"The Catalyst" Series
Chapter 09: More Theorizing, Some Planning and a Few Other Things
The next morning we all got up and going relatively early,
considering all the activities of the night before. The four women all seemed
to be a bit embarrassed around each other, but I certainly couldn't keep the
grin off my face to save my life. Shani, Anh, Allison and Cate eventually
relaxed around each other a bit more as they grew accustomed to seeing each
other walk back and forth in the nude. I got up and made my way to the bathroom,
wanting to clean up the crusty dried stuff on my leg. My sister was sitting on
the can and Anh was washing her face in the sink while Shani was adjusting the
water in the shower. I wasn't even sure where Allison was, but I guessed she
was probably picking through clothes or something. Knocking on the glass door I
called out "Mind a little company?" to which Shani quickly agreed with a hungry
look in her eyes.
"Just try to take it easy, guys," my sister called from her
seat, "my little beaver's all worn out from last night. I don't think I could
take any more activity this morning."
"You never know," teased Anh, "we could always help you
relax a bit." The juxtaposition between the tiny little lady and her sexy
teasing and the bright smile on her face was shocking to us all. I guess it was
like Betty White cursing in television commercials. After I translated for Cate,
she looked shocked then burst out laughing loud and long. The laughter brought Allison wading in, also naked, to see what she was missing. I don't think I'd ever seen that
much wobbling tit flesh in my entire life. No, come to think of it, I was sure
I hadn't, as I hadn't had much of any experience with them in the past.
"Didn't consider we might have picked up a dirty old woman
when she came on the scene," Cate laughed. We all joined in the laughter,
although Shani and I were a bit distracted with washing each other's good
parts. Shani made sure I got the parts that needed cleaning, but I got enough
access to the good parts that I couldn't complain. With three women waiting for
us we couldn't take too long in the shower. The hot water was too limited to
play around much.
As Shani and I eased out of the shower, Allison put her hand
against my chest and shook her head no, pushing me back the way I'd just come.
"No way, buddy," she protested. "After I missed out last
night, I'm getting whatever I can get this morning." I'm not sure what the
others were doing, as I had my attention focused on the soft, round breasts
before me. Allison was cooing just like a dove, apparently I was doing just the
right thing. I was rubbing her breasts and nipples with my soapy hands, moving
them in opposition to each other when someone banged on the door.
"Hey, hurry it up in there, there's only so much hot water,"
my sister called out.
Feeling myself blushing, I proceeded to turn the water off
and took some time to soap down all of the lovely morsel before me. As I was
preparing to turn on the water again for a rinse, the shower door slipped open
and Cate slid past us, rubbing nice parts against us as she went.
"Sorry," she said as she slithered around me. "I just couldn't
wait any longer. Just go ahead and pretend that I'm not here," she added, still
holding a hand on my hip. I had to shake my head to clear my vision. There were
just too damn many breasts to look at this morning. Old grandma breasts, light
mocha colored breasts, soapy breasts waiting for water, and yes, even naked
little sister breasts just begging to be stared at. Shaking my head once again
I started the shower and proceeded to rinse Allison off as quickly as I could.
"You missed a spot," Cate informed me, peering over my
shoulder as I was rinsing off Allison's thighs.
"What?" I stupidly responded.
"Right there," she replied, pointing to a soapy patch residing
on Allison's outer thigh. I simply glanced at my sister, unable to believe how
strange things were getting, then moved to rinse off the offending spot while
Cate kept glaring at me like she couldn't believe how inefficient I was at
showering naked ladies, if I couldn't respond faster than that.
"Is that OK?" I asked her archly, to which both she and Allison stated "Perfect," at the same time, although Allison's was a bit throatier than Cate's
was. I felt myself blushing, something I'd managed to largely avoid so far this
morning.
Having finished with the soaping and showering portion, I
offered a shampoo, thinking it only fair, but she declined, stating the obvious
that there was still too much of a line and too little hot water.
"You know, one of you could always borrow my parents'
shower," I informed them. Both girls stared at me and I heard boos from outside
the shower.
