Book 1 of “The Catalyst” Series
Chapter 13: A Male Watcher Raises Questions, One Mystery Explained
Waking up the next morning, I rubbed my eyes and immediately sat up and glanced at Cate’s bed. Unfortunately it was empty, unmade and apparently never slept in. I sighed and collapsed on the bed.
“She never came back, huh?” Patricia asked, rolling over and flicking the hair out of her eyes.
“No,” Allison answered. “She never came in all night.”
When I glanced at her, arching my eyebrow in question, she blushed. “Being a ‘party girl’, I’m used to staying up nights. And carrying large amounts of cash on me, I’m also quick to wake up at the slightest disturbance.”
I nodded, that little mystery solved but still worried about my sister. The four of us went about our morning preparations separately and without discussion. I didn’t even ask about anyone’s evenings, and they seemingly knew enough not to ask me about Cate. The girls understood I was still debating things with myself. No one even bothered to explain where the other women were, as I was too preoccupied to worry about it. If they needed me they could contact me instantly, so the fact they hadn’t contacted me must mean they were OK. For Cate, though, I had no such assurance.
Although I felt better about my disagreement with Cate about including these women in my life, she still weighed heavily on my mind. I didn’t really need to worry about the unimportant stuff. Among the unimportant stuff were any more concerns about what I’d done the previous day. Worries about having to cure people, or being noticed for doing so, suddenly seemed strangely immaterial. 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. “No say anything,” Anh counseled, “she might be wait downstair.”
“And if she isn’t? What then?” She simply shrugged, conceding that would be a problem.
When I opened the door my parents were still putting things into place, straightening shirts, skirts and other assorted items. They didn’t even notice Cate’s absence.
“Uh, Mom, Dad…?”
They both turned and looked at me, noticing my concerned looks.
“Yeah, there’s nothing wrong, is there?” Mom asked.
“He probably found another girl, or maybe he’s upset because he didn’t,” my father cracked. But when I didn’t laugh at his joke, he turned and regarded me seriously.
“Cate left the room last night and never came back,” I told them. Mom immediately looked concerned but Dad remained calm.
“Anything you want to tell us about?” He asked, glancing at me with that look that fathers have that says ‘I know you did something, so you might as well admit it now’. It rarely works, but they always seem to think it will the next time.
However, he reacted to something Anh did behind me, and simply shrugged in response. “As usual, it’s probably better that I don’t know,” he responded gruffly, probably more for my mother’s benefit than anything else. “Let’s head down to the dining room and see if she’s there.”
Mom still looked worried, fiddling nervously with her dress, but she didn’t say anything, and I wasn’t about to volunteer anything that I didn’t have to. We all morosely trooped downstairs together. When we got to the lobby, Cate was sitting in a big overstuffed chair. Mom started to rush to her but Cate 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 worried, I was terrified of what I’d done to our relationship, and the girls were concerned with trying to make me feel better, which meant that I had to act happy so I wouldn’t upset them too much. What a great way to start the day.
As we entered the dining room—which Cate was right about, after several days it was getting a bit repetitive—Natalie was there to direct us to our table. She, like the rest of us, didn’t say much, and I worried what her issue was.
Once we all sat down, Natalie stepped up to me and handed me something. “I think you need to see this,” she said. As I watched everyone’s reactions, I realized that things had changed as everyone waited for me to respond, all the other issues temporarily forgotten. I realized then that everything revolved around me now. My parents were still officially in charge of me—at least for now—but when something important happened, everyone turned to me.
Taking it, I casually glanced at it. It was the local morning newspaper, folded up. I didn’t think much of interest 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 reactions 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 reading 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 witnesses 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 more interested in some Jambalaya than in the approaching end times.
“The respondents report they know he’s an angel mostly from comments from others. The man himself appears very low key, seeking to avoid the limelight. His followers, those he’s ‘saved’, typically fall to their knees and rant about visions and ‘brilliant emanations’ that are invisible to us mere mortals. They accompany him about town, much like Jesus had his disciples or Judas Priest 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. He seems to gather people of various ages, nationalities and religions. It seems one of these was a mature Asian woman who immediately began speaking in tongues with the young Divine being before a great number of witnesses, 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, 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 with a heavy sigh, glancing around the table watching how everyone responded. “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 sagely offered, unintentionally twisting the source of the information.
