Chapter 5

Football practice was different from yesterday. We only spent fifteen minutes doing some stretches. The rest of the time was spent doing play drills, making sure that the team knew what my abilities were, as well as me making sure I knew what they could do. There was a little bit of messing around, but not much. I didn’t know why until Coach Thompson blew the whistle and had us gather around.

“All right, ladies. That was ... okay, pretty darned good. Mister Davis, do you think that you could perform like Mister Lewis did this afternoon?”

“Coach! No, sir. I’m ... sorry for the animosity I showed to Cal at the start of practice today. Cal, I apologize.” He bent his head.

“In case any of you missed or didn’t hear about it, one of our former team members decided that he had an issue with Mister Lewis and the people he associates with. He attempted to utilize violence to resolve his issue. Now you ladies all know that football is a violent sport, out here on the field. But we do NOT use violence OFF the field, do we?”

“Coach, NO! Coach!”

“I’m not going to say that there’s not times and reasons out in the real world for the use of force and for violence. Most of you had a grandpa, father, or brother in WW2, Korea, or Vietnam. But we are supposed to be a TEAM! Not a bunch of self-centered egotistical little twats. And yes, I’m that angry, I just said that. Mister Wilbur has been kicked off the TEAM, Mister Wilbur has been kicked out of SCHOOL, and Mister Wilbur will be spending the better part of the rest of the school year as a guest of the state of Kansas in the juvenile corrections facility. And he’s going to start there with a hand that he destroyed, because hitting a cement block wall is stupid. But trying to hit Mister Lewis in the face with that hand was even MORE stupid.” Without saying anything, he whipped a football in my direction as fast and as hard as he could.

I brought both of my hands up and caught it perfectly. There was a little murmuring from the team at that. “Now, ladies ... tomorrow night, we’ll have a regular practice like today, with more play trials. I want ten laps out of all of you, and Mister Lewis, no slacking today like you did for the first part yesterday.”

“Coach! Yes, Coach!”

I wasn’t sure what to make of all of it. I ended up finishing my ten laps while most of the team was still on lap eight. I walked up to him. “Coach Thompson, a word?”

“Of course, Mister Lewis. I’d have been surprised if you hadn’t asked for one. Yes, I did this on purpose today. Quite frankly, I suspect that we’re going to blow the living crap out of everyone we go up against. I know you don’t have a glass jaw, not after what I saw yesterday. I also know you have incredible reflexes. I’m guessing a lifetime of martial arts training.”

“I can’t really say, Coach.”

“I’d be surprised if you could. Pete and I spent some time in his office this morning. He told me some of what you said, and some of what you couldn’t and wouldn’t say. Our military has done some ... interesting ... things over the years. I don’t think you’re one of their experiments.”

At that, I had to laugh. When I got my breath back, I said, “I’m sorry, Coach, but that’s so far from the truth it’s funny. What I told Principal Anderson was the truth. My mom and dad were both scientists, and I’ve inherited both their smarts. I can say that while I was being home schooled, I was involved with a ... group ... of children, all of us about my age, that learned ... a lot ... about physical activities, self-defense, and we were all in pretty decent physical shape. When you’re a bit isolated ... well, their parents and mine were all just about as smart. That’s why I NEED this, to learn how to be around other ... normal ... people.”

He sighed. “Well, this isn’t church, and I’m not a preacher. But if you’re going to be the leader on this team, then I suggest you try to not kill any of them.”

“Coach ... if Wilbur had hurt Beth, or Eve, or Dora...”

“I notice you didn’t say anything about him hurting you.”

“Might as well spit in the ocean and see how much it cares. Wasn’t going to happen.”

“I suspect we’re going to have an interesting football season, Mister Lewis. Hit the showers.”

I had lost my body modesty long ago, while in the Scouts. There’s just nothing quite like being out in the wilderness and finding a pond where you can wash off, along with twenty other boys. So, the locker room wasn’t much of a shock to me. From a couple of comments that were made, apparently seeing me in the shower was a bit of a shock, though.

“Holy crap. Do you spend all day working out, Cal?” Jerry asked.

“Clean living and eating healthy, Jerry,” I said.

