© Copyright 2005 by silli_artie@hotmail.com
This work may not be reposted or redistributed without the prior
express written permission of the author.
A work of fiction, meant for adults. Read something else if you are
not an adult, or are offended by stories with sexual content. Then
again, if all you’re looking for is in-out, in-out, in-out, you
should probably read something else. I welcome constructive comments.
Enjoy.
I still suffer the tyranny of the alarm clock. Damn. The only good thing, it was on Dina’s side of the bed. She whacked it, and as she rolled out muttered, “I’ll wake the others and shower first.”
Fine by me.
What was that noise? I woke to -- Dina’s phone ringing on her nightstand. With a sigh I reached for it, flipped it open, answering the call. “Hello?” I said frowsily.
“Dina? This is George. Did I wake you?”
George? ... George Hoskins! Dean George Hoskins! I was much more awake!
“Dean Hoskins, this is Moira, Moira Walsh. Dina is in the shower. Should I get her?”
“Moira... No, give her some peace... You probably won’t be surprised to hear things have changed,” he started out.
“Let me find a piece of paper and something to write with,” I suggested.
“No, no, no need for that... Where to start... Kaye... Has she really changed?”
I shook my head and told him, “Spectacularly...”
“Hmmm! I’m looking forward to seeing her then! She called earlier this morning, all in a tizzy that we had to get all our people out of the Clinic right away, send you back to Seattle today, and not through Chicago! She was so insistent! I got her calmed down a bit; you can expect them in oh, half an hour I’d guess... And as I’m talking to her, Debra pounds on my door with another one of her hot flashes!”
I barely suppressed a laugh.
“She started with that droning melodramatic tone of hers, and I cut her off -- I know, I know! Our people are leaving the Clinic right now, and we’ll get the crew on their way to Seattle via Dallas! The woman stood there, her finger still in that wretched book of hers, staring at me, then slammed it closed and walked off in a huff!”
“Sounds like you got off easy,” I blurted out, feeling myself turning quite red.
But on the other end, Hoskins laughed. “Oh, you’re right on that! Usually I have to ask her about the Super Bowl to get her to leave!”
I couldn’t help it; I laughed along with him.
He turned a bit more serious. “Tell me, dear, what do you think of our hatchling?”
I sighed and sat on the bed. “As we all are, he is unique -- but even among us, he’s quite special. He’s done things I’ve never seen or even read about. And he’s done things that you, or I, or others could do, yet he’s done them in ways completely different from what I know!”
“Yes -- I sat down with Emma Carmichael last night. I’ll be damned if I know what he did or how he did it! What do you think?”
“Other than it’s about damn time?” I suggested bluntly.
Hoskins chuckled. “There is that -- a lot of people think she had it coming.”
“Ignoring that,” I said, “what he did to her, the changes, the wards that caught her, the way he protects himself -- so different than what we know. Some of it, much of it, I believe goes back to Chichen Itza. Some is involved with his yoga training. And some aspects I believe are a combination of his scientific training and his abilities. He’s not a teen male who can be freely or easily molded; he’s a mature adult with a trained body and a trained mind; decades of yoga, meditation, and science.”
“Hmmm, yes... Still, Dina thought the binding was successful; that should help.”
I sighed. “His bond with Gloria is a very special one. I’ve only encountered that kind of bond once, with the Jensen’s,” I said, mentioning a husband-and-wife team.
“Oh my,” Hoskins responded. “Now I understand, or at least a little better... How are the rest of you going to deal with this?”
“As best we can,” I sighed. “Examining the bonds he has with the others -- with Andrea and Kaye, he can hold us all. I see us fitting into slightly different roles...” I barely suppressed a gasp as I caught a fleeting vision, one I knew was true, would be true... “I see us quite happy together in a year, having traveled through some rough spots.”
“Hmph... You have my support, my dear, please let Dina know. Fill her in as you see fit. Our travel people will call you with details once they’ve had their usual snit. Please keep me updated on significant events, and let me know what we can do. I think we’re going to learn quite a bit, including some things we’d rather not learn...”
