4: Early Childhood: Playfulness

When young children play, they recreate the world anew.

Home. Home is where your heart is, no. Home is where your hat is, yes, that sounds better. Sweet home Alabama. Home. It’s a home-run! Sports! Like baseball, and the bases. Umm. Home plate. Football, and home field advantage. Coming home from work. Working at the bank. A bank with all that math. FILO, first in, last out. A squared plus B squared equals C squared. Umm. I don’t remember that much math. Umm, Jacky’s scream when I tickle her. The screams of hungry babies. The viciousness of hungry vampires. The Coven, old and wrinkly Izara. The almost ugly Celyn. Jessica the bitch. Cyprian trying to kill me, and how red he turned. Being turned and all the pain. Nerilla and her long hair, her figure-

“Oh!” I hunched over the table and whispered. “I am going to cum!”

Rhonda finished up and crawled out from under the table. “Why did it take so long?”

“No idea, but it felt great.” I looked at her. “You have a little something...” I pointed at her mouth. The waiter saw us and was heading our way, so I grabbed my napkin and put it over her mouth.

“You’re back! So, have you thought about desert? We have homemade cherry cobbler a la mode, an award winning six-layer triple-chocolate cake,” Rhonda was beet red, I was trying not to break out laughing. “Orange and mint sherbet, the Tower of Sin; a sundae with chunks of homemade cookie cake, smothered in melted caramel and fudge, mixed with our own vanilla ice cream. We have-”

“That’s what I want.” I said. “What about you Rhonda?” She was still beet red and not talking. “Just bring me two spoons.”

“Very good, sir” he said and walked off.

Rhonda was, well I’m not sure. “Do you think he knows?”

“Probably, we can’t be the first couple to take advantage of these booths,” I said.

“How do you talk me into these things.”

“Me?! I just...” I changed the subject. “It was very nice, thank you.” “Anything for you, baby.”

“Speaking of babies, are you wet? Do you need to change your diaper?”

Rhonda hit me in the shoulder, then scooted out and left. I assume to the bathroom.

Rhonda and I are on a date. She is on her monthlies and doesn’t feel comfortable with sex. I can understand the first day, when she is in pain, but I don’t mind the blood. No, it isn’t a vampire thing, I didn’t mind the blood with my first wife either. Rhonda minds it though, so I have been getting creative to try to get her past it. I could probably just order her into compliance, but that doesn’t feel right yet.

I haven’t heard from anyone in the Coven for about a month. I thought about popping in for a visit several times but changed my mind.

We had fun at Kent’s Halloween party. I got us to all dress like vampires. White skin paint, eye shadow, plastic teeth. Jacky took it too far, as the sexy vampire, but it was just friends, so I let it pass. I kept an eye on her, she tortured Kent’s boy all night. She had me in hysterics, my sides were sore by the time we headed home. Rhonda looked good too, wearing all leather like a Dom. I just wore a tux and had the cape with a big collar. Kent was in a dog suit, and Karen wore a 1950s style blue dress and shiny red shoes. They told me the theme, but I didn’t recognize it, must be a movie I haven’t seen.

I talked Rhonda into accompanying me to the zoo. We spent all day arm in arm walking around. It is a good date, I recommend it. We even stayed for a concert. The singing was crap, country, but the atmosphere was nice. The animals looked like zoo animals, beaten into submission. Only the monkeys showed any real life. The reptile house was kind of lame. Out of twenty cages, we may have seen two of the animals. They did have a huge snake we could see slinking around in the water. Rhonda just seemed to rush me through, I don’t think she likes snakes.

The bird house was kinda cool. They had a big vulture straight out of cartoons, with the white ring of puffy feathers at the base of the neck. Rhonda was enjoying all the colors and sounds of the birds. They had a huge pelican looking bird with a wingspan over ten feet, Albatross, sorry. That gave me an idea, imagining flying over the great lakes, sightseeing.

I paid special attention to the big animals, the cats especially, grizzly, lion, jaguars, gorilla, they even had a polar bear. I couldn’t test if I could shape-shift into them until I got alone. I doubt the park people would appreciate an anaconda slinking around, Rhonda either for that matter. Maybe she would enjoy riding on the back of a polar bear or cuddling with a jaguar. How do you pet a bear, like a dog?

