!" he stated emphatically. I stepped forward and guided Anh around her son, telling her gently, "Get your things," before responding to her son. "I'm not interested in your mother's money. We've become friends with your mother and are concerned for her safety here tonight." "Yeah," he sneered at me, "you and all your women then? And an old man as backup?" He certainly seemed to be ready for a fight, I'd have to watch myself so I didn't get him any more worked up than he already was, but I wasn't about to back down or apologize for something I didn't feel. "The women are no concern of yours," I insisted, trying to keep his attention on me and not on all the people surrounding me. "They're friends with Anh and are here to help her. The 'old man' is my father and is legally responsible for my actions until I reach 18, so he has every right to be here as well." "Then he should have been preventing you from taking advantage of my mother. You're 'friends' with her? You've known her for all of one day and suddenly you know her better than I do? You don't even speak Vietnamese, how the hell do you know what she wants?" "I'm pretty sure I know what she wants more than you do," I challenged. I'll admit it, I was pretty smug. It's easy to be smug when you feel you have plenty of people in your corner, but I noticed about then that the house was full of various people watching the two of us; everyone from adults to little kids, Vicky amongst them. She was wide eyed watching the unfolding events. Suddenly I felt a feeling of panic and dread, and stupidly, I responded by turning back toward Anh instead of watching out for myself. Only at the last moment did I detect motion out of the corner of my eye as I focused on his fist, balled up, moving rapidly towards my face. Everything slowed way down and I could see the hand slowly advancing towards me, and I could think clearly about it, but couldn't do anything to move out of the way or respond in any other way. I had time to think 'I'm glad it's a regular punch instead of a round-house kick to the head' and then 'Man, this is gonna hurt!' Just before impact I heard, clearly and distinctly, a chorus of "Oh fuck!", "Watch out Alex!" and a "Damn Bao!" and I remember thinking, 'Who the fuck is getting so excited'. Then BAM! I go flying. Again, everything was moving in slow motion. I distinctly felt the fist connect with my cheek, as my face was looking away from him; I think he'd been aiming at my nose. I heard the smack of solid fist hitting damp, soft flesh. I felt my head snap back and my body begin to fly backwards as I descended the stairs without touching them. But strangely I didn't feel much pain. It seems that when my mind snapped into hyper mode and everything slowed down, that my nerves had yet to catch up. I think that's also why my mind was initially distracted when the voices shouted out to me, I wasn't able to take in the sudden change of perspective. Not much made sense for quite a while after that. I remembered sailing through the air in slow motion, watching the background gradually move past as I memorized each and every event in my horizon. I heard screams, both my family's behind me as well as the children's, but whether in horror or support I had no clear clue. I remember hoping Frank, my father, wouldn't try to defend me, as I didn't think he was really in any shape to help. Finally I wondered whether Anh would be packed soon, as I wasn't sure how much more of this I could take before she was ready. Then I came crashing down hard against the concrete walkway, hearing my clothing tear and my back scrape as I slid backwards. Everything surrounding me seemed to fly past as my senses returned to normal again. It took several long seconds for my backwards motion to finally come to rest, as I kept trying to reach out for something to slow myself down with. As soon as I came to a halt I was rolling onto my side trying to regain my feet, preparing myself for just about anything that might be coming my way. When I finally managed to stand facing what I thought was the right direction, I saw four women all beating on Anh's son at the same time. I assumed this was Bao, since I seemed to recall it had been Anh's voice that had just damned him. Man, were they beating on him with a vengeance. He was shielding his face with his hands as their blows rained down upon him. "Enough!" I called out. "This is between Bao and me." Instantly all the faces present glanced back at me in amazement and the women backed away from my opponent. I cautiously stepped forward as a feeling of calm swept over me. I figured it was probably nothing more than early shock taking hold, but I'd put it to as much use as I could. "You talk about my not knowing Vietnamese," I got out, a bit slurred due to my mangled face but still sounding about right to my ears at least, "but it's not me who forgot the meaning of honor, of family, of respecting the wisdom of one's elders, of working through one's problems on one's own rather than the all too common American habit of beating up on anyone who opposes you before listening to anything they have to say." I could see Bao's face crinkle up questioningly as I continued. "You ignore your own mother's wisdom and experience, as well as her own free will and choice in the matter. You strike before I have an opportunity to either defend myself or have a chance to explain what happened. You bully me, your mother and your daughter, just because it's easier than asking yourself a couple of tough questions." I was on a roll now. I kept the questions coming as I kept advancing on him, forcing him to take a step backwards as he tried to figure out what I was saying to him. I think he was totally unprepared to be discussing family in the middle of a fistfight, and was having trouble thinking of how to respond so just kept taking one hesitant backwards step after another. "He's right, Bao," came a sharp call to my right. I glanced briefly off in that direction, not wanting to take my eyes off Bao as I briefly slowed my advance. "You forget who you are and where you come from." It was Anh, sharply rebuking her son from the other direction, and boy, did she look angry. I was stunned to realize I could hear and understand each word she was speaking but didn't have time to consider any possible explanations for it. "You're familiar with reincarnation aren't you? You remember that much of our heritage at least?" she prompted, to which he responded with a confused expression. "Well, in a past life I was a Vietnamese. Then, in a subsequent life I was a Vietnamese-American. However, now I've passed from those lives into an afterlife where I am surrounded by spirits. I see spirits of all living things, and I am surrounded by a family of faithful spirits who are lead by a mighty spirit. One who, just like the stories of old you give lip service to, takes on human form in order to walk the physical world. Just like them, he walks in a humble form of a harmless boy, not because he is, but just as a test on the character of the humans around him. A test you've failed miserably! You attempt to beat up a young boy just because you can? Alex is much stronger than you. He stands head and shoulders above you, as you've shown yourself to be the little man you are!" Whew, was I ever glad she wasn't this pissed at me! I planned to stay on her good side in the near future. In the back of my mind I considered that I was hearing her speaking in clear English, even though I could hear the Vietnamese and could see her lips moving in sync with non-English words. But that wasn't in the front of my mind and I was too focused on what was happening to give it my full attention. Anh seemed to take a deep breath as she reached the end of her speech and waited for a response. I saw Bao let out a deep, resigned sigh, and he seemed to collapse in on himself. "You're right," he freely admitted. "I've fallen victim to my American side. I've belittled myself with my assumptions, and shamed my family with my arrogance." He glanced up at me. "Will you accept my apologies, Mr. Alex?" I was surprised the fight went out of him so swiftly. I tilted my head as I took in this change of tenor and then came to a quick decision. "I'd be honored to, Mr. Bao. By your ability to recognize your failings and own up to them, you reveal yourself to be an honorable man." I held my hand out in the time honored American tradition. My opponent looked at it a moment, then shook it briefly, before pulling me into a hug. I couldn't believe how this was all turning out. He quickly backed away and looked at me warily. "I still don't trust you at all," he warned. "I can't understand what you seek to gain from my mother, or why you tell her such crazy demented stories. I still suspect you to be some cherub faced con-man attempting to sway my mother for financial gain. But I'm willing to listen to any rational response you may present." "Ha," I briefly laughed, "nothing I can say is very rational, as nothing I've faced recently is very sensible. My story is very demented and makes no more sense to me than it does to you. Half of this crazy story has been told to me just as you hear it, both by your mother and by my other friends here," I said, indicating the determined women who still looked ready to beat his ass given a moment's notice. "I didn't set out to gain anything, and even now only seek basic knowledge, nothing more. "I hope your mother can offer some sense and rationality based on her knowledge of things from your home country, but I'm afraid the craziness will only continue. I mean no disrespect, as I deeply honor your mother, but I don't know what the future holds for the two of us. However I feel we are intrinsically tied together." Finally, he asked me to sit and we held a guarded discussion, while the other occupants of the house looked on as if we were both demented ourselves. After a while, Anh came out carrying a heavy bag. "I can see that your mother has prepared a bag, so I'm assuming she still insists on leaving with us. I honor her wisdom and acquiesce to her desires. Just be aware that it is her decision, not mine, as I do not control your mother." Anh then proceeded to rattle off a bunch of Vietnamese, which it suddenly occurred to me I couldn't understand a word of, but I didn't bother to try to figure it out and just let the language wash over me as it wasn't directed at me. Or at least I didn't think it was, as suddenly Anh was glaring at me expectantly, so I quickly jumped up and ran to grab the single suitcase she was carrying. She apparently had a few of them already packed and prepared in her bedroom, so my family rushed to help her out. There were hugs and crying all around now, so we just faded into the background as Anh and her extended family got their feelings out in their own language. I felt they deserved their privacy. We finally managed to gracefully exit the house and gravitate to the three cars, my parents', Shani's and Anh's little compact. Not wanting the little woman to travel alone, I got in beside her, and suddenly found the backseat filled with both Cate and Allison, leaving my poor father and Shani to travel back by themselves in relative ignorance. We finally drove off to farewells and multiple waving relatives. "What the hell was that all about?" asked Cate. "You don't understand a simple fistfight?" I asked teasingly. "I understood that, as much as there was of it, since it mostly consisted of you bouncing off of their steps. But what I didn't understand was that long diatribe by Anh." I turned and looked back at Allison. "Did you understand any of it?" I asked. "Yeah, not all of it but I got most of it," she replied. "How, ... oh," sighed my sister, "you got an ongoing translation as it was happening?" "Yeah, it was strange, one second they were fighting, then Alex goes all mental and psycho on him, talking a bunch of nonsense, then suddenly Anh starts speaking English." "It wasn't English," corrected Cate. "I couldn't understand any of it. Luckily her son was speaking English for most of it." "Bao," I added, "and what do you mean 'most' of it?" "He was so excited he was switching back and forth between English and Vietnamese, I could only understand a certain amount of it. And what's a 'Bao'?" "Bao's her son's name," explained Allison. "Oh, that makes sense. Did she tell us that at some point?" Cate asked. "No, she never really told us about her family previously. I just heard her using his name," I responded, not detailing the context I'd heard it in. "So what did she say that got him calmed down like that?" Cate asked, so I proceeded to give her the gist of what had been said. That discussion and explanation took quite a bit of the trip. When it neared an end I turned to Anh and asked "So, what are you feeling about all of this?" Although I asked the question in English she answered me, and I understood it, even though she answered in a broken half English response. "I'm fine, but exhausted. I was so scared when Bao threw me out onto the street. I immediately thought of you and suddenly felt you there, guiding me, so I started walking back towards you. I knew it was silly, but I couldn't stay there. I felt you searching for me and knew you'd be able to find me. I'm sorry I hadn't told you where I lived before, but you managed to find me anyway." "That was Vicky's doing," I explained, "she managed to sneak in a phone call telling us where to find you." "Well I'm glad of that." I noticed confused looks from my sister in the back seat and Allison proceeded to offer a halting translation as we continued to speak. "When I brought Vicky home, I proceeded to tell my family that I was leaving to follow a mighty spirit on an important mission," Anh explained to us all, although Cate would have to wait for the translation. "Both he and his wife blew up at that point. The more information that was passed, the worse it got. When they discovered you were only a teen-ager, they started going on about American con-men. When Vicky tried to defend you they started to get really nasty." "I can imagine," I told her. "I seem to be moving from one crisis to another, one awkward scene after another." "Then Bao insisted that 'if I was going to behave like a spoiled child, then I'd better be prepared to act like one, ' and he physically threw me out of the house. I didn't have anything with me when he did that, but I wasn't worried. I knew you'd recognize that I was in trouble." She seemed to have lots of confidence in my supernatural abilities that I didn't share. "Yeah, I felt you trying to connect with me, but it was only Vicky's call that let us find you." She didn't let that little fact disturb her recital of facts though. "When you finally found me it was such a relief. I was so glad you came to rescue me. I felt like I had been reunited with my new family after I had just left my old one." "Mi casa es su casa," I responded. She smiled at me in response, making me wonder whether she spoke Spanish, or whether I was still translating my own words as I spoke. "I'm glad of that, since I seem to have invited myself to live with you. What do your parents think about that?" "Well, Dad didn't object while the whole discussion was occurring," I responded. "He told me I needed to be willing to deal with the consequences of my actions just before we arrived." "Then you haven't had a chance to discuss it in detail yet," she told me. I acknowledged her point and continued, while Cate still tried to follow what we were discussing. "And we still have to explain to both my parents what happened," I continued. "Oh, your mother," groaned Anh. Allison immediately whispered to Cate, who quickly dug out her cell phone and started dialing. "Mom?" she responded when the call was answered. "Yeah, we're OK. Alex got punched, though. You'd better get some bandages ready." I winced hearing that, thinking of Mom's reaction to the news. However the wince also reminded me that my jaw was really beginning to hurt now. I opened and closed my jaw just to make sure there wasn't any serious damage, but aside from some stiffness and a general achiness I seemed to be fine. My back stung like a son of a bitch though. "No, it doesn't seem to be so bad," Cate continued, as I listened to her one-sided conversation with my mother over the phone. "He's a bit bruised and scuffed up but he seems OK. I think his shirt is trashed though." My shirt was the least of my worries, though it made me worry about whether I was unintentionally leaving bloodstains on Anh's car seat. Cate listened to the response before replying. "It's complicated and I don't understand it all. Alex is explaining it all to me." That seemed to require a separate discussion, though she quickly came back, explaining, "No, apparently he got an ongoing translation as it was all happening. Apparently the excitement kicked up his abilities a notch." Now that all the excitement was over and we were all coming down, I considered that. It certainly seemed to have triggered a significant enhancement to our abilities. Before it was a struggle to figure out what someone was trying to communicate to me, now, not only were the messages clear but I could literally receive simultaneous translations from other speakers as well. I had understood everything that Bao had said, not even stopping to consider that it wasn't all spoken in perfect English. "They ended up just sitting and talking. Alex talked about being confused by it all and stated that Anh's son Bao said something about not wanting Alex to trick his mother." Apparently I'd have to do a better job of describing events when we did it again for my parents. "Yes, we all stand up for our moms," Cate conceded, smiling in response to our mother. "Anyway, we'll discuss it fully when we get back." "Bye, Mom." She hung up and returned her attention to us. "She's already talked to Dad. He gave her some basics but no details." "You know, mental warnings aren't much good if you don't listen to them," I offered as a general philosophical point to anyone who happened to be listening. "Yeah," responded Allison, smacking me on the arm, "You turn around to see who might possibly be speaking in your head!" I laughed and Anh asked for a quick translation. Apparently we still had a bit to work on with this mental translation between individuals thing. "I couldn't help it," I replied. "I'm not used to voices telling me to 'Beware'," I bemoaned. "I don't recall anyone using quite that language," Allison replied archly. "No, you didn't. Still, when I felt the surprise my first thought was to protect all of you." "From what, a magic fist that flies through your head to strike us several feet behind you?" She was busy hamming it up now that she had an audience and knew that all the possible danger was long past. I didn't let it get to me, knowing we all needed this level of teasing to bring us all down. "I'm not defending it as the smartest response," I protested. "I'm just explaining why I reacted like I did." "I'll call Shani, I'm sure she's wondering what's happening," Cate said. "I'm sure Mom's busy contacting everyone else already." "Hold on, Cate, I want to try something." I had no idea what kind of limitations we had in these abilities, but our tests at the hotel had shown that physical objects didn't seem to block our communications, as weak as they were then. Neither had distance limited the other girls' awareness that something was wrong tonight. Maybe I could reach Shani on my own. It took a moment to figure out just what I was doing, apparently what came naturally in a crisis took a bit longer to work out in practice. 'Hey, Shani?' I mentally called out. 'Ow! A little quieter please, there's no volume control inside my head, ' she complained. I apologized and she continued. 'Hey there, stud, ' she responded. 'Man, this is better than Bluetooth. So what's up? Is everyone OK?' 'Everyone but me, ' I responded. 'Still, I think my ego is bruised more than my face is.' 'Ha, you were wonderful. You have nothing to be ashamed of, ' she enthused. 'Thanks, I did feel pretty confident when it was happening, ' I acknowledged. 'It's like Anh said, just follow your instincts and you'll do the right thing." 'I can only hope so, ' I told her. 'I can only hope so.' I proceeded to give her a brief update on Anh's status and told her she could phone the other girls if she wanted before, I returned my attention to the other's in the car with me. "Sorry," I told them, "it took a bit more time to talk it out than I thought." "That's OK," Allison replied. "Actually I picked up some of it. I guess I was listening in somewhat." "Man, I've got to figure out how you do that. That's SO neat!" Cate responded. "And while you're driving the car as well." "Well, it's a lot easier than it was before," I explained. "I guess you were right, the emotional response has a lot to do with it. It seems the basic abilities are the same, when I was in trouble and the adrenaline started flowing suddenly all of us got a kick in our combined abilities." "Yeah, we'll be discussing this quite a bit once we all calm down," she warned me. "So, anything else the rest of you want to discuss about it now?" I asked. "It was strange," explained Allison, "I saw this bright angry flare in his aura, and I just knew he was going to hit you. I just got so angry all I wanted to do was to kill him!" "Yeah, you don't need extrasensory perceptions to get that." Cate responded to her. "I wanted to kill him, too!" "So, if you can clearly see anger, especially if you see it moments before someone explodes, then I'll definitely pay more attention to it," I promised, hoping a similar event would never occur again. "We can only hope," Allison sighed, while Anh was vigorously nodding her agreement. Apparently either I was broadcasting a translation for her or she was just guessing from the context. "I've been hoping he'd suddenly get smarter for years," griped Cate, generating a cascade of laughter from all the women. I'm not so sure smarter would have helped in any of the situations I'd recently found myself in. ------- We arrived home tired and weary. The late hour, long drive, and slow let down after all the excitement were doing us in. However there was a somewhat lengthy explanation for both Mom and Dad about exactly what had happened. Needless to say, they weren't the only one's there when we arrived. Natalie, Patricia and Henry were all clustered in my parents' small room waiting for us, and each wanted a full recounting of events. Then there was the whole discussion over what the future held. It seems Anh worked as her family's accountant, numbers being easier to master than language, so that helped as to what she might be able to do in the future. But there wasn't a very large Vietnamese population in Southern Illinois, so if she returned with us she'd mostly work for us and we'd still be responsible in providing for her. We'd get some benefit from it, but she couldn't realistically expect to get many other clients with her limited English skills. The other girls remained silent through most of the discussion of Anh's future, as they didn't want to confuse her issues with their own. After all, my parents had promised them they'd discuss the issue with them tomorrow, so they had no need to intrude on the current discussion. I was still nervous about being responsible for everyone, but with my accepting the obligation of caring for Anh, as limited as my share of that was, I could hardly complain about everyone else moving nearby. They could get a job and be independent after all, thus the only imposition would be on my time and attention. We concluded with Anh telling us she needed to clean up some details near her home. That got me thinking about the other women as well. Undoubtedly they'd each need to tell their families something, and it was likely that when they did, that there'd be questions about a grown woman leaving her whole life behind to follow a young teen-ager living with his parents. Now that was not something I was looking forward to. I could just picture their reactions when informed their precious daughters were moving north to be closer to their new, white, teenaged 'interest', especially when you combined that with her clear fascination and deference to me, and the potential of somebody blabbing about Angels and Spirits. But that only brought up the fact that we'd need a better way of explaining why I suddenly had a group of adult women of various racial backgrounds and ages interested in me. Needless to say by the time I finally went to bed, I was hardly ready for sleep despite my obvious exhaustion. Dad asked about getting a separate room for the various women, but Mom just laughed and told him since I had accepted responsibly for them that I'd best get used to having them around, then laughed as she felt that it'd be fun watching me deal with sleeping with someone older than she was. I grimaced at that very clear image, but didn't bother translating for Anh. Apparently Mom had no issue with all the various women sleeping with me. Sure, she had meant Anh, but the way she'd phrased it, I'd have a problem arguing she wouldn't approve of it. We'd all have to work out exactly who was staying and who wasn't. Somehow I didn't think the fact they all lived nearby had much to do with it. Luckily Patricia and Henry excused themselves, telling me they'd love to stay and talk more, but that we all looked exhausted so they'd both go to their own rooms and leave us in peace. Natalie also nervously mentioned she should get ready for work tomorrow, but I could see the disappointment painted across her face. I just knew she thought she didn't belong here with the rest of us. I wanted to assure her that wasn't the case at all, but I was so overwhelmed with all the women already in my room that I didn't know how to say anything else. Moving into our room, it was clear that Mom wasn't the only one amused by my particular predicament, as Cate had a silly grin that just wouldn't quit. I didn't say much as the girls turned down the bed and made a big show of undressing. They seemed to be playing it seriously and were acting like it was an everyday event, preparing to sleep with me, but Allison was smiling as much as Cate was. I kept glancing at Cate through the preparations for bed, but she was enjoying my pain a bit too much. Anh clearly felt the same towards me as Shani did, and for the same reasons, so I couldn't just reject her. Allison seemed to be in the same boat, but she was still afraid of me thus her nervousness showed through. However, they were already friends, and I valued them all too much to hurt them significantly, so when both Shani and Anh climbed into bed completely naked and indicated a spot between them, I turned to try to measure Cate and Allison's reactions. Cate just shrugged her shoulders, indicating it was none of her business, while Allison simply blushed deeply. I guess that ruled her out. "I take the nervousness to mean that you don't object to being left out tonight?" I asked Allison, and she just blushed more, looked away nervously and shook her head. However I did hear her mumble something about having her turn later, which made me wonder if her nervousness was over sleeping with me, or was simply due to having to sleep with several other naked women. Again, that was yet another issue that would have to be discussed at some point in the future. Having reached that decision, I quickly undressed and clambered over, getting between the two women. Can I just add here how attractive it is to a young, horny teenager to see granny panties and huge, oversized bras? As I settled down between them, facing Anh while Shani cuddled up behind me, Anh kissed me gently on the mouth as Shani's hand reached around my sides to clutch my naked chest and idly play with the few chest hairs there. "Don't worry," eased Anh, "I just want a brief cuddle with you. I know the age thing is a bit much for you, and to tell the truth, the hormones in this old body haven't been working too well the last few years." With that she kissed me more deeply and hugged me hungrily to her chest. I returned the kiss, glad to know she enjoyed spending time with me without having to worry about disappointing her. Yet, as inexperienced as I was due to my past shyness, Shani's hands provided enough stimulation to get a rise out of me. Anh's lips were tasting better and better. Anh moaned as she felt my erection pressing against her, then broke the kiss and turned me around to face Shani and pressed the two of us together. Shani and I joined together in our own kiss easily and hungrily. Shani was older than me, but several years is a lot easier to ignore than several decades, believe me. Shani brought my hand to her breast while her other hand snaked down to my waiting penis. She gripped it and slowly stroked it while we kissed. I stroked her erect nipple with my thumb as we made out. I felt Anh snuggled up to my back. Luckily I couldn't see Cate's smirking face as I was currently facing away from her. Suddenly I felt one hand play with my chest hairs again, just as Shani had done earlier, while another grasped the base of my cock and held it in a better position for Shani to play with. Man, it felt odd to have someone my Grandmother's age holding my cock while I made out with a twenty something professional woman. Feeling two different hands playing with my cock while someone hoovered my face didn't deflate me either. Kissing both Shani and Anh was odd as well. As innocent and inexperienced as I was, I'd have expected I'd be reacting like a runaway train, yet the traditional roles seemed to be reversed here. Each time I'd kiss one, they'd quickly grow more and more excited until they were breathing heavily and were literally shaking in excitement. I'd ease up and they'd make an effort to calm down and then we'd resume. I felt odd enough that I didn't want to feel like I was taking advantage of them, but it was clear they were each here of their own accord. Still, I wanted to take it at their chosen pace and not the pace they felt themselves falling into. Once again, I wasn't sure how much they were into me as much as they were into this swooping angelic spirit that had entered their lives. I wasn't sure I'd be able to live up to their expectations. I felt myself being pulled backward so I let myself be laid out on my back and Shani followed, cuddling up on my chest, a leg thrown over my thigh. For someone who'd only had a couple of kissing sessions and only the approximation of first base before on a few dates, I was quickly gaining in my knowledge of the make out arts. Shani seemed to be getting into it, as both our breaths began to get a bit deep. I switched breasts and used the other hand to cup her firm ass, of course causing her to grind herself more heavily against my leg. Just as she was getting started jacking me off, I felt another hand moving her hand away from my erection. I groaned at the loss although I could appreciate the reasons. I guess it made sense to have someone around with the maturity to prevent us from getting too carried away. Shani shifted her body more towards the side as she ran her hand over my chest. Apparently she found something interesting in the scrawny little pectorals she found there. I started shifting to my right to get better contact with Shani as she slowly humped my thigh, but felt a hand holding me back. Again figuring someone was thinking more coherently than I was I held myself where I was. It was then I felt something warm engulf my cock, which had previously been swaying in the breeze, doing a virtual wave to the rhythm of Shani's thrusts. I groaned deeply in appreciation and, after a slight pause, Shani suddenly increased the ardor she was showing in her appreciation of me. I'd never had a blowjob, and the mere thought of one was enough to make me excited. Due to my lack of experience I was certainly not one to judge technique, but the skill suddenly being exemplified in the oral activities around my nether regions was amazing. It was only a short time before I was thrusting up, not exactly aggressively face fucking or anything, but I was definitely lifting my hips off the bed trying to get as much contact as I could. My breaths grew increasingly short and both hands transferred to firm handholds on Shani's backside. I glanced down, past the obscuring haze of Shani's hair hanging over my face, to see this little gray and black head bobbing up and down over my waist. Shit, I could certainly get used to making out with a Grandmother if it felt this good! Shani's pace on my leg changed significantly as well. I couldn't see anything that far down, but my guess, actually more of a hope, was that there was someone setting that pace for her. We were all three groaning and working up a good, honest sweat when I glanced round to my left and saw both Allison and my sister Cate leaning back on their bed with the covers thrown back and their hands buried in their panties, frantically scratching their own itch. The sight was enough to cause me to explode, and I lifted all three of us off the bed and emptied my poor virgin balls into Anh's vacuuming mouth, my sister's cute embarrassed blush forever emblazoned into my memory. I wasn't the only one to find my release at that moment, as Shani began shaking and my thigh quickly became much damper. I heard panting from all directions, to my right, across the room to my left and from below my waist as well, what little I could hear over my own gasping breaths. I pushed out three, then four, amazing blasts of cum before I was reduced to trickles and eventually collapsed back onto the bed, accompanied by satisfied signs from each of us. Cate and Allison were both still panting heavily, but you could tell they were on slightly different schedules. Allison reached her peak fairly noisily and quickly, while Cate's approach was slower and more controlled. Well, it was controlled in that it built up more gradually, but I'm not sure you can call a young girl caught up in the whirlwind of watching her older brother have sex with two women while she and another girl both played with themselves as being controlled. However, I was suddenly too exhausted to get worked up about my sister's interest in our activities at the moment. I freed a hand from the near death grip I'd had on Shani's butt to cradle Anh's cheek to show her my appreciation. She continued suckling until she was sure there wasn't any more left, then she slid up my naked body to cuddle against my left side, Shani still quivering against my other side, warm liquid running down my thigh. When Anh settled into me I turned and openly kissed her. I detected the strong, salty taste of my own cum but ignored it, figuring what was good for the goose. After all, I'd tasted myself before, and while I didn't have any particular fascination for it, I wouldn't reject someone just because they'd given me such a miraculous gift. She kissed me deeply, accompanied by an appreciative moan from the other side, as my sister cried out her own release from across the way. "I must say, I wasn't expecting that," moaned Shani. "Neither was I," responded Anh, "but I guess my hormones are working better than I thought. I'm definitely feeling some juices running." "Can't be mine," I gasped, "I've got none left." "Damn, that was hot," came an exhausted groan from the distance, followed by another heavy sigh in acknowledgement. "Bet you didn't think you'd enjoy two old ladies as much as you did, huh?" teased the beautiful thing on my shoulder. "God, no!" answered Cate before I had a chance to respond. I kissed both women deeply and held them tight against me, and called out a goodnight to them all before I found myself drifting off to a much needed, deep, sleep. ------- Chapter 9: More Theorizing, Some Planning and a Few Other Things The next morning we all got up and going relatively early, considering all the activities of the night before. The four women all seemed to be a bit embarrassed around each other, but I certainly couldn't keep the grin off my face to save my life. Shani, Anh, Allison and Cate eventually relaxed around each other a bit more as they grew accustomed to seeing each other walk back and forth in the nude. I got up and made my way to the bathroom, wanting to clean up the crusty dried stuff on my leg. My sister was sitting on the can and Anh was washing her face in the sink while Shani was adjusting the water in the shower. I wasn't even sure where Allison was, but I guessed she was probably picking through clothes or something. Knocking on the glass door I called out "Mind a little company?" to which Shani quickly agreed with a hungry look in her eyes. "Just try to take it easy, guys," my sister called from her seat, "my little beaver's all worn out from last night. I don't think I could take any more activity this morning." "You never know," teased Anh, "we could always help you relax a bit." The juxtaposition between the tiny little lady and her sexy teasing and the bright smile on her face was shocking to us all. I guess it was like Betty White cursing in television commercials. After I translated for Cate, she looked shocked then burst out laughing loud and long. The laughter brought Allison wading in, also naked, to see what she was missing. I don't think I'd ever seen that much wobbling tit flesh in my entire life. No, come to think of it, I was sure I hadn't, as I hadn't had much of any experience with them in the past. "Didn't consider we might have picked up a dirty old woman when she came on the scene," Cate laughed. We all joined in the laughter, although Shani and I were a bit distracted with washing each other's good parts. Shani made sure I got the parts that needed cleaning, but I got enough access to the good parts that I couldn't complain. With three women waiting for us we couldn't take too long in the shower. The hot water was too limited to play around much. As Shani and I eased out of the shower, Allison put her hand against my chest and shook her head no, pushing me back the way I'd just come. "No way, buddy," she protested. "After I missed out last night, I'm getting whatever I can get this morning." I'm not sure what the others were doing, as I had my attention focused on the soft, round breasts before me. Allison was cooing just like a dove, apparently I was doing just the right thing. I was rubbing her breasts and nipples with my soapy hands, moving them in opposition to each other when someone banged on the door. "Hey, hurry it up in there, there's only so much hot water," my sister called out. Feeling myself blushing, I proceeded to turn the water off and took some time to soap down all of the lovely morsel before me. As I was preparing to turn on the water again for a rinse, the shower door slipped open and Cate slid past us, rubbing nice parts against us as she went. "Sorry," she said as she slithered around me. "I just couldn't wait any longer. Just go ahead and pretend that I'm not here," she added, still holding a hand on my hip. I had to shake my head to clear my vision. There were just too damn many breasts to look at this morning. Old grandma breasts, light mocha colored breasts, soapy breasts waiting for water, and yes, even naked little sister breasts just begging to be stared at. Shaking my head once again I started the shower and proceeded to rinse Allison off as quickly as I could. "You missed a spot," Cate informed me, peering over my shoulder as I was rinsing off Allison's thighs. "What?" I stupidly responded. "Right there," she replied, pointing to a soapy patch residing on Allison's outer thigh. I simply glanced at my sister, unable to believe how strange things were getting, then moved to rinse off the offending spot while Cate kept glaring at me like she couldn't believe how inefficient I was at showering naked ladies, if I couldn't respond faster than that. "Is that OK?" I asked her archly, to which both she and Allison stated "Perfect," at the same time, although Allison's was a bit throatier than Cate's was. I felt myself blushing, something I'd managed to largely avoid so far this morning. Having finished with the soaping and showering portion, I offered a shampoo, thinking it only fair, but she declined, stating the obvious that there was still too much of a line and too little hot water. "You know, one of you could always borrow my parents' shower," I informed them. Both girls stared at me and I heard boos from outside the shower. "What's the fun in that?" Shani asked. Again, about all I could do was simply to shake my head, unable to believe I'd gone from naïve kid who'd only kissed a couple of girls to showering with a whole bathroom full. As Allison and I exited the shower, holding hands while we did, Anh shifted over to occupy the toilet abandoned by Shani, while Allison and I toweled each other off. I noticed Cate left the shower door open so she could ogle us while we patted each other dry. As I turned to look at my messy hair and bruised face in the mirror, Anh grabbed my flaccid penis and pulled me over to her, gently sucking on it as I stood looking down at her. "Tôi thích hút vào nó..." she protested, although the meaning was clearer from her actions than from the poorly worded Vietnamese mumbled around my quickly growing erection. "Translation?" Cate called out to us. "She said she likes to suck dicks," Shaniqua answered for us. Somehow I was able to observe that Shani was already wearing panties and was trying to get a mark off a sheer blouse. Again, the little hotel bathroom was quite crowded with five of us all sharing it, doing different things all at the same time. "Don't get me started," groaned Cate over the sound of falling water, while Shani hugged me from the side and giggled at us. "Don't forget, your Mom is expecting us," Shani warned. I felt my erection pause a moment at the thought, but that's about all it did under Anh's skillful manipulations. Anh pulled her head back, though, causing me to fall from her lips with a wet little popping sound. "She's right, we've all got to be presentable," she agreed, then looked lewdly at Shani and said, "do you want to decide who gets to sit within 'hands under the table' distance at breakfast?" They both laughed while Cate begged for a translation. We all got ready quickly after that, though not without quite a few ribald innuendoes thrown in. We all presented a very happy group of faces when we met my parents in the hallway. "Uh oh," moaned my mother in mock disappointment, "Looks like the 'old enough to be your grandmother' ploy didn't work." My father looked decidedly uncomfortable, however, while all the women went off on their own clucking at their own little jokes. My father apparently decided discretion was the better part of valor during the walk downstairs to the dining room. Both of us had a hard time keeping the various women from their gossiping about the previous night's activities. We met Natalie in the dining room, where she very professionally led us to a table where Patricia was already waiting for us. "Where's Henry?" I asked. "Oh, he thought it might be a little awkward having to fend off all your seconds at the breakfast table," she laughed, not giving me a clue what was really going on. However, I was pleased that she seemed to be taking the whole thing lightheartedly. I just hoped that Henry could take it in the same manner as well. Once again we required a large table to seat everyone and I seemed to occupy the central seat. Allison and Patricia sat on either side of me, with Shani and Anh sitting on either side of them. Cate sat beside my parents on the far side. Natalie was having a tough time maintaining a professional decorum as she kept trying to keep up with all the quiet gossiping running around the table about last night's and this morning's events, though everyone was surprisingly polite while Allison and Patricia's hands were playfully playing at my cock under the table, though they certainly weren't fooling anyone, as virtually everyone's eyes kept flicking down to my waist throughout the meal. As delicious as the breakfast always was here, it was hard to focus on the food while two feminine hands were playing with your crotch while the rest of the table were either flirting or teasing you. We talked about the day's activities. Nothing much was planned, aside from taking Anh back to her seaside community to close out her bank account and retrieve some of her papers. But this was my first trip outside of the city and, like I frequently was recently, I was nervous about possibly running across other new people. However, since we were traveling to the more isolated countryside it was unlikely we'd encounter anyone. On a positive note, Shani promised to treat us all to some po' boys during our outing today. Apparently they're a little lunchtime sandwich particular to this area of Louisiana that everyone's supposed to try out before they leave. Soon we were underway. We'd had to switch our small 4-door car for Patricia's van, since there were now so many of us. Even so it was still a tight squeeze. Henry had been nice enough to fit the spare seats into it for us, as normally it was used to hold equipment, rather than an excess of female traveling companions. We were packed so full that Patricia insisted my father drive, so he wouldn't be 'crowded in the back'. She duly offered to suffer in silence along with the other women all squeezed in around me. This time Shani and Patricia sat beside me while Allison and Anh sat in the other seat. With Mom in the front there was still spare room, but everyone announced it was too full and that Cate should sit on my lap. I knew they were all just teasing but Cate took it seriously enough to squeeze onto my lap. I protested as much as I could, but I think everyone was getting tired of my protests. Actually I think everyone was pleased with the results. True, all the girls would have liked to sit beside me, but they seemed happy to share. I think my parents considered it a fair option, figuring it would be impossible to do anything below my waist if there was someone sitting on it. However, it certainly didn't prevent hand holding, tits pressing against arms and sides, or the frequent kisses we exchanged. All of which led to my sister being entertained by my alter-ego pressing up under her cheeks. She got even with me though, grinning triumphantly as she snuggled down against it. In order to make a day out of it we took a little side trip in the morning to go see the nearby gator farm where they displayed the alligators. Sure, it was a bit hokey but it was fun to watch the little man made mud filled 'swamp' packed with alligators. The girls had clearly seen this before and they all had fun watching our reactions to it. That little adventure didn't take long and we were soon busy traveling back to the coast to Anh's old neighborhood. 