"What's the fun in that?" Shani asked. Again, about all I
could do was simply to shake my head, unable to believe I'd gone from naïve kid
who'd only kissed a couple of girls to showering with a whole bathroom full.
As Allison and I exited the shower, holding hands while we
did, Anh shifted over to occupy the toilet abandoned by Shani, while Allison and I toweled each other off. I noticed Cate left the shower door open so she could
ogle us while we patted each other dry. As I turned to look at my messy hair
and bruised face in the mirror, Anh grabbed my flaccid penis and pulled me over
to her, gently sucking on it as I stood looking down at her.
"Tôi thích hút vào nó..." she protested, although the
meaning was clearer from her actions than from the poorly worded Vietnamese
mumbled around my quickly growing erection.
"Translation?" Cate called out to us.
"She said she likes to suck dicks," Shaniqua answered for
us. Somehow I was able to observe that Shani was already wearing panties and
was trying to get a mark off a sheer blouse. Again, the little hotel bathroom
was quite crowded with five of us all sharing it, doing different things all at
the same time.
"Don't get me started," groaned Cate over the sound of
falling water, while Shani hugged me from the side and giggled at us.
"Don't forget, your Mom is expecting us," Shani warned. I
felt my erection pause a moment at the thought, but that's about all it did
under Anh's skillful manipulations. Anh pulled her head back, though, causing
me to fall from her lips with a wet little popping sound.
"She's right, we've all got to be presentable," she agreed,
then looked lewdly at Shani and said, "do you want to decide who gets to sit
within 'hands under the table' distance at breakfast?" They both laughed while
Cate begged for a translation. We all got ready quickly after that, though not
without quite a few ribald innuendoes thrown in. We all presented a very happy
group of faces when we met my parents in the hallway.
"Uh oh," moaned my mother in mock disappointment, "Looks
like the 'old enough to be your grandmother' ploy didn't work." My father
looked decidedly uncomfortable, however, while all the women went off on their
own clucking at their own little jokes. My father apparently decided discretion
was the better part of valor during the walk downstairs to the dining room.
Both of us had a hard time keeping the various women from
their gossiping about the previous night's activities. We met Natalie in the dining room, where she very professionally led us to a table where Patricia was already waiting for us.
"Where's Henry?" I asked.
"Oh, he thought it might be a little awkward having to fend
off all your seconds at the breakfast table," she laughed, not giving me a clue
what was really going on. However, I was pleased that she seemed to be taking
the whole thing lightheartedly. I just hoped that Henry could take it in the
same manner as well.
Once again we required a large table to seat everyone and I
seemed to occupy the central seat. Allison and Patricia sat on either side of
me, with Shani and Anh sitting on either side of them. Cate sat beside my
parents on the far side. Natalie was having a tough time maintaining a
professional decorum as she kept trying to keep up with all the quiet gossiping
running around the table about last night's and this morning's events, though
everyone was surprisingly polite while Allison and Patricia's hands were playfully
playing at my cock under the table, though they certainly weren't fooling
anyone, as virtually everyone's eyes kept flicking down to my waist throughout
the meal. As delicious as the breakfast always was here, it was hard to focus
on the food while two feminine hands were playing with your crotch while the
rest of the table were either flirting or teasing you.
We talked about the day's activities. Nothing much was
planned, aside from taking Anh back to her seaside community to close out her
bank account and retrieve some of her papers. But this was my first trip
outside of the city and, like I frequently was recently, I was nervous about
possibly running across other new people. However, since we were traveling to
the more isolated countryside it was unlikely we'd encounter anyone. On a
positive note, Shani promised to treat us all to some po' boys during our
outing today. Apparently they're a little lunchtime sandwich particular to this
area of Louisiana that everyone's supposed to try out before they leave.
