Chapter 5

Joseph Alton Patterson stepped out of his beat-up pickup truck, grimaced when the engine turned over a few more times before rattling to a stop. He glanced at the stucco buildings in front of him. Like a fuckin' rabbit warren, he thought. One of the apartments in one of the buildings belonged to his daughter, but which one? To him, they all looked alike. He glanced at a scrap of paper in his hand, cursed and pulled a pair of drugstore reading glasses from his shirt pocket. Apt. 226, Building L, the note read. It listed her phone numbers, as well.

He remembered Nora's directions. "Number 226 means the apartment is on the second floor, Pops, and it's one of the apartments in Building L. Every building is labeled alphabetically..."

Discouraged because he stood in front of Building C, he decided to drive around the rabbit warren until he located Building L. Walking could take half a day.

Before he turned to his pickup, a female voice said, "You look lost. May I help you?"

A young woman, younger than Nora, and very pregnant, was walking a funny-looking, small dog.

"I'm looking for Building L," Joe told her.

"First building around the corner to your left. Can't miss it," she said and turned to her dog. The scruffy beast was squatting and taking a crap. "Good girl, Mitsy! Good girl!"

A few minutes later, Joe knocked on the door labeled 226. It flew open and Nora flew into his arms.

David's ghost-like fingers touched his sister's shoulder. She smiled but didn't turn to him. She knew she wouldn't see him.

"How's the baby?" David asked, using his normal voice. Steve was at the hospital. They didn't need to be careful.

"Exhausting," Darla sighed. "He wakes up every three or four hours and wants a taste from mama's teats. I'd give anything for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep."

David chuckled. "Including little darlin'?"

"Uh-uh, no way. He's exhausting, but I wouldn't trade him for the world." She stiffened briefly to a distant, small sound, and then relaxed. "He's waking up," she said and pushed herself to her feet.

David followed her to the nursery and watched her lift the baby from the crib. She settled on a rocking chair and fed a nipple to the child, sighing with contentment when the boy finally started to suckle.

"I'm worried about the darlin'," Darla said, assuming her brother's consciousness had followed her into the nursery. "Unlike you, he struggles latching onto my nipples."

David huffed a laugh. "Give the boy some slack. He has some learning to do. The first time I sucked your nipples, you screeched with pain. Remember? I didn't have my sense of touch while tripping perfected yet."

She ignored his query and asked, "What have you been doing with yourself?"

"I met someone last night, and she joined me for a run this morning."

"Oh, the poor woman! She'll be so sore tomorrow she won't be able to get out of bed. You took pity on her, didn't you?"

"Actually, she ran me into the ground."

"Good golly, Miss Molly! What is she? An Olympian?"

"No, a special agent for the FBI."

"Really? Interesting. Are you going to see her again? In the flesh, I mean?"

"Yes. Nora and her father are joining Mother and me for Sunday brunch at the Wrigley Mansion tomorrow."

"How sweet, a double date," Darla said, her voice containing a touch of sarcasm, but suddenly she smiled broadly and added, "Come to think of it, a double date is kind of sweet. Mom needs a man other than you, David. When you find the love of your life, and you will, she might be opposed to you servicing your mother's sexual needs. Tell me about the man."

"I've only seen him once, and that was during a trip, a time trip, to boot. I wondered what Nora would look like when she was younger and somehow slipped into her past the next time I visited her. Both Nora and her father were at least ten years younger than they are now."

"Judas! Are you telling me your consciousness can wander into the past and future?"

"No. So far, I've only visited the past, Mother's past once, and the time I just mentioned regarding Nora."

"What about me? Have you seen me in my past?"

"No." He grinned. "I've tried, though."

This Nora woman is someone very special to David, Darla thought. She wouldn't be included in a new evolution in his flights of consciousness otherwise. For years, he could visit only Mother, and then for a short time, he could visit me, as well, but no one else until his abilities expanded. He claimed he could connect with us because we were so important to him. Now his visits include trips to the past, Mother's past. And Nora's.

But not mine.

Unaccountably, being excluded upset her.

Does David know how special this woman is to him? Is she the one?

"What about you? Anything new in your life besides little George?" David asked, changing the subject.

"That's right! You don't know! I told Steve about my money. It blew his mind!"

Her laugh dislodged the nipple in the baby's mouth, and David watched mother's milk dribble from the end until the child's suckling mouth covered it again. David's invisible mouth watered.

"Anyway," Darla said, "I asked him if he had a burning desire for a big-boy toy, like you. Men and their toys! Surprise, surprise! It turned out he does. He wants a horse! Can you believe it?"

David didn't tell her he already knew about everything. Multiple visits every day, both to Darla and Steve, kept him fully informed. "Amazing," he said. "Haven't you always wanted a horse, too?"

