Crumbly Writer’s Stories
		“Normalcy Is Harder Than It Looks”
		Book 3 of “The Catalyst” Series
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Chapter 24:  A Small Celebration or
A Bad Start to the Biggest Day of My Life

           

I woke the next morning to the jostling of the bed. I hadn’t awakened like I normally did, the alarm apparently hadn’t gone off, and all of my bedmates were already busy doing a variety of things. I rubbed my eyes, still feeling very tired, and started to get out of bed.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Allison told me, pushing me back down. “You’re supposed to rest up. Just lie there for a bit. Cate will be by to get you later.”

So I lay back and grumbled at my girls in my mind, telling them I was perfectly capable of getting up and getting on with my day, but they weren’t even listening. That just allowed my mind to wander to other things.

I couldn’t really blame my girls for their lack of enthusiasm since I’d never told them what today was, but I was expecting a little something. Maybe a special good morning kiss, an extra special wake up, maybe a nice card or something. Instead everyone was reacting like I wasn’t even here. Figuring I’d just get morose if I continued to lie there, I grabbed my robe, which I rarely ever used, and started putting it on as I stood up.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Shani asked me in a not overly affectionate tone of voice.

‘Everyone is busy and Allison said Cate wanted me, so I figured I’d go downstairs, get breakfast and see what she wanted,’ I mentally replied, not ready to test out my voice yet.

She seemed surprised by my response. “Oh. I guess that’s OK, then. But take it easy. You’re supposed to be on bed rest.”

I grumbled, mostly mentally since grumbling still hurt, and slowly made my way downstairs. When you aren’t in front or a part of them, you notice just how many women there are around here in the morning. I dodged a couple as I made my way downstairs. When I got to the kitchen I didn’t see any sign of my family. Only Anh and Natalie were there, getting everyone’s breakfast started. I just walked up behind them and poured myself a cup of coffee. Natalie noticed me and seemed surprised, then chased me away, pushing me to a seat at the table.

“You shouldn’t be up. You need to rest. If you insist on being up, I’ll get you your coffee. Just sit there and don’t cause any trouble,” she warned me.

‘Where is everyone?’ I asked Anh, since I had no way of talking to Natalie.

‘Everyone upstairs still,’ Anh answered without even turning around, which I thought quite rude.

‘What about Mom, Dad and Cate?’

‘Oh, your father had something at work, so he already left, and your mother had to pick up something we forgot at the grocery. I’m not sure where your sister is,’ she responded, still not turning around as she finished getting everything started for the swarm of women who would soon be descending the stairs.

I proceeded to sulk a bit. I could understand the girls not knowing what today was, but my own parents forgetting about it? OK, I could see Dad forgetting, mostly because Mom is always reminding him of things, so if she forgot then it was assured he’d never know about it. But I was shocked Cate wouldn’t remember what today was. She was normally all over me, taking care of me all of the time, watching out for me, worrying about me. The idea that she wouldn’t remember…

“There you are.”

I turned at the sound of the voice and saw Cate, fully dressed and coming in from the garage.

“Well, come on. I haven’t got all day. I need you outside to continue our experiment. If I could do it myself I’d have let you sleep, but since I can’t, you’ll have to do it for me and then head back to bed.”

I still hadn’t gotten any coffee. Man, what a crummy way to start a day. Everyone ignoring me, no one remembering one of the most important days in a young man’s life, everyone acting rude and Cate, my dear sister, acting like I’m holding her up by purposefully being slow.

I got to my feet and padded out to the garage behind her in my bare feet. When I got there she was already by the cages, setting the two mice out on their little tray. They seemed pretty tame, since they didn’t even try to get away.

“Since you’re on bed rest today I’m driving Kitty and Chalise to school, so I’m anxious to get started. I’ll take your car but one of the girls will pick it up during the day. You should be rested enough to come pick us up when school lets out. Just so you know, Kitty won’t be coming home with us tonight. Her mother has something scheduled for her, so you’ll only be picking up Chalise and me.”

I was trying to stare daggers at her for her rude behavior, but she wasn’t even looking at me, already feeding the other animals and checking things off on her task list besides the cages. I quietly gave the two little mice their daily burst of energy then put them both back into their cages. I’d already learned to recognize each of them so I knew which cage each one went into.