Jacky has been doing well in school. I think she is cured of her fixation with me, we haven’t had an incident in a month now. There is a boy named Tim, I haven’t met him yet, just heard her talking on her holo. I have been trying to come up with some good rules for him, that should embarrass her at the same time. Like, no letting her sit in your lap ... It is a work in progress, only because I care.

Kent talked me into doing a contract. I figured with my mind reading, it should be a cinch. This was not the case! Juggling everyone’s pride, emotions, and expectations isn’t very easy even with being able to read minds. The job was a success, but very stressful. I am glad I am not expected to do this every day! The job was completely above board, no one had to disappear or get paid off, although I did think about how much easier it would be if it was an option.

Rhonda and I had some long talks about turning her. The problem always boiled down to her having to die or fake her death and not see Jacky again. Then it turned around again when we talked about watching Jacky grow old and die. My thoughts were to turn her now, and deal with it in the future. The problem is you can’t be a grandmother and still look like you are in your thirties. How do you decide when the best time is to fake your death, and not see your family anymore? How do you say goodbye without saying goodbye? What if she couldn’t be in daylight, and not able to go to a grand-kids birthday party?

Of course, I pointed out that I was already turned, and would be a grandfather still looking like I am in my thirties, but that didn’t sway her. We even talked about makeup and wearing prosthetics to make us look old. There is just no easy answer to these questions. She couldn’t even make up her mind if living forever was a good thing or not. She just didn’t see the value in it, if she couldn’t spend it with family. Maybe we could live really far away, somewhere Jacky wouldn’t want to visit, like Africa, or somewhere. Like I said, we had some long talks about it.

Thinking about exercising my powers, and figuring out my limitations, had me imagining Nerilla’s apartment. I could see her laying on her couch reading a book, is this spirit walking? The thought had me so perplexed, I completely forgot I was going to teleport in and talk to her. I decided to take a stroll and see how this worked. Before I left her room, I grabbed her book out of her hands, and dropped it in her lap. I was laughing so hard from the look on her face.

I wasn’t meditating, so I shouldn’t be spirit walking. I wasn’t able to hear either, or I would have probably laughed harder when grabbing her book. I just turned and headed for her door. I thought about going through her door, if I was a spirit, it shouldn’t matter, but when I tried, I lost focus, and had to refocus and start over. So, I stopped.

I have never really meditated before, with the sole purpose to meditate. I was still taking aikido, and it has some basic principles in it, so that is what I tried.

I got into the ... something stance, I forget. I was on my knees, hands on my legs, back straight. I started the breathing techniques we did at the end of every class. They always start out uncomfortable, until your body gets used to it. Slowly and surely it becomes more and more natural, until you are barely having to remind yourself how to breathe. I stopped several times and did something to distract myself for a few minutes, and then started again. It was getting easier and faster to get used to the feelings of controlling my breathing. Then I remembered an important step. I started focusing my mind on my lower abdomen, my center. I lasted maybe five minutes before I became bored and quit.

I imagined Nerilla’s apartment again, she was sitting very upright on the couch now. When I focused on her eyes, I could tell she wasn’t reading, but watching her surroundings. So, the book she is holding is probably out. I shifted lower to her feet, barefoot, she would probably jump out of her skin if I grabbed a foot. I couldn’t help but laugh as I slowly reached out, grabbed an ankle and jerked at the same time.

Sure enough, she jumped so high she landed on the back of the couch, which quickly flipped over with her weight. I was laughing so hard as she tumbled backwards, I couldn’t keep concentration on the vision.

Finally, when I calmed down enough, I was able to see her apartment again. She was sitting on the couch again, knees to her chest, keeping a watchful vigil on her surroundings. Looking at the chair across from her, I popped into it. I was still laughing because I couldn’t help replaying her hitting her ass and the couch flipping over.

“You!” She looked upset, maybe a little crazy eyed.

I couldn’t respond, her look was precious, and just made me laugh harder.

