Chapter 11: Interesting Developments

May 27-28, 1985

Just before 7:00, the doorbell rang. I let my neighbors in and we all started laughing.

All of us were wearing robes!

I introduced everyone to Bob.

Sally said, “Well, let’s see your new pool. I heard them working this morning and have been dying to see it!”

We all went out back.

“Oh wow! A WATERFALL! Is that real rock?” Gracie asked.

“No, it’s just plastic, but it does look real.” (Gracie was looking at Ed. SHE had a ‘puppy dog’ look going.)

“And a diving board!” Bill said. “I know you said it’s 8’ deep, but I never thought about diving. They did a great job with the decking too. It ties the two decks together nicely.”

“Well, let’s get in!” Sally exclaimed.

We all took off our robes and had to take a minute to enjoy the ‘scenery’. Ed and Bill had traditional suits, so their girls were ogling our Speedos.

“Wow Charlie, you didn’t say this was going to be a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit shoot!”

The girls were all blushing at Bob’s remark.

The girls all looked stunning with their nearly identical suits. The different colors accentuated each girl’s hair and skin-tone.

Bill and Ed were looking at each other disparagingly. “You guys make us feel old. Not to mention overdressed.” Ed snarked.

Bill got on the diving board and let loose a bomb that soaked everyone. That started a competition that had everyone laughing. The girls demurely dove in, with the exception of Jamie, who executed a perfect ‘cannonball’ that got cheers from all the guys.

Bob flashed me, “Your neighbors are almost as pretty as Mary and Jamie. Gracie’s a doll. And Sally is STACKED!”

“Yep, no lack of ‘eye candy’ here.” I chuckled, “You wanna help me get everyone something to drink?”

“Umm, in a minute, I’ve got a bit of a ‘sugar-buzz’ going, if you catch my drift!”

Greg started laughing, “I’ll help you buddy, we don’t want to be a ‘buzz-kill’.”

Bob was beet red. Everyone was giggling at Greg’s remark, even though, only our girls knew the joke.

Mary said, “I’ll put the tables in while you guys get the drinks.”

The neighbors were impressed with the tables and Ed was eagerly assisting, since his pool comes with them too. The bench was the perfect height to just keep everyone’s chest in the water.

We all began relaxing and enjoying our drinks. Everyone tried to get their backs as close to a jet as possible, once they discovered how therapeutic it felt. Bob managed to get a spot right between Sally and Mary and his eyes kept going back and forth between their breasts. When they both caught him, they started giggling and giving him a hard time. I do love it when I see my brother blush like that.

It didn’t take long, and the conversation switched to Joshua and Ann’s imminent arrival. Ed looked at us and said, “I called Joshua this morning and told him about the results of the test. He almost sounded disappointed. I thought he’d be bouncing off the walls. When I asked him why he didn’t sound more excited, he said that in all his 15 years of research, only two people ever scored above 55% accuracy.

“He explained to me that the two that had 100% had essentially cheated and were communicating the answers to each other with their eyes. Apparently they thought they could make a lot of money if they could convince him they were telepathic. They were found out as soon as they were separated. They couldn’t even score 10% when they couldn’t see each other. I’m afraid Joshua thinks you guys just played some kind of an elaborate game with me. You didn’t, did you?”

The five of us looked at each other and tried to comprehend what Ed was saying. I looked Ed directly in the eyes and said, “No Ed, we wouldn’t do that to you. You have to understand; we’re not looking to get rich or even prove anything to anyone. We’re only doing this because we’re as lost as anyone else and we just hope someone can explain to us what’s happening.”

“That’s what I TRIED to tell him and that’s the only reason he’s still coming tonight. When I explained to him about Bob, who took the test without any verbal communication at all, he did perk up a little. I can tell deep down, that he’s hoping you’re for real. I guess after all the time and energy he and his fellow researchers spent interviewing and testing so many people, his hopes are just not very high.”

I felt like I understood where Joshua might be coming from. I told everyone that we needed to make Joshua and Ann feel at home as much as we could. Mary added, “We also can’t be quick to take offense if he says that he doubts us. I can really understand now why he might.”

