Chapter 35: Things to Do

Island Day 27-28

Darren James POV:

I just wanted to march right into The Chandler Municipal Building, find the head of the City Planning/Engineering department and start kicking ass! However, I needed proof that wrongdoing had been done.

Like, who was really behind our being shut down and why.

Charlene and Linda gave me a name I should be looking for. It was some guy named Dexter Daschle. They both suspected that he might be the one ultimately behind this.

I decided to investigate myself, since nobody in City Hall had any idea I was a friend of the family or even Robertson Construction.

First, I met with Craig Robertson in a small café in Tempe. He turned me on to Bob Andrews, one of his competitors, but also his old friend. Since Craig’s plans for Sun City never went through Chandler’s Engineering Department he didn’t really know anyone I could talk to.

That’s why I met with Bob Andrews, a big time builder. He had three huge subdivisions in Chandler and basically knew everyone in City Hall, not just the Engineering Department.

When I showed him the plans, with a certain Inspector Orville Jasper’s comments, he looked at me disbelievingly, “You’ve GOT to be kidding me!? These plans are nearly flawless. I routinely get plans approved that are little more than ‘crayon’ drawings compared to these! This guy, Jasper, is not one of the Inspectors I’ve dealt with before.

“I have heard of him, though. Mr James, please do not reveal that I am the one telling you this, because, I do not want to be known as a whistle blower. I have too many projects that could be adversely affected if the head of the Engineering Department were to know I divulged their dirty little secret.”

I nodded, intrigued now with his sudden change in demeanor. “No problem. I won’t say a word. I just need to know what’s going on and who’s behind it. I promise our discussion will be kept in the utmost confidence.”

He relaxed, then said, “Orville Jasper is the Head Engineer’s cousin. He doesn’t normally get involved in the everyday inspections. It’s been said ... by several anonymous people over the years, that he gets bribes and kickbacks for making sure certain ‘projects’ get either streamlined or rejected. Since his cousin runs the entire Department, he gets anything he wants with almost no oversight or repercussions. We, ‘ordinary builders’ avoid him or pissing him off like the plague, hoping he never gets angry with us.”

“Ah, I see your concern. Trust me, this conversation never took place ... oh, and ... what was your name again? I seem to have forgotten?” I chuckled.

He was smiling as I stood up, shook hands and walked out of the café.

Now that I had a name I just needed to come up with a plan. I went home and had a discussion with Charlene, Linda, Sarah and JB.

Larry Jones and Linda were pouring over the plans in frustration. I asked what this clown, Jasper, said was so wrong. I told them a very reputable builder had looked at their plans and couldn’t believe there was anything wrong.

Larry threw his arms up, “He’s citing us for not having dimensions calculated for totally meaningless areas! Like here, he felt it egregious that I didn’t mark the dimension from the ceiling in the house to the roof! IN FOUR DIFFERENT AREAS. That distance is of no significance to anything! The roof is at an angle and the distance is whatever it turns out being! It has no bearing on structural integrity or anything. I’ve never met someone this anal retentive in my life! And I’ve done plans that had to be approved by the City of Chicago, and they can be very anal!”

Linda added, “And, if we DO calculate those distances, and they come out later and measure, they could shut us down for not following the approved plans. Even if we’re off by less than an inch!!!”

“Ohhh, so, this clown is really just trying to set you up for future reasons to screw with you some more?”

“Exactly!” Larry huffed, “This guy has to know these dimensions are meaningless and while possible to calculate, are nearly impossible to be perfect when built. We’re building a house, NOT a Swiss watch. He’s just setting us up for failure by forcing us to show dozens of these meaningless dimensions ... that have NOTHING to do with the underground utilities! They’re being held up for absolutely NO reason other than spite ... or stupidity!”

Now my hackles were really getting up! With what Bob told me about this Jasper, I knew what I had to do.

I wished I’d done more ‘practicing’ with things like Mind Control and invisibly spying on people. The one time JB and I tried, it was nearly a disaster!

I muttered that out loud, then JB chuckled, “Well, tell me you’re not too proud to ask for help? Don’t we know a certain ‘Witch’ who might like to help? After all, she’s part of this family too, isn’t she?”

I summoned Maggie! She answered immediately and I told her the story.

