Chapter 4: Reservations and A Show
We all had dinner at another excellent spot. I must say I was enjoying the meals on this trip tremendously. All the women groused about how much they were going to have to work in order to burn off all the calories but I could tell they enjoyed it, and none of them were really all that heavy to have to worry about it. Of course, not being 'all that heavy' doesn't mean much if your clothes don't fit but I meant it didn't detract from their looks. For myself, I had a very high metabolism and that I pretty much had to eat continually just to maintain my current weight. The thought of actually adding any pounds was a difficult achievement for me. Cate also 'suffered' from this affliction, helping her look good without really having to work at it. I guess it's what gave her all that excess energy she used to obsess about every little detail of her studies.
I didn't have any more encounters. Natalie ate with us this time, and she had fun pointing out the few women we saw that were like her, attracted to me without knowing why, but not quite compelled to go any farther. I think she felt lucky to have been pulled into our group at random and enjoyed counting everyone of a similar state who didn't get included.
The conversation was light for a change, although Natalie told Cate about relating to people based on her feelings about them, which only prompted further discussions on the topic. Neither Mom nor Dad had much to contribute, leaving most of the theorizing to Cate. I don't know whether they felt ill equipped for the discussion, or they simply still didn't believe it. I guess we'd have a long discussion at some point but until then I'd just go with the flow and deal with whatever questions were directed at me and just try to ignore the whole issue. However, it's kind of hard to avoid a discussion when you're the central topic and everyone keeps looking at you for your input.
After we ate we wandered a bit, able to relax a little more. I was beginning to hope that maybe we'd met everyone we were going to meet, but we still had a long time here and there were plenty of people around. Plus, I was sure there'd be new people coming into town all week long.
The show didn't start until later so we just walked around, enjoying the sights and sounds. Shani and Natalie both made excellent tour guides and we learned a lot. I wasn't as fascinated by the history, not being a huge history buff, but was more interested in all the people doing so many different things. Being from such a small town I wasn't used to all the activity or the wide variety of people available in such a small area.
Finally, night descended and the various clubs began coming alive so we made our way over to Patricia's club. It was nice being able to walk into a smoky nightclub with my parents for a change, I was feeling grown up all of a sudden and I'm sure Cate must have been feeling it even more than I. When we told the doorman who we were, he immediately called the manager who personally escorted us to a table sitting only a few feet from the stage, just slightly off center. The doorman didn't initially recognize us though, since Dad had asked using his own name. When Mom mentioned my name, that got all the attention. I felt like the life of a party, I'd never been able to open doors before. Heck, I had never been invited anywhere before.
The manager, Oliver, a large black man, told us that we were considered VIPs and to feel free to ask for anything we wanted. He introduced us to our waitress, Nancy, who mentioned that Patricia had told her all about us. I'd made it a point not to call Patricia by the nickname Patty that Henry had used, figuring that was a private thing between the two of them. She introduced herself as Patricia so that's what we all called her. Nancy brought Dad and Natalie a beer, Mom a Long Island Iced tea and Shani a Mojito. Shani’s choice impressed me as an excellent choice, it was the kind I’d have chosen if I could drink. None of the other choices seemed as interesting or as sophisticated. Cate and I stuck with the basic diet soda, not daring to risk asking for anything illegal with both our parents watching us.
The club was filling quickly with all types of people, from regulars, locals and tourists alike. As I said, the bar was smoky, all the new anti-smoking laws apparently not having taken hold here. Still, as much as I hated the idea of smelling like smoke once we were done, I simply considered it a part of the atmosphere, a dark and smoky blues club, attracting trouble in an exotic locale. It had everything I'd always imagined a bar should. It was certainly better than the crummy joints that the kids at school always hung out at.
Just before the show started Henry came out to check on us. He told us that Patricia was really nervous about our being here and that this was the first time he'd ever seen her this nervous before a performance. Normally she just loved performing but now all her thoughts seem to be focused on me. I felt bad for both Henry and Patricia, once again feeling that I'd somehow inserted myself into their lives, but beyond that there wasn't much I could do about it. Yet Henry was nice, making sure we were all comfortable before hurrying back to help Patricia prepare herself.
Finally the lights dimmed, everyone settled themselves for a show, the lights came on and the show began. Her band all came in and showed off a bit. I noticed a table near ours with the various girls sitting around it that Patricia had mentioned housed the various groupies that the band members had attending most shows. Patricia came on last to a nice round of applause, apparently she was known by the people here despite not being a local act. She strode up and took over the stage. She announced there was someone special here and that was to whom she was dedicating the performance. I started saying, 'Don't do it, don't do it' over and over to myself, only to realize that it may be reaching her but she never showed any effect. Luckily she didn't introduce me either.