Seeing I was done, Cate turned around and walked out of the garage without a word. I sighed, still not an easy task for me to do, and followed her back into the house, my feet already freezing from the cold cement. When I got inside I saw Cate picking up her book bag and my keys. She walked over and gave me a quick kiss.

“Take care, I want to get an early start since I’m not used to driving, and it’ll take me longer than it normally takes you,” and with that she turned and headed out the front door.

Man, some day this was turning out to be. She couldn’t have been colder to me than if I told her she was putting on so much weight she was starting to look like our mother. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. Everyone seemed to be in a mood today.

I made my way into the kitchen again, and everyone was zipping past. For some odd reason, no one was sitting down to breakfast the way we always did. Instead, everyone was simply picking up an omelet sandwich and a cup of coffee and heading out the door. Before I could figure out what was going on almost everyone was gone.

“Oh, there you are. You know, you can’t just send a generic message to all your girls that you’re leaving without telling me,” Natalie said, sounding perturbed at me. “It’s not like I can hear any of those messages.” I tried to reply, but couldn’t think of how to do so. Instead she handed me my coffee and put a bowl at my place at the table.

“I’ll see you, Alex, your mother forgot something so I’m going to the grocery store as well,” Anh told me, zipping past me. “I’ll be back later. When you finish that you should get right back in bed since you need your rest today. Don’t get started with anything. If you need anyone to record your observations of Rakeem’s thoughts, talk to Brooke since she’s traveling with a pad so she can take notes whenever you need. But don’t bother her with anything else since she’s on duty this morning.”

And then she was gone, leaving me alone with Natalie, who I couldn’t communicate with. She didn’t seem to be in a mood to talk anyway. What the hell was going on? Was everyone having their periods today or something? I’d heard about how women living together all tended to get on the same cycle, but I hadn’t noticed it happening before this. That’s not the kind of thing which just happens in a single day, is it? I sat there scratching my head.

“You finish up, Alex. I’m going to do some laundry. When you’re done you should head back up and get in bed. Doctor’s orders, remember?” Natalie told me as she disappeared down the hall.

I glanced around the empty room and wondered what the hell had happened. I felt like I’d suddenly fallen down Alice’s rabbit hole this morning. I quietly ate my soup, and since Natalie hadn’t returned, made my way slowly back upstairs, lay back down and tried to sleep.

But it was still difficult. I still had various static impressions in my head, and my sleep had likewise been intermittent last night as well. Seems Rakeem was upset about a lot of things, mostly trying to figure out how he could manage his business interests when he couldn’t speak or function very well.

---

I awoke to a ringing telephone. Reaching over, I managed to pick it up on the third or fourth ring. It was only after I picked it up that I realized I couldn’t say anything. Damn, I should have let the machine get it, I thought to myself.

“Alex, I’m assuming it’s you since you can’t talk,” Cate’s voice told me. She immediately went on. “I’ll make this quick since I don’t have much time. I snuck outside between classes so I could make this call. There are rumors of a female reporter here at Eldorado High asking questions about you. It seems she has free access to the school. The girls and I are upset and … Oh, damn, that’s the bell. I’ve got to run. I’ll give you an update later.”

Now that’s another way not to wake up. There could only be one female reporter looking for me, and if she’d found me she was likely to dig up a fair amount of dirt on me pretty quickly. I assumed that none of my girls would say anything, but there were plenty of people willing to say any number of things about me—true or not—which could paint a very bad picture of me. Damn, it was New Orleans and Albert Rodriguez all over again. Except this time I couldn’t just skip town.

‘Gail, are you available?’ I asked.

‘Alex, what are you doing up? You should be asleep. If you need to record anything you should—’

‘Gail, stop! This is important. It seems there’s a certain female reporter at my school at this very moment, asking questions about me. She must have already talked to several people if the kids know she’s interested in me.’

‘Wow, Alex, you’re right. That is a mess. I don’t know how Lisa Woodall could have tracked you to your school, though.’

‘I have no idea either, and I don’t know what we can do about it. Do you think you could call my mother and ask her to file a complaint with the school? Or maybe call Michelle or something?’