Soon we were underway. We'd had to switch our small 4-door
car for Patricia's van, since there were now so many of us. Even so it was
still a tight squeeze. Henry had been nice enough to fit the spare seats into
it for us, as normally it was used to hold equipment, rather than an excess of
female traveling companions. We were packed so full that Patricia insisted my
father drive, so he wouldn't be 'crowded in the back'. She duly offered to
suffer in silence along with the other women all squeezed in around me. This
time Shani and Patricia sat beside me while Allison and Anh sat in the other
seat. With Mom in the front there was still spare room, but everyone announced
it was too full and that Cate should sit on my lap. I knew they were all just teasing
but Cate took it seriously enough to squeeze onto my lap. I protested as much
as I could, but I think everyone was getting tired of my protests. Actually I
think everyone was pleased with the results. True, all the girls would have
liked to sit beside me, but they seemed happy to share. I think my parents
considered it a fair option, figuring it would be impossible to do anything
below my waist if there was someone sitting on it. However, it certainly didn't
prevent hand holding, tits pressing against arms and sides, or the frequent
kisses we exchanged. All of which led to my sister being entertained by my
alter-ego pressing up under her cheeks. She got even with me though, grinning
triumphantly as she snuggled down against it.
In order to make a day out of it we took a little side trip
in the morning to go see the nearby gator farm where they displayed the
alligators. Sure, it was a bit hokey but it was fun to watch the little man
made mud filled 'swamp' packed with alligators. The girls had clearly seen this
before and they all had fun watching our reactions to it. That little adventure
didn't take long and we were soon busy traveling back to the coast to Anh's old
neighborhood. 'Old' as in yesterday. I briefly considered the chances of
running into more of Anh's family or other friends but reconsidered when I
remembered we'd parted on a somewhat friendly basis. No, I had enough to worry
about with potential new women showing up asking if I was an angel or a spirit.
We stopped for the promised po' boys, which were delicious
by the way. They're basically a sub with a variety of items you can select, we
had shrimp, crab and crawfish between us, in a loaf of French bread. I doubt I'll
ever see one once I leave the area but they're fun while we're there.
When we arrived in Anh's neighborhood she went to her bank,
where she made arrangements to transfer her savings and made other financial
arrangements, as well as withdrawing a healthy chunk of bills. I worried about
her carrying that amount of money but held my tongue. We then stopped at a
little neighborhood grocery store so Anh could stock up on supplies essential
for feeding us all her various ethnic delicacies when we got home. We all
followed her through the store, anxiously looking at all the exotic items she
picked through. The local Vietnamese staff was polite, but I'm sure they
wondered what we were all doing here.
Since it was still early, we took a brief drive by the
waterfront to look out over the vast Gulf. The water was very still with hardly
a breeze to disturb it, although a fair amount of gulls and various shore birds
dotted the sky along the waterfront. Cate wanted to play in the water, but Mom
warned her not to get too wet as they didn't want to soil Patricia's van.
Hardly paying her any heed Cate ran yelling for the water. I found myself
caught up in the moment as well, finally able to put all my worries about
strange women confronting me aside, and just able to play like kids once more.
I realized my days of being a kid were likely coming to an end, what with
several women all planning on moving either in with or near me in the near
future. But for now we were just a couple of kids seeing the big Gulf for the
first time.
Neither of us actually ran into the water, but we both
kicked off our shoes and ran through the small waves along the shore. Anh
pointed out into the water and called out, "Cá heo! Er, Por-puss." Luckily we
all got her meaning immediately. Patricia, almost as much of a tourist as the
rest of us, was the first to see them and she shouted gleefully, "I see them, I
see them," as she pointed them out to us. There, just a short ways out were a
series of blue fins which would rhythmically roll up out of the water and
slowly disappear again. One actually jumped out of the water just to show off I
guess. We all had fun watching the fascinating animals for a bit.
"I got confused," Anh admitted to me when we came back to
the dry sand where they were all standing. "We only have one word for both
dolphin and porpoise, as we only have one back in Vietnam."
"That's fine," I assured her. "We have zero in the corn
fields in Illinois. About all we get are catfish and perch in the lakes we
spend our summer afternoons at."
I noticed Cate and a few of the girls were doing something
in the sand, but they yelled when we got too close trying to investigate. I
groaned when they finished as I saw they'd written a giant message of 'Spirit
Lord was here,' in the sand. But they all had fun so I didn't care too much.
The incoming tide would erase it before anyone could see it.
