Chapter 16: Telling Anna and Nicky

Friday, May 21, 1971

I had to pee. I didn’t want to get up, but you can’t fight Mother Nature. So finally, I rolled out of bed and looked around. It was still dark out.

There wasn’t a bathroom in this room, so I made my way to the hall, then into the room next door. It was the only bathroom I knew of, and I didn’t want to wake anybody, so I entered without knocking and walked quickly to the bathroom, hoping I hadn’t disturbed Nicky. I finished, washing my hands as best I could, then running my fingers through my hair. Out of habit, I lifted my left wrist to check the time. But I only saw the cast encasing my hand.

“Surely, this kid has a watch, somewhere!” I thought.

“Come join us,” whispered Anna as I walked back through the dark bedroom.

I slipped under the covers she was holding as Anna squeezed herself over against Nicky. The night air was cool at this elevation, so the heat from her body felt good on my still naked skin. Anna had on a number Forty-Four Denver Broncos jersey as a nightshirt. As I slid in, Nicky slipped out the other side, headed to the bathroom.

“Be right back,” Nicky muttered, still half-asleep.

Anna rolled to face me, her head propped up on one hand.

“You!” she said, “are one amazing young man!”

I noticed she was careful not to touch me.

As I learned more about my ‘gift’, I had begun to work on a set of personal rules concerning my use of it. One of them that I was still working out the details on was not to touch someone I cared about without invitation. And so, since she hadn’t touched me, I didn’t touch her. And because I wasn’t entirely sure what she was referring to, but knew she had stayed with Nicky last night, I responded like a typical teenage boy. I just shrugged.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I mean ... you could have taken her virginity last night. I know she wanted it. Instead, you gave her the most sensual and erotic ride of her young life, while not doing anything for yourself!” she explained.

“And what a ride! God, I’m so jealous!” she added as an afterthought.

We still weren’t touching, so I’m not sure if she was saying or just thinking that last part. Still, I heard it.

“You’re wrong, Anna,” I told her. “I did get something out of it. It really thrills me to see Nicky so happy. And I was able to help her experience something new and wonderful without crossing any irreversible lines,” I told her.

“See? That’s what I meant,” Anna exclaimed. “You are mature beyond your years!”

I just shrugged, feeling slightly uncomfortable at both the praise and her mention of my maturity.

“By the way, thank you for your help last night. Both in the living room and in there...” I nodded towards the bathroom. “I’d never have gotten to sleep without your help,” I told her.

“Get hold of yourself girl!” Anna thought. We still weren’t touching, but we were just inches apart as I sensed her feelings. I could feel her lust.

“Oh-o-o Daddy, where are you when I need you?” she thought.

I flinched! I couldn’t help it. Feeling me flinch, she immediately opened her eyes wide, looking to see if she had inadvertently touched me, realizing at the same time what she had been feeling.

“Oh shit! What have I done?” she panicked, turning quickly away from me. Her thoughts were searing through her mind as if caught in a Category Five hurricane. I could feel the turmoil and chaos, even though we weren’t touching.

“Anna! Listen to me,” I told her.

“Oh, NO! What have I done? He heard me!” she thought.

I began sending her feelings of calmness without touching her, unsure if it was actually helping, when suddenly I picked up an errant thought among all the panic in her mind.

” ... and if I kill him, I’ll end up in prison for the rest of my life. But at least Daddy would be safe.”

I sat up straight and began scrambling backwards, out of the bed. Anna jerked her head up to look at me at my sudden movement. Then the realization of why I was doing it, hit her.

“Oh NO! Michael! NO! I didn’t mean it! NO! Michael! Please, I didn’t mean it!” Anna cried, sobbing even harder now.

My newly acquired rule about touching went out the window, as my self-preservation suddenly became more important than her privacy. Desperately, I lunged back to the bed, wrapping my arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides.

I didn’t know if she could kill me with her bare hands, or if she had a weapon under the pillow, but I wasn’t taking any chances! I squeezed her arms tight to her sides, trying to limit their movement as I tore viciously into her mind. It was so violent; it was almost like I was ripping her emotions out, one by one, searching for the one about killing me.

