Chapter 96: Catching up with Catherine

Wednesday, June 9, 1971

As we boarded the Observation Car’s vestibule, Penny was there to greet us.

“All quiet here. The yard foreman came by and was curious, so I gave him the nickel tour. I hope you don’t mind?” she asked.

I told her I didn’t as long as she thought it safe.

“He seemed nice and he wasn’t onboard but a few minutes. It seems your railcar has become something of a celebrity and the rail yard workers are all curious. I didn’t think it would hurt and it might even gain us some goodwill,” Penny explained further.

“You’re the Chief of Security. If you feel it’s okay, then I’m fine with it,” I said.

“Well, he said we were scheduled to leave the yard as soon as the Southern freight is ready. Probably a little after ten. We’ll be the last set of cars connected,” she added.

It was after nine o’clock now, so it wouldn’t be long, I calculated.

“Michael, we have to go get ready. We’ll see you in a little while,” said Nicky teasingly. “Remember, no peeking.”

The girls were all giggling and talking as they headed through the Observation Car and the Dining Car, to the Guest Wing car.

Karla stopped in front of the chair I had plopped down on and said, “Thank you for a wonderful day. I can’t remember when I’ve had such a good time. I really enjoyed spending so much time with my little brother.”

“You are welcome. I’m glad you were there. And that you took such good care of me and the girls,” I replied. “I hope you’ll enjoy working with us.”

“Oh, I will,” she said quickly. “I may not understand everything that’s going on yet, but I can tell that you are a special young man and I think you are going to do special things!”

I smiled as she bent to give me a quick peck on the cheek.

Blushing, she said, “I think that’s the first time I’ve ever kissed an employer!”

Then she turned and scampered after the girls.

“I guess you guys had a good time?” Penny ventured.

I spent the next few minutes telling her about the park and the rides, until we felt the thud of the switcher connecting to move us into position. I guessed that we’d be under way shortly.

“Ah, Michael?” Penny asked hesitantly.

“Yes?” I replied, looking at her.

She blushed, as she asked, “I was wondering ... well, with Anna and Kalani not here, would you mind ... I mean, I won’t if you say not to ... but would you mind if ... er ... Kip stayed in here tonight, with me? Instead of the Dining Car? We aren’t supposed to stop until we reach New Orleans in the morning.”

I scanned Penny and saw that now that the exhaustion of yesterday had been addressed by a long nap this afternoon, the excitement of the arrest she made had left her wound up and very horny.

“If you think it’s safe, I have no problem,” I told her. “And Penny, this is your home too. For now. So you don’t have to ask me about where you sleep. Or with whom.”

“Thank you, Michael. I really appreciate the chance you’ve given me and I just don’t want to do anything that might jeopardize it,” she said.

“Sleep tight,” I told her as she headed to the Dining Car to see Kip.

I scanned for Candy. She was at home in Tennessee, getting laundry out of the dryer, so I tapped her mental shoulder. She jerked her head around, before realizing it was me.

“You startled me,” she thought. “Where are you?”

“I’m in the Observation Car lounge, getting ready for bed. What are you doing?” I asked her.

“The same. We got back this morning, and all I’ve been doing is washing clothes and dusting the house all day. I don’t think I realized how long we were gone, until I saw Laurie. You remember Laurie? Laurie Teffeteller? She told me to tell you ‘hi’ if I spoke to you. She was still talking about how you kissed her in the hospital. And that was like ... three weeks ago! How yesterday’s news,” she exclaimed.

“Yeah. That was a long time ago,” I replied. “I just hope you didn’t talk to HER like that. I wouldn’t want her feelings hurt or anything.”

“Naaah. I was cool. But it was like, really weird, you know? I mean she was like all ga-ga over a silly little kiss, and I had to act like I would be too,” Candy explained. “Ah ... Michael?”

“What is it, Sweetheart?” I asked.

“Well ... I don’t want you to be mad or anything...” she thought hesitantly.

“Mad? Why would I be mad?” I asked her.

“Yes! I folded them, Mom. They’re on your bed,” she said out loud.

“Mom wanted to know if I folded the clothes from the last load,” she thought to me by way of explanation. “Where were we?”

“I asked you why you thought I’d get mad at you?”

“Oh. Yeah. I was worried you’d be mad at me when you found out I told Laurie about us,” Candy said.

I was silent, as I scanned her. It occurred to me that three weeks ago, I had to touch someone in order to know what they were feeling. Now, it seemed all I had to do was connect to them, in this case, several hundred miles away.

Candy had shared with Laurie, bragged actually, that she had kissed me. A lot. She was really more worried about hurting Laurie’s feelings now, than she was mine. So this was more of a confession about hurting Laurie than betraying any confidences. After all, she hadn’t told her she had actually had sex with me. She had just gotten carried away and maybe a little jealous of the way Laurie was talking about me, telling her that we had made out while on vacation.

“Michael? You’re mad at me. Aren’t you?” She asked.

“No. I’m disappointed in you, a little, for what you did to Laurie. But I’m not...”

“What I did to Laurie?” she interrupted.

“Yes. You made Laurie feel bad with your bragging,” I said. “No secrets, remember?”

“Oh-h-h ... yeah, I guess you’re right. And I guess I really do feel bad. You know, because I was just, like jealous of how she kept talking about you like she was gonna marry you or something!” Candy thought guiltily.

“And you know what you gotta do now, right?” I asked her.

“What? I don’t know what to do. It just kinda got to me, ya know?” she said, confused by her emotions, which I had discovered, was pretty standard in young girls.