'Old' as in yesterday. I briefly considered the chances of running into more of Anh's family or other friends but reconsidered when I remembered we'd parted on a somewhat friendly basis. No, I had enough to worry about with potential new women showing up asking if I was an angel or a spirit. We stopped for the promised po' boys, which were delicious by the way. They're basically a sub with a variety of items you can select, we had shrimp, crab and crawfish between us, in a loaf of French bread. I doubt I'll ever see one once I leave the area but they're fun while we're there. When we arrived in Anh's neighborhood she went to her bank, where she made arrangements to transfer her savings and made other financial arrangements, as well as withdrawing a healthy chunk of bills. I worried about her carrying that amount of money but held my tongue. We then stopped at a little neighborhood grocery store so Anh could stock up on supplies essential for feeding us all her various ethnic delicacies when we got home. We all followed her through the store, anxiously looking at all the exotic items she picked through. The local Vietnamese staff was polite, but I'm sure they wondered what we were all doing here. Since it was still early, we took a brief drive by the waterfront to look out over the vast Gulf. The water was very still with hardly a breeze to disturb it, although a fair amount of gulls and various shore birds dotted the sky along the waterfront. Cate wanted to play in the water, but Mom warned her not to get too wet as they didn't want to soil Patricia's van. Hardly paying her any heed Cate ran yelling for the water. I found myself caught up in the moment as well, finally able to put all my worries about strange women confronting me aside, and just able to play like kids once more. I realized my days of being a kid were likely coming to an end, what with several women all planning on moving either in with or near me in the near future. But for now we were just a couple of kids seeing the big Gulf for the first time. Neither of us actually ran into the water, but we both kicked off our shoes and ran through the small waves along the shore. Anh pointed out into the water and called out, "Cá heo! Er, Por-puss." Luckily we all got her meaning immediately. Patricia, almost as much of a tourist as the rest of us, was the first to see them and she shouted gleefully, "I see them, I see them," as she pointed them out to us. There, just a short ways out were a series of blue fins which would rhythmically roll up out of the water and slowly disappear again. One actually jumped out of the water just to show off I guess. We all had fun watching the fascinating animals for a bit. "I got confused," Anh admitted to me when we came back to the dry sand where they were all standing. "We only have one word for both dolphin and porpoise, as we only have one back in Vietnam." "That's fine," I assured her. "We have zero in the corn fields in Illinois. About all we get are catfish and perch in the lakes we spend our summer afternoons at." I noticed Cate and a few of the girls were doing something in the sand, but they yelled when we got too close trying to investigate. I groaned when they finished as I saw they'd written a giant message of 'Spirit Lord was here, ' in the sand. But they all had fun so I didn't care too much. The incoming tide would erase it before anyone could see it. After that the parents called us all in, telling us we should be heading back for some dinner. "After all, Natalie's going to be anxiously awaiting us again. I think she's feeling left out of all the excitement last night and this morning," Dad told us. I groaned again, thinking how I'd make it up to her, her having missed a group make out and blow-job session. Still, I felt relaxed as this was what we had come down for before we were distracted by all these strange events. We'd had a short chance to just let our guard down and have some fun. I felt better equipped to head back into the city and deal with whatever had to be dealt with. As we all settled back into the van and Dad put it into drive, he started the conversation everyone had been waiting for. "So, have you all thought about what we spoke about yesterday?" "Duh!" Cate mocked him. "Just what do you think everyone's been doing all yesterday and today?" "Oh, I don't know," our mother replied. "Seems to me the lot of you have been busy chasing off into the country, getting hit and rescuing fair damsels, then rewarding the handsome prince." It was a simple tease, hardly up to Cate's standards but it was unexpected nonetheless, so I blushed. "Anyway, what's the consensus?" Dad asked. "We all agree, we all go with Alex," Anh replied summarily, temporarily forgetting that my family couldn't understand her. "Pardon me?" Dad had to ask. "Oops, sorry Dad. She said that they each agree, they'll go wherever I go." "And you're OK with that?" he asked. "Well, there's not a whole lot I can really say about it," I countered, sounding a little pouty. "I didn't really protest about Shani, and then I go and yank Anh out of her family and tell her we'll take care of her. It seems I've committed myself." "Yes, you have, honey," Mom replied. "Now we just have to decide what all of that means." She turned in her seat and addressed all of the girls sitting in the back with me. "I take it you're all agreed that you are fully involved with my son. You've all taken up what Shani has started. Now what about the details? Have you all thought about jobs, about living arrangements, about how we're all going to handle expenses?" "I think you worked out Anh's arrangements yesterday," Shani said. "As for me, I've already told you that my job is pretty universal. I should be able to find a local company that needs my services. I'm not afraid of a commute, so I can look as far as Carbondale, Evansville or even Peoria. As for expenses I can help cover those, plus I'm glad to help with anything that Alex may need." "Well, you seem like you've already done your homework about where we live," Mom commented. "What about the rest of you?" "Well, I've got another couple of weeks here before I can leave," Patricia told her. "But after that I'm clear. I don't need much, but I'll have to see if anyone has a studio nearby since I'd like to be able to make some demo tapes, but I can always go wherever I'd need to for that, since it shouldn't take long. As it is I pretty much live out of a box anyway, so I don't see any problems." "I've talked it over with Cate," Allison replied next. "She thinks I can get started studying anywhere, and I can apply for a late admission to Southern Illinois University which is nearby. Other than that I'm free. As you can guess, I'm not close with any family or friends here, aside from my previous clients," she said, blushing a little. "I've got plenty of cash handy for whatever may come up." "Just don't go spending it all," my father lectured her. "You'll need it for your new degree." "She knows what she'll need," Mom lectured my father back. "Now, what about living arrangements, where do you all plan to live?" Suddenly the car was filled with silence before Shani ventured a response. "Well, actually I think we're all planning on living with Alex. If you don't have the room we can get a shared apartment nearby and rotate whoever stays over, but we plan on sleeping with him on a regular basis. I'm sorry if I'm being rude here, but you told us you wanted our honest responses." Mom reacted like she wasn't surprised by any of this. "OK, that's about what I expected. We don't have a large house, but we had several kids. You may have to make room when Becky and her sister Melinda come home, but other than that, you should be OK. We'll expect you to all chip in and help out around the house and with expenses, but as long as you're all willing to keep a low profile and not get the kids or us in any kind of trouble, I think we can all work something out." I was floored by the casual manner in which my mother matter-of-factly acknowledged that I could sleep with four women when we got home. I was literally gobsmacked, whatever the hell a gob was. I guess I shouldn't say literally when I'm not sure the origins of the word I'm using. Still, this was a major concession on my parent's part, and I realized they were putting a lot of trust in me and in my ability to handle this new responsibility. I'd have to be careful to show them that I deserved it, I told myself, swallowing difficultly. "That's assuming Alex doesn't pick up any more women," my mother added, smiling back at me. "If he does, we may need to rent an apartment complex for them all." "Yeah, and run shuttle buses back and forth," suggested Cate with a snide little smile. "Speaking of transportation," my father interrupted. "What about cars? Do you each have one? Are you going to bring them? You're all making plans that involve nearby communities, you'll need some way to get there, and we don't have a lot of room in our driveway." "We could clear out the garage," Cate offered, seemingly happy to volunteer. I'm not sure whether she saw the women as part of some large experiment or whether she'd actually managed to make friends with them all, but she didn't seem to have any problems with any of them either. "Yeah, that'd help," Dad countered sarcastically. "If you all worked for the next two weeks you could fit another two cars. If Alex agreed to give up his own car we might be able to fit everyone in without having to park on the street." "My car," I responded dully, "but I need my car to get Cate and I to school every day?" "I think you'll have plenty of cars available," Dad laughed at my shocked reaction. "Plus, I'm thinking if you have a car of your own you'll only likely to bring home even more strange women." "Chúng tôi chỉ kỳ lạ cho đến khi bạn nhận được để biết chúng ta," Anh quickly responded. "Man, I'm not sure I'll ever get used to her following the conversation and joining in by speaking Vietnamese. So, what'd she say?" "She says, we're only stranger until you get to know us," Shani translated for them. "Wait," Cate asked, "do you all get a simultaneous translation whenever Anh says or thinks something?" "Well, it's not like we hear everything she thinks," Shani explained. "But when she speaks to us, either verbally or mentally, we hear it. Although," she said, hesitating to think about it. "That's not really true, it's like we hear everything through Alex. We each seem to be able to communicate with him, and by doing that we can also hear each other. It's kind of complicated once you start to get into the gist of it. It works much better in actual practice." "No kidding," Cate commented. "Alex, how to you keep track of all that traffic in your little head?" "I don't think he's using his little head," Allison responded. "I think he uses his little head for other thoughts," she teased. "Yeah, I got that, I think that's how you all got here," Cate answered. That provoked a laugh, but also took the pressure off us to try to answer Cate's probing science questions and allowed us to focus on my parent's questions again. "I don't think Anh will be needing a separate car," Shani answered, seemingly taking the role of senior speaker for the group. "It looks like Allison and I will need one to commute but I suspect Patricia will only need one occasionally, so we should be able to park hers at the apartment we'll all rent together for mail and appearances sake." "So that answer's our next questions," Mom replied. "What about phones? That many people could put a hurting on a shared line." "Duh, Mom," Cate answered for everyone, "most people don't even have a landline anymore. I'm sure they all have their own cell phones." "Not only that," Patricia added, "but we're all simplifying our base of contacts. And communications between us are more easily and immediately filled via telepathy." "All right, it sounds like we've got a lot covered in a short time," my father summarized. "I think we should limit the activities in Alex's room, or he'll never get out of bed," Mom laughingly added. "How about only two people share his bed each night?" "Fine, we'll agree to that," Allison added, but whispered loudly enough for us all to hear, "for now." However everyone just laughed at that, and I was again amazed at everyone's casual acceptance of everything. Dad then confided to me that he was proud of me for handling all of this so well, and for finally taking responsibility for everyone around me and for all the activities as well, telling me I was likely to only attract additional followers and would have to get used to taking care of them. That got me thinking about what I was facing in my future, so I fell silent for a bit while the girls continued to talk out various details. "What's the matter, Alex?" my sister asked me, "are you worried that you don't have any super powers like all those characters in stories?" I knew she was teasing me, but in a way, it had been bothering me. I mean, what's the point of having new abilities if you can't use them for something neat? Taking my continued silence for serious contemplation, she continued. "These new abilities are significant, even if they don't make a big difference in your day to day existence. Granted, I'm probably the biggest beneficiary simply because I have more things to experiment with, but just think about what we have here. You have an ability no one else has. We have no idea how it works or what's involved. Your point about not having wires in your head shows it's likely not as simple as receiving radio waves, there's got to be a whole new mechanism in place in each of your brains to allow this to operate. "Then there's this issue of this energy/life force your girls can see. It's almost like the Star Wars 'force'; it's an actual energy that's attached to all living things. While you will never be able to win light saber duels, there's no end to what it might eventually mean. Even if your abilities are limited now, that's not to mean they won't advance once we know more about it. Didn't you get more abilities when you got in that fight at Anh's?" she asked. "Some fight," I sighed, tired of being reminded how brave I was to be sucker punched. "But you're right, until that moment all I got telepathically was fuzzy messages and vague feelings about things. Then all of a sudden I was receiving clear messages just like they were all talking inside my head." "You never described exactly what's involved," Cate reminded us, trying to get back on the topic Patricia had gracefully avoided earlier. "What's the actual process?" "It's very simple, now we can converse mentally as well as trade pictures and emotions. It's not like you think of mind reading at all in that I can't actually read their minds, I simply hear what they want to tell me." "Actually there's a bit more to it than that," Shani informed us. "The other girls and I can't actually communicate with each other. We can, but we can only do it by going through Alex. I can actually hear what Anh is saying inside of Alex's head. I don't think I could hear anything if Alex was asleep." "She's got a point," I agreed. "I can hear them speaking together in my head. It's weird, and I feel a little like I'm spying on them, so I try to ignore it when they want to speak together but I just have this two way conversation going on in the back of my head while I try to focus on something else." "Man, this is just too weird," Cate stated enthusiastically. "Too weird is right," I agreed, not as pleased by it. "You know," Patricia added, "speaking of super powers and you not knowing the extent of them; maybe we should have tried something the other day with that guy you helped." "What, you mean the guy with the brain tumor?" I asked. "What could we have possibly done, I'm no brain surgeon." "No, but we all know you've got this boundless energy that just radiates off of you. It's so bright it blinds all of us. Maybe you could do something with it?" "So what would you suggest? I just will his head to shrink and magically only the unhealthy cells go away and all the others stay the same?" "Well, there's no telling how you'd do it. I was just suggesting that maybe we should have tried," she responded hesitantly. "I don't mean to belittle your ideas," I told her, "but even if it were possible, I think it'd be way too complicated to try to do anything involving brain surgery." She didn't look mollified, but she grudgingly conceded I probably had a point. "Don't worry," I tried to soothe her feelings, "I'm sure we'll work out any hidden abilities I may have, but honestly, I just don't think there are any. What I've done is amazing enough and I've reaped enough rewards in all of you to last me a lifetime. I'm just not looking for any more excitement in my life." "Still, you've got to concede, even if you don't have any super powers you've got a lot to gain from it," Cate went on, temporarily sidelining the new information in favor of continuing the conversation. "First, you get new women that want to give you anything you desire," she hurriedly continued before I could interrupt to complain about it, "secondly, think about it, who would you have met if this hadn't occurred to you? Maybe a couple of stoners or something? Instead you meet a professional Jamaican-American business woman, an older Vietnamese woman, a high class hooker and a professional blues singer. Where else would you have met all of those people on your own? Just look at it as an opportunity to meet people you'd never meet otherwise. If you manage to gain some additional information or find a way to boost those abilities that's a bonus, but your life is already MUCH more interesting than it was a week ago." She certainly had me there. I'd never be able to just coast through life again, I'd always be watching for someone to suddenly appear wanting me to tell them what to do with their life. Plus there was all my new responsibilities. I held the very lives of several people in my hands, in that they all depended on me to tell them how they should handle these new abilities. Then there was the new feeling of confidence I felt, knowing these various women all thought the world of me as well as knowing my parents trusted me to do whatever I thought was best, and everyone wanted to help me in any way they could. I certainly couldn't complain about any of it. We again lapsed into silence for a moment as we all contemplated the effects these events would have in our lives, but the conversation soon turned to Natalie and what she might need before settling onto the topic of the women I'd found so far. Cate talked about how the various ages showed that there didn't seem to be any significant limits on who I was finding. There might be a lower age limit, but we'd just have to watch and see who else turned up before we could rule anyone out. They all laughed when my mother informed me that all my dreams of accumulating a harem of attractive young women was all for naught. Still, it was worth considering as an idea, as there didn't seem to be any kind of limit on who I was attracting other than it had only been women so far. "You know," Cate said, filling the silence in the car, "I think we should talk about what Alex's mission is, since you asked everyone to think about how they saw themselves helping him with it. While I don't know what his 'spirit' is planning on the subject, I think he needs to be thinking about finding as many others as he can find, both the ones he gives the visions to and the others like Natalie." She stopped to give everyone time to consider what she said, and there was a general murmured agreement with her. "Good point, Cate," Dad told her. "I'm glad you brought it up as it was something I'd asked them to tell me about. So what do you propose about it? Do you think he should fill your mother's apartment complex? Maybe start a superior race? Possibly start having bunches of 'telepathic grandbabies', as your mother so wittingly calls them?" "Actually Dad, that's exactly what I was thinking. I think Alex has tapped into an already established community of people who all think they're alone. I think they've all been accessing their ability to perceive this energy in people and putting it to their own use, without recognizing what it is or that anyone else shared it. I think he needs to start gathering all those people together for ... well, essentially so they can form their own community and try to bring their own inherent abilities to the fore. Anything he adds, like the visions, is just gravy after that." "So, in essence you're pushing for Alex to begin a selective breeding program?" our father asked, pushing the idea beyond what Cate had actually suggested. I was ready to cringe in the back. I'd kind of had similar thoughts myself so the idea wasn't that foreign, in fact I'd venture to guess that everyone in that car had probably thought of it on their own. I just wasn't ready to face the prospects of having to participate in anything like that yet. I certainly wouldn't argue about the sex part, but the producing babies would be enough to inhibit any baby generating activities on my part. "In a word, yes. So far we have no idea whether what he does affects anything genetic or not. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. We won't know until it either shows up in a new generation or it doesn't. Even then, it may take until his offspring are all his age before anyone knows. But it makes sense to start the process soon, because as far as we know he's the only one with these particular abilities. Then there's all the women themselves. Even without Alex's participation, I think getting them together in an extended community would be beneficial, both socially but also in terms of future family planning. If you could have your children able to sense people's moods and emotions, wouldn't you want them to?" "You bring up some good points, as always," Dad told her. "But I think this is all a bit heavy for a quick decision one way or another. How about we all just think about this new idea for a bit, before anyone ventures an opinion? OK? Besides, I think Alex is about to shit his pants in panic as we speak." He proceeded to laugh as everyone's attention suddenly focused on me again, only reinforcing my own embarrassment over the topic. By now we were close to our hotel again, so aside from a few encouraging remarks to keep my spirits up the conversation effectively ended. When we got back we found Natalie anxiously awaiting us in the lobby, reading a book. She wasted no time saving her place or anything, but was eager to hear all about our day. We all sat down and started to relate what we'd discussed before Dad suggested we move the discussion to the dining room so we could eat and talk. We all gravitated in that direction and the girls all brought Natalie up to date on the discussion details. "Wow, you've got it all planned out," she said. "So, what about you, what are your plans?" Cate asked. "Me, I wasn't sure I was included?" she responded. "Of course you're included," Cate sighed. "You're one of us. Didn't you hear the bit about him including people like you as well?" "Well, yeah, but you were the one who said that," Natalie very intelligently responded. "Never-the-less, you're included with the rest of us. Dad included you in the discussion and you already told him you were ready to follow us home as well." "OK, I've got to admit I've been thinking about it all day anyway. As I said yesterday, I'm ready to go anytime and I figure it shouldn't be hard to find a new job as my experience is pretty universal. Of course I've got to give two weeks notice, but I'll see if I can arrange to leave sooner than that." "Look, it's really not necessary to..." Everyone turned and glared at me so I knew when to shut up and back down. "What about finances?" prompted my father. "I've got a bit saved up, plus I can live pretty frugally until I get my next job. I've got a car, but like Patricia, I won't need it on a daily basis until I find a job, and only then if it's a long ways off. I'm happy to help out in any way that I can and I'll gladly help with expenses. I'm just so happy to be included. Not only because I'll be close to Alex, but also because you're all such an exciting bunch and this whole thing is so neat." "So you can fend for yourself, what about your intentions toward our son," Mom asked. Natalie looked a bit lost for a moment. "Uh, well, like the rest of the girls, I'd like to be around him, but, uh, whatever we might do will depend on him, I guess." "So, you're going to base your entire affair on the desires of an under aged teen-age male?" Mom pressed, recognizing doubt and uncertainty. I started to become more alert, knowing poor Natalie was getting herself into trouble. "Uh, no, I guess not. Are we, uh... , are we going to get in trouble because of the age thing or something?" she mistakenly asked my mother. "Undoubtedly," announced my father. "Just what do you plan on doing once the police find out about it and you're registered as a sex offender and can no longer work where there are children present?" He was clearly going in for the kill, zeroing in on her nervousness. Knowing both of my parents, I could guess that they wanted to know that each of the girls knew what they wanted, and that they were willing to do whatever was needed in whatever situation developed. Natalie had unintentionally failed the first test, now they were testing her in the second half of the same test. "I ... I don't know," she admitted, looking lost. Cate and the other women all leaned forward. I don't know whether they had any clue what was going on but they all looked on in interest and concern. "You'd better know," my father continued. "You're about to commit a class A felony," he said, inventing stuff as he went along. She looked around frightfully, looking more and more nervous until she bit her lip, squared her shoulders and turned to look them both in the eyes. "I've already said I'm willing to give up my home, my family and my career for him. It'll be no different if that should happen. However, I'll do whatever is necessary to protect your son first and foremost. I'll have to, or all the other girls will kill me," she joked, gaining her another few points with my whole family, I was sure. "But whatever I, or we, do, I'll be doing it for his benefit. I realize how important your son is, not just to you because you're his parents, but also just because he has a special role to fill. I want to be a part of that in whatever capacity I can. If I can help him do what he needs to do I'll do it even if I have to scrub floors in your bathrooms all day. He's important to me, and I want to see him do whatever it is he's going to do." My father just stood there and glared at her, with my mother tapping her foot behind him, looking over his shoulder. Natalie just swallowed nervously and glared back at them, decidedly less aggressively than them but no less determined. Then my father broke into a big grin and enveloped her in a big hug. "Welcome to the family, I guess," he announced. "Yeah, I think you'll do OK. Once we can get you over your nervousness," Mom told her. "Man, I really didn't think you were going to make it there," Cate said. "I thought you were going to lose it when Dad started talking about your being labeled as a sex offender," she added with a little laugh. "Honestly, though, the age of consent in Illinois is 17. You're in the clear, although you might have a lot of explaining to do socially if you make out in public." Natalie looked mightily relieved. The other women all clustered around her, all cooing and trying to make her feel better. I was just glad she'd managed to pull it together at the end. I knew if she'd blown it and fallen apart, she'd always blame herself and, knowing the impact I seemed to have on each of the ladies, I was sure she'd have a hard time getting over it. True, I still was very nervous about having everyone following me, but I was glad she'd managed to hold her own. ------- Chapter 10: Nightly Activities and Morning Explorations As the dinner/discussion broke up, we got around to the inevitable 'what are you going to do', 'no what are you going to do' discussion. I had to admit, after the full day yesterday followed by the late night adventures of the previous evening and the full day today, I was feeling exhausted. When I pleaded a need for sleep both my parents said, "Good, finally a chance to party without the kids," and laughed about it. Anh said that she'd had her fun last night and that it was Patricia's, Allison's and Natalie's turn tonight. Shani pretended to pout at that, but admitted that it was only fair. Patricia countered that, although she and Henry seemed to be handling their little agreement well, she didn't think it would benefit anyone by rubbing his nose in it and that she'd better go see how he was faring. "But you'd better count on making up for my lost opportunities, buster," she told me, to the merriment of everyone around me. So Anh agreed to take the odd bed with Cate tonight, while Shani offered to show Mom and Dad some interesting night spots. Patricia agreed to escort them and offered to pull a few strings to get them backstage wherever they wanted to go. So that left me with Allison and Natalie, both eager to retire with me at only 8 p.m., with Cate and Anh there to watch whatever occurred. When I mentioned my plans for sleep, Cate and a few of the girls all started yawning, as the mere mention of being sleepy triggered their own tiredness. Man, was this ever strange. Of course I could pretend we were only going to sleep, lord knows I certainly needed it, but I think we all knew there'd be more than that. The girls were all still worked up from last night, and they'd all heard the stories or been there themselves this morning, so they were raring to go. I could also note the interest in Cate's eyes to the idea of watching events unfold. Anh might say she was too old to care, but I could see the gleam in her eyes as well. So it was with a mix of trepidation and anticipation that we all headed up to our room. I made sure to send a little telepathic 'thank you, ' to Shani and Patricia for stepping aside tonight, but they both knew enough to just send a simple 'you're welcome, ' in response. As I unlocked the door for everyone, you could practically feel the nervous anticipation. I looked at Natalie and she seemed like a nervous wreck. I wondered how much was because of me and how much was the fear my father's little test had generated. "You know, Natalie, nothing really happened last night," I said as I swung the door open. "So don't expect too much." "Yeah," she replied. "That's not what I heard. Shani said she went off like a skyrocket, despite you hardly doing anything to her, and Anh said she hasn't been very active in years, and thought she was past such things, but that she just couldn't help herself last night." I simply sighed and started taking off and putting away my things. I had to admit it; I just might be too tired to do much with two very willing and playful women, one of whom was a professional escort who catered to the wealthy. What more could an innocent high school boy ask for? Still, what she said also cast a few doubts in my mind. Were the women making love to me, or this fictional Spirit Lord they all saw me as? Doesn't it usually take women a while to reach orgasm? Aren't women slower to respond then men are? Yet last night, both Shani and Anh were both primed and ready, and didn't take much stimulation at all. In fact, I'd had to slow them down a couple of times, and seeing as how I'm a virginal 17 year old male, that's highly suspect behavior. But, if they're reacting to my 'presence', then there's really not much that I can do but grin and bear it. I guess it won't be a problem until I finally make love with a girl without this linkage to me. Maybe Natalie won't have it as strong, since she only has a weaker connection. I'd have to see. In the meantime, everyone was preparing for bed. Although Natalie still appeared nervous, both Allison and Anh appeared to be calm and collected, looking like they'd been doing this with me for years. When I checked to see Cate's reaction she responded by winking and smiling at me. I think she was getting off on the vicarious thrills I was offering her. I was essentially offering a free live sex show for her, with people she knew and was already friends with. I'm not sure many people would be comfortable with it, but she hadn't asked for other accommodations yet, so I guess she was OK with it so far. The women all freely doffed their clothing, pulled back the bedding and Allison held the bedsheet for Natalie to enter, then did the same for me. I'm sure I was wearing my best shit-eating grin as I climbed in between the two women (Allison climbing in after me). We all settled and got comfortable with me lying on my back and the two women cuddling against me. I leaned in and kissed Natalie first, it seemed she needed it more since she was so nervous, and I was hoping she'd calm a little once things got underway. I tried to put all thoughts of my sister and Anh out of my mind for the moment. Natalie responded to my kiss, once again she seemed almost over-eager, but I figured that was simply because she'd been building up to this moment, more than it was anything having to do with her 'feeling' my energy's effects. She did, in fact, relax into me as we kissed and we kept at it until she started getting more excited, then I switched over to Allison. "'Bout time," she smilingly complained. She wrapped her arms around me and began kissing me, quickly devouring me. I pulled back a bit involuntarily from her sudden assault, and she followed me, soon leaning over me and kissing me with obvious enthusiasm. I could definitely see why she was in such demand, if this was the kind of performance all her clients got with their first kisses. I'd always heard that prostitutes don't generally kiss clients since it was a more personal, intimate exchange than simple sex, but I'm sure one of the benefits of a higher caliber hooker was that they put the extra effort into it. I'm sure if I'd met her in her professional role I'd have my wallet out and waiting already. Allison's hands started exploring then. One roamed over my arm while the other caressed my chest. Seeing Allison's antics, Natalie also reached over and began running her hand along my side. My own hands were busy as well, but mostly just trying to hold Allison still so she didn't physically climb down my throat. She was quite a dynamo, even with a simple kiss. When we finally broke our kiss, many long moments later, we were both out of breath. "Wow! That's the most intense kiss I've ever had," she sighed. "Tell me about it," I gasped, having a hard time catching my breath. "Was that me or are you always that energetic when you kiss someone?" I asked her. "I'm not about to answer that, and I'll kindly ask you not to make any assumptions of my behavior based on my previous profession," she warned me, though she smiled after she said it. "You'll just have to find out all my little secrets the old fashioned way, through your own experiences." With that she turned my head so I was facing the still anxious face of Natalie. It seems watching the two of us had just allowed her nervousness to increase again. "Come here, sweetie," I told her. "You've got nothing to worry about. I'm here because I love you just as much as I do everyone else," I admitted, surprising myself with how easily I could use the 'L' word. For some reason it didn't seem like a giant commitment to use it, it was just an honest statement concerning how I felt about all these new women in my life. I'd have to see if I developed any feelings of 'true love' with any one of them once we'd gotten to know each other better, but right now the bonds we'd formed through our intense shared experiences of the last few days, had managed to cement our relationship pretty effectively. Natalie melted into my arms, sighing as she kissed me. She was much less aggressive in her approach, and, personally, I appreciated the difference. If nothing else it gave me a chance to recover from Allison's forceful tack. Natalie's technique just seemed softer, more giving. It fit her physique and general demeanor. She was bigger, larger and more open. She shared herself, all of herself, but didn't push it on you, you had to come and ask her for it yourself. We kissed until, once again, I felt her heartbeat and her breathing start to increase and I moved back and into the arms of Allison once more. Now that I'd been able to anticipate her approach, I wasn't quite as taken aback when she launched herself on me. I welcomed her aggressive nature and let her manhandle me as she rolled us both over so I was over her. She was assertive in her physical lovemaking as well as in her general attitude. Yet, she was still maintaining a slow approach, despite all appearances. Her hands hadn't ventured any further than my arms and chest, which she seemed to appreciate playing with as she caressed my almost nonexistent pects. Allison pulled me down into our kiss. Her hand, that had been caressing my arm, pulled my own hand towards her breast, which was more ample than Shani's had been. Her flaming red hair also seemed to match her temperament and seemed to serve as a giant warning light as to what to expect from her. As my fingers traced over her areola and nipple she gasped, sucking in even more of my breath than she currently was, and she started a continuing moan as I proceeded to explore them with my fingertips. Deciding we'd both had enough stimulation for the moment, I returned her physicality by rolling us both over before I broke our kiss. When I pulled back I saw a bigger shit-eating grin than the one I'd worn as she openly leered at me. "Damn, I wish I could bottle that," she told me. "I could make a fortune selling that much sex appeal." I found this switching rapidly from one woman to another, one kiss and a few caresses then shifting immediately to another, a bit disconcerting. While it maintained a constant state of enthusiasm, it did manage to provide just enough of a disruption to keep me on an even keel, especially because I had to measure each girl's emotional response as I went along. I couldn't let myself simply get swept away with the novel experiences I was having. I couldn't take that kind of direct stimulation to my ego, so I instead turned to Natalie for solace. Her soft curves and gentler approach allowed me to pretend I was still the shy young man I'd always been. When our lips met once again I could tell she'd gotten more comfortable and more enthusiastic watching Allison and me, as she latched on and gave one hell of a kiss herself. It was still nice and soft, but it was more aggressive than it was previously, and her hands didn't seem quite as constrained as Allison's had been either. They roamed over my chest, running down my abdomen and from one hip to the other. This wasn't going to work at all. They weren't giving me a break on the stimulation front. Deciding to control things a bit more I rolled us over, just like Allison had done with me, until I had her under me and I broke her kiss, ignoring the disappointed groan, and fastened my lips to her nipple. I sucked it in and reveled in its sensations and taste. As with the rest of her, her breasts were more ample than I was used to, and by used to I mean kids in school who were like my sister, smaller in stature. As I sucked it in Natalie pressed her chest up to meet me and moaned while holding my head steady, forgetting her own explorations of my body. That'd been my intent, by focusing on her I was able to maintain my equilibrium as well as appreciate her natural beauty, and enjoy what had, until so recently, been restricted to me. I worked that breast for quite a while then switched over to the next. Natalie was certainly appreciative, giving me a virtual scalp massage, she was so busy nestling my head against her. Allison wasn't to be denied either. Her hands began roaming while the two of us were otherwise occupied. Instead of restricting herself to playing with my chest, her hands now roamed freely over my back, running over my ribs, along my spine and coming to rest on my ass, which she clasped tightly as if it was the last one remaining. I figured I'd better get back to her, so I gave Natalie one last good suck, with a little bite on her nipple, something I'd heard was sometimes effective. Natalie gave a sudden gasp and proceeded to shake for a moment and I wondered just what I'd done. I couldn't believe it was what I thought it was. It just wasn't supposed to be that easy. However, I didn't have time to think about it. Keeping with her more aggressive manner, Allison rolled me over and climbed atop me, all without waiting for me to get off of Natalie. We ended up with Allison kitty-corner over me, with me laying on my back, half on Natalie's front. Once again, Allison was all over me. Her hand didn't seem to want to part with my ass now that it had attained it, and her mouth was certainly no less active. I was a bit distracted, worrying about Natalie under me, but my cock was having no troubles making its presence known to either of us. Allison ground down on it, rubbing her lower stomach and thigh along it as she gyrated against me. I needn't have worried about Natalie, as I felt her hands wrap around me and clutch me to her, even as our combined weight pressed her to the bed. Now I knew this much enthusiasm had nothing to do with me alone. These girls were both way too involved for the meager fumbling of an inexperienced lad. As I settled into my renewed kiss with Allison, she settled her gyrations on me to simply dry humping my cock as it lay trapped between us. She still managed to control herself in that she didn't ratchet up the physical connections between us, but she put her all into the connections we currently maintained. Figuring I'd been crushing Natalie long enough, and trying to establish a little control over the situation, I grabbed Allison's hips and rolled us both over and off of Natalie. However she wasn't to be denied, and when she refused to let go of my chest she followed us over and ended draped over my back. In this new position, I found myself pressing against Allison's nether regions, but my cock wasn't near her vagina. I figured that was a good thing, as I was sure we'd all explode in a supernova were that to occur. Locking my lips to hers I started mauling her breasts as I returned her vigor ounce for ounce, pound for pound, as I felt myself begin to thrust unconsciously against her. Suddenly it all came together. Allison was gasping, thrusting her chest up against me, and she began moaning into my mouth as she started to tremble. That set me off and I started to spray my essence all over her stomach. Natalie, still firmly pressed against us and holding tightly to my chest, seemed to feel the various vibrations and she gasped loudly, seemingly joining us in yet another unexplainable orgasm. We all managed to thrust helplessly together for several long moments until we finally collapsed together in a wet, messy, exhausted heap. Now this is what I had been expecting. A naïve, inexperienced coupling resulting in a spontaneous explosion before anything actually occurred. However, I certainly hadn't expected it of a couple of older, more experienced women, and certainly not from a very experienced professional in the field. Things just couldn't get any stranger than they felt at that moment. Now that I'd finally gotten my nut off, I felt my exhaustion quickly overcoming me. I vaguely remember hearing some noises from the accompanying bed, but I wasn't sure if it was applause or excited gyrations. Maybe it was both. I was asleep in a tumbled collection of sweaty body parts before I could decide. ------- The next morning was Tuesday; we were only into our fourth day of our vacation, although it felt much longer than that. I awoke in a confusing mass of limbs and hair. I couldn't tell which were mine and which belonged to someone else. As I tried to extricate my own I managed to wake my bedfellows. "Oh man," Natalie groaned, "is it morning yet? Man, that was some night," she yawned. "I can't believe we did that much and got that carried away with doing so little." "I know what you mean," Allison seconded her, "I've never felt so carried away before. I just couldn't get enough. I've always been the one in control before, and last night I just couldn't stop. But it seems I had MORE than enough before we ever got to anything real." "Speak for yourself," Natalie complained, "what we experienced was certainly real enough for me. Any more real and I don't think I'd be here," she said, trying to separate herself from the rest of us in order to sit up. I looked around and noticed Cate looking at me, while Anh was busy rubbing her eyes, trying to wake up. "Well, hello there," she said. "After last night I wasn't' sure you were likely to be waking up any time soon." "Are you kidding me?" I asked, "After all that, I feel more invigorated than I have in ages," I laughed enthusiastically. "Yeah, and you've got the proverbial morning after grin to go along with it," she responded. In order to show my appreciation to them all for my current energy and good humor, I made a point of walking up to each and gently kissing them to let them know I loved them each this morning. Granted, the kiss I gave Cate was a bit briefer than the others, without any tongue, of course, but it was heartfelt nonetheless. I felt great and there was no denying that. I briefly wondered where Shani was when I finally noticed her curled up on the edge of the bed. I guess she'd thought it would be too difficult to cuddle with the tangle of limbs we presented last night. I couldn't help but grin at the thought. "I can certainly ... see someone ... had a good night last night," she groaned in between yawns as she slowly came awake. It seemed both Shani and Anh were worn out, while it looked like the three of us who'd awakened in a heap were all beaming and full of energy. I walked over and gave her a good morning kiss as well, which she managed to sleepily return until she was grinning up at me, as well. "How long were you at it last night?" she asked, genuinely curious and no doubt intrigued about how amorous we'd been between our exhaustion last night and our confusing heap this morning. "Actually we