"Yeah, cool, huh? I plan to start looking for a horse property next week. I'll look at a few horses, too."

They chatted about horses and horse properties for a few minutes until the baby released Darla's nipple. Suddenly, an overwhelming urge washed over David's consciousness.

"Ah, Darla... ah, I have a favor to ask. May I... I'm not trying to break my promise, but may I taste your milk?"

Her eyes grew wide, but then she smiled. Why not? Steve hadn't asked for a taste, which had disappointed her. "Go ahead," she said, "but be gentle. They're a little sore."

She couldn't believe how wonderful his ghostly lips felt on her breasts. She'd forgotten how much she loved to have him lick and suck her nipples. David had cherished her breasts, and the love he bestowed on them always turned her pussy into liquid mush, and this time was no different. For the first time since she'd given birth to little darlin', she felt sexual arousal. Guilt flooded her. Her husband should be creating the arousal she was feeling, not her brother.

"Enough," she whispered, but when she felt his lips move from her breast, she wanted them back desperately.

"Thank you. Your milk is sweet and warm. I love the taste of it," David said, his voice unusually bland. "Sorry about the mess. I can taste and suck, but I can't swallow."

He's hiding his feelings, Darla guessed as she wiped up the milk his invisible lips had pulled from her breast. "Your invisible cock is as hard as rock, isn't it?"

To keep his promise, he contemplated lying, but the truth felt more appropriate. "Yes."

"Good." She pushed herself to her feet, laid the sleeping baby in his crib and returned to the chair, hiking her skirt above her waist before she sat. "Because my pussy is sopping wet," she added as she pushed her panties down off her hips, finally kicking them off her ankles.

"I should probably leave," David said as his invisible eyes fixed on his sister's excited pussy. He watched as her fingers tentatively moved through her obviously wet crease.

"Uh-uh. You started this. Finish it. I want a psychic suck."

"Are you sure?"

"Fuck no! Just do it, dammit!"

Invisible hands caressed her inner thighs, and one of them brushed her hand from her pussy just before a mouth-like apparition covered her entire vulva. She groaned quietly with deep passion.

His lips and tongue explored her pussy as his sensuous hands caressed her legs and hips. His fingers found the soft skin behind her knees as his tongue rolled over her swollen clitoris. The intensifying sensations made her delirious. Her brother's talented mouth was on her pussy again!

"Lick it!" she gushed. "Lick it!"

His tongue moved faster and faster, and her hips started to wave.

"Oh, sweet Jesus! Your mouth on me again is... is... oh, it's incredible, David! Lick it! Yes! Lick it!"

She could have climaxed when his mouth first covered her cunt, but she'd wanted to stretch out the pleasure, extend the time of the psychic suck, because it was her intent to never allow another to happen. This would be the first and last time she'd allow David's ghost to touch her inappropriately.

Oh, don't kid yourself. You allowed a crack in the dam you built to keep David away. The crack will widen. Now you've felt his mouth on you again, you won't be able to resist letting him lick you whenever you get the urge and opportunity. You'll want his mouth on you! You'll want his... !

No! No more! That's it! Limit everything to psychic sucks. That's all! Nothing more!

Her decision pleased her because it diminished her guilt, and try as she might, she couldn't stop the orgasm that suddenly overwhelmed her. Wondrous sensations pulsed, gripped and released her as the climax spread. When she believed the climax was about finished, David sucked her clitoris into his mouth and lashed it with his tongue, and another orgasm ripped through her.

When she finally collapsed, her little darlin' was fussing. Her cries of joy had awakened him, she assumed. "Help me up, David. Gorgy-Porgy needs me."

Before David's visit ended, she'd extracted a promise from him that he wouldn't take their renewed relationship beyond psychic sucks. He'd keep his promise, Darla knew. But would she?

When she sensed she was alone, she looked down at her baby, and love washed over her, love for the little darlin', love for her husband, and yes, love for her brother. She whispered, "I'll make up for my afternoon's delight with my brother by giving your daddy a treat tonight, little darlin'. I'll take his wonderful cock in my mouth and lick it and suck it and play with it until it shoots its sexy juices into my mouth, juices I'll gulp down like a starvin' woman. Your daddy will love it, and if sucking him off excites me, I'll encourage him to lick my pussy, lick it just like your Uncle David's ghost just licked it. Waddaya think, Gorgy-Porgy? Does that sound like a good plan? I do. And in a week or two, I'll be all better down below, and your daddy can fuck me again. Ooh, little darlin'! I can hardly wait!"

Back in his body, David rammed his throbbing cock into his mother's cunt, and his hips ratcheted like a piston on a steam engine going a mile a minute.

"Don't misunderstand. I love it, son, but what brought this on?" Carol asked, trying to match his frantic rhythm. "Did you just visit Nora again?"

