Chapter 74: Checking Out

Sarah was quiet as we rode back to the hotel.

“Are you okay,” I asked. She grimaced.

“Your timing sucks,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know you and he needed some alone time, but I thought he should be the one to decide what happened to those two. As it turned out, the police turning up when they did kind of took the decision out of his hands in any case.”

“I know,” she sighed. “It’s just that...”

“You all wound up again?” I asked.

“Both of us,” she said. “I’ll bet poor Arnie is aching in places he wouldn’t want to just about now.”

I laughed. “He’ll get over it,” I said. “It was his left wrist he broke after all.”

She looked at me askance. “You think he’ll...”

“Who knows,” I said. “But that’s up to him. If he’s all pent up and hurting, then it would only make sense for him to do something about it.”

She sighed. “I hated to leave him like that,” she said.

“Then don’t,” I said. “Call him. Talk to him. Hell, get Amanda to help you out and tell him what’s going on. If that doesn’t relieve his pressure then he’s not human.”

“Seriously?” she said. “Phone sex?”

I shrugged. “Why not?” I asked. “If it helps him. You have other options. He has nothing other than his right hand.”

She thought about that for a moment.

“I can’t,” she said.

“No?” I said. “Why not?”

“He doesn’t have a phone,” she said. “He hasn’t replaced the one that was stolen.”

“Ah,” I said. “I forgot about that. Oh well, he’s on his own then. Unless you want to call Danny and ask him to put you through to Arnie.”

She laughed, shaking her head.

When we arrived back at the hotel, I went and showered, then headed for bed. I didn’t see whether Sarah availed herself of Amanda’s or one of the other girl’s assistance or not. She either would or wouldn’t. I just knew that there was no way that she’d ask me. Not yet.

She did, however, surprise me the next morning. She got up with Melanie and me, and followed us into the other room.

“I need to start training,” she said to me. “Will you help me?”

“You know I will,” I said, and gave her about six months of martial arts training memories.

We arrived at Arnie’s house at eight.

Arnie answered the door, he seemed ready to go.

I directed him back into the house.

“You ready to get rid of those wires?” I asked, after taking a look at his jaw. It was strong enough for everyday use.

He nodded.

I used TK to cut through the wires, gently drawing each one out of his mouth, before moving on to the next. The whole process took about ten minutes.

“Gently open your mouth,” I said to him, and he flexed his jaw, he moaned in relief.

“How does it feel,” I asked him.

“Awesome,” he said. “Give me a minute. I need to brush my teeth.”

He darted upstairs. About ten minutes later he returned, looking a lot happier.

“Better?” I asked.

“Much,” he said.

“Go easy for a couple of days. Don’t pick anything really hard to chew. After that you will be good to go.”

“Okay,” he said. “I will.”

“You ready to go?” I asked.

“One second,” said Sarah, and then pulled Arnie into a toe-curling kiss.

“I’ve been waiting to do that since Monday,” she said when she surfaced a couple of minutes later. I just shook my head and led them out of the house.

We met up with the rest of the girls, and Josh and Louise, at the diner.

Josh stood up as Arnie approached the table. He extended a hand to him.

“I’m Josh,” he said. “Congratulations on your engagement. You’re a lucky guy. Lou and I have been around this madhouse for a while, so if you need some outside/inside perspective, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thanks,” said Arnie. “Nice to meet you,” he added to Louise, who stood up and gave him a hug.

“If you spend any time at our house,” said Amanda, “the likelihood is that you’ll see Louise walking around naked. Pay her no heed. She does it to shock mostly.”

Arnie looked at Louise, and then grinned. “I’ll look forward to it,” he said. She gave him a dazzling smile.

“Right answer,” she said, then turned to Sarah. “Hold onto him – he’s a good one.”

“I will,” Sarah said sitting down. Arnie sat beside her.

We ordered breakfast with Arnie ordering pancakes and bacon, which was pretty much my favourite breakfast too.

“Do we have a plan?” I said looking to Mary. She was the one who would have looked through the available stores, and plotted out an itinerary.

“We need to hit the furniture stores early,” she said. “Then, once we’ve got the major stuff ordered, we can start looking for things like blinds, rugs, crockery, tableware, kitchen appliances, towels...”