‘Well, frankly, I don’t know what we’d be able to do. It sounds like the school has given her free access thinking it will give them free press and make them look good. If she came in and said she was doing a story on you, they might have thought Michelle had called a reporter like she’d threatened to and were afraid to say no.’

‘Well, can’t you stop her? What if Michelle called the school and said she didn’t authorize it?’ I asked.

‘Sorry, but that’s a no go, Alex. We don’t know what she said to gain access. If she didn’t say anything about Michelle, then you’d just be creating a hornets’ nest. Plus she’d be able to claim the school was hiding something if they threw her out now. It’s a no win situation. I think you should simply sit it out. You trust those friends of yours, don’t you?’

‘Yeah,’ I replied hesitantly.

‘Well, they are your best defense. Hopefully no one who actually knows you will say anything. The school is not about to say anything negative about you. About the only ones who would say anything would be people with a clear agenda against you, and for her to report that would make her look irresponsible if several people came forwards afterwards and contested what was said. Frankly, I don’t think she will dig up much. I’d say just let her dig around. Once she finds there isn’t a story she’ll get bored and move on.’

‘I don’t think it will be as easy as that,’ I argued. ‘She’s obviously here after a story, and if she’s here, then it means she’s convinced the station there’s a story. All she needs is to paint me as a high school con man, building up a following of religious fanatics, and she could have a lead story in no time.’

‘Well, as you always say, you’ll have to cross that bridge when you come to it. At this point we have no idea what she’s after. So far she hasn’t reported anything, so she doesn’t seem to have anything significant on you yet aside from the rantings of a crazy lady who tried to set fire to her own church. I know it’s hard, but you are going to have to just relax and try to not let this get to you. I’ll let everyone else know what’s up. We’ll discuss it and think if there’s anything we can do.’

‘Arghh! I guess there really isn’t anything else we can do. Well, thanks anyway, but I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep after this. This is going to keep me up for the rest of the day. I think … hold on Gail, there’s the phone again. I’ll contact you again later.’

‘Fine, but don’t let yourself worry about it. You know what Cate’s been saying. The last thing we need is you giving yourself a stroke over this. Leave those for Rakeem.’

I jumped up and managed to run downstairs just in time to hear Kitty’s voice on the answering machine.

“… ing to several of the other girls. So far, I don’t think anyone’s said anything yet. But everyone is very upset. Anyway, I know you can’t respond, but I just wanted you to know. I’ll talk to you later. Bye,” and with that she hung up.

Needless to say this was hardly the kind of thing I needed to hear to make me relax and recover. My mind started racing and I paced a bit, at least as much as my body would let me. I considered my options but couldn’t think of anything very workable. Each option I could come up with had its own negatives associated with it. After all, the last thing I wanted to convey was that I was hiding something.

‘Alex, this is Gail again. I just had your mother call the school and talk to the principal. According to him the reporter was very polite, respectful, and interested in both the school and you. He thinks she’s writing a positive piece about a promising student being stricken by a random act of violence, and how the school rallies around him to help him make it to graduation. It’s possible this is all just what it sounds like, getting upset isn’t going to change anything. If it’s negative, we’ll find out about it. However, I think your best defense is your friends. I sent a text message to Cate, Kitty and Chalise, telling them to speak with each of your friends, telling them to be open with Lisa, telling her what she wants to know, giving her a very positive view of you but nothing overtly controversial. I’m hoping that will be enough.’

I realized Gail was right. I couldn’t very well fight this battle from here, lying flat on my back unable to speak. If my world was going to come crashing down around my head we’d find a way to deal with it. But I couldn’t picture her wanting a general interest story on me. That wouldn’t make any sense given how she came to know about me. Somehow she sensed a story in this.

But I needed more information, and I could only react after she made her move. If she made an accusation then I could counter it. This was more like a chess game, where there are two opponents who each make a series of orchestrated moves aimed at winning a larger prize. Hers was supposedly to expose me while mine was to maintain the privacy we all needed. But I’d need to see her move before I could attempt to counter it. I had to see her hand, to mix my metaphors.

With that finally decided, I went to an empty kitchen to make some lunch. This worrying really makes one hungry. I had no idea where Natalie had disappeared to, but I was less concerned about it than I was that morning. After I ate, I returned to bed to wait for the next shoe to drop.