After that the parents called us all in, telling us we
should be heading back for some dinner. "After all, Natalie's going to be
anxiously awaiting us again. I think she's feeling left out of all the
excitement last night and this morning," Dad told us. I groaned again, thinking
how I'd make it up to her, her having missed a group make out and blow-job
session. Still, I felt relaxed as this was what we had come down for before we
were distracted by all these strange events. We'd had a short chance to just
let our guard down and have some fun. I felt better equipped to head back into
the city and deal with whatever had to be dealt with.
As we all settled back into the van and Dad put it into
drive, he started the conversation everyone had been waiting for.
"So, have you all thought about what we spoke about
yesterday?"
"Duh!" Cate mocked him. "Just what do you think everyone's
been doing all yesterday and today?"
"Oh, I don't know," our mother replied. "Seems to me the lot
of you have been busy chasing off into the country, getting hit and rescuing
fair damsels, then rewarding the handsome prince." It was a simple tease,
hardly up to Cate's standards but it was unexpected nonetheless, so I blushed.
"Anyway, what's the consensus?" Dad asked.
"We all agree, we all go with Alex," Anh replied summarily,
temporarily forgetting that my family couldn't understand her.
"Pardon me?" Dad had to ask.
"Oops, sorry Dad. She said that they each agree, they'll go
wherever I go."
"And you're OK with that?" he asked.
"Well, there's not a whole lot I can really say about it," I
countered, sounding a little pouty. "I didn't really protest about Shani, and
then I go and yank Anh out of her family and tell her we'll take care of her.
It seems I've committed myself."
"Yes, you have, honey," Mom replied. "Now we just have to
decide what all of that means." She turned in her seat and addressed all of the
girls sitting in the back with me. "I take it you're all agreed that you are
fully involved with my son. You've all taken up what Shani has started. Now
what about the details? Have you all thought about jobs, about living
arrangements, about how we're all going to handle expenses?"
"I think you worked out Anh's arrangements yesterday," Shani
said. "As for me, I've already told you that my job is pretty universal. I
should be able to find a local company that needs my services. I'm not afraid
of a commute, so I can look as far as Carbondale, Evansville or even Peoria. As for expenses I can help cover those, plus I'm glad to help with anything that Alex may need."
"Well, you seem like you've already done your homework about
where we live," Mom commented. "What about the rest of you?"
"Well, I've got another couple of weeks here before I can
leave," Patricia told her. "But after that I'm clear. I don't need much, but I'll
have to see if anyone has a studio nearby since I'd like to be able to make
some demo tapes, but I can always go wherever I'd need to for that, since it
shouldn't take long. As it is I pretty much live out of a box anyway, so I don't
see any problems."
"I've talked it over with Cate," Allison replied next. "She
thinks I can get started studying anywhere, and I can apply for a late
admission to Southern Illinois University which is nearby. Other than that I'm
free. As you can guess, I'm not close with any family or friends here, aside
from my previous clients," she said, blushing a little. "I've got plenty of
cash handy for whatever may come up."
"Just don't go spending it all," my father lectured her. "You'll
need it for your new degree."
"She knows what she'll need," Mom lectured my father back. "Now,
what about living arrangements, where do you all plan to live?" Suddenly the
car was filled with silence before Shani ventured a response.
"Well, actually I think we're all planning on living with Alex. If you don't have the room we can get a shared apartment nearby and rotate whoever stays
over, but we plan on sleeping with him on a regular basis. I'm sorry if I'm
being rude here, but you told us you wanted our honest responses."
Mom reacted like she wasn't surprised by any of this. "OK,
that's about what I expected. We don't have a large house, but we had several
kids. You may have to make room when Becky and her sister Melinda come home,
but other than that, you should be OK. We'll expect you to all chip in and help
out around the house and with expenses, but as long as you're all willing to
keep a low profile and not get the kids or us in any kind of trouble, I think
we can all work something out."
I was floored by the casual manner in which my mother
matter-of-factly acknowledged that I could sleep with four women when we got
home. I was literally gobsmacked, whatever the hell a gob was. I guess I
shouldn't say literally when I'm not sure the origins of the word I'm using.
