“The Catalyst” Series
Chapter 12: A Handful of Events
Alex decided that since there didn’t seem to be too big an
alert about him, and since the paper hadn’t specifically identified him, they
could stick around the French Quarter a little longer. As much as he was afraid
of exposure, he really enjoyed the city. He didn’t feel the need to patrol the
city looking for new followers, figuring with as much attention as he’d gotten
around the city that the majority of people with either type 1 or 2 traits
would already have been detected and included into the community. So with a
fair amount of trepidation, they set out to wander the streets of New Orleans
for a few hours until it was time for dinner.
They headed northwest, trying to keep off of the busier main
streets, simply hoping to avoid any big scenes that would attract attention to
them. Alex and the other non-natives were having fun, especially since the
local girls had so much to tell them about the places they passed. They were
strolling along when they approached what looked like a protest group. Gail
stopped them and took the time to examine the area, announcing it seemed to be
a local church with an organized protest out front. She guessed the protest was
triggered by that day’s newspaper article about Alex. Looking closely they
could see signs reading “No Atheist God”, and “No God But Christ”. Neither one
particularly apt or accurate, but their meaning was clear. Thus they decided to
avoid the area but Mattie told them she wanted to head back to her place to
feed Roger before they had dinner, so she thought she’d join them later. They
wished her goodbye and started to head onto a side street when some sudden
shouting attracted their attention.
“Hey, look, it’s her!” someone yelled. Alex and his crew
turned to look, and they saw that one of the protestors had noticed Mattie.
Although the images on the video were indistinct due to distance and motion,
and the picture of Mattie had been vague, the combination of her looks with her
dark glasses and a Seeing Eye dog made it easy enough to make the necessary
connection. A group of the protestors broke off of the main group and
approached her.
Brandy, seeing this, grew upset and stormed off before
anyone could stop her. Gail, thinking quickly, grabbed Alex and dragged him
down the street at an angle so if anyone saw Brandy approaching they wouldn’t
immediately connect her with Alex. She also broadcast a message to Caitlin to
move the other girls so they were between Alex and the protest group.
That only took a few moments, during which they observed the
group gather around Mattie in an apparently angry mood.
“Are you that woman in the news today? You know, the one
that was given her vision?” one woman asked.
“Yeah, she is. Look, she can see us.”
“What kind of scam are you running? How can you give
credence to a group that says the Christian church is ‘misguided’?”
Mattie tried to avoid them but they quickly hemmed her in.
One man waved his hand in front of her face, trying to see if she was really
blind, and she swatted it away. Some more words were spoken, indistinct due to
the distance, but it wasn’t looking very good. Just then Brandy, who’d been
storming forward, reached them.
“Yo, leave that lady alone! You think you’re defending
Christianity but ya hardly doing it justice, acting like an angry mob,
frightening lonely women with hatred. You should be ashamed of yo’selves.
You’re showing exactly why they don’t think much of the Christian church.”
The group turned on Brandy, whose tirade only attracted the
attention of the other protestors. Cate also bolted after her, trying to defend
the two women, but Alex told Caitlin to hold her. This might get ugly, but they
couldn’t be sure yet. He wanted to see how Mattie and Brandy defended
themselves, and he also didn’t want to focus the group’s attention on
themselves either.
One of the group squared off against Brandy while the rest
looked around in confusion, allowing Mattie to quickly move away. However one
of the crowd noticed and he turned and approached her again.
‘Caitlin, tell Cate to record this. If something happens
we’ll need proof of what happened,’ Alex instructed.
‘Shanna, call 911 and report a disturbance. It will take
them a while to get here, and if we don’t call them now it’s likely to be too
late.’ They both did as he suggested.
“We should leave before this gets ugly,” Gail told him.
“No, we’re staying,” he told her. “We’re far enough from it
that we can get away if we need to, but I want to see what happens and provide
assistance if I can.”