I’d set my alarm, making sure it was turned on this time, since it seems someone had turned it off on me last night. When I got up with the alarm, on schedule this time, I got dressed and made my way downstairs where I met Natalie. When I cocked my head in the only pantomime of a question I knew, she gave me a little more information.

“We need to get going. You need to pick up Cate and Chalise, and you’re not driving since you’re supposed to be resting,” she informed me. Since I couldn’t argue the point with her, I simply followed her out to the car.

As we made our way to school, I was expecting the worst when we met Cate and Chalise. When the final bell rang kids started streaming from the school, but I saw no sign of them. We waited for quite a while before the girls came out together. Cate and Chalise, followed by most of the girls who shared our lunch table. The others peeled off, waving goodbye to my sister and my girlfriend. When Cate started looking around for me, Natalie honked the horn at her and they both ran to the car.

“Hey, bro, thanks for picking us up today,” Cate told me when she climbed in the back seat. “The girls said they were busy today for some reason and wouldn’t be able to pick us up. We’ve got a lot to tell you about, so go ahead and drive, Natalie. I’d rather be far away from here before we start talking about it.”

“Yeah, it was crazy today,” Chalise told me, leaning between the seats to give me a kiss which my sister was afraid to give me for fear of people watching, though hers was pretty chaste, given the condition of my throat. “That reporter lady, Lisa Woodall, was all over the school today. My understanding is she started out with Principal Phillips. After that, she talked with a few teachers and then she started talking to various students.”

“She talked to a few of the guys from the lunchroom crowd,” Cate told me. “They all said good things about you and tried to play down the stories of numerous women, but they didn’t know what she’d heard, so they couldn’t really try to address anything. Apparently, she was just looking for general information, since she didn’t seem to ask any leading questions. Frankly I’m worried she’s getting all the dirt she wants from your enemies, and she’s not interested in what your friends are telling her. But then again, she’s polite and doesn’t seem like she’s probing. Frankly, I’m not sure how to interpret it.”

There was no way I could ask them any specific questions, so I figured any questions would have to wait until we got home and I could get one of the girls to speak for me. Natalie was strangely quiet, probably because she couldn’t think of any alternatives either.

“Anyway, Alex, you shouldn’t get upset about this,” Cate told me, caressing my cheek. “I only told you so you’d be aware of what’s happening, but I don’t want you to stress over what you don’t have any control over. You need to relax.”

I was starting to get tired of everyone telling me to relax, but Chalise reached around the seat and started to massage my back. Doing something to help me relax was better than nagging me. It was a bit awkward, since it put pressure on my tender neck, but it did help relax me. I simply closed my eyes and rested as the girls talked about what our group had to say about Lisa’s interviews at the school. They talked almost the entire way to Becky’s apartment, but when Natalie passed the road heading to Becky’s I looked at her inquisitively.

“Don’t worry, Alex,” Natalie told me, “we wanted you to look at the loft space before we finally commit to it. We don’t want to apply for the loan and tie up our credit before we’re sure you actually like it.”

I wanted to tell her that I trusted their opinion on the place, but I had no way to say it. I made writing motions to Cate, but she was so busy talking to my girlfriend she didn’t notice, so I just settled back. Natalie drove us into an industrial area on the edge of town, and we finally pulled up to an older building which looked like it had some work recently done to it. For an industrial area I thought there were a lot of cars nearby, but then again I figured the space had been converted to residential space, so it made sense there’d be cars around. Natalie let us into the building and to a rickety old elevator. She pushed the button for the top floor and it creaked, moaned and shook as it started to rise. I thought it odd they could get the top floor loft, but apparently Natalie noticed my confused expression.

“I wanted to show you the view from the top floor before we look around. You can get a nice view of the building by starting at the top and walking down.” I nodded that I understood.

The elevator stopped and we walked out into a small vestibule, where Natalie walked up to one door. She started to put a key into the door. I didn’t know why she was trying to open the door when she said we’d be looking out the window, but something caught my eye. Grabbing her arm I maneuvered her to the side so I could see the door clearly. Although I hadn’t seen it before, I recognized the concept of the painting on the door. It showed a single eye, looking down, with an angel’s wings unfolded around it. I glanced meaningfully at Natalie. She had the nerve to giggle.

