Chapter 4

We pulled up to our bus stop. After we filed out of the bus and turned towards our house Eddie walked up between me and Sam.

I turned to them. “I’ve been thinking, guys. You guys remember that pretty white dog that’s always tied up outside in the yard? The one on the way to the gas station?”

They both said “Yeah.” in unison.

“I want to try something. I know I can ‘communicate’ with the chameleon that mom got us, maybe I can do the same with dogs. What do you think?”

“What exactly do you want to tell it?” Eddie asked.

“Nothing in particular. I just want to see if it works. Can you think of anything I should tell it?”

“Yeah, make it smart enough to run away from those awful neglectful neighbors.” Sam said angrily.

“Smarter, huh? I wonder if I can actually do that.”

“There doesn’t seem to be too much you can’t do, dude...” Eddie pointed out.

“You guys want to come with?”

“You two go on ahead. I’m gonna stay home today. I have some planning to do for that slumber party anyway.” She winked at me and I just chuckled and rolled my eyes.

I asked Sam if she can take my bag inside, which she agreed to, so I went straight to our backyard and got my bike. Eddie had already gone towards his house to get his bike so I rode over that way first. I spotted his mom walking out the front door to go talk to Eddie. I pulled up next to her and closed my eyes to focus. She seemed to have some sort of arthritis forming in her hands and her back was just getting worn out from work, I presume. I decided to give her the same thing I gave Mrs. Palmer, only I wouldn’t stop her cells from regenerating. She would gradually start looking younger. Her back should repair itself and stop bothering her and fix her arthritis.

I hopped off my bike and walked over to her while she waited for Eddie. I reached out for a hug and she gladly gave me one.

“Hey, Mrs. Park. How are things?” I made the changes in a split second.

“Arron! Hi! Oh, you know. Work is work. You two heading out somewhere?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna go to the gas station and maybe play with that dog in that yard on the way. You know, the one who is neglected a lot.”

Eddie walked up to us with his bike. “Yeah, Aaron and I will probably go play catch with it. Throw some toys around or something.”

“OK ... Be careful, you two.”

We both said we would and started to ride off.

“Done.” I told Eddie.

“What’s done?”

“Your mom had some early form of arthritis forming in her hands and just an overused back. Operative word was ‘had’.”

“Really, dude? Awesome! Remind me to give you a big Christmas present or something.”

“Don’t sweat it. All it took was a little bit of effort.”

We rode on and turned down Turner St. The gas station was only about 2 miles from the house, a short bike ride. The house where the dog is would be really close to the gas station. We rode up and saw the chain link fence and a pretty white dog run up to the fence to us. When we got closer we could see that it was a female. She had a big doggy grin and her tail was wagging excitedly.

We ‘parked’ our bikes on the fence and walked up to the her. Eddie put out his hand and let the dog sniff his hand. After she started licking it, I extended my hand. I was focusing on her already and I could tell she was really excited to see us, but sad to be stuck there. She loved to run, I saw, because when I extended my hand and she licked me, I got images of her just going fast everywhere she could.

Eddie grabbed a stick that was lying on the floor nearby and threw it into the yard. She sprinted to get it and brought it back to us, then dropped it onto the floor. We couldn’t reach the stick on the ground from where we were. She kept on nudging it closer and grinning at us. After a few moments, she picked the stick up with her mouth and lifted it high enough where Eddie could reach it. He took it and threw it again.

“She’s smart, dude.” Eddie commented.

“I see that. Let me look inside and see if there’s anything I can do.” I reached out my hand and she brought the stick to me. I took it and leaned it against the fence. I started petting her so I could look further in. She seems to love getting petted. Her pleasure centers in her brain lit up as soon as I started. If I wanted to make her smarter, I would have increase her cognitive functions and memory. I doubled the connections on the cognitive functions area in her brain and strengthened her memory area. “What’s your name, girl? Huh?” I got what felt like an audio file right inside my ear. Sounded like she said Lucy. “Lucy, is that your name?” I kept getting a Yes, Lucy!