“Thank you for your support, Dean, I’ll let...”
“Oh, please call me George when you feel it’s appropriate. Has Dina had a chat with you?”
“About supporting her? Yes, to a degree.”
“Good. Let me tell you something; I don’t know if she has or not. Doesn’t matter, really, you need to hear it, and often. Don’t tell us what we want to hear, tell us what we need to hear! The last damn thing I need is toadies! Dina doesn’t need them either! If you think we need to be roughed up, do it!”
I sat there, someplace between surprised and shocked.
“I’ll let you get to work -- let us know you’ve arrived. We’re counting on you, Moira.”
“Thank you ... I really appreciate it.”
“Hmpf... Remember -- tell us what you need, and that includes telling us to not bother you for a while. Got it?”
I chuckled a little. “Yes, I got it!”
“Good. And have fun, dear -- bye.”
“Goodbye...”
I looked at the phone, shaking my head as I put it back. Big sigh... Get dressed now, shower tonight after traveling all day, I’ll feel better.
I was dressed and mostly packed when Dina came in, wrapped in a towel and toweling her short hair.
“Did I hear you on the phone with someone?” she asked.
I nodded, closing my bag. “Yes, George called.”
She frowned a moment. “George?”
I couldn’t keep a straight face. “Dean Hoskins -- he told me to call him George. Everything’s off in a handbasket -- Gloria, Kaye, our people from the Clinic should be here in a short while. The four of us are to fly to Seattle today, via Dallas. Nothing out of the ordinary...” I snapped the clasps on my bag.
Dina smirked and chuckled. “Welcome to the club, dear. Why the change of plans?”
I shrugged. “Kaye called him all in a tizzy that they needed to leave the Clinic, and we needed to go to Seattle today, avoiding Chicago, and while he was trying to calm Kaye, Lady Debra practically broke down his door with another of her hot flashes...”
Dina raised an eyebrow. “He used that phrase?”
I nodded.
She smiled. “I think you appreciate it, but I’ll warn you -- you need to be very careful with that one. I’m afraid you’ve entered a very select circle, my dear...”
I nodded again. “I got that feeling...”
Dina opened her arms; we hugged. “Thank you for last night; I needed that.”
“We all do,” I whispered to her.
“Promise me you’ll take your turn?” she asked.
I shuddered, thinking of giving myself to him, being taken...
She chuckled. “I’ll take that as an enthusiastic ‘yes.’ What else did George tell you?”
I held her hands. “What you have told me, taught me, and shown me -- be honest to myself, and speak my mind.”
“I don’t think you’ll have problems with that...”
“I hope not...”
She stepped back, smiling, ever cheerful. “Well, as you said, business as usual!” She looked into the distance. “They’re in the shower -- you should accelerate the process. I’ll get dressed and packed.”
“We’re expecting a call from travel services,” I told Dina.
She nodded, chuckling. “Yes, once they’ve had their customary hissy fit...”
I nodded. “That’s about what he said...”
The master bedroom smelled of perfume and sex, bedclothes strewn passionately. Entering the master bath, they were in the shower with the water going, but not a lot of showering was going on!
“Chaos, chaos, chaos!” I called out in a cheery voice, clapping my hands three times. “Get with it, in there! We’re expecting company shortly, and we’re leaving for the airport as well!”
“What?” he called from the shower. I thought I heard her moan...
“Don’t worry, dear -- I’ll explain when you’re dressed -- in a few minutes.” I felt myself adopting Dina’s cheery attitude when stepping into chaos. It felt appropriate. Well, it was a damn sight better than running around yelling at people...
I saw motion in the shower, heard moans...
I looked at the counter and saw the earring he wears, and the silver ring for his ponytail. Hmmm... I picked up the earring, closed my eyes, and cast a delicate but strong spell over it -- I’d be able to locate that earring wherever it went. I put it back where I’d found it.
