“The Catalyst” Series
		“Racing the Clock”
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12:  A Handful of Events

           

Since there wasn’t any direct threat, and since the paper hadn’t specifically identified him, Alex decided they could remain in the French Quarter a little longer. As much as he was afraid of exposure, he really enjoyed the city. He didn’t feel the need to patrol the city looking for new followers, figuring with as much attention as he’d gotten around the city the majority of people with either type 1 or 2 traits had already been detected and included into the community. So with a fair amount of trepidation, they set out to wander the streets of New Orleans for a few hours before dinner.

Alex and the other non-natives were having fun, especially since the local girls had so much to tell them about the places they passed. They headed northwest, keeping off of the busier main streets, hoping to avoid any scenes which would attract attention. They were enjoying themselves when they noticed a boisterous group ahead of them.

“It seems to be some kind of protest,” Cate offered.

“Yeah, they’ve got placards,” Brandy observed. “That can’t be good.”

“No, it doesn’t look like it,” Gail added. “It looks like an organized protest outside of a local church. It must be in response to today’s article about you.”

“There’s a sign that says ‘No Atheist God’,” Cate said, squinting to make out the shifting signs. “Another says … ‘No God But Christ’.”

“None are particularly apt or accurate, but the meaning is clear,” Alex complained.

Gail motioned them back. “We’d better detour around this. There’s no sense purposely walking into trouble.”

Mattie stepped forward, leading Rodger around the others. “Well, since we’re here, I’m going to continue this direction. I’ll avoid the protest, but my apartment is in this direction and I need to feed Roger before dinner, so I can join you later.”

The others wished her goodbye and turned back. They were just heading onto a side street when shouting attracted their attention.

“Hey, look, it’s her!”

Turning back to see what was occurring, they saw that one of the protestors had noticed Mattie. They’d all been cautious about people focusing on Alex, but no one had considered the rest of them a target. Although the images on the video were indistinct due to distance and motion and the picture of Mattie had been vague, the combination of her looks with her dark glasses and a Seeing Eye dog made it easy enough to make the necessary connection. A group of the protestors broke off of the main group and approached her.

Brandy, seeing this, grew upset and stormed off before anyone could stop her. Gail, thinking quickly, grabbed Alex and dragged him down the street at an angle so anyone seeing Brandy approaching wouldn’t immediately connect her with Alex. She also broadcast a message to Caitlin to move the other girls so they were between Alex and the protest group.

As they did that, the splinter group gathered around Mattie in an apparently angry mood.

“Are you the woman in the news today?” one woman demanded. “You know, the one who was given her vision?”

“Yeah, she is. Look, she can see us,” someone else stated.

“What kind of scam are you running? How can you give credence to a group who claims the Christian church is ‘misguided’?”

Mattie stumbled back, trying to find a way around them but they quickly hemmed her in. One man waved his hand in front of her face, trying to see if she was really blind, and she swatted it away. Some more words were spoken, indistinct due to the distance, but it wasn’t looking good. Just then Brandy, who’d been storming forward, reached them.

“Yo, leave that poor lady alone! You think you’re defending Christianity but ya hardly doing it justice, acting like an angry mob, frightening lonely women with hatred. You should be ashamed of yo’selves. You’re showing exactly why they don’t think much of the Christian church.”

The group turned on Brandy, whose tirade only attracted the attention of the other protestors. Cate started after them, trying to defend the two women, but Alex told Caitlin to restrain her. This might get ugly, but they couldn’t be sure yet. He wanted to see how Mattie and Brandy defended themselves, and he also didn’t want to focus the group’s attention on themselves either.

Part of the group squared off against Brandy while the rest looked around in confusion, allowing Mattie to quietly slink away. However someone in the crowd noticed and approached her again.

‘Caitlin, tell Cate to record this. If something happens we’ll need proof of what happened,’ Alex instructed.

‘Shanna, call 911 and report a disturbance. It will take them a while to get here, and if we don’t call them now it’s likely to be too late.’ They both did as he suggested.

“We should leave before this gets ugly,” Gail reminded him.