She giggled, “Well, ‘My Pretty’” she cackled, somehow ‘knowing about’ JB’s comment, “Since we’re ‘Joined’, I’d LOVE to help you! William is over with the Greyzarians today and I’m just sitting in my office, so, let’s just stay joined and we’ll do this together? I feel like having some fun today!”

Since I didn’t know either of the two guys I needed to spy on, Mags suggested I go to Ibera’s and do a little ‘Spirit Walking’. I knew that would be quicker than trying to have someone drive me to City Hall, since that was over 15 minutes away from here.

I called up Jasper, then Daschle on the portal. Mostly so I (we) could see what they looked like so I could teleport to them.

Jackpot! I located Jasper, who was in his office and Daschle was in his car, just parking at City Hall.

Maggie was giggling, “This is interesting! Let’s just go invisible and teleport straight to Jasper’s office. We wanna hear what they’re going to talk about!”

We (I) popped in about 6 feet away from him and stayed near the wall. This guy reminded me of a weasely ‘JR Ewing’ from ‘Dallas’. He was arrogant and nearly belligerent to his poor secretary when she called into his office saying that Mr Daschle was here to see him.

Even Maggie said, “I just wanna slap that asshole! He reminds me of my dealings with Marek when I was working the desk at CIA Headquarters!”

When Daschle entered he acted even more arrogantly than Jasper, “Has Charlie Swenson’s project been shut down!? I have the second installment of $10,000 with me if you do.”

Jasper laughed, “Yes! Charlie’s assistant, Linda, who I think is his brother’s wife, is running the project along with some out-of-town architect named Larry Jones. If that simpleton does manage to answer all the questions I put on his plans, I can make sure that thing never gets built!

“Are you aware that Charlie Swenson is not around at the moment? My underlings tell me word is both Charlie and his brother are out of the country on some business venture.”

Daschle smirked, “That should make your job much easier. That guy, Charlie ... scared me. It was like that bastard could read my damned mind! It was like everything I thought, he already knew? He must NEVER know I am behind this!”

Jasper chortled, “You are just being paranoid, everyone knows that kind of ‘hocus pocus’ is not possible.”

I had a hard time not laughing. If that sucker only knew?

I (we) decided it was time to focus a ‘joke-us’ ... on them! I ported back to Ibera’s, grabbed my video camera, moved the time back a few minutes then ‘Spirit Walked’ right back where I was.

It was just like when I recorded our prisoners!

I caught their entire conversation, including Jasper telling Daschle that it was imperative his cousin must also never find out about their ‘operation’. That he would lose his Engineers license if he knowingly participated or got caught trying to cover-up corruption in his department.

Ibera made me a copy and an audio-only tape complete with a small handheld player. Everything I would need, I felt, if we wanted to take them to court.

Then I felt Monte join me and Maggie, “You know that’s totally unnecessary ... don’t you?”

“Why? Aren’t we going to need proof of their wrongdoing?”

Maggie giggled, “I think my ‘Man’ is suggesting we take a more ‘Rufchaad like’ approach to dealing with them. We ain’t gonna need no proof! We’re gonna terrorize the SHIT right out of both of them!”

Monte added, “We MAY still use that tape player, so, keep it cued up and handy!”

That made me remember how they convinced Commander Rufchaad to get his people to leave the planet!

I wondered about the tape player, “Are we gonna offer them a BBD?”

Monte huffed, “HELL NO. These two bastards are screwing with OUR Family! We need payback AND a guarantee they never do this again ... to ANYONE. Did you ever hear about how Charlie ‘Boogered’ this guy that shot a torpedo at his friend’s Coast Guard ship, then the Naval Destroyer he was on?”

“No, I haven’t heard about that! ‘Boogered’?”

Both of them were laughing so hard I knew it had to be a heck of a story.

Maggie giggled, “If you’ll trust us, just relinquish your body-control to me, sit back and enjoy the ride. I’ve been wanting to use this for months!”

I chuckled, “Sure! Show me how the experts do it. I’ll just be keeping notes!”

“Just keep us invisible ... we don’t want them seeing who you are!” Maggie smirked. “I’ll do the rest!”

We (I) ported in behind Jasper, who was sitting in his chair with Daschle sitting in front of him.