“Shit, I don’t think I’ve seen that kind of muscle structure even on anyone on the weightlifting team. No wonder the Coaches are impressed with you.”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see how things go when the games actually start. I’m just hoping I don’t let the rest of you down.”

He laughed. “Are you kidding? Other than the Buffaloes from Garden City, we’re probably the worst team in the state.”

One of the other players said, “Cougars from Salina sucked last year, don’t know how they’ll be this year. I’d shake your hand right now, but we’re in the shower and all that. I’m Aaron Farmer, number 86, wide receiver. So, what’s the deal with you getting out of practices on Friday?”

“Until the games start. Judge Bannister told me...”

Aaron held up his hand. “Never mind. If you know Judge Bannister, then that answers that question. You really are sixteen, aren’t you?”

“That’s a strange question.”

“From what my dad has said, I wouldn’t put it past the Judge to bring in someone who’s halfway through college, so we could have a winning team.”

I smiled, chuckling. “No. The reason I’m starting so late, my parents were killed a few months ago. Due to the circumstances of where we lived and what they did, it took a while to track down a relative for me to live with, since I’m still a minor. I had no desire to become a ward of the state. Harry Watson, Beth’s dad, was my dad’s cousin.” My tone changed a little. “And just as a notice ... her name is Elizabeth or Betty, to everyone. It’s not Lizzie the Lezzie, unless you want to find out how quickly, and painfully, I would have taken Wilbur down and out if I hadn’t dodged his punch.”

“All good, Cal, all good.” He raised his voice. “You hear that? It’s Elizabeth Watson to ALL of us, from now on. Same thing applies to Eve Patrick and Dora Menendez, no making fun of them! PERIOD!”

There was a general shout of agreement from everyone in the locker room. “I’m a senior and also one of the captains of the team. That word will get around the school tomorrow without anyone else getting destroyed.”

I nodded. “Thank you, Aaron.”

“Hey, if you’re as good as I think you are ... especially since you hit me every single time with your passes in practice today ... then that’ll make me look MUCH better to the college scouts.”

I nodded. I hadn’t given that any consideration, but now I understood why some of the others were concerned when suddenly I’d shown up and become the quarterback.

I drove home after practice, pulling in to see Beth and Harry moving some stakes with string attached around in the yard. “Hey, what’s up?”

“It was difficult to visualize where the pad should go, so we’re using these to figure things out. Since I figure you’re going to need a space sixty feet long and just under thirty feet wide, this lets us see how much space we’re talking about.”

“That’s pretty smart, Harry.”

“You’re welcome, Cal,” Beth said. “Dad was just out here with a tape measure, looking things over, and going with the first flat spot he saw.”

“Why does it have to be flat? Oh, I know you’re talking about for a concrete pad or other foundation, but if we wanted, it’d be easy to dig into that hill a little. Wouldn’t that also provide some wind protection, as well?”

Harry shook his head. “I thought about that, but that’s going to add several thousand to the cost, for the heavy equipment to take those boulders out.”

I looked at Beth. “What do you think, Beth? Is that a more aesthetically pleasing spot?”

“Of course, it is.”

I ran into the barn, grabbed a shovel, and ran back to start digging. Using my speed and strength, it only took me five minutes to move the dirt away. I hit the large rocks, which weren’t really boulders, with my fists, shattering them to gravel, and spread that out over the area, to help control dust. In ten minutes, total, I had the area complete.

Harry just stood there, dumbfounded. Beth was gleefully clapping her hands.

“Yeah, it makes a little dust, but I think that took care of everything.”

Beth laughed. “A little dust is a bit of an understatement. Go around the house and get your clothes off, spray yourself off with the hose before you go take a shower. Supper will be ready in a few minutes.”

I quickly did so. I ran upstairs so I could shower the rest of the dust off. I was done by the time they got back into the house. From downstairs, Beth called out, “Cal, you’re needed down here right now to resolve something!”

It took me four seconds to get dressed in shorts and a t-shirt and then I was standing at the bottom of the stairs. “Yes, Beth, how may I help you?”

“Dad and I are having a bit of a disagreement. Apparently, the sight of you picking up a ton of metal is one thing. You literally crushing solid rocks with your bare hands is another. He’s worried about you doing something like that to me.”

