Chapter 14: Dreamers

9th Grade: January 18th - January 24th, 1986

The twins were uncomfortable with the idea of going to the mall with us. Actually, the idea excited them until they realized they would have to wear clothing to do it. Clothing apparently was very uncomfortable for them for some reason, and it wasn’t because my father wanted them to walk around naked all the time. He wasn’t like that at all. He would much prefer them to dress like the other women and not have to constantly make special arrangements whenever they traveled with him. That was why they hadn’t been with him in the limo the day we met.

They did have some clothes that they could somewhat tolerate, but they were hardly appropriate for a trip to the mall in January. They could have gotten away with them in the summertime, but just barely.

The blue dresses had been a gift from my grandfather’s old friend Sheldon Cord who had helped my dad through both the loss of my grandfather and my mother. Sheldon was like an uncle to my dad, though there was no blood relation. Sheldon’s son Chuck was my father’s only childhood friend, not that they had spent a lot of time together growing up. The Cords lived in Atlanta, Georgia, and not only did Chuck have a mansion more massive than all three mansions my father had combined, but Chuck also collected wives to have children with, and his daughters were happy little daddy’s girls.

I steered the conversation away from that. I did learn that my father went through great lengths not to have children, something he had retained from his father’s programming of his mind. The twins had tempered that somewhat, but it also had reinforced what his father believed. They were a distraction from life’s other pleasures, and that men like they would be terrible fathers simply because they had had terrible fathers themselves.

Why he felt I was the exception was because he hadn’t had a hand in raising me during what he called the messy years. He admitted later it was as much about I having the gift, as he called telepathy, and who my mother was that pushed him towards making contact. He had been living at the Hamilton mansion since discovering me over Thanksgiving, trying to work up the nerve to contact my mother.

His explanation and description of what he wanted the twins to accomplish was understandable if you looked at it from his perspective. I had the gift and was struggling with the natural tendencies to use them on others to enrich my life. He was all too aware of how miserable he had been as a young man, and his conversations with my mom convinced him she and he were meant to be together as master and mistress of the household she had helped design and he had implemented. I was the only thing that would hold her back, so he wanted to sway her to his way of thinking by helping me find the balance he had found.

My father truly was only trying to help me. Granted, he was doing it for more than just for my benefit, but he was risking my mother’s wrath and possibly losing her for good by doing it. My mom just accepted he was a product of his upbringing. I think the biggest reason she let the incident slide was seeing the sour look on his face when she pointed out he had attempted to do exactly what his own father had done to him. He really hated his father.

In the end, we came up with an agreement that he wouldn’t mess in my or my mother’s affairs as long as we didn’t mess with his. He and my mother were very clear that meant I couldn’t mess with any of his staff, and I was very clear that my friends and classmates were off-limits. Katie was the exception as he had met her before I had. Suzi and Joey helped me to accept that concession, and my father and I made that a sort of gentleman’s agreement to apply to any possible future crossing of paths. A sort of first meet first claim.

With that out of the way, plans for our immediate future were made. My father lived by a simple rule when it came to change. Small incremental changes over time were superior to large fast ones. Now that I had been introduced to his world, my parents wanted to limit my exposure to it until I was more or less comfortable living in both worlds. That, to my disappointment, included my father teaching me his impressive programming skills.

We did go on a trip to the mall, and because we were in a larger metropolitan area than where we lived, this mall was larger and fancier than the ones we had. My parents came with us, but the reason wasn’t just to let us shop for the things we wanted to get for the room at school. In fact, they wouldn’t let us do anything more than look as we would need Dr. Higgs’ permission first.

The reason they came was to enjoy witnessing our shock when my mother purposely directed our attention to the mall’s directory map.

After looking the list over to get an idea of what stores we would likely want to visit, Joey suddenly gasped, pointed and read out loud, “Heintzman Mall. Owned and managed by the Truman Property Group, a subsidiary of Grodmen Commercial Enterprises.”

We all stared at it before turning around to find my parents wearing satisfied smirks on their faces.

