Chapter 10

Neither of them thought about how they had neglected to keep the thought of “appropriateness” in their minds as they used the wand. True, what they had wished for was appropriate, but the proviso that their platonic relationship would be (or remain) appropriate wasn’t there.

And it’s entirely possible to have a platonic relationship with overtones that are nowhere near appropriate.

“Friends, with benefits” is a pretty good example of that.

That’s complicated, too, though. Two adults who are friends, with benefits elicit no unfavorable response from the other friends in their sphere of influence. Outsiders might sneer, and call them immoral, but time has marched on, and things are possible in the 21st century that would have gotten one flogged for or put in a pillory, in days past.

On the other hand, when the friends, with benefits are a teacher and her student, that will still bring down judicial fury upon somebody. The fact is that, even if they’d waited until Bobby Pendleton was an alumnus of Indian Springs High School, the community at large would have considered a romance between them to be inappropriate. There were too many years between them, and, somehow, being just out of high school wasn’t enough. If they wanted to have an adult relationship now, With Bobby just out of high school, then they must have wanted to do the same thing while he was still in high school. In general, it’s safe to say many people’s minds are in the gutter. That’s why gossip is so prevalent in society. People like to think the worst about other people.

Maybe it’s an attempt to feel better about themselves.

But Mindy and Bobby didn’t wait.

They intended to wait. They wanted to wait. They even tried to wait.

The problem was that, without that “appropriate” stricture in there, with the understanding that the word is tied to the general norms of the society in which one lives, their “stunted” romance began to evolve again almost immediately.

They weren’t aware of it, at first. It’s likely that was because both felt such immense relief at not being driven every minute of the day to fantasize about having sex with each other. But a survey of people in “platonic” hetero friendships would probably reveal that at least fifty percent of them wish things weren’t quite so ... platonic. In a lot of those relationships, the couple has decided platonic is the way to go, rather than actually feeling platonic about things.

That’s what Mindy and Bobby did. They decided their relationship should be platonic. And things really were more intellectual for a while. It’s quite possible that, if they had gone their separate ways, their memories would have remained just that - fond memories.

They did not, however, go their separate ways. They continued to study the wand together, and their lives remained tangled like that ball of yarn.

What they had wished on themselves did not, however, remove the attraction each felt for the other.

Bobby continued to go to her house for tutoring in math. They restricted that to twice a week, specifically to allay any suspicions on the part of Bobby’s parents.

Had either thought about that for a minute or two - that they felt like there were suspicions to be allayed - they might have realized that their “platonic” armor was getting a bit dented and rusty.

Neither thought of that, though. Both were fully aware that some attraction was still there, but they blamed that on the wand. It was easy to believe the wand affected the user.

It was specifically because they were convinced that the wand affected the user, that they used it very little after they “fixed” things between themselves. And it was because of that, that they decided its next use would be in the making of music. If using it to help make beautiful music affected the user, then what was the problem?

“Using it very little,” as specified above, meant that they explored distance. Mindy waited until she knew Bobby was at home, and then waved the wand in the direction of his house, mentally telling him to meet her in front of “The Pig And Whistle,” a bar in town.

She waited for an hour and was propositioned by no less than five men before she decided he wasn’t coming. The next day, in school, she asked him if he’d felt anything.

“Did you try to turn me on?” he whispered.

“Of course not,” she said.

“Then no, I didn’t feel anything,” he replied.

Neither of them thought about the import of his question, either.

Bobby tried something similar, standing in the alley behind her house. That didn’t work, either.

Which led them to the firm conviction that the user had to be able to see the person to be affected.

It was Bobby’s idea for her to direct with the wand, like Batiste had, except to think about what she wanted the choir to do, instead of enslaving somebody for sex.

When she stood in front of the choir with the wand, Bobby was in line with the other baritones.

All he felt, when he saw her do the circle/zee, was the desire to sing the music perfectly. It was very subtle.

But he sang the notes perfectly. So did everybody else, from what he could hear.

And it did affect Mindy. It affected her because she heard the difference instantly. What she got out of them was weeks ahead of where they “should be” on this particular piece of music.

It made her want to use the wand more.

She began using it every time she conducted a group of students who were singing. She talked about the composer, and his life, and what the music was meant to portray. As she conducted, then, she muttered under her breath and instructed the students to be true to the composer’s intent.

The kids loved it. Unless you’ve been a member of a choir that made truly beautiful music, you have no frame of reference for understanding. When you can be part of something like that, it pleases you on a bone-deep level. It’s almost as good as sex.

And it just made Mindy want to use the wand more.

Bobby noticed its effect on Mindy before she did. He noticed she never went anywhere without it. The tip was always protruding from her purse, even when she went into the teacher’s lounge to eat lunch.

At their next tutoring session he talked to her about it.

“Nonsense,” she said. “I just don’t want some stranger to pick it up, or take it.”

“Let me have it,” he said, extending his hand.

“Why?”

“I just want to see it.”

“You’ve seen it before,” she said.

“I just want to hold it.”

“Why? What are you going to do with it?”

“Just hold it. That’s all.”

Looking at him warily, she got the wand out of her purse. As she extended it toward his open hand, she hesitated.

“I don’t want to,” she whispered.

“Think about that,” he said, softly.

“Crap,” she said. With obvious effort she pushed the wand toward him. He had to pull to slide it out of her grasp.