“The Catalyst” Series
Chapter 45: A Ballgame and a Dance
After the discussions with Michelle and Lisa Woodall, I
needed a rest, but more than that I needed lunch. Entering the kitchen I found
Anh had already anticipated my needs and had some ready for me. I ate slowly,
trying to gather enough energy to keep going. Man it’s tiring dealing with so
many involved issues, and always having to keep your cards close to your chest.
Especially considering I was still recovering from being shot, without any pain
killers, and I could hardly sleep because I was trying to track random thoughts
that appeared in my head throughout the night. I knew I’d have to get a decent
night’s sleep soon, but right now I didn’t think I could afford it. Not until I
had some idea of what Rakeem’s plans were.
This morning was grueling, meeting with Michelle McCallister and her telling me the potential evidence I had against Rakeem was no
good, then having to make a deal with Lisa I wasn’t sure we’d ever want to take
advantage of, and finally handling Clara Thomas again at Lisa’s request, the
very lady who had sicced Lisa onto us.
As I began chewing, Gail sat while Anh, my mother and Natalie continued puttering around the kitchen. Nikki came in and quietly watched from the
corner. No one else said a word, knowing that Gail was anxious to talk to me
about the risk I had taken by trusting Lisa with as much as I had.
“I know,” I acknowledged with a raspy voice, hoping to head
her complaint off. “It was stupid of me to open up to Lisa.”
“Yes it was, Alex. You know perfectly well how a single
article, or just a casual remark to the wrong person, could get us all, but
most importantly you and your family, into a world of trouble,” Gail began lecturing me.
“We don’t mind trouble,” Anh insisted. “We know the risks
and accept them, but you are different. You are centrally important to
everything happening here. Without you everything ends. You must honor your new
role,” she explained in a calming but cautious tone. She knew I usually took
talk about my responsibility to her and her Sisters seriously.
I knew it was a huge risk I’d taken, but I’d learned to
trust my feelings about people, and I probably would continue to do so until it
finally bit me on the ass. So far no one I’d decided to trust had betrayed me,
at least not yet. It would only take a single time to potentially bury us, but
you still have to abide by your instincts, I told myself.
‘Just call it a feeling I have,’ I tried to explain
my actions to them, speaking mentally to save my voice. ‘I’ve generally
trusted most of my decisions about who to trust and who not to. If I hadn’t,
Gail, you wouldn’t still be friends with your girlfriends back in St. Louis,’
I pointed out.
“Generally, we trust your judgments, Alex, they’ve served
you well in the past. But you’ve been making a lot of them, and each time you
do you put everyone at risk. Now you’ve had someone try to kill you, and a
reporter acting like she wants a story about you. I think you need to review
your whole trust issue. The risk to yourself is just too high. Michelle knows you’re hiding something from her, but so far has been too polite to press you
about it. You’ve told, or accidentally revealed, many of your secrets to quite
a few people, and simply hope nobody will spill anything. Your instincts were
correct regarding Clara,” Gail conceded, “but then you went back to her out of
your concern for her, and she exposed us just as you’d anticipated. Granted, I
was one of the ones that asked you to do it, but I’m trying to get you to see
how you should approach risks differently.
“You’ve got to stop risking yourself. You are the lynchpin
of everything occurring to us. You’re the one who triggers the abilities in
everyone like us, and without you there will be no more of us. It’s time you
realize that what you represent is more important than us keeping our friends and
families close. If you get exposed, what’s to prevent one of the many people in
the hospital from telling all they know about you? Are you sure your enemies at
school don’t already know more than is healthy about you? Michelle told you how
easy it was to eavesdrop on your followers as they talked amongst themselves.
We have no idea how much she actually learned, and how much she was simply
bluffing, but the risk remains.
“What happens if Lisa decides there’s enough material to
extend her career longer than she thought? What if she decides she can end her
career with a prestigious Pulitzer? Would that make her reconsider her promises
to you? What if she does indeed follow through on her promise to you and only
releases a book after you’ve died? What happens to everyone you leave behind?
Do we all end up in a military camp somewhere? They managed that with
Japanese-Americans during World War II. You don’t think hearing about mind
reading and potential mind control would generate a similar fear among your fellow
citizens? A fear of terrorists managed to cancel most of our laws of due
process, don’t tell me I’m talking about past history.”
I sank back in my chair, most of my lunch uneaten while I
considered what Gail had said.
‘You’ve got some excellent points, but I’m not sure I can
just ignore important relationships around me just because it’s convenient. Nikki,
you still haven’t gone to see your parents yet. It’s looking like you aren’t
going to until I accompany you there. Once I’m gone you’ll all have to resume
lives in the real world. Remaining closeted together would undo everything
we’re trying to achieve. You’ve got to form normal relationships and raise
normal children, in order to give this genetic anomaly of ours a chance to
propagate. I can’t just let you all pretend the world doesn’t exist just
because I might have some problems sometime in the future. As we’ve just seen,
none of you have any idea how long I’ll be around. I’ll try to achieve as much
as I humanly can, but part of that is protecting each of you from this tendency
to run and hide from everyone not like yourselves. If and when we eventually
run into trouble, we’ll need family and friends to stand beside us willing to
assist us.
‘I’ve accepted the responsibility of looking after each
of you. Part of that responsibility is making sure each of us maintains our own
social networks. We all, but especially I, need the honest feedback of people
not associated with us.’
“OK, everything has been said, everything is understood, the
decision has been made, and there’s nothing more to do,” Anh said, dramatically
wiping her hands of the discussion. “You know we listen to you. Your say so is
enough for us.” I was surprised at their casual acceptance of a decision I
hadn’t thought was final yet.
‘You mean you’re just going to accept it because I said I
wanted to?’ I asked.
Nikki spoke up from the doorway. “Yep. We knew you were
unlikely to change how you like to deal with the world. We just wanted to warn
you of what’s involved. Like we said, you’re the one facing the most risk. If
you’re exposed, we can just pretend we were all hoodwinked and quietly slip
away. You’ve got nowhere to go if things go wrong, but again, it’s your life
you’re playing with.”
I turned and faced Gail, who remained seated while the
others were moving away.
‘So, are you giving up like the others?’ I asked, confused
by her unwillingness to continue arguing with me.
“Like Nikki said, you make the decisions and you’re also the
one who has to pay the penalty when things go south. What I’m responsible for,
though, is to keep you safe. That means I’m going to be watching your every
move from now on. You’ve had good instincts for the most part in the past, but
I’m going to be there for when things go to hell. You’re just turned 18, your
brain isn’t completely formed yet, and you’re likely to take unnecessary
chances as a result. Like antagonizing someone pointing a gun at your head,”
she replied, looking at me pointedly.
‘Wait a minute,’ I told her, wanting to clarify the
issue. ‘I want to straighten out this Alex-gets-to-do-whatever-he-wants
nonsense. Why are you all just rolling over and accepting whatever I say?
You’re beginning to make me think maybe my father has been correct all along.’
“Alex,” she consoled me, “as I just said, your impulses have
been spot on so far. I question your ability to not talk yourself into fights,
though, but somehow I trust you to do the right thing, even if it’s for the
wrong reasons. Even in the case of your provoking Rakeem, you seemed to have
gotten a response out of him that helped us figure out what was going on. We
all discussed it and decided you were unlikely to change your ways. You need
that sense of honesty and integrity to do what you need to do, which is to get
people to trust and believe in you. If you aren’t truthful with the people
important to you, I’m not sure you could pull off what you’re trying to
accomplish.”
I had to admit she made a good point. I could almost believe
it.
‘All right, I’ll concede the point. After all, it hardly
makes sense for me to argue with your agreeing with me. But there’s another
point I wanted to discuss with you. I got the distinct impression that Rakeem
is feeling more relaxed and confident. Is there something I should know about?’
Gail looked guilty and the silence drew out for a bit.
“I hate to have to inform you, but I just got word that a
local judge released him on a medical release so he could return to Chicago and
get specialized medical treatments for his supposed stroke.”
‘Yeah, I can see that happening,’ I conceded. ‘But
it doesn’t really explain why he’s so relaxed now. He’s got to have something
planned. He either thinks his lawyers can keep him from coming back, or
something’s up.’
“We’ll keep an eye out, but there’s not much we can do now,”
she cautioned me.