They noticed a few more people, a couple of isolated women,
approaching the confrontation. One stopped and glanced directly at Alex and he
thought maybe he’d been exposed, but she turned and marched forward again and
Alex realized what was happening. As always there were Watchers following him.
They’d apparently seen the disturbance and were now rushing in to defend one of
their own.
The man who’d approached Mattie angrily waving his placard,
had drawn near enough to trigger a defensive action in Roger. Despite being
extensively trained to be social, he could detect the man’s intent and growled
menacingly at him, causing him to pause.
“What a bunch of cowards,” Brandy cried, her voice rising with
the increasing din of confusion. “You accost a blind woman who did nothing
other than have her vision restored, and blame her because someone questioned
your beliefs? How weak is your faith if someone getting healed undermines what
you stand for?”
The man who had been arguing with her previously started to
say something, but couldn’t quite think of a response, so he hesitated. By then
the other women reached the scene. One walked right up to the man who was
facing off against Brandy, said something to him, and slapped him hard across
the face. He spun around and was halfway into the motion of throwing a punch
when he caught himself, realizing he was about to strike an innocent woman in
the name of the Prince of Peace. Brandy started to shout something else, but
the words were lost amid all the activity.
One of the women reached the man accosting Mattie, who was
rapidly backing away from a snarling Roger. She shoved him from behind and he
stumbled, scrambling off to the side, afraid of confronting the angry dog.
Mattie, able to see everything that was happening, kept tight control of Roger’s
guide bar, preventing him from actually biting the man confronting her. She
knew if Roger, a guide dog, ever bit someone, he’d be put down sooner than you
could say “Excuse me?”.
The other people in the group looked around in confusion, as
they were suddenly confronted with a group of people surrounding them who were
not supportive, which is what they were here for. They’d hoped staging a public
protest would garner attention and draw people to the demeaning things this so
called ‘Angel of New Orleans’ was saying about the church. Instead they were
now losing a fight with a blind woman they’d attacked, they were arguing with a
fierce black woman who wasn’t afraid of speaking her mind, and they were about
to be beset by a crowd of onlookers. One of those on the outskirts of the group
threw down his placard and took off, having lost his nerve once he figured out
they wouldn’t be able to easily intimidate their opposition.
When he ran off several others left as well. Another woman
moved up and began arguing with Brandy, though. Despite the distance, Alex
could figure out much of what was being said via his telepathic link to Brandy.
The woman started to shout things about atheists being the Devil’s minions,
when Brandy started quoting scriptures counteracting everything the woman
claimed. It was clear Brandy not only spent a lot of time in church, but she’d
clearly studied the good book, not only the parts she agreed with but the other
parts as well. She ended up telling the woman she couldn’t pick and choose which
parts of the bible she chose to accept while claiming it was God’s law written
in his hand. Confronted with someone who could argue her points and wasn’t
intimidated by attitude, she quickly backed down.
The protest group quickly disbanded, first those attacking
Mattie and the others who’d stayed behind. Several of them shifted nervously to
the side of the church, but the minister, finally rushing out of his church,
yelling at them to pick up their ‘damn signs’ and to stay away from his church.
The entire scene had only taken a handful of minutes. In the distance they
heard a siren heading in their direction.
“That’s our sign to go,” Gail told Alex.
“But I have to thank those who helped us,” he tried to argue
as she steered him around the corner and away from the group.
“They know what they did. They also know it helped you, and
that’s all the acknowledgment they need. Knowing you did the right thing is its
own reward,” she reminded him.
Alex sent messages to the other women, arranging their
movements and making sure they would be OK. Both Brandy and Mattie remained
where they were just so they could report what had happened to the police when
they arrived. The scene was what Alex had been afraid of, but it hadn’t exactly
gone like he’d feared. That Brandy is a real firecracker, he told himself. I
wouldn’t want to be on her bad side, he thought, but then remembered her own
warnings to him.
