Chapter 6

After his conversation with Dr. Hobart, Eitan launched himself into several new initiatives. According to the literature, The Five Senses were an anachronism, a throwback to the time of the Greeks and the Romans. Living creatures had a variety of senses including the ability to sense muscle tension, pain, balance and body sense in space, temperature, and pressure. Tongues and noses had chemoreceptors. Bodies could sense thirst and hunger, magnetic fields (sense of direction), and the ability to sense time and its passage (debated fiercely). Apparently, humans could have the innate ability to sense dark energy, though it is typically very weak. Eitan felt a lot closer to normal again.

He asked Sten about Japanese comics. Eitan thought he had a good imagination, but the reams of anime, Hentai, Doujinsi and Manga were a humbling and disorienting introduction to the vastness of another sliver of world culture. When Eitan asked Sten if this was what he jerked off to, Sten snorted and told him to ask Tanisha Hamilton. Sten then stopped himself and told Eitan not to ask Tanisha, that their business was private. When Eitan asked where he bought condoms, Sten ignored him.

The next day Eitan took aside Akemi. “Did you know that Sten and Tanisha are doing it?”

She rolled her eyes and gave him a look of disgust, as he felt the energy build within her. “Who do you think introduced them to each other? I got tired of Sten asking to look at my tits all the time.”

“Really? Huh,” Eitan said. “If I asked you to get me a girlfriend...?”

“You’ve got three girls following you everywhere, already,” Akemi said. “Just choose one. They’ll open their legs for you.”

His jaw dropped as he tried to decide if she was jerking his chain. She chuckled first, and then used her finger to close his mouth. She counted with her fingers, “Maggie, Jocelyn, and Mentha.”

“They’re nice and all that, but they don’t really interest me,” Eitan said. “They don’t compare to you; it’s like asking for a lightbulb and being handed a candle.”

“You want me to be your girlfriend?” she asked, with as much incredulity as she could muster.

“No-o-o, eww,” Eitan said, suddenly careful. “You’re my sister even if we aren’t blood. You’re also the most incredible person I know, and I want my girlfriend to be like you.”

“You’re sweet if not a heaping spoonful of delusional,” Akemi said. “There is only one of me.”

“Aren’t we full of ourselves today?” Eitan said before he dodged a swift kick to his thigh.

“You are a one-and-only too, O sensate one,” Akemi said. “I think you are special too, just for the record. Let’s walk.”

With their backpacks hanging off their shoulders, they slipped out of the schoolyard. To the right was the village centre and the left led to their home. Instead, they crossed the street and climbed the fence. The dairy herd had moved to the far end of the field. The curious ones popped up their heads and when they determined that the two held no interest to them, they returned to their grazing.

“Who do you like?” Akemi asked as they sat on the fence rail near the herd.

“Sammi,” Eitan said. “She likes my taste in music. She’s funny too, or she at least humors me.”

“Oo, bad choice,” Akemi said, giving him sad puppy dog eyes.

“She’s only a year younger.”

“She’s a member of the control group, dork.” Akemi said. “Sammi, her sister, and her brother have all received top-shelf nano. Everyone else has budget nano in our school. Thus and therefore, Sammi and her siblings are the control group for the grand Hobart experiment, which is us. Wouldn’t you rather fuck Maggie; she’s a horny little morsel.”

“You would know this, how?” Eitan said. He had wondered about Akemi and sex, but that was usually one area she denied anyone access.

“I don’t kiss and tell,” she said, leaving Eitan gaped mouth again.

“You?” he asked, pointing his finger at her. “Her?” he said, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. “Then what would she want with me?”

“She wants anyone who is interested,” Akemi said. “She likes toys too, almost as much as Nikki and Joseph do.”

“You’re spying on our parents? Excuse me, my innocence has caught fire and is presently being turned to ash along with my wellbeing, my world, and just about everything else.

“Now, who is the drama queen?” Akemi said, crossing her arms across her chest. An accusation of dramatics was one of her sore spots still.

Eitan did not know whether to be angry or depressed. Everyone around him was having sex. They were having sex, a lot of it and enjoying it, and everyone was in on it ... but him. As the thoughts of betrayal churned at a furious pace, a calf wandered over to the teens. She snuffed Eitan with her wet snout. His hand came down on her head, and he marveled at the softness of her hair. She began badgering his legs with her head, forcing him off the fence. Not knowing what to do, he began rubbing both ears and then following down to her neck.

“Hey,” Akemi said softly. “This is why you’re not fucking when Sten and I are. You’re a romantic and we’re jaded. It sucks that your parents died in an accident Eitan, but you had loving parents, who only showed you love. Sten had a violent stepfather and a meth addict for a mom. My mother was convicted for human trafficking. She filled whorehouses from California to Texas with women and girls.

“I know you think I am everything, and I love you for what you see in me. Honestly, I was being raised to be a whore or a bordello owner. I still have those lessons in me; my mom started on me young enough to make it deep.

“Wipe those tears, Eitan, you’re not allowed to cry for me or pity me. You love me for me, and that makes a difference every damn day. I never knew you were the one I needed, but you do it for me every day, happily.