My father owned the freaking mall. And I recognized the logo made out of the letters TPG. The malls Joey and I had spent the summer at had the same logo on the signages and doors like this mall had.

I gasped, “You own the entire mall?”

My dad said, “I own the company that owns it. It’s not quite the same thing. I rarely have any involvement in Truman. That’s Harry’s and Harriet’s realm.”

Suzi asked, “How many companies do you have?”

“That’s not an easy question to answer. I own the parent company that either owns or manages an array of other companies. For those I only manage, I’m only a partner. I would have never been able to develop and manage any of them myself. I recruit and develop people to do that for me. Do you understand?”

I asked my mom, “And that was your business plan?”

My mother said, “I may have taken a bit more of the credit than I deserve. Sherman, your father and a few others came up with the actual working business plan, I merely gave them direction. He was already recruiting girls at an early age, but pairing them and having them live with us until they wished to have children, those things were my concepts. I wanted a large harem of men to love me whenever I wished, but I knew they needed a life of their own so that when I tired of them they wouldn’t be unhappy.”

My father said, “It took me a few years to realize the advantages of that plan. After your mother left, I was very unhappy. I eventually found a project I was especially well suited for and threw myself into it. That resulted in a windfall of profit a few years later. On the advice of several others, I used that money as seed money to start building the empire I now have following that business plan.”

Joey said, “Does that mean we get a special discount at the stores here?”

My dad laughed and said, “I don’t own those businesses. I own the building they lease the space from.”

Joey said, “So no discount.”

Suzi said, “I don’t think we need to worry about discounts, Joey.”

I said, “He’s thinking more along the lines of his own purchases.”

Joey said, “Mowing lawns doesn’t make that much in the grand scheme of things, and you have a birthday coming up.”

Suzi groaned, “You don’t have to get me anything, Joey, and you certainly don’t have to get anything expensive. I didn’t spend that much on what I gave Timmy. It’s not like its solid gold or silver or has diamonds on it.”

I pulled out the cross from under my shirt and looked at it again. It looked great to me. I used to wear a cross in elementary school, but I kept breaking the chain and losing it. I sometimes found them eventually and had two for a while. I gave up on wearing them in sixth grade when I lost them both within a span of three days.

But this one was special and I vowed I wouldn’t lose it. It didn’t matter if it was cheap. It was the symbol of what it represented that mattered. Jesus’s love. And Suzi’s.

My mom and Suzi spent some time together shopping for some clothes for the twins, ignoring my father’s insistence they’d never wear any of it. Joey and I tagged along during that simply because we enjoyed envisioning the twins wearing some of what they had picked out. I had a little trouble keeping my mom from popping into those visions, and it was frustrating to find envisioning Suzi dressed in some of those outfits didn’t have the same appeal.

I felt like I had betrayed myself somehow when I realized that. For so long, I had thought of Suzi as my ultimate fantasy girl. There was nothing I didn’t find attractive about her. She had all the curves and sex appeal I wanted. Yet ... I realized having explored those curves had eliminated the mystery and lure surrounding her. I loved her, but I didn’t lust for her like I once had. I feared that excitement was forever lost.

That tempered my mood while we shopped. By the time we left the mall, I just wanted to go home. I wanted to get back to normal. I wanted to have our three-way in my bed that night with Joey humping between my legs. I realized my parents were right about limiting my exposure. I wasn’t ready for everything to change like that.

Suzi had received similar outfits as what they had bought the twins in order to help entice the twins to try them. After Suzi played dress up with the twins, we had an early dinner together before Joey, Suzi and I headed home in the limo.

Joey was a little cranky about that. He had been looking forward to sleeping together again that night. Suzi was more understanding, though I felt bad because I had no idea when we’d be able to physically sleep with her again. Joey and I slept together all the time, but we had done that for nearly eight years. Without Suzi being there, sleeping together really didn’t feel any different to us.

Suzi’s parents had been surprised when she had called letting them know we were coming home that night. She had a heck of a time getting off the phone from her mother trying to probe her why. Joey’s parents weren’t home. They had gone on an overnight trip themselves.