“No, we’re staying,” he insisted. “We’re far enough from it we can get away if we need to, but I want to see what happens and provide assistance if I can.”

Several women approached the confrontation; though it was hard to tell who was involved and who was merely observing. One stopped and glanced directly at Alex and he thought maybe he’d been exposed, but she turned and marched forward again and Alex realized what was happening. As always there were Watchers following him. They’d apparently seen the disturbance and were now rushing in to defend one of their own.

The man who’d approached Mattie, angrily waving his placard, drew near enough to trigger a defensive action in Roger. Despite being extensively trained to be social, he could detect the man’s intent and growled menacingly at him, causing him to pause.

“What a bunch of cowards,” Brandy cried, her voice rising with the increasing din of confusion. “You accost a blind woman who did nothing other than have her vision restored, and blame her because someone questioned your beliefs?” She was hoping to provoke the crowd enough so they’d focus on her, allowing Mattie to get away, but she was also pissed at how people could so easily forget what they supposedly professed. “How weak is your faith if someone getting healed undermines what you stand for?”

The man who’d been arguing with her started to respond, but couldn’t quite think of a response and hesitated. By then the other women reached the scene. One walked right up to the man who was facing off against Brandy, said something to him and slapped him hard across the face. He spun around and was halfway into the motion of throwing a punch when he caught himself, realizing he was about to strike an innocent woman in the name of the Prince of Peace. Brandy started to shout something else, but the words were lost amid all the activity.

The other women reached the man accosting Mattie, who was rapidly backing away from a snarling Roger. She shoved him from behind and he stumbled, scrambling off to the side afraid of confronting the angry dog. Mattie, able to see everything happening, kept tight control of Roger’s guide bar, preventing him from actually biting the man confronting her. She knew if Roger, a guide dog, ever bit someone, he’d be put down sooner than you could say “Excuse me?”.

The other protestors glanced around in confusion, as they were suddenly confronted by a group who were not supportive, which is what they were here for. They’d hoped staging a public protest would garner attention and draw people to the demeaning things this so-called ‘Angel of New Orleans’ was saying about the church. Instead they were now losing a fight with a blind woman they’d attacked, they were arguing with a fierce black woman who wasn’t afraid of speaking her mind, and they were about to be beset by a crowd of onlookers. One of those on the outskirts of the group threw down his placard and took off, having lost his nerve once he figured out they wouldn’t be able to easily intimidate their opposition.

When he ran off several others slunk away as well. Another woman moved up and began arguing with Brandy, though. Despite the distance, Alex could figure out much of what was being said via his telepathic link to Brandy. The woman started to shout things about atheists being the Devil’s minions, when Brandy started quoting scriptures counteracting everything the woman claimed. It was clear Brandy not only spent a lot of time in church, but she’d clearly studied the good book, not only the parts she agreed with but the other parts as well. She ended up telling the woman she couldn’t pick and choose which parts of the bible she chose to accept while claiming it was God’s law written in his own words. Confronted with someone who could argue her points and wasn’t intimidated by attitude, she quickly backed down.

The protest group quickly disbanded, first those attacking Mattie and the others who’d stayed behind. Several of them shifted nervously to the side of the church, but the minister finally rushed out of his church, yelling at them to pick up their “damn signs” and stay away from his church. The entire scene had only taken a handful of minutes. In the distance they heard a siren heading in their direction.

“That’s our sign to go,” Gail told Alex.

“But I have to thank those who helped us,” he tried to argue as she steered him around the corner and away from the group.

“They know what they did. They also know it helped you and that’s all the acknowledgment they need. Knowing you did the right thing is its own reward,” she reminded him.

Alex sent messages to the other women, arranging their movements and making sure they would be OK. Both Brandy and Mattie remained where they were just so they could report what had happened to the police when they arrived. The scene was what Alex had been afraid of, but it hadn’t exactly gone as he’d feared. That Brandy is a real firecracker, he told himself. I wouldn’t want to be on her bad side, he thought, but then remembered her own warnings to him.