I tried something else. “Where are your owners?”

House! Door! Gone long time. I guess I can communicate with her.

“Are they nice to you, girl?”

Lonely. Master opens door and gives food. Then gone long time. Lucy sad. Lucy wants to run! Can Lucy come run with you?

While I sat there having a conversation with a dog, Eddie was just watching us, slack-jawed I supposed. “Are you actually talking to her?”

“Shh. Lucy, I would love it if you came with me, but I can’t steal you.”

Lucy can escape tonight, when the sun sets. Lucy can find you. Will you be my master? What is your name?

When the conversation started, I was getting shadows of sounds. Sort of like being far away or maybe scattered. Now they were coming in almost crystal clear. Would my changes have worked that quickly?

“My name is Aaron and that is Eddie. You’re a very smart dog Lucy. Just be careful, OK? Humans are generally afraid of dogs not on leashes. You could get Animal Control called and they could get you.”

Lucy will stay in the shadows. Lucy will be careful, Master Aaron.

Looks like I have a dog now, haha. “OK Lucy, I’ll see you later.” I patted her head and gave her a few more scratches. She licked my hand and walked alongside me and Eddie while we got our bikes and made for the gas station.

“Dude, you really talked to that dog?” I could tell he was still a little skeptical.

“Yeah, it was weird. It was like I was hearing her and she was really far away at first. I made some changes in the cognitive section of her brain and after a little bit I could hear her almost like she was really talking to me.”

“That’s crazy! What are you going to do now?”

“With Lucy? Not sure yet. At the gas station, I’m gonna get some dog food.”

“Dog food, what for?”

“Oh, haha, I forgot to tell you. Lucy said she was escaping tonight at sunset. She’s coming to my house.”

“You’re kidding!”

“No. It was her idea! She said she’d find me and she’d stay in the shadows so Animal Control wouldn’t get called.”

“Shit, man. She really did get smarter! Sam is gonna freak! Haha!”

“Yeah, I bet she is.”

We pulled into the gas station and spotted a police cruiser parked there. We didn’t pay much attention to it and went inside. This was a bit of a bigger convenience store than usual. I walked up one of the aisles with Eddie right behind and spotted Kenny Williams. He grew up in the neighborhood with us. I waved to him and he spotted us. He did one of those chin-lift greetings and walked towards us.

“Kenny, how’s it going, man?” Eddie greeted him with a handshake.

“Not too bad, boys. Staying outta trouble?” He’s been on the force for 2 years now. He just got his own vehicle.

Kenny turned and shook my hand. I got a sudden crazy idea. “Us? Trouble? Whatever do you mean, officer?” I smirked at him while I said that.

“Yeah, yeah. I know you guys aren’t gonna go around doing stupid stuff. How’s your moms? Steve? Sam?”

“Same old, same old. You know how it is. Routine every day, that’s the American way!” Eddie responded.

“Hey Kenny, you got a minute?” I wanted to talk to him, but not here in the store.

“Yeah, what’s up? Something wrong?”

“Oh, everything is fine. I just wanted to bounce something off you. Do you work tonight, or are you getting off work soon?”

“My shift is almost done. I can drop by tonight, if you want.”

“Yeah, that’d be great. Maybe I can get my mom to make you another plate and you can have dinner with us?”

“A home cooked meal sounds awesome! I’ve been living off Chef Boyardee ever since my mom hurt her hip. She hasn’t been up for cooking much lately. With dad gone, it’s just us now.” His dad had passed away a few years ago, from a heart attack.

“Just come by after work!”

“Will do, Aaron, Thanks!”

We waved and he left with his bags of goodies he’d already bought.

“What are you thinking, Aaron?”

“Remember how I wanted to make a difference, but didn’t know how? What’s a better way to do it than to make a good honest cop much better at his job than the bad guys?”

“Wow, that is a good idea. Just make sure you don’t make any bad cops better. That’d be bad!”

“Good thinking, Eddie. I’ll keep that in mind.”