You would not believe how conflicted Joey and I felt finding we both were home alone without any parental supervision. Our first instinct was to get together with Suzi, but we had just been with her. Joey wanted to spend the night again with her, but Suzi was against it from finding how pleased Jason and her parents had been on her returning home early. We didn’t even have our three-way that night as the Asters decided to make it a family game night.

Joey asked, “So what the fuck do we do now?”

I asked, “Do you want to go over to Brad’s?”

Joey groaned and said, “And what? Practice basketball without you? Take him mind hopping? You know Suzi wants to be involved if we do anything with him like that.”

I sighed and asked, “Okay, then what? Do you want to go swimming at the Hamilton mansion?”

We were in his kitchen simply because that’s where we had been dropped off. Joey sat down at the table and said, “I don’t know. I’m not really in the mood for swimming. Or the mall. Or, shit, I don’t know what I want to do.”

I said, “I think you’re starting to feel what I was feeling. My head was spinning, Joey. I don’t want things to change. I don’t want to move, but at the same time...”

Joey said, “Shit. If you move ... I mean, I guess if you just move into one of the new subdivisions around here, that wouldn’t be so bad.”

“But what if I move into the Hamilton mansion?”

“Why would you do that? It’s too far away for our three-ways to work.”

I said, “No, it isn’t. I was able to include you when you were at your grandparents, remember? And you’ll be driving next year, so you and Suzi could come over after school. Hell, with the limos, we don’t even have to wait for you to get your license.”

“But you won’t be just down the street. Would our families still have dinner together every week?”

I said, “I don’t know. Probably. Even if we don’t move, I don’t think my mom will be hanging around here on the weekends. You heard them. They’re planning on spending the weekends together.”

Joey said with anxiety, “We’re going to be apart. We’re going to end up just like Brad and John.”

“Bullshit.”

I grabbed his hand and tugged, indicating for him to follow me into the family room.

After flopping down on the couch together, I hugged him and said, “Whatever happens, we’re still a threesome. With the limos, I’m sure we’ll have lots of opportunities to do things with Suzi. I think in the long run, it’ll be better this way.”

Joey said, “If you don’t get tired of us.”

When I didn’t respond, he said, “I caught you thinking about that.”

I shrugged and said, “Do you still get excited thinking about her like that? Be honest.”

Joey shrugged and said, “You don’t really understand what we feel, Tim. Without you, we’re just ... normal. We can’t feel what we feel without you. We say Suzi’s the glue, but you’re what makes us a threesome. We’d never stick together without the three-ways.”

I sighed and said, “There is no one else on this planet I could have shared my only girlfriend with like that. Okay, I can see how my telepathy made us a threesome, but Joey, we all had our part to play. And you’re not like everyone else, are you? You can independently shield your mind and project your thoughts to me.”

“Yeah, to you. And my shield wouldn’t hold up against anyone who wanted to get through it. Everything I can do is pretty much limited to you.”

I asked, “Are you jealous?”

“Sometimes, but ... I’m just worried you’re either going to go off the deep end, decide we’re safer without you around us, or just get tired of us. I’m telling you, we’ll be miserable, just like how your mom and dad were.”

I said, “I hope that’s not true because I can’t guarantee we’ll always be together. We’re fifteen, Joey. How many people keep their high school friends after high school? We’re practically family now, but...”

I realized I wasn’t helping, so I stopped and said, “I love you and Suzi. Right now I am depending on you two to help me figure this shit out. I need you both more than ever. I don’t know what will happen in the future. I just want to survive the next few months.”

Joey was looking at me and I felt that familiar feeling forming on its own. I went ahead and made an empathic connection with him. Sharing your thoughts and bodies could be very intimate, but an empathic connection was far more so as at the time I didn’t know how to hide anything I felt. I poured my heart and soul into it, dumping all my hopes and fears, and then we shared our mutual worries with each other.