didn't do much," I admitted, much too energetically. "Ha!" Cate contradicted me. "They were all over each other. The only reason they didn't get any more carried away was that they were all so excited, they exploded all over each other before Alex could find slot B to plug peg A into." "Yeah, it was all over and done with in just a matter of minutes," Allison admitted sheepishly. "I feel embarrassed to be acting like a schoolgirl, getting carried away for the first time with a boy, but that's how I feel." Shani just shook her head and made some comment about hoping they had lots of coffee downstairs. Everyone started to get up and moving, trying to get straightened and to find their things. Cate noticed a strange bag lying by the bed and asked, "Natalie, is that your bag?" Natalie blushed prettily before responding. "Yeah, I dropped it off after I finished work when no one was here. I used the master key I have. Of course, that's a clear violation of all the rules, but I didn't think anyone here would complain too much," she laughed lightly. "No, that's perfectly OK," Cate assured her. "I was just surprised to see it is all." Shani asked whether anyone was interested in a shared shower, to which I teasingly called out that I was sure Cate would like to join her. It's so much fun to embarrass Cate. I eventually joined Shani, only to be joined by Anh a moment later. "Is that all?" I called out over the shower door. "Yeah, we figure we'd better give you all your turn after we had our turn last night," Allison called back. I figured it would take them a while to comb out their tangled hair from last night's tangle, anyway. It took a bit to get over comparing Anh's lower hanging breasts and other signs of her age, with Shani's twenty-four year old attributes, but I eventually got over it and rubbed her just as enthusiastically – almost – as I did Shani. While I was paying particular attention to Shani's nether region, I heard the shower door opening and turned to see my naked sister climbing in. When I looked at her askance she responded. "Hey, you invited me, kind of anyway. I just figured that if everyone else is getting wet and having fun then I'm not missing out." Everyone laughed nervously. I pretty much ceased my close inspection of Shani's pubic regions, but Cate quickly ended that. "Don't change your behavior just because I got impatient," she replied. "Besides, how am I ever going to get my vicarious thrills, unless you continue acting as my proxy?" So I resumed washing the good bits before me, less enthusiastically than before, and breasts instead of more personal bits, but it was still fun. While I was engaged with soaping her breasts over and over, Shani picked off pieces of dried cum from my belly. Eventually Anh felt odd ignoring Cate while rubbing my backside, so she turned and started helping my sister wash; which elicited a quick squawk. We all laughed at her and it soon turned into a fun, playful activity which just marginally hurried us all along. Nobody got off during our shower, though I think all of us got fairly horny from the teasing alone. As we climbed out and I was on my knees drying Shani's legs, Allison and Natalie taking our places in the shower, I detected a particular scent wafting through the air. We hadn't progressed far enough in our experimentation for me to actually get a close up smell of anyone, but suddenly I was aware that I was smelling three separate excited females. Glancing around I detected glistening lips on two of my shower mates, and Anh's wasn't for lack of desire, as much as a lack of sufficient plumbing. Finally I decided I'd best follow through on my promise to become more forceful in our relationships, so I dried each of the females present, including dropping to my knees before and behind each. I ended up doing so before Cate as well, to which she didn't know how to respond. "Cate, if you insist on showering with us, you've got to expect to participate in the entire ritual." She blushed prettily while the other girls giggled at her. Her blush reached all the way down to her breasts. It was strange seeing so much of my own sister. Previously I'd seen nothing more than a brief glimpse as someone would hurry to the bathroom at odd hours, and now here I was, rubbing her nipples with a towel covering my hands on her bare chest. And I could tell from the underlying texture that she was enjoying the contact. And part of the process was for me to subtly examine the parts of the female anatomy I'd been denied access to in the past. With each girl I got close enough to take a deep breath to familiarize myself with their scent, as well as to examine the external details of their exposed labia while fluffing their pubic hairs. It was a fascinating study, as there was such diversity between them. Shani with her dark skin had her pubic area shaved completely bald as is common with many women these days. Anh was from an earlier generation and hadn't been involved with anyone recently, so she was sporting a full bush of wiry hair. Cate, though younger, with still soft and pliant skin, wore her pubic hair trimmed for a bikini, so she represented a midpoint between the other two. Each was patient with my little ritual, neither complaining nor covering themselves in embarrassment. Of course, it was impossible to hide my continually throbbing erection that was jutting out before me, often striking one of them in unexpected ways. But then Cate knew she was going to be exposed to my cock when she first entered the shower, and had expected to be seen, although perhaps not quite so personally as my patting her vagina dry, my face mere inches away from it and examining it in all its glory. As I finished up by turning them around to rub their asses and legs dry, I loudly smacked Cate on the ass and shouted "All done," causing her to jump. "Not so fast, cowboy," I heard from behind me. Turning I saw two additional wet, nude bodies who desperately needed some personal attention to their exposed moisture content. I gladly welcomed them with a new, dry towel and an eager smile. They also provided a nice contrast, both to each other and to the others who had gone before. While both Allison and Natalie had nice, round, full breasts, Allison was very slim whereas Natalie was rounded all over. Allison's beaver was professionally trimmed, spouting a little landing strip in the full, bright red color she wore on her head in an exclamation mark. I grinned up at her over it. "I always figured it was the main attraction, so I figured it deserved the extra attention," she responded. I smiled as I lovingly showed it my appreciation. Natalie's was also trimmed but not quite as neatly. I don't think she'd really expected to be included in our activities, her overnight bag notwithstanding, so I don't think she'd trimmed herself in anticipation. Still, I appreciated the stubbly surface as well, though I was looking forward to her getting a trim before I had a chance to bury my face in it. I hoped anyway, but given everyone's attitude towards me, I didn't think I'd have to wait too long. I lovingly patted them all dry, appreciating all the curves, angles and textures they had to offer. I even tried polishing Natalie's quim a bit with my hand, just to improve its overall appearance, you understand. I also compared their scents as well while I kneeled before them, but there were so many to consider it was difficult to differentiate them. Still, I had more exposure to different women's scents than I'd had before. I finished off as I'd done before, by loudly slapping Natalie's ass. However, instead of yelping like Cate had done, she merely wiggled it at me and rubbed her hand over the brief red mark that resulted. We all laughed as I led the girls into the main room, only to be halted by both Shani and Anh, who gently sat me down on the bed. "Nothing doing, Alex," Shani informed me. "After all that close personal inspection, you're in no condition to meet your parents." With that she proceeded to kiss me, guiding my hand to her breast while Anh once more proceeded to pay attention to my waving erection. I couldn't see what Cate was up to, but decided to temporarily ignore her and willingly surrendered to the onslaught. The other two girls were arrayed behind Anh, eagerly watching the proceedings. I'd been balancing at the edge of burning lust for quite some time by now, so the idea of some excellent head was certainly appealing. I massaged Shani's breasts while kissing her with affection, struggling to maintain my composure until I began to thrust into Anh's mouth. They then both switched places as if it was prearranged. Anh dropped my erection from her lips and rose to my side to cuddle into me and run her hand along my chest, enthusiastically kissing me, while Shani now proceeded to suck me into her mouth, her head bobbing up and down. While they had been switching positions, I finally noticed Cate again, she was sitting on the far bed facing us, pinching her nipple with one hand while the other was rubbing her thigh. This set the whole excitement level up a notch further. I wasn't ready to do anything kinky with my sister, but it was clear she had a certain fascination with watching the rest of us fool around, and there's no denying that being watched just does something to you. Add the fact that it's your sister watching you, with all the attendant taboos, and you can understand my increased ardor. Now that I'd officially had two separate examples of fellatio techniques to compare, I could honestly judge Anh's apparent skill at it. She was quite a bit more adept at it than Shani was, though not for lack of trying. Shani kept getting too enthusiastic, trying to take me too deep too quickly, causing her to momentarily choke. However that didn't decrease my rapid increase in excitement and I rapidly felt myself on the brink. Holding my breath, I grasped Shani's head with one hand and thrust into her mouth as far as I could and held it a moment, only to feel my balls shrink and the first spurt travel along my length to burst out into Shani's suckling mouth. She quit bobbing and focused on actively trying to suck everything I was shooting, while Anh grew even more enthusiastic in her kissing and grinding herself against me. As my strength was leaving me after my orgasm, I noticed again the smell of aroused women and thought I could just barely distinguish the slight variation in smells drifting about the room. I also noticed several hands buried between various sets of thighs, though in different stages of activity. I finally collapsed onto my back with a sigh, completely spent but with a bigger smile than ever. Shani quickly stood and crawled up my body to give me a big sloppy kiss. We didn't share any semen or anything, but it was still a pretty spermy kiss, however I couldn't deny her the kiss because of it. "You know, you all are going to have to allow me to reciprocate sometime," I commented around a mouthful of tongue. "That's fine," she responded, "but it brings up an issue I'd like to discuss with you." She sat up and began patiently explaining what turned out to be a well planned rationale. "I understand what a special thing one's first time is. You always remember your first time, especially with your first love, and I, no, we don't want to take that away from you. So what I'm proposing is, as soon as you get home, we all want you to go out and find a cute girl from your school to entice and begin a romance with. Until then we'll all hold off on having intercourse, just as an incentive and so your first time will be with someone that you really love like you only feel your very first time. How does that sound to you?" "Uh, I'm not sure," I responded. "It's kind of big thing to hit me with all of a sudden. I guess I'll need to think about it a bit, but it seems to make sense. I know I've avoided girls like the plague at school because I didn't really know how to respond to them, but I think you've all gotten me past that particular problem. So I guess it shouldn't be an issue. "So, does that mean I'll never get a chance to make love with any of you?" I asked her. "Oh, certainly not. I don't think any of us would want that, and we'd certainly never force that decision on you. I'll tell you what, once you've accomplished your first romance, if you're still interested in us, then we'll gladly have sex with you as much as you want. "Of course, we're all kind of hoping you'll have a birthday between now and then," she laughed, still showing how the age difference still bothered each of them. "Damn, that's a relief," we heard from the other bed. "I'm having a hard enough time controlling myself with this level of activity. I don't know what I'd do if you all started having orgies while I'm in here with you," Cate informed everyone. "You know," I said, further keeping us from certain other matters close to my head at the moment. "Just how did you decide this? You said 'we' decided. Who's we and how did you decide this?" "Oh, well, it was my idea initially, but when I proposed it several of the other girls agreed that it made sense. I was basing it on comments that Cate had made that you hadn't managed to connect with anyone else despite a few faltering attempts at it." "All right, that makes sense then. I guess I can live with that." "Good, we call it 'no nookie without cutie' rule," Anh said, speaking for a change in slightly broken English instead of depending on me to translate for her. "By the way, did you and Anh discuss switching like that?" I asked, trying to focus more on the sex rather than the sex limits Shani wanted me to apply to us. I was referring to the smooth movements they both showed in switching positions during my combined blowjob just a few minutes ago. "Shani requested that I let her have the next try," responded Anh. "She was anxious to have a taste of what you had to offer." Cate immediately asked what Anh had said, to which Natalie agreed, so Shani explained it, generating a groan from my sister at the mental images it generated for her. "Seriously though, how do I compare to Anh?" Shani asked. "Gee, that's putting me in a difficult position," I groaned. "How the hell can I answer that without insulting someone? If not either of you, then either Natalie or Allison, who haven't even had a chance yet?" "No, I really want to know," she protested. "I'm not fishing for compliments or anything. It's just that I know Anh has more experience and might have techniques I don't know about. I'm curious. After all, usually I'm too busy sucking your face to closely examine her technique." "It's excellent," we were informed from across the room by Cate. "She can do stuff I've never seen before." That immediately generated images concerning just how many blowjobs my sister had either participated in, or watched, which I quickly decided I'd better drop as soon as possible. I didn't need those kinds of images floating around inside my head. "I agree," Allison stated authoritatively. "She's got a very solid technique. Granted, I've seen better but I'd still rate it as excellent myself." "I'll admit, from my limited experience, she's quite amazing. She swallows me all the way down without hesitation, while you still have a little trouble with that," I told Shani. "Plus she's got this little swirly motion and she licks the super sensitive underside of the head, while bobbing up and down, that drives me wild." Cate sat up on hearing these details. "Can you teach us how to do that?" she asked. I was hoping she meant her and Shani. The alternative was even worse than imagining my sister practicing with a string of boys from school. "I'm not sure..." I began. "Quiet you," she actually hissed at me. "This is between me and my mentor. You're nothing but a handy practice dummy as far as I'm concerned." They all laughed at this, as I began dreading where this all might lead. "I agree," Natalie added, "I'm probably less experienced than the rest of you, so we youngsters have a lot to learn, if we're expected to, uh, hold up our end of things," she finished with a laugh. All this tomfoolery was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the connecting door. Everyone quickly went running, clothes flying every which way, as naked body parts flew past my eyes. I simply scratched my balls awaiting an opportunity to stand up without being trampled. "We're still getting ready," my sister called out, in what can only be described as an angelic tone of voice, it so reeked of false innocence. "OK, we just wanted to let you know we're ready," replied my mother. "Actually we're pretty hungry, so we'll meet you downstairs. Besides, we're not sure we're ready for whatever scene you all have over there, so we'll skip interrupting you this morning, OK?" "Sure, Mom," Cate replied for us, simply ignoring the last comment. "Sure, Mrs. W.," Shani echoed her. Anh contributed as well with an "OK, Winda." There was a massive movement of half dressed females weaving in and out of the bathroom, so I finally had ample opportunity to stand up and dress quickly. Thank God, I'm a guy, I thought, as I passed a comb thru my hair and checked my collar and my wallet while the girls were all wrestling for mirror time. When I thought I was passable, I leaned against the bathroom door and just watched the frantic activities. Five women all trying to share a single bathroom mirror makes for some interested naked gyrations. "What?" challenged Cate. "Just enjoying the half naked, partially made up looks," I smiling replied. "Hey, don't go looking at me when I'm partially made up," she protested. "It's one thing to stare at me when I'm frigging myself watching you get it on with your harem, but it's another to watch your sister transform herself back into a human girl again." Once more they all began giggling. Soon everyone was ready and we made our way into the dining room, me with a girl, no, woman, on each arm and a few following me as well. "So, have you managed to recover from all your activities over the last couple of days?" asked my father when we joined them. I guess today was Natalie's day off, since she'd been with us all morning instead of working. "Yeah, I managed to get enough rest. Just," I added as an addendum. "So what was all that frantic activity this morning after I knocked?" innocently asked my mother. That just set the girls off to giggling and whispering to each other. Apparently it's embarrassing to be caught doing something by your parents, but it's not that embarrassing to discuss all the bloody details with them afterwards. Both my father and I tried to ignore the many pointed exclamations by hiding behind a set of menus. "You know, Alex," my mother told me, "I was hoping one of these girls would do something with you to help improve your mood." When I started to protest she simply went on. "Sometimes men just need a simple orgasm to get over whatever they've got up their ass. You've been taking this whole 'increased responsibility' business a bit too seriously." I wasn't sure I liked this new relaxed attitude of my parents. It was nice that they trusted me, but if it meant more exchanges like this, then I had my doubts. "I never thought I'd ever hear so many details of your sex life," my father groaned, apparently of a similar mindset. "Hey, I always thought it was supposed to go in the reverse order. The kids complaining about their parents getting romantic on the couch at night," I complained. "After your mother gets wound up by all the girl talk over breakfast each morning, she insists on recounting every detail to me at night. She really needs some girlfriends along to gossip with. But considering it's about her son and all his girls, I'm not sure that's an option either." "I'm not sure you can include Cate among my girls," I protested. "No? She sticks to you like glue, she defends you every chance she gets, she seems to be involved in most of your various carnal activities. How much more involved would she have to get to be included?" "She'd have to be included, aside from just being present." "That's true," he conceded. "You want us to move her into our room?" Suddenly Cate swiveled around, halting her half finished gossip. "Don't you DARE!" she hissed. "This is the only excitement I've had in my life. After all this time of being good I think I've deserved a little vicarious thrill through my brother. He hasn't touched me. Well ... not seriously anyway. Besides, I want to make sure I'm there anytime they figure out another aspect of their various abilities." "OK, OK," my father fended her off, holding his hands up in surrender. "I just thought it might be awkward watching siblings in embarrassing situations." "It's all done in the name of Science, father. You never know, I might write a paper about it for school sometime." My father groaned at this suggestion, but we left it alone after that and tried to ignore the embarrassing gossip while we wrestled with breakfast. "Anyway, from the looks of all the girls, it seems like you've been keeping your girls under control," Dad commented, trying to change the topic. "Hey, somebody's got to keep them too busy to cause trouble," I offered, none too seriously. "Looked like the kind of busy that generally results in trouble," he challenged us all simply. "Yeah, we were just discussing that," casually stated Cate. I wasn't aware of any such discussion, but I knew not to interrupt my sister when she got started. "By the way, Mom, I'm starting to think maybe I should start on the pill." Dad's head jerked up, but Mom just sat there unperturbed. "That's nice dear," she responded without any sign of emotion or concern. "Is there something we should know about?" Dad asked. "No, but with the way things have been going there's no telling what might happen. Not that I'm planning anything," she cautioned, "but you never know where those little spermatozoa may end up when everyone starts playing around. I just thought it'd be safer to be protected." "Has your brother been planting any sperm where he shouldn't?" Dad asked pointedly. "Oh no, Alex has been very proper, but you know what I mean. They all get to playing. If we go back to the beach again I wouldn't be surprised to encounter a few stray fishy sperms floating around, and I'd like to avoid any repercussions of an unexpected consequence as a result." Despite the outrageous statements she was making to my father, both Cate and my mother were perfectly calm and were taking everything they said quite seriously. Cate was a master of the delivering the most extreme sexy pun while maintaining a straight face. "You realize it'll probably be too late if you caught any of those 'fishy sperms'," Dad countered. "Don't worry, Dad, as I said, nothing's happened yet, but given how these things happen, I figure I'd better be prepared. If nothing else, this bunch will get me so worked up, I'll run out on the street and mount the first boy I see." Anh laughed at Cate's response and everyone looked at me instead of her. "She asked, 'The first boy you see with a big dick, or the one with all the women following him around all the time?'." I couldn't help it, I was blushing before I even started speaking, and it only got worse as I went along, and watched my parent's fascination in what I was describing. By the time I was finished I felt like crawling under the table, only the sights down there would only produce more embarrassment on my part, I'm sure. "Yeah, the first option sounds about right," Cate offered in response. "The second already has too much competition. By the way, Alex, how big are you? For comparison purposes you understand." Anh mumbled something I just had to respond to. "I'm nowhere near that large," I protested. "What was her estimate? Somehow I'd believe her over you anyway." It was amazing what Cate could pull off as long as we were all teasing. She'd been teasing me with sexual innuendo for years now, even when we were back in grade school together. "You know, I'm curious too. It's been years since you've given me a peek at your little boners," my Mom teased me. My mother had also gotten used to the constant teasing and could now give as well as she took, so I wasn't as bothered by her sex based responses, as I was by the comments that generated unexpected mental images of family members doing unexpected things with each other. "I'm perfectly average," I insisted. Everyone turned to look at Anh, who simply shook her head, leading to giggles all around. "OK, Cate, what's your breast size?" I challenged her. I figured if she could ask about my size, I could return the favor. We'd see how she felt about that. "You know," my sister insisted, "I've never understood the male obsession with that particular piece of information. It usually changes constantly. It changes during your period. It changes when you gain weight, it changes during pregnancy and it changes as you age. They tell women to get measured by a professional at least once a year, but most women go 5 or 10 years without checking. Why'd you even believe anything a woman told you about her breast size is beyond me. She probably doesn't even know." Geez, I never knew Cate felt so strongly about this. That was quite a little rant. But given her own chest size, she was probably a bit hypersensitive on the subject. In case I haven't mentioned it before, Cate's a classic A cup. Shani is probably a large C while Anh might be about a D. The other girls all fit in somewhere between. But then, I've always been a terrible judge of such things. "Guys, on the other hand," she continued without pausing, "don't change at all after they reach about 14 or 15 until they eventually lose it, then they get it back again with a little Viagra. The only difference between men and women is that women honestly don't know, men just flat out lie about it." "Really," responded my father, giving her a moment to calm down again, "just how many men have been lying to you about it lately?" The amount of blushing that overcame Cate made us all question just how personal the interest might have been. Again I flashed the mental image of her performing and/or watching multiple blowjobs. "Anh agrees," I added, hoping to help Cate out of her embarrassment. "She says all the men she's ever been with have lied about it. You know the old joke about why women are so bad at math." "Yeah," deadpanned Cate, "they're told their entire lives that this," she held her fingers four inches apart, "is 8 inches." "And guys always insist that this much," I motioned two grasping handfuls, "isn't nearly enough." Strangely enough, they all though that was funny. "You know," my father said, interrupting our good moods, "I mentioned some things I think we should be discussing before anything else happens to Alex today." "You mean that business about Alex starting a baby making production line?" Shani giggled as I cringed at the thought. I'd been dreading this discussion since Dad had brought it up yesterday. "Yeah, I was wondering what everyone thought about it?" "I for one think it's going to be necessary," Cate announced. "Alex may not like it, and we all need to discuss the timeframe we're talking about, but Alex has a unique ability that I've never heard of anyone else having. It may not be genetic, frankly I have no idea where the hell it comes from, but we need to assume it is, and try to begin seeing if we can save and promote his genetic material." "You mean save, as in little jars?" Mom asked and I groaned again. The thought that my own mother was asking my sister whether she wanted to collect my sperm in a jar, in order to save my 'essence' for future generations, was simply too much for me to deal with. "I mean for posterity, Mom. His abilities are simply too important to waste. His abilities aren't earth shattering, but they are significant. He could walk out in a few minutes and get hit by a bus. We can't lose his unique abilities because we weren't prepared." "Can I volunteer to collect the samples?" Allison happily volunteered, leading to more laughter. "I'm also assuming you think he should begin producing babies as soon as possible?" my father asked. "Well, if we at least save his sperm it wouldn't be essential, but sooner would be better. If his abilities ­can be passed on, we need to know that, as well as what limitations might apply. We might need a mix of genes to produce the results that produced those abilities. It'll take some experimentation to see if we can duplicate Alex's abilities in any potential children." I simply buried my head in my hands again, feeling my cheeks burning over listening my future as a father being discussed so cavalierly, and without any input from me. "OK, how about this: I can tell Alex is hating this whole discussion, and isn't likely to be too happy to begin, how about if we simply try to save some of his sperm and then we'll plan any future offspring when everyone's a little more relaxed about it, OK?" Dad offered. "I'd be happy with that," Cate said. "I think I'd be happy to begin the implantation process," Patricia laughed. "Really, and interrupt your music career?" Dad asked. "Well, I figure we could practice for a while before we decide we're ready to produce any results," she corrected herself. "Ummm, magic psychic grandbabies, just what a mother likes to hear," Mom teased. "Speaking of adaptation," my father began, addressing me and changing the topic, "you're managing to adapt to these things pretty well. Before this week, I'd swear if a girl winked at you you'd have melted into the pavement. Now you've not only accepted four or five virtual strangers moving in with you, but you're actually openly discussing having kids." "I don't think I'm ready to handle kids yet, Dad. Discussing the theoretical need to preserve my particular traits is one thing, but there's a big difference between theoretical and practical." "Tell me about it," complained Cate, "so far all my sexual experiences have been theoretical, both vicarious and otherwise." I immediately had renewed visions of Cate getting familiar with a variety of stranger's cocks as I considered whether this was a pretext to throw Dad off the scent, or whether she meant it. She certainly sounded like she'd had some personal experiences. "And we'd all like to keep it that way, dear," added my Father, to which Mom just harrumphed. I wasn't quite sure how to interpret that one either. "So when am I going to get these magical psychic grandbabies you've been promising me," teased my mother. "We're trying to work him up to it, Mrs. W.," offered Shani. "Hey, ladies, too much personal information in a semi-public space," I warned ominously. "What's with this 'Mrs. W.', stuff? Can't you just call me by my name? You make me sound like Barbara Bush with that." "I don't know, I was just testing it out," Shani hesitantly replied. "I'm still not sure what to call you. I'm only officially your kids' friend, and I'm not a girlfriend, so I really can't start calling you Mom. Calling you Linda might make it awkward for Alex and Cate. Guess I'll keep fishing for a good moniker for you." "You do that, Shani. But try to work 'red hot' and 'sexy' into it if you could," my mother replied with a little sashay of her hips and a smile on her lips. "Sure think, Linda," Anh replied. "So, besides picking up more harem members, was there anything else we want to try to see before we have to leave?" my father Frank asked. I guess I'd have to eventually grow up and start referring to my parents by their given name, but right now it just seemed odd to me. "So, are we now officially a harem?" asked Shani, with a good-natured grin. "I think you passed that stage a while ago," Cate replied. "I think more than two constitutes a harem. Alex passed that on Sunday." So we once again held a little confab about our plans for the day. Usually the girls all allowed us to plan our little touristy things, but today Allison spoke up and told me she wanted to show me her apartment and a little of her slice of life. She then nervously told me she'd appreciate it if I would be there for her when she called ALL of her clients to tell them she was retiring from the business. I tried to suppress my involuntary groan, but I'm not too sure how successful I was. I knew this was important to her, so I figured I needed to be there for her. After we'd settled that, Shani nervously mentioned that she'd appreciate it if I could come with her to meet her family sometime, as she really needed to tell them something, and, of course, she'd appreciate me being there when she told them. I again agreed but was hesitant myself, envisioning a repeat of my experience with Anh's family. Still, it needed to be done so I'd have to do it. It was pretty much a no-brainer. I then looked around at everyone else, but no one else had any desire for me to visit their families, so I breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, since you have such busy plans today, I guess we should occupy ourselves?" Dad asked. "Yeah," I sighed again, "I guess so." "And just who is 'we, ' Kemosabe?" Cate asked. "I plan on going with Alex, and I expect most if not all of his girls will, too." My father just shrugged. "Que sera, sera," he replied simply before turning to Mom. "Feel like playing some Craps today?" he asked, pretending we weren't listening any more. "OK," I said, just to iron everything out. "Who's coming with and who's not?" ------- Chapter 11: A New Perspective In writing this history of Alex's start, I wrote it in the first person in order to show Alex's unique perspective to those not familiar with him. However, there are inherent limitations in using first person narrative. I've managed to convey Alex's shock and awe; well, his shock at events at least, the others' awe is something else. So this chapter will switch to a third person perspective to show the awe as his various women perceived it and him. I hate doing this and realize that it confuses the basic storyline, but occasionally it's necessary. I hope you'll all agree that it helps convey how they all felt and how most of us feel even now, many years later. Much of this will be familiar to those who have grown up hearing of this particular aspect of him from all those around you. Many of you who haven't had access to those that were amongst his chosen few won't have heard it, and that's who this is directed towards. Just be aware that, once again, I'm well aware of my limitations as a writer and I don't plan to pull this little trick very often. In fact, aside from the first chapter there's only one more instance where I plan to do this kind of switch and you'll know it when it comes. That case will be more apparent to everyone why it's necessary. For now, just read what transpires and I hope you'll understand just what it is that I'm trying to convey by utilizing this transition. ------- "So I says to him, 'Look, it ain't who you know, it's who knows you that's important.'" Clark laughed, as he usually did when Brooke told him one of her ridiculous stories. They both shared this one because they both considered Frank, the subject of the story, as an idiot. In fact, Clark laughed so hard that Brooke was a little worried since he was driving. But she had always trusted Clark to get them where they needed to go and she really needn't have worried. "Unit 4, unit 4, you've got an apparent heart attack on Baronne Street between Poyndras and Peridido Streets." "Unit 4 responding," Brooke answered. "Are you sure you should be calling us? We're a hell of a ways from there. We're just returning from a call way out on the Westbank Expressway and it'll take us quite a while to get there." "Understood. The other ambulances are all occupied with a big pile up out on the Highway. You'll have to cover this one for us. The police should be there when you arrive, so just look for the flashing blue. But try to step on it if you can, this one sounds bad and it's been a while already," was the reply over the radio. "Jesus," Clark swore, "that'll take us another 20, 25 minutes to get there. I sure hope a couple of cops present know enough first aid for whoever's hurt to survive." "I don't know," Brooke said, "most of them know the basic CPR but that's about it. It might be enough but it might not." "Unit 4 acknowledging, Base Unit. Please be advised we're estimating a 25 minute response time." "Understood Unit 4. Please do the best you can. If the local cops have any questions I'll relay them through to you. Over and out." "Yeah, over and out," Brooke acknowledged, swearing to herself as she did so. "Wouldn't you know it," Clark said, trying to control his anger. "They pull this knowing everyone's out of range. Why don't they just let the cops throw him into a car and drag the guy's sorry ass to the hospital? Waiting for us is likely to kill the guy," he asked as he set the siren going and he pulled out into traffic, changing lanes as he added speed. "It's because of that mess a couple of months ago," Brooke reminded him. "You remember, they tried that and killed a guy. Now they're all gun shy, and won't go near anyone until they kill someone waiting for us. This may very well be that case. I hope not though, 'cause so far we've had a fairly good record." "Yeah, well if we do it's because of you, Brooke. You always seem to know where to go when, in order to get to trouble before it's reported. I don't know how you do it but you just seem to have a knack. It's managed to save a lot of people and it's improved our record in the process." "Hey, don't be telling any lies," she cautioned him. "I just get lucky. Sometimes I just get a hunch and it pans out. There are times when my hunches are wrong as well." "Well I don't seem to remember many of those, but I remember plenty when they were dead on." "Anyway, let me look up what might be in the way. It's a pretty busy area at this time of day. It's a one way going north, but we'll just rely on the lights and turn in off of Poydras. I guess once we get close we'll figure out where to turn. They didn't even give us a specific address this time." "Probably because they figure the guy'll be dead by then," Clark snorted. Brooke had to concede he had a point. Brooke Knowles had been an Ambulance EMT for a fair number of years. She had been riding with Clark Straus for the last five. He was a good partner. He sometimes cursed and could definitely say the wrong thing on many occasions, but he was reliable and knew what he was doing. She was always glad to have him around whenever trouble hit and, in a field like this, trouble hit with amazing regularity. She held on as he took a corner at a high rate of speed. It was just luck that kept them from colliding with that cab. She knew she could always rely on his excellent driving to pull them through something like that. He had steady hands, even when hers would get all sweaty when things got tough. Still, they were both tough old birds. The bosses kept threatening to put them both with the young kids, but so far they kept them together simply because their numbers were so good. True, they'd frequently put a newbie in to ride with them, but they'd allowed the two of them the freedom to ride together, which was a blessing in itself. Both Brooke and Clark were EMTs, Emergency Medical Technicians, and it was their job to handle emergency care in cases where they were usually the first responders. It had many drawbacks, the stress of never knowing enough, either of their patients' conditions or of the necessary medicine not being the least of them, but it had its advantages as well. One was that it was very satisfying to be able to rescue dozens of people a day. Sure, many never made it and that was a bummer, but those that did more than made up for it. They served a purpose and were making a significant improvement in the lives of those they served. That plus a good paycheck made a difference. As he drove at a breakneck pace, Clark distracted them both by droning on about his troubles with his newest girlfriend. He never managed to keep one for very long and Brooke could certainly understand why. The guy was a good friend and a trusted partner but, aside from that, he was a real pig. While he was berating the newest conquest's physical attributes, Brooke was letting her mind wander. Today was a beautiful sunny day and that always spelled trouble in a city like New Orleans. Although they had a lot of warm days here, it always brought out the crazy tourists or the local rowdies, and someone would try something crazy and all hell would break loose, thus the sudden increase in accidents this morning. As they were drawing near the city's business district, Brooke got another feeling like she'd traditionally get, guiding her towards something significant. Only this seemed to be starting sooner than normal. It wasn't alerting her to something about to happen, it seemed to be farther away, possibly where they were going. She didn't usually get warnings this far away. She kept patient, not saying anything yet, but it seemed to be the case, the feeling gradually grew stronger the closer they got. She guessed it had something to do with the emergency they were heading towards, but these feelings had always been immediate in the past. Just short warnings based on an immediate need. Like warning them not to turn at a particular time, or to expect trouble at a particular location. This new feeling was growing stronger the closer they got, but they were still quite far away. Since it was so steady, she actually had time to analyze it. Usually it was just such a brief flash, she'd never been able to study it before. She knew from experience to trust her instincts. That's about all she could call them because they were always so brief. Now she could feel it as if it were an old shirt, familiar and comfortable. It told her that what they were approaching was significant in a way she hadn't experienced before. Usually she'd get a brief glimmer of trouble, a momentary warning when something was going to go wrong, or a quick quirk to help her decide something on time, but this was constant. "You'd better give it a bit more speed," she warned her partner. "I don't know what it is but this one feels significant. Somehow this one is more important than the others." Clark took her warning seriously, just as he always took all her warnings seriously. She just had a knack for always knowing just what to do and when to do it. But he could also tell that this time she was a bit unnerved. There was just something odd this time. It seemed the stars were aligned on this one. First, the call way out in the boondocks, then the unexpected pileup out on the interstate, now this problem back in the heart of the city with no one there to respond in time. Something big was brewing and he didn't like it at all. Brooke had always been in tune with nature in such a way that she could frequently anticipate accidents or unexpected illnesses. It was part of what made her so successful in this occupation. She'd often guess at a diagnosis based on nothing more than a hunch and very often it would bear out. Sometimes something would happen at the scene of an accident and she'd be ready for it when it occurred. She'd learned to trust her instincts as a result. This time it wasn't just an inkling, it was a full on assault on her psyche. She seemed to not only be able to sense its direction but also its distance. She thought she could tell Clark just how far away they were without looking at the onboard GPS unit. However she didn't pay it much mind. She was much more concerned with finding out what it was that was directing her. "Come on, Clark, this is REALLY important," she told her partner, stressing just how unusually vital this information was in a no-nonsense tone of voice. "Yeah, you and that damn woman's intuition thing you have going. How come my dates never have enough intuition to know I don't like shopping and watching some damn play? You tell me that and maybe I'll trust these damn hunches of yours," he told her as he hurried along, applying yet more gas and weaving through traffic, cutting dangerously close to cars that couldn't get out of his way fast enough. Brooke was used to Clark's varying moods. His driving and his dedication were reliable but his moods were anything but. He'd praise you for making their careers one moment, then tell you the thing that achieved it was shit the next. "Ambulance four, this is car 3020," announced the authoritative voice of a police officer over the radio. "Unit four reporting," she answered back. "What've you got for us?" "I'm at the scene. We're attending the man down. He was out when we arrived but the woman who was with him reported he was still active and responsive before we arrived. We've begun CPR on him, but so far he's completely unresponsive." "Understood, Officer, keep up the CPR, we're still a fair distance away. Hopefully you'll get a response soon and we'll be able to carry him off to the Hospital for you." "Affirmative," the voice responded. Brooke didn't recognize it offhand but that wasn't surprising. There were lots of officers and she could hardly know all of them. Even more, many officers didn't have clearly recognizable voices over the staticy service radios. As Clark careened around another curve, Brooke could feel what they were driving towards. They were still a mile or two from the site, but she felt she could tell Clark how far away it was to the very foot. However, now that they were getting closer and the feelings were getting stronger, she began to realize these weren't the same sensations that had always warned her of danger in the past. No, she could feel a sense of power. There was something very strong there and that was what she was feeling. Chances are it's not the victim but possibly the cause of the problem, she realized. Maybe the victim suffered a shock which produced the heart attack? No, again she could feel that wasn't likely. For some odd reason, she felt she could trust the source of these feelings. However she no more understood why than she could understand the feelings themselves. Clark slowed down as he took the last couple of turns and Brooke held on, partly to keep from being thrown, but also just to steady herself from the onslaught of these sensations. She wasn't used to these feelings. Previously the warnings she got were just fleeting impulses, something that was very easy to rationalize, to tell yourself it was simply your intuition and nothing more. But this was clearly overpowering. There was something ahead which both terrified and fascinated her, and she had no clue what it might be or what it might represent. However, as they rounded the last curve with a policeman out directing traffic, she swallowed and decided she couldn't let these feelings dissuade her. She had a job to do and possibly a life to save. Getting distracted by anything else would be detrimental to everyone. She'd deal with the emergency and then try to figure out what was guiding her later. Surely it wasn't associated with the accident if she wasn't getting any indication of what to do. Flashing blue lights indicated the location of the victim and Clark pulled up as close as he could. They both knew they were very late by the large number of onlookers standing around. Brooke grabbed her kit and left the ambulance, rushing to the cluster of people surrounding a reclined form she was all too familiar with. One officer was kneeling over the figure working on him. She rushed to his side. "Hey, there," she called. "We're here. We'll take over." "Thanks," the burly guy responded, a bit breathlessly from having been laboring over the prone form for so long. "'Bout time you guys showed up. The guys been down for some time now." The big cop shifted over, allowing Brooke to take over without much of a delay. "Yeah, we had problems with logistics this morning," she informed him, not really knowing why she bothered. "We had a call way out in the burbs and all the other available trucks were at an accident scene." "That's what we heard," the man told her, slowly getting his breath back as Brooke continued to pump the man's chest. Yet, even as she was working so diligently, she could feel the source of the power she had felt. She was right, it was tremendously powerful. She could literally feel the power emanating, radiating over her. She could also feel just right where it was, both the direction and the exact location as well. Glancing up, she noticed a group of people clustered behind the hastily erected police barricade. She could feel it there, just behind the people standing gawking at her. The source of the power had to be a person, she realized. She could isolate it right to a head sticking up above the row of people by the tape. Then she had an awful feeling. This power was WAY too strong, much too personal. She could feel the presence of the individual and knew he was powerful. She'd been around powerful and important people before and they never gave off waves of anything. She'd dealt with Senators, Congressmen, Mayors, and was even there when the leader of the free world had visited Orleans, the name the residents of the city used to refer to it. None had seemed any more than just an average guy in a nice suit surrounded by lots of security. No, this single unobtrusive individual held a palpable energy that was anything but human. It had to be otherworldly, but she simply didn't believe in little green men. No, this would have to be some kind of spiritual energy. The only thing she could think of was that he was an angel. Actually one specific angel, probably the angel of death and, if she could feel him so powerfully, he wasn't likely here for the man she was trying to save but for her. Yet she wasn't afraid. She was nervous, assuredly, but the character didn't seem to bear any ill will towards her. Whatever it planned didn't seem to be personal in any way. She quickly considered that. No, although the angel of death had always been pictured as a scary skeleton bearing a sickle, he was always there to take people away when it was their time. He had nothing invested in punishing them. When it was a person's time, it was simply their time. We all worked to pull people back, but when you couldn't, like the person she was working on, then they simply passed. In fact, she felt such a sense of comfort from the powerful figure, she thought of the words she so often heard from religious figures when faced with unexpected deaths. 