---

They eventually gathered for dinner at a nice quiet restaurant down by the waterfront and compared notes. The police had taken a while to show up, but Mattie, Brandy and the minister had been waiting for them, and had filed complaints against the people who’d accosted Mattie, many of whom the Minister knew. They told them that since no actual assault had taken place there was nothing they could do.

“What about an illegal assembly?” Brandy asked. “What about disturbing the peace, threatening behavior or public intimidation?”

The two police officers had backtracked after that, saying they’d file a report, but it was clear they wouldn’t do much more than that. Brandy asked them if they could say whether they’d take any action as a response and they informed her they couldn’t commit, as it was an open investigation—despite the fact they hadn’t filed anything yet. She told them she thought there was a video recording of the events, but when they demanded she turn over the device she told them she merely remembered seeing one, however, although there were a fair number of onlookers, the other Watchers who had participated had left by then. Little did they know that Cate had already sent a copy of the video to Lisa Woodall as well as Patricia, with a message to have one of the ‘girls’ forward it to both Mr. Rodriguez and to the local television stations. If the police wouldn’t address this directly, then they’d only have themselves to blame when the public became involved.

Gail and Alex had avoided any groups after that, which in the French Quarter is pretty hard to do. They’d taken refuge in a nearby store for a while until they thought the attention had dissipated, and then they’d headed to the restaurant to wait for everyone else.

After they’d discussed it, Alex asked for quiet and pulled his own phone out and made a call from the table, allowing everyone to listen in.

“Hello, Albert Rodriguez speaking.”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Rodriguez, this is Alex. Have you gotten the video link we sent you about the trouble at a local church today? Your article is causing trouble not only for me and my people, but also for others with no connection to me.”

“Ah, I was wondering whether I’d hear from you again. Alas, I can see the problem, but you’ve got to admit, it’s the kind of thing which needed to be reported, even if it causes some problems. After all, it affects the residents of New Orleans, and your followers are becoming an increasing presence in the city.”

“I’ll concede that, although I’m clearly trying to avoid any media coverage. I’m not looking for attention, and I’m not selling anything to anyone. I’m looking to connect with individuals, not religious groups, so it really doesn’t impact any specific groups. My mission isn’t against any group or involving any agenda. I’m simply trying to make a couple of personal connections.”

“Ah, that’s interesting. What, exactly, is your ‘mission’?” Albert asked.

“That’s something between me and my nonexistent God,” Alex joked, though he wasn’t sure the reporter would get it. He seemed to take it a bit too seriously.

“So what you’re saying is that you aren’t specifically taking a stance against any established religion then?” Albert asked.

“Exactly. I’m not trying to establish a new religion. I’ve got no message to deliver, thus I’ve got nothing which needs to serve the fodder of the media. What I do and say is strictly for those I meet. There is no social movement here. That’s why you haven’t heard from any of what you refer to as ‘my followers’. There’s simply nothing to convey.”

“And I’ll duly note that when I report on the troubles you alerted me to. I hadn’t been aware you were the one who sent it to me, since it arrived anonymously, as I’m sure you know. I checked the police reports on it and they list a number of people as being involved, most notably, a certain Mattie Adams, who they list as being blind. Might that be the same blind woman you healed? The police marked her as being blind due to her having a seeing eye dog and glasses, but I don’t think they actually checked whether she could see or not.”

Alex sighed theatrically, even though he’d anticipated this. “Yes, it is. I figured you’d ask to interview her. But you’ll have to contact her on your own since I’ve already conducted what business I had with her.”

They signed off and Alex turned to Mattie.

“Well, you’re about to get your official fifteen minutes of fame now. I hope you’re ready for it. As a result we’re going to have to curtail our involvement for a while, since I still want to avoid the limelight. You can say what you want, but give them just enough to temper reactions. Tell them there was a miraculous event and you can ‘see’, but don’t tell them any more than that. Don’t tell them just what you can see. I’m sure once they hear you can only see a series of lights and can’t pass a vision test they’ll lose interest quickly. It will seem amazing, but hardly earth shattering.

