Chapter 1: Sunset

April 18th, 1986

As I stood outside in the mid-April chill dressed in only a robe, I stared at the bright orange, red and faint purples of the sunset as I fingered the two items hanging from my neck. One was a red translucent coin, a seemingly magical family heirloom given to me by my father on the day we met. The other was my silver cross pendant with a gold wire heart wrapped around it. These two items represented two completely polar opposite sides of my crazy life: my father and my faith - my abilities and my heart.

But they were more than just that. The cross was a gift from my first girlfriend, a girl I still yearned to be with, but I couldn’t even go near her without doing more harm to her than I already had. The coin was held by a necklace my best friend of the past seven and a half years made for me and gave to me right before I willingly let a man alter my mind in order to reach this day.

This day, Friday, April 18th, 1986, was the day I started to serve my penance for what I had accidentally done to over a hundred girls. I had purposely sinned, and others had paid the price.

My name is Timothy Jasper Brandton. Don’t bother looking me up. I don’t exist in your world, but that’s a story for another time.

No, this story is about how a not very innocent telepathic fifteen-year-old Catholic boy ended up standing there freezing his balls off while watching the sunset just to put off having to make love to a beautiful fifteen-year-old girl who was waiting naked and anxious for me inside the RV behind me.

No, I’m not gay. Far from it, actually. I loved girls and their female form, especially all their lovely curves. When I was eleven, I discovered two centerfolds pinups left inside a library book. That unshaven redhead and hairless blonde gave me the first taste of my blooming sexual drive.

And that drive was just plain tired out that day. After making love to fourteen girls in only over ten hours, your sex drive would be worn out too. But I couldn’t stop. I had to keep going. I was leaving Sunday afternoon for a boarding school that was exclusively for telepathic high school students like me. And no, it wasn’t going to be like the X-Men. We weren’t superheroes. We were just as fucked up as everyone else, only it was far easier for us to fuck others up. I was fretting how many times the other students were going to make me wet my pants before I learned how to stop them from doing it.

Seventeen down, eighty-nine girls to go. I kept telling myself that while the colors of the sky slowly changed.

The door to the RV opened, and my right-hand lady, Eve, poked her head out and said, “Shepherd, she’s waiting.”

“I need my drink.”

Eve sighed and said, “Are you sure? You’ve already used almost the entire bottle. It can’t be good for you to have so much in one day.”

I said, “If I’m going to fulfill her fantasy, I need the drink. Otherwise, we’re done for the night. Do you want to tell her that?”

Eve paused at the door, then sighed again, turned and went back in.

I glanced at the other RV parked next to that one. Getting two RVs that could hold the required canopy king-sized beds on such short notice had been a stroke of luck. The RV’s weren’t identical or new, but they had what I needed. Showers, a kitchen and a nice big bedroom. As messy as the girls got, we had to have two of them so that one could get cleaned up and aired out while the other one was in use.

Adam came out carrying a glass of the drink my father called “Essence of Life.” This seemingly magical elixir was the perfect pick-me-up for both my flagging sex drive and energy levels.

When I reached for it, Adam pulled the glass back and asked, “Are you sure you’re not going to throw this one up?”

“I’m sure,” I said sternly, holding my hand out.

Handing it to me, Adam said, “Shepherd, you’re putting too much strain yourself. Please let this be the last one for the day. You have all day tomorrow and Sunday morning.”

“Sixteen girls a day, Adam. That’s my quota.”

I gulped down the purplish-pink drink. I usually tried to enjoy the flavor, but after drinking an entire wine bottle sized bottle, I was getting really sick of its taste.

After handing him the glass, I asked, “Who’s in there?”

“Tracy.”

Tracy Page. A straight-laced straight-A student who, because of me, was just as much into girls as she was boys. I could only hope she would be back to normal after getting a dose of what Suzi had labeled Timmy loving.

I asked Adam, “How are you feeling? Still no side effects?”