'No one knows the will of God'. She'd always thought it a copout before, but maybe they had something. Maybe he was here to save her from something far worse than death. Maybe by remaining beyond her time she would face an even worse future. Just then Clark came sliding in beside her, lugging the defibrillator. As he started it up, she had to focus on what she was doing or risk getting shocked. While she doubted she'd die from that, she certainly didn't want to be stricken unresponsive moments before her death. No, she wanted to know more about this powerful angel that had come for her. She heard the call of "CLEAR!" and pulled back as a powerful shock lifted the unmoving body off the ground, but he remained impassive as she resumed the CPR. "Increasing charge," Clark warned. Brooke wordlessly acknowledged the caution as she continued to think about the powerful being standing so near her. Now that she had time to consider it, there was really no reason to assume it had come for her, other than the fact that she was the only one to feel it. It wasn't coming for her. It seemed to just be standing there, waiting for something. It wasn't even acting like the rest of the onlookers, trying to get a look at the activity taking place under her hands. No, chances are it already knew the fate of the individual she was working on. The second call of "CLEAR!" surprised her, and she just managed to pull her hands free before the inert body jumped again. In either case, whether it was here for her or for something else, she felt no fear. It held no malice, it was simply doing what it had to do, whatever that was. It was then she decided she had better watch herself, as it may be watching what she was doing and passing judgment on her feeble attempts to save a life. Still... "Clark, take over for me," she commanded. "But I'm..." he started to protest before she cut him off. "I know, but don't worry about that now, it's not having any effect. Just take over and keep up the CPR." He quickly moved in beside her and resumed the compressions when she moved her own hands aside. "Keep up the CPR," she repeated herself. "Don't stop, I've got to go see about something." "What the fuck?" he called out after her. "There's not much sense if he's already coded!" "Just keep it up, I think I might be able to get some help," she called back. She was moving toward the figure she'd seen lurking behind barricade. When those people saw her, they quickly began talking to each other and then quickly pulled back. She saw a clean faced young man look up at her and then quickly look away again, as if he was afraid of being recognized, but she knew him for what he apparently was. There was no other sensible answer for the radiating power flowing from him. "What are you... ?" asked the policeman watching the barricade as she approached it. "Never mind," she informed him. "I need help with the victim." He looked at her strangely but gave way as she moved around him. As she approached near enough to get a clear look at the figure he reluctantly raised his head and finally looked her in the eyes. It hit Brooke like a sledge hammer to the face, one minute she was marching forward, the next she was reeling back, staggering, with her legs threatening to collapse under her. "Hey, are you OK? What the hell did they do to you?" the nearby cop asked as he rushed to her assistance. "Nothing," Brooke called out. "He didn't do a thing, at least nothing that didn't need to be done," she answered, intuitively knowing that whatever he'd done, it had been necessary. She could feel he wouldn't do anything that wasn't absolutely necessary. She tried to steady herself, veering as she tried to find her sense of balance again, the hand of the patrolman on her side not helping at all. As her eyes refocused, she was shocked at what she saw. Instead of the faces of people surrounding the supposed angel, she now saw the figure for what it was, a real, damn ANGEL, shimmering in a light which reflected all the power she'd been feeling emanating from him. She had to shield her eyes, his glow was so overpowering. She couldn't even make out the figures around him he was so bright. As she tried to protect her eyes, moving them to the side and away from his mighty glare, she suddenly noticed that everyone else also had a lesser glow about them all as well, except instead of being overpowering she could see they were all clothed in a whole array of new colors she'd never seen before. "What the..." she started to say before considering who she was speaking to and what their opinion on profanity might be, especially considering the role she had so recently assigned to the figure. "It's OK," a young woman nearby assured her. "He strikes all of us that way." "What, what is it I'm seeing?" Brooke asked hesitantly. The figure before her suddenly moved forward, stepping around the barricade. "Hey, get the FUCK back behind the..." the cop behind her warned. Brooke held out her arm. "No, I need him. He's the one I came here for," she informed him. "Don't panic, it's nothing unearthly. What you're seeing is people's life force, essentially their souls," the bright figure explained as he moved up beside her and grasped her side to steady her. "The colors you're seeing are a reflection of their personalities, the varying colors around the edges are the various emotions that play on their personalities. It also shows their health as well," he continued explaining. "The dark patches are unhealthy organs, anything lacking light is probably dead." "Oh," she answered stupidly, considering his words, which washed over her with the force of a mighty wave. "Oh!" she responded a bit more responsively when the meaning of his words hit her. She grabbed his arm and spun around, pulling him behind her. "Then we've got to get back. Maybe you can help me save the man over there if it's not already too late." The towering figure of light hesitated. "Uhh, I really..." he started to say. "Don't listen to him," one of the women that had been standing beside him told her. "Supposedly he doesn't realize his own power and doesn't remember what he used to know. We've got to help him remember so he can..." "Yeah, yeah," Brooke cut her off. "I'll listen to the rest later. Right now we've got someone to save." She considered the cop, the roll of fat around his waist looking a very unsightly color. "Let her through as well, and any of the others who feel they can contribute." The officer started to protest but she was already past him, dragging the hesitant angel behind her. Looking ahead, she saw the cluster of figures around the prone man. Clark continued to work on the figure but without enthusiasm. The officers surrounding him were all busy looking at her and not at what he was doing. "You can't..." the officer nearest her started to argue. "Yes I can, he's going to help me save a life," she told him assuredly. "I don't think there's much to be done," Clark informed her. "I think this one is already gone." She examined the body of the prone form with her newfound vision. It indeed didn't look good, his whole body had gone quite dim, but she could still see a fair amount of the energy the angel had said produced the lights she saw. She knew she had to move quickly. She pulled him around the laboring form of her partner and sat him beside the man's head. "The problem when someone's been down for this long is long term brain damage," she quickly explained. "It won't do any good to save him if there's nothing left to save." She examined the man's head, making a quick evaluation. "Look, I don't know anything about..." the angel began protesting. "I know, your friend already told me. You don't know what you already know. But you're going to help me save this man's life." "I don't know anything about medicine," he tried to weakly protest. "You don't have to, that's what I'm here for," she insisted. "That's why you chose me." She gripped his hands and placed them strategically on the victim's head. "OK, I want you to take all that energy you're giving off and put some of it where I put your hands. Just put it where it's needed." "Sorry, but I can't see the visions like you can. I apparently trigger it in others, but I don't have any of those abilities myself." Brooke sighed, man, dealing with angels was more difficult than she would have thought! "Fine, just keep your fingers placed right about here," she instructed, making doubly sure his fingers were placed appropriately. "Now give him a very slight but steady flow of energy. There's a lot of delicate tissue in there and we don't want to fry anything, so go VERY slowly." Alex was about to protest but already knew it would be futile. He remembered Anh's words about knowing more than he was aware of and hoped it was true. Without having a clue what he was doing, he tried applying a very limited amount of energy but couldn't feel anything. "I don't..." he began to argue when she interrupted him. "That's it, just the right amount. Now, WAIT! Don't stop. Keep it going, nice and slow like you were doing. That's right, that's perfect. Keep it up." "Brooke, what the hell are all these people and what the fuck are they doing to our patient?" Clark demanded. "Yeah," commented one of the nearby officers. Brooke seemed to remember his name was Paul Sinclair or something. "They shouldn't be involved in..." "Shut the FUCK up!" she shouted at the officer, shocking everyone around her. She quickly turned to the angel seated beside her. "Not you," she cautioned, "keep doing what you're doing. You're doing good." Turning back to the others she gave them her instructions. "You all have no idea what's going on so just shut your fucking traps. If ANYTHING is going to save this man it's going to be this young man here, so just let him do what he needs to." "Alex, just do what she says. You're doing just what you need to," said the woman she'd spoken to earlier. The angel Alex, Brooke thought. Man, they just don't name angels like they used to. At least it wasn't Angel Bob, she told herself. "OK," she instructed him. "I think that may be good for now. I'll let you know if he needs more in a minute. Keep up the energy with your left hand. Chances are his best chances of regaining functionality are to the areas on the left side of his brain. Now, when I count to three, Clark, you're going to move aside and Alex, you're going to put your hand over his chest where Clark is currently working and you're going to give him a slightly stronger burst of energy. OK? "Fine. 1... 2... 3!" she called out and everyone jumped into actions. "God, no!" she called, not even stopping to consider her unintended blasphemy. "Not that much. What, do you want to fry his whole damn heart? Keep it gentle. Here, try it again," she said, shifting his hand a bit. Alex still had no idea what he was doing, and wasn't even aware that he'd done a thing to the man. However, at her urging he tried to lessen whatever he'd just done, and suddenly there was a loud gasp and the recumbent figure beneath them all lurched up, trying desperately to draw air into his lungs as he sat up. Everyone around him immediately jumped back except for Brooke. "No, you're not done. Put your hands back where I showed you and keep up the energy to his head. And use both hands, I'm sure you remember where I showed you," she told the silly, easily spooked angel, moving his hands for him. He easily complied and held the man's head as he continued trying to get his breath. "Take it easy, sir, we're paramedics and I think you're going to be alright. You've been down for quite a while so it'll take a bit to adjust," she explained, as if this kind of thing happened to people all the time and being brain dead for 15 or 20 minutes was just a normal state of affairs. "Holy Crap!" uttered one of the cops. "Shut up and get us the gurney from our truck," Brooke told him. After getting over himself, he rushed to do her bidding. "Now, Alex is it? I think you can let him go, his colors are all returning. I think he's over the worst of it. We'll see what damage has been done to all the components we couldn't help with, but it looks like he'll be OK." "What the hell did I do?" he asked. "I thought you weren't supposed to say that?" she asked. "Here I was sure you were going to fry me for saying everything I was saying." "I'm not a..." "Not now, Alex," cautioned the woman behind him. Suddenly someone started yammering in a foreign language and Brooke had to glance back and see just who was involved with them now. She noticed a collection of six women of various nationalities, ages and races. The one who'd spoken was apparently an older, graying Asian woman, who looked like she was lecturing the poor angel. When she glanced back, Brooke saw that he held his head down, apparently slightly embarrassed at whatever she'd just said to him. Just then the officer came running up with the collapsible gurney they kept in the ambulance. "Right here, everyone back," she snapped back into command mode. "OK, all of you angel watchers, we only have room for Alex and maybe one other on this trip." She noticed Alex's sudden panicky look, as was reflected in his shuffling hesitation. "Yes, you're coming with me. This isn't over until I'm sure this man is going to make it." "OK, on three," she instructed the people who were familiar enough with the job to be in ready position. They lifted the still dazed man onto the gurney and they all moved to lift it and roll it back to the ambulance. Brooke didn't have time to watch what the angel Alex was doing, but she heard someone behind her state, "OK, Anh's going to go with him. The rest of you all move back." Brooke was by then entering the ambulance, walking backwards pulling the gurney. "Get your ass in here, Mr. Angel," she commanded. He turned around and spoke to the other women who surrounded him. "Don't worry. Cate, call the parents. The rest of you, see if you can get Allison's car and come pick me up, I'll let you know where I am." "Tulane University Hospital," Clark shouted out. "It's the closest facility to here." At least he wasn't fighting against Alex's presence anymore, Brooke thought to herself. "Get in quick, whoever's going," she called as she strapped the passenger in. She realized she hadn't even gotten any information on the individual. "Did you get any..." she called out. "Yeah, got it," Clark answered as he swung into the driver's seat. "One of the officers was nice enough to fill all the information in after you left me sitting over a dead body," he complained. "Damn, I didn't think there was any way he would ever recover!" The fallen man attempted to say something then, but Brooke simply laid a hand against his chest. "Don't try to talk," she insisted, placing a mask over his face and turning on the air while strapping him in. "Do you need a phone, Alex," a young girl called as the brilliantly glowing angel started towards the awaiting ambulance bay. "Nah, I'll contact you in the usual way, it's faster and more reliable," he assured her. Just as he was taking a step up some woman burst out of the surrounding crowd and ran up to reverently touch his arm. He looked confused for a moment then glanced embarrassedly at Brooke. "I've got lots of people fascinated with me," he explained. "They don't quite have the capacity for the whole vision thing you got, but..." he said, letting his voice trail off as if unsure just what their purpose was. Brooke got up from the man's bedside and stuck her head out the door to consider the woman who was staring up at Alex. She came to another snap decision that she just intuitively knew was right. "Go forth," she called. "Tell everyone what you've seen. This is a damn miracle if there ever was one. That man should be fuckin' dead by now." The woman looked up at her, as if just now seeing her, but then smiled knowingly and backed away from them. "What was that about?" the angel Alex asked her. "Never mind, just get your ass in here and let's get going." She figured if he could say hell then she could very well say anything as long as it wasn't outright blasphemous. As she was helping him into the truck, the older Asian woman started to climb in as well, so Brooke just naturally helped her in also. "Just grab on to anything you can," she told them. "There's not much in the way of seating in here. You can sit on the edge of the gurney if you need to," she told the Asian woman. She started talking in a language Brooke couldn't comprehend, but Alex cut her off. "She doesn't understand," he stated patiently as if she'd understand him despite the language difficulty. Just then Brooke heard his voice in her head, despite the fact his lips never moved. 'Ok, you should be able to hear her now. Go ahead.' Brooke was about to ask him what he was talking about, not even getting to the point of asking how he had done whatever he had done, when the older woman started speaking in perfect English. "Thank you for taking charge right away," she said, Brooke only belatedly realizing she wasn't actually speaking English but that she was hearing her as if she was. "In an emergency you've got to be willing to take charge because you never know who's going to be capable of acting independently," she explained. She turned to look at Alex as Brooke returned to looking after the patient, feeling Clark begin to pull back onto the street. "So what is she, one of you disciples or something? I didn't know angels had disciples." "I'm not an angel," he protested, but without any real conviction. "Ignore him, he's only partially aware of what he is and what he's capable of. That's what we're all here for, to help him along on his journey." Brooke considered the woman for a moment as she grabbed the paperwork from Clark and started reading it over. "And just where is this journey supposed to take him?" she asked. The older woman sighed, "None of us know, he hasn't revealed that to us yet." "Wait, you're telling me that he's supposed to tell you what his mission is so that you can explain it to him?" The woman smiled, her wrinkled eyes shining, "That's about it. He doesn't know much about himself yet. That's what's protected him as a child, not knowing what he was capable of. He's only now coming into an awareness of himself." Brooke considered that as she quickly ran through the paperwork in front of her. It explained a few things at least. Otherwise Brooke couldn't figure out how someone could be unaware of what power he held or not know what to do with it. Still, there seemed to be hope for him if he'd collected these people to help him. Maybe the old woman actually knew what she was talking about. "Man, I can't believe the shit I'm hearing back there," Clark called out from the front. "How the hell can you be speaking to her when you don't understand Chinese?" Brooke briefly glanced at the woman but Alex filled her in. "Vietnamese, and her name is Anh." "You hear that, you old lummox?" she called forward. "I don't understand Chinese, but apparently I can converse pretty freely in Vietnamese with a little assistance." Just then they hit a bump hard and everyone was thrown. "God damn it, Clark, watch where the fuck you're going! You're likely to kill us all back here," she shouted once she'd managed to recover herself, suddenly finding herself kneeling on the floor, the clipboard now beside the Vietnamese woman she now knew was named Anh. The woman bent over and picked it up, handing it to her. "Sorry 'bout that," Clark called back. "I'm in such a state of shock over everything that's happening I'm having trouble watching what I'm doing." "Well get your ass in gear, we've still got a life to save here." When she finally stopped shouting she considered all that she'd just said. "Excuse me for the language, I'm not sure what's allowed and what's not but..." she began to apologize before Alex waved her concerns off. "No offense taken. I know the occasion asks a lot of you. I expect you to handle it just like you normally would." Anh smiled knowingly at him and seemed pleased at his words for some reason. "OK, since I'm allowed to speak honestly, how the fuck can I understand her?" Brooke asked. 'Simple, its telepathy. It's another little ability I've somehow granted you, ' he explained. "Holy shit!" Brooke swore. "What's going on? I want to know the answer as well and, if it isn't any great difficulty for you, how the hell is the damn patient?" "He seems OK, but I haven't had a chance to talk with him yet," Brooke explained. "The Ang ... Alex just informed me I can now communicate telepathically." Since they'd mentioned him she looked down to see the older gentlemen they'd been attempting to help looking around wildly, clearly more overwhelmed at what he was hearing than he was for his own health. She pulled the mask from his face. "He WHAT?" bellowed the voice from the front. 'Actually you can't speak telepathically with anyone other than him, ' a mental voice she recognized as belonging to Anh replied to her. "How can you be speaking to me, then?" she asked. She spoke in heavily accented Vietnamese, but her meaning was perfectly clear. "Because we all communicate through him." "Oh," she replied dumbly. The gentleman on the gurney grumbled so she turned to consider him again. "What ... what's going ... what's going on?" he asked. "I have no fucking idea," she stated. "But you had a massive heart attack. You were as good as dead for a long, long time, until this young man happened to revive you. I also got him to intervene in preventing you from suffering any obvious mental decay, but we won't know for sure until we can examine you," she explained patiently, expecting him to understand everything despite the traumas he'd recently experienced, both medically and being exposed to what was happening in the ambulance. Brooke looked him in the eyes and moved her finger around in front of his eyes. He tracked her movement well so she was encouraged. That plus he didn't show any confusion over her previous sentence. "Can you tell me who you are?" "Steve, Steve ... McCullough," he answered with difficulty around a dry throat. She reached for some water so she could pour him a small cup. "Here, drink this but drink it slowly," she instructed, and he seemed perfectly capable of following the simple instructions. "Can you tell me what day today is?" she asked him and he answered clearly and succinctly. "I think he's going to be fine after all of that," she said, turning and addressing the glowing angelic form before her. "Damn, that's amazing!" Clark shouted back from the front cab. "How the hell did you all pull that off?" "We'll have to explain it later," she told him. "I think I'll have to figure it out before I can ever hope to explain any of it." "Well, we're here if anyone's interested," he called back as they slowed and proceeded to make a few turns. "Where ... Where's my daughter?" Steve asked. Brooke looked at him questioningly. "Clark?" she called. "Oh, sorry, something else you missed while you were out gallivanting," he replied. "She had apparently gotten carried away, insisting the police do something so they had an officer take her aside and watch over her. After everything started getting crazy I didn't think it wise to bring her back, in case she thought the events strange enough to warrant a ... uh, a suit, if you know what I mean." "Even ... Even I know what you mean," Steve rasped at him, but doubted he'd been heard as Clark was busy pulling the ambulance into the bay. As everyone started going through their motions, Alex nervously stated, "Look, it looks like he's OK and there's really not much I can do..." "Nothin' doing, buddy," Brooke told him. "You're a part of this, and until I clear you, you're involved." "I think he wants to avoid any more attention being focused on him," Anh diplomatically explained. "Ah, yeah, I can see that. Still, I'd think the best way to avoid attention would be to stop radiating energy and glowing like a damn sunspot." She shook her head and someone threw the doors open, so she and Clark pulled the gurney out while she briefed the attendant on what they had. Alex followed along nervously, Anh striding along beside him like she owned the place, as Clark pushed the gurney and Brooke rattled off his various stats. Still, it didn't look to the onlookers like the people she was informing had any medical expertise. Looking up, Alex saw another of those vacant, fascinated stares looking back at him, and signaled the nurse it was attached to over to them. She took off like a shot, hurrying up to him. "Yes, sir?" she asked, sounding like he was a visiting hospital administrator. "We need this man looked after. He had a heart attack, apparently he wasn't breathing for a very long time," Alex informed her, taking control of the situation from those assigned the task. The hefty woman Brooke was giving the information to just stared at him. When she began to speak to him, Brooke reached out and restrained her. "Yes, sir," said the woman, a nurse with a nametag that stated her name was Rebecca Boles, seemingly happy to accept orders from someone off the street. She directed Clark to accompany her as she hurriedly shoved people aside and made room for the new arrival in a section by himself. Once again Alex hung back, but Brooke grabbed his arm as she passed and pressed him forward. "OK, what stats do you have for me?" Rebecca asked, and she and Brooke started speaking rapidly together. As they were doing so the injured man, Steve, who'd just been transferred to one of the hospital beds, looked up at Alex. Seeing him, Alex reached over and held his hand. Pulling his mask off Steve addressed him. "You really ... really did all the stuff she said you did?" he asked him. "Well..." Alex hesitantly replied. "He do," Anh replied. "Well, thank you then, for saving my life. And don't worry about my idiot daughter trying to sue you. I managed to keep her in line when she was an insane teen ager, and I can keep her in line even after a heart attack." He tried to laugh but it broke into a cackling, coughing fit. Alex slapped him lightly on the back. "Is it OK?" Rebecca asked the young man, requesting his permission before she sought to relieve his distress. He simply nodded his head and stepped away, and Rebecca proceeded to take care of him like he was the center of her life, for that moment at least. It was clear she was trying to impress Alex for some reason. Brooke figured she must be like she was, and was able to detect just what he was. Anh simply smiled at her. "She's like the woman outside the ambulance," she stated. "She detects his strength, but isn't ready for the vision or the other abilities. Cate has a good explanation," she explained. "Cate?" "Alex's sister." "Really?" Brooke asked in wonderment. "I didn't feel anyone like Alex there." Anh laughed gently. "She's not like him. She's normal but very, very smart. She keeps trying to explain how Alex does what he does, but the rest of us know it's because he's a mighty spirit who's come to the mortal world to do great things." "Anh!" Alex stated warningly. "He doesn't like me to talk about his being anything other than a typical high school kid," she explained to Brooke. "You said he was down and not breathing for HOW long?" Rebecca asked, looking at Brooke but continually sneaking sidelong glances at Alex. "Nearly 36 minutes," Clark stated. "His daughter stated he was responsive and coherent, but we couldn't get any confirmation of that from anyone else, so we're not real sure just how long he was like that." "But he seems fine. His heart sounds strong and he seems perfectly coherent," she said, a bit unsure about what she was seeing. "That's all his doing," Brooke stated simply, pointing at Alex. "SHHH!" Alex hissed, looking like he wanted to melt into the wallpaper. "Oh yeah, don't put his name down on any paperwork, and don't mention him to anyone in a position of authority," Brooke stated calmly. "Oh no, of course not," Rebecca answered, as if this was the most natural request in the world and one she'd be remiss if she didn't follow to the letter. "Look, if we're not needed anymore," Alex said, starting to edge out of the room. Brooke suddenly realized she was about to lose her chance to show this angel just how appreciative she was. Here, he took the time to save this guy, then he did whatever he did to her. Hell, she was glad she wasn't dead right now. Whatever else he had going for him, Brooke simply knew she wanted to be a part of it somehow. She knew it was important, knew it deep in her bones. She also knew she'd do whatever she could for this ... for Alex. She knew that whatever it was he might need, she'd do it for him without hesitation. Not because he'd spared her life, not even for giving her this vision but simply because she could feel he was destined for great things and she wanted to help him achieve them. She simply knew that, from this moment on, this was the whole purpose of her life. "Wait a minute," Brooke told him before turning to Anh. "How can she reach him?" she asked. Anh rattled off some Vietnamese and Brooke translated the hotel name and address as well as Cate's phone number. Alex was shaking his head. Steve managed to sit partially up and give him a thumbs up, smiling at him as they all turned and headed out of the room. "Look, I'm still on duty," Brooke explained to Alex. "I'd love to hear all about these abilities and about you and everything, but I've still got a few lives to save. Can I come see you when I get off?" she asked. "Yeah, me too, I'm anxious to hear all this crap you're spouting," Clark answered with a half smile, letting them all know he wasn't too serious. "Look, if you can perform another miracle and produce a legitimate driver's license I'll buy you a beer," he said, laughing. "Careful," Brooke cautioned him, "piss him off while he's drunk and he's likely to turn all your wine back into bloody water." It was clear they'd been partners for a long time and they both shared the same sense of humor. "Yeah, yeah, get the information from my interim social secretary," Alex replied. "Now let me get the hell out of here before someone notices me and calls the cops." ------- Chapter 12: I Kissed A Girl And... Our parents were there waiting for us, at the bar, when we entered the restaurant. Since we'd spent the day with Allison, helping her close up all of her accounts, she was treating us all to dinner at one of her favorite restaurants, far from the typical tourist fare we'd been getting so far. I think she was anxious to show off for us, and luckily, being as it was a Tuesday evening, there wasn't likely to be any of her influential clients for us to run into. At least I hoped so. It had been an emotional afternoon for Allison, and she'd asked me for my emotional support as she had to tell all her clients she wouldn't be 'servicing' them anymore. Needless to say they weren't terribly pleased, although she said they mostly took it pretty well. Between that and the nerve-wracking events of this morning I was feeling pretty well wiped out, but I knew there'd be a lot to discuss with a lot of people over dinner. "Alex, what the heck have you been up to?" my father asked, giving me a big hug. "All your sister said was, and I quote, that you'd gone to the local hospital but not to worry, as you weren't the one that was hurt." I started to answer him as I gave my mother a quick hug as well, but Cate cut me off. "You wouldn't believe it, Dad," she excitedly announced. "He brought a guy back from the dead!" "Shhh!" I hushed her, embarrassed by the whole event. I'd prevented them all from talking about it for most of the day, so I guess it was only natural that she'd be anxious to discuss it now. Still, the whole topic made me very ill at ease. "The guy was hardly dead," I insisted. "He was merely unconscious." "Ha! Dad, the guy had been unresponsive for a half hour, and the only reason they didn't just give up was that Brooke told her partner to keep going and not stop while she went off to get zapped by Alex." I just rolled my eyes. "Brooke and her partner are two EMTs who were at the scene," I explained. "They'll be meeting us here shortly, along with a nurse by the name of Rebecca." "Man," my father sighed, "I can't believe how you manage to pick up women. You put Charlie Sheen to shame." My mother slapped his shoulder but we all knew what he really meant. "Rebecca's like Natalie, Hi Natalie," I added, acknowledging our little hotel employee who'd come in with my parents. "Anyway," Cate went on, not losing any of her enthusiasm, "she just walks up to him and, after his usual response," she said, glossing over what the 'usual response' entailed, "he quickly explains what the visions are all about and so she grabs his hand and takes him over to the guy." By this time we'd already been ushered to our reserved table, one big enough to sit our increasingly large party, 12 people tonight. "She said something to him, puts his hands on the guy's head, then a moment later he puts his hand on the guy's chest and he just sits up." "Again, she oversimplifies. She told me the biggest problem with someone who'd been down so long was with brain damage, so she wanted me to do something to his head." "But whatever Alex did worked, because they guy was instantly OK. No brain damage, not dead, and even alert and coherent. But Alex has been in a mood ever since," she answered with a glare at me, "and he refused to say anything about it all day!" "Well damn it," I responded, looking quickly at Mom to gauge her reaction to my swearing, "It's very scary to have someone's life in your hands and have NO idea what you're doing, have no way of controlling or measuring what you're doing. She had me doing something to his brain and I couldn't feel or tell what I was doing. She just said 'be gentle' and left me to do whatever I was supposed to be doing. I couldn't tell if I was doing anything or if I was frying the poor guy's brain." "I'll have you know Alex did very well," answered Brooke behind me. I waved my hand to acknowledge her, she'd told me when she walked in the door that they were here. "I realize he was unprepared for what happened, but he did as I instructed perfectly." She leaned over me and gave me a quick kiss hello, pausing a moment, perhaps to guess whether I'd allow it, but I doubt she'd have been able to have seen me nod or not. "I'm Brooke Knowles by the way, and this is my partner, Clark Straus," she said, introducing herself, "and Alex has probably already told you about Rebecca Boles," she continued, indicating our new nurse friend. "I'm afraid I didn't get any of the rest of your names. Hi, Anh," she finished with a little wave. While she was introducing herself I looked at them all again. I had been in such a hurry this morning that I hadn't had much of a chance to really give them a good once over. Brooke was heavier set and a little older than most of my girls, as I'd begun to think of them. She had a short haircut, probably apropos to her work, more like a boy's haircut than a grown woman's. She was fair with a nice smile, blue eyes, and wearing little make-up. Whenever she smiled it took over her face, causing laugh lines to completely encircle the lower half of her face. It lit her face up enough to make you want to join her in her enjoyment. Clark was also older, being heavier set and balding. His head was mostly bald except for the sides. He had a decent paunch as well, but both he and Brooke were obviously in decent shape. It looked like Brooke in particular was into her health, as it was clear they both had muscles and were in good shape. Clark had rugged features with a strong chin and a firm decisive look about his eyes. Rebecca appeared to be younger than either Brooke or her partner. She had dark wavy hair with a few carefully placed blond streaks in them, just to grab attention. She had full cheeks and clear eyes, although she wore glasses much of the time due to her eyesight. She was a healthy girl, full bodied and looking like she'd happily wrestle me anytime I might offer. Personally, all three had larger breasts than my poor sister, Cate, did. My father stood up to shake Clark's hand and to give Brooke a big hug. "Well, welcome to the family, Brooke. It looks like you're one of us now. I'm sure you have a lot of questions for him. I'm Frank Jennings and this is my wife Linda, and you've no doubt met Cate, Alex's sister." "Well, we sorta met but nothing was very official," she cautiously replied. "We were too busy loading people into an ambulance at the time." "I'm Clark," her partner unnecessarily stated. "I still have no clue what went on or what Brooke's gotten herself into. She refused to say a thing, just telling me we'd discuss it tonight." "Yeah," chimed in Rebecca, "I'm even more in the dark. All I knew is that Alex stormed into the hospital. I knew he was important and needed immediate attention, but I have no idea who he is or what he represents, but what he did with the man that Brooke and Clark brought in is just amazing." "Man, you should have seen the cops," Cate went on, not dissuaded by any of the introductions. "Their mouths all hit the curb, they couldn't believe it." "So, care to share some details?" my father asked me once we'd all sat down and the rest of the introductions were made. "I'll jump in if you don't mind Alex," Brooke offered, to which I merely motioned her to continue. The less I had to say the better. "I could feel Alex there from several blocks away, before we ever got there. Personally I thought he was the Angel of Death. I've been around death a lot in my business and I've never met him before, the Angel of Death, that is, so I figured he had to have come for me, but I wasn't scared. I could feel this wasn't personal and I could tell there'd be no arguing with him. It just felt, I don't know, natural I guess. Like if this was the end that it was just natural to go with it." "Man, that's one we haven't encountered yet," Cate chimed in. "So far we've had an Angel, Jesus and a mighty spirit. I'd never have thought of the Angel of Death." "Yeah, well, that's the only thing I could think of that would be waiting for me at the scene of an accident radiating that much power. But when I saw him there just watching, I figured he either wasn't there for me or he was just waiting for me to finish. I figured I'd better do my best and save the guy, but there just wasn't any way to save him. So I thought I'd ask the angel for his assistance, thinking I could impress him and maybe gain some brownie points with God or something. "I told Clark to continue treatment and not to stop, and I got up and walked up to him. I guess I don't need to tell you all what happened to me when I did," she stated, glancing around at all the various women surrounding me. "You'd better damn well tell me," Clark insisted. "I've been waiting all day to hear this cockamamie story, and I intend to hear all of it." "Well, he glances up and looked me in the eyes and suddenly there's this flash of light and my knees get weak. When my vision clears, there's this bright floodlight coming from Alex. Then once I manage to gather my wits, I notice that everyone else has this glow about them as well. That's when Alex told me what it was all supposed to mean." "Which is?" Clark asked, sounding exasperated. Shani leaned over and quietly whispered to him for a few moments. "What the FUCK?" he shouted in response. I could see that Rebecca was just as quizzical, although not quite as rude, but Natalie had roped her into sitting with her, figuring they were compatriots, so she leaned over and explained to her what Clark had just discovered. Brooke just met his gaze and nodded her head. "Yep, it's all true," she insisted. "You saw the results. When he told me that I could see whether there was any life left in the guy, and considering how much energy he had just leaking out of him all the time, I just figured I had to give it a try," she explained, continuing on with the story. "When I got back to where Clark was halfheartedly doing CPR, I could still see some lingering energy in the guy. Before I'd commit to anything though, I wanted to be sure we could save him. Any time someone's been down for so long there's a significant chance of brain injury, but when I looked there was still a faint glimmer of energy there as well. That's when I told Alex to help him." "I told her it didn't work like that," I explained, adding my own detail to her story. "Yeah, he said he couldn't see what I could, so I took his hands and guided them to the proper location for him to apply his energy," she explained. "See, Alex is a catalyst for change in the women around him," Cate patiently explained to Clark and Rebecca. "He picks people who already have a particular affinity for this new type of life force they all see and gives them these new abilities." "I could tell he had no idea what he was doing, so I just told him to apply a very controlled, very careful and very small amount of steady energy to the points where I put his fingers. He did just what I asked, and I watched as those parts of his brain grew in strength." "Damn!" was all Clark could think of to say in response. I thought Brooke and Clark would be handy to have around. With the both of them swearing all the time Mom would have a harder time giving me hell about it. "Once the energy in those regions in his head where most of the damage usually occurs built up, I told him to apply the same energy to his heart, only more of it. I figured he'd just strengthen the heart muscle enough for it to respond to our defibrillator. Anyway, it worked. He jolted upright like he'd just been awakened from a nap by a damn cat that had just jumped on him claws first." "Man, it was the funniest thing to watch everyone just jump back when he did that. None of them expected it," Cate finished the recount. "Yeah," Clark recounted with a laugh of his own. "The various police never got over it. All day they kept asking me if the stories they'd heard were true." "What'd you tell them?" I asked worriedly. "Oh, Brooke insisted I not say anything to anyone, we've been partners for a long time now so I tend to follow her lead when she's particular about something," he explained. "So you didn't say anything?" I asked, just to ensure I wouldn't be hearing anything about it. "Hell, what can I say? When people keep asking you, you've got to say something. But I tried to keep it to a minimum. Don't worry about anyone saying anything though, Brooke never told me your full name." "So you can apply this energy to help save people?" Mom asked me. I was already dreading what everyone would be asking me to do now. "I'm not about to do it again," I insisted. "I have no idea how to apply medicine. I have no way of gauging what's safe and what isn't. It scared the crap out of me to be doing that to some guy." "Yeah, but if you did something wrong he'd have been just as dead as if you hadn't done anything," Shani offered. "Maybe so, but at least then I wouldn't have been