“I’ll have one of the Sisters keep in contact with you, since she’ll appear to be just another friend. However if I show up there would be too many connections. Contact me if you need anything and we’ll see you get support. Let’s see if we can support the press just enough to give them a blasé event. That should be better than avoiding them altogether.”

They decided that sounded like a good plan, then Mattie decided to change the topic.

“Alex, since this may be the last chance I get to ask you, what’s the deal with this Alexandria? Is she a real person or not?”

Alex laughed, “She’s as real as I’ve been reported to be. I only see her when she needs to see me.”

Cate cocked her head at his response, but Gail took exception to it.

‘Alex, I understand how you want to foster the story to take the pressure off of you, but I’ve got a problem with you lying to your most important followers,’ she argued.

Alex considered it for a moment. “All right, let me correct that. Quite frankly, there is no Alexandria. She was an invention of mine designed to alleviate the fascination with me. I figured if the general public had someone else to talk about, they wouldn’t be as interested in me anymore. However, Gail points out I shouldn’t lie to you about this. We seem to be building a tiered approach to information, and I want the Seers to know what’s real and what’s not. So here’s the official story. I’ll tell the Seers I’m the real deal, since they need to know it anyway. After all, no one else is going to show up to activate them. However we’ll foster the story amongst the Watchers, and all of you can tell your friends and relatives about her. We need to get this story spreading if it’s to do any good. If I get especially close to any of the Watchers, like you, Tina and Amy, I’ll keep them apprised.”

They agreed that seemed a logical approach to the problem, which left just one more issue.

“Now, I’d like to cover one more topic. We seem to have managed to avoid a lot of trouble by the skin of our teeth. But I still think I can move around the city freely, but not if I have a large contingent of women following me around all the time. So we’re going to have to split up. Cate will accompany me, after all, she is my sister, and we should look like any other tourists. Gail needs to be near, but she’ll remain in the background, watching from a distance ready to jump in if I need it. Her actions this afternoon demonstrate her usefulness in that regard.

“However, the rest of you will have to disperse. I’ll meet Brandy and Caitlin back at Allison’s. I’ll give you my key so you can get in. Gail has the other key so I’ll be fine without one. The big thing is to try to get everyone to play down the recent events. I can’t afford a big entourage anymore, and with Mattie’s help we can potentially play down my latest miracle, so hopefully we can tamp down expectations and any further protests. I think Albert will do a good job reporting on the overreaction by the church groups, which should work to our benefit. Is everyone clear on all of that?” he asked

Everyone agreed with him, although he could see the disappointment writ large across their faces. They each wanted to spend as much time with him as they could, but both Brandy and Caitlin still had the promise of that evening, so they weren’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. With that they split up. Alex gave the others time to get away before he left the restaurant with Cate. Gail left before them, only to fall in unobtrusively behind them, looking like yet another tourist.

---

Cate and Alex had a grand time once more walking together, just the two of them enjoying grand ol’ New Orleans without any outward concerns. Cate cuddled up to him, holding his hand just like boyfriend and girlfriend. That pleased them both, since Alex hadn’t been able to spend much time alone with Cate since they started this trip.

They still saw a lot of Watchers surrounding them, however whenever any of them moved toward him or attempted to follow them, Alex would simply stare at them until they backed down. It was subtle, but he had to do it regularly, so he hoped no one else would notice it. But he and Cate had a wonderful time walking, taking in the activity and events. They both laughed at the street performers’ antics and he bought Cate and himself ice cream cones, since neither could order the drinks which were so plentiful.

Neither one looked back to check on Gail, simply trusting in her ability to observe them quietly on her own. No one seemed to pay them much mind, until a Hispanic-looking couple noticed them. The girl pointed them out and they both started to head towards them. Alex once again stared the girl down, but the boy was undeterred. He noticed the girl had dropped back but he continued on without her.

‘Should I take action?’ Gail asked, instantly on guard. Alex hardly had the best history where other men were concerned.

‘No, I don’t think he means any offense,’ Alex explained. ‘Your getting involved would just draw more attention to us. I’ll deal with him. Just be ready in case something unexpected happens.’

