Chapter 3

Monday, June 4, 1979

Missy and I were sitting in deep rapport, drinking our morning coffee, when she asked, {Are you really going to try to get me pregnant tonight?}

{If that's what you want, then I definitely am Sweetheart. I just want you to be sure. It's your body that will be carrying our little monster for nine months. I wouldn't push you to do that, but if it's what you want, then I'm all for it.}

{Oh, it's what I want. It seems like I've loved you forever Mike. Having a baby together is the best possible way we can show that love. Not only to each other and our family, but to the world. I want to see our baby grow. I want to watch their first steps and hear their first words. I want to teach them to be as good a person as you are.}

I couldn't even begin to have an answer for that, so I just held her close and let her feel my love for her.

When Sharon came in she said, {So you two are going to do it. Have you thought of how much trouble a baby is going to be Missy?}

{Yeah, I know carrying it is going to be a pain. and I know the middle of the night feedings aren't going to be fun, but I figure with three co-wives it isn't going to be so bad.}

Sharon laughed. {So, you're figuring on help from the rest of us, huh? Well, I guess that's okay, as long as you help me when it's my turn.}

{Of course, sister, love. I hadn't thought about it, but it would probably be easier on all of us if we spaced them out so that only one of us was pregnant at a time.}

{Yeah it probably would. You know, I was thinking yesterday, with the control we have over our bodies, why are we taking birth control pills? Why can't we just tell our bodies not to ovulate until we want it to? We wouldn't have to have periods or anything. That way we'd be able to make love 24/7.}

{That's a fantastic idea Sharon. Why didn't we think of that before?}

{It's probably because women become so resigned to their monthly visitor, as George's mother used to call it, that they would never even think of it not showing up right on schedule, } I said. {I just don't know if I'll be able to keep up with this 24/7 stuff though.}

{There's something else I was thinking of too, } Sharon said. {We've told our bodies to maintain themselves at the same age and in the same physical condition. Are you going to have to tell your body to allow you to age during the pregnancy? Otherwise I don't see how you could even get pregnant.}

{You are absolutely right, } Missy said. {I'm not worried about it though. I can always tell it to go back the way it was before the pregnancy.}

{What you should do, Missy, is tell your body that the way it is right now is your nominal age and condition. That way all you have to do is tell it to return to nominal conditions.}

{Good idea Mike. We should all do that anyway. It would help if we were in an accident or something too.}

When Bonnie came in, she was ecstatic about Sharon's idea. {When I told my body to return to the way it was when I was eighteen, I thought I was committing myself to a thousand years or so of periods. This is fantastic. I should be ovulating in the next couple of days. I'll just tell my body not to do it until I want it to.}

Bonnie wanted to go into work for a while, but the rest of our family didn't feel the need. We were all a little restless though, so we decided to go over to Fisherman's Wharf for lunch.

We were all in a playful mood, so Sharon and Missy decided we'd be tourists. My two lovlies put on the most ridiculous hillbilly accents you could imagine. They had Cindi and I in stitches most of the day. I tried to explain to them that the people where I (George) came from didn't talk that way, but they wouldn't listen to me.

We had lunch on the wharf. It was fantastic as usual. Then we went to China town and North Beach. We drove up Lombard Street with all of its curves, and came back down California Street. We even took a ride on the cable cars, where Sharon embarrassed me by insisting on calling me Daddy in a loud whiny voice.

All in all, it was a wonderful day.

That night Missy and I tried to make a baby. It's hard work, but someone has to do it. Missy managed to get two loads out of me, with enthusiastic cooperation on my part. Afterwards, as we were cuddling and coming down from our orgasms, Missy was laying there with a smile on her pretty face.

{I'm pregnant, } she said. She was.

Tuesday, June 5, 1979

Cindi surprised me this morning by coming into the kitchen right after Missy and I started our snuggle. I settled her in beside Missy on my lap, and we went into rapport for a while.

{I found Sheila this morning guys, } she told us. {It's not her that's been causing trouble for us.}

{How the hell did you find her?} I asked.

