Chapter 2: Introductions
Amongst the raging beats of many songs from multiple Orleans pubs, and amidst the varied lights and sights the city offered at this time of night, Shaniqua walked us both back to the hotel. She never moved more than a few millimeters from my side, pressing her large, soft breasts against me the whole way. It was a bit awkward walking like that, especially if you aren't used to it, but it was an exquisite awkwardness. Cate just kept grinning at me while she and Shaniqua kept up a running commentary. I was still in too much shock to remember much of it, however. The combined excitement of recent strange events, plus the promise of a romantic interlude on an inexperienced young man was enough to keep my functioning neurons working on an even lower level. Much lower, think 'too much blood pumping south of the border' lower.
I was amazed at what had happened this evening. A strange woman shows up and starts calling me both Master and an Angel. When we finally got her calmed down and had a chance to speak quietly, she'd related a story so unfathomable I could hardly believe it, but Cate's little experiment had been pretty convincing. This would all require a lot of thinking, but it just didn't seem like the time, I gently told myself as I again felt her press against me. Not only did this woman think I was a magical being, but she seemed to be interested in me semi-romantically as well. To me, a shy and retiring little high school senior who has only been on a few dates before, the various implications made my head want to explode.
Shaniqua told us a bit more about herself, much of it interesting. My fascination peaked by my attraction to her, I'm sure, but not as Earth shattering as the other news of the night. We did talk about those topics however.
“So, can you describe these lights you keep seeing?” Cate inquired of Shaniqua.
“Actually, aura is the best word I can think of. They're similar to what psychics refer to as auras surrounding people. Only these are different, well, I'll call them 'colors' for lack of a better term. It looks like most people have a central color and a varying outer color, but I can't really be sure about that. After all, I haven't been at this for very long.”
“So, do these auras always show through physical objects?” Cate continued, trying to get Shaniqua to focus on her descriptions rather than just on me as we continued walking.
“No, not normally, but Alex's is just so strong it just overpowers whatever gets in its way. I assume his would be strong enough to show through walls, although...”
“Yes?”
“I guess most auras show through clothes and things. So I guess that means that they're not affected by physical limits; although physical things limit them. Like walls and things. Guess we'll have to test what I can see from a distance with various things blocking my view.”
“Great, more experiments,” Cate exclaimed, clearly excited by the prospects of future research.
“You realize you might not be qualified for all of that,” I warned as we reached the edge of the French Quarter and waited for the light to change, allowing us to cross Canal Street. We were now leaving the constant excitement and noise of that tourist mecca for the quieter regions beyond, where we'd be able to be a bit freer with our speech, as well as a bit less distracted by all the activities.
“Yeah, but who else are you gonna get to do it?” Cate asked in response. “You can't trust anyone else. You know no one else is going to be as dedicated to it. And figuring it's going to take years of research to figure all of this out; doesn't it make sense to have someone that can be trained completely from scratch so that she learns all the relevant expertise?” she asked sweetly.
“Alright, you're hired,” I told her, “at least until we can afford somebody cuter.”
“Hey, you might find someone cuter, but you'll never find someone who can get into your head better than I can,” replied Shaniqua as she tried to wink at me, but failed miserably given that she couldn't even look at me directly. I'd have laughed if I hadn't been afraid of offending someone who seemed to be intimating they might let me do things with them.
“I'm not so sure that's exactly something I'm looking forward to,” I cautioned, still wary of this whole theoretical telepathy nonsense. The last thing a shy young guy like me needed was someone poking around inside his head. As Cate had repeatedly told me earlier, there were just too many dark things hiding in there.
“You know,” Cate confided to us both, whispering quietly so we wouldn't be overheard, “you're still getting a lot of looks, Alex. I wonder if it has anything to do with the attraction that Shaniqua felt. It's certainly nothing you've ever experienced before.” I tried to smile and put on a brave face but I knew what was coming as Cate turned to Shaniqua. “I don't think anyone has ever given my brother a second look in the street before. If he wasn't so shy it would be one thing, but he's always walked so hunched over and keeps so closed off, that no one can ever get close to him.”
Man, here I am hoping I'm finally going to get some romance in my life, however brief, and my sister has to start telling the only one to show an interest in me that I'm a complete dweeb!
“It just may be,” Shaniqua answered her, ignoring any unintended jabs at my fragile male ego. “I can't imagine that I'm the only one to feel this attraction to him. However, I imagine there aren't many people who can feel it. I mean, right now I find it hard to believe no one can see his aura blazing like a miniature sun, but obviously no one can. I guess it's the same with his 'presence'. I can feel it, but for most people it just doesn't seem to register.”
“We live in a really small town in southern Illinois,” Cate explained. “It may be that there just aren't enough people there to have ever run across anyone who's sensitive to whatever he's giving off. If that's the case, we'll need to figure out just what it is. I've been noticing various women all staring at him all day long, even on the drive here. And they're all women, no men. For some reason men seem to be immune to his charms.” Luckily she smiled at the end of this comment, just to show me she was teasing. I think she knew I was feeling particularly awkward and was doing the gentle teasing thing to make me feel more comfortable about it.