“Remember to wash behind your ears!” I called out cheerily as I left the bathroom. He laughed; she made a disappointed sound, then gasped.
I picked up my bags and took them into the kitchen. Dina was standing at the toaster; she looked at me, and burst into laughter, rushing to me, hugging me.
I held her as she put her head on my shoulder.
When she stood up, she had tears in her eyes. “Oh you...”
“What is it?” I asked, puzzled.
She sighed. “When you walked into the kitchen -- your cheery expression -- you reminded me of someone, many years ago...”
I hugged her again.
We separated to the sound of the toaster delivering its goods.
“I’ve learned from you, My Lady,” I told her.
“What did you learn?” she asked, taking out the toast and buttering it.
I leaned against the counter. “Who was it? Mosgrave? Nasty deal years ago you dragged me into...”
“And you did superbly,” Dina interrupted.
“Thank you -- but you were so cheery, smiling as things went to hell around us! I remember thinking, imagining you at the Gates of Hell, approaching Cerberus, that insufferably cheery smile on your face, walking up to him and saying, ‘Oh what a cute doggy!’ -- chucking him under both chins -- and then slitting both throats, still with that wonderful, cheery smile.”
She chuckled. “Why thank you, dear -- I take that as a compliment! Jam on your toast?”
I had to laugh, tears forming. “Oh, that I can meet the expectations you have for me...”
She opened a jar of jam. “You have dear, and you will.”
Andrea walked in, looking quite rosy and full of energy. “He’s doing his hair,” she told us, then crooked her finger and drew me off to the side, a curious look on her face.
I wanted to talk to her as well, and took her to the other bedroom, closing the door behind us.
“What is it?” I asked her.
“Did you do something to his earring?”
I smiled. “Why?”
She shook her head. “He started to put it on, looked at it crossly, then rinsed it and blew on it a few times. I asked him what was the matter, and he told me it felt dirty, like something was on it. He shook it and blew on it some more, then smiled and put it on.”
I sighed and shook my head. “I’d have thought the tracking charm I put on it would be unnoticeable except to the best...”
Andrea nodded. “I think you’re right.”
“You think he blew it away? Did he suspect anything?”
She shrugged. “I don’t think he suspected anything, and the last time he blew on it, there was a lot of, uh, energy, in what he did.”
“Thank you for letting me know. How did his training go last night?”
She sighed and almost moaned, her eyes going up briefly.
The phone rang. Someone answered it.
“Your training,” I reminded her.
She sighed. “Did you peek at all?”
I nodded. “Both of us did.”
She looked at me, such a look! “He... I don’t know...” She looked lost in memories for a moment. “Are you going to ...” she started to ask, but paused.
“Take him? Mark him? Yes, we’ll all take turns -- and I know Gloria has his heart, and always will. His training?”
She smiled. “I know you’ll be gentle with him... He responds so well... Some resistance at first, but such a strong need -- I think if he wanted to resist, it would take a number of us... But one moment there’s a hint of resistance, and the next, he’s given himself... I’ve never felt anything like it. I’m scared, I think...”
“Of what, dear?” I asked softly, moving both of us to sitting on the bed.
She shook her head. “Some times he’s so strong, and at other times he’s so needy -- and I want to hold him, cradle him, love him...”
“That’s all right,” I told her softly. “Remember, he’s been through a lot. He mentioned he’s a widower; he must have lost someone quite dear. We’ll learn more in the next week. I think we’re all going to grow quite a bit...”
She sighed again, smiling, nodding.
“Let’s go see how things are unwinding,” I suggested, standing up and pulling her to a brief hug.
“We’re not going to the Clinic?”
I shook my head. “No, it’s airports for us today. Maybe Kaye can give us more details when she arrives, which should be soon.”
Bob was munching toast and drinking juice when we returned to the kitchen.
“Sleep well?” I asked cheerily.
He met my gaze. “Very well, thank you, although I’m not used to getting up this early.”