She had a guitar but she mostly just sang, really belting out the blues. She started with "My Heart Bleeds The Blues", and segued into "Don't Lie To Me", apparently both fairly common staples of the genre. Although I'd heard several blues songs and generally liked most of them, I hadn't been a particular fan of the music, but when Patricia started to put her heart into it I could feel her emotions and she belted them all out for everyone to hear. I noticed that she started out trying to sing to me, or at least our table, but she had to give it up, I assume because my 'glare' was proving distracting. Eventually she began singing primarily to the other side of the room. During a particular ballad, she began to wander around the room. She walked by me and put her hand on my shoulder and sang to the room, facing away while squeezing me.
We all applauded wildly and even joined in as the audience all shouted their approval and made various comments to echo the sentiments of the various songs. The set went on for a long time but she finally ended it and she and the band disappeared. Shortly after Nancy brought out a fresh round of drinks and told us that Patricia would be out shortly as she was anxious to speak to us, though she was looking at me when she said it. She showed up soon after but was immediately swarmed by several well wishers. After speaking to them briefly, she finally came over to the table with Henry in tow behind her, and gave me a quick kiss and pulling up a chair, sat down to join us.
"So what'd y’all think?" she asked excitedly.
"We all thought it was excellent," my father told her. "Wonderful," stated Natalie. "I could really tell you really felt each word you were singing," Cate added. I could tell she enjoyed all these various comments but I also knew she was primarily concerned with what I thought of it.
"It was unbelievable," I told her honestly. "You poured your soul out and I felt both depressed at the lyrics while being uplifted by the melody. I'm really proud of you," I beamed. Her smile just lit up the table as a look of relief rolled over her expression.
"Thanks, I was worried what you'd think," she explained. "It was odd, the feelings I was getting from you really cut me off from feeling the audience," she told me. "I just couldn't tell what they were feeling so I had to look away from you. Still, it's like trying to listen to someone whisper during a rock concert. Finally I found I had to do something else so I tried to use the new vision I have. I found myself trying to get all the various auras to sync up. I'm not sure if we've properly explained what they're like," she told everyone at the table, "but each person's seems to be different. Their core color seems to remain steady but the various colors around that core vary, so I tried to focus on that and tried to get more of them to feel what the rest were. I think I did a fairly good job but it's hard to judge things when you're unused to the medium," she laughed.
"You handled it wonderfully, the audience loved it," my mother told her.
"That's what a couple of the regulars told me," she explained. "It was really great being able to share my talents with you," she enthused, taking my hands in hers. "Somehow knowing you were there listening just made the whole evening more special and I put even more emotion into my singing than I normally do." I turned and glanced at Henry, expecting him to take offense to this but he seemed to have figured out what I was thinking.
"Hey, don't worry man, if she performs that well because of your inspiration you can inspire her all you want. She was wonderful tonight. If she can keep this up I can start pushing the club owners for a few more bucks," he added, grinning at me.
We continued to chat, being frequently interrupted by other well wishers. I could tell that Cate was dying to press her for details on what she'd said about her new abilities but we didn't have the privacy or the time. We stayed for the next set and again applauded wildly as she seemed even better yet, but Dad left word with Nancy and Henry that we had to be heading off. Henry was sitting there at the time and agreed that she'd miss us but would probably appreciate the chance to see how she could perform using her new approach without me being there to distract her. He thanked us wholeheartedly and gave us each a hug as we departed.
The streets were quite busy and noisy outside. Shani walked with my parents while Natalie excused herself, saying she had to be getting home in order to be prepared for the early shift at work in the morning. It seems she did the weekend morning shift then had much of the rest of the week off. I had the distinct impression that Shani was being especially attentive to my parents, hoping to positively influence them and allay any remaining fears they might have about her. I think she thought like Patricia did, in that, ultimately, it only mattered what I thought, but I liked the fact that she went out of her way to include them. That also managed to leave some time for Cate and I to converse somewhat privately.
"Cate?" I quietly asked my sister as we walked, the evening having been largely free of most of the concerns that had been plaguing me since we first arrived in the city yesterday afternoon. However, now that the distractions were largely over, all my worries and concerns were returning with a vengeance.
“Yeah?” she quietly asked.
