Chapter 24: A Wild and Crazy Guy (Girl)

Cathy’s Bedroom, Bryanston

1:45pm, Monday, February 19, 1979

“He did what to you?” Cathy excitedly asked as she brought her hand up over her mouth when she realized how loudly she asked Lynette a follow-up question.

Lynette flopped back on Cathy’s queen sized bed, rested on her side and propped her head on her bent elbow and hand after Cathy’s inquiry. She loved seeing Cathy’s gleeful mannerisms after she gave her a Reader’s Digest version of what happened with Mike last night. “Well, uh, Mike had me on my stomach and he laid his body completely on top of me. It felt ... like I was totally at his mercy because it was a struggle, a good struggle though, to um, to even breathe, move or do anything really.”

“He put all his weight on you?” Cathy double checked what she just heard.

“Yeah,” Lynette replied as she quickly nodded affirmatively. “He made me reach under my stomach to grab him and move him to where I wanted him. Oh, God, Cathy ... His um, his, you know, rubbed up against my bottom, my butt-hole and I was so, so tempted to let him do me there.”

“Really?” Cathy whispered back at that surprising revelation. “Well, to be honest here, when Mike and I fooled around last summer, I kinda liked it when he would stick a finger up my butt as he, uh ... when he was going down on me.”

“No,” Lynette softly exclaimed out as she sat upright at Cathy’s story. “He did all that with you, before he ... well, prior to his coming back here, again?”

“Oh, yeah! Everything I’ve told you about being with Mike was definitely prior to his return. I guess he figured out what girls like early on and uh, oh Lordy, Lynette, we had some fun times. I almost wish we actually did it, now because I’m kinda jealous of you. What you’ve shared with me about how it feels, and some of the things you’ve done with him, Gawwd dang, girl.”

“You ja-jealous?” Lynette stammered out as she eyeballed Cathy, unsure exactly of how to interpret that comment from her boyfriend’s ex-secret girlfriend.

“Oh, goodness, Lynette,” Cathy quickly replied, “I would have loved to feel what you have, but I’m not going to make a play on him behind your back. No, no. I guess I just want somebody to make me feel like you did last night, that’s all.”

“Ah, okay,” Lynette sighed out and returned to her reclined position on Cathy’s bed. “Back to last night,” she quickly redirected their conversation, “I struggled with breathing, moving, well, everything as Mike covered me, but somehow, that just made how I felt so much more powerful. You know, like when you normally let go and cry out, well, that was difficult as he covered me, powered in me, and uh, it just built up the feeling inside me. Then, when I finally was able to let that large pent-up energy, go! Oh, my God!”

Cathy sat stock still against her pillows at the headboard with her mouth slightly agape and her eyes wide open as she listened to Lynette’s description of what her boyfriend did to her last night. She also unconsciously started to sporadically shift her blue jean covered butt down onto her mattress as Lynette related how her feelings escalated and exploded.

“Then, after I begged him to move off me, so I could breathe once more,” Lynette softly stated, “Mike rolled us over, so I was completely on top of him. My sweaty back was glued to his chest and uh, he had me keep my legs, you know spread open, with my ankles resting above his knees.”

As Lynette related the second part of her wonderful experience to Cathy, she noticed that Cathy lowered her head down and a small, silly smile gradually overtook her prior astonished look. Then Cathy looked back up at Lynette and shook her head, causing her long black hair to cascade over her chest.

Lynette confusingly asked, “Are you okay?”

“God, yes,” Cathy replied as she slapped her hands down on her knees. “I’m just, uh, remembering something we did. It was as close to having sex as you could get, and uh, it sounds awful similar to what you’re telling me you guys did last night.”

“No way!” Lynette exclaimed and then realized she was too loud and then added in a soft voice, “What did you two do?”

“Well, uh, Mike and I were downstairs in the rec-room watching TV when my dad and Paul left for a ‘father-son’ golf tournament. Bertha was at work, getting ready for the school year, so we knew we had a good bit of time to fool around. After we both had some oral fun, Mike had me lie down with my back on his chest, while my legs rested on his legs.” Cathy acted like she had ants in her panties now, as her teenage body reacted naturally to these sexual stories.

“Did he, you know, put his cock in you as you laid on him?”