“I wanted to surprise you. It was just for effect,” she said, as she resumed unlocking the door. She swung the door open and motioned for me to enter.

The interior was completely black, without any light of any kind. I walked in, looking for any kind of light switch, when suddenly I heard the rustle of fabric and was blinded by light. In the second it took for my eyes to adjust, I heard several voices call out quite loudly “Surprise!”

I stepped back in exactly that, complete surprise. However Cate and Chalise pushed me forwards as a mass of people starting singing “Happy Birthday”. Looking around I saw the drapes had been pulled from the massive windows and the lights turned on, creating a massive amount of light. Surrounding me were dozens if not hundreds of people. I simply looked around in a daze.

Aside from my family and my girls, there were all sorts of people here. The kids from school were each here—which explained why Natalie had been driving so slowly—as were the girls from the sorority, Amy Ray and Tina Shaw were standing amongst the crowd with a group of other girls, the Watchers we met in St. Louis were too. Hell, even Bao and Victoria Luong were here. It looks like almost everyone I’d met in the last several weeks were here to wish me happy birthday.

“We knew you were upset when no one wished you a happy birthday,” my mother told me. “We also knew you were sensitive when no one said anything leading up to it. Your girls couldn’t stand to see you upset, so they all left early trying to avoid talking to you.”

“I almost spilled the beans the other day,” Melinda admitted, happily giving me a not quite sisterly kiss. “Still, maybe if I had you wouldn’t have gotten yourself shot.”

I wanted to make a clever comment about none of us yet having a clairvoyant ability, but about all I could do was wordlessly open and close my mouth like a guppy. My sister simply laughed and pressed my mouth closed for me.

“Save that for when it's more useful, like when you've got someone's vagina there,” she teased. “Still, I can’t help thinking saving my brother’s life beats having a big surprise party. Next time, I’ll ignore Becky and spoil your surprise. But while we’re all here and you’re relatively healthy, happy birthday, kiddo.”

“We all come here,” Anh explained. “Everyone come and work all day. We clean up, scrape old paint, wash floors, make nice. We did all we could without making more mess. Tomorrow we sand floors. Next day we wipe down, then varnish, polish and paint. Then we start on built-in furniture, run gas lines, install fancy oven, move in refrigerator, desks, filing cabinets. Soon we have big living space and office. Is perfect,” she concluded, smiling at me.

“Oh,” she continued, as if only remembering, “we arrange to buy whole building. Although we don’t have our 501C status yet, we use check from Adrian and the studio to secure loan for building. Then, we rent living space back to us. We pay rent, which goes to Angel Vision Foundation, which help you do what you need to. It works out well, no?” she asked while winking at me. I had to admit, they certainly had things worked out.

I was then surrounded by well-wishers, all wanting to congratulate me and tell me what they’d been up to since I’d last seen them. Victoria seemed to have met Josh and Suzy. Vicky was busy quizzing Suzy about what she knew about my abilities while they all hugged me. Vicky’s other brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews were here as well, but they were all hanging back, since they didn’t know anyone here besides Anh.

The various Watchers from St. Louis got together with those from the sorority, while the regular pledges of the sorority listened in while my girls explained several things to them. There were nurses, orderlies and doctors, all congregated around Ryan, Edward and Avers. Clark Straus shook my hand while I was with Brooke, telling me how glad he was that I had managed to help his old partner so much, and Peter, David and Darice told me all about how their mission to organize the Watchers around New Orleans and elsewhere were going.

“Just wait for later,” Darice warned me. “We’ve got some other surprises for you as well.” I simply arched my eyebrow at her, since I still couldn’t reply to anyone with so many people who didn’t know our secrets yet surrounding me.

I had no idea I had met this many people since we started out in New Orleans. There were people all over the place and they were all talking to each other. The idea that those who didn’t know much would overhear the other discussions was about to drive me to distraction.

