Part 16

When Susan's parents came out to the farm to collect her, Aunt Paula and Uncle Jack were there to greet them, as were the rest of us. Susan made a point of taking her parents to the 'brag area' Uncle Jack and Aunt Paula had put up about me. Both of them came away from it looking more than a little surprised and impressed. Uncle Jack and Aunt Paula shooed the girls and me outside so they could talk with Susan's parents - it being pretty obvious that that was something her folks wanted to do. The four of us went out to the barn, and Susan told us "I think this will be the last chance I have to thank all of you - particularly you, Michael! - for the friendship and kindness you have shown me. I have had a wonderful time here, and with all of you."

With that, Susan moved to stand in front of Holly and kissed her. From where I stood, I could see that the kiss was more than passingly friendly - particularly when both of them raised their hands to cup, then caress and squeeze, each other's breasts. Both of them were panting slightly when they separated; then it was Diane's turn - and she was just as willing a partner as Holly had been. Finally, it was my turn - and Susan got things off to a proper start my reaching down to take my hands and putting them on her breasts before stepping close enough to kiss me. As our tongues danced in each other's mouths, I felt her nipples harden under my thumbs, and didn't hesitate to squeeze her breasts and gently pull on her nipples. After a bit, though, the position was a bit uncomfortable, and I slid my hands from between us and moved them down to where I could hold Susan's small, tight ass in my hands - and heard her soft moan of pleasure as I started squeezing her firm globes. By mutual understanding and consent, we broke our kiss justbefore we started tearing each other's clothes off; before she pulled back from me, Susan pulled my head down a little farther so she could whisper in my ear "Thank you, Michael, for making love with me. I will never forget it, or you."

A couple minutes later, we were back out in the farmyard when Susan's parent came out, carrying her suitcase. Susan went over to Uncle Jack and Aunt Paula, and gave both of them a hug and kiss on the cheek as her dad put the suitcase in the trunk of the car.

They each opened a car door, and Susan paused long enough to say another goodbye to each of us, finishing by telling me "Thank you, Michael - for everything." - getting me a look from her father, but nothing more.

Diane and Holly were both crying as we watched their car go down the drive, then make the turn on the highway toward 'town', and the way home.

Supper that night was a quiet affair - even Aunt Paula's excellent cooking couldn't make up for the absent Susan.

A couple days later, Dad and Mom came down to the farm to get Holly and Diane; they had lunch with us, and Uncle Jack took them out to see the fish trap - and told them about the Ag agent's offer of a full scholarship and a job if I wanted to change majors. Mom and Dad both looked pleased and proud at hearing about it.

The girls and I had a hug and kiss before they got into the car with Mom and Dad and started for home. When they were out of sight, Uncle Jack came up to me and said "Well, Mike, you get tomorrow off, then you start working for the boys. You ready?"

I just grinned and answered "Reckon so", getting a laugh from him.

I spent the next day down by the creek, thinking - about Diane, Holly, Susan, the farm, and all kinds of things. I thought about where I was at in my life, and where I wanted to go, and how I could get there - and who I wanted with me along the way. Uncle Jack and Aunt Paula seemed to realize that I needed the time alone, and left me to my thoughts; neither one said anything about how I'd spent the day at supper that night.

The next day, I started my brief career as a 'hired hand' for the farmers in the area. Uncle Jack took me into town with him for coffee, so that I could go off with whichever one of the farmers it was my time to help. I had no idea how they'd come up with their system; all I knew was that they were paying me more money than I'd usually make on summer jobs - and that I was determined to earn it.

As it turned out, about the first thing any of them had me do was build them their own fish trap, if they had a section of a creek on their land. Those that didn't were told that they were welcome to use someone else's, if they wanted. Once that was out of the way, it was normal farm chores for me - cutting and/or baling hay, shuffling cows or horses around, and so on. As Uncle Jack had said, none of the farmers tried to work me to death, and all of them took pains to make sure I knew not to hurry or get myself hurt - and all of them were more than willing to answer my questions. Every one of them saw to it that I had plenty to eat when they took me to their houses for lunch - and I decided that there wasn't such a thing as a farm wife who was a 'bad' cook; there were just varying degrees of damn good. Toward the end of each day, whoever I was working for would see to it that I got back to Jack's place - by taking me there themselves, or seeing to it that I got dropped off where Uncle Jack could pick me up on his way home.