“No-no. I’m still a virgin,” Cathy whispered back, “but we came REAL close to doing it. Mike sawed his cock between my pussy lips and his lovely little crown pushed and pulled my little clitty until I nearly passed out. When he came, his stuff landed all the way up to my chin, between my boobs.”

“That sounds a lot like what we did last night, other than him holding my butt up about two inches from his body and having him, you know ... in me.” Lynette watched Cathy as the black haired girl’s legs danced about as she sat Indian-style at the head of the bed. “Good lord, Cathy,” Lynette softly uttered after a couple moments reflection, “He pumped fast and furious up along the front of my vagina and I never felt so much pleasure in all my life. I think his cock was rubbing against, uh, what my mother calls our ‘G-spot.’”

“I’ve heard of that, too. Now I’m wishing we had done it,” Cathy replied as she rolled over onto her side and hugged her large pillow to her red Medway sweatshirt.

“Mike jokingly ... well, I think it was jokingly, at first ... but Mike said, I was going to have ‘the ride of my life‘ after he rolled me over to that position. Then once he started powering into me, Oh, my God! Cathy! No joke that WAS the ride or at least the pounding of my life.”

“Errrahhh!” Cathy screeched out as she flopped about on her bed and squeezed her pillow even tighter. “God, I want something like that to happen to me. I REALLY miss experiencing those activities. Damn, girlfriend! You are so lucky, right now.”

“You’ll find the right guy, I’m sure,” Lynette offered up as she basked in her memories and emotions from last night.

After she rolled back upright against her headboard, Cathy grinned down at Lynette and replied, “I’ve been out with two guys since Mike and I went our own ways, and neither of them had a fucking clue on how to touch a girl. I tried to show and guide the second guy, you know ... on how to make me feel good, but he got grossed out at how wet and slippery I became after he rubbed me down here for a minute or two.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Lynette enthusiastically exclaimed. “I was afraid every guy would be turned off because I, uh, I get super wet and, and...” Lynette shyly started to turn away from Cathy’s gaze as she suddenly wasn’t sure about sharing anymore of her sexually responsive information with Mike’s former girlfriend.

“It’s okay, Lynette,” Cathy softly added after seeing her friend’s sudden discomfort. “You can tell me anything, and I won’t share it or think bad of you. Heck, we’ve already shared some pretty deep stuff, haven’t we?”

Lynette finally looked back at Cathy and her facial expression slowly changed from shame to serenity to finally, confidence as she took a full lungful of air. “I, uh ... when I’m really, really feeling great from doing sex stuff, I ... I get more than super wet down here.” Lynette lightly ran her hand along her upper thigh to her blue jean covered crotch. “I actually can spurt or gush out a lot of my own juices, and uh, drench ... kinda soak everything down around here.”

Cathy was mesmerized by Lynette’s words and simply sat at the head of the bed with her mouth agape as Lynette described her unique sexual response. She finally let out a slow sigh and recomposed herself before saying, “You really give, uh, release a bunch of your own stuff when you orgasm? That is so cool.”

“I know that now, but, uh, I was almost traumatized over that, because a couple of my previous boyfriends said I was a freak for getting that wet down here. I’m just glad I didn’t gush out when I was with either of those guys.” Lynette was grinning from ear to ear now as she added, “Thank God, Mike, had some experiences with a few other girls like me, and he actually likes that about me. He even gave me a nickname, Volcano, because of it.”

“Wow, I like it! Volcano! That’s so awesome,” Cathy chimed out as a huge grin spread across her face.

“I like it, too, but I can’t really tell anybody how Mike gave it to me, can I?”

“Ha, no, not really!” Cathy chuckled. As she leaned back against her bed’s headboard, Cathy added, “Just so you know, I won’t tell anyone that reason, either.”

Lynette let out a long sigh after Cathy’s promise. Both young girls had shared quite a bit of information about themselves and both sensed they had really forged a true bond of friendship these past couple of days.

Suddenly something in the back of Lynette’s mind sparked a strange new, but exciting thought in her mind. As the two girls sat quietly on the bed for a few moments, Lynette closed her eyes for a second or two, and a vivid mental representation rapidly played out in head. This erotic picture caused a slight grin to appear on her youthful face.

Within this arousing cerebral scene, Lynette experienced, ‘Feeling Cathy’s talented tongue running between her very wet pussy lips and over her hard clit, as she sat over the raven haired girl’s face.’ At the same time, she heard herself say, ‘Go slow with her, Mike. Give Cathy time to adjust to the width of your monster cock head.’