“I’m not going to tell you to not be concerned, because you’re Beth’s Dad. You’ll still be concerned about her when she’s got grandchildren running around, because you’re her parent. But I can tell you this. You don’t have to be concerned about anything I would do to, or for, her. Beth, that ... nickname ... that Wilbur called you today at lunch will never be said by anyone at school again.”

“How’d you manage that?” she asked.

“Asked Aaron Farmer if he wanted to find out how quickly and painfully I would have taken Wilbur down. He made a pronouncement in the locker room.”

“That’ll do it.” She looked at Harry. “Aaron is the Senior captain of the football team. Um, Dad, I have a question for you about Friday night.”

“Harry will be taking Emily Miller out to do something called dancing. Since I’m not sure what time I’ll be home from the Moose, I already told him that Dora and Eve were going to come spend some time with you. Oh, and also due to Aaron, no one will harass them, either. Also, Sunday morning, we’ll be heading for Garden City about eleven, so we can go talk to the person who’ll be supplying what will go in this spot.”

“Okay. Come on, let’s eat.”

After we ate, Harry and I did the dishes again while Beth did her homework. It didn’t take her as long tonight. I quickly corrected the one problem she’d missed. She went upstairs to take her shower.

“Harry, I’ll be taking a chunk of the good gold into town tomorrow. I’m curious to see just how honest Mister Erickson is. I would like your advice on whether you think I should win or lose Friday night.”

“If you get into any big hands with Elroy, then you lose if possible. Other than that, clean ‘em out for all they’re worth. I have a sneaking suspicion ... well, we’ll just have to see how things go.”

“That fits in with what I was thinking, as far as the cards. Also, I know that Beth is on a form of chemical birth control. I don’t know, and I couldn’t tell from her smell, whether or not Emily is or not. You might consider an alternative form of contraception, just in case. Or not, you’re an adult.”

“I do not believe I am being lectured by a sixteen-year-old about using a rubber.” He got a strange look on his face. “I’ll stop by the drugstore tomorrow and get some for both of us. Were you going to come by here when you’re done at school, before going to the Moose Lodge?”

“Yes. I was planning on changing clothes, into something that will make them think a bit less of me.”

“I’ll leave you some on my dresser. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if you get home and those three girls are awake, you ... uh ... may do something that some men only dream about their entire lives.” He shook his head. “Damn. You treat all of them right, you hear?”

“I don’t think you have to worry too much about that. I do have a question. Before, you said it was an issue with the law if Beth and I were caught sleeping together. Now, we’re going to be putting in a separate house, and it’ll be rather obvious she’s going to be sharing it with me.”

“Yeah, I know. But money talks, and bullshit walks. You go deposit half that gold in the bank tomorrow, and by Friday morning, word’ll get around town, and to hell with privacy laws. By Friday evening, after you get home from poker, you’ll be untouchable. Just be discreet about it.”

“What was it you said before? That’s fucked up? Totally unrelated, I have a project for you for next week. Research other lost treasures. Shipwrecks, lost mines, whatever. I think that’d be something I could go do on a Saturday evening, once football season is over.”

He smirked. “I bet you’ll be busier on Saturdays than you expect. You know, I totally forgot that this is Labor Day weekend. No wonder the guy from D&H was pissed. It’s a holiday, I’ll explain it later.” We both heard the water shut off. “Good night, Cal.”

“Good night, Harry.”

I was upstairs and at the bathroom door in an instant. “Beth, would you like me to dry your back?”

She opened the door, a towel wrapped around her hair and nothing else on. “What about my front?” She handed me another towel, which I used to pat her dry. While I was getting the insides of her legs dry, my tongue was working to get the inside of her slit moist by lightly licking her.

“Cal, you know I’ve been wanting that all day. You’re not just my defender, you stood up for Dora and Eve as well.” I stood up, giving her a kiss and allowing her to taste her own juices on my tongue.

“Come on, we’re earlier to bed tonight.”

“I need to dry my hair first, or it’ll be a complete mess tomorrow.”

I took the towel off her hair, started using a hair dryer and brush, and began working on it for her. “You have no idea how good that makes me feel. You’re pampering me.”