‘Well, it’s Thursday, which means James Jones’ game is
tonight. We’ll see if he gets himself in any trouble, which reminds me, I’d
best warn Chalise and Caroline what might be about to happen.’
Gail agreed that would be a good idea, trusting I wouldn’t
compromise the investigation in the process. Having had our little talk, they
each seemed to be happy now to leave me alone while I finished my sandwich. After
I was done, they insisted I take it easy in my father’s easy chair in the den
so I could continue healing. I grabbed my homework assignments and tried to
finish some work.
I glanced at my watch and saw it was nearly three, almost
time for the girls to get home. I had to correct myself, with so many women
around it was hard to specify girls without listing who they were, but I
usually included Cate and my two girlfriends, Kitty and Chalise, when I
referred to the ‘girls’. When I referred to my followers I usually said either
‘my girls’ or the ‘Sisters’. I passed a comb through my hair, glad once again I
was a guy and had to do so little to make myself presentable.
I’d managed to accomplish a small amount of work when Kitty
and Chalise both burst through the door and surrounded me. OK, there was a
little advance notice like doorbells and such, but still it felt like they
swooped down on me, and the end result was they hurried me out the door and
into Kitty’s car while Cate laughed at me. She offered no explanation for why
she was staying behind, nor where I was going, but she seemed to think whatever
they had planned for me was fine with her, so that was enough for me to trust
that I’d survive it. Although Cate’s laughter at my expense left me a little
nervous.
Following our discussion, Gail simply looked at me asking
the unspoken question. When I nodded at her she got up as well. I already knew
she’d let the girls do whatever they planned, but she’d quietly follow us, just
to watch that nothing happened to me. She felt like she’d let me down by not
following us home when she’d stayed behind in St. Louis so that Lisa couldn’t
follow her, since that idea had proven fallacious as she’d located me anyway.
Without explaining anything, Kitty and Chalise simply talked
about school and how upset everyone was about me as we drove to our unspecified
destination. We ended up pulling up in front of a formal menswear store. I
groaned as I was led in, and they both proceeded to lecture me on how I
couldn’t get out of treating them like royalty at our homecoming dance simply
by almost being shot in the face. I’d been so focused on everything else that
I’d nearly forgotten the Prom was tomorrow night. I knew that everyone was
expecting me there, even if I wasn’t healthy enough to attend school, so this
affected more than just the two girls. I also knew there was no winning this
argument, and simply went along with it. They already had the outfit selected,
and just needed measurements and alterations for it, which didn’t take too
long.
On the way back I took the time to undertake a difficult
task.
“Chalise, I want to warn you about something that may occur
tonight.”
“Why? Is something going to happen?” she asked warily.
“It may or it may not,” I croaked, being unused to speaking
and my voice being unsteady as a result. “I’ve released some information to the
police about your brother James. If he does what I suspect he will tonight, he
may be in a lot of trouble.” She looked confused for a few moments, and then I
could see the various pieces coalesce in her eyes.
“He’s going to do something during his game tonight?” I
simply nodded my head.
“And it has something to do with the attack on you?” Again I
simply nodded at her, letting her slowly put things together herself.
“I’m not making the connection, does it have something to do
with my father’s relationship with the guy who shot you?”
“Yeah, the shooter was a Chicago bookmaker. James made a
promise that he’d throw the game tonight by a guaranteed 4 runs, going so far
as to specify how he’d accomplish it. That was their payment for the hit.
Nothing can be traced, no payments were made, no promises made, just a case of
a bad day on the baseball field,” I explained to her. Her eyes grew larger the
farther I went in my explanation.
“Holy shit!” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe them. How
friggin’ devious. So you’re expecting the shit to hit the fan tonight?”
I had to swallow before continuing. This extended speaking
with my voice just barely recovered was quite difficult. Luckily Kitty handed
me a bottle of water so I took a couple of swigs before I began.
“It’s going to be hard to tell. If they simply lose the game
nothing much can be proven. If he makes it more obvious, he could be in a lot
of trouble with the sporting authorities, which would thereby point the finger
at your father. So it’ll either be a shitload of trouble or absolutely nothing.
I’ve got no idea which it’s going to be, but I think you’d better call your
mother and let her know what she might be in for.”
She took my advice and made a quick phone call. While she
was doing that I contacted Gail. I hadn’t been able to see her, but I knew she
was behind us.
‘Gail, we need to discuss something. I just
managed to get a clearer message from Rakeem. It seems he made a connection
while visiting the doctor and managed to arrange a hit on me. I don’t have
anything specific, but he’s gloating to himself that his problems are all going
to be over on Saturday. I don’t have any names, times or details, but I’ve got
a couple of faces I can recognize if you think you can identify them. Of course,
there’s no way we can justify knowing about it ahead of time, but at least we
know what’s coming.’
‘Shit,’ she responded. ‘OK, hold on and let me
think about this. We can’t go to Michelle or the authorities with this, but
maybe I can arrange something. I’ll have to consider it. Unfortunately that
doesn’t give us a lot of time. This is officially a shitload of trouble
you’ve landed yourself in this time.’
‘Yeah, it really is. I knew he was planning
something, but I wouldn’t have expected this. I’m guessing it was important for
him to schedule it today, so he could tell James and Rodger that I’d be taken
care of before tonight’s game.’
‘So how do you want to handle this?’ Gail asked me. ‘Should we simply move you out of the area so they can’t find you? Try for a
protective detail? Any ideas on how you’d like to try to handle this?’
‘I think we’ve got to let this play out. I have a couple
of other images of people close to Rakeem, so I can always claim that someone
associated with him paid me a visit and revealed something to me. That’d serve
to justify our knowledge, as well as to potentially undermine his trust in his
own organization when we leak the information. If I go away they’ll just track
me down. If we have the police sitting outside they’ll just grab me somewhere
else or simply wait, which means we won’t have any idea when they’ll attack. I
think we need to stick this out. Let them come to us when we can prepare for
them,’ I told her, pretending I felt more confident about it than I did.
‘I’ll have to think about this to figure out what to do,’
Gail said, sounding doubtful about what might be involved in this whole
undertaking. ‘We’ll have to get together to do a sketch, but I don’t have
access to a sketch artist since I’m no longer on the force. Plus we’ll have
difficulty getting access to Chicago crime photo books if there’s been no crime
committed. Still, we’ll figure something out. What does he look like?’
I sent her the images of the two men Rakeem had remembered,
so she could use them.
‘By the way, Gail, don’t mention this to anyone. I don’t
want anybody to panic or tip off someone who might be watching us. Besides,
the last thing I need is Cate or the girls figuring out what’s going on.’ Gail didn’t sound like she liked this last request, but she conceded it made sense. I then
returned my attention to my two girlfriends.
“Mom is pretty anxious,” Chalise told me after she finished
her conversation. “Becky thought she might be better if they came over and
spent the evening with you tonight. Is that OK?”
“I’m sure it’s fine. I’ll let my parents know.”
Kitty laughed. “Alex, everyone does whatever you say. That
whole household is under your direct control. Especially now that you are 18
and have your own place.”
“Still, it’s only polite to let them know when we’re having
company.”
“You’re such a good boy, so why is it you’re always bringing
home strange women and getting into trouble?” Kitty teased.
When we returned home the girls quickly took my tux from me
and hung it up so it wouldn’t get wrinkled, although Natalie said she’d press
it before we left tomorrow, since she didn’t think much of the job the rental
company did.
“Do we have enough corsages,” I asked, teasingly. The girls
just looked at me like I’d just told them the moon was round. I should have known
better.
Anh and Mom managed to make yet another great meal, and
everyone had a great time, no one asking what Chalise and Caroline were here
for. Afterwards they sat around and talked about Cate and Becky’s newest
theories concerning my abilities. Finally we moved to the living room where we
watched an insipid romantic comedy. Kitty seemed to like it, but Chalise seemed
preoccupied.
After it was over I headed into the kitchen looking for a
snack, where Mom stopped me.
“Hey, Alex, you’re always surprising me with little things. We
just left the den and both your girlfriends are watching a baseball game while
you’re hiding out here in the kitchen. Are they fans or something?”
“Nah, Chalise’s brother is playing a game tonight, and she
and Caroline are interested in watching it. Now, I’d better go in and make an
appearance, otherwise I’ll be accused of falling down on my job of being an
insensitive sports centered jerk,” I told her. She merely shrugged her
shoulder, acknowledging she didn’t understand and wandered off, and I returned
to watch the game with them.