Lynette also mentally saw, ‘Her brown-green eyes were opened wide and locked onto the sight of her boyfriend’s thick cock obscenely stretching Cathy’s thin lips as it slowly inched into her virgin pussy.’ Then, to end this spicy mental picture, Lynette imagined, ‘Both her and Mike licking Cathy’s drenched face of her copious sticky, pussy juices.’

When Lynette reopened her eyes, Cathy was staring at her intently with her own unexpectedly aflame eyes. The raven beauty then lustfully asked Lynette, “What were you thinking about just then?”

“Something deliciously wicked. Do you want to know what and who it involved?”

Cathy nodded affirmatively at the blonde beauty sitting at the foot of her bed. She then sat and absorbed every word from Lynette’s delightfully naughty scenario. Her heart was racing in her chest at the conclusion of this erotically charged description. Even so, Cathy’s heart maxed out when Lynette added, “Would you be up for something like that, you know, down the line?”

“Ya-you’d be okay doing something like that, wa-with me?” Cathy replied with her own lust filled question.

“Maybe ... not today or tomorrow,” Lynette softly replied as she leaned towards Cathy. “But, uh, when Mike and me get more comfortable with ourselves, I can picture us getting together and having some type of fun.”

“Well, OBVIOUSLY, you can picture that, Volcano-girl,” Cathy zinged Lynette, “but are you positive you could live with seeing me and Mike together, like you said?”

“I pretty sure ... yeah,” Lynette answered. Then her smile faded slightly as she asked, “If, uh, somehow things change, and it doesn’t feel right, are you going to be upset or hate me for not wanting to do it?”

“I might be a little upset at not getting together with the two of you,” Cathy softly replied as she leaned forward on the bed. “But I’ll never hate you, or end a friendship because your feelings change on something MAJOR like this.”

Lynette’s smile slowly returned as the two girls sat in silence for a few seconds. Lynette sighed once more, then continued on with their frank sexual discussion by asking, “So why didn’t you and Mike, you know, do it when you guys were here, alone?”

“We, uh, we talked about it before hand, and, uh, I guess the fear of getting pregnant kinda stayed with us as we fooled around last summer.”

“Pregnant! Oh shit!” Lynette shouted out before she clamped her right hand over her mouth. Cathy’s eyes almost burst out of her head at Lynette’s outburst. “Oh gosh, I’m sorry about that,” Lynette quickly added as both girls looked towards the bedroom door. When neither Cathy’s mom nor dad came to investigate that dreaded outburst, both girls let out a sigh of relief at their good fortune.

“You guys haven’t been using protection?” Cathy softly asked Lynette, who now had a look of dread on her face. “Oh, Lynette. That might not be good.”

“God, my mom reminded me about of having condoms, but, uh, when things got going, my mind went blank, I guess,” a panicky Lynette replied to Cathy’s inquiry.

“I’m surprised that Mike didn’t think about that,” Cathy quickly added. “He was definitely aware of it when we were fooling around. I remember I kinda had a minor fit when some of his cum was spread around my pussy as I rubbed my clit and lips with his cum-covered cock. Most was up around my boobs and stomach, but his stuff that dribbled out at the end was smeared all around my pussy.” Cathy just shook her head as she added, “When I realized what I had done, I made a bee-line for the basement bathroom, and gave myself a good cleaning. Both of us were nervous wrecks until my next period came about a week and a half later.”

“Oh, crap,” Lynette softly said as she leaned over on the bed with her head in her hands and began to softly sob out. “I’m like right, right in the middle of my cycle. What am I gonna do, if I’m pre-pregnant?”

“First off, I know you’re really scared right now, but let’s think though this with clear heads,” Cathy replied as she slid off the bed and moved beside Lynette to rub her back for a few seconds as her blonde friend softly cried into the mattress. “Unfortunately, there’s a possibility that you are, but it also means you might not be. We’ll just...” Cathy paused as something suddenly struck her as odd about this whole situation.

“Just, w-what?” Lynette tearfully asked after waiting through Cathy’s period of silence.