{I was trying to sort out this being able to hear everyone. I wanted to see if I could zero in on one person. All of a sudden I could hear her among all the rest. I was even able to scan her, although she's down in San Jose now.}

{You probably picked her out because you'd scanned her before. Now, if Phil's guy can just find the rest of the suspects... }

{Sheila's changed a lot since we heard from her last. She's a much nicer person now.}

{Yeah, I can believe that. I think she just got a little carried away with the power she had. She was wanting to breed a race of telepaths.}

{She had the idea that if everyone were telepathic, there wouldn't be any crime. But, she was willing to commit a crime herself by kidnaping you to father that race. When you say it like that, it doesn't make a lot of sense at all. She sees that now.}

{You seem to be defending her Cindi, my love. Is there a reason for that?}

{Are you going to get mad at me Mike?}

{I doubt it Hon. When have I ever been mad at you?}

{Uhh... When I pretended I was drowning in the pool that time?}

{Okay, so maybe I'll get mad at you, } I said, laughing at her expression. {You know I'll still love you don't you?}

{Yeah... Mike, I talked to Sheila for a while.}

{That probably wasn't a great idea Hon, but I'm not mad at you. Why did you talk to her?}

{She's not in that telepath group any more, Mike. She has changed so much you wouldn't believe it if you hadn't scanned her. She just seemed so lonely.}

{I guess it would be kind of lonely if we couldn't talk like this or be in rapport like this, although she never did have the rapport.}

{I think I'd kill myself if I lost this, } Missy said.

{So, what did you talk about?}

{Well Mike, like I said she's lonely. She just wanted to know how we all were. Uhh... I asked her to come up and visit.}

{Cindi, you are going to be the death of me yet. So when is she coming to visit?}

{This afternoon.}

{And, what do you expect me to do when she comes here?}

{Well... I just thought that if you scanned her and saw how much she's changed, we might like... Maybe give her back what she had before?}

{Cindi, I love you with all of my heart. You are a kind, loving, caring person. But, Sweetheart, did you ever think that what has made Sheila a nicer person is the fact that she doesn't have what she had before?}

{No I didn't think of that. I'm sorry Mike.}

{Don't be sorry Love. There's no harm done. We'll just play it be ear when she gets here.}

Sheila showed up just before 1:00 PM. I could tell immediately that she was an entirely different person than we'd known before.

"So, Shiela, what have you been doing with yourself?" I asked.

"I'm a school girl again, Mike," she laughed. "After I lost my abilities, I decided on a career change. I'm studying psychology down in San Jose."

"What made you want to get into psychology?" Missy asked.

"Well... at first I thought that maybe it was a way for me to get my abilities back. Then I started realizing just how screwed up I had been, so I continued so I could try to figure out how to make myself a better person."

"Do you think you've been able to help yourself?" Sharon asked.

"I really don't know Sharon. I know I have a long way to go. Like I said, I wanted my abilities back. Now, I've accepted the fact that isn't going to happen. I think my motives were good before, but my methods were bad. I wanted to create a world where everyone could trust everyone else. A world where there was no crime. A world where help was available for anyone who needed it."

"Those are good motives Sheila," Bonnie said. "The only problem is, they're not practical. Not everyone is a saint. Some people out of any group would misuse those abilities. Think of how easy it would be to rob someone if you knew for certain they weren't going to be home. Think of how easy it would be to get someone's security code if they had a security system, or the combination of their safe. Think of how easy it would be for a mugger to pick a victim he knew wouldn't fight back."

"Yeah, I know. Adam Hunt showed me what it would be like if the wrong kind of people had those abilities. He basically raped my mind, and tried to make it hurt. He enjoyed hurting people. I saw in the newspaper that he had died. I hate to say it, but I was happy he had."

"Are you intending to specialize in your new field Sheila?" I asked.

"Yes and no. I'm still interested in telepathy. I can see now that many of the people in my old group were pretty screwed up. Many of them had feelings of superiority because of their abilities. Others were frightened of it. I'd like to try to help those people, but I'd also like to help anyone else who needed it."

We all chatted with Sheila the rest of the afternoon. Bonnie loaned her a swimsuit, and she enjoyed the pool for a while. It's hard not to enjoy the pool with Cindi and Melly clowning around. I took the opportunity to do a deep scan on Sheila. I was impressed with what I found. She had an inner peace that surprised me.

Bonnie asked Sheila to stay for dinner, and she readily agreed. She came over to the lounge next to mine while Bonnie and Thelma started dinner.

"Sheila, if you had your abilities back, what would you do?" I asked.

