Chapter 13: He Met a Man Along the Road to...
Waking up the next morning, I sat up and looked over but Cate's bed was still made, unslept in and empty. We went about our morning preparations separately and without talking, everyone understanding I was still debating things with myself. No one even bothered to explain where all the other women were, as I was too preoccupied to worry about it. If they weren't pressing me then they all must be OK. Although I felt better about my recent troubles with Cate, she still weighed heavily on my mind right now. I didn't really need to worry about the unimportant stuff. Among the unimportant stuff were any more concerns about what I'd had to do yesterday. I simply hadn't given it a thought since the movie had started the previous night. Both Anh and Allison held my hands when my parents eventually knocked on the door.
"Don't say anything," Anh counseled, "she might be waiting downstairs."
"And if she isn't? What then?" She conceded that would be a problem.
When I opened the door my parents were still putting things into place, straightening shirts and skirts and things. They didn't even notice Cate's absence.
"Uh, Mom, Dad...."
They both turned and looked at me, noticing my concerned looks.
"Cate left the room last night and never came back." Mom immediately looked concerned but Dad remained calm.
"Anything you want to tell us about?" He asked. He reacted to something Anh did behind me, shrugging in response.
"As usual, it's probably better that I don't know. Let's head down to the dining room and see if she's there." So we all morosely trooped down together. When we got to the lobby she was sitting in a big overstuffed chair. Mom started to rush to her but she headed her off by getting up and walking away.
"Let's hurry up and eat," she said over her shoulder, "I'm getting tired of always eating here every morning."
So, my sister was upset, my parents were concerned, I was terrified of what I'd done to our relationship, and all the girls were concerned with trying to make me feel better. What a great way to start the day.
As we entered the dining room, which after several days was getting a bit repetitive, Natalie was there to direct us to our table. I'm not sure whether she observed our combined moods but she didn't say much until we all got to the table and sat down.
"I think you need to see this," she said. I looked up, thinking my father would respond, but she was handing something to me. I realized that things had changed as everything revolved around me now. My parents were still officially in charge of me for now, but when something important happened, everyone turned to me for advice.
Taking it, I casually glanced at it. It was the local morning newspaper, folded up. I didn't think much of it until I saw the title of the article she pointed out. I quickly started skimming it as a feeling of dread slowly overcame me. All thoughts of my sister's upset or the previous day’s activities were wiped from my mind. When I glanced up I noticed everyone looking at me, even Cate, who previously hadn't wanted to make eye contact, so I started to read the article out loud.
"It's an article from this morning’s local Times-Picayune newspaper entitled "Angel Seen in New Orleans." There was a collective gasp when everyone heard the title, but I just continued, wanting to get through this as quickly as I could.
"There's been a lot of strange talk about town the last few days, and it has to do with an Angel visiting our fair city. No, this isn't like when someone sees the Virgin Mary's image in a shop window or a local statue cries. Instead, several local residents and visitors alike are reporting that an actual angel has been seen frequenting some of our local haunts. While most of the observers of this phenomena were reluctant to use their names, fearing reactions from friends, family and employers; each was quite adamant about what they had seen or heard on the subject.
"It seems this Angel isn't your typical angel with wings flitting about the sky. Instead he's young, male, and is seen frequently wandering about the French Quarter. I guess maybe he's interested in some Jambalaya instead of the coming apocalypse.
"The respondents report knowing he's an angel mostly from comments from others. They say several have been 'saved', and they all seem to fall to their knees before him, speaking of glowing lights emanating from him that are invisible to us mere mortals. Apparently he's been collecting a group of followers that he's given the 'gift of sight' to, that accompany him about town, much like Jesus had his disciples or Judas Priest has its roadies. You take your pick as to which is more apropos.
"And he's not particular about the recipients of his blessings being Christian either. Apparently he's also bestowed them on Buddhists, as well. It seems one of these was a mature Asian woman who immediately began speaking in tongues with the young Divine being, calling him a "Great Spirit" instead of the traditional appellation. It seems she and a small child conversed in tongues with this spirited angel for quite a while. He also apparently favors hearing the sins of women over men for some unknown reason. Perhaps he considers them more 'spiritually endowed'?
"Whatever the case may be, I'll continue to listen to this intriguing story. That's one thing you have to say about this town, we just don't do things in the usual way."
"Well, that's it," I informed everyone. "Anyone have any opinions? Personally I'm thinking maybe it's time we got out of Dodge."
"This certainly isn't very good news," my father offered, unintentionally twisting the source of the information.
"No, it's not. The last thing I need is someone in the media taking an interest in this. It's bad enough to have people following me all around, but it's another to have my name and picture splashed across a newspaper as a possible religious fraud."
"Now there's no sense getting overwrought," Shani offered.
"Maybe you should call the reporter who wrote it and talk to him?" Cate suggested.