We walked along for a few more moments then entered the hotel and walked through the lobby, remaining silent or keeping the conversation general so we wouldn't attract attention to ourselves.
“How do we know we aren't ALL suffering from brain tumors and we're all imagining this?” I asked. My sister Cate just rolled her eyes at me, while Shaniqua laughed at our sibling interplay.
“There's not much chance of that,” Cate argued. “Plus, what are the chances of us all having the same tumor, in the same place, at the same time, in the same stage of advancement, and having the same symptoms? All shared symptoms by the way. The chances of all those working together are less likely than alien anal probes.”
“But the anal probes are WAY more fun,” teased Shaniqua. At least I hoped she was teasing. But given how much we knew about her, just about anything was possible. If she'd have goosed me right then I'd have probably jumped out of my skin. The elevator arrived with a distinct ding and we all pushed our way inside the classic, deeply stained wood elevator.
“You know, we should see what Alex's aura looks like in an elevator while we're standing outside,” Cate suggested playfully. This time I rolled my eyes at my sister.
“You wouldn't learn much Nobel Prize worthy from that,” I chided her as the elevator began its short journey up to the third floor where we were residing.
“No. But it would be fun to do.” They both laughed again. They were doing that together way too much. How had they managed to relate so well together in the short time they were outside of our little juice bar? The elevator dinged again and the doors opened to reveal our floor.
“Nice hotel.”
“Yeah, we kinda like it. Course we haven't seen any others,” my sister told Shaniqua.
“I have. Believe me. It's nice. How... uh, I hate to ask this, but just how is your family situated financially?”
“Uh... we're comfortable I guess. True, we go to a public school, but that's more my parents than anything else. Plus it's a fairly good school district so there isn't much crime,” I explained to her.
“So staying here isn't a strain?”
“Uh, I'm not really sure. I don't even know how much it is to stay here. We don't get involved in our parents' finances much; other than to spend them into oblivion of course,” I teased.
“Yeah, I know how it is. How are you paying for college?”
“A combination of loans, scholarships, a bit of work and about as much help as my parents can manage. We have two other sisters. One still in college and one in graduate school,” I explained, telling her about our family for the first time.
“Oh, I didn't know that. Are you all close?” Shaniqua asked me. All her questions seemed to be directed to me. I guess it was that whole deferential thing. Cate would frequently answer for me, but mostly she was just fascinated in me, and in hearing all she could from me.
“Yeah, despite our being so much younger, we're all pretty close. Becky, the eldest, is doing her graduate work while working for a medical research company. Both she and Melinda are only home during the summer now. Melinda's attending college,” Cate explained.
“Yeah, a house full of women, four of them in fact; Dad and I sometimes have to run screaming from the house, just so we'll have an excuse to watch a football game,” I teased them both. We arrived at our door and I swiped my card through the slot on the door, opening it for all of us.
“Come on in,” Cate offered Shaniqua, “our parents won't be home for a while. They're just gonna call to make sure we're not out getting drunk.”
“I guess I shouldn't stay too long. They might not like it. I mean, they might think I'm here corrupting their son,” Shaniqua worried aloud, although the way she emphasized the word 'corrupting' led me to think she was mainly trying to tease me and really wasn't as concerned as she made out.
“What? I don't get to be corrupted as well?” Cate demanded, pretending to be outraged by the oversight.
“Well, maybe. It depends on how 'angelic' you can be.” They both launched into another giggle fit as we all entered the room; the question of whether she should enter the room or not apparently forgotten. Shaniqua looked around the room, taking everything in.
“Nice décor,” she observed, looking at the exposed brick interior and the nicely finished wood floors covered in gorgeous carpets.
“Yeah, don't know how much time we'll be spending here though. Want anything? We brought drinks. There's always the cable TV,” I offered. I was just managing to get over my combination of basic shyness and complete shock.
Shaniqua looked at me like I was nuts, so I just shut up and sat down on the bed. Cate purposely sat on the chair by the desk, leaving Shaniqua to sit beside me on the bed. She immediately curled up against me, resting her head on my shoulder, her eyes squinting and laying her hand on my thigh, running it back and forth.
“So...” Shaniqua posed, letting the silence speak for her.
“No. I don't think so,” my sister responded. “I'm not going to wander around the hall, even if it's only for the entire 20 seconds it'll take for my brother to blow his wad at this point.” I'm not sure how much I appreciated my sister telling someone I was a short distance runner, but I hoped Shaniqua had gotten used to our peculiar sense of humor by now.
“You could always stay here,” Shaniqua suggested to Cate sweetly. I couldn't believe the turn the conversation was taking.
“No thank you. I don't think it'd help our sibling relationship for me to watch my brother get it on with somebody. Plus, it also wouldn't help having my brother watch me embarrass myself by playing with myself while I sat in the chair,” she responded, enjoying the playful interplay they were both developing.