Carlos Alvarez was looking much better, his burns mostly healed, although they still showed some impressive scars despite what I’d managed to do for him. Tim Reynolds, his wife Tracy, and his kids all told me what they’d been up to and how much they appreciated having their father back again. Daniel Cooper, the friendly cop who interviewed me in the hospital about Brandon’s attack, was talking with both Michelle and Gail. Ricky Atkins, the schizophrenic I’d helped, was talking to some of the nurses with Stephanie, the depression patient. Bev, Sara and Julie looked like they’d just won the lottery, being amongst so many women at the same time. They knew they couldn’t touch, but they had fun flirting anyway. They especially had fun flirting with the girls from school, both the high school and the nearby college.

Dr. Lovett had fun talking to the other doctors from Carbondale Memorial Hospital, as well as passing out plenty of business cards. It seems she also did gynecology and pediatrics, although her specialty was fertility. About the only people not here were Adrian Hart, Clara and Lisa Woodall, for obvious reasons. But that just reminded me of all the trouble I had outside of this new loft.

Gail finally aproached, bringing Michelle and Officer Daniel Cooper. We briefly talked about the status of my case against Rakeem and I learned some very unsettling news. Michelle informed me she’d been getting a lot of flack about him, and not just from his defense lawyers either. This was from the Chicago police. They claimed he was under watch for criminal activities and that our detention of him would impede several important investigations. Seems they weren’t concerned with the clear evidence of an attempted murder. They didn’t want some Podunk town detective threatening their investigations. They didn’t seem to be very particular about what happened to him, either. They either wanted him turned over to the Chicago authorities to be held, or for him to simply be released on his own recognizance. I didn’t have much confidence either one would result in him being brought to trial. Even if their ‘investigation’ resulted in their own evidence against him, they were after bigger fish, so they’d gladly trade his freedom in exchange for evidence against someone else.

When Shani said as much to her, Michelle assured us she wouldn’t be easily swayed.

“This is the first major crime we’ve had here for some time, since it looks like an organized assassination attempt. I don’t plan on dropping it. I’m not easily pushed around and I’m hungry for the attention, as it will help establish my position on the force. Unfortunately, it’s not me you’ve got to worry about.

“The problem is the politicians. If Chicago offers some ‘incentives for our cooperation’, they’ll put pressure on the police force to turn him over with no guarantees. Normally there’s little communication between Chicago and us, but if they start talking money or resources I’m not sure the local politicians will be able to resist.

“Rakeem’s lawyer arrived here yesterday and has already submitted petitions for a change of venue, arguing he can’t receive a fair trial here due to the antipathy a young black man from the big city is likely to face from the largely white local populace.”

“I don’t think he’s got a leg to stand on with that one,” Gail said. “At least from a legal perspective, but again, all it takes is a politician talking to a judge and someone might just change their opinion.”

That left me feeling discouraged because he was likely to get off. I figured I had only a few days to get some kind of information which might lead to some new evidence. Hopefully we could prove Rodger and/or James had hired him, even if we couldn’t prosecute Rakeem himself.

Jennifer came up after that discussion, sensing I needed something to lighten my mood.

“Alex, I really wanted to be here for your birthday since it’s such a big deal, both for you and for each of us. However, I’m planning on flying out tomorrow to join with Dr. Simon Reinhart in Utah. I was also looking forward to your prom, but I figure the girls will keep me informed of everything that’s happening. I’m really excited about this. It’s been great being around you and everyone else, but the others have specific jobs and I’ve been feeling a bit adrift. This represents a big opportunity for me, and I think I really need it. I’ll have everything ready for you when you arrive so you can sweep in, make a big splash and get out again. We’ll have to talk about what you want me to do afterwards, but I’ll make you proud of me in this project.”

‘I’ve always been proud of you, Jennifer, but it’s good to see you working towards something again,’ I told her. ‘By the way, Cate finally determined it wasn’t my fault your bone shattered, although it did contribute somewhat.’

‘That’s just silly, Alex. If it wasn’t for you, I likely wouldn’t even be here for much longer. Instead you helped with the cancer, and if the cancer spreads as you expect, then at least it will be the treatable kind, and any treatment will be aided by our abilities. Besides, if it wasn’t for you, you wouldn’t be giving me continued treatments for my arm, so if I eventually broke the arm anyway, I’d just be that much farther behind. I’ll always owe you everything in my life, Alex, and I plan on repaying that any way I can. And since you are unlikely to ever allow me to pay it back, I’ll try to pay it forward by helping others instead.’ With that she enveloped me in a big hug and gave me a long kiss goodbye. As she was doing that, I gave her one final treatment to her arm.