While I was doing that, I didn’t need to concentrate very hard, so I was kissing her on the tops of her shoulders, letting my tongue run into the hollows of her neck, first on the left side, then on the right. She was facing the mirror, so I could see her hands pinching at her nipples and pulling on her small breasts as I continued to excite her. The ends of her hair were still a little damp when I put the hair dryer down.

I continued brushing her hair with one hand while using the other to undo and pull my shorts down. My cock slipped between her cheeks, picking up moisture from her slit. She bent forward over the sink, opening herself up for me. I slipped inside her velvet channel, started sliding back and forth inside her. She raised her neck up so she could look in the mirror and into my eyes.

I continued brushing her hair with one hand, helping to hold her up with the other, while she was pushing back and forth in time with me. I put the brush down, stuck my tongue out so she could see it in the mirror, stuck my index finger onto it and got it wet. She looked a little confused at that. Her eyes grew wide when she then felt my finger on the outside of her other hole.

“Oh! I’ve never thought about that before!”

I started circling around her brown anus; it was opening and closing seemingly on its own. Her breathing was growing faster. I stuck the tip of my finger in, just to the first knuckle. I felt her clench both at the same time as she had her first orgasm. I continued thrusting into her, letting my finger slip in a little further while I was doing so.

“Oh, Cal! Oh, my GOD! AHH!” She had another orgasm, this one continuing now with more peaks. Her pussy felt like fingers massaging my cock, surprising me and causing me to fill her from behind before I normally would’ve cum.

She opened her eyes, then chuckled at the amazed look on my face. “I take it that was a shock for you, lover?”

“Yeah, I was wanting to keep making love to you for a while.”

She carefully pulled off me, then sat onto the toilet so she could clean herself out. “Cal, I almost wish I could stop these pills now. You have no idea how excited that made me when you talked to Dad about me having grandchildren. Because that meant I’d have children. But ... not now. Not yet.”

I wet a washrag and wiped myself off, making sure to clean my finger well. “I suspect that in what won’t be too far in the future, it won’t be an issue. But sixteen-year-old high school girls being pregnant is not something anyone needs right now.”

She stood up and put her arms around me, giving me a deep and loving kiss. The end of my cock was brushing through her still damp pubic hair, which made it twitch a little. She giggled. “Down for now, boy. On a completely unrelated topic that has nothing to do with anything else whatsoever, I happen to know that even though Dora is Catholic, she’s on birth control pills to regulate her period. Eve is on them because she’s on the basketball team and they sometimes have away games and her mom was worried about her. Apparently, back when her mother was our age and in school, a couple of the girls DID end up pregnant.”

“Just curious, dearest. How well do you know them and their families?”

“The three of us have been friends since elementary school. When Mom got the job as a professor up in Lawrence, I had to go there to school, but summertime, we’d have sleep overs and such. Then, when Mom died and I came back here full time, we’ve pretty much been the support group for each other.”

“The reason I ask is simple. You may not have realized it, but we’re going to be sharing not just our bed, but you and I will be living in the other house, when we get it. I was curious as to how well they could keep that secret.”

She giggled. “After Friday, they may want to move in, too.” She kissed me again. “We all know each other, and trust each other. They won’t say anything.” She yawned. “I need my snuggle time, I’m sleepy.”

We slept spooned again that night.

The next morning, Harry had breakfast ready for us. “Cal, I’ve already called Emily. I’m going to head over to Garden City this morning and get the floorplans for some of the more popular homes, as well as see what he has on site. That way, we won’t fuck up his whole weekend, I figure between the two of you, you can figure something out. I’m also going by the library, get some books on what you and I discussed last night. I should be home by the time you get done with practice. Betty, I’d like you to stick around school for Cal’s practice, work on your homework there.”

“Is there a reason for that, Dad?”

“If he’s playing football, the first game is next Friday. You may as well get used to doing your homework between school and game time, because they’ll be ending late at night and you won’t want to do it during the weekend. We’ll all three have too much to do for a while.”

“Next Friday? Why did I think it wasn’t for two weeks?” I asked.