They gathered for dinner at a nice quiet restaurant down by
the waterfront and compared notes. The police had taken a while to show up, but
Mattie, Brandy and the minister had been waiting for them, and had filed
complaints against the people who had been there, many of whom the Minister
knew. They told them that since no actual assault had taken place that there
was nothing they could do.
“What about an illegal assembly?” Brandy asked. “What about
disturbing the peace, threatening behavior or public intimidation?”
The two police officers had backtracked after that, saying
they’d file a report, but it was clear they wouldn’t do much more than that. Brandy
asked them if they could say whether they’d take any action as a response and
they informed her they couldn’t commit to that, as it was an open
investigation, despite the fact they hadn’t filed anything yet. She told them
she thought there was a video recording of the events, but when they demanded
she turn over the device she told them she merely remembered seeing one,
however, although there were a fair number of onlookers, the other Watchers who
had participated had left by then. Little did they know that Cate had already
sent a copy of the video to Lisa Woodall as well as to Patricia, with a message
to have one of the ‘girls’ forward it to both Mr. Rodriguez and to the local
television stations. If the police wouldn’t address this directly, then they’d
only have themselves to blame when the public became involved.
Gail and Alex had avoided any congregations of individuals
after that, which in the French Quarter is pretty hard to do. They’d taken
refuge in a nearby store for a while until they thought the attention had
dissipated, and then they’d headed to the restaurant to wait for everyone else.
After they’d discussed it, Alex asked for quiet and pulled
his own phone out and made a call from the table, allowing everyone in
attendance to listen in.
“Hello, Albert Rodriguez speaking.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Rodriguez, this is Alex. Have you
gotten the video link we sent you about the trouble at a local church today?
Your article is causing trouble not only for me and my people, but also for
others with no connection to me.”
“Ah, I was wondering whether I’d hear from you again. Alas,
I can see the problem, but you’ve got to admit, it’s the kind of thing that
needed to be reported, even if it causes some problems. After all, it affects
the residents of New Orleans, and your followers are becoming an increasing
presence in the city.”
“I’ll concede that, although I’m clearly trying to avoid any
media coverage. I’m not looking for attention, and I’m not selling anything to
anyone. I’m looking to connect with individuals, not religious groups, so it
really doesn’t impact any specific groups. My mission isn’t against any
group or involving any agenda. I’m simply trying to make a couple of personal
connections.”
“Ah, that’s interesting. What, exactly, is your
‘mission’?” Albert asked.
“That’s something between me and my nonexistent God,” Alex
joked, though he wasn’t sure the reporter would get it. He seemed to take it a
bit too seriously.
“So what you’re saying is that you aren’t
specifically taking a stance against any established religion then?” Albert
asked.
“Exactly. I’m not trying to establish a new religion. I’ve
got no message to deliver, thus I’ve got nothing that needs to serve the fodder
of the media. What I do and say is strictly for those I meet with. There is
no social movement here. That’s why you haven’t heard from any of what you
refer to as ‘my followers’. There’s simply nothing to convey.”
“And I’ll duly note that when I report on the troubles you
apparently alerted me to. I hadn’t been aware you were the one who sent it to
me, since it arrived anonymously, as I’m sure you know. I checked the police
reports on it, and they list a number of people as being involved. Most notably,
a certain Mattie Adams, who they list as being blind. Might that be the same
blind woman you ‘healed’? The police marked her as being blind due to her
having a seeing eye dog and glasses, but I don’t think they actually checked
whether she could see or not.”
Alex sighed theatrically, even though he’d anticipated this.
“Yes, it is. I figured you’d ask to interview her. But you’ll have to contact
her on your own since I’ve already conducted what business I had with her.”
They signed off, and Alex turned to Mattie.