Luckily there were quite a few rented chairs scattered about, so I could rest up. One of the nurses checked my blood pressure while Brooke checked my wound again. Once she assured my family I was OK, they started the gift process. It was a little unusual, since most people told about what they were doing to help fix up the new space. For many people their mere presence was their gift, but the rest were dedicating a great deal of time to help us get situated here.

Most of the actual gifts were either from my family or my girls, something I suspect was arranged ahead of time. Probably because they feared the many Watchers would feel obligated to shower me with gifts they couldn’t afford. Most of the gifts I did receive were fairly simple. My girls gave me a variety of clothes suitable for traveling, especially in the heat we’d be expected to face touring the southwest in the middle of summer. I got luggage, a new backpack, travel shades and the like. They also bought plenty of warmer clothes as well, for when I eventually traveled north they insisted. The biggest two gifts were a new iPhone, “Just so you can call home occasionally,” my mother told me. “As easy as it is to call your girls, we still like to hear your voice occasionally, rather than just getting a message secondhand.” Next was an equally impressive iPad. “It’s really for the two of you,” Allison explained. “We suspect Cate will use it more than you, as a handy way to look up important facts and to take her copious notes about you.”

Dr. Avers Peterson gave me a book entitled “Dealing with Difficult People: How to Negotiate Your Way Out of Dangerous Situations”. I smiled at him, as I knew I’d spent enough time trying to talk to difficult people, but there comes a time when talk just doesn’t do any good. I think that might be a more important lesson for me to learn.

Ryan’s gift perhaps got the most laughs. It was a box full of spare band-aids from the hospital. Everyone thought it was quite humorous.

There was an abundance of household items, since we needed to fill this tremendous space with both office and home supplies, everything from doorknobs to electrical supplies. I knew Natalie and Anh would likely have arranged for all the big supplies for the place, so the little stuff was pleasant to have.

The girls explained that those in attendance were not just fixing up my work/living space, but would also help get the rest of the building in shape so we could rent out the space to cover the mortgage payments and maintenance costs. Kimberly got excited at that point and asked if she could rent an apartment, since the excellent light it afforded would help her artwork, and the large ceilings and doors would aid her in moving her large canvases around. Several of the girls in the sorority announced they might get together to rent a space so they’d have a place to live off campus with those of ‘a similar identity’. They thought they could turn it into a number of small rooms, each bigger than they’d get on campus, and the shared cost would be lower than they could get elsewhere. Molly then said she thought she’d like a chance to start a new life with others who shared the same new focus in their lives, and would any of the girls want to share a place with a little more room with her. It was already starting to sound like buying the building was going to be a money making enterprise right from the start.

“All right, everyone,” Shani announced, speaking for me, “anyone who is interested in renting space here, come see me later on and we’ll discuss it under very favorable terms. Alex likes the idea of sharing with those close to him, and especially with those who he feels responsible for.”

There was stunned silence for a few moments, and then someone started clapping. I just sunk down in my chair, since I didn’t like this kind of attention. Give me naked women dancing any day, but I don’t like people fawning over me. However, once it started everyone else joined in and soon everyone was applauding and shouting until Shani managed to calm everyone down once more.

“As most of you know, Alex is a very shy guy, and he really doesn’t like this kind of spontaneous display of adoration. He’s fine with spontaneous displays of affection, so if you want to come by and hug him he’ll accept those, but let’s keep the applause to a minimum. Besides,” she added on her own, “you haven’t seen what he wants to charge for these units.”

I had to admit it was a nice touch, because it put just enough doubt in everyone’s mind that it ended the applause, even though everyone was pretty sure I’d give them a pretty good deal. I told the girls to discuss the issue with me later and they instantly agreed, congratulating me on the idea as they did.

Melinda then announced the school had accepted the new sorority for the next school term, to general applause, though I’m sure many in attendance didn’t even know what it was about or what it entailed. Next, Tina and Amy got up and announced they’d started the process of getting their own chapters started at their schools. Amy then said she’d seriously thought about applying for late admission to SIU, until she realized I’d tasked her with starting her own mission at Tulane University for all the Watchers in New Orleans, which was more important than her own desires to be closer to me.