With that Gail made a point of walking up a short distance behind them, taking in a post card rack outside a nearby store.

The young man walked up to Alex and extended his hand with a big smile.

“Man, is it ever good to meet you,” he told them both. “My name is Jack Padgett. My suddenly shy sister back there is Christina. She explained just what you’ve done for her, and it’s made such a difference in her life that—”

Here Alex cut him off, pulling him away from the main press of tourists into a somewhat quiet corner.

“Look, don’t talk about what I’m doing so loudly. I’m trying to remain unobserved. Your sister backed off because she could see I didn’t want to be noticed. If you want to talk, we can, but let’s find a little quieter place to do it.”

The guy looked apologetic. So too did his sister, who was looking on her brother from afar with a worried expression, so Alex motioned her over. She practically skipped the whole way over. The girl was shorter, and they both had dark hair and fair skin. They also appeared to be in their early twenties, and their outfits marked them as typical tourists. Jack wore a simple T-shirt and jeans, while his sister wore a simple sundress.

Christina looked Alex in the eyes. “I’m sorry if Jack is getting too forward. Since I told him about what’s happened to me he’s been very protective. However he’s seen the impact it’s had on me.”

As she spoke Alex steered them to an unoccupied area of the street where they could converse quietly.

“I hadn’t been doing too well for a long time,” she admitted. “I’d had a few problems adjusting over the years. I always had trouble trusting people, and when I told people about my fears they’d make fun of me. The girls at school always gave me a hard time, calling me ‘witch girl’, and no one seemed to relate to me or trust me. But when someone told me I was a ‘Watcher’, suddenly they included me like I was one of them. I’ve followed you for quite a while now, listening to all your stories. Your tales of trying to prevent people from prejudging you really rang true for me. Because I’m not blond and built like a typical model, girls always saw me as competition, but not pretty or well off enough to be friends with. Guys just assumed I’d be an easy lay, since I didn’t attract as much attention, which I wasn’t. So that didn’t make me any more popular.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Cate said, trying to be non-condescending as she tried to get her to slow down. “I’m Cate, by the way.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” Christina told her, smiling warmly. “We all know about you. You’re almost as revered as Alex.” Cate seemed surprised by this information and it shocked her into silence as Christina continued.

“You’ve been the one leading your brother forward, watching out for him, protecting him. I can definitely understand that, as Jack has always been that way towards me,” she said, once again making Alex and Cate wonder just how far the parallels ran. But they each told themselves they’d have to stop that reaction. Not every close sibling relation extended into the bedroom. It was possible to be close to a sibling without getting sexually involved.

“She was this close to getting into some serious trouble,” Jack explained, showing them how close he thought she was from it. “Then, when the Watcher community accepted her she turned a corner. She immediately sought out our parents and me and told us about the genetic potential we held ourselves. From what she’s told me, there’s even a movement to get guys like me dates within the community, I guess as a way of intermixing the genes a bit.”

“I’m glad it’s worked out so well for you,” Alex told them, warming up to them. He figured another couple their own age wouldn’t be so odd. It would certainly attract less attention than a lone man being followed by a large number of beautiful women. They started strolling the street with them once again.

“I’ve got to say, though, I haven’t always had the best of luck with guys,” Alex said, “so when I saw you coming towards me I was getting a little paranoid. Especially since you seem to be large enough to be some trouble.”

“I’ll say,” Cate said from beside him, still holding his hand but not holding him quite as close as before, “we thought for a while he was actually attracting women and repelling guys. However we now think we were just overreacting. Something we’ve been known to do on occasion.”

Thus they walked together, talking to each other. Jack, having seen what had occurred with his sister, observed Alex quietly controlling the other Watchers reactions from afar and took note of it, but he didn’t say anything to draw attention to it. He figured he’d ask his sister about it later.

“So, did you manage to catch the show on Wednesday?” Alex asked, managing to ask Christina whether she’d seen him earlier without having to call attention to the event itself.