I nodded. “None of us are...” I glanced to Dina. “I take it we have travel plans?”
She handed me a slip of paper. I glanced at it; four names paired with long confirmation numbers.
“We need to leave for the airport in about an hour. Seattle via Dallas.”
Bob spoke up. “When we get to Dallas I’ll call Terry for ...” He looked up for a moment, then stood. “They’re here.”
He opened the door, and moments later Kaye bounded in, practically tackling him! Gloria came in, followed by Jeanne, Linda, and Samantha.
Kaye gave him a very enthusiastic hug and kiss, finally letting him go.
And oh, when he turned to Gloria... You’d have thought they hadn’t seen each other in months. It was clear they had it really, really bad. They touched and flowed into each other, holding, kissing, oblivious to the world around them.
I tried not to sigh at the sight... “Sam, Jeanne, Linda? Could I speak with you for a bit?” I asked, and led them to the small bedroom, once again closing the door for privacy.
“Wow, they’ve really got it,” Sam said, shaking her head.
Jeanne raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know the half of it,” she muttered.
“That’s what I want to know about -- reinforcing their training -- how did things go?” I asked.
Sam hooked fingers from both hands together. “They’re tied together... She’s ready.”
I looked to Linda, who sighed.
“Kaye has a connection as well, but not the same as Gloria.” She shook her head. “It’s a deep connection, something I’ve never felt before. It’s going to be hard on her, being separated for a month.”
“A month? I didn’t think we had a timetable,” I replied.
Linda gave us a lopsided smile. “Kaye says she’ll be with you in a month. Want to argue?”
I shook my head. “No... What set her off this morning?”
She sighed. “Don’t know -- she woke up going on about how we needed to clear out, keep you away, and get you out of the area. From what I gather, something happens at the Clinic later today. We managed to see a nation-wide weather map on TV this morning, and there are nasty storms coming through the Midwest and New England -- the drive home may be longer than we thought.”
“Okay, thanks. Sam?”
She shook her head. “I was running the rest of the show. Interesting scan data on Emma and Kaye. I think one of the doctors, Barnes, is a sensitive, at least.”
“Talk about that with Dina on the ride home, then,” I suggested.
“Anything else I don’t want to hear?” I tossed out cheerfully.
On the way out of the room, Jeanne put an arm around me for a moment. “I don’t know if I envy you or not,” she whispered.
I looked her in the eye and nodded. Yes, it’s going to be one of those deals.
I didn’t get out of the bedroom -- Gloria backed me in, concern in her face, closing the door behind her.
She looked at me; her chin trembled and she threw her arms around me, bursting into tears!
I moved us to sitting on the bed, holding her and rocking her until she settled down on her own; I knew better than to interfere in something I didn’t understand.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as she sat back. I grabbed a tissue from a nearby box and handed it to her.
“You’re coming with us? And Andrea?” she managed to say.
I nodded. “Yes...”
“You’re going to ...”
Ah, I understood... “Mark him? Oh yes -- I’ll be training him as well.”
She sighed and started fluttering again.
I held her close. “Oh you... Yes, Andrea and I will take him, and we’ll take you, and you’ll get your turn with us, believe me, because we need it as well.” I held her back, looking in her eyes. “But Gloria, don’t you see? You have something neither Andrea nor I have, something we will never have...”
She frowned, questioning.
“Do you know what that is?” I asked. I felt it -- the joy, the pain, my own tears forming.
“Gloria, you have his heart -- I can see that, so can Andrea, so can Dina -- you have his heart, only you , for now and forever. I know that, and you know it too, don’t you?”
Chin wobbling, she nodded, and I held her again as she cried. But her tears were tears of joy; I could tell she understood now. Yes, it would take time for that understanding to deepen; it would take time for us all.
As we sat back, both of us drying our faces, she smiled. I could feel her strength now.
“Better?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yes. I understand. Jeanne started with me last night, I guess, preparing me to train him.”