“I’m kind of freaked out by all this shit,” I admitted, after dropping a bit further back from the adults who were walking ahead of us.
“No shit!” she stated emphatically. “Who’d have ever thunk? You’re in the middle of a significant scientific, cultural and personal change and you’re nervous?” Perhaps sensing my mood, she moved closer to me and regarded me more seriously.
“It’s not just how weird all of this is. I’m a little scared of Shani. She’s pretty intense. I’ve been on like a total of five dates, and here she is talking about giving up her life and family for me, someone she only met a day ago,” I complained, staring up at the stars and thinking about how complicated my life had recently become.
“Actually it’s only 2 dates,” I was rudely corrected by my sister, “group dates don’t count.”
“Yeah, how many have you been on?” I challenged defensively, instantly regretting it. She wasn’t as unpopular as I was and had gone on quite a few dates.
“I’ve been around the block,” she answered. “I’m not quite as terminally shy as you are. Plus it’s easier for girls. Every guy in the world asks us out in the hope that we’ll say yes, whereas a guy has to work up the nerve to ask. That ultimately means the offensive jerks end up having a better shot than the nice, quiet guys.” She’d grown even more eloquent in the relative quiet that enveloped us after the recent din of the club, but I simply chalked her wordiness up to nervousness. She got that way frequently whenever we discussed something a bit awkward.
“Honestly, how would you react if, out of the blue, this handsome older man suddenly appeared in front of you, professing utter devotion, calling you an Angel and treating you like a demigod?” I asked, ready to pour my heart out. Well, maybe not my heart, I always disliked guys who gush, but at least my fears.
“Honey,” she drawled in a fake Southern accent, “he’d better call me ‘Angel’.” I laughed, I couldn’t help it. She continued, “And he’d better treat me like a demigoddess, otherwise we’re going to have trouble.
“Seriously though, I can see the stress, but it’s not like you’re in this alone. You’ve got me, you’ve got Becky who can help me do some testing on you when we get home. You have Shani and Mom and Dad. We’ll all get through it,” she explained, valiantly trying to console me.
“I don’t know. Right now I’m pretty nervous. Tell you what though, I want you to promise not to tell her where we live,” I insisted, looking into her eyes so I could measure her response to my request.
“What? How’s she supposed to find us then?” my sister asked, suddenly concerned for the source of my fears, rather than for her brother who was suffering from them.
“That’s the point. I’m not sure I want her going to our house,” I stated with a false note of finality. I knew she’d never let it rest with a simple declaration on my part.
“It’s not like she couldn’t just Google it,” Cate argued.
“Yeah, I should have thought of that before and given her a false name but it’s too late now.” Geez, you just never manage to think to lie to a person while they’re clutching your leg, on their knees in the middle of a city calling you Master. It just never occurs to you to invent fake names beforehand. If only I’d thought to create a fictitious background before leaving home, I mock scolded myself in exasperation over an impossible situation.
“Look, I’m not sure I can do that to her,” Cate replied, almost beseechingly, while she glanced at the subject of our discussion. She didn’t look happy at the prospect of treating a new friend badly. I knew she felt that Shaniqua was important to my potential future but that didn’t change the way I felt about the situation.
“Come on, you’re my sister. You’re supposed to help me,” I complained. I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t be willing to stand up for me. She had for much of our lives. For all the times she wasn’t tormenting me that is.
“I’m not so sure this is helping you. Personally I think it’s a terrible idea.”
“Still, I want the option to make my own decisions, not have them thrust upon me. This is my life we’re talking about.”
“Yes, it’s your life and your decision, but it’s the wrong decision,” she lectured me, frowning.
“And that’s for me to decide; not you and not her.” I wasn’t happy and I was getting fed up as well. Here was one woman deciding I should be the center of her life and my sister was fully supporting her in her delusion. Well, I just wasn’t ready for that level of responsibility. I’m not ready to be a daddy or a husband or leader of people with new abilities. I’m just a kid and my only plans are to attend college in the fall.
"Well what about Patricia and Natalie?" she asked, trying to raise objections so she wouldn't have to commit right away.
"They're in a separate category," I rationalized. "Patricia is tied into business contracts here and probably won't be able to back out of them, plus she's never mentioned trying to follow me."
"Only because she's too afraid you'd say no," my sister mumbled under her breath.
"Still, I don't think I'll have a problem with her, besides, she's got Henry to lean on," I added.
"Yeah, he'll provide support as long as she keeps paying his salary," she snarkily replied.
