Chapter 31: New Developments

June, 1985

[I looked over to see Linda hovering 10’ above the pool. “Bob, are you doing that?”

“NO, AREN’T YOU?!”]

Linda started giggling, “This is fun! You guys need to try this. Ooops”...

SPLASH as Linda suddenly fell in.

She came up laughing. “I guess I lost focus!”

We were all flabbergasted, “How the HELL did you do that?”

“Easy. I just closed my eyes and imagined floating on air. Then I opened my eyes and just thought about where I wanted to go. I figured I better get over the deep part of the pool. It’s a good thing, because when I started talking, I lost my concentration. I think I better try landing before talking.”

I closed my eyes and thought about floating. It felt strange at first. I could tell I wasn’t sitting in the water anymore, and it felt like I was floating. I was lost in the amazing feeling when I heard Bob holler, “Charlie, you better open your eyes. You’re getting kinda high!”

When I opened my eyes, I realized I was almost 50 feet in the air! I panicked and immediately started falling. About the time I said, “OH SHIT,” I suddenly stopped, just short of the ground. I felt myself being moved over the center of the pool and Bob was laughing.

“Thanks Bro, saved my ass again.” I gasped. “Now, please raise me up about 20’ and on the count of three let me go. I want to try and catch myself. I’ve learned my lesson about paying attention.”

I started focusing on floating, as Bob raised me up. He counted to 3 and I started to fall. Just as my foot touched the water, I was able to stop and I ‘thought’ about going back up. It seemed like I was able to go anywhere I ‘thought’ about.

I went up to the treetops and started looking around, being careful NOT to lose focus. Taking care of staying over the middle of the pool, I lowered myself to about 15 feet. I wanted to see just how much I could think of other things and stay in the air.

I noticed that Bob was now ‘spreading his wings’ and moving around the yard. He joined me over the center the pool as Linda came up to join us.

I began talking to Mary about how cool this was and that up until now hadn’t gotten all that thirsty. I asked Bob how he liked it and he faltered for a second but recovered and grinned, “I almost screwed up. It’s like talking and driving. You have to think about where you’re going and only use part of your brain to talk and think of other things.”

Linda was giggling, “I wonder how fast we can fly?”

Bob said, “Start counting, you know, 1001, 1002 and keep counting till I get back!”

With that the goofball took off over the house.

We were all watching, stunned, wondering where the HELL he was going. We were still looking over the house when we heard him laughing behind us. “Well, how long did it take?”

“Jesus Bob, we were so stunned we never started counting!” I exclaimed.

Ed was chuckling, “One thousand-twenty.”

Bob’s eyes lit up. “That means I was going more than 60 miles an hour! If I didn’t have to make three turns, I could’ve gone even faster. The other day, I clocked how far it was from here to the end of the street and over to the next street behind us. That was right at 3/10 of a mile. I flew up the street behind the park and then back here, so that means I covered a little over half a mile.”

“That’s closer to 70 miles an hour Bob,” Greg said.

Ed asked, “Weren’t you afraid somebody would see you? I could just see the headlines now, ‘Naked Man Flies Through Neighborhood Creating Mayhem! ‘“

We were all laughing.

Bob said, “Shit, I didn’t even think of that. The part about me being naked I mean. As far as being seen, I just remembered something Charlie and my friend, Big Willie used to say. He told me once that when he was hiding out in the jungle, that he would always climb a tree to sleep at night, because nobody ever looks up.”

“Did you see anybody on your little flight?” I asked.

Bob thought for a second, “There was one old couple walking on the sidewalk, but I don’t think they ever batted an eye. You know, as long as we fly at night, I don’t think anybody would EVER see us. I know I didn’t make a sound. I was up probably 40 feet high. The one thing we DO have to watch out for though, is power lines. That thought crossed my mind as soon as I got over the house. Also 40 or 50 feet high is probably a good number because with the streetlights, even if somebody were to be looking up there’s a good chance they would be blinded and not see us.”

I asked, “Did you have any trouble seeing? I know on a motorcycle, at anything over 50 miles an hour, I really like to have goggles to keep my eyes from tearing up.”

“Yes, my eyes were tearing up a little. I think if we’re going to try to fly fast, we should get some goggles at least, if not a motorcycle helmet with a visor.” Bob said.