“Shepherd, I keep telling you I’m fine. Boy, stop worrying about me. You’re the one who’s trying to kill yourself doing this marathon of love of yours.”

I looked at Adam and said, “I just want this over with Adam. I want my old life back. I don’t want to worry if Krystal is going to try and seduce Lorene again, or Christine trying to form a threesome with Suzi and Joey.”

Just saying their names hurt. I turned away and fingered their gifts again, wondering if I’d ever have them both back.

Adam said, “I’ll let her know you’re almost ready.”

I said, “Thank you. I’m sorry if I’m ... not myself.”

As he re-entered the RV, he said, “You and me both, Shepherd. You and me both.”

That hurt too, not that he meant it to. Adam was such a sweet guy. I sincerely hoped he kept his faith. It had brought him so much comfort.

I heard geese in the distance. I looked around the mall parking lot to see where they were, but there wasn’t any sign of them.

The mall. It seemed appropriate to do this there. The mall was where I had purposely sought some of the girls out, and it was handy I had such a close relationship with the mall’s owner.

I hmphed in amusement at that.

I then sighed and decided I might as well get on with it. I turned to head in but recognized a car approaching the RVs from the other end of the lot.

I thought to myself, Nothing like having your mother show up right when you’re trying to get into the mood.

I could see the amused look on her face as she drove up.

After parking and getting out, my mom said, “My, if it weren’t for the hair, I would have sworn it was your father standing there. Is that one of his robes?”

I said, “No. Adam ran and got it for me from the mall this morning.”

I looked down, then swooshed my butt back and forth a few times before saying, “It does kind of look like the ones he wears, though, doesn’t it?”

“But then a robe is a robe. Timmy, don’t you think it’s time to quit for the night? You’ve been out here since eight this morning.”

“Sixteen girls, mom. I only have two left. And I just killed off the bottle.”

“You’ve had an entire bottle?”

“Over ten hours. And yes, I’ve been drinking water and Gatorade too.”

“What did you have for dinner? Pizza?”

“Uh, Adam and Jessica did. I skipped dinner.”

Her expression told me to elaborate.

“I keep throwing up, okay? And it has nothing to do with the drink. I was throwing up before I opened the bottle.”

My mom let out a resigned sigh, and after a moment she said, “Timmy, you’re not invincible. Tomorrow, no more than ten girls.”

“Ten!”

“Yes, and then five on Sunday. And then ten next Saturday. Even your father doesn’t have the stamina to do sixteen girls in one day, and he’s been doing this sort of thing since before you were born.”

Like the teenager I was, I rolled my eyes at how parents loved to remind us of how much more they knew than us.

I countered, “My father isn’t fifteen.”

Running her finger up my bare chest, my mom said, amused, “True ... Oh, if I wasn’t your mother...”

Then she wrinkled her nose at me and smiled.

I smiled back, then hugged her.

When we broke apart, she said, “You’re going to get sick if you hang out here in the cold like this. You better get in there and warm up in the shower.”

I sighed, “Okay. But my next girl is already in there, and my last girl will be here any minute. I’m not going to send them away.”

My mother gave me a warning look, but then rolled her eyes and said, “All right. It’s not like one or two more are going to kill you if you’ve made it this far. But Timmy, I’m serious about not pushing yourself too hard. You said there were only twenty who were in serious need. The rest can wait for the following weekends.”

I sighed and nodded.

She waved me towards the RV, then headed for the other one without saying another word. I watched as she opened the screen door and climbed inside the empty RV. I assumed she was going to check it out.

Entering the one Tracy was in, I found Eve and Adam watching the TV.

I said, “I’ve been ordered by my mother to take a shower to warm up.”

Eve said, “You didn’t tell her you just had one?”

As I walked towards the rear, I said, “Are you nuts? She’d drag me home and start poking chicken soup down my throat to prevent me from getting a cold.”

I poked my head into the bedroom and said, “Trace, I’m a bit chilled and am going to hop in the shower to warm up. I’ll just be a few minutes, okay?”