“Why would he,” Cathy thought out loud, “Why would Mike forget something major like protection, after being so concerned and scared about me being pregnant? Plus, he was JUST a fifteen-year-old kid. Now, he bloody well should have remembered with his added memories and all, to use ... or at least ask you about protection before doing it with you.”

“That, uh, that doesn’t make sense to me, either,” Lynette replied as she lifted her tear stained face up from her hands. “Mike’s been real good...” she said through her sniffles, “at thinking through all kinds of things, and he even stopped our fun times when I wanted to keep going after the Valentine’s dance.”

“Come on, Lynette,” Cathy sternly requested to the teary-eyed blonde, “no sense wondering about this anymore. Let’s go find out why your still somewhat mysterious boyfriend forgot about such an important issue as protection.”

After helping Lynette clean up her face, Cathy took Lynette’s hand and pulled her gently from her bed and opened her bedroom door. As the two teenagers walked from the hallway through the living room, Mrs. McGregory looked up from her novel and quickly accessed the situation before asking, “Everything alright, Cathy and Lynette?”

“Just a few ‘Teen-Spirits’ at work, Mom,” Cathy replied. “Hopefully, we’ve got everything under control.”

“Okay,” Bertha replied to both of them. Then, as she locked eyes with her daughter’s puffy-eyed friend, she softly added, “Let me know if I can help, or you need to talk.”

Lynette knew those words were directed at her, so she gave a slight nod of her head towards Cathy’s mom before trailing Cathy through the kitchen.

“We’re going to check on the two yahoos downstairs,” Cathy called back to her mom from the kitchen, “And see if they want to go ice-riding once more before it melts away.”

“Just be careful out there. It’s still super slippery, your father said.”

“We will,” both girls replied in unison to Bertha’s motherly advice as they padded on down the stairs to the basement.

Cathy stopped Lynette at the bottom of the stairs and used the sleeve of her red sweatshirt to wipe Lynette’s cheek of another mascara streak. When she was sure Lynette was okay and somewhat presentable, Cathy asked, “Do you want to ask Mike in private? I can pull Paul upstairs for a few minutes, if you’d like.”

“I’m not sure,” Lynette softly replied. “I guess I’m okay with you and Paul hearing all this because, heck, you both may soon see the results of our hormone driven stupidity.” Cathy could see that Lynette was about ready to start crying again as the thought of having a baby raced through her mind once more.

“I’ll be right beside you for support when you ask Mike about this, okay?”

“Can uh ... can uh, you ask him f-for me? I don’t think I can do it r-right now,” Lynette stammered out as she tried to stifle her tears.

“I will, if you really want me to. Are you sure that is how you want to proceed?” Cathy gently asked as she re-dabbed her sleeve under Lynette’s eyes.

Lynette slowly nodded her head, ‘yes’ and then almost inaudibly added, “Please.”

“Okay. Why don’t you duck into the bathroom and take a minute or two to steel yourself, and I’ll get a feel for what these guys are up to.” Cathy semi-steered Lynette towards the basement bathroom, then added, “I’m sure Mike has a good explanation for NOT acting like he should have.”

“Thanks, Cath,” Lynette softly said as she turned to face her new confidant, before closing the bathroom door.

“Poor girl,” Cathy said to herself as she turned towards the ruckus coming from the rec-room. ‘I sure hope Mike has a perfectly good reason, or I just might kill him, if she’s pregnant.’

2:05pm

“Damn it! That was too close,” I cussed as I watched as my defense shield barely prevented my cities from being destroyed as I played ‘Missile Command’ on the TV in the McGregory’s rec-room.

“You have to arc the joy-stick to lay your protective bombs over your cities as the speed of their attack increases, dude,” Paul interjected as I took a short breather. “Get ready. You can’t start up that high, right now!”

“Oh crap!” I said as I saw a lone bomb streak through my first line of bomb defenses.

“You got one city left, Mike,” Paul shouted as we both watched my center city die in white and gold circular eruptions. “Here they come again!”

“Gotcha!” I shouted as I laid down a protective bomb shield over my one remaining city. “Holy cow, they didn’t wait this time. No! ... Dang it!” I cried as I watched the last of my cities get obliterated on the TV screen.

“Let me show you how it’s done,” Paul chuckled out as he took the Atari controller from my hands. “On these first few attacks, I won’t need to lay down a defensive shield, but I’ll do it, so you can see how I’m moving the joy-stick and releasing my bombs, okay?”