“No, it’s not,” I insisted, my voice rising with my anger, frustration and fears. “The last thing I need is someone in the media taking an interest in this. It’s bad enough having people following me 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, speaking in a calm placating tone.
“Maybe you should call the reporter who wrote it and talk to him?” Cate suggested.
“Yeah, right,” I scoffed, turning on her and venting my frustration on her instead of my actual target, who I wasn’t willing to face firsthand. “‘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,” Cate responded defensively, unused to my attacking her with dismissive hyperbole. “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.”
That simple summation stopped me and I seriously considered 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. For years I’d tried to protect Cate from school yard bullies, despite my being only a little bigger than she was, and while I rarely attempted to defend myself against the same bullying, it grated on me when they hurt those close to me.
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 surrounding 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, burying my head in my hands “Now the whole city knows about what we’ve been doing. I can picture each of the people surrounding us during each of our incidents talking about it. Once this reporter starts asking them questions, they’d probably supply him with plenty of information.”
“You know, chances are it’s all those people who’ve been watching you in such fascination this week,” Patricia suggested. “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 a lot,” I considered her suggestion.
‘Just relax, eat your breakfast 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 managed to relax and enjoy a nice leisurely breakfast while ignoring 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. She still didn’t engage me, but she no longer refused to even look at me—which although a minor concession, was an improvement nevertheless.
We took our time eating and conversing—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 as I found a secluded corner where I prepared to make the call, the girls watching anyone approaching me so I’d be warned. 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 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….” I began, before he cut me off impatiently.
“Yeah, yeah, you’ve seen this angel too have you?” He asked, sounding like he was tired of responding to the many calls describing details of my life over the last few days. I had a feeling this wasn’t going to go well.
“No, you don’t understand,” I fumbled, not having a clear idea of what I was trying to say. “I’m the one they’re all talking about and I—”
“Wait, you’re the one they’re talking about?” he asked, suddenly stopping, the interesting in his voice peaking. “What’s your name, kid?”
I laughed, knowing better to fall for that. “I don’t think that’s any of your business and I don’t really want to—”
“Look,” he said, speaking bluntly, “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.
I laughed again at his cute attempt to manipulate me. “We both know that isn’t true,” I told him seriously. “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, his voice sounding awestruck. He seemed to be unable to believe that 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 told him, wanting to ensure I got my main point across before he started digging for information. “I’m certainly no angel. Hell, I’m not even religious.”
“They say you resurrected a dead person in the Business District yesterday,” he countered, trying to get me to respond. He succeeded.
“He wasn’t technically dead,” I pointed out, sighing in frustration that he’d been gathering the latest information since writing his article for today’s paper.
“But you don’t deny doing it?” he asked, sounding excited. “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,” I told him, trying to temper both his excitement and any attempt on his part to get me to confess to more than I wanted to. “Everyone has the wrong impressions about this. I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t give the story any more credence.”
“I’ll tell you what,” he said, his voice suddenly turning friendly and reassuring, “how about if you come down and I’ll interview you? You can provide your own side of the story.” Now THAT got my attention. I immediately ended the call by hanging up unceremoniously.
“Well, that could have gone better,” Patricia offered.
“I guess we should have expected that,” Cate said, putting her hand on mine sympathetically, her voice taking on a solicitous tone. “After all, it’s his job to ask those kinds of questions.” After saying that she got this funny look, as if suddenly remembering she wasn’t speaking to me. She quickly blushed, yanked her hand back 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 asked, calling for ideas. I knew that I was in over my head, and I’d already come close to making the problem worse.
“I’m not sure you can really 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 media, it almost always blows up in their faces. I think your best bet is just to lay low and simply ride it out.”