"Yeah, right," I scoffed. "Hi, this is your friendly neighborhood Angel, otherwise known as the Great Spirit and sometimes double dipping as the Angel of Death; I'd like to request an interview?"
"No, not like that. Just call him up and explain it from your perspective. Tell him you've never claimed to be an angel and that people are ascribing characteristics to you that don't apply. The guy wrote it as a funny article, it doesn't sound like he's taking it seriously."
I thought about it. My first inclination was to simply protect everyone around me and take off, but I simply bristled at the idea of some intellectual bully forcing me to do something just because he could. My feeling here was to stand up to this little man. But I thought maybe Cate’s middle ground was a better choice. Perhaps I could simply talk it over with him and try to get him to tone it down a little. That would helpfully minimize any complications or fallout to anyone around me.
"You know, you may just have a point," I told her, considering just that approach. "You know this paper, Natalie, do you know the reporter? Does he do any investigative reports? Is he likely to cause us any trouble?"
"Sorry, Alex," she responded, "I'm not really familiar with him. I only noticed it because a couple of the waitstaff were commenting on it and one of the girls showed it to me, knowing that I know you and having heard a couple of things herself."
"Great," I groaned, "Now the whole city knows about what we've been doing."
"You know, chances are it's all those people who've been watching you in such fascination this week," Patricia suggested. The others that I never heard about last night had joined us for breakfast this morning. "We've gotten so used to seeing them that we don't really think about them anymore, but chances are they've been watching you and talking amongst themselves. There've been some of them around for just about each of your encounters."
"Yeah, that makes sense. I can picture that. It would explain I lot," I considered her suggestion.
"Just relax, eat your breakfast calmly and collect yourself. It'll take a bit before the paper's offices are open so you can be ready for when you need to call him," Anh suggested. It was perhaps the most reasoned response so far. So I relayed the suggestion to everyone else and we all managed to relax and enjoy a nice leisurely breakfast despite all the unpleasantness that had been occurring since yesterday. In fact, the news was so disconcerting that Cate forgot she was supposed to be ignoring me.
We took our time eating and talking, well, all of us except Cate that is, until 9:30 rolled around. We figured we'd give the reporter time to get in and get his morning coffee before we bothered him. The girls accompanied me back to our room where I prepared to make the call. I lamented that we didn't have a speakerphone, so Allison offered me her smartphone, which did.
"Hello, News Desk," answered the pleasant female voice.
"Good morning," I greeted her. "Can I speak with a Mr. Albert Rodriguez, please?"
"One moment please," she informed me before putting me on a nondescript recording. A few minutes later the phone was picked up again.
"Rodriguez here, what can I do for you?" He wasn't exactly the most articulate or polished individual I thought.
"Mr. Rodriguez, I'm calling about that article you wrote for today's paper...."
"Yeah, yeah, you've seen this angel too have you?" He asked, not even giving me a chance to get my question out. I had a feeling this wasn't going to go well.
"No, you don't understand. I'm the one they're all talking about and I..."
"Wait, you're the one they're talking about? What's your name, kid?"
"I don't think that's any of your business and I don't really want to..."
"Look, everyone assures me the angel's name is Bob, so if your name isn't Angel Bob then I've got no reason to talk with you," he responded in a snide manner.
"We both know that isn't true. If you know that much, then you know my name is Alex. I'm not going to bother giving you my last name because I'd like to keep a little bit of my personal life personal."
"You're the mysterious Angel Alex?" he asked, seemingly unbelieving he'd actually gotten me on the line. "Man, you're just the person I've wanted to speak with."
"Before you start, let me just say that everything they're saying is untrue. I'm certainly no angel. Hell, I'm not even very religious."
"They say you resurrected a dead person in the Business District yesterday," he countered.
"He wasn't technically dead," I replied.
"But you don't deny doing it. The police couldn't stop talking about it. You've made quite an impression in our little city."
"Look, I really don't want to create a stir. Everyone has the wrong impressions about this. I'd really appreciate it if you wouldn't give the story any more credence."
"Hey, I'll tell you what, how about if you come down and I'll interview you? You can provide your own side of the story." THAT got my attention. I immediately ended the call unceremoniously.
"Well, that could have gone better," Patricia offered.
"I guess we should have expected that Alex," Cate said. "After all, it's his job to ask those kinds of questions." After saying that she got this funny look, as if she suddenly remembered she wasn't speaking to me and quickly blushed and turned away from me. Still, I was too keyed up to worry about her being upset at the moment.
"OK, thoughts, people, what can I do to head all of this off?"
"I'm not sure you really can do much," Allison suggested. "After all, look at all the trouble executives, celebrities and politicians have when they try to deny that they've done something in the papers. I think your best bet is just to lay low and simply ride it out."