guilty of frying him!" Brooke smiled and patted my back. "Hell, kid, you did good. You officially brought someone back from Death's door. Enjoy the feeling for a while. It doesn't always last, believe me," she told me with honest feelings. "Is that why you didn't want us discussing it?" Cate asked. "Yeah, plus I figured if I started I'd just keep having to repeat it all over and over. There were just too many people to tell, and it was just too painful for me to deal with right then." "So that's why you pushed us so hard to do all that crap work?" Cate asked. Ah, there it was. The "Look". The Mom look we'd always gotten whenever we used the wrong word. For a bit I'd thought she'd given up on it. But it looked like it still applied to my little sister, even if it didn't to me. "It wasn't 'crap work'," Allison responded sharply. "There were a lot of important people I had to contact and delicately let down, and it took a lot of effort. I for one appreciate everything you all did for me today." "Hey, wait," Clark said, sitting up a little straighter. "Don't I know you? You went out with the mayor a couple of times?" Allison just smiled patiently at him, waiting for him to make all the necessary associations in his head. "Yeah, I think I saw you with the State Senator as well," Brooke stated. "I've been with a great many people, let's just leave it at that," she replied quietly. "I've decided to leave that life behind. Alex has convinced me to turn my life around and to honestly help people, instead of just playing at it like I'd been doing." "How had you been playing at helping people?" Brooke asked her. Shani leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Oh wow," she responded quietly to the surprising answer. "What?" Clark asked loudly from beside her. "She told her that she had been using her ability to feel her clients emotions to make them feel better and to try to help them. Alex questioned whether that was really what was occurring or not, and suggested maybe a direct approach would be better. A medically licensed approach that is," my mother explained, joining in the discussion for a change. "You know," Allison explained, "many of my clients congratulated me and told me they'd volunteer to be my first clients once I got my degree." "Would that be with or without benefits," my father pointedly asked before he reconsidered. "Not that I think you'd do that," he countered. "It's just that I'd have to question their motives if I was in your shoes." "Dad, you could never fit in her 5 inch heels, though it would be fun to see you try," Cate smilingly replied. "Maybe not, but I take his meaning," Allison responded. "Actually they sounded quite sincere. I explained that I was permanently out of the business. I'd gotten quite close to most of my clients. It's what allowed me to do so well when there are so many who charge pocket change to do the very same thing." "Still," I consoled her, "I think your choice is the better one. You were so worried that I'd come to pass judgment on you, I think you'd been feeling guilty about what you'd been doing for a long time. This way you can still help people, but without all the negatives associated with your behaviors." "Yeah, yeah, this is all interesting, but I'm still a little confused here," Rebecca interrupted the conversation. "I assume that all of you share this little ability to see people's energy or something?" "We think of it as their life force," Cate offered. "Yeah, OK, but you can all see it?" "Not just that, they all share the ability to communicate telepathically with Alex." "So, how come I didn't receive the same thing? Was I not deserving enough?" "No, no," Natalie hurried to console her. "It's nothing like that. It gets complicated and it's all just conjecture at this point, but it seems that there are some people who have some kind of genetic thing that can feel others' energy. That makes them susceptible to what Alex can do to them. You and I, as well as a lot of others, only have a partial dose of it so we can feel it a little, just not enough to get the full treatment." "According to my theory, which Natalie's quoting, that's also why it only affects women. It acts like a weird recessive trait, kind of like color blindness but apparently it only works on women. Men just don't seem to be susceptible." "So it's like an XLink recessive trait, just the reverse of how they normally present?" Rebecca asked, leaving the rest of us scratching our heads, but apparently Cate knew exactly what she was talking about. "Yeah, you've got it. That would mean that the various people who feel attracted to Alex but aren't triggered by him, are what you'd normally consider carriers, they only have a single affected gene." "Uh, how about a little English, Cate?" I asked, trying to bring the discussion back down to where everyone else could understand some of it. "So you've got two whole classes of women following you around; those with magical abilities and those who just find you dreamy?" Clark asked, sounding a little annoyed. "Pretty much, although I'm doing nothing to attract them, they just started to notice me and come up to me once we hit the city. I've never had a problem with it before." "We're not sure if it was simply the isolation of our small town, or whether his particular abilities only become activated at a particular age," Cate summarized. "Man, this is just plain crazy," Clark summarized for himself. "Yeah, but you've gotta admit the results are pretty convincing." Brooke said. "Well, what he did was very impressive, but it was a single case," he cautioned. "But what he's done to each of us he's done, what, five times?" Shani offered. "Look, let's not fight about this," Allison said. "I know it takes time to come to an understanding about all of this, so let's just all think about it before we start saying anything we'll regret. We're just trying to lay out what it is that we understand at this point in time. I'm sure we'll have a more complete picture once Cate gets her brother back to her hidden lab to experiment on him, but for now this is our understanding of events." "She's got a good point. We could sit here and discuss all the details, but everyone here has already heard the story multiple times already," I added. "Yeah, each time he finds a new girl, and so far he's managed to find one just about every day he's been here. That's a lot of listening to the same theories over and over again," my father groused. "Well, if we're changing the topic; Brooke, what are your plans for the future? We all plan on following Alex home and setting up shop in his little farm community." Brooke looked a little startled. "I don't know," she answered. "I've got a couple of kids I'd have to pull out of school." She didn't seem put off as much as she was simply thinking of all the tasks she'd have to get started on. "Slow down everyone," I said, trying to slow down the discussion. "Maybe her family doesn't want to move. Besides," I continued, thinking of a new stalling maneuver, "it may be better for her to remain here in her job. After all, if everyone with this ability is living in the same place, there's an increased chance everything I've done being undone by a single unfortunate accident." "Oh, come on, Alex," Cate complained. "You know perfectly well if you imply you want something they'd fall all over themselves doing it for you. Give her a chance to make up her own mind." "Still, he's got a point," Mom interrupted. "We currently have a bunch of new additions to our little house, and it just isn't going to be big enough for all of you. How about, if you all want to come, we schedule it in shifts?" "This is a lot to take in all at once," Brooke complained with a smile, showing she wasn't overly concerned. "Does that mean... ?" Rebecca asked, leaving the question unfinished. Natalie reached out and held her arm. "Don't worry, he said we're as welcome as the rest are. He says he doesn't want us to be considered lesser participants in any way. Isn't that right Alex?" Man, was I feeling put on the spot. I really didn't want all these women giving up their lives for me, but they just weren't giving me any outs. "Yeah, that's my position. If I invite you in then you're a part of the whole scheme. But that in no way means any of you are obligated..." "Yeah, yeah," Cate dismissively waved me off, already assuming no one would be interested in turning down the offer. "So do you think you could stand working at a small regional hospital?" "I think if I join the second wave it'd give me time to rearrange the kid's schedules." "You'd quit your job?" Clark asked, surprised to find his long time partner abandoning him. "Face it," she told him, turning to look in his face. "If it was up to you, would you turn down an opportunity like this?" He looked unhappy for a few moments before sighing deeply. "No, I guess I wouldn't. Still, with this new ability of yours you might be able to improve our rescue rate even more than we've managed over the last few years." "Well, I guess I'll have a chance to test that out if they aren't going to be ready for me for a while." "So, Brooke, tell us about your kids. How old are they?" Brooke's face lit up at the chance to talk about her kids. "I have two; Susan, or Suzy, who's 9 and Peter, who's 11. They mean the world to me, but they can be two unholy terrors for a single mother to deal with. Suzy is full of questions all the time and Peter just likes to get into trouble. I can imagine all the questions Suzy is going to have for all of you," she concluded with a laugh. I remembered how cute Anh's granddaughter Victoria was and smiled at the memory as well. "I look forward to meeting them," I told her, actually anticipating it enough to forget about my feelings of dread at the idea of another couple of women following me home. "Rebecca, what's your story? Tell us a little about yourself," my mother continued playing host. Once again, I was just happy to have the attention taken off me for a change. "Well, I've been working as an ER nurse for the last decade. I got my degree from Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri. Aside from spending my days and evenings covered in bloody scrubs, I enjoy the occasional date but I'm generally too busy to do that much. Right now I think I like Cate's attitude in that I'd love to study what is going on here. Actually I'd love to have this vision thing you all are talking about, but then I guess that puts me in the same camp as Alex and Cate, so I guess I'm not too low on the miracle totem pole," she said with a gentle laugh. It was nice to see her so relaxed with the whole unusual situation. Clark was another case, though. He continued to eye me warily. Not that I could blame him. "Given all this talk of Angels, Spirits and such, I guess it's my role to inform you all that Alex isn't particularly religious," Cate generally informed the assembled crowd without any preamble. "Cate," Mom chided my sister. "What? I can't be blamed for Alex's lack of faith." "Just how religious is 'not very religious'?" Rebecca asked. "Actually I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God at all," I answered honestly. It got less of a reaction than I'd expected. Usually when you mention atheism everyone acts like you just ran over a puppy. They just can't picture life without some mythical being to rely on. "Alex!" Mom reacted, as if this was the first time she was hearing this. Actually, given how infrequently I mentioned it maybe it was. She knew I hadn't attended church with them except for special occasions for quite some time. I guess we'd be having a discussion sometime in the near future. "Hmm, an Angel who doesn't believe in God, that's a new one," Allison remarked. "I hadn't realized that yet. So I guess asking you to forgive me really was unnecessary?" she smiled. "Explain to them why you don't believe in him, Alex," Cate instructed me. "I've just never bought the whole concept of the soul," I explained, watching everyone's reactions. "I can't picture a soul existing outside of a physical body, outside of the memories stored in the synapses in the brain. Once you take the idea of a soul out of the picture, the whole concept of God just falls apart. You can't have heaven without souls to inhabit it, you can't have a Holy Ghost without them, and you also can't have a paternal entity watching over everyone's inner thoughts across the universe. But I don't expect anyone else to share my beliefs, though, they're mine and I know most people wouldn't agree with them." "Hmm," Allison commented again. "An Angel who doesn't believe in God, and a Great Spirit who doesn't believe in spirits. How do you explain all that's been happening, all that we're seeing, if you don't believe in it?" "Well, first of all, I can't explain anything that's been happening lately. Secondly, what you're seeing is the person's life energy. That I can believe in. But Brooke, did you notice the guy's soul leaving his body? Or did his life force just get weaker and weaker until it just started to fade away? That fits with my particular world view." "Well, what about Anh's theory about your spirit crossing over from another dimension to take human form here on earth?" Patricia asked me. She hadn't said anything regarding religion before, but given her background singing blues and jazz tunes, she could either be very religious or completely abstaining. "No offense, Anh," I began, waiting for her to nod her head at me, "but it's an old world tale from her country of origin from a long time ago. If they ever existed at all, there's no telling how far the stories got stretched over the years to fit into standard thinking of the time. She's provided some useful insights, but I'm not sure I'm quite willing to believe all of it yet. Just like I don't expect any of you to believe any of what I believe." Anh said a few words in Vietnamese, surprising our three newcomers, so I quickly translated. "She says: The newborn doesn't know how it comes into the world, so too is a spiritual rebirth. We may never know the truth of his stories, but I feel secure in the knowledge of spirits I have met in the past, whatever their origins." Our newest members all sat agog over the exchange. "Yeah, I know what it's like," Dad said. "I'm not sure I'll ever get used to them doing that." A brief exchange started up about whether I knew Vietnamese, which took the pressure off the scene created by the previous discussion, but they quickly returned to it until Shani put a quick end to it. "I said before and I think I can speak for many of those here," Shani patiently explained. "You've managed to shake up enough of our belief systems that we've not real sure what to believe anymore. All we know is we trust you and trust your judgment. Whether your beliefs about souls is true or not, or whether you're like Anh suggests, merely struck dumb so you won't remember who or what you are, is anyone's guess." "Well, I'm not sure if I'm quite as complacent about it, but we'll talk about that later," my mother warned me. I just smiled in return, having expected just that very response. The food started arriving about then so the discussions held up, shifting over to quiet conversations between individuals. I was impressed with Allison's choice. I could see why she liked it. It was quiet, respectful, the food was excellent, and no one paid any particular attention to famous or unusual individuals. As the meal began finishing we all started to talk about what was up for the evening, but I begged off, telling them that I was still too preoccupied by my experience with the man from this morning. They all seemed to respect that and proceeded to make plans that, for once, didn't involve me. Patricia reluctantly told me she was a little glad I was indisposed, since she wanted to continue to practice performing with her new abilities, and wasn't ready to do so with my overwhelming distraction quite yet. All the new people thought that was very exciting and decided they'd like to see her perform. My parents announced they were interested in trying the casino, while Natalie said she had to go home and prepare for work in the morning. Anh decided to go with my parents, declaring that perhaps the peace and quiet of a blackjack table might calm her nerves so excited by the activities of late. That left only three. Cate stated she was tired and would watch out for me, although I noticed her watching me like she didn't think she could trust me on my own for the night. Allison said she was looking at rewarding me for all the help I gave her today, but that she could do that without talking about what happened. I couldn't really refuse under those conditions, so Shani said she'd accompany us back to the hotel as well. On the trip back home we took a cab; I'd learned that Allison's sexy, bright red, 2-door convertible BMW wouldn't fit all of us. Damn, that was one sexy car, but it just wasn't practical for a young boy with six women trailing after him. Maybe she'd let me drive it sometime. In the cab I didn't want to make any assumptions, wanting to give myself some wiggle room, so I suggested we simply watch an in-room movie. They all agreed with that so we were set for a quiet evening. I might have been interested in some peace and quiet, but too much quiet would just cause me to think about what I almost did this morning, so some distraction sounded like a good idea. With the four of us spread out before the hotel's television I discovered the limits of my harem controlling mental powers when I was voted down in my choice of an action flick, and we ended up watching a chick flick instead. I sat against the headboard of my bed with Shani and Allison leaning against me and Cate lying further down, leaning against my leg (it works, you'd have to see it to figure it out I guess). They'd all go "Ahhh" every time something cute happened on screen. However part way through the film both girls were holding hands with me, which meant that whenever they'd go "ahhh," they'd pull my hand to their chests. I started looking forward to the romantic moments on the small screen. Even Cate would cuddle herself against me during these moments, and while having your sister's breasts pressed against you is a little disconcerting, I certainly wasn't going to complain about anyone's delicious breasts being pressed against me. Well, maybe my mother's, but that's another story. Too many associations I guess. After the movie we discussed what to watch when Shani suggested they had HBO. I started looking for the big films but came across one of the play acted "Adult" shows. I paused at it and Cate asked if we could watch, so we did. Soon I was cuddling both women and playing with their breasts while we watched the silly program. There certainly wasn't much plot, but the two lead characters were the same body type as Cate and I, a thin A-chested female and an equally thin, aka 'scrawny', guy. Both of us started talking about how we hated the overdone silicone/steroid injected looks of most current actors. Watching the film kind of made me think of Cate and I and, while a bit disturbing, I kept watching because it would be rude to suddenly change it. When Cate asked Shani about her preferred body type, she said she appreciated older guys, adding that I'd be perfect once I added some inches to my waist and grew some more forehead. When asked, Allison laughed and simply said she'd seen so many that the build no longer had much attraction, it was personality she was interested in and in doing things for the people she was with. I thought that was very romantic for a professional escort, but I wisely kept silent. We all laughed and sighed appropriately as the girls started teasing me back and kissing me between them. After a bit we shifted around, being careful not to disturb Cate too much, until we were lying with me facing Shani with Allison spooned up against me. Shani and I began making out as I gently began massaging Shani's breasts to the moaning sounds coming from the video, while Allison kept my senses alive with a series of intimate caresses. Cate moved and lay down beside Shani, watching us, commenting that we were much more exciting to watch than the phony actors on the video. "Although," she added, "you three are a lot less believable in real life." It's an interesting experience kissing a laughing girl. Allison was hugging my back, pressing her chest against my back and her crotch against my ass while looking over my shoulder. I'd managed to get Shani's shirt open, she wasn't wearing a bra, when I suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Figuring I'd either have fun or die trying, I grasped Cate's hand and pulled it forward and wrapped it around Shani's left breast as I covered her hand with my own. She gasped as her hand made contact, and didn't move for several moments. I couldn't even tell if she was still breathing. Shani sensed the difference and froze as well, although her breathing kind of staggered. Allison simply ground her crotch into my ass as her hand snaked around and grasped my erection. She didn't do much other than a soft caress, we were still keeping things casual, but it was a nice addition to the total scene. Finally Cate began shifting our combined hands around Shani's breast, exploring with only a gentle light touch. I noticed some extra goose bumps develop along Shani's skin. Allison's breath was loud in my ear as Shani and I continued kissing. I pressed down on Cate's hand, causing her to squeeze Shani's breast and Shani's breath caught. Shifting a bit, I formed my sister's hand into the proper shape and had her squeeze, then pull, the exposed nipple a bit to further extend it. Speaking to us both Shani whispered "harder". Cate and I did as she asked, and I felt Allison pick up the pace slightly in my nether regions. Leaving the breast play to my sister, who seemed to have figured out herself, I shifted Shani over a little so I had better access to all the various parties, and I focused my attention on some thigh work. While continuing the kissing I began playing with Cate's thigh, trying to get her comfortable with the contact by being nonthreatening in my approach. Allison was breathing in my ear as she watched the events unfold, although I had shifted out of her reach in order to access my sister. Cate seemed completely focused on what was occurring under her hand, reacting with a strange, confounded expression on her face that seemed to say she was surprised at what she was allowing herself to do. Since she wasn't focused on what I was doing I explored a bit more, slowly moving my hand up her leg. Imitating my actions from before, Allison reached across with her free hand and placed it over my own on Cate's thigh, guiding my hand on its exploration of her flesh. This continued without complaint, so soon we were openly palming her crotch and she responded by pressing against our hands. I was absolutely flabbergasted that she'd allow me to be so forward with her, but figured I'd keep going as long as she didn't complain. I swore to myself that I'd stop as soon as she hesitated, so I watched her carefully while I progressed, which had a direct effect on my kissing technique so Shani and I stopped. Allison took advantage of this opportunity. Not wanting to break our contact with Cate, she rolled me partly over so she could reach me enough for us to kiss. We continued mutually playing with Cate, Allison's experience evident in both her kissing technique and in her approach on my sister, keeping it gentle but still pushing her further along. Shani wasn't ignored as she started to kiss my neck while Allison and I made out. Allison continued to guide my hand so I wouldn't be distracted. This worked very well. Allison is such a good kisser that I never once thought of the difficulties of ... well I couldn't remember when. She also had enough experience to know just how much pressure to apply to stimulate Cate while not scaring her. However Cate seemed preoccupied. Now that she had freer access to Shani's charms, she was actively exploring her chest with her unguided hand. I was simply overwhelmed with everything happening to me, the sounds of everyone's increasing breaths overwhelming the sounds of fake heavy breathing from the TV. Finally Allison and I broke apart and I surveyed the scene before me again. Shani had progressed to licking my ear, which I found intriguing. I was especially surprised by how stimulating I found that simple act to be. I could see Shani was breathing heavily and her chest began to glisten with tiny little beads of perspiration. At Cate's prompting she lay back enough and Cate tried licking Shani's nipple. Man, was I ever glad to be me at that point. A bed full of available females; well, I wasn't sure how Cate qualified but it was a bed full never-the-less. Not only that, but I was witnessing my first girl on girl action, something I'd dreamed about for years. None of the girls from the previous encounters had shown any interest in such activities, but now both Cate and Shani seemed to have surprised themselves with their willingness to explore. Shani decided she'd had enough and began unbuttoning my shirt. Deprived of her plaything, Cate instead started playing with Shani's nipples again, giving her free access to my, well, shirt. Allison began nuzzling my neck while Cate started whispering how she couldn't believe what she was doing. Since Shani finished unbuttoning my shirt, we both stopped what we were doing and sat up to remove our shirts. Allison pulled it off my arms once it got that far, and I got up, grabbed Shani by the legs and pulled them out from under her so she landed flat on her back. Crawling up her legs I growled as I wrestled her snap and zipper with my teeth, causing the girls to giggle. I then grasped her jeans with both hands and tugged them slowly off her, gently kissing her skin as it was exposed, moving lower and lower. I finally finished as I slid her jeans off her feet and dropped them on the floor. Knee walking back up the bed, I knelt by her hips and, growling again, chewed on her panties. They had a nice damp texture to them along with a delightful smell. Then I shifted up and grabbed them in my teeth and began the fairly difficult process of removing her panties with my teeth. I finally had to give up on that endeavor and ended up just pulling them down, sniffing them deeply before dropping them on her jeans. Meanwhile, all three of them lay there, watching and giggling together. But, as I was chewing on Shani's crotch, Cate scooted up to lay alongside Shani and began playing with her tit again. Shani looked at her with lidded eyes and licked her lips, but that's as far as they got because they were still watching me. Allison contributed by demonstrating how she liked to play with breasts, just so she'd have the example of course. I began climbing back on the bed when the girls began chanting "Strip, Strip, Strip" so I stopped and did it. I gave my hips plenty of shake, pulling my jockey shorts down along with my jeans. As they moved past my erection they got hung up for a moment then sprang free, causing my erection to bob up and down in front of their eyes. They looked at it in fascination, the video completely forgotten except for the occasional moaning coming from the speakers. Taking the jeans completely off, I again got on the bed, but grabbed Shani by the hips and shifted her up in the bed, then curled up at her knees and stared at her shaven pussy. I breathed in deeply, appreciating the scent that I was beginning to associate with her. I blew air gently across her exposed lips. She shivered and moaned. I took a little while to explore. It was like this morning, only I wasn't hurrying from one girl to the next and I could take my time and explore with my fingertips. I traced a finger along her inflamed labia, drawing the moisture I found there along her lips. I lifted my finger to my lips and, looking the girls in their eyes, slowly licked it and sucked the essence from it. Again, the effort was probably wasted on both Shani and Allison, but Cate took a deep breath while watching me lick my finger. Cate was now playing with both of Shani's breasts, but they were all watching my actions intently. I guess my glow didn't interfere with their watching what I was doing with Shani, Allison occasionally biting Shani's shoulder or licking her neck like she had mine. I bent my head back to the source of Shani's nectar and used my fingers to spread her outer lips apart to view her delicate inner lips. "You're going to have to help me here," I informed them gently, "I want to make this as special as I can." Looking at Cate I went on, "Any help from the peanut gallery would be appreciated." "Why would you expect me to know what to do?" Cate asked. "Just let me know what feels good," I responded. "When someone does it to me, I'll let you know how it feels. Now hurry up, I'm learning here as well." "Go ahead, experience is very overrated," Allison advised me. "Just have fun and explore. Discovering things together is its own best reward." With that urging I bent back down and took a long slow swipe with my tongue, drawing it through the moist base at the bottom and lifting it slowly upwards, trying to dance my tongue around until I finally reached the apex, where I ran across the little bump at the top. Twiddling it with my tongue caused her knees to rise up and she gasped. Just as I was doing this Cate leaned into Shani, whispered, "I've always wanted to try this," and gently kissed her. Just as their lips met I sucked Shani's clitoris into my mouth and gently batted it with my tongue. This caused her to suck my sister's tongue into her mouth, and her level of aggression with the kiss went up a notch. If Cate was experimenting, she just went from 'seeing if she'd like it' to 'trying to hold on'. Allison was gently guiding them along as she rubbed both Cate's back and Shani's arms, cooing softly to them both. I worked Shani's clit for a bit then moved back down to her vagina, spreading her ample juices as I went. I was taking the moans she issued through Cate's mouth as my only advice on how I was doing, but it sounded like I was doing a fair job. As Cate massaged her breasts and tongue wrestled with her, I speared my tongue into her sex, seeing just how deep I could reach with it. She loved it and began rotating her hips in a circular pattern. Pressing my face fully into her crotch, I started bobbing my head, literally tongue fucking her while breathing in her increasing scent. Shani meanwhile opened Cate's blouse, with Allison's assistance, and was now massaging her breasts. Cate was now lying half on top of Shani as their kiss continued to deepen. The longer I worked on her pussy the wilder Shani got. I tried sucking her clit again as I got my finger involved and began a slow finger fuck on her. Suddenly her thighs closed on my head and I found myself held so tightly I couldn't breathe. However I still had free access with my finger to her pussy from below, so I could continue to piston my finger in and out while I put extra effort into sucking her clit. I was beginning to worry about suffocation, as Shani began thrashing around and moaning into my sister's mouth. The sound of the TV was completely overwhelmed with both girls moaning loudly. I felt a hand in my hair pressing my head harder into Shani's crotch. I counted two orgasms and a couple of minor tremors before her thighs finally fell open and I took a deep, gasping breath, trying to fill my lungs with oxygen again. While trying to regain my breath I looked up and saw Shani had collapsed, but Cate had moved from her lips to her left breast, which she was actively sucking while her hand played with the other. I briefly considered diving in again, but noticed Shani weakly shaking her head, so I crawled up to lie beside Allison, cuddling up to her, leaving Cate and Shani plenty of room to work. Allison gave me a hungry kiss, and when she released my lips Shani twisted around, kissing me deeply, licking along my mouth trying to extract her own juices. Suddenly we were interrupted when another face intruded into our kiss. "Sorry, ... but I just ... wanted to ... have a taste ... without having to actually ... eat pussy," gasped out my sister as she proceeded to lick all around my face, seeking out all of Shani's cum she could reach. She was leaning over both Shani and Allison, so I reached up to hold her side. She shifted and my hand landed on her breast. Figuring it must be the fates; I hefted it and began working the nipple. I saw Shani doing the same with the other while also cupping Cate's face. As Cate was finishing her cleaning duties, I eased forward and pressed my lips to hers. The touch was like sparks hit our lips and we paused briefly, then she pressed against me pushing her tongue into my mouth. I breathed deeply through my nose, still massaging her breast, enjoying all the sensations when Cate yanked her head back, stared me in the eyes with a deer in the headlights look. She then jumped up and ran to the bathroom, leaving the three of us looking at each other in confusion. "Think we went too far?" Shani asked. "I don't know. She seemed to be into it for quite a while. She certainly seemed to be enjoying you. I think it was me that scared her," I responded, thinking about what might have triggered her panicked response. "She wasn't really kissing me as much as she was searching for more of your cum. Damn, I should have known not to push Cate into something she wasn't ready for." Shani pulled my head against her chest and whispered to me, "Nonsense, she was getting into you then the whole scene got us all carried away. Me too, I've never done anything with another girl before. She just got scared. Give her time. She'll get used to the idea." Allison agreed as she also nestled against me, merely consoling me this time, despite all the arousal that had just seemed to have evaporated with Cate's sudden departure. "Maybe," I replied doubtfully. "I just hope I didn't just screw up a great sibling relationship." ------- Cate didn't come out of the restroom. Shani soon got up and tried the door only to find it locked. Knocking on the door she called "Cate? It's me Shani, can we talk?" I didn't hear the response but she returned and collected Cate's clothing, which she passed to her, while the door remained mostly closed. Cate never made any appearance. Shani finally came back to our bed. I was getting worried. After a while, we heard the door lock click. Turning we saw Cate slide out of the bathroom and open the front door. "I'm going out for a little while," she whispered without looking at either of us. The door clicked closed behind her before any of us had a chance to respond. I started to get up but Allison held me in place. "Let it ride," she cautioned, "She needs to think it all through." Unconvinced, I shrugged and snuggled back down. Twenty minutes later, I was pacing when the door lock clicked again, turning I glanced at it as it opened. Only instead of my sister, Anh and Patricia came in. They smiled at me and started to say something but looked confused at the look on my face. I simply turned back and resumed pacing, while Shani and Allison met them at the door and they whispered explanations. Figuring Mom and Dad must have also returned, I considered telling them Cate was absent but reconsidered after thinking of what I'd say. I was finally coaxed back to bed by the various women. Although we had the two beds to share, they all seemed to think it was necessary to console me, so we somehow all managed to squeeze onto the one bed while they consoled me. It was a short time later when Shani got up. "Sorry, but I've got to go back to work tomorrow. I'm sorry to abandon you now but I don't have much choice." She seemed ready to cry, so I simply kissed her cheek, then her lips, giving her a hug and escorting her out. I was about to walk out with her so I could search for Cate but was hindered by Anh. She simply shook her head and we returned to bed. We lay restlessly until I nodded off without being consciously aware of it. It was a very fitful sleep and I partially awoke several times, but I didn't get up and go looking for her. ------- Chapter 13: He Met A Man Along the Road to... Waking up the next morning, I sat up and looked over but Cate's bed was still made, unslept in and empty. We went about our morning preparations separately and without talking, everyone understanding I was still debating things with myself. No one even bothered to explain where all the other women were, as I was too preoccupied to worry about it. If they weren't pressing me then they all must be OK. Although I felt better about my recent troubles with Cate, she still weighed heavily on my mind right now. I didn't really need to worry about the unimportant stuff. Among the unimportant stuff were any more concerns about what I'd had to do yesterday. I simply hadn't given it a thought since the movie had started the previous night. Both Anh and Allison held my hands when my parents eventually knocked on the door. "Don't say anything," Anh counseled, "she might be waiting downstairs." "And if she isn't? What then?" She conceded that would be a problem. When I opened the door my parents were still putting things into place, straightening shirts and skirts and things. They didn't even notice Cate's absence. "Uh, Mom, Dad..." They both turned and looked at me, noticing my concerned looks. "Cate left the room last night and never came back." Mom immediately looked concerned but Dad remained calm. "Anything you want to tell us about?" He asked. He reacted to something Anh did behind me, shrugging in response. "As usual, it's probably better that I don't know. Let's head down to the dining room and see if she's there." So we all morosely trooped down together. When we got to the lobby she was sitting in a big overstuffed chair. Mom started to rush to her but she headed her off by getting up and walking away. "Let's hurry up and eat," she said over her shoulder, "I'm getting tired of always eating here every morning." So, my sister was upset, my parents were concerned, I was terrified of what I'd done to our relationship, and all the girls were concerned with trying to make me feel better. What a great way to start the day. As we entered the dining room, which after several days was getting a bit repetitive, Natalie was there to direct us to our table. I'm not sure whether she observed our combined moods but she didn't say much until we all got to the table and sat down. "I think you need to see this," she said. I looked up, thinking my father would respond, but she was handing something to me. I realized that things had changed as everything revolved around me now. My parents were still officially in charge of me for now, but when something important happened, everyone turned to me for advice. Taking it, I casually glanced at it. It was the local morning newspaper, folded up. I didn't think much of it until I saw the title of the article she pointed out. I quickly started skimming it as a feeling of dread slowly overcame me. All thoughts of my sister's upset or the previous day's activities were wiped from my mind. When I glanced up I noticed everyone looking at me, even Cate, who previously hadn't wanted to make eye contact, so I started to read the article out loud. "It's an article from this morning's local Times-Picayune newspaper entitled "Angel Seen in New Orleans." There was a collective gasp when everyone heard the title, but I just continued, wanting to get through this as quickly as I could. "There's been a lot of strange talk about town the last few days, and it has to do with an Angel visiting our fair city. No, this isn't like when someone sees the Virgin Mary's image in a shop window or a local statue cries. Instead, several local residents and visitors alike are reporting that an actual angel has been seen frequenting some of our local haunts. While most of the observers of this phenomena were reluctant to use their names, fearing reactions from friends, family and employers; each was quite adamant about what they had seen or heard on the subject. "It seems this Angel isn't your typical angel with wings flitting about the sky. Instead he's young, male, and is seen frequently wandering about the French Quarter. I guess maybe he's interested in some Jambalaya instead of the coming apocalypse. "The respondents report knowing he's an angel mostly from comments from others. They say several have been 'saved', and they all seem to fall to their knees before him, speaking of glowing lights emanating from him that are invisible to us mere mortals. Apparently he's been collecting a group of followers that he's given the 'gift of sight' to, that accompany him about town, much like Jesus had his disciples or Judas Priest has its roadies. You take your pick as to which is more apropos. "And he's not particular about the recipients of his blessings being Christian either. Apparently he's also bestowed them on Buddhists, as well. It seems one of these was a mature Asian woman who immediately began speaking in tongues with the young Divine being, calling him a "Great Spirit" instead of the traditional appellation. It seems she and a small child conversed in tongues with this spirited angel for quite a while. He also apparently favors hearing the sins of women over men for some unknown reason. Perhaps he considers them more 'spiritually endowed'? "Whatever the case may be, I'll continue to listen to this intriguing story. That's one thing you have to say about this town, we just don't do things in the usual way." "Well, that's it," I informed everyone. "Anyone have any opinions? Personally I'm thinking maybe it's time we got out of Dodge." "This certainly isn't very good news," my father offered, unintentionally twisting the source of the information. "No, it's not. The last thing I need is someone in the media taking an interest in this. It's bad enough to have people following me all around, but it's another to have my name and picture splashed across a newspaper as a possible religious fraud." "Now there's no sense getting overwrought," Shani offered. "Maybe you should call the reporter who wrote it and talk to him?" Cate suggested. "Yeah, right," I scoffed. "Hi, this is your friendly neighborhood Angel, otherwise known as the Great Spirit and sometimes double dipping as the Angel of Death; I'd like to request an interview?" "No, not like that. Just call him up and explain it from your perspective. Tell him you've never claimed to be an angel and that people are ascribing characteristics to you that don't apply. The guy wrote it as a funny article, it doesn't sound like he's taking it seriously." I thought about it. My first inclination was to simply protect everyone around me and take off, but I simply bristled at the idea of some intellectual bully forcing me to do something just because he could. My feeling here was to stand up to this little man. But I thought maybe Cate's middle ground was a better choice. Perhaps I could simply talk it over with him and try to get him to tone it down a little. That would helpfully minimize any complications or fallout to anyone around me. "You know, you may just have a point," I told her, considering just that approach. "You know this paper, Natalie, do you know the reporter? Does he do any investigative reports? Is he likely to cause us any trouble?" "Sorry, Alex," she responded, "I'm not really familiar with him. I only noticed it because a couple of the waitstaff were commenting on it and one of the girls showed it to me, knowing that I know you and having heard a couple of things herself." "Great," I groaned, "Now the whole city knows about what we've been doing." "You know, chances are it's all those people who've been watching you in such fascination this week," Patricia suggested. The others that I never heard about last night had joined us for breakfast this morning. "We've gotten so used to seeing them that we don't really think about them anymore, but chances are they've been watching you and talking amongst themselves. There've been some of them around for just about each of your encounters." "Yeah, that makes sense. I can picture that. It would explain I lot," I considered her suggestion. "Just relax, eat your breakfast calmly and collect yourself. It'll take a bit before the paper's offices are open so you can be ready for when you need to call him," Anh suggested. It was perhaps the most reasoned response so far. So I relayed the suggestion to everyone else and we all managed to relax and enjoy a nice leisurely breakfast despite all the unpleasantness that had been occurring since yesterday. In fact, the news was so disconcerting that Cate forgot she was supposed to be ignoring me. We took our time eating and talking, well, all of us except Cate that is, until 9:30 rolled around. We figured we'd give the reporter time to get in and get his morning coffee before we bothered him. The girls accompanied me back to our room where I prepared to make the call. I lamented that we didn't have a speakerphone, so Allison offered me her smartphone, which did. "Hello, News Desk," answered the pleasant female voice. "Good morning," I greeted her. "Can I speak with a Mr. Albert Rodriguez, please?" "One moment please," she informed me before putting me on a nondescript recording. A few minutes later the phone was picked up again. "Rodriguez here, what can I do for you?" He wasn't exactly the most articulate or polished individual I thought. "Mr. Rodriguez, I'm calling about that article you wrote for today's paper..." "Yeah, yeah, you've seen this angel too have you?" He asked, not even giving me a chance to get my question out. I had a feeling this wasn't going to go well. "No, you don't understand. I'm the one they're all talking about and I..." "Wait, you're the one they're talking about? What's your name, kid?" "I don't think that's any of your business and I don't really want to..." "Look, everyone assures me the angel's name is Bob, so if your name isn't Angel Bob then I've got no reason to talk with you," he responded in a snide manner. "We both know that isn't true. If you know that much, then you know my name is Alex. I'm not going to bother giving you my last name because I'd like to keep a little bit of my personal life personal." "You're the mysterious Angel Alex?" he asked, seemingly unbelieving he'd actually gotten me on the line. "Man, you're just the person I've wanted to speak with." "Before you start, let me just say that everything they're saying is untrue. I'm certainly no angel. Hell, I'm not even very religious." "They say you resurrected