“Because you looked at last year’s calendar? It starts the Friday after Labor Day,” Beth said. “You got here on the 24^th, and I bet that’s what confused you. That, and with your first thoughts of not being in sports until Basketball season, probably mixed you up.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, then opened them, shaking my head. “For someone who’s supposed to be a genius, I screwed up. I was still thinking of the calendar from my planet. It had a different rotation than this one does, and that messed up my day and night cycles. Translating things into Earth terms, I’m not fourteen, I’m seventeen. Oops.”

Harry said, “Well, not legally. Legally, you’re sixteen, and that’s fine with us. Now, you two finish your breakfast, we’ve all got a busy day ahead of us.”

First period creative writing, Mrs. Kerr handed back everyone’s paper with a grade on it, except for mine. “Mister Lewis, I read your paper last night. I can and will record your grade in my book, but I cannot return that paper to you. In the future, please do not make your writing quite so ... explicit. I’m taking into account your previous home schooling, in a different state, with slightly more progressive laws than we have here in Kansas in giving you this leniency.

“Now then, I have made copies of three of the other stories that were written. I’m going to pass those out, and we’ll discuss them in class today.” She did so. We spent the rest of the class discussing them, the merits, and what made them good or bad stories. When the bell rang, she stopped me on the way out.

“Mister Lewis, please do not take my remarks at the start of class as a criticism of your skill with the written word. I found it quite ... intriguing ... that you captured the thoughts of a young woman forced into sexual slavery with someone. However, this is high school and not college, so do not put explicit sex into any more of your stories in the future, please.”

“Sorry, Ma’am. Um, what was my grade, anyway?”

“Mister Jenkins was quite correct to fear how you would affect the grading curve. We’ll leave it at that for now. Get to your next class.” She patted me on the back, to leave her room. I hurried out; a bit puzzled. I’d smelled some excitement from her at her description of my story.

Spanish was more conjugating and speaking. I was still having some issues with the way I pronounced words, which vexed me. And Public Speaking was ... boring. That was the easiest way to describe it. At lunch, I met the girls at their table.

Dora was almost beside herself. “Okay, Cal. Give! What’d you write that had Kerr in such an uproar today?”

“Apparently there are some social mores locally that I unintentionally violated.”

“Okay, what?” she asked.

“I simply picked Aouda, the Hindu girl from ‘Around the World in 80 Days.’ I wrote her diary from when she was promised to be married to the Rajah, through her marriage, to when she poisoned him and was going to be sacrificed at his funeral, which was when she was rescued.”

Beth had an amused look on her face. “I’m going to guess that you described everything that happened to her, including her feelings about sex.”

“Of course.”

All three of them broke out into laughter at that. Then Eve looked up behind me, with an odd look on her face. I turned around, ready for another battle.

“Ladies, Cal, may I join you?”

Eve said, “Sure. But don’t you normally sit at the football players table, Jerry?”

“Eve, THE football player for the school is sitting here. The rest of us are simply going to go along with whatever he does, and bask in his reflected glory.”

Dora tilted her head to the side. “Who are you, and what have you done with Jerry?”

He laughed, almost spilling his milk. “If you don’t believe me, come watch practice tonight.”

“I was going to. Dad said I needed to get used to doing homework after school, before the games,” Beth said. The other two girls looked at her, then at each other and nodded their heads.

“We’ll do that, too.”

“Don’t forget that I won’t be at the full practice tomorrow, though,” I mentioned.

“Thank goodness for that. Just kidding. I’m actually glad. We play the West Pioneers next Friday, and they’re known for sending someone out to watch their opponents practice the week before. Coach will remind us, but that’s an away game. It’ll take the buses an hour to get there, so we’ll leave school at four, get there at about five thirty. JV game at seven, varsity at eight thirty, done at ten, hopefully home by midnight.”

“I see. I didn’t realize there was that much involved.”

“Hey, a few of us get to play on both JV and varsity. I hope I can get a couple of passes my way, too.” The bell rang, ending lunch.

“Leave your trays today. I don’t have another class. I’ll clean up after us.”

The girls were all grateful. Beth whispered in my ear as she went by, “Love you, Cal.” I spent a couple of minutes gathering their things up and pushing the chairs back in. I also took an extra napkin and wiped up the seats where all three girls had been sitting. It appeared that wet panties were going to be an issue with all of them.