“I’ve watched you do it a ton of times, Paul. I just can’t get the hang of it, especially when their attacks are flying down from multiple locations.”

I sat and listened as Paul demolished my best score on this early Atari video game. Even though I KNEW what to do from playing or watching Paul and Cathy play this game, this was a perfect example of the separation of ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’ aspects of strategic games. Even as the video game systems became newer and more life-like, I still wasn’t able to grasp all the intricacies of the control units in order to master the various video games.

When Paul finally lost his three cities, his score was a good four thousand points higher than my best score. He tossed me the wired remote and said, “Practice that defensive shield technique, even against their first few attacks. I know you can pick them off with single shots but...”

“Okay,” I replied as I hit the new game button. “Less talk from the cheap seats, please and thank you. Oh, can you get us a couple of Cokes from the fridge?”

“Based on your attitude,” Paul sneered back at me, “I’m not sure you deserve a Coke.”

“Come on, dude,” I said as I laid down a series of protective bombs as Paul suggested.

“Seeing how you’re trying to do what I asked, I guess I can bring you one.”

Paul came back to the couch and set our cans down on the coffee table. He popped his and took a swig of the brown, sugary drink as I cleared the second wave of alien attacks.

I was able to clear the third wave but lost my right side city on the alien’s fourth wave. Just as the fifth wave started, Paul said, “I think we’re having company.”

We both turned and looked towards the sound of the basement bathroom door closing. When I saw Cathy walking slowly towards us, I turned back to the video game on the TV.

“Hey, it’s my worse half,” Paul called out as his twin sister strolled into the open rec-room area. “Where’s Blondie?”

“She stopped in the bathroom,” Cathy easily responded as she surveyed the scene. “Who’s winning?”

“Your brother is kicking my ass!” I replied as I fiddled with the remote controller. With a chuckle, I added, “I almost wish the power hadn’t comeback on this morning.” I was only able to defend my center city on that next wave of attacks.

“At least there is one thing his prior memories and experiences haven’t enhanced,” Paul rejoiced. “I’m still better than him at ‘Space Invaders’, ‘Missile Command’, ‘Asteroids’ and ‘Galaxia’.”

“Hopefully that is the only thing his prior memories haven’t influenced,” Cathy interjected as she went to the wet-bar fridge and pulled out two cans of coke.

Something in her words struck me as odd as I focused on maneuvering the ‘cross-hairs’ below the rapidly descending alien bombs on the TV screen. After I laid down a protective defense shield over my last remaining city, I turned back to her and questioned, “Haven’t influenced?”

Cathy forced out a smile before she took a sip of her Coke and added, “In a minute, when Lynette gets here.”

My brain was going a thousand miles an hour now, and my focus on the video game was lost. The white and gold explosions from the alien bombs on my last city matched up with Paul’s statement, “Blown to smithereens, again! Damn, I’m glad there are a few things I can still best you on.”

“Yup. Video games were never my forte, and my memories are definitely useless with this stuff,” I deadpanned as I put the remote controller down on the coffee table as the ‘game over’ notice popped up on the TV screen. As I turned, I saw Lynette’s slow shuffling gait and a slightly distressed look on her face as she made her way to my arm chair.

I pushed up out of the cushioned chair and started over towards her when she held up her hand and said, “I’m okay. I’ll sit with you after I get a Coke.”

“Here you go, Lynette,” Cathy said as she handed my girlfriend her drink.

“Thanks,” Lynette softly offered.

I somewhat froze there beside my chair as I struggled to comprehend what was going on. First, Cathy had said something about my prior memories and waiting on Lynette. Then, Lynette appeared somewhat sad or possibly annoyed about something. Once more, my mind was heading in a million different directions as I tried to figure this out.

“You want another Coke, Mike?” Paul nonchalantly asked as he appeared clueless about the elevated tension in the room.

“No, thanks, I still have some,” I replied. I frowned a little bit as I watched Lynette open the can Cathy had gotten out for her.

“You can sit here, baby,” I said to Lynette as I took her Coke and watched her sit down on the arm of the chair and place her bent legs over mine.

“Hey, you,” she said as she looked down on me with her gloomy looking brown-green eyes as I returned her can to her.