Shani quieted everyone again, and Kitty and Chalise both introduced Kimberly, that’s how they introduced her. Like many artists she only used one name. She focused everyone’s attention on something behind a covering sheet.

“Now, it’s not finished and I’m still working on it, but I think you can see the likenesses,” she said, as she pulled the sheet off of a large painting which showed me standing shirtless with both Chalise and Kitty beside me. In the background were several figures who I assumed would eventually be several of my girls. Again I wondered just how much she’d overheard about me. It actually looked very good, especially since it wasn’t purely realistic, but had a unique style which made us look somewhat surrealistic.

It seemed like she got a lot of positive attention for showing off her semi-finished painting. I figured there were a couple of people here who might have enough money to afford some of her artwork. Shani and Allison spent a bit of time talking to her as well.

Once more, Shani quieted everyone and got their attention.

“Now, we’ve got another little surprise. Although most of you don’t know this particular artist, she’s got a solid reputation in the south. But due to the influence of a certain young fan she’s turned a corner in her career and is planning on recording and releasing a new album. She’s here to present you with a whole selection of new songs she’s written for her album, and she’s anxious to see how you respond to it. Here’s … Patty Moore!” The whole crowd applauded as another curtain was pulled back revealing a small stage with a band set up on it. Patricia ran out and they proceeded to play some tremendous bluesy rock tunes. It sounded wonderful and the crowd really ate it up. The girls all started dancing together, several asked me whether I could dance with them, but Cate had to step in, warning them I was still in recovery and that I needed to rest in order to have enough strength to attend my Prom on Saturday. That seemed to satisfy most everyone, although I hated to have to sit by the sidelines watching everyone else have fun.

The amount of improvement which Patricia showed was amazing. She sounded phenomenal. I could see her not only releasing a new album, but it doing extremely well. She’d really been working since we’d left New Orleans. That much was clear.

During a break she ran up to me and gave me a big hug, telling me how much she’d missed me. She then told me about what she’d been working on since we’d been separated. But instead of telling about the new album, the hours of practice and songwriting, she talked about her research, her counseling and her outreach to the many Watchers and potential Seers they’d drawn and brought to New Orleans.

“After you graduate you’ve got to come down again. We’ve got a bunch of potential Seers and Watchers. We need to see if we can accurately identify them, and the only way to tell is if you can activate the Seers and the Watchers all get goo-goo eyed.”

It was nice to see she was still so excited about our abilities after all this time. It seems she was now considered the ‘Madonna of the Angel of New Orleans’. That idea made my head spin. Her band came over and talked to me as well, each very excited to meet me.

“Man, I’ve been dying to meet you. Every damn concert we do in New Orleans, people flock just to see and talk to Patty and talk about you. It’s really humbling to know that however well we perform, what we do is just a mere distraction compared to what you are doing.”

“I’ve got a sister who we think might be a Watcher, and my aunt may be as well, so we’re anxious to see you return to New Orleans.”

“I saw you when you were in New Orleans,” an attractive woman guitarist told me. “I’m a Watcher myself, and as you’ve probably guessed, I spent the whole time on the stage staring at you. Man, I can’t believe I’m talking to you.”

Geez, if my head hadn’t swelled enough in the past seven weeks, it was about to explode now.

They went up and performed another set while the girls served food and everyone ate, drank and conversed. Since I still couldn’t eat, a couple of girls would run out and bring me some milkshakes from a local burger joint. It was mostly empty fattening calories, but it kept me going and it was better tasting than simple soup. By the time we finally drove home that evening I was exhausted. Certainly too exhausted for sex, although I was anxious to finally boost Patricia’s abilities, as well as simply to enjoy a reunion with her where we could appreciate each other again. But I just didn’t have the strength. I don’t know if all this activity set me back or not, but right then it felt like I’d just been shot again!

Still, it was nice to fall asleep surrounded by all my loves, cuddling in between Patricia, who I was spooning to my front, and Cate, who was cuddling my back. Now this is the way to celebrate a birthday.

           

Big News:
Book 6: “Building a Legacy” is finally available!
Check out smashwords.com or vincentberg.net for eBooks of the entire series.

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