“Well, you’re about to get your official 15 minutes of fame
now, I hope you’re ready for it. As a result we’re going to have to curtail our
involvement for a while, since I still want to avoid the limelight. You can say
what you want, but give them just enough to temper reactions. Tell them there
was a miraculous event and that you can ‘see’, but don’t tell them any more
details than that. Don’t tell them just what you can see. I’m sure once they
hear you can only see a series of lights and can’t pass a vision test they’ll
lose interest quickly. It will seem amazing, but hardly earth shattering.
“I’ll have one of the Sisters keep in contact with you,
since she’ll appear to be just another friend. However if I show up there would
be too many connections. Contact me if you need anything and we’ll see you get
support. Let’s see if we can support the press just enough to give them a blasé
event. That should be better than avoiding them altogether.”
They decided that sounded like a good plan, then Mattie
decided to change the topic.
“Alex, since this may be the last chance I get to ask you,
what’s the deal with this Alexandria? Is she a real person or not?”
Alex laughed, “She’s as real as I’ve been reported to be. I
only see her when she needs to see me.”
Cate cocked her head at his response, but Gail took
exception to it.
‘Alex, I understand how you want to foster the story to
take the pressure off of you, but I’ve got a problem with you lying to your
most important followers,’ she argued.
Alex considered that for a moment. “All right, let me correct
that. Quite frankly, there is no Alexandria. She was an invention of
mine designed to alleviate the fascination with me. I figured if the general
public had someone else to talk about, they wouldn’t be as interested in me
anymore. However, Gail points out that I shouldn’t lie to you about this. We
seem to be building a tiered approach to information, and I want the Seers to
know what’s real and what’s not. So here’s the official story. I’ll tell the
Seers that I’m the real deal, since they need to know it anyway. After all, no
one else is going to show up to activate them. However we’ll foster the story
amongst the Watchers, and all of you can tell your friends and relatives about
her. We need to get this story spreading if it’s to do any good. If I get especially
close to any of the Watchers, like you, Tina and Amy, I’ll keep them apprised.”
They agreed that seemed a logical approach to the problem,
which left just one more issue.
“Now, I’d like to cover one more topic. We seem to have
managed to avoid a lot of trouble by the skin of our teeth. But I still think I
can move around the city freely, but not if I have a large contingent of
women following me around all the time. So we’re going to have to split up.
Cate will accompany me, after all, she is my sister, and we should look
like any other tourists. Gail needs to be near, but she’ll remain in the
background, watching from a distance ready to jump in if I need it. Her actions
this afternoon demonstrate her usefulness in that regard.
“However, the rest of you will have to disperse. I’ll meet
Brandy and Caitlin back at Allison’s. I’ll give you my key so you can get in.
Gail has the other key so I’ll be fine without one. The big thing is to try to
get everyone to play down the recent events. I can’t afford a big entourage
anymore, and with Mattie’s help we can potentially play down my latest miracle,
so hopefully we can tamp down expectations and any further protests. I think
Albert will likely do a good job reporting on the overreaction by the church
groups, so that should work to our benefit. Is everyone clear on all of that?”
he asked
Everyone agreed with him, although he could see the
disappointment writ large across each of their faces. They each wanted to spend
as much time with him as they could, but both Brandy and Caitlin still had the
promise of that evening, so they weren’t about to look a gift horse in the
mouth. With that they split up. Alex gave the others time to get away before he
left the restaurant with Cate. Gail left before them, only to fall in
unobtrusively behind them, looking like yet another tourist.
Cate and Alex had a grand time once more walking together,
just the two of them enjoying grand ol’ New Orleans without any outward
concerns. Cate cuddled up to him, holding his hand just like boyfriend and
girlfriend. That pleased them both, since Alex hadn’t been able to spend much
alone time with Cate since they started this new trip.
They still saw a lot of Watchers surrounding them, however
whenever any of them moved toward him or attempted to follow them, Alex would
simply stare at them until they backed down. It was subtle, but he had to do it
regularly, so he hoped no one else would notice it. But he and Cate had a
wonderful time walking the street, taking in the activity and events. They both
laughed at the street performers’ antics, and he bought Cate and himself ice
cream cones, since neither could order the drinks that were so plentiful here.