"I've thought of that a million times Mike," she said. "I'd still want to be a psychologist. I still have three years to go before I can be a psychologist, but I'd want to continue. Think of how a psychologist could help people if they could read the person's thoughts."

"Yeah, we've all talked about that too. Beth is thinking about going into neurological research. We're all interested in the brain and its functions."

<Do you see how she's changed Mike?> Cindi asked.

<Yeah Cindi. I scanned her too. She's really come a long way in two and a half years.>

<I think we should invite her into the family Mike, > Cindi told me.

<I knew this was what you were thinking Cindi. Well... we haven't brought anyone new in for a couple of years. Find out what everyone else thinks and let me know.>

"Are you going to school full time Sheila?"

"Yeah, I'm fortunate that I can afford to do so. My family had money, and I'm the only one left of the family. Mike, I have a question for you. I remember reading in the papers a couple of years ago that Ken Halbertson died, yet here he is. What's up with that?"

"I'll answer that if you don't mind Mike," Ken said. <By the way my vote is yes.> "Sheila, if you look at the newspaper reports, it said I was missing. I had gone fishing and the boat washed ashore without me. I was on vacation, and had taken the boat up the shore to a place I was going to camp for a couple of weeks. I didn't tie the boat off well, and after I had unloaded it and had moved my gear back into the hills to my camp site, it got away and drifted down the coast. I didn't even know it was gone until I was leaving."

<Mike, everyone voted yes. It's entirely up to you, > Cindi said.

<Do you want to ask her Ken, or do you want me to?>

<You do it, Mike. I may chip in at times.>

"Sheila, when you lost your abilities, you blamed us. I have a confession to make. We did take them away. You were out of control and were planning to kidnap me. Whether it was intentional or not, you led Adam Hunt to us. He damned near killed one of us."

"Deep down, I always knew you had. I was very angry at first. Then, I realized you had done me a favor. I was out of control, and what you did made me step back and evaluate myself."

"Well, Sheila, I think you are ready to have those abilities back. Would you be interested if we could do that for you?"

"Yes Mike. I think I can promise you that I won't go out of control again. When I was talking mentally with Cindi, it made me realize just how much I had lost."

"Okay, you are going to get your abilities back which ever way you answer this next question, so don't let that influence your answer. Would you like to join our family?"

"Oh God yes! I think that's what I really wanted before," Sheila blushed then went on. "I was fascinated by you, and was a little ashamed of myself. I mean, you were a seventeen year old boy and I had the hots for you. I have to admit I had the hots for a couple of others in your family as well."

I quickly increased the size of the blood vessel in her brain then said,

<Welcome to the family, Sheila.>

<Oh my God! I can hear you Mike. I can hear all of you.>

<That's because we brought you inside our shield Sheila, > Ken told her. <There are a lot of things we'll need to tell you about. Dinner is ready, so why don't we go in and eat while we talk about things.>

I don't know if Bonnie and Thelma have some kind of intuitive connection with cooking or what, but the meal was excellent as usual. I don't think Sheila even noticed though, she was so wrapped up in the mental conversation that was going on.

<Sheila, you are going to have a lot more abilities than you had before, > I told her. <I'm going to let Cindi train you in most of the new things. The new abilities are mostly these: you will have a higher IQ; you will be able to deep scan anyone to read their memories and underlying thoughts; you will be able to read at a very high rate and you will be able to remember everything you've read; you will be able to repair anything that is wrong with your body; and you will be able to stop the aging process and even reverse it.>

Sheila gasped at each of the things I was telling her. <But... Mike, are you telling me I'm going to live forever?>

<Maybe not forever Sheila, but I would guess you'll live for a long time. Maybe thousands of years.>

<Oh my God! There's no wonder you guys were shy about opening your shields to others.>

<There are other reasons as well, Sheila. Our lifestyle is different than what most people would consider normal. In addition, although my body is Bonnie's son, my mind belonged to a fifty-eight year old man who died in the year 2003. I have no idea how I ended up in Mike's body, 27 years in my past, but I did.>

She had a million questions about George, and I answered them all as best I could. <How is your lifestyle different?> she asked.

<Well, for one thing, we are nude most of the time when it is just the family here. For another, we have two married groups here. I am married to Bonnie, Sharon, Missy, and Cindi. Ken is Married to Thelma, Beth, and Melly.>