I agreed; that’s part of what Jeanne had done, deep trance conditioning, preparing her for many things.
“Shall we?” I suggested.
She nodded; I helped her stand. We rejoined the others.
Bob looked at her and pulled her into his arms. “What’s the matter?” I heard him ask.
Gloria held him, oh how she held him. “I missed you,” she said.
He cradled her close, the look on his face one of those, “Women!” looks. He leaned closer, whispered something that I couldn’t hear, and kissed her head.
Dina smiled and shook her head, then glanced at her watch, and to me.
“Are we ready to go?” I asked, clapping my hands twice.
Kaye got up and said, “Yes, we should be going.”
She turned to Bob, putting her hands on his shoulders, but she didn’t hug him. “I’d cast the strongest Protection spell I’ve ever done in my life, but it wouldn’t be the right thing to do. Promise me you’ll be careful, and take good care of yourself?”
He looked at her and nodded. “I promise. You be good as well.” Then he swept her into a hug, picking her up, and squeezing her.
We ended up taking both cars to the airport, so people could redistribute themselves for the drive back to School. Dina and I parted with a hug and last words.
And in that time, Bob took over as leader of our band, shepherding us and our bags to check-in. We went pretty smoothly from check-in to the gate and on to the plane, Andrea and I sitting behind Bob and Gloria for the first leg of the flight.
About an hour into the flight, the pilot told us we were lucky we got out when we did -- a freak storm had closed Chicago, Pittsburgh was closing soon, and it was going to get worse as things moved East. Thank you, Kaye, I think!
When we got to Dallas, our connection to Seattle was one of the few flights not delayed by the storm -- but we had a few hours to wait, so anything was possible. San Francisco and Los Angeles were okay as well, but most everything eastbound was at least an hour off, with quite a few flights cancelled.
Bob walked off, cell phone in hand. He came back to us with a sheepish grin.
“Tell me,” Gloria said, putting an arm around him.
He kissed her on the forehead, then looked at Andrea and me, shaking his head. “I just had to convince the friend who’s picking us up to bring his van because I’m arriving with three women.”
We laughed as Andrea chided, “Don’t you mean three beautiful women?”
He shook his head. “I had a hard enough time convincing him about three...”
We made our way to the first-class lounge to wait.
What was I getting into? I reviewed plans, schedules as we walked. School would be shipping us clothes and such; we were set for a few days, but that was it. Training, binding -- the keys. Gloria to sleep with him tonight, possibly tomorrow. I needed to mark him, and soon. His training needed to start, soon. I sighed -- we need to get into a schedule.
After settling into the lounge, Andrea and Gloria decided to get lunch. I took that as a good sign; Gloria was willing to be more than a few inches from him!
And it provided me a good opportunity to start. I dug into my bag and pulled out a blank notebook, one with a plain cover. One of those brief flashes -- a vision of this same book, years from now, being handled with reverence, one of the major grimoires of the age...
And as I started to describe its use to him, he gave me a summary that was far more concise than what I’d normally give! Moira, remember -- he is no mere hatchling! He is a man already possessing significant mental and physical discipline! I mentioned Emma’s role in developing rigor in what we do -- he held no animosity toward her; if anything, mentioning her elicited feelings in him that I could only interpret as dissatisfaction with the way he’d responded.
He looked up, up to the right, recalling, suggesting he had something to start with, one to tell me about...
For a moment, our eyes connected, and more -- a rainy afternoon, in bed together, and I was holding him, suckling him, healing a deep wound in him. I felt the rush of more detail approaching -- detail something told me I didn’t want right now. I blinked and moved closer, breaking the bond. “Yes? Please tell me,” I asked.
Oh what he told me! We’d have to explore it more, but I could tell by the way he talked, the way his body remembered -- he’d been there. The depth of it, the significance -- he described being on this lonely plateau, so dark, so alone, one more time, and turning, turning for the first time, and seeing the glow of the rising sun... Oh my, about a month ago? I queried him on the date; it had to be very close to when Debra had her “hot flash” predicting this whole wonderful mess! But I didn’t want to get him too focused on that; I moved closer, touching him...