Monte told me to hit ‘play’, then his voice bellowed, “I know what you two assholes are doing!”

They both jumped up, looking all around when the tape started playing back their little ‘plan’. Monte hollered, “Sit the fuck down!” Then, the next thing I know both of them were forcefully shoved back down into their seats.

We caught Daschle’s eyes, “Freeze like a statue, ‘Dash-hole’, you need to see and hear what’s gonna happen next!”

That made Jasper turn in his seat and Maggie giggled, “Got him!”

Then, it’s like we shot deep into his head.

In my mind, I had like a ‘split-screen’ thing going on. Daschle was now absolutely motionless, only his chest showing he was breathing and his eyes rapidly moving back and forth, desperately trying to see what was happening. In every other way he was frozen like a statue with big, ‘googly’ eyes!

Jasper was in open-mouthed shock. Maggie said it’s because we were occupying nearly all of his mental faculties at the moment.

Monte’s voice came back, stating slowly and deliberately,” You, Orville, have been a v e r y - b a d - b o y! Now, you’re going to fix everything you and your accomplice perpetrated on my friends. First, you’re going to call Larry Jones and Linda Swenson. You’re going to confess, then apologize for everything you and your cohort have done to them. Then, you’re going to ask them, nicely, begging their forgiveness, to bring you another ‘fresh’ copy of the plans, so you can make the correct comments and stamp your approval. You will then immediately issue all of the permits they may need, whether they asked for them yet or not!”

“But, I’ll get fired and lose my job!”

“Do I sound like I care? I OWN you now! You have no choice.”

And I knew he DIDN’T. Maggie had ‘forced’ that order on him ... he had NO choice but to comply.

“WHO ARE YOU? Where are you?” He begged, looking all around and whimpering.

Monte chuckled, “You don’t want to know! You’ll never be able to stop having nightmares if I show you what I look like!” Then in Maggie’s, ‘witch voice’, “MY PRETTY.”

Maggie warned me what was up just before I appeared as an 8’ tall Wicked Witch of the West!

Jasper screamed so loud I thought my eardrums were going to rupture!

Daschle’s eyes were popping out of his head just as I went back invisible and his secretary came rushing into the room.

She froze, then looked around, seeing no reason for Jaspers outburst. “What’s going on!? It sounded like somebody was getting killed in here?”

I ‘pushed’ to Jasper, “Tell her you saw a spider!”

Just like that, Jasper said, “Oh, sorry Mabel, I, I just saw a spider! They terrify me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to make a phone call and get some papers ready.”

Jasper never even turned around or looked at Daschle, still frozen in his chair. Mabel just shook her head and left, closing the door behind her. “What a douchebag!” She muttered under her breath.

He then picked up the phone and dialed the number he had for Linda.

I’d already ‘told’ her to be ready and to record the call.

Jasper told her exactly what he’d done and that Dexter Daschle had paid a huge sum of money for him to do what he did. He did indeed apologize and assured her that if she and Larry would bring a fresh set of plans to the Engineering Desk he would take care of everything, including issuing all of the permits they needed.

When Jasper hung up, we added, “Now, you will call the MOST honest Engineer working here and after you issue the things I’ve said, you’ll give him their file, so he can work the rest of the project. Once you insure he has everything he needs you will forget you EVER worked on their project. You will forget Daschle and all of your previous dealings with him. What you will do, is work to correct ALL of the wrongdoings you have done in the past! If you stray from that path, you will have hellish nightmares that will prevent you from sleeping. Those will last until you resume fixing your fuckups! Do you understand!?”

He was shaking like a leaf, “Yes ... yes, I understand! But, if I lose my job, how can I ever fix my previous ... indiscretions?”

“Nobody will ever know, if you do what I told you. This tape and the one that was recorded just now will be destroyed the day they get issued their certificate of occupancy. Of that, you have my word. Also, at that time, all memories of this will be permanently erased. This will be your incentive to help expedite things as much as you possibly can!”

We hung around just to make sure everything went according to our instructions. Linda was having a hard time not giggling when Jasper signed off on the plans, told them this other Engineer would be taking over their file and gave them all their permits.

When she and Larry thanked him for his ‘reconsideration’ about his original comments on their first submittal, he damn near cried.