Still, this was a major concession on my parent's part, and I realized they
were putting a lot of trust in me and in my ability to handle this new
responsibility. I'd have to be careful to show them that I deserved it, I told
myself, swallowing difficultly.
"That's assuming Alex doesn't pick up any more women," my
mother added, smiling back at me. "If he does, we may need to rent an apartment
complex for them all."
"Yeah, and run shuttle buses back and forth," suggested Cate
with a snide little smile.
"Speaking of transportation," my father interrupted. "What
about cars? Do you each have one? Are you going to bring them? You're all
making plans that involve nearby communities, you'll need some way to get
there, and we don't have a lot of room in our driveway."
"We could clear out the garage," Cate offered, seemingly
happy to volunteer. I'm not sure whether she saw the women as part of some
large experiment or whether she'd actually managed to make friends with them
all, but she didn't seem to have any problems with any of them either.
"Yeah, that'd help," Dad countered sarcastically. "If you
all worked for the next two weeks you could fit another two cars. If Alex agreed to give up his own car we might be able to fit everyone in without having to
park on the street."
"My car," I responded dully, "but I need my car to get Cate
and me to school every day?"
"I think you'll have plenty of cars available," Dad laughed
at my shocked reaction. "Plus, I'm thinking if you have a car of your own you'll
only likely to bring home even more strange women."
"Chúng tôi chỉ kỳ lạ cho đến khi bạn nhận được để biết chúng ta,"
Anh quickly responded.
"Man, I'm not sure I'll ever get used to her following the
conversation and joining in by speaking Vietnamese. So, what'd she say?"
"She says, we're only stranger until you get to know us,"
Shani translated for them.
"Wait," Cate asked, "do you all get a simultaneous
translation whenever Anh says or thinks something?"
"Well, it's not like we hear everything she thinks," Shani
explained. "But when she speaks to us, either verbally or mentally, we hear it.
Although," she said, hesitating to think about it. "That's not really true, it's
like we hear everything through Alex. We each seem to be able to communicate
with him, and by doing that we can also hear each other. It's kind of
complicated once you start to get into the gist of it. It works much better in
actual practice."
"No kidding," Cate commented. "Alex, how to you keep track
of all that traffic in your little head?"
"I don't think he's using his little head," Allison responded. "I think he uses his little head for other thoughts," she teased.
"Yeah, I got that, I think that's how you all got here,"
Cate answered. That provoked a laugh, but also took the pressure off us to try
to answer Cate's probing science questions and allowed us to focus on my parent's
questions again.
"I don't think Anh will be needing a separate car," Shani
answered, seemingly taking the role of senior speaker for the group. "It looks
like Allison and I will need one to commute but I suspect Patricia will only
need one occasionally, so we should be able to park hers at the apartment we'll
all rent together for mail and appearances sake."
"So that answer's our next questions," Mom replied. "What about
phones? That many people could put a hurting on a shared line."
"Duh, Mom," Cate answered for everyone, "most people don't
even have a landline anymore. I'm sure they all have their own cell phones."
"Not only that," Patricia added, "but we're all simplifying
our base of contacts. And communications between us are more easily and
immediately filled via telepathy."
"All right, it sounds like we've got a lot covered in a
short time," my father summarized.
"I think we should limit the activities in Alex's room, or
he'll never get out of bed," Mom laughingly added. "How about only two people
share his bed each night?"
"Fine, we'll agree to that," Allison added, but whispered
loudly enough for us all to hear, "for now." However everyone just laughed at
that, and I was again amazed at everyone's casual acceptance of everything.
Dad then confided to me that he was
proud of me for handling all of this so well, and for finally taking
responsibility for everyone around me and for all the activities as well,
telling me I was likely to only attract additional followers and would have to
get used to taking care of them. That got me thinking about what I was facing
in my future, so I fell silent for a bit while the girls continued to talk out
various details.
"What's the matter, Alex?" my sister asked me, "are you worried that you don't have any super powers like all those
characters in stories?" I knew she was teasing me, but in a way, it had been
bothering me. I mean, what's the point of having new abilities if you can't use
them for something neat?