After we got our bag of dog food, we rode back towards out house. We don’t ride directly by Lucy if we go straight to the gas station, so we didn’t see her. I pulled up to my house and it was getting close to dinner time.

Eddie just kept riding and yelled out “Later, dude!”

I waved to him and put my bike in the backyard and went inside. I was not prepared to see what was happening in my house. Mom, Sam, and Stupid Steve were all sitting at the kitchen table playing Risk. This was particularly odd because Stupid Steve hates board games. I mean he HATES them. We got him to play Sorry with us once and he ended up flipping the whole table because he lost. We didn’t try to get him to play anything else after that.

I watched a bit because I was so shocked and since mom and Sam were turned away from me, Stupid Steve was the only one who saw me. “Hey, Aaron, come join us! I’m getting teamed up on over here, they have already formed a girl squad. I need an ally!”

I walked over and started playing, still a little wary of the whole situation. They had started only a few minutes ago, so they were still setting up the pieces. I chose red because when I was little, Sam and I would watch Power Rangers all the time. I was always the Red Ranger and it just stuck that way. I’m always red everything, when I can pick anyway. I put my pieces down on the South America tiles because they weren’t taken.

“Mom, I invited Kenny over later, OK?”

“That’s fine, sweetie. I already cooked dinner. It’s ready in the stove. Are you hungry or do you want to wait to eat with Kenny? Go, it’s your turn.”

I put my guys down and attacked Sam. I tend to always play the blitzkrieg strategy with Risk. “I’ll eat with Kenny. Did you all eat already?”

“Yeah, Sam ate a little bit ago with us. Your mom and I decided to play hookie today and stayed home.”

“I don’t know what’s gotten into us, huh, hun? It’s like we’re teenagers again!” She giggled and leaned over and kissed Stupid Steve.

“Listen. Aaron, Sam, I really want to say that I’m sorry about being so grouchy to you two. I don’t know what was wrong with me. I just feel like I’m happy for the first time in a long time. Now I realize how I’ve been and I’m sorry.”

Sam and I exchanged looks. Looks like my little tweak worked. Maybe I should stop calling him Stupid Steve.

“Uhh, OK. It’s fine, as long as we are all getting along, everything is cool.” I was the first one to talk after a few moments. This was the first time Steve has ever apologized for anything.

“Yeah, Steve, we’re cool.” Sam smiled at him.

We continued to play and actually had a great time. The first time he got attacked was by mom. I guess both Sam and I were still hesitant, even after the apology. Steve just growled at her and smiled. I guess he was fair game now. He really sucks at this, it seems. He kept putting all his guys on the wrong tiles and leaving open areas, which would then be immediately attacked. Needless to say, he was the first to lose. No table flipping this time. He just laughed and said good game.

Sam and I exchanged glances then looked at mom. She smiled at us and shrugged her shoulders. Steve called out from the fridge and asked if we wanted anything. Sam yelled back “Coke and an iced tea?”

“Coming right up!” He handed me a coke and Sam an iced tea. Then walked around to mom and leaned her back and kissed her. Sam and I did our required duties then and “Ewww” “Gross”-ed until they stopped being lovey-dovey in front of us. Mom caught her breath and whispered “Later!” but we all heard it.

Steve walked over to his Lay-Z-Boy and sat down with a beer that he had gotten from the fridge. Mom did a visible sigh. I read her really quick and saw that she was sopping wet and her heart was pounding. Jeez, she was a teenager!

Our game ended soon after that. Sam was apparently a tactical genius because she had managed to conquer the world with very few losses. While we were cleaning up, there was a knock on the door. I was closest, so I answered it. Kenny was here.

“Kenny, hey! Mom made some dinner, it’s in the oven. I don’t know what it is either, so it’s a surprise all around.”

“Anything is fine by me. I stopped at home and made mom something quick, then jetted over here. I’m starving. Hi, Mrs. Morez, Mr. Morez!”

“Hi, Kenny!” “Evening!” They were wayyy too engrossed in themselves to notice much.