My father seemed intent on the game as well, but I got his
attention and let him know through pantomime that he may want to watch the game
in his room. He rolled his eyes at me, but he got up and excused himself and
left. My sisters weren’t really into the game, so they wandered back into the
dining room to discuss Cate’s experiments, which left me with Kitty, Chalise
and Caroline.
“I’ve never been this excited about a baseball game,”
Chalise told me nervously, while Kitty held her hand. Apparently Chalise had
told her what the game meant.
Nothing much happened. I’ve never been into baseball, but I
could follow the game well enough. James was a relief pitcher, meaning he came
on once they thought they had a comfortable lead and hoped he could maintain it,
so it was a long wait. The Cubs had a solid two run lead and no one was scoring
any runs in the 8th inning, when James relieved the current pitcher.
Everyone sat up and focused on the game again at that point. Since we were more
interested in the results than on the actual play, we’d turned down the sound,
essentially silencing the normal obnoxious announcer. The play seemed normal
enough, but they managed to put a player on second when James threw a wild
pitch that resulted in two runs that tied the game. The announcer’s excitement
over that play was obvious even with the sound turned down. James then struck
out the next batter, quite decisively ending the inning.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” Caroline offered.
“But it doesn’t look very good,” Chalise countered. “He’ll
have to be more aggressive about it if he’s going to let them get a significant
lead. Hopefully, if he does, his coaches will pull him out before they can get
that far ahead.”
I chose not to say anything, but sat besides Chalise and
hugged her tightly while we waited for the Cubs to finish batting. Their
opponents kept them from scoring any more runs. Finally James was back up and
everyone was on the edge of their seats again.
He started off with a pitch that hit the batter’s calf,
earning him first base. The next batter managed to hit a single, moving
everyone up a base. However on the next throw, the catcher managed to catch the
runner on second stealing third, and threw him out before he got there. James didn’t look pleased, but everyone assumed he was upset at the jump the runner had gotten.
The following pitch was a fastball the batter missed.
However the next throw was way inside, so the batter spun out of the way,
however, in a move that demonstrated James’ precise control over the ball, he
managed to miss the batter only to strike the catcher in his throwing arm. You
could see the catcher yelling as he bent over, tending his arm. The opposing
coach stormed on the field, protesting James attempt to punish his player for
his own player’s foul up, while James’ coach held a brief conference with the
catcher. All in all it was a perfect play, as it looked perfectly innocent, but
it was obvious the catcher wasn’t going to be throwing full force for a short
while, however they decided to keep him in anyway. James wasn't very popular
with his catcher at that point, both for the changeup he'd thrown and for
hitting him.
On the next play the batter got a bunt down. The next ball
was thrown hard inside to the catcher’s sore arm, clearly going against his
signaled play, causing him to drop it, the ball rolling to the backstop.
“Passed ball,” we could hear the announcer shouting
joyfully. “The man on third scores, the catcher is having some difficulty
locating the ball. The player from second is rounding third. The catcher
locates the ball and it is a footrace. The umpire signals safe. The Cubs are
now down two runs! The catcher is having a terrible day and James looks the
victim of some hard luck of his own.”
In what was becoming somewhat formulaic, James struck out the next player with a series of blazing pitches. The score was now two runs
ahead. The following pitch was a soft hanging curve ball which the batter
anticipated, putting it right between 2nd and 3rd base.
The next pitch was a grooved batting practice fastball that even I could
recognize, but the batter flubbed it and only hit a single.
“Two out, man on first and second. It looks like they are
trying for some insurance runs,” the announcer gloated. Despite the low volume
on the sound, everyone was anxiously listening to his descriptions now.
James then threw two more fastballs before throwing yet
another easy pitch, which the batter managed to nail. With two outs the batter
and the men on base took off on contact. The outfielder managed to run down the
ball and was preparing to throw it home, but James waved him off, getting him
to throw it to him instead. Once he got it he looked around in apparent
confusion until the fourth run scored, then he nailed the throw home, putting
an end to the game with an exact four run lead, exactly as predicted.
The rest of the Announcer’s observations were drowned out by
Caroline’s gasps and Chalise’s cries. My heart sank, although I’d been
expecting it to happen all along. I’d really hoped against all expectations
that he wouldn’t have gone through with it.
The entire thing occurred just as I’d forecast, I still
didn’t know if it was decisive enough to prove anything, but it was our
strongest hand. I doubted the police would have any justification to question
him about it, but hopefully they’d be talking to the baseball commissioner,
which I assume they’d already done, potentially putting pressure on him to talk
about why he did as Rakeem had supposedly predicted.
Since no one else knew what was going on, they were
surprised when Chalise yelled and Caroline started crying. Cate and Becky entered and looked on questioningly, but I was too busy trying to calm two distraught
women. Mom and Dad also entered. Dad looked at me and mouthed “It was only a
game” to me while rolling his eyes. I let him know with a look that he’d best
not say anything as I continued to focus on the girls. Cate continued giving me
her questioning look so I gave her my patented ‘can I get some help’ expression,
and she hurried over and helped me with the girls.
“Was that what was supposed to happen?” Caroline asked me through red rimmed eyes. I nodded.
“He hit the spread exactly, and even his beaning the catcher
to keep him from interfering was planned,” I told them. “What’s more, he waited
until the very last moment in order to increase the betting odds.”
“I think we should be heading home,” Caroline said bravely.
“Nonsense, Caroline. The two of you aren’t going anywhere.
You can take the spare room if you want some privacy, but you’ll do better with
support right now.”
Just then Nikki came in with a bottle of wine and a couple
of glasses. She didn’t know why it was necessary, but she was ready to offer
assistance. It was a long evening, but we managed it without Caroline or my girlfriends spilling the beans about why the game was so important. Actually,
they didn’t know themselves, they just knew that James had thrown the game to
pay for his attempt on my life. But that theory didn’t explain why he’d be
making the payment almost a week after that attempt had failed. But luckily no
one asked that particular question.
‘It’s done,’ I told Gail. ‘It went down just like
we expected it would.’
‘I’m not surprised. I’ll give Michelle a call, though I
assume it’s out of either of our hands now. Either the Baseball Commission will
do something or they won’t. If they don’t, we may have to consider other
options. But the police can’t really get involved if the commission doesn’t
think it’s significant enough.’
‘Maybe leaking it to the press would help?’ I
suggested.
‘Possibly, but you’d need something to get their
attention, and frankly you don’t have anything that would do it. It still looks
like a weak case. I hate to say it, but if we could catch the people trying to
kill you again, and publicly tie them into the baseball game, thereby establishing
clear links to everyone, that would really get everyone excited about it.’
‘Yeah, I can see that. It’s looking like my idea of
letting the assassination attempt play out is looking like a valid option.’
‘Yeah, but I don’t like it. You are much too important to
be playing as a pawn. The problem is that no one knows your true worth on the
game board, and we can’t tell anyone about it, either.’
‘Don’t worry, we’ll work it out. But right now I’ve got
other things to focus on.’
So I spent the rest of the evening taking care of several
distraught women. I finally ended up sleeping in the spare room with both
Chalise and Caroline, all of us fully clothed. Of course that meant that
eventually the other women migrated in as well, so we ended up with a bunch of
women lying on the bed in the spare room all fully clothed. But at least
everyone managed to sleep.
The next morning I awoke temporarily confused by the sleeping
arrangements. I was cuddled up to Chalise who was nestling her mother, someone
was cuddling me but I didn’t know who, and there were women all around us. I
stretched and started to get up, which wasn’t an easy thing to do in such a
crowded bed.
‘Good to see you’re up,’ Anh told me. ‘Natalie and I will be in to grab everyone’s clothes and press them. Caroline and
Chalise didn’t bring any clothes, but we have enough people here I think we can
find them something to wear.’
‘That’s good, I’m not sure how well everyone slept. They
were up tossing and turning pretty late, but it would be good to get them
active so they don’t spend too long thinking about things,’ I told her, as
I noticed a few of the women around me starting to rouse as well.
“Oh, is it morning already?” Chalise asked, shielding her
eyes from the morning sun.
“It sure is, sunshine, although the glow of your smile
diminishes that of the rude morning sun,” I told her, pouring it on a bit
thick.