Next thing I know there is an angry cougar jumping at me. So, I did the only thing any sane person would do in this situation, I changed to a cougar and ran.

She reached the chair by the time I was using the wall behind me as a springboard, to jump across the room. In my defense, I have never been a cougar before, so my aim was off and I took out a lamp in my jump.

I heard a louder growl behind me, when I looked, she was midair headed for me, so I cut left through the end table, headed for the dining room.

She demolished her end table trying to change direction mid jump. I had gotten under the table, using the chairs as a barricade between us.

She wasn’t long in coming after me, I went out the opposite side she entered and headed for a room I haven’t been through yet. I heard a roar behind me, I entered a bedroom and saw the closet door open and jumped inside.

We chased each other and wrestled for I don’t know how long. I was exhausted. I was a bloody mess with little cuts and scratches everywhere, she didn’t look much better. When we finally quit, my tail was in her mouth, I had her back leg in mine. I was currently under what was left of the coffee table pinned up against the couch. We had a good time.

“I can’t believe you wrecked my apartment!”

“Me? You are the one that chose a cougar, be happy I didn’t pick a polar bear in retaliation.” I poked a nasty scratch on her leg as she climbed off of me. “You should have picked a house cat.”

Finally, I was able to get up. Looking around, only the couch was relatively untouched. So, I sat on it, getti-

“Get off my couch! You are a mess!”

Oops. “You are right, I need a shower. Get this place cleaned up while I am gone, I can’t believe you live like this!” I just shook my head trying to keep a straight face. I popped back home.

Rhonda about screamed at me, my clothes had little red bloody splotches all over the place. “What! -”

“I just need a shower, got in a fight with a cougar.” I winked and headed for the bedroom.

I got cleaned up, only a few of the wounds required band-aids. When I popped back to Nerilla’s, she was busy cleaning up, so I pitched in. We had a decent size pile of broken furniture outside her door in the hallway. Nice little piles of things that were to go back into the replacements. The chair was a lost cause, I am not sure which of us was harder on it, too bad too, I liked that chair.

“We should do this again, this was fun,” I said

“At your house!”

“No, Rhonda about had a cow when a bobcat tried to get her to pet it. I can’t imagine her reaction if two cougars were chasing each other and wrestling.”

“She knows?”

“Of course, I can’t keep something this significant from her. Besides, we have been having discussions about the pros and cons of me turning her.”

“I wish I had been given a choice, it was like a nightmare at first.”

Changing the subject, “What was the deal with what’s his face, at the application to the Coven?”

She actually blushed a little and looked apologetic, “That was actually my fault. You said you didn’t want to join, and I couldn’t figure out how to accomplish that without painting you as a possible spy and suspicious. I may have over played it a little.”

“You think?” I laughed. “He was trying to kill me, yeah you over played it some.”

“Well it isn’t all bad news. Izara told Master about your abilities, and he doesn’t want you harmed. He told Cyprian to be nice to you if you showed back up.”

“I am not sure what is worse, Cyprian wanting me dead, or Master wanting me alive.”

“Well, it means you can come back and learn some more if you want to ... at least” She sat on the couch. “It means we can hang out and talk, without trying to hide it.”

“There is that.”

On my way home from my office, after another bank contract, I was riding the rail and noticed a man who had his head down looking at a picture from his holo of a middle-aged woman. The only reason I noticed him was because his ears were so red. Upon closer examination what I could see of his face was very red as well. I took a closer look.

His intent was to not “lose it”, his emotions were severe depression, betrayal, loneliness. His thoughts were along the lines of “How could she do this to me after more than ten years together?” so I was pretty sure the woman in the picture had done something that he felt betrayed about.

I focused below his trinity of readable thoughts and emotions and tried to find his willpower. At first, I couldn’t sense anything. All I could perceive was the trinity, then I pushed myself “closer” to him mentally until I was viewing the trinity from all angles. There was no up or down, front or back, forward or behind, to really orient myself. SO, I just kept getting closer and closer until I felt a sorta mental resistance. From my perspective, there was no real change in the trinity, except because I was so “close” to it, they seemed to be affecting me. His depression and other emotions were causing me to feel sad and sorry for him. The mental barrier I felt seemed to me all that was keeping the full force of his feelings from becoming my feelings.