“Come on, man. They just keep acting like teenagers. Let’s go eat out in the patio.”

“Sweet.” He followed me into the kitchen and made his plate. Beef stew. Mom always made some great stew. Come to think of it, she’s a great cook all around.

We walked out to the patio table and sat down. “What did you want to ask me? I figured you wanted to be out of earshot of your mom, that’s why we’re out here?”

“You’re gonna make a great cop, Kenny! Haha. Hmm” I thought for a second on how I was going to say this. “Honestly, how are things around here? As a cop, I mean. I know that this side of town isn’t the greatest, but from your perspective.”

He looked at me for a bit while he chewed. “It’s actually been getting pretty bad. There has been this group of guys that moved here a few years ago and they’ve been into all kinds of stuff. Drugs, prostitution, you name it. Worse off is that they’ve been recruiting, the detectives say. Why do you ask?”

“Well, I was wondering because I wanted to ask you something. If you could be better than them, faster reflexes, better natural sight, stronger, faster ... Would you like that?”

“Well, of course, but how would I get all that?”

“A few days ago, I discovered something. It’s really weird to explain. I don’t know how, but I can change people”

“Change people how?” He was talking around a big mouthful of potatoes. I held out my arm and made a black and white printed out words that spelled ‘ANY WHICH WAY I WANT’. Kenny nearly spit his food everywhere. He grabbed my arm and ran his fingers over the words. He looked at them this way and that looking for god knows what. “How’d you do that?”

“This is what I wanted to show you. I can change you, if you want. You just can’t tell anyone.”

“Is this a magic trick or a gimmick or something?”

“No, man! Look, I’ll prove it to you. Gimme your hand.”

He looked at me and hesitantly held out his hand. I put my hand on his arm and closed my eyes. Looking around I saw a couple of alarming things. Looks like his dad, and consequently Kenny, had a genetic malformation on a valve on their hearts. I guess that’s why he had a heart attack so young. I fixed it and looked around some more. He’s a pretty healthy 20-year-old. “You have a small heart defect. One of the valves is malformed, but only enough that it’ll only cause you problems when you’re older. I fixed it for you.” I made his muscles more reflexive and stronger. He can now heal faster and his blood can clot a whole lot faster. His body looks for way to improve itself too. I also made his bones, ligaments, and tendons much stronger to handle his stronger muscles. I changed his eyes and made his normal sight much sharper. Then I decided to give him much stronger night vision, similar to owls. I also fixed a very mild scarring in his ear drums (probably from listening to music too loudly when he was younger) and made them stronger and more sensitive. Let’s call this the police upgrade.

That all happened in the span of a couple of seconds. I let go of his arm and he jumped up in surprise. Luckily, he didn’t sit under the table or he would have sent it flying across the yard. He didn’t know his own strength so he jumped a good 6 feet off the ground. “Holy shit! How did I do that?” He jumped again, this time in full force. He cleared 10 feet easy. “WHOA! This is awesome! What else did you do?”

“I improved your day and night sight, made you stronger, faster, and more durable. You can also clot and heal much more efficiently.” I was smiling at how excited he was.

“You gotta tell the whole world about this! This is amazing!”

“What?? No! You can’t tell anyone about this! Especially not the world?”

“Why not? You can’t keep this bottled in! People need to know!”

“You can’t! Don’t you see what will happen if you do?” He wasn’t listening anymore, apparently.

“I’m gonna call in my whole squad so they can get upgraded too!”

“No, Stop!” I reached out to grab his arm, but missed because he was fast. Lucky for me, I was fast too, except he didn’t know that. I made a slow move to grab his arm and expected him to counter it and grabbed his other hand much faster. I focused in and told him to sleep, in an instant. He dropped down to the ground in a heap.

Shit! This is what I was afraid of. What do I do? I looked down at Kenny while he slept soundly. I couldn’t exactly change his mind or anything. I guess the only thing to do was to make him want to listen to me. I reached down and make the adult changes to him. I woke him up.

“Whoa, what happened? Aaron? What did you do this time?” I must have put him under hard, he was really groggy.