We heard a knock on the gate and Ed hollered, “Come on in Josh, were all in the pool! The water is great!”

Joshua and Ann were both wearing bathrobes and were each carrying a small duffel bag. When they got up on the deck they set down their duffel bags and hung their robes over the rail. We all had to suppress giggles when we saw their suits. Joshua’s suit was circa 1930. It looked like a muscle T-shirt and baggy shorts. Ann’s was the same vintage and was a one piece. It showed less cleavage than Mary’s most conservative blouses.

They both entered the pool by climbing down the molded steps. Joshua swam across and sat on one end next to Jamie while Ann took a seat on the close side next to Greg. They were both blushing slightly when they saw what the other girls were wearing. I asked them if they would like something to drink.

Joshua asked, “You wouldn’t happen to have a vodka tonic I could get would you?”

Greg chuckled and said, “That’s Charlie’s second favorite drink! I’ll go and get one for you, what would you like Ann?”

“I would like one too please, thank you.”

Greg got out and headed for the back door. He had only been inside for a few seconds when he flashed me, “Ask Joshua if he’d like real limes or lime juice.”

I chuckled and looked at Joshua, “Greg wants to know if you’d like real limes or lime juice in your vodka tonic.”

Joshua got a blank look on his face, then looked around suspiciously. “Umm, I’d like real limes, three slices if I could and one slice for Ann.”

He was staring at me intently as I closed my eyes and flashed to Greg what he just said. I opened my eyes, smiled and said, “Greg said no problem, he’ll be right out”

Joshua started stammering. “Tell him to make it a double, I have a feeling I might be needing it!”

I relayed that to Greg and didn’t say a word, as I had a feeling this might be Joshua’s first test. Joshua just looked at me, surprised that I had no reaction.

I could see that Joshua was mentally measuring the distance between the house and where he was sitting. (The distance is about 65 feet.) He also noticed that the door was closed and all of the windows were closed too. I could tell that he had his ‘bull shit’ detector turned all way up to maximum.

When he saw Greg carrying out the two drinks, one with three limes and the other with one he looked skeptical. Greg handed Ann her drink and walked around and handed Joshua’s to him. Joshua took a quick sip and coughed slightly while lightly beating his fist to his chest. Greg looked apologetic and asked, “I didn’t make it too strong did I? Charlie said you wanted a double.”

Josh coughed again. “No, no, this is fine. You don’t have some kind of a listening device out here do you?”

Greg just grinned. “No Sir, we just wanted to give you an idea of ‘how we roll’!”

Joshua started breathing heavily and after a long exhale said, “I’m sorry, I was so rude just now by doubting your sincerity. After everything that Ed has told me about you guys I’m very interested in, but skeptical of your abilities. I don’t know if Ed told you, about all the research that I’ve done. Let me just say, the five of you are so far beyond anything that I’ve experienced, I can’t believe that you’re for real. I’ve been tricked before and really felt like a fool.”

Jamie had a tear in her eye. “We’re really not trying to trick you, sir. We’re just nervous about how well we can communicate without talking. We really just want your help.”

At that very moment, I could feel Joshua’s whole attitude change from skeptical to awe to deep concern. He hugged Jamie, like she was his daughter. He whispered into her ear, “Ask Greg if it would be okay for me to kiss you on the cheek. Tell him to signal that with a thumbs up.”

Greg immediately flashed a thumbs up and Joshua could see that we were all smiling. (Except our neighbors, who didn’t have a clue.)

After giving Jamie a quick peck on the cheek he realized something.

“All five of you could actually hear everything that I told Jamie?” We all nodded our heads yes. “Let me ask you, do all five of you ALWAYS know what each other’s thinking?”

I said, “Not always, some of the time, yes, but just recently we’ve discovered that we can actually focus our communications between one or more individuals and the rest won’t know. It’s also not like we always know what each other’s thinking. It’s kind of like we have to want the others to know. I’m afraid we would go crazy if we always knew everything that each other is thinking.”

I could see him thinking for a second. “So your abilities are actually evolving, is that what you’re trying to say?”

“Yes sir, and ever since the test that Ed gave us, everything has become super clear.”