I stopped and checked my surroundings and realized less than a minute had passed while I was messing with it. I was worried I would get so engrossed I would miss my stop and people would notice my near catatonia, but it wasn’t the case. My next worry was the barrier I felt was mine and not his. I didn’t want to bring him into my head, I wanted to get into his. So, I stopped and tried to see my own trinity. No matter what I tried I couldn’t detect myself, maybe it is a case of an eye trying to see itself. If that is the case then the mental barrier I felt couldn’t be mine and had to be his.

Refocusing my efforts on the man, I was quickly back to my previous position and could feel the resistance once again. Taking Vlad’s description in mind as in wearing the willpower, instead of pushing through it, I tried to mentally turn and wrap myself in the resistance. I fumbled with this for what seemed like an eternity, until I figured out the amount of pressure needed to maintain friction on the resistance so when I mentally “moved” it would stick to me somewhat. From that point it was a simple matter of figuring out how to mentally turn while, yep simple, like trying to draw the picture of a creature you have never seen before.

The man looked up, then directly at me. I was staring at him, and he arched an eyebrow. I broke eye contact thinking he must be feeling what I am doing. Out of my peripheral vision I saw him stand up and start walking towards me. I started to freak out, not out of fear, but more out of guilt. The train stopped and the doors opened and he walked right past me out the door. Relief washed over me as I realized that this must be his stop. But I wasn’t finished!

Following him at a respectable distance, I continued to try to wrap myself in the resistance, while not bumping into anyone or walking into a wall ... it added a whole new degree of difficulty. I was getting very frustrated and I contemplated trying to do the eye thing that puts them to sleep, but I didn’t know how to do that either.

In an act of desperation, before I quit and went home, I decided to just try and break through the resistance just to see what happened. With that in mind I just pushed as hard as I could though. The result was quite surprising. It didn’t break, but it did conform to me like a second layer of skin.

‘Stop.’ I mentally commanded. The man came to a complete stop and just stood there. ‘Turn and find me. Invite me to your home as your best friend from early childhood. You can tell me everything without fear. I told him. My name is Danny.’

He turned and starting looking around, when we made eye contact, he got a huge smile on his face. “Danny? Is that you?” I smiled in return and nodded.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe you are here! I haven’t seen you in ages! How have you been?” He walked up to me.

He looked genuinely happy to see me, and strangely enough, he recognized me. I was a bit put off at his familiarity, but quickly fell into the role. “I have been great. I thought I recognized you on the train, but I wasn’t sure, so I followed you. You looked distracted on the train, Are you OK?”

His smile faltered and a shadow crossed his face. “My wife Marcy and I are having problems. I am pretty sure she is cheating on me, and I don’t know how to handle it.” He looked back to me, “You should come over and meet my family, have dinner with us tonight. I still can’t believe you are actually here, it is so good to see you.”

“I think that is a great idea, I would love to come over.” I told him. I was still searching his mind for his name, and still haven’t got it. ‘Tell me your name,’ I told him.

“You remember my name, right? It is Jim.” he said.

“Of course, I remember your name.” I smiled “I don’t know where you live though, lead the way.”

He turned and we started walking in the direction he was going before. He started reminiscing about things we had done together as kids, and I just laughed and agreed at each appropriate point. He must be imagining these things, or he really did have a childhood best friend and I took his place. Apparently we had set fire to a wooden deck chair, and then proceeded to jump into the pool to put it out with splashing from the pool. It was a success, except for the burnt chair left over as evidence and the nearly flooded deck. So, we carried the half-burnt chair to our clubhouse that was located about a mile away near a creek. Two kids walking down the street with a burnt chair between them and still smoking caught the attention of a policeman. He stopped us and grilled us for nearly 30 minutes until he finally was able to get the story out of us despite our reluctance to talk. We were then arrested for arson and theft, taken to the station and shoved in jail, where we were taunted by the other prisoners for hours until our parents showed up. I appropriately laughed and agreed with his sentiments on the memory.

We arrived at his house not long after. It was an average house, not poor or really nice. He opened the door inviting me in, yelling out he was home.