After an awkward fifteen seconds of silence, I was about to ask what was going on, when Cathy suddenly blurted out, “Why didn’t your extra memories and experiences remind you to either use condoms or at least ask Lynette if she was protected, before you had sex with her? She’s scared to death now about possibly being pregnant.”

I should have known to expect the unexpected from Cathy, but her soft but stern words hit me harder than yesterday’s early morning bashing of my forehead on the top bunk. I felt the added heat from Lynette’s saddened face as she stared down at me from her perch. Out of all the millions of pathways my mind was previously searching, this most definitely wasn’t one of them...

Thankfully, I hadn’t taken a drink or mouthful of my coke or I would have given Lynette a run for her nickname, because I nearly choked on my own saliva after fully comprehending Cathy’s question and statement.

Before I could get my initial response formed and outputted, Paul stammered out, “You, you two have done it, already?”

“Shut up, Paul!” Cathy quickly fired back at her brother. “Yes they have, but that’s not the key issue, right now.” Her added ‘death-glare’ let Paul know he had better heed her words if he wanted to live and play another video game.

I was silently glad for that brief interlude and interruption by my best friend because it gave me another couple of seconds to allow my brain to actually lead my mouth into this heated situation. I was originally going to start by putting Lynette on the spot; for telling Cathy some or all of the things we’ve done the past couple of days. Luckily, Paul’s words provided a few additional seconds, so my brain would realize those words were NOT going to be a productive start to this discussion.

After I set my Coke down on the coffee table and put my hands on Lynette’s legs, I said, “I’m sorry, Lynette for putting you through all this, and for causing you to feel like you do, right now.”

I then looked up into her distressed eyes and decided to end every bit of doubt, confusion and pain with this one simple statement. “You, Lynette can’t become pregnant with me. Nobody I’m with can become pregnant on my rebooted journey through high school.”

I could still see major confusion in her eyes and over her face after I made that forthright statement. I didn’t focus on anything but Lynette’s face during this time of silence and decided I’d let her ask for any clarification in her own time. I vaguely recalled hearing a ‘shush!’ sound from across the room, but I didn’t let it distract my attention from the beauty sitting alongside of me.

Lynette fidgeted slightly on the arm of my chair before she meekly asked, “How can you ... why are you so confident in making that claim? I’m, uh, probably right in my prime time for getting pregnant, Mike.”

I rubbed my right hand over her blue jean covered thigh and took a deep breath before I smiled up at her and said, “I’m positive you aren’t pregnant, and won’t become pregnant ... at least not by me because the Energists told me nothing like that could happen during my return journey.” I paused and studied her face after I provided her with the reason for my confident statement.

When I noticed a slight relaxation within her facial muscles, and the beginnings of a smile, I then added, “The Energists told me that every major event in the world would still occur as before, and that only a few smaller, personal things would be changed during my redone life. They said I would still become Dr. Mike Nevins, and eventually meet Kaleigh Plyer, and, uh, possibly be claimed by them again to help with their transition process. So...” I paused once more to let that sink into my friends’ heads, “ ... for that to happen, they told me that children would not be part of my rebooted life, similar to my prior life.”

“Why didn’t you tell me all of that?” Lynette asked as she smacked me on my shoulder, but with the sound of obvious relief in her voice.

“I wish I had of told you, baby,” I offered as she leaned over and rested her cheek on top of my head. “I’m really, really sorry for not telling you this and for causing all this worry. I guess ... because that wasn’t a concern for me, I just wasn’t thinking about it. My sixteen-year-old body, with all those hormones running through me, just...”

“God, Mike,” Cathy finally spoke up after firing that initial nuclear bomb-like question at me. “You’ve usually been real thoughtful when you’ve been in those situations. Remember, when we were...”

“I said I was sorry,” I quickly interrupted Cathy’s rant because it sure sounded like she was going to share more information than was needed, especially with Paul here. “I’ll try to do better should this type of thing come up with some new girl, okay?”

I rolled my eyes towards her brother hoping Cathy would pick up on why I jumped in on her. I also hoped Paul didn’t catch Cathy’s near slip of ‘when we were‘ because I felt Lynette’s hand squeeze my shoulder just after she heard those words from Cathy.

Lynette thankfully turned the conversation away from that rabbit hole by saying, “I’m okay, now, Mike. Me and Cathy were, well, I was just a little scared when I realized what might have happened. Good lord, hearing what you just said sure has eased my tension levels.”