“Say’s he who glows brighter than either,” Nikki observed from the edge of the bed.
“OK, time to get everyone moving,” I said, waking everyone
up. “I’ll let you use the shower first, Caroline, as we tend to take a while to
cycle everyone through it.”
“Nothing doing,” Anh insisted. “Linda told me last night she
was free to use their shower, but you’d still better get moving, Caroline, as we tend to take all the hot water.” I was again amazed at Anh’s English, as that
was all said without any assistance. I should package this new language process
and sell it, as it seems to work pretty well.
“Ah, that’s too bad. I was hoping to finally see what my
daughter sees in you,” Caroline said, teasing me as she patted my cheek.
“What she sees is someone who already has too damn many
women. I’d love to appreciate your natural beauty, Caroline, but I don’t think
it’s a good idea.”
“Damn, I was afraid of that,” she replied, giving me a kiss
on the lips before she sashayed out of the room, making sure I was watching her
as she did so. I had to admit, chances were Chalise would look mighty fine in
our old age, if I ever got that far, that is.
Everyone got moving after that, although the girls prevented
me from getting up.
“Not you,” I was told. “You’ll do better resting up before
the big night you have planned tonight. Besides, once you get in the shower
with us there’s no telling what may happen,” Kitty observed. So I just lay back
and watched as all my ladies stripped and paraded into and out of the shower.
As much fun as taking it easy was, I was tired of being restricted. Personally,
I felt bad about taking all week off, only to show up for Prom night, but Ryan had been adamant. No school for the rest of the week was the only way he’d release me to
attend the Prom. “After all,” he’d told me, “you’ve got to at least make a pretense
of healing normally.” He may have a point, but it didn’t mean I had to
appreciate it.
Once the steady movement of people lessened a little, I went
into my bedroom and grabbed my little used bathrobe and wandered downstairs,
where mom, Anh and Natalie were already cooking up a storm. My father glanced
at me.
“Hard night?” When I wearily nodded, he continued. “Anything
you care to discuss? I know you’ve been carrying everyone for quite a while,
but we’re always here if you need us.”
It was a nice thought, and I actually considered it, but how
could I confide to him how hard it was not telling everyone I loved that I was
planning on putting myself in someone else’s crosshairs in a another day. I’d
picked up from Rakeem that the two gunmen were expected to do the deed
tomorrow, which might mean they’d be here today in order to scout the place
out. That meant that I had to be careful exposing myself, as I was sure they’d
take advantage of any easy opportunities I presented them with.
‘Gail? Any sign of anything outside today?’ I
asked her.
‘No. I already checked the neighborhood when I went
outside to pick up the paper. I wasn’t about to leave that for you to do like
usual. I didn’t notice anyone on the street. This is such a quiet neighborhood
that anyone skulking about would have been noticed. Your neighbors have been
very patient with us, thankfully, but I’m not sure they’d react to anyone else quite
as well. Hopefully they’d call us instead of anyone else.’
‘Consider if there’s anything we can have mom tell them,
but we’ve got to handle this carefully if we’re going to avoid panicking
everyone. If I’m to serve as bait, we can’t have everyone reacting like a bunch
of scared mice.’
‘Frankly, that’s about the only way to react to something
like this. I still think this is a huge mistake, but I can’t really see any
reasonable ways around it,’ she replied.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to keep my head down today.
Not having to go to school helps, and you’ll be around the house to provide
protection in case they decide to jump the gun with a home invasion scheme.
Ideally, the best time to attempt something would be when everyone is gone
during the day. Hopefully they’ll assume I’m stupid enough to do like I did the
last time, and just walk out into their waiting arms.’
‘Unfortunately, you really can’t take their thinking
fully into account, as there are a hundred different things they could try. But
we’ll spend time today planning our approach after everyone leaves.’
‘Sounds good, Gail, but I’ve got some coffee and breakfast
with my name waiting on me, so we’ll finish this discussion later.’
As usual, it didn’t take long for everyone to head off in
different directions. I made sure that Caroline and my sisters headed back as
well, telling them they needed to keep busy, and sitting around here would give
Caroline too much free time to think about her family. They bought it and
headed out with the rest. I made sure I kissed the girls, my sisters and
Caroline well away from the door or any open windows. We may not have seen them
yet, but that doesn’t mean there’s any excuse for getting stupid.
Once everyone was safely away from the house, Gail and I holed up in my room for some private scheming. The other women in the house knew
that something was up, that much was hard to hide. But they could see that we
weren’t ready to talk about it so they didn’t press. I just hoped that little
bit of knowledge wouldn’t cause them to act noticeably different in the next
couple of days, as they may tip off the bad guys.
“I spoke to Michelle about what happened with James last
night,” Gail explained, “and while she said she’d keep it in mind, it wouldn’t
make any difference to the police. It might make a difference to the baseball
commissioner, but we’ll see how they respond to it. They could either ignore it
completely or they could toss James out on his ear. It’s completely their call.
We gave them our story in advance, and alerted them to watch for any evidence
of wrongdoing during the game, but I frankly don’t even know if they paid any
attention or not. Basically, we’re on our own, just as we were before
yesterday. By the way, she’ll be by in a little while.
“I also spoke to Cate and told her to tell your friends that
you were going to be incommunicado this weekend. I explained it was so you
would have more time to recover. I think Cate guessed we were up to something,
but I think you assumed she’d guess something was up sooner or later. However
that should keep your friends from getting into harm’s way. Now we have to keep
your family and the other girls from getting injured if anything happens.”
“When anything happens,” I insisted. “It’s definitely
going to happen, and it’s going to happen tomorrow, unless they see an
opportunity before then, so we’ll have to make sure we don’t give them one,” I
told her, speaking slowly and softly, trying to preserve my still weak voice.
“Aye, I plan on doing just that. You know enough to stay
away from any open windows and not to venture outside, right?”
‘Yeah, I figured out that much on my own,’ I told
her, switching to telepathy so I could save my voice, since I’d need it later.
I was only supposed to use it a little at a time. ‘I’m also staying toward
the inside of the house, so that if anyone breaks in they’ll have to go through
you. We should also think of something to keep Kitty, Chalise and my sisters
away, as well.’
Thus we sat and considered the best course of action for us
to undertake, all the while I was thinking this might well be my last full day
here. These were very real threats against me, much more serious than just
someone who was angry at me and could simply be ‘talked to’. If we didn’t plan
this out exactly, I was likely to be dead sometime tomorrow, and all my work,
my girls’ entire future, and all my parents and my sister’s hopes, would have
been for naught. And none of it was the result of what I was trying to do. It
was all over one person’s inability to control their anger when they discovered
their sister was dating a white guy that supposedly insulted their brother.
When we finally came down for lunch, we discovered the only
ones still at home were Anh, Natalie and my mother. It seems everyone else was
either working, or back at the loft trying to get it habitable. I hoped I’d be
able to see it finished as it meant a lot to my girls, but even if I didn’t, it
would serve as their home at least.
“I hope you two are finished with whatever you are plotting,”
Anh said, “because it won’t be too long before all the women are going to be
descending to help you prepare for your Prom tonight. I don’t know if you’ve
noticed it or not, but this Prom is more important to most of them than their
own was. They want to make sure that you make a good impression on all of your
followers at school, and that you send a clear message to your enemies there as
well, that you won’t be intimidated by their negative attitudes. Besides,” she
said smiling at me, “it’s the only chance they get to play at dressing you up
formally. They want to make sure you look your best for all of your women.”
“Aye aye, boss,” I told her, smirking myself. “I don’t plan
on letting them down. Otherwise I may only have a dozen women to share my bed
tonight.” She swatted me with a dishtowel and sent me scurrying, but left me
alone otherwise. Now all I’d have to do was worry about tonight and tomorrow.
Certainly nothing to lose my cool over.
Michelle arrived a little after lunch to interview me once
again, and Gail stayed for it this time. I told her, via my new iPad, that
someone had showed up after school and announced, dripping with attitude, that
I’d be gone by Saturday. I couldn’t supply any other data beside a fairly
accurate description of his face and clothes. She wasn’t very happy, and just
stared at me for quite a while, as if she was hoping I’d just quit the facade
and tell her what was going on, but we all knew I couldn’t do that. If she
thought about it, she’d realize it as well. Perhaps that’s why she didn’t press
the issue.