“That might be easier said than done,” I replied, glancing around at all the people surrounding us in the hotel’s dining room, considering the likelihood any one of them may report my presence here for the last week to Mr. Rodriguez. “If the hotel staff is aware of my activities, and if these people curious about me have been following me for several days now, it’s only a matter of time before he comes to the hotel asking for me.”
“We’d better contact Natalie,” Shani suggested.
Before I could even respond Allison handed me her phone again. “I’ve got to admit,” I mumbled to myself, “this kind of thing is much easier using my method.”
It took a little while to get ahold of her, making me think it would have been faster simply searching for her and talking to her personally. “What about it, Natalie?” I asked, once I’d explained our situation. Even though it took longer going through her, I thought she’d know the hotel hierarchy well enough to get us a better hearing than if we approached them on our own.
“I don’t know,” she hedged, pausing as she considered the various hotel staff she could ask. “Let me talk to the hotel manager. He should be in now, and I’d rather give you his response rather than what the other lower level employees think.”
“That makes sense, but it wouldn’t hurt to remind them to keep quiet as well,” I suggested before she hung up to talk to the manager personally—if she could. Seeing as there was nothing else that we could do, we all trooped back into the main lobby to report what had transpired to our parents while we waited for Natalie’s report.
We waited for about another ten or fifteen minutes until she returned. She wasn’t smiling, however.
“It took a while to get the hotel manager, I had to go through a couple of people,” she explained. “He said he’d talk to the reception desk and try to spread the word around, but he thinks he can keep a lid on the staff ‘gossiping’ but he can’t guarantee anything for more than a day or two.”
‘I think you should get out of town, at least for the day,’ Anh suggested.
“That’s probably a good idea,” Allison agreed, since I included everyone on Anh’s contributions. “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 great idea. How about we all go back to the beach at Biloxi?” I suggested, rolling my eyes as I continued, speaking sarcastically. “It’s far enough away that no one should notice a lone boy, his family and six women following him around.”
‘That won’t work,’ Anh said. ‘It’s too crowded. I know a nice beach that the Vietnamese community uses. It’s out of the way, and no one there would ever notice you.’
Turning serious again I considered the options. “Anh’s got an idea, but we’ll have to see what we think about it tonight. Natalie, tell the manager that we may be forced to pull our reservations because of this. See if he can get us a refund or something,” I suggested, worrying about Dad’s expenses as much as everything else I was juggling on my plate at the moment.
“You know, I doubt Natalie will have enough influence to refund us anything,” my father said. “But that’s OK, we’ll pay for the lost night. It’s a small price to pay to avoid this kind of trouble.” I was glad we were all of a like mind.
Everyone agreed it made sense. Not being able to do anything else, we headed off to wander the city once again. However, once 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 figuring they were waiting for some celebrity or politician to protest, we 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, apparently quoting some obscure Bible verse I didn’t recognize offhand.
I stopped and just stared at him. “What?” I intelligently replied.
“I will follow—”
“Yeah, yeah. I got that,” I told him, waving my hand as if waving the meaningless reference away. “What the hell does it mean?”
“It’s from Luke 9:57. It—”
“I don’t really care what it says,” I told him abruptly, treating him just like I treated the people calling the house trying to raise money for the fictitious Police Protective Fund. “What the hell do you want?”
“I want to follow you,” he assured me, staring up at me intently as he remained on his knee.
“Why?” I asked, looking down at him, trying to figure out what he was looking for.
“What do you mean why?” he asked, as confused as I felt. This was getting us nowhere!
“I mean, why do you want to follow me?” I told him, waving my hand in a hurry-up motion to show just how impatient I was getting.
“You’re an angel, I want to follow you. I want you to lead me—”
“Yeah, it’s not going to happen, bud,” I told him rudely. I couldn’t believe my only male follower would just happen to show up just after the newspaper had reported about me in the paper. “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,” I told him, getting visibly angry. Anyone who was drawn to me by the energy I gave off would be able to convey that easily enough, but only a fraud would fumble for an excuse to follow me. “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 knee looking confused, mumbling piteously behind me. Everyone quickly fell in behind me, also wanting to get away from the scene he’d just created as soon as we could. 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 everything we were doing. Apparently the entire crowd outside the hotel was there looking for me, but since they weren’t actually drawn to me like the girls were, they had no idea what I looked like. Now that the one guy had alerted them to who I was, they were all following after me. It was clear 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 challenged him impatiently, ready to brush him aside just as I had the last guy.