“That's assuming you aren't in the bed with us at the time,” Shaniqua added, further shocking me. I could just picture both girls in bed with me, and even though Cate's my sister, I couldn't help getting even more excited just by the suggestion of a group scene. Shaniqua's hand brushed over my erect cock to confirm what she already knew from the stress of the Levis under her hand. She smirked at me while looking at my sister. Cate just looked shocked, momentarily stunned into silence. About time, I figured.
“I... I...” Cate attempted to reply.
“Relax. I'm kidding. When we finally do it I'll make sure you're hidden safely away in the closet.” Cate still looked stunned. I was enjoying the turn-around. Of course I thought the idea was insane as well, but my cock, like any 17-year-old cock, was at attention and I liked the fact that Cate couldn't cope with this any better than I could with the other shit.
Just then the phone rang. Cate jumped like a scalded cat. Flustered, she fumbled the phone until she finally got it centered against her ear.
“Hello?” Cate responded, even though she already knew who it was calling the room at this time.
“Hi, Mom.”
“No, we're fine. How're you doing?” I felt a certain hand resume caressing my crotch. I groaned and closed my eyes. When I opened them again Shaniqua was leaning into me, her own eyes closed. I leaned in and kissed her.
“I'm glad to hear it. I've... I've... No. We've got something to talk to you about,” Cate hesitantly responded, only to attempt to break the news to our parents before we saw them. Trouble's always easier to give and to receive when it's abstract and far away.
I lost myself to the kiss. Her lips were soft and moist, and almost as soon as my lips made contact they parted, inviting my own tongue in to explore; which it did.
“No, no, nothing that serious.” It sounded like she changed her mind. Not that I was paying any attention to what Cate was saying as my tongue excavated the treasures I found in this mysterious cavern. A warm, wet, inviting cavern.
“No, it's just that we met someone today that we'd like you to meet tomorrow. We figured we could spend the day with her,” my sister temporized.
Shaniqua's hand started actively stroking up and down my length, and my breathing grew deeper and deeper, as did hers. I brought my hand up to run along her side, pausing at the side of her chest, while I held it from play out of my typical fear of going too far, of committing myself. I heard her giggle and shift to the side, essentially shifting herself underneath my hand so it came to rest partially on her breast. My hand got the idea and crossed the remaining distance without any further assistance.
“No, she's from here. We met her while wandering around the Quarter,” Cate continued, sounding completely oblivious to our play, although I knew she had to be watching us; which didn't deter me at all.
I gently grasped her breast through her sundress, nervous about just how aggressive to be. I didn't think I really needed to be, but years of inactivity wear on you and it's hard to make quick adjustments. She giggled again, so I took that as reassurance, the opposite reaction of what giggles while making out normally produce, and moved my hand off the breast just enough to slide under the V of her dress, sliding under it to revel in the beauty of my first contact with a naked female breast.
“No, she's older.”
Shaniqua's tongue joined mine in its explorations. They dueled and worked smoothly together. I thought it was lovely. She leaned more heavily into me, gently rolling over and lowering herself, and us both, onto the bed.
“No, she's out of school. She's got a job and everything.”
I rolled us both over until I was on top of her. I was slowly gaining enough confidence in my good fortune to take a bit more of a lead. My other hand ran over her hip to come to rest on her ample ass, giving a hungering squeeze, evaluating its heft and responsiveness. It was fine.
“She's finished college,” Cate continued, answering each question as tersely as she could; not wanting to offer anything that might lead her into admitting more than she was ready for. I shifted over and moved my leg between Shaniqua's, keeping my erection available for her roaming hand.
“There's good reason for her to be friends with us. We're nice. We all get along well together. Plus she's offered to be our tour guide.”
Our combined moans were starting to grow in volume, enough to threaten to be heard over the phone by Mom and Dad, so I made an effort to tone it down, but it was tough.
“OK. We'll talk to you when you get back. Or, if not then, in the morning. Have a good night. Bye, Mom.” I heard her hanging up so I allowed my moaning to increase back to where I wanted it, something just short of screaming, I think. A moment later Cate jabbed me in the shoulder so, I regrettably broke the kiss, but not the other activities.
“Ummm?” I asked her.
“Hey, knock it off. If I don't get to play, nobody does,” Cate challenged me.
“Hey, yourself. I told you before, you can either play now, or wait until later when you're safely hiding in the closet,” Shaniqua informed her. This time Cate giggled nervously, but at least she was giggling this time.
“Seriously, Mom and Dad will be home... sometime before tomorrow morning,” Cate teasingly warned her.
“Yeah, we'll be sure to be done by then, sweetheart,” Shaniqua replied, still stroking me while our kissing was on hiatus.
“I think maybe we should think about what we're going to reveal to our parents,” Cate responded simply.
Well, that certainly brought everything to a screeching halt. We both sat up and ran our hands through our rumpled hair and clothing.
Cate and I escorted my parents into the hotel's dining room for their early morning breakfast buffet, which Shaniqua had informed us would have the traditional café au lait that we should try. My parents were a bit anxious at the idea of meeting this “older woman” who had taken a sudden unexplained interest in their teen-aged children, but we refused comment, merely explaining we wanted to discuss some “things” with them. As we rounded the corner I glanced around to see where she might be sitting. She'd called us earlier to let us know she'd arrived as planned, so that we could get our parents organized for our little gathering. I spotted her, after a bit of searching, sitting at a quiet little corner table. She was sitting meekly with her hands folded in front of her, her back to the wall facing out, with a big smile on her face, which I assumed was from seeing either me or my 'aura' approaching. She waved to get our attention.