She proceeded to give us the standard warnings about how
they couldn’t dedicate an officer to watch over us, and that they didn’t have
the resources for protective custody, which we wouldn’t qualify for anyway. I
casually but firmly told her we had no intention of hiding, and that I thought
the only way to deal with this was head on. We had the advantage here, not
them. They thought no one would be expecting them, but we were prepared and we
planned to catch them.
“But I thought they were the ones to tell you about this,
wouldn’t that mean they’d know we were aware of them?” she asked me. I simply rolled
my eyes and typed some more. I told her the guy telling me the information
clearly wasn’t the one who would be doing the job, and he was just taking
delight, just like Rakeem had, in trying to scare me, but that he wasn’t going
to succeed in either case.
After she took the traditional tack of trying to dissuade us
from this nonsense, she actually sat and listened to our crazy scheme. The best
part for her was that we didn’t need round the clock supervision, just her
knowledge, and the local police department’s willingness to respond quickly
under the restrictions we wanted imposed. She agreed, and we all left not quite
happy, but at least prepared for the worst.
Gail left soon afterward to drive back to her office in St. Louis in order to filch a few things from her office, the nice way of saying stealing
from the Police Department. She told me she had a few friends who’d cover for
her, but that we’d need them if I expected to survive this encounter. Although
she was risking a severe reprimand and a possible charge of theft of government
supplies, I wasn’t about to try to talk her out of it. It was my life on the
line here, and I wanted whatever benefits she could supply me, however she
could manage it.
After that, there really wasn’t much to do for the rest of
the afternoon other than fret. Even with the knowledge that I likely only had a
limited about of time before an untimely death, I at least had the benefit of a
lack of a specific date to avoid complete panic. Now, however, I had a specific
date, tomorrow. That hit home in a major way. I knew I’d have to continue on as
normal, including the big date tonight, as if everything was just peachy. I
knew that would be extremely hard to do, but it was necessary for a number of
reasons. The most obvious was simply to not let anyone observing know we were
expecting anything. The next was not to cause a general panic. The third was,
the fates forbid, if I was to expire tomorrow, I wanted to at least leave
everyone with a positive last memory of me. Finally was the fact that I could
really use it to relax. Waiting like this was pretty stressful.
I needed this for myself as much as anything else. I’d been
fretting all week, stressing over a variety of issues, trying to recuperate,
while constantly listening to a stranger’s thoughts rattling around in my head
trying to pick up any clues concerning my fate. I needed to be relaxed tomorrow,
and a grand party just might be what the doctor ordered. My only limitation was
that I couldn’t imbibe in anything, as I needed to be alert and prepared the
next day, and I needed to get back early and get a damn good night’s sleep,
something I hadn’t had for a while. I figured finally having sex with my two
favorite girlfriends would do a lot to set that in motion. I’d managed to accumulate
an extra bit of stress from a week’s enforced abstinence.
In order to prevent me from worrying about the likelihood of
my dying tomorrow and sitting around counting the hours I had remaining, I
tried to focus on finishing up the week’s schoolwork. It was distracting to
think it was pointless if I only had a single day left to put the tiny amount
of knowledge to use, but I had to push that thought to the very back of my
brain. I was trying to distract myself, and focusing intellectually was a much
better alternative than playing mind-numbing video games, or chewing my nails
in nervous anticipation the whole day.
I informed Nikki of just enough of our plans for her to make
a couple visits along the street and to set up some things we’d need tomorrow. There
wasn’t much else to take care of, but that didn’t keep me from continually
reviewing to see what we’d forgotten.
What I really wanted was to take a nice long walk, the same
way I usually do whenever I’m upset about something, but that was totally out of
the question. The last thing I needed was to provide an ideal opportunity in
case someone came down a day early to either scope the place out, or to look
for an easy opportunity to finish the job early.
Having finished up all of my work, I was finally left with
nothing else to do. I isolated myself in my room and started to write. I sat
and wrote out letters to everyone I was close to in case anything happened to
me tomorrow. I tried to keep from being mawkish, and focused on the positives.
I thought I’d done a pretty good job, although I hoped no one would ever read
any of them.
When Cate arrived home from school I was laying on the couch
trying some meditation exercises that she had taught me earlier.
“Hey there, I drove the girls home so they could get dressed
up for tonight. Everyone at school is excited, and everyone wants at
least one dance with you. I guess some are going to be disappointed, because
they can’t play all slow dances.”
“Hey, I’m glad you’re psyched about it. This should be your
big night, although I guess you have another one next year as well, so if I
screw up this one you’re covered.”
“Ha, that shows how much you know. Remember, I’m graduating
with you this year. Besides, I’m going to this simply to accompany you. The
same is true for everyone else. Most of the girls didn’t agree to any dates
because they wanted to be available to dance with you. It means that much to
them. They plan on attending SIU just so they can be associated with you and
your movement, and they don’t even understand what your movement is
yet. Face it, bro, you are officially popular.”
“Yeah, tonight should be fun,” I told her.
“Hey, Alex, what’s up? I can tell when you’re distracted.
Between last night with the ball game, and now with you being too distracted to
focus, something is going on. What’s the deal?”
Nikki walked in at that point. “Excuse me, Cate, but Alex wanted me to speak for him because he’s afraid his voice won’t last. He says he’s just
thinking of how he’s going to dance with everyone tonight.”
“Don’t lie to me, Alex,” Cate said ignoring Nikki. “I can read you like a book. I’ve been around you my entire life, and I’ve always looked
out for you. I can tell when you’re distracted. Now, I can guarantee that you
aren’t distracted by the idea of flirting with women, so there’s got to be more
to it. And don’t give me that garbage about having to speak through Nikki. You just think I can’t read you as well if you don’t actually speak to me. But I can
still tell when you aren’t comfortable. I’m also guessing it’s tied in with
that ball game last night.”
“Cate, he says don’t. You don’t want to get involved,” Nikki warned her, not knowing what the discussion was about. I already knew my warning wasn’t
going to have any effect. Once Cate made up her mind she was relentless.
“If it’s not the Prom tonight, then it’s something else. Is
there something about this weekend I should be aware of?” Cate asked,
suspecting the worst. Something I’d been providing in abundance lately.
“Alex says he thinks you should take the girls and go
shopping tomorrow. He’s been thinking of how to decorate the loft space. He’d
like you to help organize how to...”
“Alex, you’re full of shit. You don’t give a damn how the
loft is decorated. What, you need everyone out of the house tomorrow for some
reason?”
“He says, No, it’s the day after Senior Prom, and he’s not
sure he’s going to have the energy to do anything. He wants me to remind you
he’s still recovering. Alex, I know I shouldn’t interfere, but I agree with
Cate. You’re clearly up to something, and even if you don’t tell the rest of
us, you need to tell her. After all, she’s always given you the best advice.”
I groaned, despite the fact the shaking it produced in my
windpipe was still painful to me.
“We can tell when you’re planning something,” Cate continued
cross examining me. “I don’t have any clue what it is, but it’s something, and
when you plan something, it’s usually fairly major. I’m willing to guess this will
make inviting Lisa into our lives seem like a wonderful idea.”
I sighed heavily. “There’s a chance something may... occur
over the weekend,” I conceded.
“Yes, and?” Cate asked, getting impatient with my lack of
information.
“Alex says he can’t reveal any more, but that we can’t act
strange. No outward signs or distress, nothing unusual and no weird reactions.
It’s important that we act like we do every day,” Nikki said, repeating what I
was telling her.
“And…?” Cate prompted. We both just sat and stared at each
other for several moments, while Nikki stood patiently to the side waiting for
whatever was going to happen, until I was the first to blink.
“All right, fine. If you can demonstrate everyone can act
like they do every day, or actually like ‘normal’ people supposedly act every
day, then I’ll tell you.” My voice was already weakening, and I knew I
wouldn’t have anyone to speak for me tonight at the Prom. I couldn’t keep
talking.
Cate harrumphed but agreed to my restrictions. Forgive them
both, but they trusted me for some odd reason. I don’t think they’d ever
forgive me if I got myself killed this weekend and didn’t tell them about it.
So I called everyone in and explained some of what we had planned for the next
day. I still kept the explanation to a minimum, trying to prevent them from
panicking, but we’d gone well beyond that stage by now. They were clearly
concerned. When Nikki asked if we should tell our parents, I was about to say
no when Cate insisted we had to.