“Marcy! Girls! Come meet a good friend of mine from when I was in elementary school.” He yelled.

We walked straight into the kitchen where he started pulling ingredients out of the fridge and different places obviously so he could start dinner. He offered me some coffee and I nodded.

Marcy, I assume walked through the door in a business suit. She was moderately attractive in a librarian slash cute principal kind of way. Dirty blond hair pulled back into a pony tail with some bangs framing her face. She wasn’t chubby but had the appropriate curves for a late thirties early forties career woman who sat behind a desk all day. She had very intense brown eyes, that seemed to skewer your soul a little when she looked at you, a helpful skill in business.

Before introductions could be made a herd of buffalo was coming down the hallway towards us, and mom and dad seemed to tense at the sound. Two young women rushed into the room and slid to a halt next to their mother.

Jim guided me to the center of the room. “Danny this is my family. Marcy my wife, Tracy my oldest, and Jenny my youngest.” As he gestured to each one. “Everyone this is my best friend from when I was in elementary school, we saw each other at the rail and I convinced him to join us for dinner.” He smiled.

I perked up and reached forward with a handshake towards Marcy, “A pleasure to meet the woman who stole Jim’s heart.” Her intent was composure, thoughts along the lines of she needing to hide the liquor since I was here.

“Nice to meet you.” She smiled and returned my hand shake.

The girls were about the same height. Tracy the older one had more curves, while Jenny the younger was really thin. It was obvious which parent each one inherited their body type from. I took a step towards them and offered my hand first to Tracy, “Ladies, a pleasure.” I said with a slight smirk. Tracy seemed bored to near tears. Jenny couldn’t seem to stop smiling with a slight blush.

With the introductions completed the girls were shewed away and Marcy sat at the breakfast bar to visit with us. Jim was getting a good start on dinner and handed me bag of potatoes and a peeler as the conversation started.

I told Jim to not get upset at anything Marcy might say. Then I went to work on Marcy just to see if it would work, I didn’t bother with getting close, and just rushed straight through her trinity till I was sure I had a similar feeling as Jim’s.

To Marcy, I compelled; ‘If you are having an affair, nod or shake your head to me.’

She nodded.

‘In as calm and factual tone as possible, tell us all the details of your affair or affairs.’ I told her.

“I have been having an affair for nineteen months now,” she said. “Kevin Baxter from work, you have met him before Jim. It started as innocent flirting and developed from there.”

Jim didn’t say anything, he glanced at her when she started talking, then went back to fixing dinner.

She continued. “Jim and I ... our life had become robotic, routine. No romance, no spontaneity, no spark, and Kevin made me feel alive again, like a desirable woman!” I could tell she was ashamed while telling us. “I didn’t mean for it to last this long, but I couldn’t deny the feelings Kevin’s hungry eyes had on me. It came to a culmination on a business trip we had together in Tokyo, and besides our business meetings, we spent nearly every other moment in bed together.”

Jim had started crying, and I guess Marcy noticed because she had started crying as well.

“Do you love him, Kevin I mean?” I asked.

“I love the way he makes me feel, but no, I don’t love him,” she said.

“Do you still love Jim,” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. She looked down at her hands, maybe at her wedding ring.

“Jim, do you still love Marcy?” I asked.

He shuddered, from crying, but managed to nod and say, “Yes.”

“Marcy, if Jim could bring back those feelings of romance, spontaneity, and spark, do you think you would be happier with him instead of Kevin,” I asked.

She was still looking at her hands as she thought about it. She was imagining a younger version of Jim when she had those feelings for him. She looked up at Jim and said, “Yes!”

I looked at her and canted my head as I tried to figure out how to word this. ‘Marcy, you have learned your lesson. The idea of an affair with anyone besides Jim disgusts you. You have decided to instead of looking for outside sources of stimulation, to tell Jim the kinds of things you expect him to do to make you feel special again. You have decided that a marriage takes work, and one with Jim is well worth any amount of work so you are both happy.’ I didn’t want to say too much, so I didn’t limit them in any way.