In the end, we both felt better. We hadn’t solved anything, but just knowing we were both worried about how things were changing for us was comforting in itself.

I had to get a lift to church the next morning as my mom wasn’t coming home until that evening. I normally would have just skipped it, but I felt I needed to feel closer to Jesus after everything that had happened. Plus I wanted someone to bless my new cross.

I was startled realizing Maggie Schroeder - my favorite church girl from last year - was dressing sexy to church again. Josh, her ex, was noticing too, but he currently had a girlfriend. He was seriously straining against the temptation of speaking with Maggie.

The moment I touched Maggie’s mind, I recognized the need. It was the same as I had felt with Cindy, only it had taken longer to grow to this point.

I popped into Josh and found he too felt the need, but it wasn’t as strong. That need was continually pulling his attention to Maggie, and her dressing that way was had really grabbed his attention.

I wasn’t about to do anything without talking it over with ... someone. I wasn’t sure who that someone should be. My first instinct was my mom, but I wasn’t sure how objective she would be after spending the weekend with my father.

Suzi was my best choice, but how would I approach it with her? Would she think I was just looking for another girl to have sex with? I wasn’t sure that would be needed here since using Josh was the obvious solution. Only how would I use him to satisfy her need? I decided I needed to check on Cindy. She had my phone number in case her need came back, but I doubted she would have left a message on the recorder if she had called when I was away.

After getting my necklace blessed, I hitched a ride with someone going in that direction. Unfortunately, Cindy and her family were apparently at church as well. I waited around for an hour before giving up and walked out to the main road where I hitched a ride to the mall.

My father’s mall. Seeing that TPC logo on the doors’ windows made my head spin for a moment. I knew I’d never be able to enter a mall again without looking for that logo.

That mall felt alien to me for some reason. Everything I looked at there was filtered through this new lens of knowing my father owned it. I saw every speck of dirt, every burnt-out lightbulb, and when someone spilled their drink, I cringed like they had just spilled in in my living room.

Cindy, of course, wasn’t there and I hadn’t expected to see her. But this was where a lot of the girls I had fantasized with over the summer had come from. I thought if the need was something I somehow had given them all and it just took time for it to ... manifest, I might see one of them there.

Jillian, the senior who had a reputation for being a bit of a slut, was working in the food court that day. Popping into her head, I found she hadn’t been with anyone since summer. I didn’t sense any commands in her head I might have accidentally given her, but I did find she was indeed feeling the need at some level. I couldn’t decide if that was something I had given her or it was just her natural sex drive. In any case, she had a handle on it after having a pregnancy scare.

When I didn’t find anyone else there I had fantasized with or about, I hitched a ride home. Joey was frustrated with me for not having come home right after church, and he was even more so when I told him why.

“You should have taken me with you to the mall. Tim, Suzi keeps telling you you can’t do this on your own. Give me your word next time something like this comes up you’ll call me or Suz.”

I groaned, “I didn’t do anything other than look. I’m sorry I made you wait at home alone, but you know what happens when we spend too much time together.”

“We’re not little kids anymore. I’m not going to start a fistfight.”

I said, “No, but that doesn’t mean we won’t get sick of each other’s face. I’m not trying to exclude you, but maybe you should go over to Brad’s and practice basketball with him.”

Joey said angerly, “And what will you be doing?”

I said, “I don’t know. Peter’s not working. Maybe I’ll go hang out with him. Or maybe if she needs it, I’ll go give Cindy another fucking.”

Joey stared at me a moment before he said, “Or maybe you should get that black book out, call all those girls up and find out if any more of them are affected.”

When he saw my reluctance on my face, he exclaimed, “You went to the fucking mall hoping to bump into one! Why would calling them on the phone be different?”

I sighed and said, “Because then I would know how fucked I am. I don’t think I could handle it if they all have the need.”

Joey said, “I’m not going over to Brad’s. I’m going to call Suzi and let her know what’s going on, and then you are going to call these girls. Understand?”

When I didn’t respond right away, Joey put his right hand on my left shoulder and said a little more gently, “Understand?”