"Still, she's got her own support system here. I don't think Natalie will be a problem either. She's fascinated by all of this but she doesn't really feel she's got any kind of claim on me. She won't object when we leave at the end of the week."
"We'll see about that," Cate replied but I could tell she knew she was losing the argument with herself.
"Still, I can deal with those two, but Shani's the only one who's talked about following me home," I stressed, "I'm not sure it's a good idea to let her abandon her job, her friends, her family and her home just for someone she just met.”
Cate sighed heavily. “Damn. All right, I’ll agree, although I don’t like it and I think it’s a serious mistake. How are we ever going to learn about this if we don’t have access to the necessary information?” Now that sounds like Cate, I thought, concerned more about her future research than for her own brother’s future. Still, I’d managed to win her over, so at least I’d have some say over my future now.
“Look, you can test me all you want, but you can’t control my life. And yeah, no giving her our phone number or taking hers or anything like that. It’s going to be MY decision if I stay in contact with her, no one else’s.” I felt firm about this. I didn’t want to completely change my life just because some strange woman started seeing lights. It just wasn’t fair, to either of us.
“All right, I’ll agree. Still, it’s a terrible idea.”
“Who knows, I haven’t really decided yet, it may not even be an issue,” I tried to reassure her, though I doubted it. At least in the case of an unplanned pregnancy the guy actually does something to deserve what happens to him. I hadn’t done, or chosen to do, anything. I just had this whole thing thrown at me out of the blue.
"What about Mom and Dad though," she countered. "Don't you think they'll have something to say about your abandoning her?"
"Ha," I replied lightly, "I'm sure they'll be glad some strange woman isn't going to come home, move in with me and corrupt their precious son."
"Well someone needs to corrupt him, your right hand isn't getting you out of the house very often," she snidely countered.
Cate took another breath and immediately launched into a new discussion. “OK, changing the topic, that leads to something else. I was thinking that maybe we should try a different sort of test. You managed to connect with Shani because you came to a large city where there were more people, thus better chances of being near someone with whatever it is you two have,” she explained. She stopped walking and considered me.
“And?” I prompted her to continue.
“I want you to try and see if you can connect with some more people around here,” she finally concluded. “There are a few million people around here and you won’t have a chance like this again anytime soon.” She had an excellent point. Our town had maybe a few thousand people and that was about it. We lived far off in the country. She had a point, but I still had my doubts.
“But I have no idea how I did it in the first place,” I complained, feeling utterly lost again. "Besides, it's not like we have any lack of interest in me. We've seen plenty of people around watching me and it's only the second day we've been here."
"That may be, but I think it makes sense for us to get you out and about and away from the French Quarter. You're only likely to meet a few tourists here. So far it seems your reach is a few blocks. We need to expose you to more people," she explained.
"I guess," I sighed, resuming walking. "It's not like I did anything to begin with. But there's logistics to consider," I argued. "How do I get close enough to anyone and give them enough time to find me, given how few people respond to me?"
"Yeah, I'll have to think about that," she conceded. "You know, given the number of looks I observed before I mentioned anything, there's the chance there may be a few people that are still looking for you. Patricia waited a day before she could connect with you."
"Yeah," I replied, thinking I'd won the mini argument, "if we leave the French Quarter, they'd have no way to track me down. Staying in one place would give more people a chance to find me." She acknowledged that I had a point so we both said we'd think about it, but only after I got her to agree once more not to give Shani our address. Having finished our discussion we quickly caught up to the adults since we were at Canal, they'd already crossed, so heavily engrossed in their own discussion that they were largely ignoring us.
When we caught up to them they welcomed us back, mentioning they hoped we'd had a good discussion but none of them asked what we'd been talking about. Instead they brought us up on what they'd been discussing.
"We've been talking about Ms. Sharp's credentials and what sort of opportunities she might find around our neck of the woods," Mom mentioned, causing me to groan inwardly, thinking that while I was trying to convince Cate not to encourage her, my parents were doing just that only yards ahead of us. Still, I had the good grace to not make any outward signs of my disappointment and told myself to have a talk with my parents at the first opportunity.
"So what was the consensus?" asked Cate, smiling at me as she said it, twisting the proverbial knife in my back with a delicate little twist.
"I think there are a fair number of opportunities," my father related, "if not nearby then at least not too far away. She said she's not afraid to drive a bit in exchange for being near us." I was about to explode in frustration. This was exactly what I didn't want them discussing. In explaining about the business opportunities they'd probably told her all about where we lived. If they didn't give her the address outright already she'd at least be able to call information and locate us with that much intel.