“Yeah, it was SO exciting. I could hardly stand it. I didn’t manage to see what happened afterwards,” she replied, catching on how no one was mentioning anything explicitly, “but I heard about it. I’m sorry I missed it.”

Alex waved the thought away. “There really wasn’t much to see. You saw much more in the club. Outside we just ran into trouble from the press.”

When they reached Canal Street, the lower boundary of the French Quarter, Alex told them it was getting late and they needed to get back to their apartment. Jack and Christine knew better than to impose, so they split up after they told each other how much they’d enjoyed meeting.

A little further along, Alex decided it was fairly late and he’d better check up on Debbie Grant, since she was supposed to contact him when her parents finally confronted her over the events at her doctor’s appointment that morning.

‘Debbie,’ he asked. ‘Are you still awake?’

‘Yeah, I am Alex,’ she replied. ‘I’ve been waiting for the axe to fall and my parents to come talk to me, but they haven’t yet.’

‘I suspect they didn’t know how to react, so they’re probably thinking about it.’

‘Yeah, Mom told Dad about it, and she sounded upset, but I really couldn’t hear what they were saying since they sent me to my room.’

‘I think it will take some time before they decide how to approach it,’ Alex advised her. ‘They’re in what we call denial at this stage. They don’t want to admit what’s happening to you, so they’re trying to pretend it isn’t happening. It’s a terrible method of parenting, but it’s something many parents fall into. Just wait until you have to learn about sex all by yourself because they’re afraid to mention it to you.’

‘Yeah, I’m not looking forward to it,’ Debbie replied.

‘Believe me, it’s best to put off growing up for as long as you can. But neither of your parents is likely to want to deal with any of these issues. Which means you’ll have to be the grown up in this regard and protect them from the truth. Again, don’t deny it if they ask, but if they don’t ask, just don’t mention it. That way they won’t feel threatened. If you ever need to discuss it, just call me, or if you don’t think you can discuss it with me, I can connect you to someone else.’

‘It seems unfair for me to be the grown-up,’ she complained.

‘Yeah, it is, but that’s what the children of broken homes or alcoholics have to go through every day. At least you have instant access to a whole bunch of people who know just what you’re going through. That’s something the other kids don’t have,’ Alex explained. ‘Anyway, if they do finally discuss it with you, feel free to call me so I can help you deal with them, OK?’

‘Yeah, I’ll do that, Alex. Thanks. You’ve helped a lot. But I feel guilty making you do something my own parents should be doing for me.’

‘There is that, but people don’t always react the way we want them to,’ Alex sadly told her before wishing her goodnight.

‘Kelly? Did you ever make it to the city?’ he asked, reaching out to her as well.

‘Yeah, Alex. We got here safely, but I didn’t want to disturb you. We’ll see you in the morning. I don’t think Jenny is in any immediate danger, but I didn’t know where else to turn, and you’d said you wouldn’t be here in New Orleans for very long.’

‘You’re right about that,’ he told her. ‘We came close to leaving today. Check out today’s paper if you want to see why. I’m sure tomorrow’s will continue it as well.’

‘Then it’s a good thing I came when I did. Thanks for sticking around for me.’

‘Hey, I believe in taking care of family, friends and … well, I believe in taking care of those one’s close to, and you definitely fit in that category.’

‘Really? Even after I chased you away and ran off, trying to get away from you?’

‘One’s responsibilities don’t end because someone is uncomfortable with them. Otherwise there’d be no families left. It doesn’t matter how you feel about me. If you need me, I’ll try to be there for you, just like I try for each of my followers.’

‘Well now I feel like a real ass for acting like I did,’ she replied.

‘Don’t. It was a natural reaction, and it was necessary to preserve your family. That’s what’s important to you, so you did the right thing. But speaking of which, how’s your husband? Did you get him to come along with you?’

‘Yeah, he came, though he complained about chasing dream ailments the whole way down. He was also upset I insisted he take sick days in order to travel all the way down here.’

‘Tell him he’ll feel better for it simply because now he’ll know you didn’t come down here to fool around on him. If you’d have let him stay the possibility you might have been arranging something would have haunted him. But I feel confident what you see is real. The only question is whether I can do anything about it.’