"That might be easier said than done," I replied. "If the hotel staff is aware of my activities, and if these people have been following me around for several days now, it's only a matter of time before he comes to the hotel asking for me."
"Let me go talk to Natalie," Shani offered.
After she did, she returned to give us the news. “She said she'd talk to the people on the reception desk and the hotel management. She thinks she can keep them from saying anything but she can't guarantee anything for more than a day or two.”
"I think maybe you should get out of town, at least for the day," Anh suggested.
"That's probably a good idea. I'm sure either I or one of the other girls can put you and your family up if you don't want to stay here," Allison suggested.
"That's a good idea. How about we all go back to the beach at Biloxi? It's far enough away that no one should notice a lone boy, his family and six women following him around," I told them all while rolling my eyes. "We'll have to see what we think about it tonight. We'll tell Natalie we might have to pull our reservations and see if she can work out something with the management to get us a refund or something."
We all trooped back downstairs and told the parents what the new plans were.
“You know, I doubt Natalie will have enough influence to refund us anything,” my father told me. “That’s OK, we’ll pay for the lost night. Avoiding this kind of trouble is worth paying for an extra night.” I was glad we were all of a like mind.
Everyone agreed it made sense, so we decided to head off. We walked out the front door and were greeted by a small crowd waiting outside. We were a bit confused about what was going on but ignored it and continued on to the car. About halfway there a young man walked up to me and dropped to his knees.
"I will follow you wherever you will go," the man said.
"What?" I intelligently replied.
"I will follow...."
"Yeah, yeah. I got that. What the hell does it mean?"
"It's from Luke 9:57. It...."
"I don't really care what it says. What the hell do you want?"
"I want to follow you."
"Why?"
"What do you mean why?"
"I mean, why do you want to follow me?"
"You're an angel, I want to follow you. I want you to lead me...."
"Yeah, it's not going to happen, bud. Tell me why you're interested in me. If you can convince me I'll take you on, but I think you're barking up the wrong tree. You've got no idea what it is that I'm looking for. Convince me I'm wrong," I told him.
"I... I want to... I believe..." the man mumbled, unable to complete a full sentence.
"You have no idea who I am, what I represent, what I'm looking for, or what I do. Get the fuck away from me you damn poser. I'm not a damn angel. I'm just a kid on vacation." I stormed off leaving the poor guy on his knees looking confused. Everyone quickly followed behind me. We were almost at the car when another young man stepped up to me. I sighed in exasperation, noticing that we now had a crowd watching what we were doing. I assumed they were all here because of the publicity following the newspaper article. They'd probably talked to a few of the people who'd been watching us for the past few days and figured they'd jump on the bandwagon.
"Yes?" I asked impatiently.
"I heard you with that other guy. I think I understand. I don't really know why but I feel drawn to you somehow. I can feel you are important, that you are someone I should be following. I don't know what you represent, but I know you are somehow important to my future."
I looked at him, confused, taking him seriously for the first time. He was white, very white, in that he was quite pale with fine dark hair combed back carefully. He had a few little marks on his face but nothing major.
"Who have you been talking to? Has somebody told you what to say?"
"No one has told me anything. I've been watching you for a few days. I've felt drawn to you but I didn't know what to do. I saw you with the others and I know that I'm not like the others with you, but...."
“Look, I’ll grant that you sound like you know what you’re talking about, unlike chowderhead back there,” I remarked, indicating the first guy we’d just bypassed, “but I’m not sure we’re ready to take someone else on right now.”
“Oh, OK, I didn’t mean to impose,” he quickly apologized. “I just thought, given that...”
“Alex,” Cate broke her silence to say, “I think you need to reconsider this. He clearly represents a break from the other watchers. Maybe we should, think about it?” she asked, hesitant to ask me to do this.
His simple answer was enough to convince me that he fit in with the other watchers, which intrigued me. Cate was right, he clearly didn’t fit in with the rest of the watchers, simply because he was the only guy we’d ever seen among them. Still, I wasn’t in the best of moods this morning, but I figured I owed it to Cate to do her this little favor. So I made a snap decision, still wanting to get out of here as fast as possible.
"OK, that's enough. You pass. Get in the damn car and we'll figure it out what the hell is going on with a few less people following us around." I was in no mood to hang around with everyone watching us. If all these people figured out where we were staying it certainly wouldn't take a reporter long to figure it out either. I told Cate to call Natalie to arrange to have our luggage sent to Allison's. If we had further trouble, we might have to move to Shani's, which was further out from the city proper.
We all quickly got into the car, actually a couple of cars. We certainly couldn't fit into our small family car and none of the girls were the van type. Well, aside from Patricia that is, and she hadn't thought to bring her touring van today. None of the new girls could go, as they were all working, as were Natalie and Shani. As a result, I ended up in the lead car with Patricia, Allison, and the new guy, while Anh volunteered to ride with a sullen Cate and my parents. She’d asked me to take Peter in for the help it would give me, not because she was ready to deal with me yet.