She looked quite nice this morning, very nicely dressed in a professional but relaxed business suit that seemed to be toned down with a lower neckline, shorter skirt and more flowing material. She looked quite beautiful as I'd expected, but more importantly, she wouldn't immediately scare my parents by looking too sexy. Presentation counts, especially when you're planning to introduce your parents to a woman who plans to move in with you and dedicate her life to you.
As I began to usher my parents forward, my father leaned towards me and whispered, “Don't look now, but the barmaid over there can't seem to keep her eyes off of you.”
This simple statement effectively floored me. I hesitated, imagining another encounter like I'd just had yesterday with Shaniqua. 'Just don't look in her eyes,' I told myself, 'just don't look in her eyes.'
Apparently Cate had heard my father's whispered comment to me and she came up to me.
“Do it, Alex, go talk to her. Right now we need to find out if these various women who keep watching you are simply interested in your booty or whether they're like Shaniqua.” When I hesitated she nudged me a bit. “Just think of it as research, just ask her who she is and see if she'll talk. It'll provide a good introduction for our talk as well. I'll explain what's going on to Mom and Dad. Go on,” and with that she gently pushed me towards the young woman, who I hadn't even looked at yet for fear of making eye contact.
I tried to put on a confident face and proceeded to walk up to her. When I got near, I made sure I looked her dead in the eyes, but this time she didn't recoil or react like I'd expected, instead she looked away nervously.
She was cute as a button, obviously Hispanic, with short hair and thicker lips than I was used to, and her skin had a sort of golden hue to it. She wasn't exactly thin but she looked both healthy and very professional but also fairly hip. The most noticeable thing about her was her hair. Although a few strands of her native, darker brown hair showed through, most of it was dyed an almost white shade of blond, leaving the combination a sort of punk fashion statement. It made her look really cool, at least to my shy sensibilities.
“Hi there, my name's Alex. May I ask what yours is?” I know, I know, I thought it sounded amazingly weak as well. However she smiled while keeping her face down in embarrassment but apparently I'd put her a little at ease with the introduction.
“I'm Natalie,” she informed me, “Natalie Mendoza.” Yep, I was right, definitely Hispanic.
Since I knew I could safely look at her now I took a quick stock of her. She, like most of the others I'd observed around New Orleans yesterday, looked quite attractive. True, New Orleans did have an abundance of overweight and unhealthy people, but it also had a very large collection of quite pretty people who all appeared to be ready to have fun in the Big Easy. Natalie appeared to be one, one of the pretty one's at least, I doubted she was in a mood to party while she was working at her hotel job.
She wasn't particularly tall, I've never been very good at guessing sizes but, if I had to, I'd probably say around 5'4” or so. Her hair let you know she was young and hip, yet it certainly looked good with her little uniform. She was blushing a bit now as she observed me watching her and her demur look, with her eyes downcast just made the whole look. She was a little heavier than either Shaniqua or Cate, but lighter than my mother. Again, I wouldn't mind being seen with her, but I saw what a comment like that could result in. I'd said the same thing about Shaniqua and now here I was, being seen by my parents with her. I had to shake my head to get my thoughts back on track again.
“Look, I was wondering…” I began before being unexpectantly cut off.
“Hey there, sorry to interrupt but I could tell my shy brother needed some help over here,” Cate rushed by way of an introduction, having snuck up on us without my noticing. If I ever needed a secret mental power it would be a spider sense so I could anticipate moments like this.
“My name is Cate Jennings. I don't know if Alex introduced himself yet but, as I said, he's my brother. We're here with our family at the moment. I was trying to get my brother to ask you something we're both interested in. Namely, were you looking at Alex simply because you thought he was cute or was there something more involved in it?”
I couldn't believe my sister. First, that she'd send me over here alone, then immediately pounce before I had a chance to actually say anything for myself, then that she'd just fly into a detailed explanation and finally that she'd ask a strange woman such a strange question. However, Natalie look relieved after Cate had asked her that very question.
“No, no, normally I don't leer at customers, especially anyone so young,” she informed us, effectively crushing any premise I might have had concerning my newfound sexual attraction to the ladies. “But there's just something about your brother. I don't know what it is, but I've been unable to keep from looking at him. It's like I can feel that there's something about him that…”
“Yeah, yeah,” Cate cut her off. “Look, can you hold that thought for a moment. Alex and I are introducing our parents to someone else who went through the same thing and it would help a lot if they could hear this from you themselves. Please, we'll tip you or order something if that would help, but we're in a bit of a pickle trying to explain all of this to our parents.” Then, without waiting for her to respond, Cate grabbed Natalie's hand and pulled her along behind her, heading for our parents. I was left behind with my mouth hanging open and I found myself hurrying after them trying to catch up.