She continued her list, and I realized that we were in for a very long day.

“If you get tired,” I said to Arnie, “let us know. Your body is almost healed but almost is not completely healed.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said. “I won’t push myself and I’ll let you know if I’m struggling.”

“Beds first,” said Mary, and we piled into three cars and headed for the first bed store.

When we walked into the store, Mary went up to the first sales assistant.

“Morning,” he said to her, “How can I help you.”

“I need,” she began, “one Alaskan king size bed and three kingsize beds. I need them delivering before Friday. Can you do that?”

That kind of set the tone for the start of our shopping. She’d seen that the first assistant knew that there was no way he could get them delivered on time, but was going to lie and say yes, just to get the sale, and then claim unavoidable delays on delivery.

“Oh,” said Mary, before he could open his mouth. “Never mind.” We left the store before the guy had said a word.

It was the third store that we tried where they said, and meant, that they could deliver. The Alaskan King would have to be shipped from out of state from one of their other stores, but they had some normal kingsize beds in stock. It would depend on which ones we wanted though. He showed us which ones would be available within our timeline, and also told us the lead time on the others.

“We don’t need them all for Friday,” said Sarah after thinking for a while.

“As long as we have the Alaskan for the master bedroom,” she said, “and Josh and Louise have a bed, even if it’s not the one that they would prefer, when their preferred one arrives the other can go into the spare room.”

“What about your room?” I asked.

“I like this one,” she said. Pointing to one of the beds that the assistant had told us would be available. She turned to Arnie. “What do you think?”

“I haven’t seen your new room,” he said, “so I can’t say,”

“But do you think it’s comfortable?” she asked, encouraging him to lie down on the bed.

She climbed on beside him and snuggled in.

“Very comfortable,” he said, smiling at her.

“We’ll take it,” she said with a grin.

As luck would have it, the bed that Josh and Louise chose was also in stock, and so we ordered and paid for those two, the Alaskan king, and one more that Mary liked the look of for the spare room.

The sales assistant looked like he was in for an early Christmas.

“Okay,” said Mary. What about sofas? What do you have in stock?

By the time we’d left the store, we’d ordered all the living room furniture, the dining table and chairs, and all the beds. They didn’t have a great availability of stuff like wardrobes and drawers.

“I know it’s not fashionable,” said Arnie, “but did you think of Ikea? There’s a big store on Cascades Parkway, and their stuff is pretty good. I have a wardrobe and chest from there and, while it’s not handmade, it does the job.

“And,” said Amanda, “they’ll likely have it all in stock.”

“We won’t be buying from there for our new house,” I said, “but for this place, it will be okay.”

I was pleasantly surprised when we went into Ikea. We found not only all the bedroom furniture we needed, but a lot of other stuff too. There were lawn chairs, tableware, and a lot of things like cushions and throws, that I personally was ambivalent towards, but the girls seemed to like. There were also some pleasant framed pictures that would make the walls look less bare.

After we’d spent another small, actually no, not small, real fortune, we went to the delivery desk to arrange for it all to be dropped off. I’d have to let Marcia know that there would be a lot of furniture to assemble. I wondered if she’d be up for that or if I’d have to find someone else.

After stopping for something to eat we went television shopping. The girls wanted the biggest TV that we could get in the living room and Josh and Louise wanted a set for their room. I wasn’t particularly interested in having one in our bedroom.

I watched Arnie when Sarah was talking about her sleeping arrangements. His aura looked complicated. He certainly didn’t seem to be angry about it, or even particularly unhappy. There was some arousal, some fear, worry I guess, still thinking that Sarah and I might be having sex. I still didn’t think he’d worked out exactly how he felt about that.

“What do you think?” Sarah asked Arnie. “Do we want a TV in our bedroom?”

“OUR Bedroom?” he asked.

“Of course,” she said. “We’re engaged. My room is our room.”

“I...” he began.

“She’s not asking you to move in,” I told him, “although you’d be more than welcome. I’m not sure your dad would be very happy if you moved that fast.”

“You’re right,” he said. “That’s going to take some careful planning.”