"Wow, this is really neat. The Angel Alex has..." the new guy started to say before I cut him off.
"Okay, first of all, I'm no damn angel. Secondly, I need quiet in the peanut gallery, I need to think. We really need Cate to figure all of this out," I said as we tried to make our way out of the city as quickly as we could. "This isn't supposed to happen."
'Anh, can you get Cate to offer a guess on what's going on with this guy?'
'She says it's possible we were mistaken,' she replied. 'It may be that males who have a single gene aren't merely carriers but are actually as affected as both Natalie and Rebecca are. On the other hand, this guy may just have a double X chromosome as well. It's not unheard of. He could actually possess a XXY set of chromosomes. There's some syndrome they label it as but she doesn't know the name of it. She says she remembers most of this just from a single article she read about it. People with this inherit an extra chromosome so they actually have the full female set, plus an extra male chromosome. It wouldn't necessarily show up on any tests, and it's likely he wouldn't ever know about it. Either one would be a viable alternative, but he's the only one we've observed so far,' Anh explained.
I knew we could trust Cate's love of scientific questions to override her discomfort with me, especially when we were separated in different cars. So either our theory was wrong and there were actually a bunch of guys who were drawn to me as well, or this guy actually had an odd set of chromosomes and likely didn't know it.
'Would he have any symptoms from such a condition?' I asked her.
'You'd better ask Rebecca,' she replied. 'Cate's not real sure, as she's never studied that particular condition.'
I hit that right off the bat but, since I couldn’t communicate telepathically with Rebecca, I tried Brooke first.
'Brooke? Sorry to disturb you, but this is Alex and we've got a little problem that your expertise may help with.'
'Yeah, like anyone else is going to be speaking to me telepathically,' she snidely commented. 'Go ahead, I'm busy with a patient but I think I can talk with you and function normally as well. The telepathy stuff is neat.'
I briefly described what the problem was and she quickly cut me off, telling me this was beyond her expertise. I thanked her then asked Allison to call Rebecca and she passed me the phone. “Rebecca? This is Alex. There really isn't a rush, but we need to know about guys with XXY chromosomes. Specifically whether they'd show any particular symptoms, how you could test for it, that kind of thing,” I told her.
“What's this about?” she asked.
“We've just found a guy who claims to be like you and Natalie, and it blows all of our little theories to hell. We're going to either have to explain it or develop some new theories.”
“Hmm, I bet Cate would love the chance to invent some new theories,” she teased.
“So, have you got anything or not? I'm sitting here with him right now and I've got no idea how to approach the whole thing,” I replied.
“Well, I'd suggest just talking to him. I know a little bit about it, but we never see cases like that unless they have specific medical problems. They think it's more widespread than is commonly thought, but there's no specific test for it so no one really knows how prevalent it is.”
“So basically there's no way of knowing if he has it or not?” I pressed.
“Not without a full genetic workup, and even then it's frequently missed,” she advised.
“OK, it wasn't a lot of help but thanks anyway. We appreciate it. Keep up the good works there at the hospital.”
“Will do, what's happening with you? You sound distracted,” she asked. So I briefly gave her a rundown about the events of this morning. She was concerned about the news of the newspaper article, and said she'd talk to the local staff about keeping quiet but that no record was ever entered about my ever having been there. We signed off and I turned back to the new guy.
"Man, this is cooler than I ever imagined,” he said, clearly excited. “Who were you listening to before? Is that how you speak with God?" he asked in a reverential tone.
I'm sorry but I got a little cross. "I don't speak with God. I'm not a damn angel, I'm not a great spirit, I'm not the angel of death, and I'm not Jesus. I'm...."
"...just an average kid," everyone else in the car said together, finishing my oft repeated statement for me.
"Yeah, I repeat myself," I replied, "but it's true. We need to get this whole religious thing put to bed. I don't mind anyone believing whatever they want or even thinking I was sent by God, but I don't report to him and I've never met the man. Right now I'm just as confused as everyone else is."
"Hey, man, I'll believe whatever you tell me to believe. I was just making the obvious connections that first come to mind," he explained.
"OK,” I told him, getting back on track again, “you're wrecking all the theories we have about what's been going on, so we're at a bit of a loss. Basically you're not supposed to exist. Previously the only people to show a propensity for this kind of thing have been female.”
"Oh, I wondered about that," he replied.
"Sorry for being such a jerk before and for being rude now as well. What's your name by the way, mine's Alex." I proceeded to introduce everyone present as well as list those in the other car.
"Uh, my name's Peter Hammond. Should you really be telling me all of this? So far you've been fairly secretive about everything," he asked.