I worked hard that summer. Not drag-ass-to-bed hard, but I didn't have any trouble falling asleep, either. Most of the work was relatively simple (what with me not knowing enough about farming to be turned loose with complicated stuff), and it left me plenty of time to think. With Holly and Diane and Susan gone, my mind started going over my studies - what I'd learned already, what I was reading in the books I'd brought along, and so on. I also took the opportunities to start refining my skills with The Force - learning how to use it in different ways: how to feel things around me, and how to tap into it faster and easier, and so on.

One day, it hit me that of all the people that I could use The Force on, I'd never tried using ON MYSELF - and promptly rectified that oversight. It didn't take long to learn to control my body - and I don't just mean silly stuff like slowing my heart rate, or lowering my blood pressure. I discovered that I could use it to control my body in ways that I'd never even considered before: a small cut on my hand that healed so fast that even Aunt Paula commented on it; adjusting my vision so that I could almost 'zoom in' and clearly see something that would normally be little more than a blur; heightened senses of hearing and smell and taste. I caught myself breathing less - my body was using the oxygen I was taking in more efficiently, so I didn't need to breathe as deep or as often: on a day off, I amazed myself by staying underwater at the stock tank for nearly ten minutes without any difficulty at all. After debating it with myself for several days, I gave in to the temptation, and 'grew' my penis a little longer and thicker - not a lot, but some.

The biggest surprise, though, was when I started trying to use The Force on my own mind: I couldn't. It was like there was an impenetrable shield around the part of my mind/brain that was me - even though I'd been able to get completely into the minds of others, I simply couldn't get into ANY part of my own. I tried everything I could think of, including stuff like doing it in front of a mirror, and pretending the person in the mirror wasn't really me. All I ever accomplished was to give myself some SERIOUS headaches - and then promptly use my newly-developed skills to make them go away.

It was after I'd cured one of my self-induced headaches that I got the idea of approaching the problem from a different direction: seeing if changing the structure of my own brain had any effect on how my mind worked. The idea both intrigued and terrified me: if it worked, I'd learn more about the human mind than all the psychologists that ever lived; if it didn't, I was running the risk of making myself totally insane - or worse.

I finally settled on using the safest approach I could think of: remembering the physiology texts I'd read when I first got started on trying to find The Force, I remembered how the brain was constructed: dendrites, axons, and synapses and the chemical reactions that went on in the brain. Using my abilities, I was able to go into my own head and examine the structure of my brain - and carefully went about modifying it: teaching my brain to grow more dendrites, increasing the number of junctions (and reducing the space between them) and potential pathways in my brain.

As the days went by, I could FEEL myself changing, mentally - and even physically. Things that I used to have to think about were coming to me more quickly, and with less effort. I noticed my reflexes were improving - and realized that I'd 'told' my body to change nerve cells - and not limited it to those in the brain: my entire nervous system was becoming more efficient, along with my brain. I could see how the changes to my nervous system could have an adverse effect on my life, and quickly focused on making the changes just happen in my brain. It was when I caught myself speed-reading a new physics text - and not only able to recall what I'd read, but UNDERSTANDING it without effort - that I realized that the changes I'd been making were having a greater effect than I'd anticipated. I immediately stopped growing my brain cells, but didn't dare try to 'reverse' it, even a little bit: if I tried, how would I know when to stop? Could I stop in time? WAS it reversible? I thought it was reversible - but how to be sure, short of actually TRYING it, something I didn't dare do?

Instead, I had to learn to live with the changes I'd 'forced' (pun intended) on myself: as the increased number of synapses started working, I found that I could read and understand virtually anything I read; as the reduced gaps between dendrites and axons began being used, my though processes sped up, as well. I was not only getting smarter, but thinking faster, too.

The changes in me were so great that even Uncle Jack felt obliged to bring the subject up, asking me one night "Mike, seems like you've been going through some pretty serious changes while you've been here this time. Anything you think I should know about?"