Bob, Linda and I were all still floating above the pool. It was almost becoming second nature in some ways, as none of us really even moved.

Linda said, “I think I’m going to get back in the pool. I’m getting a bit thirsty.”

I realized that this was the first time Linda had done anything physical. I decided to fly over by the patio door and get the three of us some Gatorade. I managed to stop when I wanted to and set down gently. (I WASN’T moving very fast.)

I ran in and grabbed three Gatorade’s out of the fridge. I decided to fly out and see if I could open the door while still in the air. The lack of leverage made the door much harder to open, but I did manage by just hanging onto the door and making myself move forward. I repeated the procedure for closing the door and flew much faster to the pool to pass out the Gatorade. Knowing that I was able to do all that and stay in the air made me confident that it would now take a major distraction to cause me to crash.

After passing out the Gatorades, Greg smirked, “How do we get the ‘Flying Butler’ to fetch drinks for the rest of us?”

Bob smirked, “Come on Bro, I’ll help you.”

We nodded at each other and flew out of the pool.

Mary snorted, “Um, guys, you’re dripping wet, try not to slip on the floor?”

Bob chuckled, “Let’s zoom over to the park and back to air-dry; last one there’s a rotten egg!” Then he took off, with me laughing, trying to catch up.

We made a quick lap around the park when we heard a lady screaming.

Bob said, “Oh shit, that’s the couple that I saw walking earlier, those two guys are robbing them. THEY HAVE KNIVES!”

“Damn, we don’t have any clothes on. What are we gonna do?”

Greg flashed, “We’ll bring some robes, hide yourselves, but help them!”

“Please guys?” Mary implored.

Bob and I landed behind some bushes where we could see.

Bob said, “You take the one on the right, I got the other one, let’s pick them up so they can’t hurt that couple.”

The old man had given the one guy his wallet, as the other one snatched the ladies purse. It looked like the sadistic bastards were going to stab them anyways. That was just before Bob and I jerked them out of their sneakers ... for real!

Bob snickered, “What should we do with them?”

I laughed, “You thinkin’ what I’m thinking?”

“Oh, HELL YES!”

The next thing those two idiots knew, they were sitting on top of a light pole, with their pants around their ankles. They were screaming like little girls and hanging on for dear life! The old couple had their hands over their mouths to muffle their laughter. The sirens were getting louder, as someone must have called 911.

Linda landed next to us, giggling, and handed us our robes as she put hers on too.

She was looking at the light pole, then she giggled, “They’re gonna have a hard time explaining that. That one FOOL still has that ladies purse!”

The squad car pulled up and two cops came running over by where the couple was pointing at the perps. “They stole my wallet and my wife’s purse and were going to kill us,” the old guy said.

One officer asked, “Can you tell us how they got up there?”

The old guy said, “I saw it, but I don’t believe it. It’s like, just as they were going to stab us, they were shot out of a cannon. The next thing I knew, they were up there. It jerked them clean out of their shoes. They’re right over there!”

The old guy was pointing at two pairs of sneakers.

The officer got on his radio, shaking his head, “Hey Sarge, you’re not gonna believe this, but, the two perps are sitting on top of a light pole hanging on for dear life!”

There was a chuckle in the background, “Officer Murphy, by any chance, do the perps have their pants down?”

“Whoa Sarge, how did you know that?”

Still laughing the sergeant replied, “I guess I must be clairvoyant! Are there any witnesses?”

“I’ve got three people here in bathrobes, but they said they didn’t really see anything.”

“Ask if any of them know Tom Gregory?”

We were nodding our heads.

“Affirmative, two of them do.”

Ask them if it looked like they were shot out of a potato gun.”

“I will as soon as they stop laughing. Never mind, they just said yes. What do you want me to do with them?”

“Let ‘em go, tell them that Capt Gregory will talk to them at their place, but they should stay up for a little while.”

“10-4 Sarge, they said they would do that.”

“I’ll be there in two minutes, secure the crime scene and make sure nobody touches anything. Crime scene investigators are on their way.”

“10-4, I think we might have those guys that have been robbing people in public parks.”

“I think so too. Just try to keep those clowns from jumping off the light pole, the fire department’s on their way.”