"If you knew I was being secretive then why has everyone been talking to the press?" I asked in response. He started to reply but we were distracted by Allison’s ringing phone. I waved him off while I took her phone again.
“Hey Alex, it's Rebecca again. I just spoke with a colleague who knew a little more about the topic. He says someone with it would usually have smaller testes during childhood, maybe be a bit taller than normal, be rounder and generally more feminine including having more breast tissue as a result of having additional estrogen in their systems.”
“Thanks for the feedback, Rebecca, but I'm a bit busy talking to him at the moment. I'll get back with you later.”
After she said her goodbye I returned my attention back to Peter.
"OK, sorry about that, I got distracted for a moment. Real quick, excuse me if I'm being rude but how are your balls?"
"My balls?" he asked, blinking in surprise.
"Were they small as a kid? Are they still smaller than average? Do you have larger breasts than other guys?"
"Uh, no, thank you very much. What's this all about?"
"We're still trying to figure you out. Someone suggested you might possess an extra female chromosome which might account for your being here. If so you might have some of those symptoms."
"Nope, sorry, but I'm as much a guy as anyone I've ever met. Guess you'll have to come up with a new theory," he answered with a smile, which I liked. It showed he wasn't letting me intimidate him. That was nice to see so soon after meeting. It usually took the girls a bit longer before they started to disagree with me.
"Look, you seem like you're tied into the, uh, I guess the 'watcher' community; could you give someone a call and tell them I really don't need anyone speaking to reporters? Right now I kind of need some anonymity to do what I need to do."
"And just what is it you're trying to do?" Patricia asked, smiling at my obvious discomfort.
"Right now I haven't managed to figure out a message," I explained to both her and Peter, "but, if I'm only limited to 15 minutes of fame, I'd hate to waste it on a time when I have nothing specific to say." Peter merely nodded in acknowledgement of my statement as he dug out his cell phone.
"Oh, by the way, are there any others like you in the whole watchers' movement?" I asked him. "I mean, are there any more guys who feel drawn to me?" Peter looked up from his cell phone to regard me. He seemed to think for a moment.
"Just one that I can think of. It's mostly a bunch of women. If it didn't seem so important I'd feel really out of place," he informed me.
"Great, another nail in the coffin of Cate's leading theory," I lamented. "Go ahead and make your call." He began talking while I considered everything that was happening today. The fact that Peter screwed up our theories was intriguing but wasn't really serious. We still didn't know more than we knew, if that makes any sense. What was more important was that the press was on my tail and that there was an organized community of watchers who had been following me around and talking about everything that I'd been doing. We really should have guessed it was happening. We'd known about all the people that were fascinated with me but weren't quite drawn enough to actually come up to me. The fact that they'd have something in common just didn't occur to us for some odd reason.
Back to basics, though, it was nice that Cate was still interested in helping us out, but I chalked that up more to her sense of curiosity than it reflecting any easing of her discomfort with me. It still upset me greatly that I'd hurt the great relationship that Cate and I shared, and I hated the idea that she didn't feel she could talk to me now. I felt glad that Anh was there to look after her for me. It was kind of like having my presence there without my actually being there to intimidate her. I guess my appeal didn't cover my being an ass!
I wasn't trying to listen in to Peter's conversation, but, in a small car, it was hard to miss. It was short, just his passing on my short message plus his giggling like a little girl about how he was actually sitting in a car with me, and how I was just as fascinating as everyone had imagined.
"Now, I'm sure there's a lot that you're wondering about all of this. Clearly we don't know all that much yet but I'll leave it to the girls to fill you in on the basics. You’ll probably want to speak to Natalie, as the two of you fit in the same category. Basically there are, as you've probably noticed, two classes of people who are attracted to me. There are those who have a deeper attraction and who have the capacity for additional abilities. Unfortunately you're in the lesser group of people who feel an attraction but don't quite have whatever is needed for the next category. I guess we'll keep to the theory that the girls will describe to you, as it still explains so much, but it seems to be lacking in a universal explanation of events," I told him after he hung up.
"Oh, just one more thing," I mentioned before I finished with him. "You, uh..., aren't going to want to have sex with me are you?" I asked, thinking of everyone else's reaction after they'd fallen under my sway.
"Uh, I've never thought about getting involved with another guy before but if that's what you want," he replied.
"No, no, that's fine. I'm not really into any of that. It's just that everyone else seems to gravitate to that, so I wasn't sure whether you would too," I said, relieved he didn't seem to be insistent. While I didn't have anything against gays, I wasn't sure I wanted to try comingling quite yet.
"So, even though you'd never thought of it before, you were willing to try it with me?" I asked, once again perplexed by the attitudes of those I found around me.