“Michael! What are you doing!” screamed Nicky from the bathroom doorway.

I ignored Nicky as I found the emotion. It was mired in a huge cesspool of discarded emotions, birthed in panic, and quickly discarded. I could feel the regret that she had felt the moment she thought it. I relaxed slowly, loosening my grip on her.

Anna was sobbing.

“Michael, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry Michael!” she cried over and over.

Nicky stood paralyzed at the sight of Anna sobbing and me obviously angry and afraid.

“W-w-what’s going on...?” Nicky managed to get out. She was suddenly very scared.

I looked at Nicky, nodding my head to the other side of the bed.

“Nicky,” I said as calmly as I could. “Anna is very upset. Right now, she needs to feel our love. Can you help me?”

Nicky went to the other side and hesitantly climbed on the top of the covers. She had found a Broncos jersey similar to Anna’s, but a different number, and put it on. Anna immediately latched on to her arms crying even harder, as she kept up her lament.

“Oh-h-h Nicky! I’m so-o-o sorry!” she went on.

We just held her as I tried to send soothing feelings to both of them.

After a few minutes, Anna began to calm down. Finally, she turned to face me.

“Michael. Please! You have GOT to believe me,” she said desperately. “It was just a crazy thought that went through my brain. I didn’t mean it. I could never...” she was sobbing again.

“There, there,” I soothed. “It’s all right. I was just surprised for a moment. Everyone has weird thoughts when they’re panicked.”

“You ... you believe me? Don’t you?” she stuttered.

“Of course. I know that everybody has crazy thoughts that pop into their mind, and then are dismissed just as quickly. You just caught me by surprise, that’s all,” I told her consolingly.

“Oh, Michael. I am so embarrassed!” Anna said. “I would never, ever do that to you.”

“I know, Anna. I know. I found the thoughts and I saw the emotions you felt right after you thought it. You can’t hide that from me. So I understand, I really do,” I assured her.

Nicky had sat quietly on the bed, taking all this in.

“Would one of you please, tell me what’s going on?” she finally asked.

“Nicky, without touching Anna, I felt something. A secret that is very sensitive to her. A very dark secret she keeps buried. When she realized I had sensed it, she panicked, becoming overwrought and distressed. In trying to deal with the ramifications of me finding out, she went through several possible reactions, discarding them just as quickly. One of them was to shut me up, permanently. I was caught off guard, so I touched her, and saw that she was never serious and had immediately felt horrible for even thinking it. You came in as I was trying to reassure her that everything would be okay.”

“Can I ask what this dark secret was? Or how she was going to shut you up?” Nicky asked.

“That’s Anna’s decision,” I answered. “But before I leave you two alone to talk, there’s something I want to share with BOTH of you.”

“What’s wrong, Michael?” Anna asked.

“I think the time has come,” I told them. “Before our relationships go any further.”

“You’re scaring me, Michael,” Nicky said. “I don’t understand.”

“I know. But I have noticed how, as my ability to sense other people grows, that you two, and Catherine, seem to be able to sense my thoughts as well. So, I have decided it’s time to share some things with you. However, I think I can do it easier if I touch you. Will you let me?”

“Grandmother can sense your thoughts?” Nicky asked.

I just nodded.

“Please, it will all be much clearer if you’ll allow me to share my memories with you,” I told Nicky.

Nicky was biting her lower lip, as she nodded apprehensively. Anna didn’t say anything either, nodding her head as well. I laid my fingertips on them.

“Damn casts!” I thought.

“I need to check his file. It should be close to time to get those off him,” Anna thought. “Hmmm, I wonder what he could do with those magic fingers then?”

I smiled as I realized she had again sensed my thoughts. I took it as a sign that my decision to tell them about my past was a good one. These two were bound to figure it out very soon.

“Anna!” exclaimed Nicky out loud. She was grinning.

“You heard that?” Anna asked her.

“Oh yeah. When he touches both of us, he does this thing so not only does he hear us, but we can hear him too. And, each other,” Nicky explained.