“I’m truly sorry about everything. These plans are actually so perfect, all I could do was what I did! I hope your house gets built as perfectly as these plans were drawn up. I’ve heard nothing but good things about Robertson Construction and you are in good hands.” He said earnestly.

As Larry and Linda were happily leaving I asked ‘us’ what we were going to do about Daschle.

Monte chuckled, “Now, my sexy witch is going to ‘Booger’ that asshole! NONE of this would ever have happened if not for HIM.”

We ‘popped’ back into Jaspers office and Maggie looked into Daschle’s eyes, “Do you hear me?” She said, mentally.

His eyes sprung wide open, “Yes ... are you going to kill me?”

Maggie giggled, “NO, I’m going to give you a chance to start over! Dexter, you conniving bastard ... you will have NO memory of ANYTHING from the time you were twelve years old! I really hope you do better ... THIS TIME AROUND???”

She then released him from being’ frozen’. He instantly began whimpering, then crying, saying he had no idea where he was! It was like he really was twelve and sitting in an office he’d never been in before. When Mabel came running in, he jumped up and cried, “Please, please take me home? I don’t know where I am and I want my Mama!”

Poor Mabel was floored. She had no idea what suddenly made this arrogant asshole of a man suddenly act like a lost, scared child. The fact that he was blubbering told her something serious must have happened. When Jasper came in he also looked confused, “Mabel, who IS this sniveling fool?”

Mabel threw her arms up in total disbelief, “It’s your buddy, Daschle! Don’t you remember? You were just in here talking to him.”

It was hard not to laugh, especially when Jasper gasped, “No I wasn’t! I’ve never seen this clown before!? Get him outta here, please?”

“Well, he came here in a company car, so, I’m going to call the number on the door. Maybe THEY’LL know what to do?”

I stayed and listened as Mabel told some lady named Augustine that something had happened to Mr Daschle and he’d had some kind of mental breakdown. We could only hear half of the conversation, but soon Mabel giggled, “Okay Augustine, we’ll put him in a cab and send him to your office. You’ll pay the fare? Good, he wants to see his Mama.”

When she hung up her cheerful demeanor turned to a scowl. “Orville, Augustine said Dexter (Daschle) was here to try and get you to keep someone’s project from moving forward? Do you know anything about that?”

Jasper’s eyes glazed over then he shook his head, “Mabel, that would be something ... I’ll never do”... again, he said under his breath. “I may have done some questionable things in the past, but, if that’s what he wanted, then, I’m glad he’s leaving! I want to thank you for taking care of everything.”

Mabel cracked a sly smile, “Are you okay Orville? I heard what you said to the two people that picked up their plans. I KNOW you rejected their first submittal. What caused such a change in you?”

Orville actually hugged Mabel, “Well, their first submittal should never have been rejected. I must have just been having a bad day when I first reviewed them. Those were the most perfect set of plans I’ve ever reviewed! You know how much I hate it when I can’t find anything wrong!?”

Mabel giggled, “Well, I don’t know who you are, or what you’ve done with our nasty old Orville, but, I really like this new one!”

With that, we watched Mabel escort a still distraught Dexter to a cab and send him on his way.

Maggie and Monte said they needed to ‘disconnect’ so they could get back to work, but would ‘stay in touch’ and hopefully come out this weekend.

I really didn’t want to disconnect. “Monte, would you mind if I kissed Maggie? I mean, really kissed her? This experience has taught me more than my ‘manual’ ever could have.”

Monte chuckled, “No, I don’t mind at all, Darren. I need to disconnect because I’ve got some important things about to go down. But, before I go, I just want you to know how much both of us love you for being around and helping Linda, Sarah, Jamie and Charlene. I wish we could be around more, but, it’s just not possible.”

“Thank you for saying that. I guess I’m still learning that, it’s just what Families do.”

Monte disconnected, leaving Maggie with me. Before I could think anything, I felt Maggie kissing me. It was so real it was like she was really here in my arms!

“I think I’m really falling in love with you, Maggie. Today was like a wonderful dream.”

Then I felt her kiss becoming even more passionate. “I love you too, Darren! I love your sometimes ‘innocent’ way of looking at things. In our work, Monte and I don’t usually have the luxury of being like that. I love you like I do ALL of the people in our Family. William will always be ‘My Man’, just like Sarah will always be ‘Your Girl’. But, that’s the wonderful thing about all of us. We can also love everyone else without having to apologize to anyone. I know you’re still learning, but, I think you’ve taken huge steps in becoming one of us.”