Taking my continued silence for
serious contemplation, she continued. "These new abilities are significant,
even if they don't make a big difference in your day to day existence. Granted,
I'm probably the biggest beneficiary simply because I have more things to
experiment with, but just think about what we have here. You have an ability no
one else has. We have no idea how it works or what's involved. Your point about
not having wires in your head shows it's likely not as simple as receiving
radio waves, there's got to be a whole new mechanism in place in each of your
brains to allow this to operate.
"Then there's this issue of this
energy/life force your girls can see. It's almost like the Star Wars 'force';
it's an actual energy that's attached to all living things. While you will
never be able to win light saber duels, there's no end to what it might
eventually mean. Even if your abilities are limited now, that's not to mean
they won't advance once we know more about it. Didn't you get more abilities
when you got in that fight at Anh's?" she asked.
"Some fight," I sighed, tired of being
reminded how brave I was to be sucker punched. "But you're right, until that
moment all I got telepathically was fuzzy messages and vague feelings about
things. Then all of a sudden I was receiving clear messages just like they were
all talking inside my head."
"You never described exactly what's
involved," Cate reminded us, trying to get back on the topic Patricia had gracefully avoided earlier. "What's the actual process?"
"It's very simple, now we can converse
mentally as well as trade pictures and emotions. It's not like you think of
mind reading at all in that I can't actually read their minds, I simply hear
what they want to tell me."
"Actually there's a bit more to it
than that," Shani informed us. "The other girls and I can't actually
communicate with each other. We can, but we can only do it by going through Alex. I can actually hear what Anh is saying inside of Alex's head. I don't think I could hear
anything if Alex was asleep."
"She's got a point," I agreed. "I can
hear them speaking together in my head. It's weird, and I feel a little like I'm
spying on them, so I try to ignore it when they want to speak together but I
just have this two way conversation going on in the back of my head while I try
to focus on something else."
"Man, this is just too weird," Cate
stated enthusiastically.
"Too weird is right," I agreed, not as
pleased by it.
"You know," Patricia added, "speaking
of super powers and you not knowing the extent of them; maybe we should have
tried something the other day with that guy you helped."
"What, you mean the guy with the brain
tumor?" I asked. "What could we have possibly done, I'm no brain surgeon."
"No, but we all know you've got this
boundless energy that just radiates off of you. It's so bright it blinds all of
us. Maybe you could do something with it?"
"So what would you suggest? I just
will his head to shrink and magically only the unhealthy cells go away and all
the others stay the same?"
"Well, there's no telling how you'd do
it. I was just suggesting that maybe we should have tried," she responded
hesitantly.
"I don't mean to belittle your ideas,"
I told her, "but even if it were possible, I think it'd be way too complicated
to try to do anything involving brain surgery." She didn't look mollified, but
she grudgingly conceded I probably had a point. "Don't worry," I tried to
soothe her feelings, "I'm sure we'll work out any hidden abilities I may have,
but honestly, I just don't think there are any. What I've done is amazing
enough and I've reaped enough rewards in all of you to last me a lifetime. I'm
just not looking for any more excitement in my life."
"Still, you've got to concede, even if
you don't have any super powers you've got a lot to gain from it," Cate went
on, temporarily sidelining the new information in favor of continuing the
conversation. "First, you get new women that want to give you anything you
desire," she hurriedly continued before I could interrupt to complain about it,
"secondly, think about it, who would you have met if this hadn't occurred to
you? Maybe a couple of stoners or something? Instead you meet a professional
Jamaican-American business woman, an older Vietnamese woman, a high class
hooker and a professional blues singer. Where else would you have met all of
those people on your own? Just look at it as an opportunity to meet people you'd
never meet otherwise. If you manage to gain some additional information or find
a way to boost those abilities that's a bonus, but your life is already MUCH
more interesting than it was a week ago."