"Well, sure," he answered honestly and without hesitation. "Meeting you is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me. If all I have to do is something like that, then it would be a price I'd gladly pay. Heck, even if it isn't my first impulse, I'd gladly volunteer to do it just to fit in with everyone here," he assured me. I was utterly confused by everyone's apparent dedication to me again. There just seemed to be no end to it.
After that I left the girls to bring Peter up to date while I again sat contemplating the new state of affairs. Just when I thought I had a handle on things everything goes to hell. Isn't that just typical? I guess I got cocky, pardon the pun, with Cate over all the attention the girls have been lavishing on me lately. The same could be said for our having underestimated all of those watching us from the periphery. I'd have to watch my complacency in the future; it could really hurt us if I allowed us to forget ourselves again. After that, I mostly settled down to worrying about what I'd done to Cate, as I tuned out the conversation in the back of the car.
We managed to get to the beach without any difficulty, helped in no small part by the ability for us to communicate effortlessly. Everyone was too nervous about events to risk stopping, despite the unlikelihood of anything happening. When we got to the beach it was pretty empty. It was still early in the year and it was chilly, but it was still much warmer than home so I had no problems with it. We simply wandered the beach pointing out things and playing around. The water was really a bit too cold to spend much time in. Cate would respond to questions but didn't volunteer much or directly address me. Everyone noticed the friction but didn't comment on it. I spent most of my time considering my options for dealing with my impending notoriety. I wished my sister was speaking with me because I could really use her input.
After a lot of thought, running between Cate, the newspaper article and this new problem I'd inadvertently labeled 'the watchers'; I swore I'd apologize to Cate, then figured I should just be quiet and not embarrass her. I told myself things had gotten out of hand, then informed myself she'd been happy enough to participate. That triggered something and I observed that she hadn't participated until just last night, and apparently that was the problem. She didn't mind being a voyeur, but she felt she'd crossed a line by actually getting involved. I decided I'd get Mom and Dad to agree to let her sleep with them, but then figured she could speak for herself. Above all I figured all the sex antics in the room had to stop, especially anything involving Cate. Especially anything involving Cate and me!
Obviously there was a lot of attention focused around Peter. I'm sure Cate wanted to speak to him so I made myself scarce in order to give her the opportunity, heading off with Allison and Patricia, leaving everyone else to deal with talking to Peter. The time alone didn't do much but it helped me organize my thoughts some more.
Eventually we all headed off to a local seafood place for lunch, again largely silent because of Cate's solemn mood and my preoccupation. During the meal I heard from Shani, who suggested we might head over to her place and help her begin packing if we were looking for things to do, so we all agreed. Well, everyone except the silent Cate that is. Of course that also led to a group discussion of all the missing participants for Peter's sake.
Shani had given me a key, over my own objections, so getting in wouldn't be a problem. The ride was awkward, as now neither Cate nor I was speaking intelligibly at all. The girls tried to comfort me but I just told them I was busy thinking about the newspaper article and sat in my own silence.
I let Shani know we would be invading her space and she asked what had been going on. Not wanting to embarrass Cate further I just mentioned the problems with the article and how we'd met Peter and all that had entailed. She said she thought she could get off early, so she'd meet us at her apartment to help us organize her stuff. Finally she signed off, stating we'd talk later. When we arrived at Shani’s, Cate and I both moved to separate corners of the small apartment to start packing in relative solitude.
Dad finally had enough and sternly announced, "All right, everyone. Let's just put our hands on the table. What's the problem?"
"There's no problem, Dad," Cate replied, "I'm just tired and don't feel like talking is all. I'm not upset at anyone. Alex and the girls didn't say or do anything. I'm just a bit moody is all."
My father looked at my mother, nonverbally asking the eternal question men always ask when they can't figure out a woman's moods, but my mother just shrugged. She didn't know either. I guess they didn't share those particular details with each other.
When Shani came home hours later she was met by a wall of silence. She came up and gave me a hug but I hardly returned it, remaining emotionally distant and distracted. She hugged me anyway, then went and cornered Anh. I could detect their mental connection, since I was the source of these abilities they always seemed to have to go through me to mentally speak with each other, but tried to block it out, only adding "assist Cate however you can". They did so, further enhancing the silence that befell us all.
We soon all went to dinner; there was still a fair amount of packing left to be done but we'd managed to accomplish quite a bit in the little time we were there. Over dinner Cate started to finally come out of her shell, responding more to the others and laughing at some of the silly jokes. This time I was the silent one. Peter asked if I was mad at him for some reason, but Cate assured him that "No, I think it's something personal between us," which seemed to reassure him somewhat.
We finished up before much longer and returned to the city after making arrangements to stay at Allison's. Shani had a nice apartment but, after packing all day, there really wasn't much left for her to entertain with. Cate's mood continued during the return trip, as did my preoccupation with all the new items on my proverbial plate.