Neither one looked back to check on Gail, simply trusting in
her ability to observe them quietly on her own. No one seemed to pay them much
mind, until a Hispanic-looking couple noticed them. The girl pointed them out
and they both started to head towards them. Alex once again stared the girl
down, but the boy was undeterred. He noticed the girl had dropped back but he
continued on without her.
‘Should I take action?’ Gail asked Alex, instantly on
guard. Alex hardly had the best history where other men were concerned.
‘No, I don’t think he means any offense,’ Alex
explained. ‘Your getting involved would just draw more attention to us. I’ll
deal with him. Just be ready in case something unexpected happens.’
With that Gail made a point of walking up a short distance
behind them, taking in a post card rack outside a nearby store.
The young man walked up to Alex and extended his hand with a
big smile.
“Man, is it ever good to meet you,” he told them both. “My
name is Jack Padgett. My suddenly shy sister back there is Christina. She
explained just what you’ve done for her, and it’s made such a difference in her
life that...”
Here Alex cut him off, pulling him away from the main press
of tourists into a somewhat quiet corner.
“Look, don’t talk about what I’m doing so loudly. I’m trying
to remain unobserved. Your sister backed off because she could see I didn’t
want to be noticed. If you want to talk, we can, but let’s find a little
quieter place to do it.”
The guy looked apologetic. So too did his sister, who was
looking on her brother from afar with a worried expression, so Alex motioned
her over. She practically skipped the whole way over to join them. The girl was
shorter, and they both had dark hair and fair skin. They also appeared to be in
their early twenties, and their outfits marked them as typical tourists. Jack
wore a simple T-shirt and jeans, while his sister wore a simple sundress.
“I’m sorry if Jack is getting too forward,” Christina
apologized for her brother. “Since I told him about what’s happened to me he’s
been very protective. However he’s seen the impact it’s had on me.”
As she spoke Alex steered them to an unoccupied area of the
street where they could converse quietly.
“I hadn’t been doing too well, for a long time,” she told
them. “I’d had a few problems adjusting over the years. I always had trouble
trusting people, and when I told people about my fears they’d make fun of me. The
girls at school always gave me a hard time, calling me ‘witch girl’, and no one
seemed to relate to me or to trust me. But when someone told me I was a ‘Watcher’,
suddenly they included me like I was one of them. I’ve followed you for quite a
while now, listening to all your stories. Your tales of trying to prevent
people from prejudging you really rang true for me. Because I’m not blond and
built like a typical model, girls always saw me as competition, but not pretty
or well off enough to be friends with. Guys just assumed I’d be an easy lay,
since I didn’t attract as much attention, which I wasn’t. So that didn’t
make me any more popular.”
“It’s nice to meet you too,” Cate said, trying to be non-condescending
as she tried to get her to slow down. “I’m Cate, by the way.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Christina told her. “We all know
about you. You’re almost as revered as Alex is.” Cate seemed surprised by this
information, and it shocked her into silence herself as Christina continued.
“You’ve been the one leading your brother forward, watching
out for him, protecting him. I can definitely understand that, as Jack has
always been that way towards me,” she said, once again making Alex and Cate
wonder just how far the parallels ran. But they each told themselves they’d
have to stop that reaction. Not every close sibling relation extended
into the bedroom. It was possible to be close to a sibling without getting
sexually involved.
“She was this close to getting into some serious trouble,”
Jack explained, showing them how close he thought she was from it. “Then, when
the Watcher community accepted her she turned a corner. She immediately sought out
our parents and me and told us about the genetic potential we held ourselves.
From what she’s told me, there’s even a movement to get guys like me dates
within the community, I guess as a way of intermixing the genes a bit.”
“I’m glad it’s worked out so well for you,” Alex told them,
warming up to them. He figured another couple their own age wouldn’t be so odd.