“I heard you with that other guy,” he hurried to explain. Instead of trying to project an image of knowing more than he did, this guy looked doubtful, unsure about himself. “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.” When he finished he just stood there. He didn’t try to crowd me or force himself on me like the previous guy had.
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 carefully back. He had a few little marks on his face but nothing major. He literally looked whiter than white bread, and this is coming from a WASP himself. The look wasn’t helped by the bright blue shirt and the clean, brand new white undershirt beneath it.
“Who have you been talking to?” I challenged him, assuming he must have spoken to someone like Natalie. I couldn’t believe he was legit simply because I’d never encountered a man who was drawn to me yet. “Has somebody told you what to say?”
“No one has told me anything,” he said, seeming to grow more confident by the fact that I hadn’t rejected him out of hand. The fact that I allowed him a chance to justify himself to me seemed like I’d just given him a tremendous gift. “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 your other followers, and I know that I’m not like those with you, but—”
I still didn’t know what this guy’s deal was. Clearly he couldn’t be on the level, and while I might have been willing to discuss the matter any other time, the pressure of the crowd behind me didn’t give me the time to play nice. “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, quickly backing away and shaking his hands as if to wave the affront of his presence from me. “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 said, hesitant to ask me to do this given the current situation, both between us and the one we were in now.
His simple answer was enough to convince me that he fit in with the other watchers, which intrigued me. What’s more, his natural deference clearly marked that he didn’t feel worthy of demanding I consider him. He was clearly a ‘Watcher’, as Cate had described the people like Natalie and Rebecca, and Cate was also clearly 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 that morning, and I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.
“OK, that’s enough,” I told him, making a snap decision, figuring I owed Cate enough to grant her this little favor. “You pass. Get in the damn car and we’ll figure out what the hell is going on with a few less people following us.”
I was in no mood to hang around with everyone observing 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 started walking, and the guy quickly fell in behind me. Turning, I told Cate as quietly as possible so my voice wouldn’t travel far, “Call Natalie and arrange to have our luggage sent to Allison’s.” I figured if we have further trouble, we might need to move to Shani’s, which is further from the heart of the city.
Anh had run on ahead while I’d been held up, so she was holding the car door open for us, even as Allison was behind the wheel, prepared to take off. I quickly looked for my parents, but the crowd was following me, so they had an easier time sneaking away unnoticed. I quickly got into the car, followed by the new guy, who quickly shut and locked the door as Allison turned sharply and tried to get away from the people following us. We couldn’t have fit everyone into our small family car, and no one beside Patricia had access to a van, which she didn’t drive around town that often. Brooke and Rebecca were working today so they hadn’t come with us, as was Natalie. I assumed that Anh rode with a sullen Cate and my parents. Cate had asked me to take the new guy along for the information he could potentially apply, but she was still not ready to deal with me yet.
“Wow, this is unbelievable. The Angel Alex has—” the new guy started to say, staring at me in fascination while ignoring the people trying to catch up to Allison’s car as she weaved in and out of the cars in the parking lot before I cut him off.
“Okay, first of all, I’m no damn angel,” I told him, still speaking abruptly, even as I tried to temper it somewhat. It wasn’t his fault that he’d waited until the worst possible moment to approach me. “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.
“What’s your name?” I quickly asked the guy, turning only long enough for him to answer.
“Peter,” he said simply.
‘Would this Peter 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 knew 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. This 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,” she replied with a laugh. She had a point, though. “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 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 Peter.
“Man, this is cooler than I ever imagined,” he said in a reverential tone, his eyes wide open and staring at me in fascination. “Who were you listening to before? Is that how you speak with God?”