"Well, that's good news," I lied, gritting my teeth as I said it. My mother had taught me to lie with the best of them, only not to do it in any useful manner, just to do it while being disingenuously polite.
"Yes it is," Cate echoed, smiling at me the whole time, "Just think how excited Natalie and Patricia will be when they hear?" Yes, it was true, I planned to murder my sister once I managed to reach the privacy of our room.
"I don't think that's such a good idea," I hedged. "They might be disappointed that they can't come as well."
"Oh, I don't know about that," Cate began. "They could alw..."
"No, no," I insisted, cutting my sister off before she could offer a viable alternative. "They both have too many ties here in the city. I'm sure they couldn't get out of their contracts and other obligations." I made sure to glare at Cate enough so she wouldn't try any more sneaky little tricks to undermine me. It may already be too late to stop it but at least I could try to salvage the rest of my life. However it was looking like I'd have to do the impractical thing and actually sit down and talk it all over with Shani. That was NOT my first choice however.
The rest of the walk Mom and Dad told us all about Shani's resume and experience, and how it might fit in with the few industries and businesses near us while I remained mostly quiet and practiced my poker face skills, not that I've ever played or been any good at maintaining a poker face before. Cate was eating it up however, luckily she had stopped goading me by suggesting things to my parents though.
As we neared the front of the hotel Shani stopped us for a moment and gave me a big hug and a quick, but emotional kiss.
"I'll miss not being near you," she told me, simply reinforcing all of my fears. "However, I've got to get home and change and organize all my things and such," she explained, before confiding just loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Plus I think your parents will feel better if we do things the 'old fashioned' way and make out when they can't see us so they can pretend it isn't happening." We all had to laugh at that, despite our various reasons to dread the truth of it. I was disappointed though, despite my conflicted emotions concerning Shani. I really liked her a lot and I really wanted to spend time with her, especially if it involved any fooling around at all. It's just that I was feeling very put upon and wasn't quite ready to grow up that much, that quickly, just that soon.
So we all waved goodbye to Shani as she got into her little car and drove away into the night.
"Do you think she may have had a little too much to drink?" Mom asked.
I remembered that Shani hadn't really been drinking much. I remembered because I'd been intrigued by the minty drink she'd been working on for most of the evening. "No, I think she'll be OK," I told her without explaining why. I think Mom was glad she'd managed to avoid facing seeing a strange woman going into my room for some carnal exploration and she really didn't want to have to examine the reasons why it really wasn't such a good idea.
We all headed upstairs while rehashing much of what had happened during the day and suggesting things we might do tomorrow. At the door our parents wished us a good night as we entered our separate rooms. It had been a long, emotional day and we were all tired. Plus it was a late night having sat through the set and a half of Patricia's. I think we were all ready for bed.
As Cate and I prepared for sleep she started talking while she was in the bathroom doing her nightly ablutions.
"You know, I think we could try a little experiment here tonight if you're interested," she suggested.
"Yeah, like what?" I asked a shade dubiously.
"While you had a point about how it wouldn't make much sense to travel around to find additional people, sitting here in the room would be ideal for people to find us. I think you should try to see if you can reach out and contact some more people."
"What? That doesn't make any sense, that isn't how it worked with Shani and Patricia," I argued.
"I know, but that doesn't mean that it wouldn't work, just that you haven't tried it yet. You've already demonstrated that you can send telepathic messages, maybe you can use them to pull other subjects in to you? Maybe you could even increase whatever it is that's currently attracting them?"
I had to think of this to figure out if it made any sense at all, but like all of Cate's suggestions, I knew it was probably true as soon as she suggested it. I just couldn't think of any arguments against it yet.
"So, how would you suggest I go about doing something like this? My telepathy with Shani and Patricia is anything but clear," I asked, filled with skepticism.
“Well, I considered that. Just try letting your mind wander, see if you can sense anyone out there. If that doesn’t work, try doing what you do when you communicate with Shani. Only instead of thinking of her, try directing it more generally to anyone who might be listening.” Her recommendation made sense. It was a nice logical approach, something I could always count on Cate to come up with. Maybe this wouldn’t be so difficult after all. Then I reconsidered. No, this didn’t make any sense.
"Personally, I think you're crazy," I told her. "Whatever happened before was accidental and it seemed to be due to proximity. I think the telepathy came after."