It would certainly attract less attention than a lone man being followed by a
large number of beautiful women. They started meandering the street with them
once again.
“I’ve got to say, though, I haven’t always had the best of
luck with guys,” Alex said, “so when I saw you coming towards me I was getting
a little paranoid. Especially since you seem to be large enough to be some
trouble.”
“I’ll say,” Cate said from beside him, still holding his
hand but not holding him quite as close as before, “we thought for a while he
was actually attracting women and repelling guys. However we now think we were
just overreacting. Something we’ve been known to do on occasion.”
Thus they walked together, talking to each other. Jack,
having seen what had occurred with his sister, observed Alex quietly
controlling the other Watchers reactions from afar and took note of it, but he
didn’t say anything to draw attention to it. He figured he’d ask his sister
about it later.
“So, did you manage to catch the show on Wednesday?” Alex
asked, managing to ask Christina whether she’d seen him earlier without having
to call attention to the event itself.
“Yeah, it was SO exciting. I could hardly stand it. I
didn’t manage to see what happened afterwards,” she replied, catching on how no
one was mentioning anything explicitly, “but I heard about it. I’m sorry I
missed it.”
“There really wasn’t much to see,” Alex told her. “You saw
much more in the club. Outside we just ran into trouble from the press.”
When they reached Canal Street, the lower boundary of the
French Quarter, Alex told them it was getting late and that they needed to get
back to their apartment. Jack and Christine knew better than to impose, so they
split up after they told each other how much they’d enjoyed meeting them.
A little further along, Alex decided it was fairly late and
he’d better check up on Debbie Grant, since she was supposed to contact him
when her parents finally confronted her over the events at her doctor’s
appointment that morning.
‘Debbie,’ he asked. ‘Are you still awake?’
‘Yeah, I am Alex,’ she replied. ‘I’ve been waiting
for the axe to fall and my parents to come talk to me, but they haven’t yet.’
‘I suspect they didn’t know how to react, so they’re
probably thinking about it.’
‘Yeah, Mom told Dad about it, and she sounded upset, but
I really couldn’t hear what they were saying since they sent me to my room.’
‘I think it will take some time before they decide how to
approach it,’ Alex advised her. ‘They’re in what we call denial at this
stage. They don’t want to admit what’s happening to you, so they’re trying to
pretend it isn’t happening. It’s a terrible method of parenting, but it’s
something that many parents fall into. Just wait until you have to learn about
sex all by yourself because they’re afraid to mention it to you.’
‘Yeah, I’m not looking forward to it,’ Debbie replied.
‘Believe me, it’s best to put off growing up for as long as you can. But neither of your parents is likely to
want to deal with any of these issues. Which means you’ll have to be the grown
up in this regard and protect them from the truth. Again, don’t deny it if they
ask, but if they don’t ask, just don’t mention it to them. That way they won’t
feel threatened. If you ever need to discuss it, just call me, or if you don’t
think you can discuss it with me, I can connect you to someone else.’
‘It seems unfair for me to be the grown-up,’ she
complained.
‘Yeah, it is, but that’s what the children of broken homes
or of alcoholics have to go through every day. At least you have instant access
to a whole bunch of people who know just what you’re going through. That’s
something the other kids don’t have access to,’ Alex explained. ‘Anyway,
if they do finally discuss it with you, feel free to call me so I can help you
deal with them, OK?’
‘Yeah, I’ll do that, Alex. Thanks. You’ve helped a lot.
But I feel guilty making you do something my own parents should be doing for me.’
‘There is that, but people don’t always react the way we
want them to,’ Alex sadly told her before wishing her goodnight.
‘Kelly? Did you ever make it to the city?’ he asked,
reaching out to her as well.
‘Yeah, Alex. We got here safely, but I didn’t want to
disturb you. We’ll see you in the morning. I don’t think Jenny is in any
immediate danger, but I didn’t know where else to turn, and you’d said you
wouldn’t be here in New Orleans for very long.’