"I dunno, Uncle Jack. I've noticed it, too, and it kinda worried me at first. But nothing hurts or feels bad or anything. Only thing I can figure is that it's some kinda growth spurt or something."

He gave me a strange look, but said "Yeah, I suppose that could be it. But you let me know if you start having any kind of problems, okay?"

"You bet, Uncle Jack."

By the end of the summer, I knew that the changes I'd made to myself were only beginning to take effect - but after Uncle Jack's 'casual' questioning, I took extra care not to reveal the full extent of what was happening to me.

The last few days I was on the farm, I was again given the time off - after all the farmers I'd been working for got together with Uncle Jack and me to give me a check to cover not only the salary they'd promised, but a pretty hefty bonus on top of it. The bonus was sizeable enough that even Uncle Jack was surprised at it, and it was Tommy Smithers that explained "I don't reckon any of us expected Mike to slough off on us while we were payin' him - but I figure that he worked some harder than we had any reason to expect, too. We all knew he had brains between his ears, and that fish trap contraption just proved it all over again. Me and the boys, we just figured that hard as he worked, and smart as he is, well, he deserved something more than what we were payin' him for."

Uncle Jack had told me before that Tommy Smithers wouldn't 'spend a nickel he didn't have to', so him being the one to say that I'd earned the bonus only told Uncle Jack that I really had earned it, to their way of thinking. I thanked all of them for the chance to work for them, and the bonus; it was Andy Gibson that told me "We was glad to have your help, Mike. We though we were doing you a good turn, and you turned it around on us!", the last with a laugh. He went on to add "You get any more ideas, you make sure and write 'em down and send 'em to Jack - I expect all of us would be glad to hear them!", which prompted the others to smile and nod their agreement.

With my paycheck in my pocket, they opened up a cooler to reveal that they'd iced down a pretty fair amount of beer - and it was Uncle Jack that reached in, pulled out the first one, opened it, and handed it to me, saying "I reckon you earned the right to the first one, Mike!", earning him a chorus of agreements from the others. I took a healthy pull on it, then told the others "Right tasty!", causing them all to laugh as they reached for their own bottles. There were enough people there that it worked out to where each of us only had three beers - but as young as I was, three was plenty. I wasn't drunk when we headed for Uncle Jack's truck, but I damn sure wasn't full sober, either. Uncle Jack looked at me with patient amusement as he told me "You must have done some job for those boys, Mike, if they were willing to pony up that kind of bonus."

I carefully thought out what I wanted to say before I told him "They were paying me more than I would have made with any other summer job I could get, Uncle Jack. I just wanted to make sure I earned it."

Uncle Jack gave a short laugh, and said "Well, I'd have to say you certainly did that!" before the two of us climbed into the truck for the ride back to the house. Aunt Paula was waiting for us, and smiled when Uncle Jack told her about the bonus they'd given me - and then gasped when he told her how much it was.

Then she got a look at me, and realized that I was just a WEE bit tipsy - and demanded "Jack! Did you and those other hooligans let this boy drink too much beer?!"

Uncle Jack just laughed, and told her "Now, I just told you what kind of bonus they gave him - don't you think if he's grown enough to earn something like that, he's old enough to drink beer? Besides, it was only three, and he's still standing. Let him be; he'll be all right in a hour or so, I figure."

Explained to her that way, Aunt Paula seemed to see his point, and did just that - let me be. And as Uncle Jack had predicted, I was just fine an hour later - and more than ready to put away several pieces of her fried chicken, along with the rest of supper.

A couple days later, it was time for me to go home, and get ready to head back to school. As usual, Aunt Paula fixed me plenty to eat on the road, and send me back with more than enough fresh food for the rest of the family. As I was getting ready to climb into my truck, Uncle Jack stuck his hand out and told me "When the boys offered to let you work for them this summer, I knew you wouldn't let me down. But what you did, well, it made me proud of you, Mike. I just wanted you to know that."

I was more than a little shocked by what he'd said, and it took me a couple seconds to take his hand and shake it as I told him "Uh, thanks, Uncle Jack."

He looked at me for a second, and said "I reckon if you're man enough to work that hard for what they were gonna pay you, you're growed enough to just call me 'Jack', like anyone else. You've earned it."