“Hey Mom, Dad, I think you'll all need to hear what this… Sorry, I don't think I got your name?” Cate began making an awkward introduction to our parents.
“It's Natalie,” I managed to get out, just managing to catch up to them. “Natalie Mendoza.”
“Well Natalie, these are my parents. I'll introduce everyone in a minute but I want everyone to meet someone we're meeting here.” She started to turn but I decided I'd better make my presence felt, no pun intended. When we'd talked it over the night before, we all agreed that I should try to establish a bit of a lead role in order to make my parents think I wasn't being influenced or lead astray, so I decided to go with that thought now. I moved to the lead and eased Cate aside, taking Natalie's arm in mine and guiding her to the table where Shaniqua was now watching us with a curious expression.
“Mom, Dad, this is Shaniqua. Shaniqua, these are our parents, Frank and Linda,” I explained, making the traditional introductions as we got to the table. “Shaniqua, Mom, Dad, this woman we just met is Natalie Mendoza. She works here at the hotel. My father and Cate noticed her watching me and we all thought she may have some input that we could all stand to hear,” I informed everyone. They muttered their greetings, being cordial if not exactly warm, mostly just looking perplexed about the whole thing, everyone except Natalie and Shaniqua that is. They just seemed to take everything in stride, as if they expected me to do this kind of thing every day. Dad sat down opposite from our friend, meaning he'd be facing away from the room, helpful if he got apoplectic over something we might say and Mom sat down beside him. Cate and I sat on either side of Shaniqua, or Shani as she told us to call her, while Natalie stood between myself and my parents, playing the role of the server simply waiting for us to begin to explain what was going on.
“So what is this little assignation all about?” inquired my father as everyone settled around the table.
“First, let's go ahead and order so we won't be unduly interrupted during our discussion. I'd suggest a nice cup of café au lait. It's kind of a requirement when visiting New Orleans, as well as some sinful little raspberry croissant things I saw before.”
My parents looked dubious at the apparent ease with which this woman took the introduction of a member of the waitstaff into our breakfast, but everyone else seemed to ease into the situation.
“That's an excellent suggestion,” Natalie told us all, “She's right, the café au lait is a well known New Orleans treat and the croissants are simply divine.” Everyone agreed and we managed to order the selected items, Mom thanking Shani for her assistance. Finally we were all arranged and ready for the discussion, Natalie taking her former place ready to do whatever we decided was necessary. I didn't know if this was typical behavior for the hotels' staff, but I appreciated her easy manner.
“OK, Natalie, I think we should begin with you trying to describe what you felt when you first noticed my brother Alex. I know it's not going to be easy to describe, but just try to describe it as best as you can,” Cate stated, taking over the lead role from me, something I was all too ready to hand over to her.
“Well, it's strange. I had this odd feeling and I looked up, somehow knowing intuitively where to look. I'd noticed you entering the dining room but hadn't paid you much attention since you weren't near my station. Somehow, once I looked at Alex I just couldn't seem to keep from staring at him. I have no idea what it is, he isn't even my type. I traditionally like older men with a more physical appearance but I just felt myself drawn to him.” Natalie didn't seem to have any compunction about talking about this in amazingly personal detail before all of us.
“Did you notice any particular feelings when you looked at him?” my sister asked her.
“Well, aside from what I described, I had this feeling that your brother was someone important. I guess it wasn't as much important as I'd say powerful. He seemed like he was powerful.” Cate smiled at this and was positively beaming as she took over the conversation.
“You see, Mom, Dad, ever since we've gotten here I've been noticing a whole bunch of women watching Alex. Not just glancing at him but openly staring at him. At first I just thought maybe my brother was coming into his own and a few women were noticing how good looking he is, but more and more just couldn't seem to look away. Then Shani showed up. Shani, do you want to describe how you found us?”
“Well, Mr. and Mrs. Jennings, my coworkers and I were attending a dinner. We were all getting up and making our way out of the restaurant when I had this sudden sensation of a strong physical presence weighing on me. I mean, I knew it was a spiritual presence, but it had a real physical component to it. I felt it while I was inside the restaurant but, right then and there, I could pinpoint exactly in what direction, and the distance it was from me, and I could feel your son as he moved about.
“Needless to say I've never felt anything like that, but like Natalie just said, I felt this tremendous power and was compelled to follow it. I just knew it meant something and that somehow it was going to physically change my life when I encountered it. So I left the restaurant and followed this feeling out into the street. It was a couple of blocks away and I hurried up, not knowing how long it was going to remain. When I got close I called out to Alex to stop and wait and he turned and then he looked into my eyes.”
“You should have seen it, Dad,” Cate continued on for her, her excitement taking over for her. “As soon as their eyes met her head jerked back just like something hit her right in the face and she stumbled a bit.” I watched my parents to gauge their reactions to this. So far they seemed to be pretty guarded but they were following every word both Cate and Shani were describing. At least our presentation was good, we'd see whether it was believable or not a little later.
“It turns out that Alex did something to her then,” Cate continued. “He didn't do it intentionally. Nor did he have any idea of what it was that he did, but somehow he triggered something in her. Go on, Shani, describe to them what happened to you.”