“They deserve to know, Alex. This might be the last time they
see you. Besides, they’re both pretty strong, and they’d rather know than be
surprised to find you bleeding in the yard again.”
Cate certainly know how to make a point, so I agreed. So
before dinner we all sat down and we told everyone what was happening, although
we still didn’t tell them all the details. Everyone was shocked, but they’d figured
something major was up. Whenever I refuse to talk it seems it’s because
something major is about to occur. They all seemed to take it pretty well. Even
mom was stoical.
“If you think this is the best way to approach it, we’ll go
along with it, Alex,” she told me. “But I certainly don’t like it, and don’t go
making a habit of getting yourself shot. Personally, I think I find your hobby
of having wanton sex with multiple women a much more preferable hobby than
this.” At least mom could keep her sense of humor in an emergency. Yeah, they’d
all be fine.
After dinner the women finally had at me. I had to admit, I
did look pretty good after they were done. When they finished, I asked whether
I was going to get my traditional premature avoidance treatment, smiling in
anticipation. They scoffed and told me it wouldn’t do any good, as it was too
long before I’d have a chance to do anything and thus I was on my own. I guess
I’d have to get one of the girls to do it for me. Oh, how hard can life be?
We decided to avoid the whole limousine idea, or at least
everyone conceded to my idea of not attracting undue attention. I didn’t
mention I also didn’t want to offer a better target. Although
Gail wasn’t fond of the idea of me going to pick up the girls, I insisted, and
she conceded it would be hard to avoid, though she insisted I not waste time
walking my dates back and forth to the car. She didn’t need to worry about
that, I had no interest in getting shot again if I could avoid it. I just hoped
I wasn’t putting the girls at risk by accompanying them, but to refuse to go
through with it would alert whoever might be watching me we were on to them.
But first was the unveiling. The girls had me stand on the
ground floor as my sister descended in all her stately glory. I had to admit
it, she really looked gorgeous. She had grown much more beautiful and elegant
over the last several weeks, and she looked even better dressed up as I hadn’t
seen her before. She wore a long dark blue dress, relatively low cut despite
her lack of proper cleavage. She wore a simple string of my mother’s pearls
with two pearl earrings. Any guy in school would be honored to have her on his
arm tonight, and she was forgoing having her own date, pretending she was
merely my sister.
I offered her a corsage, supplied by my handlers as always,
and escorted her out to the waiting car. Gail had it ready and waiting, not
wanting to risk my being exposed any longer than absolutely necessary. My
sister had to put up with riding in the back seat with me while I told her how
beautiful she looked. We arrived at my sister’s house, where Cate and I went
in. Caroline welcomed me in with a quick kiss on the cheek and I got to wait
another delightful arrival. Chalise strolled in showing off in a gown that
revealed her chest much more efficiently than Cate’s did, but then again she
had more to display, but they were both equally as beautiful. She wore a deep
green dress much like Cate’s. If I didn’t know better I’d swear someone got
together and planned something. I pinned on her corsage and lightly kissed her,
afraid of messing up any makeup. Gail took photos of everyone, including me
with both Chalise and Cate, and even a few us with all the women around me.
Next on the agenda was a stop at Kitty’s. Her house was fairly
close to the school, so we felt a little more comfortable stopping there. There
was no sense taking any chances. Chalise accompanied me as I went to pick up our
date, as I once again kept her to the street side of me. It wasn’t that I was
treating her life cavalierly, but I just didn’t want to give anyone an easy
opportunity. Martha greeted us at the door, again with each of us receiving a
quick kiss hello. Fredrick shook my hand and seemed pleased as punch at all the
formality. While we awaited the grand entrance, he told me he had no objections
to hiring a limousine, but Kitty had repeated our thinking on the subject. Then
Kitty made her appearance. She was dressed in, wait for it..., a dark red
dress, cut low enough to reveal her pasty white flesh. I tease; it just looked
extra white compared to Chalise and in contrast to the girls’ dark dresses.
Instead of pearls, or the agate and silver jewelry that Chalise wore, Kitty
bore a beautiful red set of stones that matched her dress. She later informed
us they were sponge coral, but they looked good enough to be precious stones.
All the women were stunning.
I offered to let Chalise pin the corsage this time, but she
deferred and Fredrick snapped a picture of me trying to attach something to his
daughter’s chest. He and Martha had no problems taking pictures of all three of
us for posterity. Gail then proceeded to take some pictures of all of us, since
the earlier pictures didn’t capture Kitty with us before. Kitty’s parents
wished us well and I hurried the girls out to the car, claiming I didn’t want
the elements to disturb their makeup.
Gail dropped us off right at the door. She spoke to me
mentally, warning me to stay inside, avoid any open doors or windows, and to
communicate the entire time I visited an isolated spot like a restroom so she’d
know if anything happened to me. When I laughingly asked what she’d do if I
took too long in the john while I was reading the graffiti, she told me she’d
storm the building and enter the men’s room with her guns drawn. I had no
desire to test her on the subject. She finally let me know all the girls were
here, and would be watching the various exits to be sure no one could sneak in.
Apparently they used their role in Ryan’s program with the school to get
appointed as Prom chaperones. The ones that didn’t were waiting outside, ready
for anything but remaining discreet. It sounded extreme, but we all knew what
could happen if we were unprepared. You just can’t depend on criminals to keep
to a predetermined schedule.
The girls were disappointed when I rushed them indoors,
they’d had ideas of greeting their friends and being seen entering on my arms,
but they got over it when we saw most of our friends gathered inside. Despite
my hopes, very few of our friends had actually arrived with a date, most either
coming stag or simply coming with one another. I wondered what they had told
their parents. We greeted each other, giving everyone brief kisses and telling
them how wonderful they looked, and they did all look tremendous. They’d really
all put their best into their looks this evening.
Darrell had arrived with Wanda Gerrard, and they made a
wonderful looking couple. Wanda wasn’t a regular part of our lunchroom crowd,
but she’d remained friendly with us ever since I first introduced myself to her
table that first lunchtime when I tried to broaden my network. Frank and Ai arrived together, although they both let me know they weren’t together. Ai
reminded me she was expecting a dance. She looked marvelous, as well, her long
black hair matching her long black dress, making a strong contrast with her
light skin. I was stunned when I saw Mia dressed to the nines, complete with
lipstick, earrings and a formal dress. The dress was black, of course.
Brian came in with Julia. I didn’t think they had anything
going yet, but it was nice seeing him with someone. Ever since the trouble she
made for Kitty no one had heard about her gossiping about anything, which must
have been hard for her. It showed she was serious about changing her ways, and
I respected her for it. Pepper and Amanda arrived together as well, but they’d
been close friends before I ever arrived on the scene. And of course Maria Flores and her brother Alex arrived together.
The theme of the Prom was “Within a Dream”, and the gym
where it was being held was done up with huge candy canes, and a huge painted
mural for pictures to be taken. There were bright colors, fake candies, and
colored balloons all over. We all stood in line to have our pictures taken.
They started to put up a fight about having more than a couple posing together,
but Principal Phillips stopped by and the protests ceased. It was a cheesy
photo, I thought I’d rely on Shani and Gail’s instead. Besides that, each of
the girls had their cell phones and they were taking plenty of pictures with
those.
It wasn’t long before the music started and the girls
dragged me onto the dance floor. Unfortunately it wasn’t Kitty and Chalise
doing the dragging. Seemed they’d promised the various other girls they could
have all the close dances with me. When I expressed surprise at this, they told
me that they got the reward of enjoying whatever interest the other girls might
generate, but this was the only chance each of these girls would get to
blatantly flirt with me. I could hardly argue with that, and it was really nice
dancing with them all. The music was the canned variety, typical for such
occasions, but the word on the street was that they’d managed to hook a decent
band for the event, so everyone was anxious to hear them. I wasn’t as concerned
about the music. I was here for my friends, and a big scene just adds uncertainty
and that increases the chances of things going wrong, but I was curious as
well.
Just as everyone began getting comfortable dancing, one of
the people from the prom committee walked out on the stage, which was hidden
behind the stage curtain. The music turned off and everyone focused their
attention on her.
“OK, everyone, undoubtedly you’ve heard we have a big
surprise for you. Thanks to their affiliation with one of our students, we’ve
managed to attract someone who seems destined to become a big name star soon.