"Yeah, but we'll never be sure until we try, that's what experiments are for," she reminded me. Yeah, like she had to tell me what experiments are for. "Anyway, just give it a try and see what happens,” she reasonably suggested. It was hard to argue with that. What was the worst that could happen? I’d sit around and nothing would happen for 10 minutes?
“All right, let me try lying down so I can relax. Unless you think stress is the key and yelling at me would help?" I asked sarcastically.
"Maybe later, let's just try the simplest technique first," she replied and I growled at her in response. Still, I lay on the bed and rested my head against the big giant pillows the hotel used. I lay my arms out, palms up so nothing would bother them and took a few deep calming breaths; trying to ignore my sister who was nervously watching my every move.
“Alright. Oh, and try picturing the front of the hotel. Try imagining the name or the title of the hotel on the banner outside and see if you can convey that, otherwise they’ll never know how to contact us. So far they've been able to figure out where you were but if we can reach farther out this time they might need some assistance," she suggested. She’d apparently been putting a lot of thought into this. She apparently saw her new role of watching out for my new abilities very seriously.
“OK, got it,” I responded as I tried relaxing again and closed my eyes, trying to think peaceful thoughts. I tried to relax and just see if anything happened on its own. After a few moments with nothing happening I tried just thinking about theoretical peoples and imagined searching for them. It didn’t have any effect. Finally I tried what I’d done a couple of times with Shani, only this time I did it while trying to project it out to the world in general. Do you have any idea how hard it is to think about something so general and nonspecific? All I did was sit and think about different ways to think, and I’ll tell you something, there’s basically only one way to think, even when casting out a mental call to addressees unknown.
Suddenly I felt a sense of accomplishment and figured I must have been successful but couldn't tell for sure. After pausing to consider it I continued with the same tact, only trying for a clearer message. I felt a little confused and hoped someone was asking ‘What?’ so I tried to picture the front of the hotel, then switched to imagining the large neon name blazoned on the front of it.
“You got a response?” Cate asked excitedly. I tried to ignore her interruption, but it’s hard to do this kind of thing while someone’s excitedly shouting out to you, so the moment was spoiled. I hoped the message got thru despite my doubts and finally opened my eyes and glared at my sister.
“It’s better when you don’t interrupt,” I suggested to her.
“Oh, sorry, but I’m just so excited. Is there anything I can do to help?” she insincerely apologized, literally hopping from one foot to the other, reaching for her notebook in her backpack.
“No. I’m not sure it worked. I got the sense that I got someone, but didn’t have any kind of confirmation so I can't be sure. It’s all sort of based on feelings and the messages are just random ideas that pop into your head, so it’s really hard to quantify it.” This telepathy stuff was nothing like you see it on TV. First of all there’s no reading of minds, then, when you do get a message it’s hardly clear at all; just a bunch of vague impressions. I was wishing magical, telepathic abilities were as easy as the movies portray them. But then doesn’t everyone wish life were as easy as TV and the movies? We’d never have to work at anything and we’d finish all our major life events in an hour and a half.
“We’re going to have to talk about all of that so I can document it, that’s important to the process,” she declared, making a firm decision about what her future plans were. Again, she was focused on the scientific end of things. I was a bit more concerned about whether it worked and what the results might be.
“What’s important to the process is peace and quiet,” I mumbled, sitting up. “Beyond that it’s mostly just guessing and hoping, more than anything else.”
“Well, just focus on anything that’s not images of naked ladies. Those are probably just your normal thoughts,” Cate teased me, which I found strangely reassuring. It showed that we were both more or less back to our normal relationships, albeit in a weird happenstance of communicating telepathically with strangers.
“Humph,” I said, but was amused by her comment.
“Do you want to try again? Did you imagine the hotel so they’ll be able to find us?” Cate wanted to know. I couldn’t fault her for her curiosity. We were in a strange circumstance, playing with powerful issues and my sister was trying to insert a little order into an otherwise invented environment. She deserved to know all that I’d seen so she’d better be able to advise me.
"You keep saying 'they,' I'm hoping it's not a whole bunch of people. A single one would be nice, maybe no one would be nicer yet," I complained to her.
"Yeah, you're no fun," she responded. "Here we are at the forefront of science and all you want to do is roll over and go to sleep."
“Calm down, I need to focus, that’s all my poor brain can handle while battling all the images of naked ladies dancing around inside my head,” I teased her right back. We worked best when we were in our little teasing ritual, it helped ease and relax us both while distracting me from the serious consequences of what we were doing.