Jerry smiled and said, “Damn, son. You’re a fast worker.” He slapped me on the arm in a friendly gesture. “Jesus Christ, you made of steel or something? No wonder Wilbur bounced off you at practice. You’re solid muscle! See you at practice!” He took off.

I smiled at his description of me. I had a feeling that I’d have to pay very close attention to the way I acted on the football field. I took all our trash to the containers, dropped the trays off, and went out to my truck. It was a quick trip to the bank.

I picked up the reinforced bags from the passenger floor. I’d loaded them with about four hundred of the wheel weight pieces of gold. I also had a single piece of the Spanish Mission gold in my pocket. I walked in to Emily’s desk. She was looking down at some paperwork and didn’t see me walk up. There was a bit of a thump and several clinking sounds as I placed the bags on the floor.

“Hello, Emily. I’m not disturbing you, am I?”

“No, not at all. I was just catching up on some routine stuff. I actually have to fill out a few forms to coordinate what we’re doing for you, and I was getting those done. I’m guessing those double gunny sacks have in them several chunks of metal, based upon the noise they made when you put them down.”

“I think you could say that. You don’t think we’ll have any issues today, do you?”

She frowned. “I can’t imagine why we would. You said these were professionally tested already. I’ll need the contact information, so I can contact whoever did it.”

“Malachi Burnell, from Wichita, did acid and other chemical testing on them. I’m sure he can confirm it, but I did tell him he could purchase more for his own jewelry use. Tell him it’s the wheel weight version.”

“Sure, let me give them a quick call.” She looked a phone number up, then dialed it. “Hi, Robin, this is Emily Miller, from the First National Bank in Hutchinson. Is your father available? Oh, sure, I understand. Hey, you did some testing on gold this past weekend. Before you get worried, you’ll still be able to get more for yourself for whatever you want, it’s just that the client wants to use some as collateral for a loan as they’re wanting to do something that’s going to cost ... a lot. No, no, nothing like that. Repairs to the house, and the general contractor needs our assurance on funds.”

She moved the phone to the other ear. “I understand completely. That’s why I haven’t said any names, either. No, the reason I called is to confirm the quality of the wheel weight version. Seriously? Totally pure, then. Oh, interesting. So, if I assume an average of sixteen-point-two troy ounces per, I’m probably good? Thanks, that’ll help. Oh, it made the news down there? I’m not surprised. I’ll tell him. Okay, thanks, Robin. I’ll let him know that, too. Yes, he is. All right, have a good afternoon. Bye.” She hung up.

“Okay. Now we get the boss involved. Robin said that as you were a minor, they didn’t say any names on the news, but she figured it was you, and told you to be careful, punching people in the throat. This kind of money can be dangerous. You can add my warning to that as well.” She picked her phone up and called an internal extension.

“Good afternoon, Mister Erickson. If you remember, I mentioned that we had someone who was interested in bringing a quantity of precious metal in and setting up a line of credit with that as collateral? Yes, that’s correct. He’s here, and I want to bring him and the metal to Room A, so you can verify this yourself, in accordance with our written procedures. Of course, Sir, we’ll see you there in a couple of minutes.” She hung the phone up. I could tell that her breathing was a bit off.

“Is there a problem, Emily? If you even think there might be, you might call your uncle and have him come down here.”

She looked at me for a moment, biting her lip. Reaching her decision, she picked the phone up again, dialing a number now from memory. “Hi, Laura. It’s Emily. I need to speak to Uncle Elroy, please. No, this is something that I don’t think can wait. Thanks, Dear. Oh, standing by her desk, were you? Good. Can you come down here? I have a hunch that we’re going to have a problem that’s going to need you to fix it. You know Cal Lewis, obviously, and ... we’ll be in Room A, see you shortly. Thanks.”

She hung the phone up. “Come on, let’s go to Conference Room A. Do you need some ... oh, I guess not.” I picked up the bags. “Follow me.”

It was a short walk down a side corridor. There was a door on one side with the letter ‘A’ on it, two doors on the other side with ‘B’ and ‘C’ on them. “We use ‘B’ and ‘C’ for closings and small conferences. As many of those as it looks like you have, we’ll need to use the table in ‘A’ to spread them out for counting.”