I know I was becoming emotional. Then I felt Maggie hugging me like a loving sister. She kissed me on the cheek, “Now, go share your love with Sarah, Jamie, Linda, Gracie and Charlene. After what you just did, I’m pretty sure THEY want to show you how much THEY love ... YOU.”

When I popped into our big trailer, Sarah liked to suck all of the air out of my lungs! Jamie was giggling and kidding her, saying there were others who wanted to thank me.

My kiss with Sarah was electric! Then she giggled and pulled away only to have Jamie kiss me like a lover who’d been away too long.

Charlene went next. Her ‘flavor’ was so much like Sarah’s it would be hard to tell them apart, except for Charlene being nearly a foot taller than my sweet, petite Sarah. Many nights Charlene has slept with us and our threesomes have been fun and very loving. A few times Jamie has joined us and I have to say, going down on all three of them is a taste treat for the ages.

I don’t know what it is about redheads, but their pussies have the sweetest taste. Gracie, a petite natural, platinum blonde is sweet, but, different, the taste being much less intense.

Then there’s Linda. She is right in the middle. What I love about making love with Linda is her physical, highly erotic ways. I don’t know if it’s because she misses Bob, but, she really is a ‘sexy Angel’ in every sense of the word.

Speaking of Linda, I asked where she was.

All the girls giggled, “What are we, chopped liver!?”

Yeah, I really love the way they all tease me in their loving, impish ways. That’s what makes me feel like a real part of the family. They would never tease a guest as mercilessly as they do me, or JB!

This has only been happening for the last week or so.

Sarah smiled, “Linda and Larry are taking the permits and approved plans directly to Craig (Robertson). And, they’re using Larry’s car, not ‘popping’, since that would probably freak Larry out!”

“Doesn’t he know about what we can do?”

Jamie shrugged, shaking her head, “Yes and no. Larry and his wife, Becky, aren’t aware of everything we can do. They don’t even have telepathy, because Larry didn’t want Charlie to give it to him! He is a bit naïve about things like that. He felt if Charlie gave him telepathy, then he’d never have any private thoughts again. He knows about many of Charlie’s exploits, even where he is right now and a little about how he got there. He and Becky HAVE ‘confidentiality spells’, so you can tell them things, but, they also don’t mind that we don’t tell them everything. For instance, they DON’T know anything about aliens, or, ET’s, so, be careful not to say anything about them when they’re around, okay? They also have never been up to Ibera’s place, either.”

I was shocked, “They’ve never heard of Ibera? How do they know about Charlie’s, Mary’s, Bob’s and CJ’s disappearance then?”

“Oh, they know ‘some’ things about Ibera’s place, but to them it’s just a place in a different dimension we use for space travel and that’s about it.” Sarah added.

I need to remember that. Normally at home any and all conversation is fair game. I wondered if our East Coast Family knew that about Larry and Becky?

It wasn’t long before Linda and Larry returned.

Everyone wanted to know how soon before the construction would begin.

Larry held his hands up. “Okay, so ... we’re hoping the underground crew will start in a few days. By that, I’m referring to the fact that the sewer and water has to be brought up to the site. There’s over 2000 feet of both of those and two manholes. They’re hoping to begin laying out the foundation with string lines shortly after the holidays so our guys can begin installing all of the underground sewer and waterlines that will fall under the slab. That is going to take about two to three weeks. Then, hopefully, they can start pouring the post-tensioned slab by mid-January.”

I had guessed things would progress faster than that, but, then I don’t know much about construction. I could really see why they were so upset that they had been stopped from even doing the underground work!

Then, there was something Larry said that was itching in my head.

Holidays. “What’s todays date? Did I miss Thanksgiving!?” I asked, totally confused.

Sarah giggled, nodding her head, “Uh yeah! Today is Wednesday, December 10^th. Thanksgiving was two weeks ago!”

“Holy shit, how did I get so far behind?”

I wanted to say ’I’d been counting Island Days and figured today was still late November, possibly close to Thanksgiving.’ But, with Larry being here, I just shut up.