She certainly had me there. I'd never
be able to just coast through life again, I'd always be watching for someone to
suddenly appear wanting me to tell them what to do with their life. Plus there
was all my new responsibilities. I held the very lives of several people in my
hands, in that they all depended on me to tell them how they should handle
these new abilities. Then there was the new feeling of confidence I felt,
knowing these various women all thought the world of me as well as knowing my
parents trusted me to do whatever I thought was best, and everyone wanted to
help me in any way they could. I certainly couldn't complain about any of it.
We again lapsed into silence for a
moment as we all contemplated the effects these events would have in our lives,
but the conversation soon turned to Natalie and what she might need before
settling onto the topic of the women I'd found so far. Cate talked about how
the various ages showed that there didn't seem to be any significant limits on
who I was finding. There might be a lower age limit, but we'd just have to
watch and see who else turned up before we could rule anyone out. They all
laughed when my mother informed me that all my dreams of accumulating a harem
of attractive young women was all for naught. Still, it was worth considering
as an idea, as there didn't seem to be any kind of limit on who I was
attracting other than it had only been women so far.
"You know," Cate said, filling the silence in the car, "I
think we should talk about what Alex's mission is, since you asked everyone to
think about how they saw themselves helping him with it. While I don't know
what his 'spirit' is planning on the subject, I think he needs to be thinking
about finding as many others as he can find, both the ones he gives the visions
to and the others like Natalie." She stopped to give everyone time to consider
what she said, and there was a general murmured agreement with her.
"Good point, Cate," Dad told her. "I'm glad you brought it
up as it was something I'd asked them to tell me about. So what do you propose
about it? Do you think he should fill your mother's apartment complex? Maybe
start a superior race? Possibly start having bunches of 'telepathic grandbabies',
as your mother so wittingly calls them?"
"Actually Dad, that's exactly what I was thinking. I think Alex has tapped into an already established community of people who all think they're alone. I
think they've all been accessing their ability to perceive this energy in
people and putting it to their own use, without recognizing what it is or that
anyone else shared it. I think he needs to start gathering all those people
together for... well, essentially so they can form their own community and try
to bring their own inherent abilities to the fore. Anything he adds, like the
visions, is just gravy after that."
"So, in essence you're pushing for Alex to begin a selective
breeding program?" our father asked, pushing the idea beyond what Cate had
actually suggested.
I was ready to cringe in the back. I'd kind of had similar
thoughts myself so the idea wasn't that foreign, in fact I'd venture to guess
that everyone in that car had probably thought of it on their own. I just wasn't
ready to face the prospects of having to participate in anything like that yet.
I certainly wouldn't argue about the sex part, but the producing babies would
be enough to inhibit any baby generating activities on my part.
"In a word, yes. So far we have no idea whether what he does
affects anything genetic or not. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. We won't know
until it either shows up in a new generation or it doesn't. Even then, it may
take until his offspring are all his age before anyone knows. But it makes
sense to start the process soon, because as far as we know he's the only one
with these particular abilities. Then there's all the women themselves. Even
without Alex's participation, I think getting them together in an extended
community would be beneficial, both socially but also in terms of future family
planning. If you could have your children able to sense people's moods and
emotions, wouldn't you want them to?"
"You bring up some good points, as always," Dad told her. "But
I think this is all a bit heavy for a quick decision one way or another. How
about we all just think about this new idea for a bit, before anyone ventures
an opinion? OK? Besides, I think Alex is about to shit his pants in panic as we
speak." He proceeded to laugh as everyone's attention suddenly focused on me
again, only reinforcing my own embarrassment over the topic.
By now we were close to our hotel again, so aside from a few
encouraging remarks to keep my spirits up the conversation effectively ended.
When we got back we found Natalie anxiously awaiting us in the lobby, reading a
book. She wasted no time saving her place or anything, but was eager to hear
all about our day. We all sat down and started to relate what we'd discussed
before Dad suggested we move the discussion to the dining room so we could eat
and talk.
We all gravitated in that direction and the girls all
brought Natalie up to date on the discussion details.
"Wow, you've got it all planned out," she said.
"So, what about you, what are your plans?" Cate asked.
"Me, I wasn't sure I was included?" she responded.
"Of course you're included," Cate sighed. "You're one of us.
Didn't you hear the bit about him including people like you as well?"