And went back to that sensation, that vision of holding him, suckling him, healing him...
As much as would have liked to explore that vision (or take him right there), I broke it off, asking if he had more...
He did, the night before Chichen Itza, seemingly presaging Gloria, Kaye, Andrea.
Silly me -- I tried to move him away from that, wanting to explore it in depth when I had him to myself... But when I prodded, he did it again.
Not only did he sense both the Daughters and Shining Strike, he sensed them as inseparable parts of a larger whole.
Yet for such depth, he didn’t understand other aspects, such as why Emma wanted their hair... I tried to explain in a way that wouldn’t make things sound worse than they were; I wanted him cautious, not paranoid!
That led us to another topic, why he was so valuable -- he couldn’t see it! I tried to explain it, placing emphasis on being a sexual slave, being used, pleasurably, but without consideration of his interests. Looking forward, I contrasted that with us offering him choice and challenge.
And talking with him about those things which took determination and time, he showed me again that he is a teacher, and a compassionate one.
And he got me to laugh, at ourselves and our own foibles! As I told him, all of us need to keep good notes on this journey!
I thought we were saved by lunch, by Gloria and Andrea returning...
When we’d talked about Emma and the hairbrushes, I’d told him I would teach him the simple spell we used to protect ourselves from such issues. I’d treated the subject lightly, both for not wanting to frighten him, and also because we ingrained it into people, making it a protective reflex...
Gloria got up to throw away trash from the two of them. I watched him go so attentive, so quickly! So focused!
He stood, gathering Gloria, walking back to the trash can where she’d dumped their debris and performed a ritual I did automatically, uncountable times every day. He moved to a different trash can, then to the first one, and back and forth for a while. Then he sat down again, Gloria by his side.
I forced a smile, but with the sense of an upcoming body blow... “What did you learn?” I asked.
I thought I was off the hook when he explained he could sense the difference between the two trash cans -- one Gloria had cleaned, the other she hadn’t. I let him know I was pleased what he’d perceived and explained.
He frowned and tore up that part of our world, explaining what should have been obvious to us oh so long ago! By doing things the way we did, thoughtlessly, we were announcing to any Sensitive or Adept who passed through that an Adept had been here! That cleaned receptacle cried out that an Adept had been there!
And if we changed what we did, oh so slightly... Rather than putting something in a receptacle and cleaning the entire receptacle, instead, clean what we were going to dump, and then putting that in the receptacle -- making it much more difficult for someone to tell an Adept has been here!
Damn... He took something cherished, like a stuffed animal I’d carried with me for so long, and ripped it to shreds -- showing me that it was stuffed with poison, and a danger to us all!
I looked at him once more, in a different light. I bowed to him. “Thank you, My Lord,” I told him, “for teaching us.” I looked to Gloria and Andrea, sitting there in shock. “Ladies, thoughts?” I asked.
Gloria was obviously shaken. She looked to Bob, then to me. “We were gone less than an hour? What happened?” she asked softly.
I sighed... “Ladies, this is our challenge! The only thing I did was to mention in passing that there was a way to deal with things we discard. He did the rest on his own!”
“And I’m still not sure just what I did,” Bob said with a shrug.
“You’ve changed one of the basic things we teach,” Andrea said.
Gloria nodded and hugged him closer. She spotted the notebook and asked me, “You’ve started?”
I nodded. “An introduction.” Then to Bob I added, “Why don’t you tell them about your home away from home, the plateau?”
He leaned back, holding Gloria and Andrea close, telling the tale.
As he described it, Andrea asked him, “Have you sketched it?”
Gloria followed up, “Have you tried looking at your hands?”
I nodded -- a standard technique for gaining control in dreams.
He replied, nodding, “Castaneda suggested that.”