While they already have a substantial career behind them, they’re kicking off a
new tour testing out their new material, and we get to be the first people to
hear them. So, without further delay, here’s the music of... Patty Moore!”
Man, you could have knocked me over with a feather. When I’d
heard the rumors around school of a band, I’d figured it was some local group.
But hearing it was Patricia that was here, playing for my own prom, was just
too much. I almost wanted to melt into the floor, however all my friends
surrounded me and showered me with their enthusiasm, despite their having heard
her just the other day. The curtains pulled back, and there stood Patricia and her band. She glanced at the crowd, and I instantly knew what she was looking for,
but it took her no time to home in on me, as it seemed my aura was brighter
than even the stage lights. I was about to duck behind someone when Cate stood
on her tiptoes and waved her arms, at which point Patricia smiled and blew me a
kiss. It was embarrassing, but I couldn’t very well reject her so I tried to
take it as gracefully as I could.
“Hey there, Eldorado High. Though you’ve probably never
heard of me before, I’ve just signed a contract to launch a new album, but I
asked the studio for a chance to test out the material across the country in
front of a variety of live audiences before I finally record the album. So you
are the very first group, aside from our friends, to hear these songs. The
strength of these songs are the words, which all have a lot of meaning to me
and our band, but we’ll try to keep the music danceable so you can be sure to
get plenty of snuggle time. I hope you’ll enjoy these songs as much as we’ve
enjoyed creating them.
“Our first song is a traditional love song, of sorts. It’s
called ‘The Light of Our Lives’, and it captures what many of my friends feel
about the loves of each of our lives. I hope each of you can feel even a
portion of what this song represents for me with your dates tonight.”
They then began singing one of the songs they’d played for
my birthday party. However, then I was distracted by all the people wanting to
talk to me, as well as still being tired from my surgery. Now, however, I could
focus on the words. Her song detailed how ‘a stranger called to me out of the
void, and pulled me into his love’, and how ‘he rocked my world and changed it
forever, now I only see the world through the light of his love, and it will
never be the same again’. Hell, this wasn’t a damn love song, this was a
tribute to me!
I, of course, wanted to sink into the floor, but Kitty
immediately grabbed me and started dancing with me while our friends all
cheered. There was no denying who the song was dedicated to, though I was lucky
no one focused the spotlight on me just to emphasize the point.
After that I tried to focus on those around me, but it was
hard to miss many of the lyrics. Each song was disguised as a romantic tune,
but each was laden with hidden meaning directed at my followers in honor of me.
I didn’t know whether to tell Patricia I was honored by this performance, or
whether I wanted to strangle her for it. However the entire audience seemed to
love it. It was easy to see that Patricia, now Patty, had really grown as an
artist, and she clearly had this audience eating out of the palm of her hand.
Everyone was excited, and many were actually singling along with the refrains.
Since the songs were all disguised as romantic tunes there
were plenty of slow dances, so my friends had plenty of opportunities to dance
with me, and for the faster rock tunes they’d surround me and dance with me as
a group. Kitty, Chalise and Cate all willingly took a back seat through much of
this, allowing our other friends to have their day. They knew they had me the
rest of the time, and they knew they had my heart. Now they were officially
sharing me with their friends, and those friends were enjoying having access to
me to blatantly flirt with.
Amongst the many girls I danced with, the other Alex, Alex Flores, and I also danced. I figured it was the least I could do since he came on
his own just like the women had. And I thought his sister Maria was going to
pass out when we danced together.
Between songs and during the quiet ones, everyone wanted to
know what had happened to me, since this was the first anyone had seen me since
my birthday bash, and the first chance they had to speak with me in depth since
the shooting. I wasn’t wearing a bandage for the first time all week, under the
understanding I’d keep my neck clean. My sister had plenty of wet wipes in her
purse. I showed everyone my new scar and described the event, but made no
mention of my knowledge of Rakeem or any of his plans. They all oohed and aahed,
and looked terribly impressed as if it took any particular bravery to be shot.
I tried to point out it was Cate and my women who had actually taken out the
shooter and rescued me, but that didn’t seem to matter to anyone. I was their
official hero, and nothing I said was going to change that.
During a break in the action, Frank and I were talking, and
he reminded me we only had a short time left before graduation. While most of
the girls were younger, he, Darrell and I were seniors. He told me these last two
months had been the most interesting of his entire high school career. I simply
told him I hoped he had a more interesting college experience, to which he assured
me it would only be more interesting due to the experiences he’d had earned
from his encounters with me. Then he winked and told me he put in a last minute
application to SIU. I scoffed at his previous statement, but had to concede he
may have a point. Running in opposition to the normal clichés of the school had
its own rewards.
During the dances, the girls managed to press various very
attractive body parts against me. They all seemed to revel in their chance to
openly flirt with me. Truth be told, we’d always flirted together, but now they
could get away with touching and kissing me, even though we were all fairly
formal about it. They all embarrassed me by going on about what an inspiration
I was to them, and how they’d always remember me. I honestly told them I’d remember
each of them as well, as they’d each developed as individuals since I’d known
them.
When it came time to relieve myself, I had to steel myself
before exiting my group. Despite how unlikely it was that I’d face any problems
with a short trip to the bathroom, there was still safely in numbers. Plus I
still had a few enemies in the school who’d like nothing better than an
encounter in a rest room during prom, when they could send me limping back to
all my friends. I began a conversation with Gail and described what I was doing
as I was doing it. I glanced nervously around the bathroom, checking the stalls
for anyone lurking about, but nothing happened other than my receiving mental
commentary while I relieved myself. Gail told me she’d never watched a guy pee
from the guy’s perspective before. I laughingly responded that she’d never had
a reason to be interested in it before.
Walking out of the bathroom I ran into Kevin, one of my friends from before I went down to New Orleans. Knowing he’d always sided with Mike, and that they and Jimmy had been opening hoping for me to get into trouble I was expecting the worst.
‘Gail, we may have a situation here,’ I warned my protector.
‘What’s happening? Should I come in or have someone do an end run?’
‘Neither, it’s Kevin, and I’m going to see what he has to say first. I doubt he’d try anything too drastic. I figure the worst he’ll do is punch me. But just notify someone to stop by to pick me up if I suddenly find standing a little difficult,’ I told her, before approaching him.
“Kevin,” I said, acknowledging him warily.
“Hey, Alex. Look, I’m really sorry for everything that’s gone on between us. I know that’s surprising, seeing as how I’ve been just as angry as Mike and Jimmy have been, but I’ve been rethinking things since you got hurt this last time. This nonsense needs to stop. Mike keeps ramping up everyone’s anger, since he thinks you’ve abandoned him, but that’s nonsense. He can’t blame you when he refuses to talk to you. Personally, you’ve done very for yourself, and I suspect we could have done a lot better if we’d swallowed our pride and asked if we could join you. I’d like to apologize, and to wish you the best.”
I was stunned by this turn around. Once I recovered, I enveloped him in a big hug.
“Hey, I’d be glad to have you as a friend again, Kevin. Come on back and meet all of my friends.”
“I’d love to, Alex, but I’m here with my own date, and she’s best friends with Mike’s date, so it would be awkward. But if I could join your table on Monday, it would mean a lot to me.”
I swallowed with some difficulty at that idea. “Sure, feel free to join us, even if I’m not there. Everyone is friendly and I trust them all. They’d be glad to meet you.” I gave him another hug and silently hoped I’d get a chance to introduce him to everyone. We each went our own way, me back into the gym and him into the john.
‘Never mind, Gail, everything is fine. Kevin wanted to renew our friendship again. Let’s see if we can get me there for our meeting on Monday, huh?’
‘Sure thing, Alex. You’ll have to tell me about it, but right now I need to call off some of my dogs of war.’
I laughed as I returned to the table.
Being spring it was warm in the crowded hall, so inevitably
the doors outside opened and the smokers filed in and out. I stayed well away
from there, but I noticed the doors kept closing, to their consternation. I
also made sure I remained like Wild Bill Hickok, always sitting facing the door
so no one could sneak up on me. Still, I tried to keep worries and fears at bay
for most of the evening. My girlfriends and sister noticed my slight moodiness
despite my best efforts to keep my attitude light. When they commented on it, I
just made light of it, saying I was just regretting that I only had so much
time remaining to be surrounded by so many beautiful ladies. I don’t think they
bought it, but they didn’t press the issue.