I’m sorry but I got a little cross. “I don’t speak with God,” I quietly stressed, my voice tight with barely suppressed frustration. “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,” Allison and Patricia both finished audibly for me, while Anh did the same telepathically, completing my oft repeated statement for me.
“Yeah, I repeat myself,” I replied with a laugh, honestly amused—especially now that the pressure was off from Cate, my parents and the crowd, “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,” Peter hurried to assure me. “I was just making the obvious connection that first occurred to me,” he explained.
“OK,” I told him, finally relaxing enough to get 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, glancing at Allison and Patricia in the front seats.
“Sorry for being such a jerk before,” I told him. “Things have been a bit stressful this morning.” I could tell he was about to ask about it, and not wanting to rehash it all I quickly refocused the conversation by introducing everyone present as well as listing 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 pointed out, eyeing me warily, concerned about potentially unintentionally threatening me with his own interest.
That concern struck me as odd, and prompted a question that was bugging me. “If you knew I was being secretive, then why has everyone been talking to the press?” I asked. He started to reply but we were distracted by Allison’s ringing phone. I waved him off as she passed it to me 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 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,” he responded, eyeing me even more warily. “What’s this all about?”
“We’re still trying to figure you out,” I admitted with a shrug to indicate I really had no clue whether there was any real factual evidence to what I was suggesting. “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, 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 need some anonymity to accomplish what I need to do.”
“And just what is it you’re trying to do?” Patricia asked from the front seat, smiling at my obvious discomfort.
“I haven’t managed to figure out a specific message yet,” I explained to both her and Peter, growing annoyed by everyone’s assumption that I behave as if I was an angel possessing all the answers of the universe. “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 acknowledgment 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 cocked his head as he considered it for a moment.
“Just one that I can think of. It’s mostly a bunch of women. If this didn’t feel so important,” he explained, making hand motions to indicate the energy being shared between us, “I’d feel really out of place.”
“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 had occurred that day. 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 approach 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 me 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 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 appreciated 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 next to me, and how I was just as fascinating as everyone had imagined. I couldn’t help it, it decidedly lightened my mood and brought a smile to my face.
“Now, I’m sure there’s a lot that you’re wondering about,” I told him seriously after he hung up, turning to look him in the eyes, mostly because I could, unlike the girls who couldn’t meet my gaze. “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 that would account for your presence.
“Oh, just one more thing,” I hesitantly mentioned, shuffling nervously, not at all sure how to address the issue. “You, uh…, aren’t going to want to have sex with me are you?”
“Uh, I’ve never thought about getting involved with another guy before but if that’s what you want,” he replied, looking nervous about my response, but potentially willing if I insisted.
“No, no, that’s fine,” I hurriedly assured him. “I’m not really into any of that, myself. 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.
That response, more than anything else, made me reconsider how these ‘Watchers’ viewed me. If this guy was willing to let me do anything I wanted with him—even though he had no desire to engage in gay sex—then that definitely showed that I could literally ask them to do anything. That idea scared the CRAP out of me! There was just too much responsibility in that. I’d have to watch myself every moment, to ensure I never asked for something that someone may not want to do, knowing they’d feel obligated to do it anyway. As they say, ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’. But I had no desire to become yet another self-serving cult leader!
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 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 in Boloxi without any difficulty, helped in no small part by our ability to communicate effortlessly and instantly. 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 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 advice.
After a lot of consideration—my thoughts flipping between Cate, the newspaper article and this new problem I’d inadvertently labeled ‘the Watchers’—I was unable to come to any clear decisions. I swore I’d apologize to Cate, and then figured I should just be quiet and not embarrass her. I told myself things had gotten out of hand, and then informed myself she’d been happy enough to participate before things fell apart. That thought 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. Dictating how everyone else dealt with the issue would only further complicate the issue. 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 on 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. The time alone didn’t do much but it helped me organize my thoughts.
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.
Shani had given me a key, over my objections, so getting in wouldn’t be a problem. The ride was awkward, as now neither Cate nor I was speaking intelligibly. The girls tried to comfort me but I just told them I was busy thinking about the newspaper article and stewed 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, stood in the middle of the room, hands firmly on his hips, and sternly announced, “All right, everyone. Let’s just put our cards on the table. What’s the problem?”