a dead person in the Business District yesterday," he countered. "He wasn't technically dead," I replied. "But you don't deny doing it. The police couldn't stop talking about it. You've made quite an impression in our little city." "Look, I really don't want to create a stir. Everyone has the wrong impressions about this. I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't give the story any more credence." "Hey, I'll tell you what, how about if you come down and I'll interview you? You can provide your own side of the story." THAT got my attention. I immediately ended the call unceremoniously. "Well, that could have gone better," Patricia offered. "I guess we should have expected that Alex," Cate said. "After all, it's his job to ask those kinds of questions." After saying that she got this funny look, as if she suddenly remembered she wasn't speaking to me and quickly blushed and turned away from me. Still, I was too keyed up to worry about her being upset at the moment. "OK, thoughts, people, what can I do to head all of this off?" "I'm not sure you really can do much," Allison suggested. "After all, look at all the trouble executives, celebrities and politicians have when they try to deny that they've done something in the papers. I think your best bet is just to lay low and simply ride it out." "That might be easier said than done," I replied. "If the hotel staff is aware of my activities, and if these people have been following me around for several days now, it's only a matter of time before he comes to the hotel asking for me." "Let me go talk to Natalie," Shani offered. After she did, she returned to give us the news. "She said she'd talk to the people on the reception desk and the hotel management. She thinks she can keep them from saying anything but she can't guarantee anything for more than a day or two." "I think maybe you should get out of town, at least for the day," Anh suggested. "That's probably a good idea. I'm sure either I or one of the other girls can put you and your family up if you don't want to stay here," Allison suggested. "That's a good idea. How about we all go back to the beach at Biloxi? It's far enough away that no one should notice a lone boy, his family and six women following him around," I told them all while rolling my eyes. "We'll have to see what we think about it tonight. We'll tell Natalie we might have to pull our reservations and see if she can work out something with the management to get us a refund or something." We all trooped back downstairs and told the parents what the new plans were. "You know, I doubt Natalie will have enough influence to refund us anything," my father told me. "That's OK, we'll pay for the lost night. Avoiding this kind of trouble is worth paying for an extra night." I was glad we were all of a like mind. Everyone agreed it made sense, so we decided to head off. We walked out the front door and were greeted by a small crowd waiting outside. We were a bit confused about what was going on but ignored it and continued on to the car. About halfway there a young man walked up to me and dropped to his knees. "I will follow you wherever you will go," the man said. "What?" I intelligently replied. "I will follow..." "Yeah, yeah. I got that. What the hell does it mean?" "It's from Luke 9:57. It..." "I don't really care what it says. What the hell do you want?" "I want to follow you." "Why?" "What do you mean why?" "I mean, why do you want to follow me?" "You're an angel, I want to follow you. I want you to lead me..." "Yeah, it's not going to happen, bud. Tell me why you're interested in me. If you can convince me I'll take you on, but I think you're barking up the wrong tree. You've got no idea what it is that I'm looking for. Convince me I'm wrong," I told him. "I ... I want to ... I believe..." the man mumbled, unable to complete a full sentence. "You have no idea who I am, what I represent, what I'm looking for, or what I do. Get the fuck away from me you damn poser. I'm not a damn angel. I'm just a kid on vacation." I stormed off leaving the poor guy on his knees looking confused. Everyone quickly followed behind me. We were almost at the car when another young man stepped up to me. I sighed in exasperation, noticing that we now had a crowd watching what we were doing. I assumed they were all here because of the publicity following the newspaper article. They'd probably talked to a few of the people who'd been watching us for the past few days and figured they'd jump on the bandwagon. "Yes?" I asked impatiently. "I heard you with that other guy. I think I understand. I don't really know why but I feel drawn to you somehow. I can feel you are important, that you are someone I should be following. I don't know what you represent, but I know you are somehow important to my future." I looked at him, confused, taking him seriously for the first time. He was white, very white, in that he was quite pale with fine dark hair combed back carefully. He had a few little marks on his face but nothing major. "Who have you been talking to? Has somebody told you what to say?" "No one has told me anything. I've been watching you for a few days. I've felt drawn to you but I didn't know what to do. I saw you with the others and I know that I'm not like the others with you, but..." "Look, I'll grant that you sound like you know what you're talking about, unlike chowderhead back there," I remarked, indicating the first guy we'd just bypassed, "but I'm not sure we're ready to take someone else on right now." "Oh, OK, I didn't mean to impose," he quickly apologized. "I just thought, given that..." "Alex," Cate broke her silence to say, "I think you need to reconsider this. He clearly represents a break from the other watchers. Maybe we should, think about it?" she asked, hesitant to ask me to do this. His simple answer was enough to convince me that he fit in with the other watchers, which intrigued me. Cate was right, he clearly didn't fit in with the rest of the watchers, simply because he was the only guy we'd ever seen among them. Still, I wasn't in the best of moods this morning, but I figured I owed it to Cate to do her this little favor. So I made a snap decision, still wanting to get out of here as fast as possible. "OK, that's enough. You pass. Get in the damn car and we'll figure it out what the hell is going on with a few less people following us around." I was in no mood to hang around with everyone watching us. If all these people figured out where we were staying it certainly wouldn't take a reporter long to figure it out either. I told Cate to call Natalie to arrange to have our luggage sent to Allison's. If we had further trouble, we might have to move to Shani's, which was further out from the city proper. We all quickly got into the car, actually a couple of cars. We certainly couldn't fit into our small family car and none of the girls were the van type. Well, aside from Patricia that is, and she hadn't thought to bring her touring van today. None of the new girls could go, as they were all working, as were Natalie and Shani. As a result, I ended up in the lead car with Patricia, Allison, and the new guy, while Anh volunteered to ride with a sullen Cate and my parents. She'd asked me to take Peter in for the help it would give me, not because she was ready to deal with me yet. "Wow, this is really neat. The Angel Alex has..." the new guy started to say before I cut him off. "Okay, first of all, I'm no damn angel. Secondly, I need quiet in the peanut gallery, I need to think. We really need Cate to figure all of this out," I said as we tried to make our way out of the city as quickly as we could. "This isn't supposed to happen." 'Anh, can you get Cate to offer a guess on what's going on with this guy?' 'She says it's possible we were mistaken, ' she replied. 'It may be that males who have a single gene aren't merely carriers but are actually as affected as both Natalie and Rebecca are. On the other hand, this guy may just have a double X chromosome as well. It's not unheard of. He could actually possess a XXY set of chromosomes. There's some syndrome they label it as but she doesn't know the name of it. She says she remembers most of this just from a single article she read about it. People with this inherit an extra chromosome so they actually have the full female set, plus an extra male chromosome. It wouldn't necessarily show up on any tests, and it's likely he wouldn't ever know about it. Either one would be a viable alternative, but he's the only one we've observed so far, ' Anh explained. I knew we could trust Cate's love of scientific questions to override her discomfort with me, especially when we were separated in different cars. So either our theory was wrong and there were actually a bunch of guys who were drawn to me as well, or this guy actually had an odd set of chromosomes and likely didn't know it. 'Would he have any symptoms from such a condition?' I asked her. 'You'd better ask Rebecca, ' she replied. 'Cate's not real sure, as she's never studied that particular condition.' I hit that right off the bat but, since I couldn't communicate telepathically with Rebecca, I tried Brooke first. 'Brooke? Sorry to disturb you, but this is Alex and we've got a little problem that your expertise may help with.' 'Yeah, like anyone else is going to be speaking to me telepathically, ' she snidely commented. 'Go ahead, I'm busy with a patient but I think I can talk with you and function normally as well. The telepathy stuff is neat.' I briefly described what the problem was and she quickly cut me off, telling me this was beyond her expertise. I thanked her then asked Allison to call Rebecca and she passed me the phone. "Rebecca? This is Alex. There really isn't a rush, but we need to know about guys with XXY chromosomes. Specifically whether they'd show any particular symptoms, how you could test for it, that kind of thing," I told her. "What's this about?" she asked. "We've just found a guy who claims to be like you and Natalie, and it blows all of our little theories to hell. We're going to either have to explain it or develop some new theories." "Hmm, I bet Cate would love the chance to invent some new theories," she teased. "So, have you got anything or not? I'm sitting here with him right now and I've got no idea how to approach the whole thing," I replied. "Well, I'd suggest just talking to him. I know a little bit about it, but we never see cases like that unless they have specific medical problems. They think it's more widespread than is commonly thought, but there's no specific test for it so no one really knows how prevalent it is." "So basically there's no way of knowing if he has it or not?" I pressed. "Not without a full genetic workup, and even then it's frequently missed," she advised. "OK, it wasn't a lot of help but thanks anyway. We appreciate it. Keep up the good works there at the hospital." "Will do, what's happening with you? You sound distracted," she asked. So I briefly gave her a rundown about the events of this morning. She was concerned about the news of the newspaper article, and said she'd talk to the local staff about keeping quiet but that no record was ever entered about my ever having been there. We signed off and I turned back to the new guy. "Man, this is cooler than I ever imagined," he said, clearly excited. "Who were you listening to before? Is that how you speak with God?" he asked in a reverential tone. I'm sorry but I got a little cross. "I don't speak with God. I'm not a damn angel, I'm not a great spirit, I'm not the angel of death, and I'm not Jesus. I'm..." " ... just an average kid," everyone else in the car said together, finishing my oft repeated statement for me. "Yeah, I repeat myself," I replied, "but it's true. We need to get this whole religious thing put to bed. I don't mind anyone believing whatever they want or even thinking I was sent by God, but I don't report to him and I've never met the man. Right now I'm just as confused as everyone else is." "Hey, man, I'll believe whatever you tell me to believe. I was just making the obvious connections that first come to mind," he explained. "OK," I told him, getting back on track again, "you're wrecking all the theories we have about what's been going on, so we're at a bit of a loss. Basically you're not supposed to exist. Previously the only people to show a propensity for this kind of thing have been female." "Oh, I wondered about that," he replied. "Sorry for being such a jerk before and for being rude now as well. What's your name by the way, mine's Alex." I proceeded to introduce everyone present as well as list those in the other car. "Uh, my name's Peter Hammond. Should you really be telling me all of this? So far you've been fairly secretive about everything," he asked. "If you knew I was being secretive then why has everyone been talking to the press?" I asked in response. He started to reply but we were distracted by Allison's ringing phone. I waved him off while I took her phone again. "Hey Alex, it's Rebecca again. I just spoke with a colleague who knew a little more about the topic. He says someone with it would usually have smaller testes during childhood, maybe be a bit taller than normal, be rounder and generally more feminine including having more breast tissue as a result of having additional estrogen in their systems." "Thanks for the feedback, Rebecca, but I'm a bit busy talking to him at the moment. I'll get back with you later." After she said her goodbye I returned my attention back to Peter. "OK, sorry about that, I got distracted for a moment. Real quick, excuse me if I'm being rude but how are your balls?" "My balls?" he asked, blinking in surprise. "Were they small as a kid? Are they still smaller than average? Do you have larger breasts than other guys?" "Uh, no, thank you very much. What's this all about?" "We're still trying to figure you out. Someone suggested you might possess an extra female chromosome which might account for your being here. If so you might have some of those symptoms." "Nope, sorry, but I'm as much a guy as anyone I've ever met. Guess you'll have to come up with a new theory," he answered with a smile, which I liked. It showed he wasn't letting me intimidate him. That was nice to see so soon after meeting. It usually took the girls a bit longer before they started to disagree with me. "Look, you seem like you're tied into the, uh, I guess the 'watcher' community; could you give someone a call and tell them I really don't need anyone speaking to reporters? Right now I kind of need some anonymity to do what I need to do." "And just what is it you're trying to do?" Patricia asked, smiling at my obvious discomfort. "Right now I haven't managed to figure out a message," I explained to both her and Peter, "but, if I'm only limited to 15 minutes of fame, I'd hate to waste it on a time when I have nothing specific to say." Peter merely nodded in acknowledgement of my statement as he dug out his cell phone. "Oh, by the way, are there any others like you in the whole watchers' movement?" I asked him. "I mean, are there any more guys who feel drawn to me?" Peter looked up from his cell phone to regard me. He seemed to think for a moment. "Just one that I can think of. It's mostly a bunch of women. If it didn't seem so important I'd feel really out of place," he informed me. "Great, another nail in the coffin of Cate's leading theory," I lamented. "Go ahead and make your call." He began talking while I considered everything that was happening today. The fact that Peter screwed up our theories was intriguing but wasn't really serious. We still didn't know more than we knew, if that makes any sense. What was more important was that the press was on my tail and that there was an organized community of watchers who had been following me around and talking about everything that I'd been doing. We really should have guessed it was happening. We'd known about all the people that were fascinated with me but weren't quite drawn enough to actually come up to me. The fact that they'd have something in common just didn't occur to us for some odd reason. Back to basics, though, it was nice that Cate was still interested in helping us out, but I chalked that up more to her sense of curiosity than it reflecting any easing of her discomfort with me. It still upset me greatly that I'd hurt the great relationship that Cate and I shared, and I hated the idea that she didn't feel she could talk to me now. I felt glad that Anh was there to look after her for me. It was kind of like having my presence there without my actually being there to intimidate her. I guess my appeal didn't cover my being an ass! I wasn't trying to listen in to Peter's conversation, but, in a small car, it was hard to miss. It was short, just his passing on my short message plus his giggling like a little girl about how he was actually sitting in a car with me, and how I was just as fascinating as everyone had imagined. "Now, I'm sure there's a lot that you're wondering about all of this. Clearly we don't know all that much yet but I'll leave it to the girls to fill you in on the basics. You'll probably want to speak to Natalie, as the two of you fit in the same category. Basically there are, as you've probably noticed, two classes of people who are attracted to me. There are those who have a deeper attraction and who have the capacity for additional abilities. Unfortunately you're in the lesser group of people who feel an attraction but don't quite have whatever is needed for the next category. I guess we'll keep to the theory that the girls will describe to you, as it still explains so much, but it seems to be lacking in a universal explanation of events," I told him after he hung up. "Oh, just one more thing," I mentioned before I finished with him. "You, uh... , aren't going to want to have sex with me are you?" I asked, thinking of everyone else's reaction after they'd fallen under my sway. "Uh, I've never thought about getting involved with another guy before but if that's what you want," he replied. "No, no, that's fine. I'm not really into any of that. It's just that everyone else seems to gravitate to that, so I wasn't sure whether you would too," I said, relieved he didn't seem to be insistent. While I didn't have anything against gays, I wasn't sure I wanted to try comingling quite yet. "So, even though you'd never thought of it before, you were willing to try it with me?" I asked, once again perplexed by the attitudes of those I found around me. "Well, sure," he answered honestly and without hesitation. "Meeting you is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me. If all I have to do is something like that, then it would be a price I'd gladly pay. Heck, even if it isn't my first impulse, I'd gladly volunteer to do it just to fit in with everyone here," he assured me. I was utterly confused by everyone's apparent dedication to me again. There just seemed to be no end to it. After that I left the girls to bring Peter up to date while I again sat contemplating the new state of affairs. Just when I thought I had a handle on things everything goes to hell. Isn't that just typical? I guess I got cocky, pardon the pun, with Cate over all the attention the girls have been lavishing on me lately. The same could be said for our having underestimated all of those watching us from the periphery. I'd have to watch my complacency in the future; it could really hurt us if I allowed us to forget ourselves again. After that, I mostly settled down to worrying about what I'd done to Cate, as I tuned out the conversation in the back of the car. We managed to get to the beach without any difficulty, helped in no small part by the ability for us to communicate effortlessly. Everyone was too nervous about events to risk stopping, despite the unlikelihood of anything happening. When we got to the beach it was pretty empty. It was still early in the year and it was chilly, but it was still much warmer than home so I had no problems with it. We simply wandered the beach pointing out things and playing around. The water was really a bit too cold to spend much time in. Cate would respond to questions but didn't volunteer much or directly address me. Everyone noticed the friction but didn't comment on it. I spent most of my time considering my options for dealing with my impending notoriety. I wished my sister was speaking with me because I could really use her input. After a lot of thought, running between Cate, the newspaper article and this new problem I'd inadvertently labeled 'the watchers'; I swore I'd apologize to Cate, then figured I should just be quiet and not embarrass her. I told myself things had gotten out of hand, then informed myself she'd been happy enough to participate. That triggered something and I observed that she hadn't participated until just last night, and apparently that was the problem. She didn't mind being a voyeur, but she felt she'd crossed a line by actually getting involved. I decided I'd get Mom and Dad to agree to let her sleep with them, but then figured she could speak for herself. Above all I figured all the sex antics in the room had to stop, especially anything involving Cate. Especially anything involving Cate and me! Obviously there was a lot of attention focused around Peter. I'm sure Cate wanted to speak to him so I made myself scarce in order to give her the opportunity, heading off with Allison and Patricia, leaving everyone else to deal with talking to Peter. The time alone didn't do much but it helped me organize my thoughts some more. Eventually we all headed off to a local seafood place for lunch, again largely silent because of Cate's solemn mood and my preoccupation. During the meal I heard from Shani, who suggested we might head over to her place and help her begin packing if we were looking for things to do, so we all agreed. Well, everyone except the silent Cate that is. Of course that also led to a group discussion of all the missing participants for Peter's sake. Shani had given me a key, over my own objections, so getting in wouldn't be a problem. The ride was awkward, as now neither Cate nor I was speaking intelligibly at all. The girls tried to comfort me but I just told them I was busy thinking about the newspaper article and sat in my own silence. I let Shani know we would be invading her space and she asked what had been going on. Not wanting to embarrass Cate further I just mentioned the problems with the article and how we'd met Peter and all that had entailed. She said she thought she could get off early, so she'd meet us at her apartment to help us organize her stuff. Finally she signed off, stating we'd talk later. When we arrived at Shani's, Cate and I both moved to separate corners of the small apartment to start packing in relative solitude. Dad finally had enough and sternly announced, "All right, everyone. Let's just put our hands on the table. What's the problem?" "There's no problem, Dad," Cate replied, "I'm just tired and don't feel like talking is all. I'm not upset at anyone. Alex and the girls didn't say or do anything. I'm just a bit moody is all." My father looked at my mother, nonverbally asking the eternal question men always ask when they can't figure out a woman's moods, but my mother just shrugged. She didn't know either. I guess they didn't share those particular details with each other. When Shani came home hours later she was met by a wall of silence. She came up and gave me a hug but I hardly returned it, remaining emotionally distant and distracted. She hugged me anyway, then went and cornered Anh. I could detect their mental connection, since I was the source of these abilities they always seemed to have to go through me to mentally speak with each other, but tried to block it out, only adding "assist Cate however you can". They did so, further enhancing the silence that befell us all. We soon all went to dinner; there was still a fair amount of packing left to be done but we'd managed to accomplish quite a bit in the little time we were there. Over dinner Cate started to finally come out of her shell, responding more to the others and laughing at some of the silly jokes. This time I was the silent one. Peter asked if I was mad at him for some reason, but Cate assured him that "No, I think it's something personal between us," which seemed to reassure him somewhat. We finished up before much longer and returned to the city after making arrangements to stay at Allison's. Shani had a nice apartment but, after packing all day, there really wasn't much left for her to entertain with. Cate's mood continued during the return trip, as did my preoccupation with all the new items on my proverbial plate. It occurred to me that I'd just spent a large portion of the day with Peter and hadn't yet gotten to know much about him. I told myself that I'd have to rectify that, as well as promising, once again, to do something to clear up the trouble with my sister. Lastly, I figured we'd have to look into the situation with this watcher community tomorrow. At least that was something I could have a little control over. "So, Peter, I missed a lot of the discussions you had with everyone today," I said, starting off the conversation. "Tell me a little more about yourself, what is it that you do?" "I work as a barista at a nearby coffee shop, you know, someone who fixes all those fancy coffee drinks at those little stylish shops," he stated with a smile, showing he didn't take his position too seriously. "But after I first saw you a couple of days ago I took the rest of the week off so I could follow you around and watch you in operation." "You're kidding? Why would you take off work just to watch... ? Never mind. Stupid question I guess, I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of this stuff, so excuse me if I'm a little slow picking it up," I told him, surprised that someone would abandon their job just to follow someone around with no hope of getting anything out of it. "Are you kidding me? You're the most exciting thing to happen in my life. The other people I met following you around are all equally as fascinated with you. However I was surprised when I discovered that your girls are even more dedicated than they are." Well, that was saying something; those watching me were slightly less obsessed than my girls were. "What about school, families, friends?" I prompted him. "I attended the University of Louisiana only to find I couldn't get a job. But I've enjoyed working as a barista. I'm surrounded by a bunch of other active young people, I meet interesting people all day, the hours are flexible and I've got great benefits." "Hey, sounds like my old job," Allison stated, not supplying him with any details. "I've got a couple of siblings and my family live nearby. They all think I'm crazy to be doing this, following you around that is. Wait till I tell them I've finally met you." "So the bunch of you just wander around, waiting for me to show up every day?" I asked him, still not able to comprehend such behavior. At least with the girls they all approached me directly. This was like they were roadies, following a band across the country just hoping they'd get noticed at some point. "Pretty much. So far you've been pretty dependable, although you tend to do something different every day. Darice was the one to tell us where you were staying. Since then we've been watching where you went in the morning and have been tracking you ever since." "Darice?" I asked him. "Darice Chavira, she's a cute little Hispanic girl from Houston," he explained. "So just how many of you get together every day to talk about me?" "It varies, most people can't get off of their jobs, and a lot of them are here on vacation or only for the day. Obviously there were a lot more of them this morning." "Yeah, so I gathered. What'd the others say when you asked them not to speak to the press for me?" "Man, they couldn't believe I'd scored an invite from you. They were all excited for me and..." "Yeah, yeah, about the press thing," I had to prompt him again. "Oh, they agreed to it immediately. We'd been a bit nervous about it initially, not knowing where you were going or what you'd think about it. Since none of us knew what you were trying to accomplish we didn't know how you'd feel about the publicity." "Yeah, I wasn't very enthused about it," I reminded him. We talked a bit more. It seems the girls had brought him up to date pretty quickly. I figured I'd either have to permanently invite him into our group, or this watcher group would know all of my personal details. It was yet another thing for me to obsess about, I guess. Since there wasn't too much room at Allison's, the girls had gotten together to figure out whose turn it was tonight. I'd thought it would have been the new girls but instead it was just Shani and Allison. I think they didn't want to embarrass Cate by exposing her to any people who hadn't seen her meltdown the night before. Mom and Dad went off to a nearby bar with Anh to unwind, while the rest of us crashed in Allison's room, unsure of how we'd all react. Since Mom and Dad would be taking the only available spare room, Cate either had to sleep on the tiny couch or share the room with us. For some strange reason Allison had a decent couch in her bedroom. She also had a giant flat screen TV in the bedroom. It seems her bedroom was the center of the whole apartment. As a result we all ended up in the bedroom. We just sat there watching something on television. It didn't even register to me what it was. I hadn't wanted to watch anything after the trouble last night, and tonight didn't improve my responsiveness to it. I tried a couple of times to apologize to Cate but she kept waving me off, halting me before I could get more than a couple of words out. "It's nothing you did," she insisted, "Now just leave it alone and watch the funny show." I eventually turned over and pretended to doze, listening to the three women laugh at the television. I finally got exasperated and announced I was going for a soda. Instead I walked out on the street, only to be followed by Shani. I waved her off but she came up to me and hugged me anyway. "Don't take it so seriously," she insisted. "She says it wasn't you that's bothering her." "Of course she'd say that," I responded. "It's always 'It isn't you, It's me', isn't it?" "Look, I really shouldn't say this, but I was thinking. She's been getting involved watching us all fool around together hasn't she?" I nodded, so she continued. "And she was certainly happy fooling around with me while you were going down on me wasn't she?" Again I nodded. "She only got upset when you suddenly kissed her." I didn't respond but she continued. "I don't think she was upset that you kissed her. After all, you were busy sniffing her crotch yesterday. Personally, I think maybe she was enjoying some latent tendencies vicariously through us. When they came to fruition she grabbed on with both hands. When you kissed her she just jumped in, only to pull back confused a moment later and then everything went to hell." I nodded for her to continue, certainly understanding the events but not her understanding of them. "I think she discovered last night that she likes women. She thought she'd like kissing you, but I'm guessing she didn't find kissing you to be as exciting. I think that's why she ran away. Again I don't think it's you she's rejecting, I think she's having a hard time figuring out who she is." When I still didn't get it she gave an exasperated sigh and stopped us both to look at me. Well, as much as she could anyway. "I think Cate's been watching us but mainly enjoying Anh and I. She enjoyed herself with me and figured it was OK as long as she was only experimenting, or that maybe she was just a little bi. But when she kissed you and sparks didn't fly, I think she suddenly had to face that maybe she's a bit of a lesbian. I think she's been silent since then because she's been wrestling with who she is. You didn't do anything other than just being a contributing factor." I stopped and considered what she had said. There was a certain logic to her words. It all made sense when taken together. I reviewed our history but never saw any indication of any lesbian tendencies. She certainly dressed and acted girlie enough. She enjoyed dressing up and dancing and all. I couldn't remember any of her dates in particular but I knew she'd been on them. I just didn't know how much she'd enjoyed any of them. She never looked longingly after any girls or seemed fascinated by any of them. As if picking up my train of thought, which certainly wouldn't surprise me by any stretch of the imagination, Shani responded. "Many women never have any clue they're gay until after years of being happily married to a guy. They're first inclination is over a first girl-girl kiss. She doesn't need to have 'acted' gay to be gay, Alex." I shrugged and walked on as I contemplated all this new information. It did explain an awful lot. Her so getting into watching all of us act out our own wild impulses. Her participation in the shower, after all, Anh had ended up washing her, not me. Even when I dried each of them could be explained more by the fact that she was standing naked beside two attractive naked women than by whatever I was or wasn't doing on my knees. After all, I didn't actually do anything to her other than just pat her dry. But this new information wasn't making me feel any better. Nor did it feel any more intuitive to me. "If it is true," she continued, once again jumping ahead as if reading my thoughts, "we've all got to be especially careful. After all, wrestling with oneself over being gay is one of the leading causes of suicide." Now that was something I didn't need in my head! I was feeling guilty enough for pushing her when she wasn't ready. I didn't know if I could cope with the idea of her committing suicide. I'd never be able to forgive myself for that. "We've got to support her. Especially you," she insisted. "She'd be devastated if her own beloved brother treated her any differently because she found out she wasn't built like she'd always pictured she was supposed to be. She needs your love more than anything else right now; your love and understanding. Don't let your own insecurities stand in the way of your supporting her in her time of need, Alex." I turned, grasped her in a big hug and kissed her. "Thanks. I think I really needed someone to point out a better understanding to me. I'm not sure I'm ready to accept it all just yet, but I'll try to be a bit better behaved about it all now. If I don't," I whispered, gently kissing her, "just kick my ass for me, will ya?" With that we laughed and returned to the room. As we walked my steps became lighter and we practically skipped back, my melancholy lifting remarkably. We held hands and I smiled the entire way. Entering the room I took in the silence enveloping the scene in front of the flickering TV screen. They both turned to watch us enter. I went up and leaned over Cate and gave her an impromptu hug, just holding her. She flinched noticeably when I leaned over and again when I touched her, but this new theory explained such behavior, so I just held on until she relaxed again, not saying or doing anything more. Finally I relaxed my hold and released her, gently kissing her forehead as I stood. "I still love you, kiddo, no matter how you feel about me." She stared at me as I marched around the bed holding Shani's hand and flopped onto the bed hugging Allison. "Well you're suddenly awfully happy," she chirped. "Yeah, well, I figured I had to get over myself," I replied. "Between the two of us we were bringing everyone else down. It's best to just let life slide." We all resumed watching the TV, though I still didn't pay any attention to it. Instead I hugged my two girls while occasionally surreptitiously watching Cate. She'd also occasionally glance at me, though I could detect no hidden meaning behind her glances so just tried to ignore it. If the theory was true, she certainly wouldn't reveal anything while sitting around watching the TV. In fact, chances were she'd never reveal anything to her older brother at all, which just made me feel sad, as if I'd just lost a big part of my sister's life from this day forwards. ------- Chapter 14: An Angelic Press Event Well, I tried to be good. Really I did. I wanted to spare my sister the embarrassment of having her brother subject her to more of his aberrant lifestyle, but I just couldn't help myself. I mean, put any self-respecting teenager who's been doing without for the last half dozen years in bed with two beautiful women and just see what happens. I dare you. What happens is, he thinks he's being clever and while the sister tries to sleep on the nearby couch he slides under the covers, after an appropriate amount of time kissing and cuddling above them, and proceeds to munch on his two girlfriends. Pardon me, they don't like it when I call them 'girlfriends'. Supposedly I'm saving that for when I get back and find someone my own age. However, when I'm going down on someone I figure that gives me the right to call them whatever I want while I'm down there. Needless to say, my nocturnal activities didn't go unnoticed. I really tried to keep it quiet, but the combination of fumbling under the sheets, the moaning of my bedmates, and the general wafting of certain female scents around the room left no hope for continued secrecy. About the time I felt Shani's legs wrap around my head I heard the muffled sounds of Cate sighing, followed by her grumbling as she headed out to sleep in the small living room area. The girls didn't let this unfortunate event dissuade them. Especially not Shani, who was grinding my face into her crotch while her head thrashed and she was taking the Lord's name in vain. Allison wasn't much quieter either. She was busy feasting on Shani's breasts, plowing her own soggy quim, and preparing for her own ravishment. Neither one seemed particularly concerned with maintaining the proper decorum. It was only after I'd managed to do proper service to both women and crawled back up from under the blankets, my face literally dripping with their appreciation, that I could confirm that Cate was no longer there. But by then I was too busy receiving my return blowjob to care overly much what my sister was doing at that moment. Needless to say, we all went to sleep happy campers that night. Well, everyone except Cate, I guess. The next morning I awoke in a very good mood, well refreshed, energetic and raring to go. It didn't hurt that I woke up holding a couple of lovely breasts while their mates lay nestled against my chest, various sundry hairs tickling my nose. I just had to proceed to tickle the two women responsible awake, which no doubt alerted the whole household. Aside from her strange bedroom furnishings, Allison also had an extra large shower, which we all appreciated. I especially appreciated the dual blowjob I received and they appreciated the shampoo I gave them, both the fruity bottled one as well as the special, protein based one I provided them with. When we finally made it out to the living/kitchen area, everyone was awake. Seemed they all had been waiting for us to finish so they could get access to the shower. I hadn't stopped to think of that at the time. My father simply smiled, seemingly unperturbed. Mom rolled her eyes theatrically, and Cate simply didn't say anything to me. Again. Our folks were nice enough to allow Cate to make a dignified exit to the shower before them. My father proceeded to tell me that it wasn't very nice of me to humiliate my sister with my incessant moaning all night long, or to subject her to a similar treatment in the morning as well. I hung my head but couldn't keep the shit-eating grin off my face for long. The girls weren't much better. Soon my parents and we were telling a series of ribald jokes and laughing over scones and jam with orange juice. Cate didn't look pleased when she eventually came out bearing a bedraggled expression and a wet head. Allison directed her towards the hair dryer while I fixed her some breakfast. Those two things managed to make up for a fair amount, and she proceeded to grace us with a grunted acknowledgement. However, we couldn't keep the grins off of our faces. While my parents proceeded with their shower, the rest of us headed back into the bedroom to get dressed for the day. Everyone had agreed to meet at a little neighborhood café, so there were a lot of people when we arrived. I was glad to see everyone, still maintaining my happy mood from both my dual blowjobs as well as my relief from Shani's revelations concerning Cate last night. However, that was soon dissipated when Patricia handed me the morning newspaper. Frowning, I opened it, looking for Mr. Rodriguez's byline. When I found it, I began reading to the assembled crowd while someone else organized our food for us. "'Continued Angelic Events In Our Fair City, ' by Albert Rodriguez," I began. "Our little angel, that I reported has been the talk of the town for the last several days, has been busy since yesterday's report. It seems he decided to do a little miracle while he was at it. He apparently astounded local medics, assembled police and hospital staff when he resurrected someone who was considered dead on the scene of a heart attack. I admit it was an impressive event. The man had been unconscious and unresponsive for some 30 minutes. While the medics were still doing CPR, the local police had all written the man off, assuming there was no way to revive him. It was then this 'Angel' walked up, leaned over and proceeded to revive the man. The man simply sat up, wide awake, surprised by the attention around him. Not only that, the hospital could later find no signs of any brain damage due to the extended time without blood flow to his brain. His children certainly think of it as a miracle. "Still, as a reporter, one has to ask for more credible evidence of a miracle than a few ad hoc reports. Apparently he has already performed the easiest miracle, reforming lost prostitutes. I am looking forward to his next miracle; say curing lepers or turning water into wine. If any of you have any spare lepers lying around, I am sure he would be interested, as they are hard to come by here in New Orleans. "He is also not above taking suggestions. After my report yesterday, he apparently reconsidered his stance on equal opportunity savings. After leaving his hotel room at 'Le Sursis Petits'," I read, telling everyone he'd listed our chosen hotel by name, "he was approached by a young man quoting scripture to him. Apparently not liking to hear his scripture secondhand, he rejected the man out of hand. However, when a second man approached him, he took him into his little group. Apparently he takes after many Christian leaders in appreciating the benefits of both men and women." "I can't believe he made that kind of statement in a city with such a large Catholic population," Peter stated. "I can't believe he made that statement about me," I replied. "Hell, I'm not a public figure, asking for attention in order to sell something. I'm an under aged private citizen!" With that off my chest, I continued on. "Apparently he's not looking for his 15 minutes of angelic fame. I managed to speak briefly with him. He stated that "I am certainly no angel," apparently referring to his behavior with his many female followers. I'm looking forward to his next staged event, as he's certainly providing the city with significant free entertainment." I lowered the paper with a heavy sigh. "Wow, that's pretty harsh," Anh stated, leading to some quick whispered translations for my family and Peter. "I think he's trying to provoke you, Alex," Allison cautioned. "I agree, it certainly sounds like he's trying to egg you into doing something, as he seems to make a point of mentioning several private facts about you. Especially when he chose to cast aspersions about your character," Shani suggested. "I think you're right. Still, I feel like I should say something. Apparently talking to your friends last night didn't do much," I said, speaking directly to Peter. "I got the word out," he protested, then reconsidered slightly, "You know, it sounds like most of that info was from before we got the word out." I considered that. He had me there. "Just how organized is this whole watcher movement?" I asked. "Quite. We can't get enough information about you. Plus you keep moving around so much, we have to communicate just to figure out where you're going to be. However, we've also made it a point not to try to interfere or be obnoxious. We figured you were looking for specific people, and we knew we weren't the ones you were looking for." I just had to frown at that thought. "It's not that I'm not interested in you. Everyone has been making the point that you watchers will form a large contingent of whatever I'm going to build, as you seem to have a good part of what I'm looking for. If we are to form some type of community, you'll all be able to pass whatever it is you have to your children. So it'll make sense to get organized and figure out what you have going for you. However, it's just a matter of priorities. The people seeking me out just seemed like more of a priority, and they've given us most of our information about this whole thing. I hope you understand that I haven't been slighting you purposefully?" "Yeah, thanks for explaining it like that. I'm sure everyone else will be glad to hear that as well." "Look, I'm interested in meeting this one other guy watcher. Not 'guy watcher, ' I guess I'm going to have to watch my language here, but I think you know what I mean. Anyway, let's set up a quick meeting. I want to see if we can find out any more of what's involved with you two if we can. How about we meet at your coffee bar in the Quarter?" "Are you sure? There's bound to be a lot of people looking for you in the Quarter now after all this publicity?" "Yeah, as long as we keep it low key and quick it shouldn't be so bad. I'm not afraid of your people," I tried to tell him. "It's just that I'm loath to face any unnecessary publicity at this point, while we're still trying to figure out what's going on." "I'll give him a call," Peter answered excitedly, "and his name is David Samuels." "David Samuels, thanks, Peter," I told him as he hurriedly began dialing. Turning to the others, I considered them all. "So what's the current thinking? What should be our response? Confront him or just disappear into the woodwork?" "I'm not sure. I'd hate to see you get into any trouble," my mother