“But I assume that you are going to stay over some times?” I asked. “You and Sarah need some time for each other. Surely your dad won’t object to that.”

“I guess,” he said, uncertainly. “I’ve never really discussed it with him.”

“That’s a problem for another day,” said Sarah. “The problem for today is, do we want a TV in our room?”

“Not for me,” he said. “I don’t watch a lot of TV, and if I’m in the bedroom, it’s not for watching TV.”

Louise sniggered.

“I meant to sleep,” he clarified, blushing.

Sarah laughed. “Okay,” she said. “No TV in the bedroom.”

We bought the two televisions, with mountings and Jules picked out some other electronics that I hadn’t even realized we’d need.

“When we get to the new house,” she said. “There will be a mesh wifi built in. This house will need it installed if we want good wifi throughout.”

While Jules was picking out what she thought we would need. Sarah dragged Arnie over to the phones. Under the very transparent guise of her wanting a new phone, she got him to tell her which phone he thought was best. Then she bought it for him.

“You can’t...” he began “It’s...”

Sarah levelled a gaze on him that I’d never seen her use before. It was the kind of gaze that starts, or stops, wars that would defeat a rampaging elephant, and would stop an attacking lion mid-charge. Arnie quailed, and then came to his senses.

“Thank you,” he said simply. Sarah gave him a brilliant smile.

“You’re welcome,” she said.

Arnie looked at me a look of helplessness in his eyes.

“Pick your battles,” I said. “You’ll find your life is a lot more pleasant if you don’t argue, and it will be much more significant if you find something you feel strongly enough about that you do.”

He nodded.

“Hmmmm!” Josh said in his best bad Yoda impression. “Words of wisdom they are. Pay attention to the Master you should.”

Arnie laughed, shaking his head ruefully.

It had been a gargantuan task, but we’d managed to order just about everything that we thought we would need, in one day. I had no doubt that we’d forgotten loads and that we’d be picking up all kinds of stuff as we went along. But I was content that at least we’d have somewhere to sit, somewhere to sleep, and something to cook with and eat off. The rest were details, and would be Amazon Primeable if not available locally.

“What time is your dad finishing his lessons?” I asked.

“He should be home just after six,” Arnie said.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll need to come back with you to make him okay with you healing up so fast. It won’t take long.”

“And it won’t hurt him or cause him any problems?” he asked.

“Not at all,” I said. “He’ll be one hundred percent fine.”

“Okay,” he replied.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Arnie asked Sarah. Sarah looked at me.

“No plans for us,” I said.

“Nothing why?” she said.

“I just thought you might like to do something,” he said. “If I’m going to go back to work Monday, then Sunday might be my last weekend day that I’m free for a while.”

“Why don’t you and Arnie have a day together,” I sent her. “Just you two.”

Sarah smiled. “That would be nice,” she told him. “I’d like that.”

They discussed the details while we travelled back heading for Arnie’s house. Josh and Louise broke off and headed back to the hotel, as did Mary, Amanda, Jules, and Ness.

When we arrived at Arnie’s house it was just Arnie, Sarah, Melanie, and me. They had travelled in my truck with us.

We’d been in the house about a half hour when Danny came in. He looked shattered. I flexed my power gently.

“I’ll be glad come Monday,” he said looking at Arnie, “when you come back to work. There are three lessons in the afternoon, not to mention Caleb’s in the evening, that you can take.”

“No problem,” said Arnie looking at Danny wonderingly.

“We need to go to the courthouse Monday morning,” I said, “to be at the bail hearing for the two guys that attacked you.”

“Of course,” said Danny. “Just make sure you’re at the school by twelve.”

“No problem.” said Arnie.

“Now,” said Danny, “have you eaten?”

I left Sarah with them. They were going to go find something to eat, and Melanie and I went back to the hotel. We decided as a group, including Josh and Louise, to eat in the hotel restaurant for a change. It had been a while and was likely to be the last time we would do that.

“Arnie seems like a nice kid,” said Josh. “He’s totally smitten with Sarah.”

“Isn’t he?” said Louise. “I like him. Does he know about you guys?”

“He does,” I said. “Be gentle with him though. Remember, like me, he was brought up a Norm. It may take him a little while to get to grips with our lifestyle, or perhaps he may not. Let Sarah lead.