I tried various techniques but didn't achieve anything else. Still, I felt like I might have reached someone that one time so we hoped for the best. I couldn't deny it, as much as I tried to be annoyed by the whole process, it was exciting to be able to do something like this. Now that I could relax on my own for a change I admitted to myself that the whole process was pretty intriguing. Plus, I already had practically more friends than I had at home. Still, we couldn't stay up all night anticipating someone's arrival. We had plans for the morning so we eventually drifted off to sleep.
I suddenly came awake into a darkened room and lay there confused as I groaned, trying to will myself back to sleep. It was much too early for any kind of human activity and I certainly had no desire to be awake.
“What the fuck was that,” mumbled my sister, more aware of our surroundings than I was. I hadn't even been aware what had awakened me.
“It was just a dream. Go back to sleep,” I muttered and tried to ignore her. That lasted all of about seven seconds before there was a rapid knock on the door, which shocked me so much I almost fell out of bed.
“Who the hell is that?” Cate asked, her voice masked with a combination of confusion, concern and annoyance.
“I don’t know. It’s the front door so it’s not Mom and Dad,” I grunted as I tried to find my pants in the dark. It took a while to remember what we'd been doing before we fell asleep and what it might mean.
"Do you think it might be whoever I reached earlier?" I asked.
"I don't know, but I can't think of anyone else knocking at this time of night," she responded, much too coherently for my taste.
I was just hoping this wasn't simply some drunk knocking on the wrong door in the middle of the night. Just as I got one leg into the wrong leg of my jeans, Cate managed to turn on the bedside light. Besides blinding me enough to fall back on the bed, it did help with dressing. I was stumbling toward the door when the rapid knock occurred again. Although it had sounded astonishingly loud before, now it seemed quiet but insistent. I opened the door a smidgen and glanced out to see Shani’s worried face.
“Hey, what’s up Shani?” I asked, keeping my voice low to avoid waking any neighbors. I had no idea why she was knocking on our door in the middle of the night but figured she'd get to it. There's no need to be rude just because I'm annoyed. "Weren't you on the way home?" I glanced at my watch and saw that only about 40 minutes had passed since we'd parted. Cate and I hadn't managed to last very long with our experiment.
“I don’t know what's up,” she responded a little testily. "And yes, I was on my way home."
I held the door open for her just as Cate rushed up behind me and held onto my shoulders, looking past me at Shani.
“I was on the way home when I got this impression you were calling me but I couldn't get a clear message so I figured I’d better get over here and see what’s happening,” Shani explained as she entered the apartment.
“Oh, that,” I said with a yawn, still trying to clear my mind enough to form a coherent explanation.
"We were trying to... see if anyone... responded to a mental call.” It was hard to complete a sentence when you’re only partly awake. I gently closed the door with Cate continuing to hold my shoulders from behind me.
“Oh. I was worried that maybe something had happened to you and you couldn’t complete a message or something. I was so scared I hurried over so fast I was afraid I’d get stopped by the police. What the hell would I do then? Say ‘Gee officer, I was hurrying over to this cute 17 year olds’ apartment because I got this feeling he was trying to mentally talk to me but he couldn’t complete the message’? I don’t think that’d go over very well.”
I felt like laughing at the mental imagery but she was clearly still upset. Before I could do anything Cate abandoned my side and ran up and held her, just as a knock sounded from the adjoining door.
“Damn, that’s Mom and Dad,” I hissed. Ignoring the two beautiful girls hugging in my hotel room I walked around them and opened the interior door to the face of my anxious parents. They saw Shani and got even more anxious.
“What’s up? Do you have any idea what time it is?” my father insisted.
“No Dad, I don’t. I managed to figure we've only been asleep for a little while but I didn't have the presence of mind to memorize the time.” I was way too tired to be polite at this hour of the night.
“What’s Shani doing here?” my mother asked, despite my mumbled responses.
“She got a partial message from Alex, Mom; she was worried that maybe something had happened,” replied Cate, always the rational one.
“Partial message? What... never mind. Why’s she concerned? What could have happened?” Mom continued.
“I don’t know,” whimpered Shani, pulling herself from Cate’s sheltering embrace. “I just imagined the worst. As I turned around and hurried back here I was imagining all the things that could happen to cause a garbled message and then nothing. I was scared for them.” Damn, she even had tears in her eyes. Shit, this is really getting too much for me.
Mom walked quickly over to her and held her as well while Dad glared at me as if it were all my fault somehow.