JB came into my head, “I don’t know if you remember, but, we’ve been declining using the ‘time dilation’ factor, so, 4 days at Ibera’s is 5 days here! And, when we go ‘off-world’, things get even weirder and we lose considerably more time. Sorry Buddy, but, I thought you knew?”

Sarah joined JB, “I’m sorry too, Baby. I’ll try and do better about keeping you ‘current’. You did good not saying too much out loud. The next big thing we’re all looking forward to is Greg’s return in two weeks, on Christmas Eve.”

That’s when it dawned on me ... there weren’t any kids around! “Ummm, just out of curiosity, where are all the kids?”

Jamie tittered, “Tyler, Eric, Olivia and Abby are with their grandparents and Crystal went with Kevin, Jennifer and Kelly to Emmy’s parent’s house. Since Bill is still working, they decided to go back until they’re really needed here.”

Larry was giving me a weird look, like ‘where the heck have YOU been?’, and Sarah patted his shoulder, “Darren and JB have both been working long hours in a very secluded environment. Linda and I are ever so grateful they’ve been able to at least be here for us at night! They’ve made us feel much safer and more relaxed than if they hadn’t been here. There have been times they were ... out of town, but, they always stayed in touch and would have flown back here if we needed them.” She pointed at her head, indicating ‘mentally’.

Larry smiled, “Ahhhh, so, they’re like all of you that way? So, we can talk about things with them!? You know ... and I won’t forget everything?”

I was stunned! Larry and Becky only had the ‘passive’ or temporary ‘confidentiality spell’? And, after all this time, STILL remembered everything!? As far as being trustworthy, to me, they’d proven that in spades.

Linda hugged Larry, “Yes, and they’re actually more like Bob and Charlie than me, Sarah or Jamie.”

“Ohhh, so, when you said ‘out of town’, were they really in that place that Charlie and Bob used to disappear to?”

I was smiling and nodding as Linda said, “Yes, and just like Charlie, could also keep an eye on things here. I’m not sure, but, I think Darren may have had a little something to do with getting Mr Jasper to change his mind about our plans?”

Larry was grinning widely, “Is Darren a, a Catalyst like Charlie? You know can he do all those amazing things, like, can HE give abilities like ESP?”

Linda was nodding, so I said, “Yes. I’ve been told I’m a bit like Charlie, in fact. Um, I was also told that you didn’t want Charlie to give you and Becky telepathy.

“Have you ever had second thoughts about that decision?”

He looked reflective, “Actually ... I have? I realize now, that my reasons were probably unfounded. At the time it was all so new, I was afraid I’d never have another private thought that Charlie and the rest wouldn’t know about. But, now, I don’t care if they do or not! I, well, Becky and I are so in love with this whole crazy family it just wouldn’t matter.”

“Would you like to ‘really’ join our Family?” I said, using air-quotes. “I can make it happen. All you and Becky have to do is to agree to a new, slightly different ‘Confidentiality Agreement’.”

“New? So I won’t have to worry about forgetting everything?”

I shook my head, “No, but, if you try to tell anyone about our secrets, now, you’ll get a very bad pain in your gut and the more you say the worse it will get. But, when you’re in doubt, if you just think about what you want to say, it’ll just feel like you have to fart!”

For some reason Larry looked terrified. “But, what if someone tries to torture the information out of me?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle, “Then, you’ll have more help at your side than you could ever imagine!” I ‘summoned’ our East Coast clan and they said they could assist, so long as it wouldn’t take too long.

The next thing Larry knew, they all appeared out of nowhere!

He squelched back a scream, then gasped, “Rex, Jeremy? Who are these other two guys?”

Rex laughed, “That big guy is William Monte and his buddy is Bruce Bixby. I know you’ve never met them or their ladies, but, we’re all part of Charlie’s Family! What Darren just told you is true! If ANYONE ever tries to hurt, you or anyone in our family we can all be here just this fast! And I pity the fool that ever tries!”

The next thing I knew, Joni, Sheila, Maggie and Diane popped in, shocking Larry again, “HEY, don’t forget about us!?” Maggie giggled.

“Larry, I take it you know Sheila and Joni, so, the feisty blonde is Diane and the almost Mary ‘lookalike’ is Maggie, Monte’s special lady! I didn’t think you ladies could make it?”