Louise nodded. “We’ll be good,” I smiled at her.

I got a text from Sarah just after nine.

_Arnie is going to give me a ride over.

That made sense. He was back as far as Danny was concerned. There would be no reason for him not to drive her home.

I went to bed before Sarah got back to the hotel, so I didn’t see her until I woke the next morning.

She got up, once again, with Melanie and me.

After training we all went out for breakfast, and then Sarah got ready for her day out with Arnie. I was going to use the day to catch up with my schoolwork and get ready for the next week. It was only when I was planning my week that I remembered the tickets.

“By the way,” I said to Sarah just as she was about to go out. “Did you know about the concert at the Moda next Sunday?”

“Duh!” she said. “Who doesn’t?”

“Did you want to go?” I asked.

“What?” she said. “How? Tickets were sold out even before the lines opened.”

“I might have scored a ticket or two?” I said.

“Seriously?” she said. “You’re not teasing me?”

“See if Arnie wants to go,” I said.

“Of course he’ll want to go,” she said.

“If he knows what’s good for him,” chimed Amanda. “How many tickets do you have?”

“Ten,” I said. “That will be enough for us all plus two. I was thinking of asking Josh and Louise.”

“Good call,” she said. “You only have to mention his name and Louise creams herself.

“Not a high bar,” I said. Amanda laughed.

Sarah left to go meet Arnie, and I settled down to my day.

A short time later there was a hammering on the suite door. I went to open it.

Louise launched herself at me as soon as the door opened.

“Is it true?” she said. “Do you really have tickets?”

I smiled at her and Josh, who had ambled in after I’d been assaulted by the cannon ball that was his girlfriend.

“It is,” I said, “but I wasn’t sure if you’d want to go.”

Louise actually growled at me.

“I take it you do want to go?” I asked with a grin.

“What do you want,” she said. “My mouth? Pussy? Ass? Josh’s mouth or ass? All yours. For as long as you want.”

“Like you wouldn’t give them to him anyway,” snorted Amanda.

Louise looked at her, but had to concede the point.

“We’re all going,” I said. “You included.”

Louise squealed in delight and threw her arms around me again.

“Are they good tickets?” she asked.

“Louise, sit down,” I said. She perched on the end of the bed, twitching like a jonesing junkie.

“They are the best seats,” I said, “and, what’s more, they come with backstage passes.”

“Wha...” she began “How?” she asked.

“He’s a friend of mine,” I said grinning at her. “He gave them to me.”

“YOU KNOW HIM??????” she shrieked.

“I do,” I said wincing a little at the noise. “And you’ll meet him next Sunday.”

It took over an hour before Louise would calm down. In the end I had to show her the tickets and the backstage pass armbands before she could be persuaded to settle down. Eventually Josh took her out of our room, presumably back to their room.

“I’ve not seen her so excited since the first time you pulled them into an illusion,” said Jules, grinning.

“I know,” I said. “I didn’t even know she liked him.”

“Everyone likes him,” said Amanda. “And he’s supposed to be such a nice guy. Not one of the usual sleazy musician types that does drugs and sleeps with his fans.”

Mary shot me a telling look. I figured she’d worked out why he’d been coming to see me.

She sighed, her illusions shattered. I gave her a commiserating look.

We settled down for the day. I worked on a couple of assignments that needed to be handed in the following week and also made a start on my Senior Thesis, or at least the outline. I would probably not do much more on it until we’d debated it in class. I wanted to hear other opinions before I settled on an approach.

We ordered room service for lunch since it was easier than going out. I couldn’t wait until I had the use of a kitchen again and could get back to cooking. There were also a few things I’d gotten from the chef of Coquine I wanted to try. I’d not told Ness about that yet ... I wanted to surprise her. I’d eventually give her all the memories though. She’d get far more use from them than I would.

Sarah and Arnie joined us for dinner. She’d called me to ask what we were doing and if we wanted to meet up. She and Arnie had apparently had a great day doing tourist things around the city, including an aerial sightseeing tour which he’d been able to wrangle since the Cirrus wasn’t booked on a lesson.