It occurred to me that I'd just spent a large portion of the day with Peter and hadn't yet gotten to know much about him. I told myself that I'd have to rectify that, as well as promising, once again, to do something to clear up the trouble with my sister. Lastly, I figured we'd have to look into the situation with this watcher community tomorrow. At least that was something I could have a little control over.
“So, Peter, I missed a lot of the discussions you had with everyone today,” I said, starting off the conversation. “Tell me a little more about yourself, what is it that you do?”
“I work as a barista at a nearby coffee shop, you know, someone who fixes all those fancy coffee drinks at those little stylish shops,” he stated with a smile, showing he didn’t take his position too seriously. “But after I first saw you a couple of days ago I took the rest of the week off so I could follow you around and watch you in operation.”
“You’re kidding? Why would you take off work just to watch...? Never mind. Stupid question I guess, I’m still trying to wrap my head around all of this stuff, so excuse me if I’m a little slow picking it up,” I told him, surprised that someone would abandon their job just to follow someone around with no hope of getting anything out of it.
“Are you kidding me? You’re the most exciting thing to happen in my life. The other people I met following you around are all equally as fascinated with you. However I was surprised when I discovered that your girls are even more dedicated than they are.” Well, that was saying something; those watching me were slightly less obsessed than my girls were.
“What about school, families, friends?” I prompted him.
“I attended the University of Louisiana only to find I couldn’t get a job. But I’ve enjoyed working as a barista. I’m surrounded by a bunch of other active young people, I meet interesting people all day, the hours are flexible and I’ve got great benefits.”
“Hey, sounds like my old job,” Allison stated, not supplying him with any details.
“I’ve got a couple of siblings and my family live nearby. They all think I’m crazy to be doing this, following you around that is. Wait till I tell them I’ve finally met you.”
“So the bunch of you just wander around, waiting for me to show up every day?” I asked him, still not able to comprehend such behavior. At least with the girls they all approached me directly. This was like they were roadies, following a band across the country just hoping they’d get noticed at some point.
“Pretty much. So far you’ve been pretty dependable, although you tend to do something different every day. Darice was the one to tell us where you were staying. Since then we’ve been watching where you went in the morning and have been tracking you ever since.”
“Darice?” I asked him.
“Darice Chavira, she’s a cute little Hispanic girl from Houston,” he explained.
“So just how many of you get together every day to talk about me?”
“It varies, most people can’t get off of their jobs, and a lot of them are here on vacation or only for the day. Obviously there were a lot more of them this morning.”
“Yeah, so I gathered. What’d the others say when you asked them not to speak to the press for me?”
“Man, they couldn’t believe I’d scored an invite from you. They were all excited for me and...”
“Yeah, yeah, about the press thing,” I had to prompt him again.
“Oh, they agreed to it immediately. We’d been a bit nervous about it initially, not knowing where you were going or what you’d think about it. Since none of us knew what you were trying to accomplish we didn’t know how you’d feel about the publicity.”
“Yeah, I wasn’t very enthused about it,” I reminded him.
We talked a bit more. It seems the girls had brought him up to date pretty quickly. I figured I’d either have to permanently invite him into our group, or this watcher group would know all of my personal details. It was yet another thing for me to obsess about, I guess.
Since there wasn’t too much room at Allison’s, the girls had gotten together to figure out whose turn it was tonight. I’d thought it would have been the new girls but instead it was just Shani and Allison. I think they didn’t want to embarrass Cate by exposing her to any people who hadn’t seen her meltdown the night before.
Mom and Dad went off to a nearby bar with Anh to unwind, while the rest of us crashed in Allison’s room, unsure of how we’d all react. Since Mom and Dad would be taking the only available spare room, Cate either had to sleep on the tiny couch or share the room with us. For some strange reason Allison had a decent couch in her bedroom. She also had a giant flat screen TV in the bedroom. It seems her bedroom was the center of the whole apartment. As a result we all ended up in the bedroom.
We just sat there watching something on television. It didn’t even register to me what it was. I hadn’t wanted to watch anything after the trouble last night, and tonight didn’t improve my responsiveness to it. I tried a couple of times to apologize to Cate but she kept waving me off, halting me before I could get more than a couple of words out.
“It’s nothing you did,” she insisted, “Now just leave it alone and watch the funny show.” I eventually turned over and pretended to doze, listening to the three women laugh at the television. I finally got exasperated and announced I was going for a soda. Instead I walked out on the street, only to be followed by Shani. I waved her off but she came up to me and hugged me anyway.
“Don’t take it so seriously,” she insisted. “She says it wasn’t you that’s bothering her.”
“Of course she’d say that,” I responded. “It’s always ‘It isn’t you, It’s me’, isn’t it?”
“Look, I really shouldn’t say this, but I was thinking. She’s been getting involved watching us all fool around together hasn’t she?” I nodded, so she continued. “And she was certainly happy fooling around with me while you were going down on me wasn’t she?” Again I nodded. “She only got upset when you suddenly kissed her.” I didn’t respond but she continued.