We saw the rest of the gang standing over by Marys’ minivan, waving to us. As we got there, Greg surprised me, by hugging me, then Bob. “I’m really proud of you two. That was the perfect way to handle those guys.”

“Be thankful they didn’t hurt that old couple; we may not have been so benevolent,” Bob said. “We might have pitched them OVER the light poles and let the shit fall where they may!”

Ed was snickering, “Those are the Smiths from down the street, they’re a sweet couple with eight grandchildren, it would have sucked to see them get hurt.”

When we got home, we refreshed our drinks and went back out to the patio.

Shortly after midnight, the doorbell rang and Tom Gregory was standing there with his right arm in a sling and his right wrist wrapped up. I let him in and asked him if he wanted anything to drink.

He said he needed a beer and I got one for him as we headed out to the patio.

I asked him what happened to his arm and he harrumphed, “That damned big guy tried to jump before we were ready and landed on the net right next to Sgt Stoney and me. I think my wrist is sprained and I’m pretty sure that Stoney’s wrist might be broken.”

“Oh, that’s too bad”. I told him. “Um, I thought you were a Sergeant? Didn’t I hear that Officer call you Captain?”

“It’s Captain now!” he chuckled, “thanks to someone dragging me into the biggest bust in Illinois history, I got promoted.”

“Well congratulations. Couldn’t have happened to a better man,” Bob chuckled.

Before I could say anything more, Ed was looking back and forth between Linda and I with raised eyebrows.

Tom took a swig of his beer with his left hand and was looking at us, staring at Ed. “What are you guys thinking?”

I said, “My friend here, seems to think that Linda and I might be like some kind of healers. I know it sounds strange, but if you’ll humor me for a few minutes, maybe we can help.”

Tom took another gulp of beer and smirked, “With everything else that I know you can do, what the hell, I’m game.”

I took his hand and started thinking about trying to heal his wrist. After five minutes I let go and asked him how his wrist felt.

“I’m afraid it still hurts like hell.”

Linda took his hand and smiled at him. She was doing the same thing, but after five minutes it didn’t appear anything was happening. I wanted to see what Tom was thinking and put my hand on his bicep just above the sling. Linda was still holding his hand.

Tom immediately started saying, “Oh wow, my whole arm feels warm. Oh Jesus, that feels good ... oh God, oh God, please don’t stop! Oh my God, oh, ohhh!” He moaned loudly, then stopped suddenly, blushing something fierce.

From reading his mind, I was amazed at what just happened.

He’d just had an orgasm! He was embarrassed and didn’t know what to say.

I asked him, “How does your arm feel now?”

He was blushing, but chuckled, “Damn, I wasn’t even thinking about my arm!”

He looked deeply in my eyes and knew that I knew what had happened.

“I can’t believe it, but my wrist feels fine.” He took off the sling and Ace bandage from his wrist. He was flexing it, moving it around and smiling at us. “Wow, it’s like it never happened.”

Linda wasn’t aware of anything besides fixing his wrist. He was still blushing when she asked him, “Did anything else happen?”

Tom’s face turned even brighter bright red. “God, I feel like such a perv. I don’t know how to say this except, I think I creamed my jeans.”

He stood up and everyone could see the dark spot that was being tented out by his still aroused member.

He looked at us and shook his head. “If this is an after effect of curing my wrist, I may have to BREAK it next time!” He was now laughing like crazy.

He looked at Linda and asked, “Aren’t you the one that got your throat cut a couple days ago?”

She smiled sweetly. “Yes, that’s me. Charlie saved my life and held my hand the entire time we were in the hospital. That’s what made Ed think that we might be healers. Obviously he was right!”

Tom hesitated, “Do you think you could help Stoney?”

I asked, “Do you think he can keep our secret?”

He snickered, “He did a good job on the radio. I’ve known him ever since I’ve been on the force. He knows about you, but doesn’t know your names. That’s why he asked about the potato gun. That’s your code name, for when ‘strange shit’ happens.”

We told him okay, and he called the dispatcher. Stoney, Sgt Jack Stone, sounded less than thrilled about having to go anywhere but home. The mention of having a beer with Tom and his friends went a long way to improve his mood. Officer Murphy had just started to take him home from the hospital when Tom got patched in to his patrol car. On his way over, we all decided to change into shorts and T-shirts to avoid the possible embarrassment of robes popping open.