“Nicky, I think I need to share our conversation on the plane yesterday. It would make a couple of different things clearer for Anna. Will you trust me?” I asked her.

“With my life! I love you, Michael!” she thought.

“Thank you,” I thought to Nicky.

“Anna, I’m going to share a memory of a conversation Nicky and I had yesterday on the plane. I’m doing it this way so you will be able to see my emotions and motivations and better judge me for yourself. I am doing this because, while I was in your head a while ago, I saw what you were going to talk to us about,” I told her. “I’d also like your permission to share what happened just now with Nicky. The third memory is of a conversation I had with Catherine on Tuesday. After I have shared all three memories, I will leave you two to talk. Okay?”

“Uh ... okay,” Nicky said.

“Go ahead, Michael. Nicky deserves to know everything,” Anna sighed.

With that, I slowly replayed the conversation Nicky and I had on the airplane. Then, without pausing, I switched to what had happened this morning, from the time I came out of the bathroom.

“Wow! Did he hurt you?” Nicky interrupted at the end of that one.

“Nah. He was certainly urgent, but surprisingly gentle with me, given the situation,” she replied. For some reason, Anna had relaxed after hearing our discussion on the plane.

“Okay, here we go,” I told them nervously. “Please, Nicky. Just remember that I’m doing this because I love you very much.”

Then I began replaying my conversation with Catherine on Tuesday morning for them.

“I know you have lots of questions,” Grandmother Catherine said. “But first, I want to tell you a story...”

I fed it to them slowly, cutting it off as I was crying. Without saying a word, I slipped from the bed and started for the door. All three memories together had taken less than five minutes to share.

“Michael,” Anna called to me as I reached the door. She was holding a very distraught Nicky in her arms.

“There’s a robe hanging in the closet there,” she told me. “Hector and Melena are probably already here. Use it to go get your suitcase. Use my room, the room you slept in last night, to get dressed. Nicky and I will be out shortly.”

Nicky wouldn’t look at me, but I could tell her heart was filled with sadness.

I could hear noises in the kitchen, and somewhere a toilet flushed. The house was awakening to the new day. I grabbed my bag from the great room and headed back to get dressed. Since there was no one to help me, I put the scrubs back on, ignoring my boxers again.

“I wish I had grabbed me another pair of these. They are so comfortable!” I thought to myself.

Barefoot, I followed the smell of the coffee. When I got to the kitchen, Louisa and Melena were busy making breakfast, so I went straight to the coffee pot, saying good morning to both of them, and asking if I could serve myself.

“Of course, Senor Me-kel,” Melena told me happily.

Coffee in hand, and holding my still untied pants, I stepped out the door to find a beautifully landscaped pool with a view to the east. The clouds were almost pink, reflecting the light from the sun still below the horizon.

“Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning!” I remembered the rhyme my father had taught me. “What a contrast! Mountains out the front door, and endless miles of grasslands out the back door.” I contemplated the dichotomy, afraid to let my mind drift to the bedroom a few dozen steps to my left.

Suddenly, I could feel them. I don’t know if it was because I was so focused, or because I was so emotionally charged, or simply because I loved them. Whatever it was, I suddenly could hear Anna saying, ” ... well, I don’t know if he’s better than your brother was. But he is definitely a good guy. And since you have decided to go ahead, I’ll...”

I breathed a big sigh of relief. I could tell from their emotions, that while it stretched their minds to imagine it, they had decided that if Catherine was okay with it, they would be too. And it explained so many little things. They were going to be all right I decided.

“Did you know you’re glowing?” Randi said, breaking my reverie. She was standing beside my chair on the pool deck. I realized she was referring to the first rays of sunlight as the sun peeked over the edge of the plains. “May I sit out here with you?” she asked.

“Of course. I could never say no to a beautiful woman!” I said.

Randi beamed and sat her juice on the table, then pulled her chair around next to mine to face the sunrise. “It’s beautiful out here,” she sighed.

“Yeah,” I replied. “It’s almost as pretty as my view,” I told her as I stared at her.

Randi blushed as my compliment dawned on her.