We arrived at the restaurant before they did and I saw them arrive, looking like a real couple. They just looked so good together. If there had been any doubt before, it was completely quashed. These two were meant to be together.

I wondered what Sarah’s parents would make of Arnie.

“Did you have a good day,” I asked Sarah after Arnie had left.

“I had a great day,” she said. “He’s just so...”

“I know,” I said. “Is he coming to the concert next Sunday?”

“He’s not a huge fan,” she said, “but he likes the music well enough. He’s coming.”

“Did he get a choice?” asked Ness.

Sarah laughed. “Of course he did,” she said, but I was certain that his choice wasn’t between going or not going.

Just after nine the next morning, I was waiting outside the courthouse. Arnie had arranged to meet me, and we were going to watch the bail hearings. I wanted to see what happened to the two guys who’d attacked Arnie and was hoping that, since they’d been arrested on Friday, theirs would be one of the earlier bail hearings.

I spotted Arnie walking toward me when my phone rang.

“Mr. Stott?” said the voice from the other end.

“Yes?” I said, sort of recognizing the voice but not immediately placing it.

“It’s Aaron, your architect,” he said. “I have the plans ready. You said you wanted to go and file them in person?”

“Yes,” I said. “Can I call you back with a time? I’m just tied up with something and don’t know when it will be finished.”

“No problem,” he said. “I’ll await your call.”

Arnie reached me just as I ended the call.

“Morning,” he said.

I smiled at him. “Ready to go see what happens?” I asked. He nodded.

It was after ten that the two we were interested in were finally led into the courtroom. They had a public defender, who launched into a litany of excuses as to why these two fine and upstanding young gentlemen, who had admittedly made a mistake, should be allowed out on bail pending their trial.

I felt Arnie stiffen beside me. I put my hand on his arm. The last thing we needed would be an outburst from him.

“Watch and wait,” I whispered.

“So,” said the judge to the first man. “What do you have to say for yourself.”

The defendant raised his eyes to the judge and opened his mouth.

“FUCK YOU!!!” He yelled. “YOU CUNT!!!!”

His lawyer paled.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Arnie’s face flush. He bit his lip. Then he looked at me. I heard the question in his mind, and nodded.

Both men were denied bail, and also racked up an impressive one hundred and eighty days of jail time for contempt, and a psychiatric evaluation each. That was before they’d been tried for their original crime, that of assaulting Arnie.

“You did that?” said Arnie. “You made them insult the judge?”

“They’d have gotten out on bail otherwise,” I said, “and either skipped town, or maybe hurt someone else, before their case came to court. And I’m not sure that their bleeding heart defender wouldn’t have got them some wrist slap sentence based on the fact that their mommy didn’t give them any jelly on their toast when they were kids.

“They needed to be punished for what they did. Believe me it could have been much worse for them.”

“How do you decide?” he said. “With what you can do, how do you decide what is enough punishment, or when to get involved, or who to help? With what you did for me, how is it that you’re not living in the kid’s hospital curing cancer and stuff? Can you even do that?”

I sighed. “Yes, I can,” I said. “And I have. But there are so many other things that can get in the way. I just have to be guided by my own conscience, and sometimes that of those around me. It’s a minefield and I have no doubt I’ve made mistakes. But I’m trying to make as few as possible.”

He looked me in the eye.

“Shit,” he said. “When you told me about your powers, I thought how great it must be to have that kind of power, to be able to do those things. But it’s not that simple, is it?”

“No,” I said. “It’s not. You know we need to stay hidden. If it came out that these kinds of powers existed, we’d be hounded by all kinds of people. Some would want our help. Others would be looking for ways to make money from us, both legally and illegally. Finally, there would be those religious nuts who would want to purge us from existence simply because we don’t fit with their religious beliefs.

“That’s not to mention those who would want to dissect us and see if they could figure out how to recreate, weaponise, or counter our powers. Did you ever see the movie Phenomenon?”

He nodded. “Yes,” he said.

“That is why it’s so important we stay under the radar. We are watched too. If I were to go crazy and start doing stuff with my powers, I’d get stomped. There is a whole division of the FBI who stop people who are abusing their powers. In fact, I’m hoping to join them.”

“But isn’t what you just did...” he asked.