‘You’re right about that,’ he told her. ‘We came
close to leaving today. Check out today’s paper if you want to see why. I’m
sure tomorrow’s will continue it as well.’
‘Then it’s a good thing I came when I did. Thanks for
sticking around for me.’
‘Hey, I believe in taking care of family, friends and...
well, I believe in taking care of those that one’s close to, and you definitely
fit in that category.’
‘Really? Even after I chased you away and ran off, trying
to get away from you?’ she asked.
‘One’s responsibilities don’t end because someone is
uncomfortable with them. Otherwise there’d be no families left. It doesn’t
matter how you feel about me. If you need me, I’ll try to be there for you,
just like I try for each of my followers.’
‘Well now I feel like a real ass for acting like I did,’
she replied.
‘Don’t. It was a natural reaction, and it was necessary
to preserve your own family. That’s what’s important to you, so you did the
right thing. But speaking of which, how’s your husband? Did you get him to come
along with you?’
‘Yeah, he came, though he complained about chasing dream
ailments the whole way down. He was also upset that I insist he take sick days
in order to travel all the way down here.’
‘Tell him he’ll feel better for it simply because now he’ll
know you didn’t come down here to fool around on him. If you’d have let him
stay the possibility you might have been arranging something would have haunted
him. But I feel confident that what you see is likely real. The only question
is whether I can do anything about it.’
‘Well, just like you have confidence in my ability to
spot problems, I have confidence in your being able to deal with it. And even
if you can’t, at least we’ll be aware of what’s going on and hopefully you can
give us some advice on what to do.’
‘I certainly hope so. Anyway, say hello to Jenny and
Henry for me and tell them I’m looking forward to meeting them again. Now I’ll
let the three of you get a good night’s sleep and we’ll see you in the morning,’
and with that he bid her goodnight as well.
Alex and Cate had been holding hands the entire time he’d
been conversing with Debbie and Kelly, and they continued to hold hands,
looking lovingly into each other’s eyes the rest of the way across town to the
apartment. There hadn’t been any chances to be close to each other since they’d
left home, and they both missed their alone time together, since they both
relied on the other so much. This time together was precious to them both, and
while it was hardly enough to satisfy them, they took what they could get,
realizing anything more could be a long time coming.
When they got to the apartment they even spent some time
making out in the hallway, just as they had outside of the apartment building.
However Gail caught up with them and cleared her throat as she unlocked the
apartment door, giving them plenty of time to break up their embrace. She was
well aware of difficulties in hiding one’s love, and she could relate to what
they were going through. She was anxious for some time alone with Alex as well.
It was hard being this close to him for so long without reaching out to him,
but she realized the role she was serving, that of protecting him, was of the utmost
importance, so she didn’t let herself get side tracked. All it would take would
be a moment’s indulgence and the whole house of cards could fall apart. She’d
had enough evidence of that already.
Brandy and Caitlin were glad to see them. Alex had expected
to catch them watching a movie, but instead they’d spent the time talking and
speculating about him. They appeared to be more than ready to get romantic
quickly, but Alex held them off for a little while so he and Cate could make
some phone calls before it got to be too late. So both girls curled up on
either side of him as Cate dialed. Brandy and Caitlin were anxious to hear from
the others in Alex’s life as well.
Their parents enjoyed speaking with them, Linda was concerned
about the risks posed by reactionary religious groups, although their father
assured them that most religious people were much more understanding than those
that typically went to extremes. However, they both thought they handled the
situation well. Their parents also told them their sisters were currently at
the loft, where they’d been spending a lot of their time recently.
Alex called Kitty and Chalise and they spoke for a while,
each telling the others how much they loved each other, and the two girls told
Alex how worried they were about him. Brandy and Caitlin, instead of being
jealous about such a demonstration, found such heartfelt displays of young love
to be terribly endearing, even as they were preparing to sleep with the object
of that devotion.