‘Well, just like you have confidence in my ability to spot problems, I have confidence in your capacity to deal with it. And even if you can’t, at least we’ll be aware of what’s going on and can hopefully offer us some advice on what to do.’

‘I certainly hope so. Anyway, say hello to Jenny and Henry for me and tell them I’m looking forward to meeting them again. Now I’ll let the three of you get a good night’s sleep and we’ll see you in the morning,’ and with that he bid her goodnight as well.

Alex and Cate had been holding hands the entire time he’d been conversing with Debbie and Kelly, and they continued to hold hands, looking lovingly into each other’s eyes the rest of the way across town to the apartment. There hadn’t been any chances to be close to each other since they’d left home, and they both missed their alone time together, since they both relied on the other so much. This time together was precious to them both, and while it was hardly enough to satisfy them, they took what they could get, realizing anything more could be a long time coming.

When they got to the apartment they even spent some time making out in the hallway, just as they had outside of the apartment building. However Gail caught up with them and cleared her throat as she unlocked the apartment door, giving them plenty of time to break up their embrace. She was well aware of difficulties in hiding one’s love, and she could relate to what they were going through. She was anxious for some time alone with Alex as well. It was hard being this close to him for so long without reaching out to him, but she realized the role she was serving—that of protecting him—was of the utmost importance. She didn’t let herself get side tracked. All it would take would be a moment’s indulgence and the whole house of cards could fall apart. She’d had enough evidence of that already.

Brandy and Caitlin were glad to see them. Alex had expected to catch them watching a movie, but instead they’d spent the time talking and speculating about him. They appeared to be more than ready to get romantic quickly, but Alex held them off for a little while so he and Cate could make some phone calls before it got to be too late. So both girls curled up on either side of him as Cate dialed. Brandy and Caitlin were anxious to hear from the others in Alex’s life as well.

Their parents enjoyed speaking with them, Linda was concerned about the risks posed by reactionary religious groups, although their father assured them that most religious people were much more understanding than those who typically went to extremes. However, they both thought they handled the situation well. Their parents also told them their sisters were currently at the loft, where they’d been spending a lot of their time recently.

Alex called Kitty and Chalise and they spoke for a while, each telling the others how much they loved each other, and the two girls told Alex how worried they were about him. Brandy and Caitlin, instead of being jealous about such a demonstration, found such heartfelt displays of young love to be terribly endearing, even as they were preparing to sleep with the object of that devotion.

Finally Alex called the loft to talk to his girls in Carbondale. Everyone said hello and everyone wanted details on what had happened as a result of the news about him. He explained quickly, telling them he couldn’t stay long as he had ‘company’. They immediately knew what he was referring to so they let him go, after they asked who his newest bedmates for the night were. The two girls were a little embarrassed, but everyone took it so well they weren’t worried. Soon the phone call ended and Alex took the two women to bed with him.

It was quite an experience, given how many Alex had already had. Brandy demonstrated there was much to be said for a more buxom woman, and he learned to appreciate the benefits of both bigger breasts, where she introduced him to motorboating, and the “beautiful black booty”. She might have shown him how much fun titfucking was, but she was afraid to waste his sperm. Brandy was also a bit of a screamer, although she assured him that in the future, she’d likely be calling his name out during orgasms with future partners rather than Jesus’.

“I mean, no offense, I think the world of the guy,” she explained, “but personally, I suspect you know more about the subject, and you have more of an effect on my own orgasms. That was truly a religious experience if I ever had one,” she assured him as she tried to retain as much as his cum in herself as she could.

Caitlin was much quieter than Brandy, though no less impressed by Alex’s performance. She was basically a quiet shy girl, so she simply quivered in silence when her orgasms washed over her. She was fun to watch, but she didn’t put on the kind of show Brandy did. Damn, where’s a video camera when you needed one. Alex guessed he’d have to ask Caitlin to replay her memories of the event for him sometime, just so he could remember it, although he doubted he’d be forgetting it anytime soon.

           

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