responded, sounding worried about me. "Yeah, but sometimes it's best to tackle a problem head on, rather than avoiding it. Usually a problem avoided is one that'll come back and bite you right in the ass," Dad replied. "That's a good point," Patricia said. "He's clearly trying to get you to react, so he's just going to keep printing more and more fanciful stories the longer you ignore him." "I think you should address him directly," Anh advised. "Trust your judgment. It'll guide you well. I believe you already know what to do, you just aren't aware of it yet." "You know, Anh, for all your mysticism, you always seem to have a good point," I replied. "OK then, it's settled. I'll try talking to him." "I suspected as much," Allison responded, handing me something. When I looked I saw it was one of those pre-paid cell phones you see sold in stores. "It's untraceable. I always keep a few handy because I'm very familiar with underground, suspect behavior and how to respond to it," she told me with a sneaky little smile. I smiled back as I made the call. "Hello, Mr. Rodriguez speaking," he answered, once I'd gotten through to him. "Good morning, Mr. Rodriguez, after reading your latest story I thought maybe we should try and have another little talk." "Alex? Is this my mysterious Angel Alex?" he asked, sounding quite interested. "It is indeed, although I really dislike that name as I'm not religiously affiliated and bear no Divine attributes." "Hold on a second," he said while he proceeded to shuffle around. I was sure he was turning on whatever recording device he carried with him. "Hey, it's what they all call you and you're the one raising people from the dead," he replied. "No one calls the paramedics Divine," I countered. "When they were all still newsworthy they did. I guess you're too young to remember the first open heart surgery on a heart patient. Most of the news reports all told of a 'miracle of science'." "Good point. I'll try to bear that in mind, but could you please just convey that I'm just an ordinary kid that has no claims to any otherworldly powers?" "Ah, you classify yourself as a 'kid' still. I assume that means you're still in school. But most college students are anxious to distance themselves from their childhoods so I assume you must be younger than that?" he pressed before relenting a little, perhaps trying to weasel further information out of me. "But I can do that," he conceded. "So, how did all these stories get started then?" "They saw some things that should have been private that looked more impressive than they were." "Oh, is that all? Like raising people from the dead, I suppose?" "He wasn't dead," I repeated, slowly, trying to emphasis each word. "I guess you'd know, I'm assuming your omnipotent?" he joked, which, surprisingly, I took to be a good sign. It showed he wasn't taking everything I said quite so seriously. Either that or he was trying to goad me into saying something he could misconstrue. "I think you mean 'omniscient'," I replied. "Oh, not only a student but a star student as well? Probably a product of a Catholic education as well?" he cackled in glee. "This gets better all the time." "Maybe they only think it's miraculous that a student can be smart nowadays?" "Good point. Mind if I use that line in the next article?" "Would it make any difference if I did?" I asked. "Probably not," he laughed, "but I want to make sure I get your language correct. I wouldn't want to be sued by God for getting his words wrong." "I think the devil has better lawyers," I replied, growing a little more comfortable and relaxed with this little verbal sparring. "So give me an example of something someone might have seen that could have been misunderstood?" he asked, quite reasonably. "I think the common thread is that a couple of women collapsed to their knees when meeting me, purely for non-theological reasons," I tried to explain. "I think they all took that to mean they were praying to me or something." "And the reports of a foreign woman speaking in tongues to you and calling you a 'Great Spirit'?" "Another simple misperception," I argued. "I was merely speaking to her in Vietnamese. Since most people aren't familiar with it, and since most people assume that all young people are idiots, no one could believe I'd know the language." "A student who studies Vietnamese?" he said, sounding disbelieving. "What, are you studying for a civil service exam in 1962?" "No, I've got a Vietnamese aunt who taught me when I was a youngster. When I met the woman in question, the one on the street, not my aunt," I corrected myself, "she was so surprised she called me an 'amazing spirit' meaning that I had a unique attitude, not that I was a minor Asian Deity." I was hoping that, between the Catholic school and the Vietnamese aunt, I'd potentially given him enough misdirection that he wouldn't be likely to somehow track me. I hoped anyway. "That sounds reasonable. So you don't mind if I write this all up as a case of popular mass hysteria?" "That sounds a bit harsh but would be somewhat true. They simply jumped to conclusions based on their own assumptions." "So the mighty Angel Alex is merely a smart student who just happens to raise people from the dead in his spare time?" "Something like that," I sighed, not having any good comebacks. "Aside from holding someone's head for them while the paramedic worked on them, were there any other reports of any supposed miracles?" "No, not really," he replied, sounding disappointed. "There, that about sums it up, doesn't it?" "So, can I get a name to assign as a source of these statements? People might not believe I've spoken to you and that you're simply a young kid looking for some attention if I can't supply a name." "I'd rather not, I'm afraid of all of this following me home, causing me to become a laughing stock where everyone knows I'm far from being angelic," I countered. "Still, you know if I say you said all this without a source people will just say I've just been making it all up." "I believe that's your problem and not mine," I told him. "But I think that concludes this little talk. That's about all that I'm willing to say at this point," and with that I simply hung up. Everyone wanted to know how the other side of the conversation had gone, so I had to try to repeat it all from memory, sans the tape recorder that Albert had been using. They were mostly supportive, although they thought I'd mistakenly let a little too much information get out. I simply replied that it couldn't be helped then redirected the conversation by asking about plans for the day. I said I thought it was wise to remain outside of the city, aside from my little foray into the city to reassure the little watcher community there. I suggested that maybe the others could all visit the various girls' houses, at least those that were planning to move north with us, to help them all get packed. That caused a short discussion regarding who was going with us when we returned home, which produced another discussion about when we were going to leave. My parents voiced the objection that they were starting to worry about me becoming the focal point of embarrassing publicity or some whack job who thought he could make a name for himself by bringing down an angel. I agreed that it might be best if we called the vacation short, as it hadn't been quite as relaxing as we'd anticipated. "I for one will be glad to get home and away from all this madness," Mom complained. "I'm not sure it's going to be any less maddening with a house full of women following Alex around," Dad countered. "I'm used to a house full of women, having raised three girls and having several sisters of my own. That I can deal with. Having people fall to their knees every time my son walks out of the apartment, I'm not," she argued. So a short discussion ensued over who would and who wouldn't accompany me home. Actually, everyone wanted to come home with me, it's just that some were willing to wait a bit to form the second wave due to jobs or other complications. Of course Anh would accompany us, as would Allison. Shani thought she could get free if she worked hard to finish off all her obligations over the rest of the week. Natalie thought she might also be able to arrange an early release. It seems the newspaper article had provided such a boost in popularity for the hotel, especially when it was subsequently reported that the hotel refused to release any information about me. As a result, the hotel was positively tripping over itself to make it up to me. Sure, they weren't about to refund us any money, but they might be willing to let a certain little member of their waitstaff go. Patricia had a couple of weeks left to her tour, Brooke and Rebecca had still to see what their possibilities were. So basically we were returning home with just the four of us and an additional car. I told them that those plans were sound and they decided to split up between the various houses, although they actually thought it would be faster to have everyone descend on one apartment after the other. Meanwhile I'd take Peter and myself to visit with David. The others were skeptical about that, wanting someone along to watch out for me. After some quick discussion amongst themselves they decided to have Allison accompany me. After that we quickly dispersed. ------- Allison, Peter and I parked the car nearby and quickly walked to our destination. It was immediately apparent that there were plenty of people aware of us and our apparent reputations, but we simply ignored them for now. I didn't bother to look back to see whether we had a small train following us or not. I led the way into the small coffee bar where Peter normally worked. As I entered, I didn't notice many open stares but, as Peter entered, a few people called out to him. "Hey, Peter, can't stay away on your day off, huh?" "Nah, we're here to meet someone," he replied to his unknown associate. "Peter, is this the guy you've been following all week? The guy from the..." "Yeah, this is him," Peter responded proudly, his chest visibly puffing up as he showed off what he'd recently accomplished. "Wow, are you really..." someone else started to ask. "Please, we're here on official Angel business," Peter teased in an attempt to halt the expected questions. It was then I noticed the tall, thin guy waiting for us. He was sitting, eagerly leaning forward in his chair. He almost looked like a rabid dog about to pant himself to death. We made our way up to him. I reached out and shook his hand. "David Samuels?" I asked. "Honored to meet you, sir. This is truly a great honor." "Nonsense," I said simply, waving it off as if trying to sweep away a pesky fly. "I believe we've got a few things to discuss. Is this beautiful lady beside you the lovely Darice?" The woman sitting beside him was even worse than he was. She was staring at me literally open mouthed. When I mentioned her name she seemed to snap out of it and jerked to attention. She accepted my handshake as I pulled her in for a quick kiss on her cheek. As we all sat, she reached up to caress the cheek I'd just kissed. "OK, let's get started as I've no idea how long I can stay before crowds start to form." "Are you sure it's OK for you to be seen here?" David asked. "I'm not afraid of my fans," I informed him. "You people, who I've started to call the 'watchers' lately, aren't my enemy. I'm trying to avoid entanglement with the press, as I'm not sure what my message is or even if I have one. So, for now, they're only liable to report all the wrong information about me." They nodded in acknowledgement of what I'd said, but I felt they'd have agreed with me if I'd said I was going to flower the walls of the Capital with chocolate, they seemed to be in such a daze. Now that we were sitting and relaxed, I took the opportunity to evaluate these new people. I figured waiting a few moments would give them time to gather themselves a bit. David was a thin young man, lean and straight as a pole. He had dark brownish hair that peaked in the center of his head. He still bore a few pimples around his face showing he was still quite young. His most striking feature was his extraordinarily wide grin which seemed to split his face almost in two. It made his whole face beam. But I thought his best features were his eyebrows, which nearly equaled my own wild ones. I smiled at the thought. Darice was, as you'd expect, a little darker and a bit more Hispanic than David was. She had long straight brown hair, thick lips, dark eyes and eyebrows. She looked nice but she was so serious in her fascination with me that it was hard to judge her real beauty since she wouldn't smile for me. "I'm not sure how much Peter may have told you, but I'm seeking people who all share a previous unrecognized ability. These people fall into two classes. One, those I call the watchers, since that's what they've been doing in the time that I've been here, seem to be able to sense certain things about people around them. I find them because they can all sense the energy that seems to surround me." Neither one dared say a thing so I just went on, hoping they were following what I was saying. "The other class are the ones I've been preoccupied with for the last week, as they take a bit more delicate handling. They tend to come directly up to me, and we usually have a little crisis when certain abilities are activated in them. These people have similar unrecognized talents, but they've generally been able to use their ability to read emotions and feelings in people. It's this ability that I seem to be tapping into when I trigger their new talents." "Like the older Asian chick and the musician?" David asked, at least letting me know he was still thinking. "Yes, Anh and Patricia. They've both become very dear to me. I've been focusing on these people because I'm still learning about all of these abilities and they've been the most obvious to study. They seem to be more aware of their natural abilities and we can easily observe their new talents." "The visions," David asked, revealing he was aware of what I'd been thinking were all private conversations. Darice still remained in awestruck silence however. "Right, the visions. That ability enables them to see the life force, the essence of living things, that surrounds everyone. It's why you all feel the way you do about me, because it seems I positively reek of it. I appear to have it just pouring out of me, so much so that it blinds each of the people I, for want of a better word, activate. I'm a catalyst if you will. I trigger these new abilities in people with the right characteristics." They both seemed to be absorbing what I was saying and were nodding their heads as if they'd recognized these features themselves. "Shit!" was Darice's single word response to all I'd just told them. I smiled at her simple, honest response. She knew when she was overwhelmed and didn't try to hide it behind a clever front. "Now, because of the unfortunate exposure from the press lately, I'm not going to be able to remain here any longer." They both looked stricken at this news so I hurried on with my prepared statement. "What I want all of you to do," I said, including Peter in this discussion as well, "is to organize these watchers for me. I'm not ready to do anything with them yet, but I want them to stay connected and to share their limited abilities and experiences with each other, remembering not to mention any of this to the press or talk about it anywhere it might be recorded. By that I specifically mean places like FaceBook, which leaks secrets like a sieve. Are you clear about this?" I asked them. They agreed so I turned to the last item. "Now there's one last thing I need to know. Darice, as I'm sure you've noticed, these unique abilities seem to only strike females for some odd reason. What I'm especially interested in is, why David and Peter both seem to be among the other watchers. I hope you'll pardon me for being so..." "Man, you're going to love the next question," Peter gleefully told David. "Would you like to ask it?" I inquired, smiling at him. "No thanks, I just want to sit here and watch both of their expressions." "Fine, David, how are they hanging?" He simply looked stupidly at me, as if he couldn't figure out what I was asking. "Your balls, David, are they OK? Are they smaller than normal? Were they slow in developing?" He seemed to take a moment to get his wits about him. "Uh, no, they seem to be fine. Why are you asking about my ... uh..." "Your balls, David, we're talking about your balls," I reminded him, much to Peter's amusement. I finally noticed a smile gracing Darice's pouty lips as well. "All right, I'll accept that as it's consistent with what Peter told me as well. What about other signs. You seem skinny as a rail but you are taller than average. Did you grow tall at a younger than average age? Do you have noticeable breasts to any degree?" David actually started to blush, which just set his friends into even bigger smiles at his expense. "No, my breasts are fine. My non-breasts I should say." "OK, I just needed to establish that. One theory we've had for why you and Peter are among the watchers was that maybe you both carried an extra X chromosome, effectively giving you both a combination of XXY chromosomes." He just looked up at me a bit dimly as the information I'd just passed him slowly seeped into his brain. "Man, he thinks you're a girl," Darice finally woke up enough to reply, slapping David on the shoulder in amusement. "Not at all, most people would never notice any difference. They'd both have the necessary Y chromosome so they'd be all male, while the extra X one wouldn't make too much of a difference," I explained. "Besides, it may have given him what he needed to be a member of this unique club he now finds himself in." They all smiled at that idea. "But it looks like your theory isn't holding up," Darice stated simply. "No, it doesn't look like it," I agreed. I quickly shook my head to clear my mind again. "Now, Peter and David, I want you to share your responsibilities. Don't you two think you can lord it over everyone else because I spoke exclusively to you first. You are representing me in this, and I really don't want everyone complaining that I'm an insensitive male jerk because I appoint two guys to lead a bunch of women in their own house," I calmly explained. "No, sir, we'll be as fair as we can be," David promised. "Good, I'll be watching. Darice," I asked, turning to her, "I expect you to keep me appraised of their behavior in this regard. Keep them both on their toes. Oh, one more thing, watch out for any posers who have merely shown up since that article appeared in the paper like that guy I had to put in his place yesterday," I warned them. None of them seemed to have any difficulty in recognizing what I was referring to. "Make sure they express what each of you have felt when you were first exposed to me. That's about the only key we have as to who has these unique abilities at this point. OK? Anyone have any questions?" "Yeah," Darice said, "how are we going to communicate with you?" They all leaned forward at this, since it was how they'd also be able to stay in contact with me. "Don't worry, I'll have someone get in contact with you," I assured them. When I asked what other questions they had, David seemed hesitant. "Uh, one I guess. Are you..." I cut him off. "No, David, I'm not an angel. I'm not even religious. I just share a unique talent that will benefit all of you if I can get you organized. Now don't blow it by alerting anyone who shouldn't be aware of us before we can accomplish that simple goal, OK?" They nodded. "Fine, any other questions?" When they all shook their heads, I figured it was time to make my exit. "Thank you very much for your time and attention, David, Darice," I said, giving David a firm handshake and Darice a quick hug and another chaste kiss. "Now I need to beat a hasty retreat before the press finds out I'm sequestered here." As I stood up and turned around, I observed that there were a group of people who had been actively watching us and listening to every word I'd said. When I looked at Allison she simply shrugged her shoulders, then hurried out to get her car ready to carry us all away. Actually it wasn't her car, as hers was severely limited in its ability to carry passengers. She'd switched cars with Natalie earlier. While the bright red, expensive sports car would make a real statement, it would also attract undue attention. The last thing I needed was a new article talking about my expensive tastes. I motioned Peter to accompany me out, hoping two of us would be harder to block than one would. We made our way through the growing throng of mixed tourists, watchers and posers until we reached the corner, where Allison was waiting for us in Natalie's car. I stopped and gave Peter a last, quick hug, then jumped into the car and we were off, officially done with the French Quarter for the near future. ------- Chapter 15: One Girl's Views and a Little Family Time As part of my obligation to honestly describe Alex's official history, I'm going to intrude into the biography here once more to introduce one last voice. That of the most hard to fathom person in this whole endeavor, that of Alex's dear sister, Cate. Many people have trouble understanding how a sister could be so enamored of her older brother, yet still have such problems showing and relating to him. She's a complex figure, and her inner psyche isn't readily apparent. I would like to report the proceedings of a private discussion she had with several of Alex's women at this point, when they all gathered to help pack the women's things for their trip to join Alex. It reveals a lot about her and her motivations, but it's impossible to tell from Alex's perspective, as I'm not sure he was ever aware of the details she confided to those present. So here is Cate's tale, as told to those closest to Alex, in her own voice. ------- The women were all gathered in Natalie's tiny three room apartment. While Alex's parents set out to work on the facilities, getting things into and out of storage, work on repairs and other necessities, the women settled into talking together while they proceeded to pack up her belongings. "So Cate, tell us about yourself a little more. We've all spent as much time with you as we have with Alex, but we still don't know much about you other than you like science and that you're smart as a whip," Patricia asked her. "There's really not much to tell," she said. "Although I was more social than Alex, I was so focused on my studies that I really didn't get out all that much. I'm really a little science homebody." "I don't believe that for a minute," Rebecca answered. Most of the girls had taken the day off to try to help each other prepare for their combined departures. "There's clearly a lot behind that busy little mind of yours. I've noticed that you seem to be dedicated to your brother, and it's not because of his 'scientific' interest to you, because you clearly felt that way before any of this first occurred. From the way I've heard it, you were protective of him when Shani first met you." "Yeah, that's true. If you all really want to know, I'll tell you a little story. Just promise it won't go any farther than this room, OK?" They all quickly agreed, each of them anxious to exchange a little juicy gossip, even if none of them could share it with anyone else. Like much of their recent lives, they had much to discuss but no one outside of the immediate group would ever understand any of it. That was part of what helped cement their relationships with each other. It's hard to relate to family when you can't tell them the most important thing that's ever happened to you. It's hard to relate to friends when you can't honestly confide in them. That's also why the girls hadn't told many of their friends and family about what their plans were. "I've always been close to Alex. I mean, he was my older brother and I always idolized him. We were nearly the same age and I always wanted him to take me places and to watch out for me." "That's the way it is for many siblings," they agreed. "Well, the thing you don't know..." she paused, grunting at the effort required to lift the heavy set of dishes she'd been packing in order to move it over to the corner, "is that I had reasons to idolize him other than just being his younger sister. "Much like all of you were able to detect other's emotional states, and just like each of you could detect whatever it is about Alex that drew you to him, I too felt Alex's power draw me in. Only in my case I never detected it as any kind of power," she explained, getting to work on the assembled mismatch of silverware. "Instead, I just knew that I could always go to him any time I ever had a problem," she continued. "It started when I'd get scared of storms or monsters late at night. I'd never bother my parents on those occasions. Instead I'd leave my sisters behind and seek refuge in Alex's room." They all looked at her with an odd mix of understanding and curiosity. Although each had felt a similar attraction to her brother, none of them were quite familiar with what she had experienced as a child, long before Alex had supposedly developed any of his newfound abilities. "There was just something about him that I always found reassuring. Whenever he'd hold me I'd feel safe and secure. Like nothing in the world could possibly harm me. I've never felt that way with anyone else. If push came to shove I might go to my father if Alex wasn't home, but it was never the same. Sure, he could protect us if someone was to break into the house or something, but he couldn't protect me from whatever scared me the way Alex could. Alex would take whatever fear I felt, no matter the source, and just make it disappear whenever he'd wrap his arms around me." Everyone sighed at this romantic notion, so much so that they all fell into a brief shared laughter together. "Do you think it could have been an early sign of his power?" Anh asked, although it had to be translated. Cate was used to getting the best questions from her, and clearly respected her opinion. Especially recently, as she'd come to rely on her for support since she'd been having trouble relating to Alex. "I'm really not sure," she confessed. "I'm tempted to say yes, but there were no other signs of any mysterious powers in our lives. I'd always just thought I'd been able to relate to him, more than I could anyone else. "I always respected my older sisters, especially Becky, once she started to advance in her math and science studies and decided to get her doctorate. But it was always Alex who spurred me on. He always made me feel so secure at home that I felt I had enough to spare, that I could accomplish anything I wanted to. That's what made the sciences so easy for me when most girls are terrified of the math involved. He'd just come into the room while I'd be struggling with trying to figure out my math homework, and give me a quick hug and suddenly it didn't seem scary anymore. Just like that. Just one quick hug and everything in life was manageable. "When I thought I was unattractive he made me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. When I felt spoilt he made me want to share everything I had with him. When I felt petty he'd make me feel foolish for spoiling his good mood. Every little thing he could solve with nothing more than a simple, momentary hug. If an older girl was bullying me, he'd listen to me complain, give me a little squeeze, and suddenly I'd just know that there was no way anyone could possibly best me. Sure, they might be bigger or meaner than I was, but I'd always manage to think of some way of getting back at them or of working things out. It just all seemed like magic to me, but a magic so ordinary I never thought of it as anything other than normal." Everyone agreed with her as they'd all felt what it was to be in Alex's presence. Being around him just seemed to melt away any feelings of insecurity, awkwardness or possible jealousies. These women didn't get along because they didn't have conflicts with one another. It was because Alex's presence seemed to melt those conflicts away. You just felt that you were honored to be in his presence, in whatever circumstance it happened to be. Even if you were lying in a nearby bed watching him have sex with someone else, you'd feel good about it. Not only would you eventually have your own turn, but that he was so emotionally rich that he could share such delight with others that you'd all come out the better for it. It was then that they began to feel what might just be his strongest ability of all. "When I didn't develop along with the other girls, he made me feel more special than all of them put together. When I felt I wasn't as pretty as anyone else, I felt that no one else mattered, just as long as I was pretty enough for him. Hell, even when I had my first menstrual cramps, I went to him instead of my mother. He simply held me and asked me what was wrong. Instantly the pain just drifted away and I could relax again. Of course I was too embarrassed to tell him what was bothering me. Luckily I had lots of older sisters to give me the lowdown on all the details, and a sympathetic mother who'd instructed plenty of other daughters so there weren't any unnecessary questions. But everything was OK because I'd gone to see him first, before anyone else. "You guys are going to have a hard time with Alex when you have your periods," she warned. "He had plenty of exposure to moody women with Mom and my other sisters, but I never had a problem with it as a result of my exposure to him." "You know, that just isn't normal," Brooke informed her, having a day off in her busy schedule just like Rebecca. "You had to suspect there was something else at work there?" "No, I never suspected anything. As always, everything around Alex felt perfectly safe and secure. I just thought that everyone felt that way. When others would tell me about their own fears, worries or problems, I'd just think they didn't have an older brother to lean on like I did. When my friend's older brothers would tease me I'd just think they were strange for not being more like Alex. I just couldn't imagine any man not being like my brother." "That must have made dating hard on you, then," Natalie said, trying to get her to reveal more personal details. "Oh, it was. It didn't take long to realize that no one was close to Alex, but I just thought I was meeting all the wrong guys. I assumed there were a lot more toads than anyone was willing to admit, but that there must be plenty of other princes like Alex out there waiting for me, so I figured I'd just wait for them to show up one day. That's why I never did much with anyone. I never once felt either safe or secure with any guy I ever met. They didn't even have to get forward with me, they'd just look at me and I could feel their desire, and that I never amounted to more than a couple of breasts to them and that they'd tell me any lie they could think of just to play with something that didn't reflect any part of my personality. "I felt all that and I don't even have anything for them to have lusted over," she complained, hefting her tiny A-cup breasts in her hands. "So how does feeling comfortable with him relate to your being dedicated to him? You've explained why you don't like dating but not about your motivations," Patricia asked. "Well, he always watched out for me and paid me lots of attention, as I'm sure you've noticed from what I've said so far," Cate answered. "The confidence he managed to give me let me think that I could accomplish anything I wanted to. So when I decided to become a scientist I just felt there was nothing holding me back. It was like that with everything. I owe everything I've ever achieved to Alex's utter faith in me, and in the confidence that he's continually filled me with. "I don't think Alex is aware of any of this. About all he knows is that I like a simple hug every now and then. Just a hug is about all it takes. When I'd be terrified of sounds in the night as a little girl, I'd sneak past my sisters and my parent's bedroom to get to Alex. He'd lay me beside him, hold me, whisper sweet nothings, and after a few moments I'd feel secure enough that I felt like I could tackle any monsters I might find. It was almost like a drug it was so strong, so effective. "So basically I grew more dedicated to him out of simple greed, I always wanted my shot at him. If he was what made me OK in life, I wanted him there for me. If he made me confident enough to do the impossible, I wanted him close by to give me that confidence. It's like a drug addict staying near her drug connection. Besides, he already felt close to me on his own, and I was so thankful for everything he gave me that I'd literally do anything I could for him. When some bully would pick on him, I'd have my friends talk to the sisters or friends of his to get them to back down. I tried to set him up on dates, since he was always so terminally shy, but it just never worked out. He'd get nervous, stammer and sweat, and they'd never get close enough for him to even touch them. I was always sure that all he'd need to do would be to hug his dates and they'd roll over for him like a puppy when you scratch their chest." "It sounds like maybe you're in the same category as Rebecca and I," Natalie suggested. "You know, what Alex refers to as 'the watchers'." "Yeah, I've thought of that but I was afraid to suggest it. I've never managed to feel anything from anyone else. I just figured he's been generating so much of that type of energy that even someone with no tendencies could pick it up." "Yeah, that makes sense. That would make it more about Alex's abilities than about any potential of your own," Rebecca said. "You know," Cate said as she moved on to Natalie's collection of little glass cats, "we've been focusing on why all of you are attracted to Alex, but we haven't discussed what might be generating Alex's abilities." "Wait, no way, honey, you're not going to distract us by talking about our favorite subject, Alex," Patricia said, wanting to hear more about Alex's effects on his sister. "Yeah, now that we've established why you've always been so attached to your brother, what about what's been happening this week? How do you go from being close to your brother to making out with him?" Shani asked. "Well, that part gets a bit embarrassing, but I guess I've embarrassed myself enough this past week that I should be past it all. I guess I always dreamed of finding someone just like Alex and then we'd get married or something. But after meeting all of you and figuring just how special Alex was, I've begun to see that there aren't likely to ever be any other Alex's out there. "For the most part I simply got swept up in everything that was happening. Staying in the room while others made out with him got me excited. I guess with anyone else they'd simply leave the room until their brother was finished, but I think I was feeling some of his excitement and I just got carried along. When I embarrassed myself," she said, assuming everyone knew about what she was upset with Alex about, which everyone did, "I just couldn't help myself. "But I think there was more to it than that. As I said, I figured I'd never be able to get a boyfriend like Alex no matter how hard I might try. Whatever else you say about him, there isn't anyone else who has what he has." All the women present simply nodded in agreement with her simple statement. "I guess when the opportunity presented itself, I took advantage of it. I know it's unfair to take my frustrations out on Alex, but right now I'm all mixed up about what I want and how to get it," she admitted. "Plus I'm definitely freaked out by everything right now." The women all nodded sagely at this admission, no one saying a word about any suspected beliefs regarding her sexuality. "Cate, Anh just said something I think the rest of us will agree with," Patricia explained. "She asked whether you're sure you aren't one of the 'watchers'? I mean, you said you hadn't felt anything from anyone else before, but maybe you're not taking your proximity to Alex into account. We can all tell you, Alex pretty well overwhelms your ability to sense these things. I can imagine that living with him continually, you could easily discount whatever lesser impressions you'd get from anyone else." "That's a good point," Shani agreed. "You told us you could sense your boyfriend's intentions. Although most guys tend to glare, that's not usually something that most women can detect. I mean, what's an honest interest in offered goodies versus a demeaning glance?" Cate seemed to stop and consider this. "I'm not really sure. I never really thought of myself as being in the same class as any of the rest of you. I guess I might have been feeling things about people and just never took it seriously. But then again, how do you determine something like that? The only way we've been able to detect any of these watchers is in their initial reactions to Alex. How do you test someone who's been exposed to him since birth?" This always seemed to be Cate's dilemma, not whether a problem exists, but how can you possibly measure and categorize it? "So, do you think Alex might be influencing everyone like that, not just those of us who can feel these emotions?" Patricia asked. "I don't think so," Cate argued, "Otherwise Alex would have found a girlfriend long before he hit New Orleans. I think the only reason he's been so successful here is that there are so many more people here. There really only seems to be certain people that are receptive to him. Even amongst these watchers, there really aren't that many of them. There's more than there are like the rest of you, but neither one makes up a significant portion of the general population." "I guess you're right," Patricia conceded. "He's got everything going for him, he certainly doesn't need to attract any more people to him than he already has. But we've still got the question about you, Cate. You say you can't detect anything about people, then you describe how you've always detected things about people. You're going to have to consider that maybe you're one of us." "I wish," Cate said. "I'd love to see all these auras you are all describing." "Yeah, you, me, Peter and Rebecca as well," Natalie informed her. "We all watch the rest of you and think, 'I came just this close genetically'," she said, holding her fingers marginally far apart. They all laughed at her way of expressing her point. "Besides, Cate is definitely one of us no matter what she may or may not be able detect or feel," Shani added, grabbing Cate by the shoulder and giving her a reassuring squeeze. "If it wasn't for her, none of us would have had the slightest idea what was happening to us." "Hey, guys," said Frank, walking into the room. "You all have anything else for us to do? We've finished up with everything out there." "Yeah, sure. You can start carrying some of these boxes out by the door so Natalie can either store or ship them," Rebecca told Mr. Jennings. "What have you been gossiping about?" Linda asked, coming up behind her husband. "We've been listening to you talking away in here but we couldn't hear any details." "What do you think we've been talking about?" Shani laughed. "We're talking about how impressive your son is." "Well, I enjoy a little gossip about my son as well. Just tone down the descriptions of his intimate sexual details or my husband might get jealous." "Hey, the kid's got a bevy of beautiful women following him around and seems to find a new one around every corner. Of course I'm jealous, what else could you expect?" "You know, to be honest, Alex hasn't found anyone new for a little bit," Shani pointed out. "His last one was Brooke. You really can't count Rebecca and Peter, because we've known about the various watchers for the past week, but we just haven't done anything about it until now. Maybe he's already found everyone he's likely to find here?" "Possibly, but I'm ready to get back home where there simply isn't anyone for him to 'activate'. It'll be a nice reprieve from all the excitement this week," Frank told everyone. They all agreed with him while they began shuttling their efforts out to the hallway in preparation for shipment. However, while both Frank and Linda were busy moving boxes downstairs to the storage area, the girls got everyone else to hang back. "Um, excuse me," Patricia added, "Anh has something to say to you, Cate. She didn't want to say it while your parents were here, but there's some things that none of the rest of us have been willing to say. She says, while you talk about being dedicated to Alex, you certainly don't show it." Everyone turned to look at both Patricia and Anh. "What do you mean?" Cate asked the normally quiet older woman. "She means that while you talk about being dedicated to Alex, you never show it. We watched you the other day. You broke into tears and flung yourself at him, then after he hugged you for a few minutes, you simply turned and walked off." "You know she's right," Natalie said. "If you are really serious about wanting the best for him, you'd think you'd be a little more appreciative of him." "But I am," Cate tried to argue. "It sounds like you simply take from him," Natalie said, agreeing with the others. "Whenever you're feeling vulnerable you run to him, but as soon as you feel better you simply abandon him, leaving him with nothing but questions," Shani said, joining into the new discussion. "But, I look out for him, I try to help him, I even set him..." "Yes, but it could easily be argued that all that is just a way to control him. He's kind enough to take care of you and you offer him nothing in return. After you get what you need you simply leave him cold without explaining anything. You say you set him up with your friends, effectively rewarding them for their friendship rather than helping Alex. If you were interested in Alex's love life, you'd try to build his confidence with women. Instead you've likely made him think women are cold emotionless creatures that he can't figure out." "I ... how ... but..." Cate sputtered, trying to figure out what to say. "It's true, it's no wonder Alex is so shy," Shani continued. "You have effectively trained him to never expect anything from the women close to him. Everything you've done for him has been for selfish reasons, you've been cold to him despite claiming that you owe everything to him, and you subtly undermine him every chance you get." "But I..." Cate started again before reconsidering. "Do I really? I haven't really been aware of any of that. I've always thought I've been as nice as I could to him." Anh spoke out for a few moments, after which Shani translated. "Anh asks why you always walk away from him after a hug of only a few seconds. True, that might be all that you need, but don't you think he may need a little more than just a momentary passing sign of affection?" "I ... I guess I started years ago when he was young and didn't like being hugged by a girl," Cate suggested. "That was years ago, and I'm sure you've both grown up a lot since then," Patricia told her. "Besides, he cares enough to assist you whenever you need it, but aside from trying to control and limit him, what have you really done for him?" "I..." Cate started again before pausing and looking lost, then she started to cry. "I ... I can't believe I've been being so mean to him. What have I been doing all of this time? He must hate me." The women all watched her cry for some time, allowing her to process all of this information without interfering. Finally Shani stepped in. "Alex doesn't hate you. I'm not sure he has it in him, though I wouldn't blame him if he did. By simply taking everything that Alex offers, you've effectively been hurting him all this time." "You know, I'm not sure that Cate's been all that hard on him," Patricia offered. As the one amongst them who had the most experience with non-accepting family, she knew how hard it was to be attacked by those you assume are supposed to be helping you. "After all, she's always been there for him. Maybe she just needs some help in how she deals with him." "Maybe, but let's address the one way you show him affection, your teasing of him," Shani stated, taking out her frustration over anyone attacking Alex on Cate. "Effectively you belittle him by showing how superior you are. That certainly doesn't build up his confidence any either." "But I..." she tried to argue once again. Once more Anh started speaking, and Shani again translated for her. "Anh says that you keep trying to argue the points we're making instead of listening to them. You keep trying to deny rather than address them. If you want to make a difference in Alex's life, you have to change how you relate to him. It's very simple really, either you show him how much you care for him, or you continue stabbing him in the back every chance you get." Cate really lost it then. She fell to the floor and started sobbing. Patricia started to reach out to her, but Anh held her back. The women weren't finished with her yet. "There's one more thing, Cate," Shani warned her. Cate looked up hesitantly, wiping at her damp eyes and cheeks, but at least she was attentive and listening now. "Although you've been getting your jollies all week watching the live sex shows your brother has been providing for you, you still haven't done anything but take from him." Cate looked like she was going to say something but thought better of it at the last minute, biting her tongue in order to listen to the words instead to just reacting to them. "You invade his privacy, when you could have easily walked outside and given him some privacy. You watch for most of the week, then instead of trying to finally show him some affection, you dive right in and demand whatever you want from him," Shani continued. "You attack him like a hungry dog, and, when he tries to give you what you seem to want, when you finally see that he might want something in return, you run away. Since then you haven't said but a couple of words to him. Just what kind of message do you think that conveys to him?" "It's true," Natalie added. "We've been watching him agonize over it ever since. None of us have said anything because we didn't want to upset Alex by attacking you. We think the world of you, and we have always appreciated how supportive you are of Alex, but this all really needs to stop. Whatever you're reacting to, you're really going to have to put it aside. While there's no reason why you