I sat up. “Who?”
“Castaneda -- Carlos Castaneda. Heard of him?”
“Yes, you met him?” I asked.
He spun a tale of meeting Castaneda and two of his cronies in the mid 70’s -- while we weren’t sure about Castaneda, we knew he traveled with Adepts as well as with opportunists. Bob spoke of having lunch with them, and got a far away look in his face. I saw the goose flesh spread up his arms. “He told me, ‘You’re not a snake, not a bird. What are you?’”
It was taking more to startle me... Clearly, an Adept had seen this in him. I probed a little on the date; neither important nor indicative as far as I knew, not like his dream-vision a month prior to this trip...
After a period of silence, he offered, “It’s them -- the bird, that’s the raptors, the women we saw. And I turned the cards into the Three of Snakes -- they are the other side of that coin.”
“We call them Shining Strike,” I acknowledged.
“Mortal enemies,” Gloria added.
He smiled but shook his head. “Stand up. Please, stand up for me.”
Gloria looked confused, but stood.
He touched her, first the front of a leg, then the back. “You have muscles here, and here. Are they fighting?”
“What?” she asked.
“Are they fighting? They’re in opposition, are they fighting?”
“No...” she said, still sounding confused.
“They work against each other, but they are part of the same whole. One cannot function without the other. They are different, but still parts of the same whole.”
“How do you know?” I asked, smiling.
“About the bird and the snake? I don’t know -- I’m guessing. I feel it. Murky dreams, birds with scales, snakes with feathers. A lot of things. But one can’t exist without the other.”
I confirmed it for him, and the others. Such insight! “He’s right... I’ll have some material sent out. They predate European contacts with the region, that much we’re sure of We’re not sure just how far back they go; perhaps you can add to that knowledge.”
“From a distance,” he suggested.
“From them? Oh yes, I think so!” I agreed.
He sighed and rested his head on Gloria’s shoulder. She smiled and held him. Andrea gave me a look of wonder.
It was that combination, physics and yoga -- the sets of disciplines. Accepting, but looking for rigor.
I dug out my phone. “I’m going to make some calls. Be back in a few,” I told them. Andrea nodded as Gloria held our foundling.
I walked to the other end of the lounge, passing the waste bins as I did, extending my awareness as I did. My, did that ever stand out! A bunch of “normal” feeling bins with traces from people, and then one that was dead, silent, cold! Walking past the door, I found another cold, dead one -- I might have done that one myself, dumping in a tissue after wiping my nose, performing the cleaning ritual without thought. What a retraining effort that was going to be!
I called Dina. They were still on the road, moving slowly through snowstorms of increasing intensity. I told her first about Castaneda, a little about his home away from home, and then hit her with the cleaning ritual.
“Oh my!” was her response. She chuckled a bit, and added, “I think I can make George’s day with that one! Damn! How long is it going to take to reprogram a habit of how many decades?”
“But we have to do it,” I reminded her.
“Oh, yes! You’ve provided a quite plausible explanation how some of our people have been exposed in the past -- we’ve been doing it to ourselves!”
“And with the best intentions,” I reminded her.
She sighed. “Which leads us to savor the situation all the more, and wonder how many others we have like it!”
“This would be a good one for Emma to ponder,” I suggested.
“Yes! Yes it would! Well dear, I think I’m going to let you go before you drop another one on me! I think that’s about all we can take for one afternoon. If we’re lucky, we’ll be home before you! Thank you so much for the call!”
I laughed. “My pleasure! You can tell George I’m sure we’ll have plenty more where that came from!”
“Oh, I’m sure of that, dear!” In a more serious tone, she continued, “Take care of yourself, and the others. I have the feeling we’re not out of the woods, not by a long shot.”
“I agree. You take care as well.”
We closed out the conversation; I availed myself of the facilities before returning to the group.
Phantasy in Progress
Rev 02/04/2005
Between Shelters
By silli_artie@hotmail.com
http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/artie/www