“Well, I was already expecting something magical to happen as I approached him. I've never felt something so powerful before, nor have I ever heard it described so I knew I'd be encountering something unheard of. Still, I was completely unprepared for what happened. As soon as our eyes met there was this blinding flash and I stopped running toward him. When the flash faded I noticed that my vision had changed. I couldn't see Alex any more. All I could see was this tremendous glow where he stood. Looking around I saw that everyone around me had this glow about them. Each person had a different colored glow but, here's the strange part, each glow was in a color I've never even seen before. It's like Alex gave me a new sixth sense, a new sense of vision with a whole new range of colors.”
“We talked later,” Cate jumped in again, her excitement making her overenthusiastic. “It seems like it may be some kind of life energy. Of course we have no real clue because we haven't been able to observe it, but Shani says that it surrounds people and plants to a lesser extent. She also says that when someone touches something it leave a little glow behind.”
“Wow!” Natalie let out. “I knew there was something about him. This is amazing. So how come nothing like that happened to me?”
“I have no idea,” Cate continued. “Nothing like this has ever happened to Alex before. Hardly anyone ever noticed he even existed. I think maybe it's just that there aren't many people who can pick up on whatever energy signal he's giving out and our small town just doesn't have anyone who can. Here in a bigger city there are quite a few who can detect it, but only one who seems to have been primed for whatever Alex did to her.”
Once again I watched our parents to gauge their reaction to all this. I could detect a strong hint of disbelief so I signaled Cate and spoke up for a change.
“OK Dad, what are you thinking? You don't look like you believe any of this.” He sat and thought about it. I've got to give my father his due, he's always a careful thinker. He likes to consider his words before he speaks and usually he makes pretty good points with only a few carefully chosen words.
“Well, I'm not sure just how believable any of this really is,” he stated carefully before turning to Shani. “Basically, aside from the word of our waitress here, we're taking all of this as gospel based upon your word that it's all true.”
“We thought you might be thinking along those lines, that maybe I'm a charlatan or a con man. I brought along a few things to help establish myself,” she stated in her defense and looked into her purse. She drew out two letters and handed them over to each of my parents, handing them cards as well.
“These are my resume and business cards. As you can see I'm gainfully employed with a well known firm.” My father was preparing to say something so she hurried to complete her thought.
“Yes, I know, those can all be faked. But you'll notice it's a well established firm. You can call the number on the card, but it would probably be better if you called the Better Business Bureau and asked them about the businesses, then get the corporate offices from them. It'll take a little longer to get through, but you'll have more faith that it's not a scam if you go through the extra steps. I work in the Human Resources department so you'll likely get someone who works with or at least knows me when they connect you, but I doubt anyone there would want to jeopardize their career by lying about a questionable coworker. I've been working there for several good and productive years so I'm pretty well established there. I'm also sure you'll be able to have your business do a background check on me. You'll find that I have no criminal record, that my picture matches my face and that I've got a decent financial record. I'm not a fly by night operator who's looking to get something from you or your family.” Shani had to take a deep breath after she finished that little speech. My father just looked at her, again measuring his response before speaking.
“I'm glad you came prepared, as that was exactly what I was thinking and those are the steps I'll be sure to follow. However, assuming you are being honest, just what does all this mean? It sounds like my son just happened to look at you when you had a sudden vision problem and your eyes got blurry. I don't know what these visions mean but there's no certainty that Alex had anything to do with it. Why are you assuming he's this powerful being that pulled you into him?”
Cate steeled herself for this, we'd expected this type of response when we prepared ourselves last night, so she was ready to dive in.
“There's something else we didn't explain yet, Dad,” she told him firmly. “It seems that after Alex did whatever he did to her, that now they can exchange ideas with each other telepathically.” My father and mother both drew back a bit at this but the surprise reaction was from Natalie.
“Oh cooool, you mean he can read your mind?” she excitedly asked Shani.
“Well, no, he doesn't really read my mind,” she protested a bit weakly.
“And the messages aren't very clear,” Cate added. “When she first encountered us she got a clear message but when we tried to duplicate it we got definite messages but they weren't terribly clear. We tried to send specific numerical messages so we'd know if the exact information got through, and it did, but Alex and Shani had to struggle a bit with interpreting the messages.”
“I think I may have to see that demonstration myself,” Dad replied, and I agreed that it only made sense.
“There's no problem with that. We expected it. It's the only convincing evidence that we have that any of this is real,” Cate explained.
“OK, are there any other weird events we should know about?” my father asked us.
“Well, we've got a few things to work out. First, Mom, Dad, I've got a highly embarrassing question to ask, but please bear with me, there's a valid reason why we have to ask it,” Cate asked them, waiting for their response.
My mother responded, “OK dear, go ahead, you can ask but we won't commit to answering until we hear just how embarrassing it is.”
“Here goes. Mom, Dad, is Alex really your own, biological son? Not that we suspect he isn't or anything,” she hastened to add.
Mom and Dad looked a bit taken aback.