"Uh, thanks again... Jack"

He just smiled and gave me a wink before telling me "Now, you be careful driving home - Paula's got you so loaded down, you'll likely break an axle if you hit a good pothole!"

Aunt Paula slapped his arm, and came over to give me a kiss on the cheek before telling me "You make me proud, too, Mike. Now you be careful!"

I got home just fine, of course - and everyone was home to greet me. Dad and I unloaded the stuff from the farm while Holly, Diane, and Mom decided what was to go where.

Supper was pizza - tough to get delivered out in the country - and sodas while I told them about all I'd done for the different farmers. Mom and Dad both commented on the change in me - I'd 'filled out' a bit after the girls had left. I knew that it was more than just a little bulking up from hard work, as they thought, but didn't say anything. When it came time for bed, Diane was surprised to find that I 'filled her up' a bit more than I had the last time we'd made love - it never occurred to her that I might have grown a bit in that particular area, and she just attributed it to her own 'shrinkage' due to my extended absence. That didn't stop her from enjoying the results, though.

As the days went by before I had to go back to school, I carefully - and slowly - let some of my newly developed abilities start to peek out. Not much, and not often, but enough to establish a precedent for the plan I'd come up with to let me expose and openly use the abilities I'd brought about. Everyone was surprised, of course - but not TOO surprised, since I didn't reveal that much of what I knew I was capable of.

It was the day before I was to head back to school when we got a letter from Susan. All of us were pleased and surprised to see it - and after reading it, disappointed. She'd written to tell us that thanks to the grades she'd gotten while studying with me, she'd been given a scholarship to another school - and that as much as she wanted to see all of us again, it was a chance that she simply couldn't pass up. We all understood, of course, but that didn't make it any easier.

It was Diane that got us all laughing again when she asked "So, Mike, who are you going to bring home THIS Christmas? A Swedish girl?"

I came right back at her by answering "Nah, that's NEXT year. THIS year, it's going to be a girl from Venezuela!" - and making everyone laugh that much harder.

Once I was back in school, it was easy for me to start making even better grades than I had before - but I still didn't want to draw too much attention to the changes I'd made to myself, and was careful to 'ramp up' my GPA, using the entire first semester to do it. The second semester, I continued with my plan, ending the year with a near-perfect score. In fact, my grades were high enough that a technology company accepted my application for an internship for the summer, meaning that I was able to earn a tolerable paycheck for a lot less manual labor. That the company's offices were in my home town only made it that much nicer.

My Senior year, I went at it full speed, getting perfect grades in all my math and physics classes, and near-perfect grades in the other stuff. That got me the attention of the company that I'd interned for: they offered me a job after graduation, with a pretty nice starting salary - and they were willing to work with me about letting me work on my Masters degree. The first year I worked for them, I kept my mouth shut and my head down - learning how things worked in the 'real world'. That all came to a crashing halt the day I was in our research lab, and our chief researcher was pitching a fit at one of the technicians for fouling up an experiment. I looked at the data that the tech had collected, then at the instructions the chief had given him. Then I looked at the formulas the chief had written on the board, and saw where he'd made his mistake. By that time, nearly everyone in the lab was watching, but I didn't notice them as I told the chief "Sir? The data he gave you is completely consistent with the instructions you gave him. If you wanted the data you say you did, then you should have used THIS formula, instead of the one you have up on the board..." - and proceeded to write a slight modification to what he'd already written.

I thought he was going to have a stroke, right on the spot - all he could do was stand there and sputter at me before he finally managed to yell "And who the HELL do you think YOU are to tell me what kind of data I should be getting, and how to get it?"

I just looked at him and said "I think I'm the one who saw the mistake, and how to correct it."

That just set him off again, and as he was leaving the lab area, we all heard him yelling "No young punk talks to ME that way! I'll see you FIRED!"

When he was gone, a few of the senior people came over to look at what all the fuss had been about - first at the data that had been collected, the chief's instructions, then his formula, versus mine. One of them asked me about my formula, and I untangled it a bit so that she could see where I was getting a derivative. She saw what I was doing, and nodded before saying "Oh, yes, of course." Then she turned to look at me and asked "How long have you been here?"

"A year."

"And your degree?"

"I'm about halfway through my physics Masters."