A girl I recognized as Susan Siegel walked up to us while I
was resting, so I stood up to speak to her. She was Cate’s former best friend, Vicky’s, sister.
“Alex, hey, sorry to hear all that’s happened to you. Look,
I see you having fun and I don’t want to interrupt, but Vicky wanted me to tell
you something.” I immediately started looking around for her but Susan shook her head.
“Don’t bother looking. She’s over in the corner with that
group over there,” she indicated the group with her finger. “Anyway, she wanted
me to thank you for always being so nice to her, and she’s sorry she had to be
so nasty to you these last several weeks.” I simply sighed at this.
“She’s got nothing to apologize to me about. We were never
close friends. I thought she was a nice kid, but…” I simply let the statement
hang before continuing. “I feel sorry for her, if she’s afraid to come speak to
me due to the guy she’s hanging out with, then I can picture her in another few
years, afraid to leave with the kids because of what her boyfriend might do.” I
simply let that sink in. Susan just looked at me and thought about what I’d
just told her.
“Well, she just wanted you to know that she doesn’t
personally hold a grudge,” she informed me.
“You know what they say about good people who say nothing,”
I told her in return. She then thanked me and excused herself. I felt bad that
I had been a bit rude, but I also felt that Vicky was just going to get herself
into trouble letting herself be led into doing things that she didn’t believe
in. It would be one thing if she simply disliked me, but to harm her best friend
just because some guy didn’t like me, made for a very bad relationship.
Just then Cate walked up and grabbed my hand, pulling me
along behind her.
“It’s my turn, brother dearest,” she coyly told me.
We slowly made our way to the back of the dance floor, so
not that many people would notice us grinding against each other. “It’s nice to
have you back among us, Alex,” she whispered in my ear. “I was really worried
we’d lost you. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Yeah, you wouldn’t have anyone to investigate and theorize
about.” I’d said it playfully, but Cate simply sighed and nestled even tighter
against me.
“No, I’m thinking about what it would mean if this was the
last dance I ever got to have with you. Not only that, but what it would mean
to everyone else if you were to die tomorrow. Even in the best case, I realize
we don’t have much time together, but I want to make sure you can accomplish as
much as you possibly can, and I’ll do anything I have to ensure you have the
time to do what you have to do. However, I’ve got to admit, I don’t know
whether I can go on without you.” She sniffed a tear back, and I cuddled her
and rubbed her back, letting her once again soak up my energy.
“You’ll go on, Cate, because you know how important what you
are doing is to both me and my mission. Once I’m gone you’ll be the central
figure. You’ll have to figure out what’s been happening, why these things
happened to me, and how to handle it if I ever have someone follow me. You’ll
also have to see if there is some way to keep them from dying early like I
seemed destined to. The whole movement will depend on you. You can’t let those
people down any more than I could. It will be tough, but you’ll do it for me. I
have faith in your ability to carry on, kiddo.”
She did an interesting hiccup/giggle/sob, then pulled back
and looked in my eyes, one of the few people who could get away with it and who
always managed to do it with me. “How’d you ever get so smart. I swear, you’ve
grown tremendously, both in maturity and in your abilities. You’re much more of
a man, no, you’re much more of a divine spirit than you were when we began this
journey. But please, give me a few more months at least. It will mean a
tremendous amount to all of us.”
I kissed her and assured her I would, just as the song
finally came to an end, signaling the end of our slow dance together. We headed
back to our table as a fast dance started playing.
“So, did the two of you get a little romance in where no one
could see you?” Maria asked. I just looked at her, shocked she’d just asked us
that. I looked into her eyes, trying to see if she was joking with us, but she
seemed perfectly serious.
“Come on, guys, I’ve seen how each of these girls here look
at you, and none of them can hold you in deeper adoration than your sister
does. You both hide it well, but if you were my brother I’d do you in a
heartbeat. Don’t worry, though, I don’t think anyone else suspects. Well, we’ve
talked about it amongst ourselves. Some still think you haven’t done it yet,
but that’s the minority position. I think we all imagine what we’d do if you
were our brother, and we have our answer. Hell, I love my brother, but if he
was like you I’d look into growing a dick for him.”
There weren’t many kids sitting at the table at the time she
said this, and she was leaning in close while the music playing loudly behind
us, so there was little chance of being overheard, but still.
“How long have you known?” Cate asked her.
“Like I said, we were never sure, but the longer we knew
you, the more inevitable it seemed. There doesn’t seem to be any woman that can
resist your charm. We know a little something of your, uh, powers, but your
sheer magnetism is amazing. You are one hell of a sexy guy, Alex, even if you aren’t built like Darrell is. There isn’t anyone on the football team
that can compete with you. In fact, there was some talk about putting your name
in for homecoming king, but we argued against it, knowing you wouldn’t
appreciate it. We respect your desire for privacy. I think we managed to squash
it, much to Maggie Smith’s glee,” she added in a teasing tone. Maggie was generally considered the most popular girl in the school, and was engaged to the
senior football quarterback. I personally considered both jerks, since neither
one ever acknowledged my existence. I don’t expect much, but I do expect to be
treated like a human being occasionally.
All in all the evening was a great hit. No one caused any
trouble. In fact there was hardly a dirty look, but then I avoided the parking
lot where Tyler Cox and his gang hung out. Tony Sasaki brought another cute
Asian girl, and I hoped they got along well together, but we seemed to quietly
avoid each other so I didn’t press it. Finally they held the ceremony for the
Prom Queen and King, and I crossed my fingers hoping that Maria was right and
they’d sunk my chances of being nominated. I hadn’t even been aware when they
did the voting. However I was lucky and Maggie and her boyfriend won. They
seemed glad to share the spotlight. I knew they’d appreciate their time in the
sun, but I knew I had greater things ahead of me, and that I’d impact a lot
more people than they’d ever manage, even if they ended up in some impressive
company, something that wasn’t very likely in this small community of ours.
When they finally turned the music off, Gail insisted we should leave early, so there’d be plenty of witnesses around to prevent
someone thinking they could get a free shot at me. As we made our way to the
exit I asked each girl to give me a view of their surroundings, and I didn’t
see anything suspicious, but I still hurried the girls to the waiting car,
again parked in front waiting for us, with Shani driving while Gail stood
beside the door, glancing around ready to take action if she noticed anything.
I think both Kitty and Chalise noticed how edgy she was this time. However we
got out of there without any problem.
Kitty started to ask me about it, but Cate quickly headed
the question off by talking about everyone at the dance. She asked what Susan had said, so I explained what had become of her former best friend. Like me, we seemed so
far removed from our previous lives and our former friends that it seemed like
a whole separate life. It was hard to even envision that life anymore.
The kids at the dance had asked about after parties, not
wanting their big night to end, but none of them had either the room or the
forgiving parents to arrange it, and none of us wanted to crash anyone else’s
party. The girls seemed a little disconcerted to be rushed in and out so
quickly, and Anh stayed behind and kept a close watch on the street and
informed us she didn’t see anything obvious, but we didn’t waste any time
getting inside either, Gail and Cate sheltering me from either direction. When
we finally entered the house I breathed a sigh of relief.
“OK, Mr. Mysterious, what’s up with the odd behaviors
tonight?” Chalise asked me.
I waved to my throat, intimating I couldn’t speak anymore,
and it was true, I’d really used it way too much and I was having trouble
speaking.
“OK, we don’t care, get one of your girls to speak for you.
We want to know what’s up?” she stressed. Kitty looked surprised. She noticed
we were being rushed, but she hadn’t noticed that I’d been preoccupied for much
of the evening. I think Chalise only began to piece it together as the dance
was breaking up. However by then the parents were welcoming us home, taking
pictures, and Anh came in and steered me to the dining room table to ensure I
had enough food to keep me going, so I avoided answering. I knew I’d have to
explain what it was all about, but I still wanted it to be after the fact, not
before. Kitty and Chalise humored me while I ate, Cate making sure I was eating
enough, and we finally made our way upstairs.
While our time together was wonderful, it was very vanilla
and slow, as I appreciated them as if it was the last time I’d ever get to
spend with them. Cate joined us, and the other girls left us alone for once.
Instead of coming in to check on me, they simply left food and drinks for us
and trusted Cate to take care of me. It was a beautiful experience, and worthy
of being my last memory.