“Yes, of course he is. Why on earth would you ask something like that?”
“Your terminology is going to seem funny in a moment,” responded my sister, smiling at my Mother's turn of phrase. “But it's important for what we're discussing. If you don't mind, I'll probably do some DNA tests just to document that, but with something as unbelievable as telepathy one's mind just jumps to equally unbelievable explanations. Clearly humans just aren't capable of communicating telepathically, there just isn't any physical mechanism in the human brain to carry it out, which makes one consider different alternatives.”
“You aren't about to call your brother an alien are you?” my mother asked, her voice taking on a note of irritation.
“The topic has got to be brought up, just because someone's going to raise it at some point,” Cate attempted to defend what we knew was already a weak point.
“It's not really a serious argument,” I told them. “We just thought we had to address it. Both Cate and I are a bit hung up on the whole idea of telepathy without any means of doing it.”
“Yeah,” Cate added, getting back into the discussion. “I'm looking forward to getting Becky involved and testing him when we get back to see if he's broadcasting any kind of waves that are strong enough to be picked up by someone else.”
“No doubt, I knew you'd want to do some experiments,” replied my father, being fully aware of my sister's strange obsession with all things scientific, like the various Science Fair projects she'd dedicated months to doing each year. Again, Cate laid out the appropriate sheets of sketchbook paper before them.
“The preliminary tests we conducted on their telepathy were simple, but they were fairly conclusive. We haven't done any extensive testing, like how far away they can be or what restrictions might apply. However the testing that Becky can do would be more extensive, she could test for various things more scientifically than just asking a few questions.”
”So what does the fact they seem to communicate telepathically mean?” asked my father, always a bottom line kind of guy. My sister knew this and respected it, as it always aided her presentations when she was preparing them at home.
“Right now we don't know enough to have any clue. I could pretend to have some idea and say something about a common genetic trait but honestly, I'm not sure there is one. There very well could be something in Shani and Natalie that draws them both to him, but I think it's something inherent in Alex that triggered this ability in Shani. He's a catalyst if you will. He caused something to occur in her that allowed her to see these visions and allowed her to communicate with him. I don't think she had any of these abilities before Alex got there. I'm sure she'll tell you this is the first time any of these types of things have happened to her.” Shani eagerly nodded her confirmation.
“The only other theory that springs to mind is that maybe he and Shani are somehow related, and that maybe it's a shared trait. That's why I want to do DNA tests, to see if they're related in any way. But I'm guessing they're just two random individuals with no apparent connection. That's why I made the comment about your choice of words earlier, Mom, because in a case like this we'll have to make sure that Alex isn't some kind of alien spawn,” she teased, helping to relieve some of the inherent tension from a revelation such as this.
“So my son reads minds?” asked my mother, still not having gotten beyond that stage of the conversation.
“No. He can read a single mind, Shani's. Or rather he can communicate with her, there’s no mind reading involved. It's nothing too extreme to be worried about. It's about the genetic equivalent of a crude cell phone. Still, scientifically speaking, it's significant. Can you imagine, given a small minority of people with this ability; able to communicate telepathically with each other? This is a monumentally important scientific discovery. I plan on riding my brother's new ability all the way to a specially dedicated scientific career.”
“You're planning on basing your entire academic future and possible career options on a 'trick' your brother and your friend can do?” our mother asked.
“Yes. Of course, it's possible this is just a temporary fluke. Maybe it's not as significant as I believe it to be. Maybe it's just caused by certain isolated conditions. But I think it's significant enough that it could be a major field of study.”
“I'm not sure I want my son to be a 'major field of study',” protested my mother.
“Don't worry. As I stated, this really isn't significant enough to worry about government spies kidnapping them or anything. It's about as useful as a card trick at this time. But we're going to be cautious all the same. The last thing we need is to allow its study to fall into the hands of some big corporate biotech firm that'll allow the super rich to communicate together to avoid wiretaps.”
“Then how are you going to study it, if you can't tell anyone about it?” reasonably asked my father.
“Very carefully and very discretely. Luckily Becky may be able to hide her tests in amongst her other studies. I'll have to hide my interests in amongst my other studies, and pick subject matter related to this particular interest. We'll probably confide in specific trusted individuals, but that's unlikely as there'd be no sort of confidentiality agreement that would apply here.”
“So you're expecting your sister to jeopardize her temporary position at the university so you can run unauthorized experiments on your brother?” Dad asked, looking pointedly at Cate, luckily leaving me out of this part of the discussion.
“I hope you're not implying that your brother is some kind of genetic freak or anything,” warned our mother.
“No way, Mom, as I said, I don't even think this is genetically based. You also know I care about Alex a great deal. I'm not going to let this affect our relationship. Besides,” she smiled, “I'm going to be dependent upon him for years and years of important scientific study. I've got to be nice to him.” My mother seemed appeased by this.
“What does this mean for Miss Shaniqua?” queried my father. Shani spoke up for this one.