need to feel obligated to sleep with your brother, you should feel obligated to show him how you supposedly feel about him." "Anh wants you to know that we'll all be here when you are ready to talk about this," Shani informed her. "But for now you need to think this through and figure some things out for yourself." Just then the door opened and Cate's parents came in. They looked around, seeing Alex's women standing around the hunched over crying form of their youngest child. Linda started forward but Frank caught her and held her back. "Is there anything we should know about?" Frank asked the assembled women. "I don't think so, sir," Shani told him. "We've just been explaining a few things to Cate that she's been missing for some time. Give her a few days to think it over, then if she doesn't change, it'll probably be wise to talk it over with her." Frank simply nodded, then steered his wife into the next room, under the pretext of collecting boxes again, but actually to talk to her about what they'd just seen. The other women then proceeded to busy themselves, leaving Cate to sit by herself in silence. They didn't think she needed anyone rescuing her this time. Now she really needed to figure things out for herself. ------- Allison and I rejoined my family and my girls at Brooke's house, where they'd all moved to after having packed up Natalie's goods. They were making quick work of the tedious and difficult process of moving. Since we now had so many people, we split up again, half coming with me while we went to Rebecca's place. She wasn't sure she could arrange a job near us yet, but she wanted to be prepared in case an opening developed anytime soon. We all made a big effort and, as they say, many hands make quick work. Once we'd managed to get everyone straightened away, we all went out to dinner. Nothing noteworthy here, just twelve people all crowded into a small neighborhood restaurant, a boy and his family and all his female followers. Why would we ever garner any attention? Since there were so many of us, we decided to split up for the night. Brooke had her children to watch over, and neither Brooke nor Rebecca had gotten a chance to spend any 'intimate' time with me, so I got to spend the night with them both at Brooke's house while the rest all settled in Rebecca's. Shani and Patricia took up a spare bedroom at Brooke's as well. We made quite a splash when we first entered Brooke's house and met her two children, Suzy and Josh. He was excited to meet me, instantly asking me if I could play some baseball with him. "Mom only knows how to play softball, so she only knows how to throw like a girl," he complained. "Hey, watch it buster, I am a girl," Brooke playfully reminded him. "Still, it'll be nice to have a guy around to do stuff with for a change," Josh said, clearly enthused to have another male to pal around with. I'd have to ask Brooke about her lack of male role models for Josh to familiarize himself with, but we didn't have the opportunity then. Suzy was a whole 'nother kettle of fish. While Josh was busy shaking my hand and telling me all he could do, she just stood back and looked at us with big round eyes. Brooke asked her not to be rude and to come meet us. She hesitantly came forward, never taking her eyes off me. I figured it was like her brother, she just wasn't used to meeting guys around the house, but she didn't seem to take to me quite like her brother did. Instead she stood by while the rest of us chatted, still watching me intently but meekly. I figured I'd have to speak to Brooke about this, as it was looking like I might just be the first male friend of hers that they'd ever met. Both Josh and Suzy were young, about 9 and 11 respectively, and both had Brooke's brown hair and hazel eyes. Brooke's actually changed color on you depending on what she, or you, were wearing at the moment. I didn't observe this particular feature in her kids though. Josh had straight dark brown hair, while Suzy had slightly curly hair that hung to her shoulders. She also wore thick glasses and a little pink barrette in her hair. She wore a weak smile the whole time we spoke, although she never uttered a single word to me. Josh's enthusiasm, however, was contagious, as his face just sparkled with his energy and excitement. Brooke quickly got everyone set up for the night, with Suzy helping fetch sheets for everyone and Josh showing us all the features of the various rooms in the house. Josh demanded I read him a story after his mother warned him that we were all leaving early in the morning, and that we'd all have to go to bed early as a result. Suzy again didn't say anything but simply sat quietly, while I read and thoroughly enjoyed a quickly forgettable little book to them. Once they seemed to have fallen asleep we crept out and to Brooke's bedroom, where we preceded getting ready for bed. As I slowly helped them remove their clothes, while encouragingly telling them how much I appreciated and loved them, I took the opportunity to view my newest two bedmates. Brooke was clearly in shape as I could make out muscles and a few pronounced veins in her arms, but it looked quite good on her. She had heavier breasts than several of the girls, and while they hung a little more due to age and two children, they still looked good enough for me to feast on for hours. This was the first time I'd even seen Rebecca without a shirt on, and I instantly saw why she wore one when working in the hospital. She had an intricate brightly colored tattoo along her lower right arm, and another smaller one, a little plainer, on her shoulder. Before she could climb into bed I stopped her and looked at them both. She proudly showed them to me, flexing her muscles while posing. The one on her arm was an Asian motif showing fish and sea vessels in a brightly colored tossing sea. It was quite beautiful and I told her so, also giving her a quick kiss as well. She, like Brooke, was a little heavier on top than many of the other girls. Not too big, though. I know Cate hates it when a guy does this, but I'd guess around a smallish C cup. Since she was a little older they had broadened, so it may actually be a bit bigger than a C, but hey, I'm a guy, I don't know 'nothing bout no damn cup sizes'. To me, both of these beauties biggest attributes were the huge smiles they both wore while in my presence. They were simply happy to be here with me, sharing themselves with me, and that brought its own joy to my face. Despite the early warmth of spring it was a chilly night, especially so since it was just warm enough to have all the heat turned off, so we all quickly climbed under the blankets. Besides being warm, they would also dampen any sounds we accidently let escape. Brooke dove in first with an active, hungry kiss, while Rebecca cuddled up against me in a now familiar spoon. That seemed the most natural position for three people to take when they're all under the covers together. I'm sure there are other variations, but it's the one we found ourselves in most of the time. While Brooke and I kissed, Rebecca caressed my chest, grinding her nipples against my back while pressing her crotch against my ass. Apparently I'd made them both wait too long for this and they were both ready for some action. I brought my hands up to sample Brooke's delightful chest, continuing our kiss until we both had to break for some air. As soon as we separated Rebecca made her presence known with a kiss of her own, although I could hardly have forgotten about her with the way she kept teasing me while I'd been busy with Brooke. Rebecca was a bit more aggressive than Brooke, actually taking my hands and pressing them against her chest while we kissed. Brooke shifted a bit and ran one hand along Rebecca's naked back and another along my thigh, kissing my shoulder as she did. We all made an effort to keep the heavy breathing and other noises to a minimum, knowing Brooke's kids were nearby. She'd told us before that she kept her kids' bedrooms nearby so she could hear them if they got into trouble during the night, and we certainly didn't want to wake them up with our lovemaking. When Rebecca and I broke our kiss she latched onto my ear and began to lick it, still holding a hand against her chest while the other snaked down my torso to grasp my erection, which was prepped and ready, waiting for its call to action. Seeing her friend's motion in that direction, Brooke moved behind her and snuck her hand under me to grasp my erection from behind me. I was literally caressed from both the top and the bottom. I moved away from Rebecca's lips and lowered my head, taking her delicious looking nipple into my mouth and hungrily feasted on it. For all the women I now found ready to share my bed, so far I'd only had a limited amount of exposure to this type of thing. A couple of days hardly makes up for years of missed opportunities, and several enthusiastic partners doesn't make up for a lack of experience. Yet everything I discovered with all these ladies, including an older Anh and my own sister, just triggered greater and greater lust and affection on my part. I hardly knew these women very well, but I felt I loved them as completely as it was possible, but I inherently knew that wasn't true because I'd only love them all the more tomorrow and the day after. Trying to head off a case of early overstimulation, I moved down the bed, shifting the multiple hands off of my cock, and positioned myself between Rebecca's thighs. I glanced at her glistening shaved labia and grinned in appreciation. Besides her native scent I could detect something else and suddenly realized she'd somehow taken the time to apply perfume to her nether regions. I took a nice long lick and confirmed she hadn't applied it anywhere I could accidentally taste it. All I tasted was a delicious love for this delightful morsel before me. I proceeded to lap away at her pussy while Brooke began kissing and playing with Rebecca's right breast, occasionally glancing down to see what I was up to. I watched, distractedly, to make sure I wasn't making her too vocal with my actions, but she kept it under control. Whether that was because she was normally quiet, or was a conscious effort, I didn't know. However, they didn't seem to have the same reservations that Anh and Shani had had on our previous encounters. "Su pussy es mi pussy," she whispered in a terrible attempt at Spanish. Not paying attention to the distractions, I proceeded to eat Rebecca to a couple of quick orgasms, then had to quit because my jaw started to get sore. Somehow, she managed to remain quiet throughout. Although I think she might have bit her lip pretty hard because of her restraint. I then climbed up and grabbed Brooke and proceeded to share Rebecca's spend with her, while Rebecca weakly began playing with my eagerly throbbing cock. Just as we were all getting going again we heard a tiny cough, and we all froze in our positions before we hurriedly shifted positions into more modest ones. Standing by the door stood little Josh, only coming to about halfway up the door frame. "Mind if I come sleep with you for a little while?" he asked meekly, seemingly oblivious to our disheveled appearances. "I'm a little scared of the noises outside." I hadn't paid much attention, the wind had picked up a bit during the night and I guess it was making noises against the house or something. That must have awoken him, despite our repeated efforts to be quiet. Brooke looked at me as if she was asking for my permission so I waved him in, trying to wipe the remains of Rebecca's cum from my face. Brooke had been more intent on kissing me than on cleaning my face. Josh happily dived right in between us, unperturbed by a couple of strange people in his mother's bed. I wondered why a kid Josh's age would be climbing into his mother's bed but didn't let it distract me. If he wanted some time with her, or us, then I'd humor him. He somehow managed to wiggle himself in between his mother and me, despite us not leaving him much room when we'd hurriedly tried to make ourselves presentable. He settled in and looked up at me. "So why's everyone in here?" he asked, innocently. Brooke looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders. "You see, Josh..." Brooke began what I instantly knew was going to be a long winded explanation so I dove in myself. "We all thought it would be better in here away from all those scary noises outside. You know what they say, there's safety in numbers." He smiled at that, apparently completely satisfied with such a reasonable explanation. He looked up at me for a minute, then reached up and wiped my cheek. "You've got something on your face," he explained while smudging Rebecca's spending. I looked over and both Rebecca and Brooke were blushing terribly. I just smiled at the strange, ironic humor of it all. If he didn't know anything was wrong then I certainly wasn't going to tell him different. Just then I glanced over and noticed yet another shy face peering cautiously around the doorsill. Apparently what frightened one small child would also frighten the other. "Come on in, Suzy," I called out to her. "It's much warmer and safer in here." She looked hesitant but at least showed a bit more of her face this time. She stood watching us, or rather me, I guess, with great big eyes and holding both her hands behind her. I thought she looked cute but she was still too shy... Then it hit me. "Brooke, is your daughter normally this shy around other adult males?" "I've never had many over to the house," she told me, "but no, this is unusual for her." "Suzy, could you come over here please?" I asked as nicely as I could, holding my hand out for her. She blushed but promptly came at my calling, walking nervously forward until she was standing beside the bed. "Come on and get in beside Rebecca and me," I instructed her, thinking it's better to ignore embarrassing details the kids don't seem to notice. If they want an explanation they'll ask for one, just like Josh had done a few moments before. Suzy climbed onto the bed and crawled over Rebecca's legs with Rebecca's assistance. She looked up at me once she'd finished, as if asking if it was safe to continue, so I simply patted the space between Rebecca and me. "It's the best seat in the house," I told her. Well, it had been when I'd been playing around with Rebecca and their mother a few minutes ago. Little Suzy crawled up and settled very solemnly beside me, nestling between us. Both kids remained above the covers which we'd all hastily pulled up over our chests, though it was hard to keep from exposing our naked bits with all the movements in the bed. "Suzy, honey, can you tell me what you think about me?" I asked her. She simply looked up and regarded me. "I ... I know you're important. You're more important than anyone else Mom has brought home from work before. I know that you're Mom's boss at the hospital because you must run things there," she informed me. "Suzy, I'm not so very important," I told her. "Actually I'm a student just like you are, but I'll tell you a secret I think you already know. I'm actually very powerful." She looked up at me with great big eyes, and I glanced over at her mother to see how she was taking this. She looked surprised, and, when she saw me looking she silently asked 'Is she really?', to which I merely nodded. Turning back to Suzy I continued. "I can do things to people important to me. I made your mother see some strange lights that no one else can see, so she'll be better able to watch over you and make sure you're never sick. Unfortunately, I can't do the same for you, though, since you're like Rebecca here. You're perceptive enough to feel my power but not quite able to handle the visions and things." She looked at me studiously, absorbing every word but never questioning a thing I told her. Simply taking everything in as if she knew she'd need to know it in the very near future. "I guess that answers one of Cate's questions, then?" Rebecca asked. "Oh yeah, it definitely runs in families, which just strengthens the whole DNA/carrier theory," I told her, smiling at Suzy as I said it. "Mom doesn't have special vision!" Josh argued from my other side. "Yeah she does. It's just that, unlike your sister, you can't detect the changes in either of us. Just look at her as she watches me. She can't look at me because I'm too powerful for her to look at." Josh quickly turned and examined his mother, watching her closely for several seconds. "I was wondering about that. The other two ladies did it too, but 'Becca doesn't," he said. "Suzy, can you tell your brother why that is?" I prompted her, hoping she'd be able to explain what I was hoping she actually felt. I was still testing the waters on the various watchers' abilities. "'Becca doesn't have the vision. Mommy does. Alex gave it to her," she answered simply but knowingly. She was sure of this information. I didn't think she could detect it herself, but she trusted my word enough that anything I told her was sure to be the truth. "Can you do tricks?" Josh asked. "Well, actually my power is too strong to do simple tricks. I don't want to accidentally hurt anyone, but why don't you ask your mom and Rebecca about how I saved a man from dying the other day?" That was that. We spent the next hour discussing all that had happened between us, between telling the story and all the follow-up questions, it took just about everything out of the two kids. They were soon nodding off where they lay, which was a good thing, because as the stories went on and the two ladies became more excited in retelling the story, they gradually grew a little more careless of their delicate coverings. Luckily it never quite managed to fall all the way off until the two kids were mostly out of it. "You know, you're a natural with kids," Brooke assured me. "It's easy when you've got the material and one's already intoxicated with you and the other's ready to play ball with you all day." "Still, you handled that all wonderfully. I don't think I know anyone else that could have handled that as well as you did." "Aw, shucks," I replied, imitating the old Western side-kick approach, "It 'twern't nothin'." "Yes it was. You're always coming up with something else amazing, even without any amazing powers," Rebecca insisted. "They're easy to talk to. Just wait until they reach 12 or 13." "I don't think Suzy will ever be hard for you to talk to. You're her everything right now. She looks up at you like your sister does," she quietly assured me. I thought that a strange parallel to make but let it slide. "You know, we should tell Cate about this," Rebecca suggested. "I already did," I replied. "I just sent her a message through Allison. Luckily it happened early enough that they were all up watching a late movie on TV. She said that Cate was enthused by everything it entailed." "This is important," I told her. "This shows a couple of things. It shows the tendencies run in families, and it extends the potential age limits that govern it. Cate had said she wasn't sure whether these things happened until people were older." "She was talking about you and your abilities," Brooke reminded me. "Yeah, I think you're correct, but still. I think if Suzy was a little more like her mother she'd have repeated the same thing all the rest of the girls did." They both nodded in recognition of that statement. "Well, we're obviously not going to be able to fool around anymore tonight," Brooke suggested. "Could you hold the kids for us while we go put something on so we don't embarrass ourselves in the morning? You still have a long trip ahead of you in the morning. If we're lucky we might be able to finish what we started when the kids go to take their showers in the morning." ------- Chapter 16: Going Home I woke up to a new experience. I was lying on my back with two children cuddling up on either side of me and two beautiful women lying against them. Suddenly I'd gone from a naïve kid to being surrounded by multiple women, and now I was a father figure. Man, this was rough for me to comprehend. But the kids were cute and I just couldn't help but love them. I certainly loved the women as well. It might be weird but life was pretty good right then. Well, aside from my problems with my sister at least. I managed to wiggle my arm free and check my watch; it was nearly time to get up. Today was the day, we were leaving New Orleans and heading home. Hopefully that would be the end of all this craziness, but I didn't really believe that. I gently shook Josh until he started to rouse. "Time to get up, Josh. You've got school today," I told the sleepy little ragamuffin. "Yeah, you'd better get going. Take you sister back to her room and both of you get started getting ready," Brooke instructed her child. I hadn't realized she was awake. I'd been hoping to prevent having to disturb her. I felt someone hugging my side. "Thank you for letting us stay here," Suzy said. I was glad she was finally starting to speak to me. I hate that whole 'too nervous to talk' phase all these women seemed to go through. I gently kissed her forehead. "Thanks for being you, it was lovely having you here," I told them both. Josh started to climb out of bed. "Josh, were you really scared last night?" I asked him. "You seem a little old to be climbing into bed with your mother." He laughed, "Nah, I just wanted to spend more time with you. Mom said you were leaving so I figured this was the only chance I'd get." I would have tousled the hair on his head but he was already too far away. Plus I couldn't get up because I was still naked. "And what about you, young lady?" I asked a bleary eyed Suzy. "I'd been wanting to watch you the whole time but I was afraid to come in. When I saw Josh get up, I figured I could come too," she sleepily explained. "But you're not scared of me now, are you?" She quickly shook her head but she still looked unsure. "I know, he can really make you nervous, can't he?" Rebecca asked her, to which she nodded. "He's kind of like sticking your finger into an electric outlet. You know it's a good energy that helps people, but it's still a lot of power." Once again, she nodded quickly at the truth of Rebecca's words. "Well hurry up kids, you need to get ready in a hurry. We'll be out shortly. Oh, and wake up the other girls too, will you?" she called to their retreating forms. The two women shifted over and both gave me a nice good morning kiss. "We'd better hurry," Brooke informed us. "We might be able to finish off what we started last night, but only if we rush. I'm not about to see you leave today before I get my share of you." "You know..." I began. "That we aren't allowed to have intercourse? Yeah, Shani laid down the law to all of us, and, I've got to say, it actually sounds like a good idea," she replied. "I'd love to have you pound me to oblivion right now, but I'll settle for some gentle, non-invasive loving." So we quickly climbed out of bed and hurried into the shower. While not quite as nice as the hotel's shower, it was big enough for the three of us as long as you didn't mind being close together, and I didn't hear any complaints. I wasted no time and backed Brooke against the wall, where I fell to my knees and proceeded to eat her out while Rebecca kissed her and played with her breasts for me. I proceeded to give her a couple of quick cums but we were under the gun here. They both pulled me up to my feet, then changed places with me and they both proceeded to give me a mutual blowjob. For never having done this together before, they worked pretty smoothly. "Sorry it can't be any more romantic," Brooke gasped out between turns swallowing my rod, "but if we're too long the kids will come ... looking for us again." Heeding her advice I proceeded to loosen my load shortly thereafter. I'd kind of wanted to paint their faces a little but they treated it like it was a precious commodity, not to be wasted. After that they helped me as we all stumbled out, still a little weak kneed. Figuring they deserved at least part of what the other women got, I proceeded to pat them dry with the towel like I had done a few days earlier. I couldn't spend long at it, but it gave me a nice chance to examine them up close and personal as I familiarized myself with their natural smells and looks. Rebecca was cleanly and recently shaven, something I thought odd for a busy nurse. Brooke still bore a full bush but it was nice and soft and fun to play with as I blew on the little curly hairs, but that was about all that I had time for. When we arrived in the kitchen we saw the other women had everything firmly in hand with both kids busily eating breakfast. "We kinda thought you might want some extra time with him," Shani told us with a smile. "You have no idea," Brooke told her. "We spent the night with the kids." "Yeah, they told us all about it," Patricia acknowledged. We all proceeded to quickly get ourselves and the kids ready. Brooke asked Josh to hurry up and get the paper for me when I stopped her. "Really, I think I've had enough of the local paper for now. There really isn't much more that Mr. Rodriguez can do to me, and I'd really rather not spoil this beautiful morning." So the paper remained in the box outside. The other cars pulled up about the time we were walking the kids out to their bus stop. We quickly introduced everyone, with Brooke instructing the kids they'd get a chance to get to know us all very well in the near future, and then sent them on their way. Leaving early accomplished several things. First, and most obvious, was the fact that it got us out from under outside observation. Mom also said that she and Anh could spend the extra days adjusting the house for more people. Shaniqua and the rest would have to begin looking for a new apartment as well as a new job. We all knew that whatever they found, they'd be spending all their time at my house. Mom argued "Not if you want to bring someone from school over," winking at me, leading me to think she'd been talking with Shani about her 'no sex before you have a girlfriend' rule. It had been a busy and very unusual week. I was thinking it would be nice to get away from our vacation and finally relax, but I knew the craziness wasn't likely to end with me taking a bunch of women home with me. I was also nervous about the long drive ahead of us due to the recent incident between Cate and myself. She'd hardly acknowledged me since then, other than answering questions I'd pose through an intermediary, and I knew that it would be difficult being in a confined space for a long time. Nearly everyone had called into work to take the morning off so they could see us off. Everyone but Peter and his crew that is. All the women were here and they all proceeded to give me very emotional and tear-filled goodbyes. Their goodbye kisses left little to the imagination as well. I was glad the kids had already taken off. Shani said she was going to work over the weekend to try to get much of her work finished early. She'd arranged with her boss that she might be able to leave early if she managed to finish some ongoing projects. Natalie had a similar agreement with the hotel, so she thought she could join us in a few days. I just hoped neither was giving themselves a black mark in their careers because of me. Anh and Allison were coming with us today, of course, but Allison was driving her own car. Cate had wanted to drive in her nice convertible on the way back but Mom had put her foot down, telling us to work our problems out like 'a normal couple'. I wasn't sure what the hell she meant by that but I didn't dwell on it too much. Everyone was hugging. Shani told me she'd miss me and told me to keep a look out for a new girlfriend at school. After that we got underway, still relatively early in the morning. Cate seemed almost back to her old self. We had three people in the backseat. I sat in the middle, which is easier with my long legs, but it's still hard on the ass to sit there for a long stretch, with Cate on my left and Anh on my right. At least Cate didn't seem to be afraid of me, although she flinched a couple of times when I moved or shifted in her direction. I tried not to take it personally and chalked it up to Shani's theory. I simply figured she'd eventually get over it, but then she took a deep breath, glanced at Anh, who nodded her head in response, and then Cate gave me a big hug. I was at a loss for a response, but gave her a quick hug back, as I usually do. But, instead of breaking away after only a few moments, she continued to hold me for quite a while. Although I thought it was odd, I didn't interfere, figuring she was trying to make amends and demonstrate that she was no longer angry with me. Of course, after a bit it becomes like the young man in the back of the theater, her arm must have fallen asleep by then, but when I asked her about it she told me it was the least she could do so I just accepted it and didn't think about it after that. Speaking of relaxing more, I noticed that Cate seemed to be 'packing light'. Her T-shirt seemed to fit extra nice, though it was hard to tell. Actually, given that she was so small up top I doubted she'd normally wear much in the way of bras, as I'd never really noticed it in the past, but after the last couple of days I'd begun paying more attention to my sister's relative charms (no pun intended). I tried to subtly check for clues while we were driving, thinking I was being cool, but she suddenly covered her chest and said "Hey, quit it, buddy! I didn't want to spend the next several hours tied up in a damn bra but this ain't no damn peep show." I blushed clear down to my toes, leading to everyone laughing. I'm not completely convinced she didn't put it on specifically to embarrass me. The act that is, not the T-shirt. Anyway, I tried to keep my eyes forward after that. I tried at least. However, I saw a look pass between Anh and Cate while they thought I wasn't looking, and then Cate apologized for teasing me. Now that was strange, after we'd been doing it for years and had never thought anything of it, but she proceeded to link her arm through mine and told me I was allowed to look all I wanted. "Since I know how damn good I look," she said, showing she wasn't done teasing after all. I still tried not to, once burned you know. That's the thing with telepathy, when you get publicly humiliated like that, even people nowhere near you get a chance to laugh at you over it! Allison seemed to think it was just the funniest thing. But then, after a couple of minutes, she asked me what had happened since, making me think they all knew something I didn't. When I told her about Cate's apology she simply said, 'Ah, ' as if she had been expecting it. I think I may have to speak to someone about what's going on. We started out talking about the places we'd visited, but of course the discussion eventually drifted back to my new abilities. Our new abilities I corrected myself. "You know," my father explained, "I'm not convinced you don't have a little mind control thing going as well." We all looked at him as if he'd suddenly sprouted horns. "Hey, it's awfully quiet back there. Linda, look quick, are they all staring at the back of my head." "Yep," she good naturedly humored him. "What I mean is have you stopped to think how a bunch of women are suddenly all over you without jealousy, without concern about child abuse charges or their own futures? Are you sure you're not unwittingly exerting some sort of control over them?" he said, explaining his logic to us. "I don't feel like I am," I replied, considering the possibility before suddenly shaking my head. Nah, it couldn't be. "Anh says she doesn't feel controlled in any way, and Shani specifically said the same thing a few days ago. And the girls don't go along with everything I say anyway," I stated, trying to defend myself against this newest theory. "Have they ever told you 'No'?" Again I stopped to consider it. "Well ... Shani ... uh..." "Yes, Shani said she's not going to have sex with you until you lose your virginity the 'traditional way', right?" I felt myself blushing again at the fact that both my parents seemed to know all the details of my fumbling sex life so far. "Still, they're both having sex with you with absolutely no qualms about it," he continued, pushing the issue. "When you got scared about things moving too fast, Shani backed right down and didn't pressure you about it anymore. Your sister went along with all your playing around in the room, even though it must have been uncomfortable for her. Don't you think that's a bit odd? And even your mother and I, we can rationalize that we like all the girls, but that might just be it. Rationalization. Maybe we can't help ourselves in accepting what's going on?" "I don't know..." I said hesitantly. "And what about your sister? From what I hear she was more than just an unwitting participant, that certainly isn't a normal response is it?" Looking at Cate I saw she was taking in everything Dad was saying and seriously weighing it in her mind. There may be more to it than you think, I thought to myself, but I certainly didn't want to have to explain that to my parents. "You're going to have to watch the kids in school on Monday and see if they treat you any differently," Cate suggested. "Well, what about Bao?" I asked. "Yeah, before you got there he thought you were trying to swindle his mother with the promise of sex with a hunky teenager. After you'd been there for a bit the two of you were talking like old friends." My father had this annoying habit of being perfectly sensible during discussions. "Hardly, and it was only after he punched me and after his mother chewed him a new one," I countered, still resisting the idea I was unduly influencing those around me. "Still, one hardly follows up a punch with a handshake and a hug. Especially when one suspects you of, again, swindling his mother." My father certainly had some good points. "The fact that your sister has been following you around like a puppy, secretly lusting after you, is also hardly a secret," he continued. "Hey," I protested, immediately regretting it as I couldn't really defend my position with any facts. At least not without revealing facts about her that she might not be aware of yet. "She's always followed me around like a puppy," I argued after a moment's thought. "Hey," she protested, "Thanks a LOT." "Sorry," I smiled at her, "but you know it's true." "True," continued my father, "but she hasn't always lusted after you." "How do you know she's 'lusting' after me?" I tried to argue. "We have eyes Alex. She practically has to have one of your women carry her tongue around for her." I wanted to laugh at that. Anh couldn't help but giggle at it. If he only knew about the recent turn of events, that she was actually lusting after the women around me, not actually me; but again I couldn't say anything about that. "So, are you telling me I have to watch out for you and Mom now?" I asked, failing to keep the humor out of my voice. "You never know," he smiled back at me, "after all, we've allowed our teenaged son to fool around with several older women, unsupervised in the next room, corrupting our younger daughter. Would you consider that normal behavior?" He certainly had a way of making a series of excellent points. "So what do you suggest I do about it? Assuming it's true, of course." "There's really not much you can do about it if you aren't doing it consciously. The fact that Cate got pissed at you just says that she's not as affected by you as your various followers are." 'Followers, ' I thought. I'd been idly wondering what they'd call themselves. I'd labeled the others 'watchers' and it seems to have already stuck. I'd actually debated asking them about it but had been avoiding it up till now. It was hard to define their relationship to me. Whether they were merely thankful to me, if they were simply followers, or maybe I was mentally controlling them to do what I wanted was anyone's guess. "Could we get a psychiatrist to evaluate them and see?" I asked, growing increasingly concerned. "And tell him what?" Dad laughed. "That we suspect they're being controlled by a teenager with mind control powers? And even if we did confide in him, what's to say he wouldn't be influenced as well?" "Cate, any ideas here?" I asked, becoming more conflicted as we went along. "You're the scientific idea person, how do we find out if any of this is true?" "I'm at a loss here," she answered weakly. "It's not quite the kind of thing you can easily test for. This isn't the kind of thing you find in a textbook. This is more in the realm of science fiction." "So if I say I want a new sports car, you think I could expect one in a few days?" I teased, trying to lighten the serious mood. "You never know," he answered. "You'll find out in a few days I guess. Of course, there's a matter of not being able to buy you one of course. Physical financial restrictions might be the limit of your abilities," he laughed. "Plus, with Allison you already have access to one," Cate added unnecessarily. "Maybe I'll go up to the Captain of the Football team and stomp on his toe," I teasingly suggested. "And what'll you do if, after he's caught pounding you into the floor, he apologizes to you? Would he have done it because he had to or because you were controlling him?" asked Cate, finally getting caught up in the debate. "Shit, this is getting tough to figure out," I complained, yearning for the days when my biggest problems consisted of figuring out complex algebra problems. "Just something to keep in mind in the future," concluded my father. The trip back was uneventful, well, other than discussions of mind control and my sister innocently flashing her nipples at me under her T-shirt. Cate eventually started a game of "Punch Buggy" just to prove she wasn't being mentally controlled into being nice to me. We all laughed, although I had the advantage being larger so I wasn't hurt as much. Anh soon caught on after an early delay due to her unfamiliarity with the game. Soon everyone was ganging up on me, even Mom reaching into the back seat to punch me for buggies I never saw. It was nice to relax amid all this serious shit I was going through. Later we were traveling through Missouri on 55 North, just a little ways from turning off onto 57 to enter Illinois. It was getting into the early evening, we'd all stopped for an extended lunch so we could bring Allison up on what we'd been discussing. We'd hit a bridge section they were repairing and traffic slowed quite a bit as a result. The normal 4 lanes of traffic across 2 separate bridges was reduced to a single line going each way, separated by a mere concrete border between the lanes. As we were crossing over I was glancing out at the passing traffic across Cate, when my eyes locked with a woman looking out the side of a van that was passing us, going the other way. I saw her head jerk back like she'd been shot and I immediately knew what'd just happened. We'd never had a chance to test what the range of my ability to affect someone was, but apparently 10 feet, moving traffic, steel sheets and a concrete barrier between us weren't much of a limitation. I was stunned. We'd already traveled along this road a week ago and nothing had happened. I simply hadn't thought that anything like this might occur on the return trip. It had happened so quickly, I hadn't even gotten a good look at her. She looked younger than any of the others so far, like she might still be in school, either high school or college I guessed. Beyond that I really couldn't recall much of how she'd looked. "Dad, quick, pull over!" I insisted excitedly. "What's up? There's no place to pull over here," he argued. "I've just triggered someone else in a passing car," I told everyone. "I don't know how it happened. I just glanced out the window, made eye contact and it happened." "I didn't think it could happen like that," Cate answered, suddenly sitting up and looking closely at me. "You got plenty of looks on the way up but..." she said, just letting the comment fade from her lips. "But it did, there's a girl behind us somewhere and we've got to find her." This wasn't like the other times. Each of those times the women had sought me out, they'd come up to me and had only been impacted when they were within several feet of me. Now I had no way of knowing where she was, where she was headed, who she was or anything. My father was signaling to pull over, but there wasn't anywhere he could for quite a long ways ahead of us. "And just what do you suggest we try?" he asked, getting aggravated. "We've got nowhere to turn, she's getting farther away every mile we drive. We don't know the road here. We don't know where the next exit we can turn is, we don't even know if there's any place for them to turn off and wait for us, even if they would. Where the hell are we supposed to look, Alex?" Once again my father was completely rational even if he sounded exasperated with me. Clearly no one had any ideas on how to handle the situation. "Don't just yell at me," I cried, "but we've GOT to find her. She's not likely to know what's happened to her. She won't know what to do or how to interpret any of it." "OK, fine. But how? Where do I go? What do I look for?" "Can you communicate with her? Can you send her an image of where we could meet her or something?" Cate asked. "I don't know, I'm not sure I can use telepathy with someone I've never met. I'm not sure who I'd be talking to as I don't know who she is or even what she looked like," I complained. "All I know is she's going to want to find us and I have no idea of how to find her or communicate with her." "Well, try sending her an image of where we are," suggested my mother. "Where the hell ARE we?" I cried. "I have no idea," responded my father, still looking for a place to turn around in the heavy traffic. "I don't know what exit we just passed and we're a long ways from the next exit. I haven't seen any rest stop signs anywhere." We argued about stopping by the side of the road but decided against it. That would simply have slowed us down. It took us a long time to get to the next exit so, by the time we got to where she might possibly be, there was no sign of her. We had no idea of where to look. Would she have just pulled off the side of the road? Nope, not there. Would she have pulled off at the first exit? We looked, but unless we stopped at each restaurant, gas station and nearby parking lot we had no idea where to look. She could also have pulled off at any other exit along the way and we'd never know which one. She could also have doubled back and gone after us, heading in the opposite direction. I kept getting the feeling of impending panic, but whether that was mine or hers I had no idea. I had Allison drive ahead while we checked the first exit, but she had no luck. We finally sat around a McDonald's to discuss the situation but couldn't come up with any reasonable remedies. We eventually decided there wasn't much that we could do. We waited long enough for Allison to catch back up with us then we all just headed off without having found this mystery woman. Both Cate and Anh tried to console me, as I was a mess wondering what this girl was going to do without us helping her through the difficult and confusing process. Cate went overboard in demonstrating her concern, constantly patting my back, holding me and stroking my hand. I kept looking out the window, hoping to see some sign of her as we headed out. "We can't just leave her out there," I protested. I felt about ready to pull my hair out. "What's she likely to do if you aren't there?" Mom asked. "I don't know," I said, turning to look at Anh. She simply shrugged, answering that she didn't know. No one had any reasonable solutions we could think of, and it was getting late. We couldn't just sit around and fret about it indefinitely. I don't remember ever feeling quite so lost before, despite knowing right where I was, just not where to go. I was haunted by the idea that we were just abandoning this unknown girl. Mom offered that she'd probably be just fine without us, but I argued about what she'd do if she suddenly started seeing strange visions and lights with no one who could understand or explain any of them. They all shrugged that they had no idea and I felt no better about leaving her behind. I spent the rest of the trip looking over my shoulder, glancing at passing cars, looking for young women by the side of the road trying to flag us down. What would someone do who had no idea where we were? I was frantic with worry for this unknown person by now. Both Cate and Anh were holding my hand and trying to comfort me. I think tears might have been running down my face. But, in the end, there was just nothing that I could do. Here I'd just agreed to be responsible for watching over multiple women and I'd just lost one. Completely lost her. How the hell could I ever expect to help all the rest when I was helpless in this case? I felt terrible! When we finally arrived at home quite a while later I was frazzled. I morosely helped unload the car then collapsed on my bed. Allison and Anh brought me a drink, something to eat, even a cool, damp cloth trying to revive me but I was out of it. I was despairing of some way I could possibly reach out to this person but had no clue how. I wanted to ask my father to drive us back, but knew it wouldn't help. If I saw her now I wouldn't recognize her so a search was meaningless. I eventually just let myself drift away into sleep, dinner, discussions, unpacking or entertainment all forgotten. ------- Thus ends the tale of our founder Alex's initial experiences in New Orleans. Those experiences form the basis of everything that came after, including our rich culture. Each of us owe our lives, as they are now, to him and those around him in those early days. My biography of Alex Jennings continues. In the second volume, Alex returns to his quiet little hometown where the likelihood of finding new followers is greatly reduced. This provides him the chance to complete his time as a 'normal' young man while also giving him time to consider what he is about to undertake. Much of what he learned there formed who he became years later. ------- (To be continued in Book 2) Alex's adventures will continue, but in a whole new way. Now, instead of dealing with new strangers every day, he'll be dealing with the typical odd man out situation in high school, except with multiple women following him around. ------- The End ------- Posted: 2011-02-08 Last Modified: 2012-02-23 / 05:37:49 pm ------- http://storiesonline.net/ -------