"Well, yeah, but you were the one who said that," Natalie very intelligently responded.
"Never-the-less, you're included with the rest of us. Dad
included you in the discussion and you already told him you were ready to
follow us home as well."
"OK, I've got to admit I've been thinking about it all day
anyway. As I said yesterday, I'm ready to go anytime and I figure it shouldn't
be hard to find a new job as my experience is pretty universal. Of course I've
got to give two weeks notice, but I'll see if I can arrange to leave sooner
than that."
"Look, it's really not necessary to..." Everyone turned and
glared at me so I knew when to shut up and back down.
"What about finances?" prompted my father.
"I've got a bit saved up, plus I can live pretty frugally
until I get my next job. I've got a car, but like Patricia, I won't need it on
a daily basis until I find a job, and only then if it's a long ways off. I'm
happy to help out in any way that I can and I'll gladly help with expenses. I'm
just so happy to be included. Not only because I'll be close to Alex, but also because you're all such an exciting bunch and this whole thing is so neat."
"So you can fend for yourself, what about your intentions
toward our son," Mom asked.
Natalie looked a bit lost for a moment. "Uh, well, like the
rest of the girls, I'd like to be around him, but, uh, whatever we might do
will depend on him, I guess."
"So, you're going to base your entire affair on the desires
of an under aged teen-age male?" Mom pressed, recognizing doubt and
uncertainty. I started to become more alert, knowing poor Natalie was getting
herself into trouble.
"Uh, no, I guess not. Are we, uh..., are we going to get in
trouble because of the age thing or something?" she mistakenly asked my mother.
"Undoubtedly," announced my father. "Just what do you plan
on doing once the police find out about it and you're registered as a sex
offender and can no longer work where there are children present?" He was
clearly going in for the kill, zeroing in on her nervousness. Knowing both of
my parents, I could guess that they wanted to know that each of the girls knew
what they wanted, and that they were willing to do whatever was needed in
whatever situation developed. Natalie had unintentionally failed the first
test, now they were testing her in the second half of the same test.
"I... I don't know," she admitted, looking lost. Cate and
the other women all leaned forward. I don't know whether they had any clue what
was going on but they all looked on in interest and concern.
"You'd better know," my father continued. "You're about to commit
a class A felony," he said, inventing stuff as he went along.
She looked around frightfully, looking more and more nervous
until she bit her lip, squared her shoulders and turned to look them both in
the eyes.
"I've already said I'm willing to give up my home, my family
and my career for him. It'll be no different if that should happen. However, I'll
do whatever is necessary to protect your son first and foremost. I'll have to,
or all the other girls will kill me," she joked, gaining her another few points
with my whole family, I was sure. "But whatever I, or we, do, I'll be doing it
for his benefit. I realize how important your son is, not just to you because
you're his parents, but also just because he has a special role to fill. I want
to be a part of that in whatever capacity I can. If I can help him do what he
needs to do I'll do it even if I have to scrub floors in your bathrooms all
day. He's important to me, and I want to see him do whatever it is he's going
to do."
My father just stood there and glared at her, with my mother
tapping her foot behind him, looking over his shoulder. Natalie just swallowed
nervously and glared back at them, decidedly less aggressively than them but no
less determined. Then my father broke into a big grin and enveloped her in a
big hug.
"Welcome to the family, I guess," he announced.
"Yeah, I think you'll do OK. Once we can get you over your
nervousness," Mom told her.
"Man, I really didn't think you were going to make it there,"
Cate said. "I thought you were going to lose it when Dad started talking about
your being labeled as a sex offender," she added with a little laugh. "Honestly,
though, the age of consent in Illinois is 17. You're in the clear, although you
might have a lot of explaining to do socially if you make out in public."
Natalie looked mightily relieved. The other women all
clustered around her, all cooing and trying to make her feel better. I was just
glad she'd managed to pull it together at the end. I knew if she'd blown it and
fallen apart, she'd always blame herself and, knowing the impact I seemed to
have on each of the ladies, I was sure she'd have a hard time getting over it.
True, I still was very nervous about having everyone following me, but I was
glad she'd managed to hold her own.