I nodded, then gave him a weak grin and said, “I guess if I’m fucked, I better get it over with.”

Joey hmphed and said, “Yeah, it’s a real drag that you might have to fuck twenty-something girls two or three times just so they can live out a fantasy.”

I said, “But Suzi...”

“Has both of us. Believe it or not, we’ve talked about this behind your back. I’m not saying she’s happy with the idea, but she’s not going break up with you because of it. If anything, she thinks you’ll be so sick of fucking girls like that you won’t even look at anyone else but her.”

I cringed. I seriously doubted it. All I had to do is look at my parents to see how easily I could get used to going through girls like that. That was what I was afraid of the most.

I said, “Let me try and call Cindy first.”

Joey said, “I’ll call Suzi while you go home and call Cindy from there. But pull Suzi in on the thought channel so we can hear what’s going on, okay?”

Since I had to go home to get my book, I couldn’t really argue with that.

Cindy claimed she was cured. She hadn’t felt any sign of the need returning, and she hadn’t used the dildo since before we had had our marathon of sex the previous Friday night.

I gave her a short version of what I was concerned over, and the only advice she had was to make sure I got those girls on birth control right away in case I had to do what we had done. That way, they wouldn’t be worried about pregnancy after our marathon.

More than half of the girls wouldn’t know who I was, so just to make things easier on myself, I started with girls who did know me, and the first was Gwen “Long Legs” Lawson.

She was home when I called her house, but I had to nearly command her younger sister to knock on Gwen’s bedroom. Gwen apparently was in a mood, her sister believing it was PMS.

After knocking, I heard through her sister’s ears Gwen shouting, “GO AWAY!”

“You have a phone call!”

“Tell them I’m not home!”

“I already told them you were!”

“Well, tell them I’m in the shower!”

“You have a phone in your room. You tell them!”

When Gwen picked up the extension, she said, “Hello? Who is it?”

I said, “Tim Brandton. Are you okay? You sound upset.”

“Tim?! Why are you calling? How did you get my number?”

“You gave it to me, don’t you remember? Fuck you’re almost as bad as Maggie.”

“Who?”

“It doesn’t matter. Gwen, are you on birth control?”

“That’s none of your...”

“Good. How long have you been using it?”

I pushed her to say, but then when she thought of the answer I didn’t even bother to wait for her to say it out loud.

“I’m sorry, Gwen. I’ll see you at school tomorrow, okay?”

I hung up without waiting for a reply.

Suzi thought to me, <I hope you don’t treat them all like that.>

I said, <I didn’t want to wait around any longer. Did you feel it? The need?>

Suzi thought, <It didn’t come through to me. Joey?>

Joey said, <Not like you mean, no. But you could hear it in her voice. She was a little desperate.>

I sighed and said, <She was more than desperate. She’s not a virgin anymore and she thinks there’s something wrong with her. Nothing she does is satisfying her.>

Suzi said, <Call the next one, Timmy. Don’t prolong this any more than you have to. Then you’ll have to take the worst cases first.>

<Suzi, I don’t... >

<Don’t, Timmy. Just learn from this, okay? You can’t mess with other people’s minds, even share fantasies, without it affecting them. Now who is next?>

<Jessica Mills>

Joey thought, <Jessica Mills? The senior? Captain of the Golden Girls and the bitchiest most stuck up woman to ever walk the halls?>

Suzi said, <You’ve been talking to Jason too much.>

Joey said, <He’s not the only guy who thinks that. Trust me.>

I said, <Which is why I fancied her. Forbidden fruit, you know?>

The only reason Jessica knew me was because she went to our church and had babysat me when I was in sixth grade and she was a freshman. While Joey’s parents had usually watched me on Friday nights, there were times when they couldn’t for whatever reason, and my mom insisted I not spend every Friday night there. My mom only used girls from church for babysitting services, and despite what everyone said about Catholic girls, they weren’t any more sexually repressed as any other teenage girls. They were just less likely to using birth control.