“What? What’d I do?” I tried to protest my innocence.
“Did you try to contact her? I’m assuming this is that silly telepathy stuff," Dad questioned me. Turning to Shani he asked, “Why didn’t you just pick up a phone?”
Before she could answer I jumped in. "Cate and I were experimenting earlier. She wanted me to try to see if I could find someone else in the immediate area that might also have... whatever the fuck it is I have.”
“Alex!” announced my mother in that warning tone all mothers seem to have.
“Sorry, Mom. It was Cate's idea that I may be able to reach someone with a generic telepathic message instead of simply... waiting for them to show up,” I explained, struggling to stifle a yawn. "Anyway, I guess Shani must have picked up on my crude attempts at trying to figure out how to do it."
"So, were you successful?" Dad asked us.
"No, I guess not," I replied, still trying to wrap my head around what actually happened and what everyone thought had happened.
“You know, you two should really talk to us before trying these wild schemes of yours,” my father said sternly.
“We should?” answered back my sister. “So you can aid us with your years of experience in dealing with psychic phenomena and feeling unidentified presences and their potential physics considerations?” she asked quite condescendingly. I thought my father might get upset at her response but he just meekly shrugged.
“At least you should wait until everyone’s awake,” he responded lamely.
“What, you mean while we’re wandering around the city? Or all excited so Alex can’t relax enough? I figured the evening was the best time. Alex is relaxed, I’m here to help him and we're all in one place for several hours so someone could find us easily.”
“Ok, Ok. You’ve got very good points. Apparently you’ve thought about these things much more than I have," Dad responded weakly.
“Don’t worry, Dad. This is new to all of us. Alex was about to fall apart earlier. If you think it’s overwhelming, just think how he’s feeling," Cate explained, revealing all of my fears to the world.
“Isn’t it the same for Shani and Patricia?” Mom reasonably responded.
"Not to mention Natalie," Dad added.
“Well...” began Cate, catching herself before revealing anything about the other things that’d caused me to freak out.
“I think she’s trying to say that these things are more extreme for Alex,” contributed Shani. “After all, he’s younger. He seems to be controlling it. He feels responsible and he’s inexperienced. Altogether he’s not sure if he can handle the responsibilities yet. Is that right, Alex?” She tried to look at me for confirmation but had to shield her eyes, as always, so she couldn’t measure my response. Something I was thankful for because I thought she’d figured out the real reasons why I was so distraught. Not that the reasons specified weren’t all terrifying enough.
“Oh, poor baby,” Mom cried, abandoning the two girls to come running over to me. I tried to act annoyed, but when you’re upset it’s always comforting to be held by your mother, even if it is embarrassing as hell.
"So you just thought some random thought and Shani received it and couldn't let you know she was the one you reached?" Dad asked, still unsure of the details.
“It’s not quite as clear as all of that," I tried to elaborate. "When you receive a message, it’s just another series of random thoughts in your head. You have to try to distinguish them from the other random feeling and emotions running through you at that moment. I had a sensation of success, but it was just a hazy feeling and I didn't get a clear message in response because I usually don't get clear messages."
"Patricia and I are the only one's who've gotten clear messages," Shani explained, "but only when Alex was upset with us."
"I wasn't upset..." I began.
"Yeah, yeah, we know," my father tiredly told me, familiar with my common complaint.
"So now that you've managed to scare everyone awake in the middle of the night, how about if we all just go back to bed?" Mom asked us.
"Uhh," Shani hesitantly replied.
"It's really too late for you to return home again," Mom responded. "I really shouldn't have let you go before as we'd all been drinking. You'll have to stay the night. Why don’t you sleep in our room and leave the two children alone to sleep the night away," she stressed, giving her a meaningful glance at the mention of children.
“Thanks, it’s a very gracious offer. Though don’t you have a single double bed in your room?”
“As a matter of fact, we do,” stated my father hesitantly.
“Well then I think it makes more sense if I just share Cate’s bed then. That way I can physically restrain her the next time she gets a new idea she wants to experiment with," Shani responded to my mother's unspoken challenge. I knew right away that my parents had just been successfully played; and they didn't even see it coming.
“Well I think...” Dad tried to protest.
“Frank,” warned my mother, glaring at my father, “let the kids be. They won’t try anything knowing we’re next door. Besides, how else are we going to end up with a bunch of nice telepathic grandbabies?” Her laughter echoed thru the room as she dragged my father, still mumbling protests, out the door.
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.