“I see, just how long have the five of you displayed this ability and did all five of you have it all at once or where and when do you think it started?”

Mary said, “I never felt anything like it before the day I met Charlie. I feel like we connected almost the second our eyes met.”

Greg said, “Charlie has been my best friend for the last two years. But my connection with him probably started just before we graduated from college back in mid-May. One day it felt like I was daydreaming. I found out later that Charlie had been daydreaming the exact same thing at the exact same time.”

Bob chimed in. “That’s kind of the same thing for me. The first time for sure was about a week ago and it was just like Greg said. It was like a daydream, then I found out it was actually communication. Thinking back to when we were kids, though, it’s possible that we’ve been communicating longer, but I just wasn’t aware of it as such. I never told Charlie, but, when I was taking my final math exam, senior year, I knew I was going to fail because I didn’t really understand it. I was just sitting there daydreaming about the problems when it’s like I heard Charlie working through them with me and explaining how to do them! I ended up getting 100% on the test and was actually accused of cheating. The one saving grace was that I was the only one in the whole class to get 100%.”

I said, “You know, I actually remember that. I was between classes and sitting on a bench under a tree when I felt like I was explaining to Bob how to do several math problems. At the time it just felt like I was daydreaming. It wasn’t until just now that I found out it was real.”

“How long ago was that?”

I said, “About two years ago. I know I was just getting ready to take my final exams at the end of sophomore year.”

Joshua said, “What about you Jamie, when did you feel connected to Charlie?”

Jamie sighed. “Actually, Charlie was the last one that I felt this connected to. My first connection was with Greg right after the first time we made love. It was right after that that I felt it with my best friend Mary, whom I’ve been friends with since junior high. I was actually feeling bad that my connection with Charlie wasn’t very good. But then, last night, when I suddenly connected with Bob, it was like the two of them tuned into my frequency and then I tuned into theirs! That might sound weird, but that’s what it was like. I felt Charlie telling me how much he loved me and that extra emotion seemed to flip the switch somehow.”

Joshua exhaled, then said calmly, “I have to tell you all, don’t feel that ANYTHING you tell me is weird. I just wish I could’ve met you all 20 years ago ... Although, maybe not. I have hundreds of questions that I want to ask you but I don’t want to do it out here. As a matter of fact, I don’t want to talk anymore about this OUT HERE.”

Joshua started looking all around, nervous-like. When I asked him what was up, he put his finger in front of his mouth to let me know not to say any more. He just said quietly, “Before we all turn into prunes, maybe we should go inside.”

Things had just gotten a little creepy.

I wasn’t sure if Josh was being paranoid or just secretive. I flashed the gang about my thoughts.

Greg flashed, “Ya think!?”

Mary flashed, “I wouldn’t worry about it too much, Ann was giving him the ‘mother look’ right after he said that.”

Mary suggested that all the ladies put on one of our T-shirts so they could get dry and comfortable. Joshua and Ann used the guest bath to change into the clothes that they had brought, while Bob followed us upstairs to change in our room. A few minutes later we all met back downstairs and sat down in the living room.

Joshua declared, “I just got my paranoid old ass chewed out by my sweet wife for trying to scare the bajeebers out of you guys. I hope you can forgive me. I’m also sorry that I didn’t bring more tests with me, because like I said, I was highly skeptical until you gave me your little demonstration. What convinced me the most, was that Jamie looked me in the eye and told me that you were serious.

“Shortly after those two schmucks tried to trick me, I took a course from a highly trained CIA interrogator on how to spot a liar. Most times, when somebody’s lying to you, their eyes will look down and to the left. It’s an involuntary reaction when someone has something to hide. He also said that when somebody can look you in the eye and you see their eyes dilate, that 98% of the time they’re telling the truth. When Jamie looked into my eyes, her eyes dilated so big I thought her irises were going to disappear! If that wasn’t enough, I felt like she touched my soul, just like ET touched Elliott. At that very moment the five of you ceased being possible subjects and started becoming like the kids I never had. I guess that’s why I might have gotten a bit overprotective. I’ll explain more about that later, but now it’s time for you guys to show me what you got!