Jessica was a devout Catholic and was entirely on board with staying pure until her wedding day. She was beautiful, but not devastatingly so. But the way she could lead a guy on and then cut them down when they were most vulnerable was that of legend.

Jessica was blonde and vaguely resembled the centerfold I had given to Joey. When I had found the two centerfolds in the library book, at first I thought the blonde was Jessica’s mom or something. Joey never really saw the resemblance beyond the hair color.

I called Jessica’s number and it rang five or six times before a man answered.

“Mills residence.”

“Hi, Mister Mills. This is Tim Brandton. I was leaving church and found an earring I think might be Jessica’s. Is she home?”

There was an unexpected moment of silence before he said, “Jessica didn’t go to church today. You probably found someone else’s earring.”

“Sir, it was in the grass and I only found it by accident. I seem to remember her looking for an earring a month or two ago. Just tell her if she lost a gold and pearl earring...”

“That was my wife’s earring. You found it? We spent over an hour looking for it.”

Joey scoffed, <Way to go Tim. Where are you going to find an earring like that?>

I said, “Okay, I have a confession. I didn’t find the earring. Jessica was my babysitter three years ago and my friend Joey bet me I couldn’t get her on the phone more than a minute.”

Mills sighed and said, “You are not the first boy to call claiming to have her earring, but you are the first to admit you didn’t have it.”

I pushed a thought into his head, but to my surprise, he rejected it with ease. I pushed another while saying, “Is she okay? She doesn’t usually miss church.”

“She’s ... Not feeling well. I’m sorry, but I don’t think she’ll be interested in talking to you right now. Goodbye, Tim.”

I commanded, “Tell me why.“

“Jessica was attacked last night by a boy she had been teasing.”

“What! Who?”

“She won’t say. Now you keep that to yourself. I don’t know why I told you.”

I said, “I’m coming over. She’ll talk to me.”

Before he could tell me otherwise, I hung up.

Suzi said, <Timmy, what are you going to do when she tells you who it was?>

I said, <That depends on who and why. I’m not going to take revenge on whoever did it. I just want to make sure I wasn’t responsible.>

Joey asked, <Did you imagine her with anyone?>

<No. It was just her and me. Look, I’m not going to do anything but get some answers, okay?>

Suzi said, <I understand why you feel this way, but I think you might be better off leaving her alone until tomorrow.>

I flashed the image her father had of Jessica’s black eye and swollen lip before I said, <She’s not going to be at school. Not looking like that.>

Suzi said, <I still say you should call more of the girls instead of running halfway across town.>

I sighed. What use was telling Suzi and Joey I needed them to help me through this kind of thing if I didn’t heed their advice when they gave it.

I sent, <Okay. Can you talk to Jason? Tell him what happened to Jessica and that I’d like him to drive you and I over to her house tomorrow.>

Joey asked, <Just you two?>

Suzi said, <We’ll link you in, okay?>

I sent, <You can go with us if you want. I’ll just make everyone ignore your presence. I just didn’t think you’d like seeing her like that. I mean, your sister... >

There was an awkward silence before Joey sent, <You didn’t have to bring her up.>

Suzi said, <Okay, I know Joey had an older sister and that she died right before we started first grade, but what does Jessica have to do with her?>

When neither of us responded right away, Joey sent, <Just tell her.>

I said, <She was attacked and murdered, Suz. Joey used to have nightmares about it. His mom told me once that after his dad identified the body, he was never the same afterward.>

Suzi sent, <I’m sorry Joey.>

Joey said, <I’m not a kid anymore, Tim. I haven’t had nightmares like that since fourth grade. You already showed me what she looked like. I doubt seeing her live will make a difference.>

Suzi said, <But hearing what happened might.>

<Are you saying I shouldn’t go?>

Suzi said, <No, Joey. I think you should decide that for yourself. I just don’t want to have to try and comfort her and you at the same time.>

I said, <Suz, that’s not what will happen. Joey will just get angry and take it out on the first person who lets him. Usually, that’s me.>