“I'm taking this as a significant event in my life, Mr. Jennings. I'm willing to work with Cate and Alex to figure out just what is going on. Plus, it kind of puts Alex and me on a fairly personal level with our being able to talk to each other whenever we feel the need.” I thought she was talking out of her hat on this one. After all, we didn't know the limitations involved yet.
“How 'significant' and how 'personal'?” asked my father again, in an arched tone. Everyone had the immediate understanding of what he was implying.
“I figure it's going to be fairly intense. I'm already willing to give up my home here if it'll help. I can do my job anywhere I might need to.”
“And is the interest 'personal' or 'intimate'?” he pushed.
“Both, to be honest. Being in this type of intense communication tends to foster a 'special interest',” she responded, quoting the defense we'd all decided on the night before.
“So, you're already planning on being intimate with my son,” Mom stated, instantly imagining this new woman suddenly corrupting her son I'm sure. “Doesn't the age thing have any effect on you?”
“Well, honestly, I was a bit worried about the potential of 'corrupting a minor' but I checked the age of consent in Illinois already, it's 17, so legally we're safe. However, don't worry too much; I'm much too indebted to your son to want to rush him into adulthood. I still want him to be able to enjoy what he can of his childhood,” Shani stated, trying to both defend her planned actions while still appeasing our parents.
“Well, don't wait too long,” responded Cate, interrupting the conversation between my parents and Shani. “He's almost 18, nearing graduation and he's seen less action than anyone else his age I knew.”
I could feel my face growing warm as she spoke. “Cate!” I warned her but she just turned and stuck her tongue out at me, letting me know she was just teasing me.
“I see,” replied my mother, instantly cautious. “And just what might this all entail?”
“We'll see what happens between us. We've only known each other a few hours. We can't speak about what may or may not occur,” Shani temporized.
“OK then. I guess we've been duly warned,” responded my mother, only a bit frostily.
“And what of you, Miss. Shaniqua? You've told us about your job and even supplied us with a resume, which I must say is fairly unique in the way of introductions, I never really expected Alex to introduce a potential girlfriend with a resume, but what else can you tell us about yourself? What kind of person are you?” inquired my father. I was proud of Shani for handling herself so well in the face of such pointed questions.
“I work in the HR department of a food distribution company here in Orleans,” she responded. “Although it's early in my career, I'm not exactly married to this particular job yet. I come from a proud and comfortable family. A family I'm close to, one that taught me my morals and dedication.” My father actually smiled at this response, kind of killing the tough guy approach he was going for.
“College?”
“Mississippi State. Finances, accounting and financial services.”
“Good,” was his only reply.
“How can you, a reasonable, attractive young woman be attracted to my son, an innocent young man?” asked my mother.
“As I stated, we've got this special common interest that unites us. As far as any attraction goes, only time will tell.”
“I'm assuming this common interest will be sexual then? Since you've already stated you aren't going to be deterred by the law,” my mother pressed.
“MOM!” I cried out in embarrassment.
“Yes. In fact it will,” Shani answered directly.
“It's about time. They've already made out by the way,” teased my sister, not helping at all.
My mother couldn't help it, she grinned unintentionally. “He's so cute when he blushes like that,” she enthused.
“So, if you're so interested in my son, why can't you look him in the eye?” asked my father again.
“I thought I mentioned that, while I can see this glow around everyone, Cate calls it people's auras, Alex is so powerful that his is amazingly bright. I simply can't look at him directly for long. It's like looking into the sun. It's simply overpowering. I even have trouble seeing anyone standing near him.”
“Oh,” my father responded, caught short by her answer.
“Anyway, that concludes this part of our presentation,” Cate said in a teasing aside to her previous scientific studies prepared for my parents at home all too often. “Now if there are no further questions, we can discuss what we have planned for today.”
Dad quickly protested. “Wait a minute, don't push us off so quickly. What about a demonstration? All this build up and we don't even get to play with the samples?”
“I thought someone else might want to play with the samples” my sister muttered under her breath, just loud enough for everyone to hear, but low enough for them all to get the impression is wasn't meant for public comment. They all laughed at that, despite the earlier tensions.
So we conducted further tests. Natalie was disappointed she couldn't join us in our experiments, she seemed even more excited than Cate was, but we told her she could join us after she got off work, as we didn't want to get her in trouble with her job because of her interest in me. The various experiments were done with supplies Shani had picked up for us at a local drug store. We tested distance, between concrete hotel floors, with a variety of possible constraints involving various metals, insulation and such. It didn't seem to impede us, but the communications were sometimes quite clear, but other times just vague impressions that needed to be reworded just to get an intelligent response. This was going to take a little work.
And my parents both seemed to take the exceedingly brief discussion of such an unbelievable event rather well. Cate stated that she couldn't explain what we didn't understand yet and that we'd clearly discuss things as they came up, but they just seemed to take it all in stride. As I said, maybe my parents weren't so typical after all.
Feedback on my stories is always welcome. Please send it to crumblywriter@gmail.com. Also visit the Story Discussion/Blog. You should be warned that the blog includes a lot of information regarding the story, like what I'm trying to achieve, various reader's responses to the material, subtleties in it's tellings, so it makes sense to visit it and get a feel for what's going on.