"No, Darla," he said without thinking.

"Ooh, sexy! What did you see?"

Because he'd jumped her bones with hardly a hello, his mother deserved an explanation, but he decided to keep the psychic suck between his sister and him. "It's not what I saw. I tasted her breasts, her milk, and my mouth on her breasts excited me. I'm close, Mother, very close."

"Go ahead. I don't mind," she said as her mind created animated images of David's mouth suckling Darla's milk-ladened breasts. Sexy! When he climaxed a minute later, she joined his climax with her own.

Would Darla give her a taste, too?

"Why are you being so contrary, Pops? It's just a suit. I've bought you clothing before," Nora said.

His adamant refusal to consider buying, or allowing her to buy a suit and tie for him, baffled her. Something was behind his stubborn attitude, something she didn't know about, something he didn't want her to know about, or he'd have told her. They'd both prided themselves on the open communication they enjoyed with each other.

Nora placed a hand on each of her hips. She stood in front of him; he was sitting on the sofa, studiously avoiding any eye contact with her.

"Okay, Pops. Spit it out. What's happened that you don't want me to know about?"

He shook his head. "Dammit, girl, you've always known when I held a secret I didn't want to share. Just let it be. It's none of your business."

"Does the secret involve money?"

"I won't play twenty questions with you, peanut." She's as bad as you were, Tess, Joe said silently to his dead wife. She can't stand being out to the loop, either. Talk about tenacious!

A different approach is needed, Nora thought. "Fine. Keep your secret, but when the tailor arrives, you will let him fit you with a suit, which I will pay for. I'll pick out the tie, too. You'd probably select one with a horse on it, or something equally garish. I'll tell you why you'll let me buy the suit, too - because the luncheon tomorrow is important to me. I like David Stanley. I like him a lot, and I won't allow your stubbornness to mess up any potential relationship I could have with the man."

Joe groaned and cursed under his breath. She'd won, as usual. She'd won because he could never deny her anything she truly wanted, not if he had the wherewithal to give it to her. He nodded. "But I'll do the paying."

"Uh-uh. I caused the problem. I'll fix it. Now tell me about your money problems."

A little misdirection is needed, Joe thought. "It could be female problems as easily as money problems. I might not want to meet your beau's mother. Maybe I want to be true-blue..."

"Hah!" she laughed, interrupting his obvious lie. "Do you really want us to travel down that road, Pops? Let me guess. It's Gloria, the waitress at the diner. She's been flirting with you for years. No? Then it's got to be Mrs. Steiner. She lost her husband a few years back, and Mrs. Steiner needs to be married to feel whole. No, it can't be Mrs. Steiner. Criminy, she'd marry a lizard if one asked. How about... ?" She paused when an idea formed. "It's possible, I guess, not likely, but possible. Is there a new woman in town, Pops?"

Make up a name. If you don't she'll never give up. No, that won't work. She'll want details, and I've never been a very good liar. Ah, hell. I might as well get it over with. We'll need to talk about it sooner or later. He grinned listlessly. "The mine closed. I lost my job."

"Ah, Dad. I'm so sorry," Nora said, truly sorry now because she'd pushed him into a corner. "When did it close?"

"Three months back."

"How are you living? Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped..."

"I didn't tell you for the very reason you just started to mention. You would've wanted to help me, tried to send me money, and I won't have it! You understand! I just won't accept money from you."

"Why? I owe you. I owe you everything I have, everything I'll ever have. It's payback time, Pops."

"You owe me nothing. I'll let you buy the fuckin' suit because the brunch is important to you. That's it. I can take care of myself."

"Stubborn galoot." He means it, she thought and decided she'd put him in the passenger seat, tighten his seat belt, and drive down that road later when his stubborn heels weren't dug in. "You didn't tell me how you've been managing without any income for three months."

"I'm not fiscally illiterate. I put a little away for my old age, some money you didn't know about, know-it-all, and some ranchers hired me to fix an intransigent horse or two. I've been getting by." Of course, this trip wiped out my savings, he thought. I can get back home if I'm careful, and I can pay my way while I'm here, but... fuck! Life fuckin' sucks!

Look at him! He's pissed, angry at an unfair world. Well, get over it, Pops, and get over the fact that I'll help you whether you want my help or not. Suddenly, a germ of an idea, a possible solution to her father's dilemma started to come together for her.

He'd mentioned horses. Nora had never seen anyone as good with horses as her father. Joseph Patterson claimed he could talk horse. He knew their language. When he was just a lad, an old Ute Indian had taken him under his wing and taught the boy everything he knew about horses. According to Pops, horses had a universal language they use to communicate with each other, a soft, subtle language, almost a whisper. He claimed he was a horse whisperer, and Nora believed him. Joe Patterson didn't make claims he couldn't back up.