“I put you to sleep. You were going to blab about me to everyone. You aren’t doing that anymore. You’d going to keep this a secret and you are going to try to keep your new abilities a secret too, understand?”

“Sure, anything you say!” He started to stand up.

“Listen, Kenny, I didn’t want to mess with you more than would have been helpful, but you weren’t listening. You’re going to treat me like you always do, cool?”

“Sure, man!”

“OK, then. Listen, go home and take care of your mom. Nothing else has changed in your life, just do as much as you can to make the world better, OK?”

“You got it, Aaron. I’ll talk to you later, huh?” He smiled and extended his hand.

I shook it and he went to leave. Looking over his shoulder he said: “Stay outta trouble!” And left.

I sat heavily on the patio chair. That was almost a crisis! I looked at the table. Kenny ate most of his food, I had finished mine. I looked up into the night and relaxed a bit and calmed down.

I heard some rustling on the grass and saw my neighbor step out from around her side of the yard.

She walked up to my patio and stopped short of the concrete. She was really pretty, actually. She has dark blonde hair and seems to be a few inches shorter than me. She was wearing comfortable sweats and a tank top. She had some nice perky B’s I’d guess. They didn’t sag at all and I knew that because she wasn’t wearing a bra. Her nipples were poking through her tank top.

“Hi.” was all she said.

“ ... Hi. What can I do for you?” I had never talked to her before.

“I live next door. Funny story, I went out for a smoke and I heard you two talking. I thought you were just talking about a video game or something. Then I saw that guy jump clearly higher than he should be able to. I listened some more and then the guy left.”

I looked at her thinking about how much my world could get turned upside down. What did this girl want? What could I possibly give her? Is she going to blackmail me? Turn me in? If so, to who? There were many questions running through my mind, but my mouth was shut.

“Relax.” She chuckled. “Aaron, right?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not going to tell the whole world. You don’t need to put me to sleep or do whatever it is you did to make that guy calm down.”

“OK ... What do you want then?”

“I hate asking people for anything. I want you to know that off the bat. Can I sit down?”

“Uhh, yeah, here.” I pulled out a chair for her. She sat down and dragged the chair a bit close to me. She crossed her legs and lightly touched mine to hers.

She sighed and closed her eyes. “When I was 23 I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. They did a full hysterectomy on me because it was beginning to spread. I hate asking this from you, but I heard the changes you made on that guy. I don’t want super speed or anything like that. I just want to be able to have kids. Can you do that? Please?”

I must have opened my mouth at some point. I just sat there and stared at her. She really was pretty. She had this country girl, girl-next-door type appeal that I was finding very attractive. I guess the flannel pajama pants might have been where the country vibe came from. I noticed my mouth was open and I shut it. I reached out my hand and she went to place hers on mine, but withdrew.

“Please, don’t do what you did to that guy in the end. I don’t want to be a slave or anything. I won’t tell anyone about you, I swear!” She seemed like she was close to tears.

“What’s your name?”

“Angela Buckler. You can call me Angie”

“I won’t do anything to you that you won’t want, I promise.” I made a crossing motion over my heart.

She reached out again and I held her hand. I focused and saw all the residual damage from the chemo, the incision and suture marks from the operation. I saw in her DNA what her reproductive system was supposed to be like and I saw the cells that had a predisposition to mutate, causing cancer. I used her own energy to grow and reshape her insides. I hear her making some noises. “Are you OK?”

“Yeah, it just feels really weird what you’re doing.” She said out of breath.

I finished reforming an immature reproductive system. It would grow on its own in a few months. I couldn’t make a full completely mature one because as I made it, I was using her life force to create it. I saw it dim a little bit and I didn’t want to push it too hard. All the changes up until now hadn’t actually created anything. This was the first time I created something. Maybe life force is what I use to do this. Since I upped my metabolism and everything, I might have quite a bit more life force to work with that normal people, but it stands to reason that if I push too hard, I could kill someone by draining their life force while trying to help them.