Finally Alex called the loft to talk to his girls in
Carbondale. Everyone said hello when Becky and Rebecca spoke up, asking if they
could talk to Cate alone for a few moments. Alex thought that odd, but gave
them their space as he proceeded to make out with his future bedmates, the
potential mothers of his children. But he got off of that train of thought
quickly, since he knew where it would lead. However, he kept one ear open to
the conversation with his sister.
“Wow, that’s quite a theory. I’ll have to consider that,” she
replied. “No, I don’t know what it means, and I’m a bit doubtful about it as
well. But I’ll have to consider how realistic it is and what impact it may
have.” She listened a little more while Alex kept himself occupied.
“I’m not sure how well I’ll be able to do that. I’m here
most of the time, and I’m...” she stopped to listen again. “Look, I’ll give it
some more thought, but personally I think you’re way off base. I’ll call you to
talk about it tomorrow, but I’m not too worried about it.”
Cate then put the phone back on speakerphone and everyone
said goodbye, after asking him who his newest bedmates for the night were. The
two girls were a little embarrassed, but everyone took it so well they weren’t
worried. Soon the phone call ended and Alex turned to his sister.
“What was that all about?” he asked, meaning the
cryptic secret conversation she’d had with her sisters.
“Oh, that? Never mind. It’s a silly theory a couple of the
girls had after talking to Kitty and Chalise. I don’t think it bears repeating,
but as I told them, I’ll consider it before making a final evaluation. But I
don’t want to either bore or worry you about it. You’ve got enough things on
your mind. Anyway, I’ll be getting to bed. I don’t think I’ll disturb you
tonight. I’ll fix something for you to eat, but I’ll trust you to eat it
yourself. I’ll turn in early tonight.”
Alex thought that was a strange response, but he refrained from
commenting on it in order to not make anyone uncomfortable, but he could see
from Gail’s reaction that she thought it odd as well. Cate was essentially
telling him she wasn’t going to sneak into his bed tonight, and that was
unusual in itself, since she’d been sharing his bed every night since the first
time they’d slept together, and frankly he was used to it and comfortable with
it. So far no one had complained about it, so he didn’t understand why she was
suddenly changing her stance tonight. However, he also didn’t want to second
guess her. If there was an issue, he was sure she’d bring it up eventually.
So Alex took the two women to bed with him. It was quite an
experience, given how many Alex had already had. Brandy demonstrated that there
was much to be said for a more buxom woman, and he learned to appreciate the
benefits of both bigger breasts, where she introduced him to motorboating, and
the “beautiful black booty”. She might have shown him how much fun titfucking
was, but she was afraid to waste his sperm. Brandy was also a bit of a
screamer, although she assured him that in the future, she’d likely be calling
his name out during orgasms with future partners rather than Jesus’.
“I mean, no offense, I think the world of the guy,” she
explained, “but personally, I suspect you know more about the subject, and you
have more of an effect on my own orgasms. That was truly a religious
experience if I ever had one,” she assured him as she tried to retain as much
as his cum in herself as she could.
As Alex got busy making love to the quieter Caitlin, he
considered how strange it was that Cate didn’t come in to join in the fun,
especially with all the screaming and laughing that had been echoing throughout
the apartment. While Cate very often didn’t participate, she was usually nearby
to watch, or at least to comment. But this time she kept to her word, and
didn’t even come in to remind him to eat.
Caitlin was much quieter than Brandy, though no less
impressed by Alex’s performance. She was basically a quiet shy girl, so she
simply quivered in silence when her orgasms washed over her. She was fun to
watch, but she didn’t put on the kind of show that Brandy did. Damn, where’s a
video camera when you needed one. Alex guessed he’d have to ask Caitlin to
replay her memories of the event for him sometime, just so he could remember
it, although he doubted he’d be forgetting it anytime soon.