“There’s no problem, Dad,” Cate immediately replied, even though she refused to look at me even as she said it. “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.”
My father glanced at my mother hopelessly, 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. They were discussing the issue telepathically so they wouldn’t have to confront everyone else with it. I 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 went to dinner, despite the fact 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.
“Uh,” Peter said, nervously addressing me midway through the meal, “are you mad at me for something that I did? You haven’t really spoken to me since we all got in the car this morning, and if I did anything I shouldn’t have I—”.
“It’s nothing you did, Peter,” Cate assured him from across the table. “I think it’s something personal between us,” she said, not volunteering any details. However, that simple assurance seemed to reassure him somewhat, so nothing more was said on the subject. But it reinforced another worry of mine; that I really had to watch how I responded to everyone. Any slight variation on my part could cause those around me to blame themselves, or fall all over themselves trying to make amends for perceived slights. But instead of making me try to be more outgoing, it made me even more sullen, and I volunteered even less. It seemed the more that Cate came out of her shell, the further I climbed into my own. I could tell everyone was concerned about what effect it was having on me, but again, no one was willing to confront me about it.
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 improving 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, kicking off the conversation. “Tell me a little more about yourself, what is it that you do?”
Peter’s entire face lit up, showing how excited he was to speak to me, which only reinforced how dumb I’d been to avoid him all day long. “I work as a barista at a nearby coffee shop; you know, someone who fixes all those fancy coffee drinks at those little over priced stylish shops,” he stated with a smile, showing he didn’t take his position too seriously. “But after I 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?” I asked, dumbfounded. “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. But then again, that’s what the girls were doing as well, so I really should have been used to it by then.
“Are you kidding me?” he exclaimed. “You’re the most exciting thing to happen to me. 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.
“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 adults, I meet interesting people all day, the hours are flexible and I’ve got great benefits.”
“Hey, sounds like my old job,” Allison stated with a big grin, not bothering to supply him with any details.
“I’ve got a couple of siblings and my family lives nearby. They all think I’m crazy to be doing this, following you around that is. Wait till I tell them I actually 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?”
“Darice Chavira, she’s a cute little Hispanic girl from Houston,” he explained.
This was getting more interesting all the time. These people must hang out talking about me so much that they know each other on sight and by name. They were forming their own community here around me! “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,” he acknowledged with a shrug.
“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. He was so excited I was sure he was going to start telling me how exciting it was to meet me again. Frankly, that was the last thing I wanted to hear.
“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’m not 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 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 Cate was still upset and I had been so moody about it. 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, neither Cate nor I looking at each other, while everyone else spent all their time watching us to see if we’d crack and say something. It didn’t even register to me what program we were watching. Although I was purposely avoiding looking at Cate just so I wouldn’t freak her out, I kept glancing at her out of the corner of my eye, and I was constantly listening in case she said anything to me, but it just didn’t happen. I didn’t want to watch anything after the trouble last night—which had been triggered by watching another seemingly innocent movie—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 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 said, speaking softly as if there was any chance of us being overheard all by ourselves on the wide open street. “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,” she explained, slowly laying out one piece of evidence after another, as if leading a mouse lost in a maze to the closest exit. “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.
She tried to look at me. She couldn’t, of course, but she leveled with me anyway. “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 so I’d pay careful attention to her next words.
“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 it. 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. On the other hand, the past several nights, she wasn’t so much watching me as she watched all of us undressing and fooling around, so I could see Shani’s point.
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 getting so involved with watching 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.
The further we walked, the closer we got to the room, the lighter my steps became until we were practically skipping 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,” Cate chirped, not sounding entirely happy about it, but she was at least feeling better enough to be speaking to me now.
“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 I just tried to ignore it. If the theory was true, she certainly wouldn’t reveal anything while sitting around watching 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 forward.
“An Unknown Attraction”, and the sequel, “Trying To Be Normal”, are available at:
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