Turning to look at Jim, I had to stop and think again about what I wanted to say. ‘You know Marcy will never betray you again. You know Marcy loves you and will love you til the day you die. Your new goal in life, besides your present goals, is to show your wife you love and appreciate her every day in small ways, and if time permits, in large ways. You want her to feel loved, sexy, and romanced, as well as appreciated.’ I think that will do it.

Jim immediately stopped fixing dinner and walked over to Marcy. “I am so sorry I ever let you feel anything but the beautiful sexy-desirable woman you are.” He said to her eyes. He reached down and kissed her a deep French kiss, while he groped her body. When he stopped, they both came up breathless. “I need to finish dinner, but we will continue this conversation later.”

“OK.” She squeaked out. She had a good blush and prominent hard nipples when he walked back to the stove to finish dinner.

“Thanks Danny, I haven’t felt this happy in years.” He gave me a quick glance while mixing some kind of batter.

“No problem, what are friends for?” I replied. That was a little awkward, I guess he knows it is me messing around in his head. Do I need to tell them not to know it is me?

We continued to chitchat about family and such until dinner was ready. Jim is a good cook, and dinner was excellent!

During dinner, the girls were present. Tracy appeared bored, while Jenny appeared flirty and happy. Every time I glanced in Jenny’s direction, I noticed her staring at me. I was wondering if she was having a crush like Jackie, so I took a peak. I was surprised to put together that no, she wasn’t having a crush, she was blaming me for the happiness her parents seemed to be having and was curious how I got them looking at each other again. Tracy on the other hand was deep in fantasy mode imagining me naked and doing all kinds of things to her. She was highly aroused and just a few steps from a small orgasm despite her bored appearance. It made me laugh, which got everyone’s attention.

“What’s so funny Danny?” Jim asked me while smiling.

“I was just thinking that Jenny might have a crush on me the way she keeps looking at me.” I laughed again as Jenny blushed pretty hard. “Come to find out, she was just happy you two are getting along and wonders if I am responsible. Now Tracy on the other hand, she is near orgasm from the things she imagines me doing to her despite how bored she looks.” Now Tracy started blushing, and I laughed again. “My assumptions were so wrong it was funny!”

Jim and Marcy were staring at me like I was crazy. ‘It is OK, it is totally normal and known I can read your minds.’ I sent to them. Jim laughed a little. Marcy just looked at Tracy and smiled.

Tracy started to stammer “No, I wasn’t ... I ... nothing like”

“It is OK to have fantasies Tracy.” Marcy told her daughter.

Tracy got up and ran from the room.

Now Jenny was looking at me for a different reason. “You can read our minds?” she asked.

I focused on her and took her will. “Yes. What do you think about that?”

“I think it is cool, can you do anyone?”

“Yep, anyone. Would you like me to share what you are thinking,” I asked with a smirk? She was trying to imagine what fantasies Tracy was thinking about.

“NO!” She got a worried look, glanced at me and I started laughing.

I reached out and found Tracy and took her will. I told her to come back to the table. Looking over at Jim and Marcy, ‘You two go to your bedroom, I think you have a conversation you need to have. I will keep the girls entertained for a few hours then go home.’ I gave Jim a wink and a smile.

As Jim and Marcy left the room, Tracy came back in and sat down.

“Now what am I going to do with you two for the next few hours?” I got a contemplating look. Tracy blushed again, and Jenny and I just looked at her.

“OK, Tracy, what do you want to do?” I asked with a smirk.

“Nothing, leave me alone!” She burst out.

I glanced back and forth between the two. ‘You two should always be honest with me and each other.’ I told them.

“Let’s try again. Tracy, what would you like to do for the next few hours?” I asked.

She groaned and gave me a pleading look. I just met her gaze. “I would love for you two to make love to me. If that isn’t a possibility, we could probably find a game to play.” She said with resignation.

Jenny was surprised, “What? Me too?! Why do you want me?”

Tracy looked like she was going to cry when she said, “I have always been attracted to other girls as well as guys, and you, since you have been taller than me.”

I looked at Jenny. “How old are you, Jenny?”

“I am fourteen.”

I looked at Tracy and raised an eyebrow.