“I don’t think she was upset that you kissed her. After all, you were busy sniffing her crotch yesterday. Personally, I think maybe she was enjoying some latent tendencies vicariously through us. When they came to fruition she grabbed on with both hands. When you kissed her she just jumped in, only to pull back confused a moment later and then everything went to hell.” I nodded for her to continue, certainly understanding the events but not her understanding of them.
“I think she discovered last night that she likes women. She thought she’d like kissing you, but I’m guessing she didn’t find kissing you to be as exciting. I think that’s why she ran away. Again I don’t think it’s you she’s rejecting, I think she’s having a hard time figuring out who she is.” When I still didn’t get it she gave an exasperated sigh and stopped us both to look at me. Well, as much as she could anyway.
“I think Cate’s been watching us but mainly enjoying Anh and I. She enjoyed herself with me and figured it was OK as long as she was only experimenting, or that maybe she was just a little bi. But when she kissed you and sparks didn’t fly, I think she suddenly had to face that maybe she’s a bit of a lesbian. I think she’s been silent since then because she’s been wrestling with who she is. You didn’t do anything other than just being a contributing factor.”
I stopped and considered what she had said. There was a certain logic to her words. It all made sense when taken together. I reviewed our history but never saw any indication of any lesbian tendencies. She certainly dressed and acted girlie enough. She enjoyed dressing up and dancing and all. I couldn’t remember any of her dates in particular but I knew she’d been on them. I just didn’t know how much she’d enjoyed any of them. She never looked longingly after any girls or seemed fascinated by any of them.
As if picking up my train of thought, which certainly wouldn’t surprise me by any stretch of the imagination, Shani responded.
“Many women never have any clue they’re gay until after years of being happily married to a guy. They’re first inclination is over a first girl-girl kiss. She doesn’t need to have ‘acted’ gay to be gay, Alex.”
I shrugged and walked on as I contemplated all this new information. It did explain an awful lot. Her so getting into watching all of us act out our own wild impulses. Her participation in the shower, after all, Anh had ended up washing her, not me. Even when I dried each of them could be explained more by the fact that she was standing naked beside two attractive naked women than by whatever I was or wasn’t doing on my knees. After all, I didn’t actually do anything to her other than just pat her dry. But this new information wasn’t making me feel any better. Nor did it feel any more intuitive to me.
“If it is true,” she continued, once again jumping ahead as if reading my thoughts, “we’ve all got to be especially careful. After all, wrestling with oneself over being gay is one of the leading causes of suicide.”
Now that was something I didn’t need in my head! I was feeling guilty enough for pushing her when she wasn’t ready. I didn’t know if I could cope with the idea of her committing suicide. I’d never be able to forgive myself for that.
“We’ve got to support her. Especially you,” she insisted. “She’d be devastated if her own beloved brother treated her any differently because she found out she wasn’t built like she’d always pictured she was supposed to be. She needs your love more than anything else right now; your love and understanding. Don’t let your own insecurities stand in the way of your supporting her in her time of need, Alex.”
I turned, grasped her in a big hug and kissed her. “Thanks. I think I really needed someone to point out a better understanding to me. I’m not sure I’m ready to accept it all just yet, but I’ll try to be a bit better behaved about it all now. If I don’t,” I whispered, gently kissing her, “just kick my ass for me, will ya?” With that we laughed and returned to the room.
As we walked my steps became lighter and we practically skipped back, my melancholy lifting remarkably. We held hands and I smiled the entire way.
Entering the room I took in the silence enveloping the scene in front of the flickering TV screen. They both turned to watch us enter. I went up and leaned over Cate and gave her an impromptu hug, just holding her. She flinched noticeably when I leaned over and again when I touched her, but this new theory explained such behavior, so I just held on until she relaxed again, not saying or doing anything more. Finally I relaxed my hold and released her, gently kissing her forehead as I stood.
“I still love you, kiddo, no matter how you feel about me.” She stared at me as I marched around the bed holding Shani’s hand and flopped onto the bed hugging Allison.
“Well you’re suddenly awfully happy,” she chirped.
“Yeah, well, I figured I had to get over myself,” I replied. “Between the two of us we were bringing everyone else down. It’s best to just let life slide.”
We all resumed watching the TV, though I still didn’t pay any attention to it. Instead I hugged my two girls while occasionally surreptitiously watching Cate. She’d also occasionally glance at me, though I could detect no hidden meaning behind her glances so just tried to ignore it. If the theory was true, she certainly wouldn’t reveal anything while sitting around watching the TV. In fact, chances were she’d never reveal anything to her older brother at all, which just made me feel sad, as if I’d just lost a big part of my sister’s life from this day forwards.
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