I smiled at him. “What I just did could be classed as abuse. But even if it’s picked up, it will most likely be seen as proportionate. We’re allowed a certain leeway. There are wild power users out there, ones not from any bloodline, that are going around raping and killing with impunity. Those are the ones they are fighting against, the ones WE are fighting against.”

“Those two men will go to prison. They deserve that for what they did to you. It’s likely that, even with my intervention, they’ll get a lighter sentence than is warranted. I could do something about that, but I’m not going to. They’ll get punished and that is what I wanted.”

Arnie sighed. “Thanks,” he said. “I know I’d be frustrated if they’d been bailed out right away. When the police told me it was likely they would never be caught, I felt powerless. I wanted to go find them and do something, I don’t know what, to them. Then you found them and they got arrested. I’d have been even more frustrated if they had walked away from this without punishment.”

“And now?” I asked.

“I feel better,” he said, “knowing that they suffered for what they did to me.”

I nodded, satisfied.

“Thanks, Caleb,” he said. “I don’t think I realized how badly I was affected by what happened. Now it’s done, I feel a lot better.”

Arnie left to go back to the school, and I called Aaron.

“Can you meet me in an hour?” I asked, and he agreed.

We entered the planning department together and waited in a short line to be seen by one of the planning clerks.

When it was our turn the planning clerk, an older lady, looked up at Aaron who was clutching a lot of papers.

“Can we speak to the person in charge of planning applications please?” Aaron looked at me like I’d grown an extra head. He was even more surprised when she nodded and stood up.

“Follow me please,” she said, and led us to a door. She punched a code into a keypad before allowing us through into the offices beyond. We walked through an open office with a number of desks and to a closed office door. She knocked.

“Enter,” said a male voice and we were led inside.

The man behind the desk was corpulent. His face was florid. The broken veins on his nose, and watery yellowed eyes, spoke of a drinking problem that was likely to be the death of him, and quite soon if I were any judge.

The clerk, having conveyed us into his presence, nodded and smiled at us, then closed the door behind her as she left.

“How can I help you?” the man said looking at Aaron.

“I’m here to make an application for permits to build a new property. The old property on the site was destroyed in a fire and the site has been cleared in preparation for a new build.”

The man indicated the chairs on the other side of his desk.

“Please sit,” he said. “Show me the plans.”

We spent about an hour in his office. He went through everything, asked many questions, and apparently was satisfied with the answers. About halfway through he pressed a button on his desk and a younger woman came in.

“I need you to scan some plans into the system for me,” he said indicating the plans that Aaron had laid out on his desk.

“Yes sir,” she said before picking up the plans and leaving the office.

Ten minutes later she returned with the plans and a sheet of paper.

“Here is the archive number,” she told the man. He thanked her and she left.

“Well,” said the man, obviously satisfied. “If more people would present their applications with such diligence, the process would go much smoother. I’ll approve these now, but the permits are issued by the system. It normally takes between twenty-four to forty eight hours for that to happen, so you can expect to have your permits by Wednesday latest. However, I can see no reason that you can’t make a start. I very much doubt anyone would even notice, but should you get any questions about permits, here’s my card. You can direct them to me.

“Inspections will have to be completed at the requisite points, and a habitation certificate issued before you can actually move in, but you know all that.”

“Y-yes,” said Aaron, completely stunned.

“Then I think we’re done,” said the man. “Don’t forget to stop off at the cashier’s desk to pay for the applications on your way out. Thanks for coming in. Good day.”

He pushed the button again and the young woman came in.

“Would you show these gentlemen out please?” he asked. She nodded, and led us out of the office to the public area of the building.

“What just happened?” he asked, after we’d paid the fees and exited the building.

“We got our permits,” I said smiling at him. “I have to say, I’m surprised it was that easy. I thought you said it would take a month or two.”

“I ... It should...” he stammered. “I don’t understand. I’ve never had anything like that happen before.”

“It’s good news though, right?” I asked. “Does that mean we can start work?”

“Yes,” he said. “Although I’m not ready now. I was expecting to have a couple of months to line everything up. Now all of a sudden, its go time. I still haven’t contracted someone to dig and pour the foundation.”