Chapter 8

Tuesday, June 12, 1979

Missy and I were doing our normal morning snuggle, sipping on our first cup of coffee, when Jude came into the kitchen. She poured herself a cup and came over by where Missy and I were cuddling. Missy moved over onto one of my legs, opening the other one up for Jude.

Instead of sitting across my leg like Missy was doing, she straddled it, facing me. Her bare pussy was tight against my leg as she leaned into us. She put one arm around me and the other around Missy and said, <I love you guys.>

<We love you too, Jude, > Missy said.

{Missy, close rapport?}

{Yes!}

We didn't warn her, just brought her gently into the close rapport we share in our marriage. We felt wonder, love, hope, lust, and trust all at once. We shared our feelings and emotions with her as fully as we shared them with each other. I didn't want to overwhelm her completely, so I cut it off after a few minutes.

{Jude, this is the channel we use for our marriage. The rapport we were just in is the rapport we share every day.}

{I never knew it could be like that. Mike and Missy, I love you so much I can't stand it.}

{We could feel that in the rapport, Jude, just like you could feel our love for you. When the rest of us are awake, we'll all go into rapport together, and you'll be able to feel what all of us feel for you. It is an awesome thing.}

{Oh God, yes! It is awesome. Mike, I'm not married to you guys. Why did you share that with me?}

{Because, my love, we are asking you if you would like to be married to us.}

{Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! One yes for each of you! I just don't know how I've made it this far without you all.}

{Honey, we all felt that way after we experienced what you just did, } I said.

{What did she just experience?} Sharon asked as she came in and poured herself a cup.

{Only the most wonderful thing in the world, } Jude said.

{We just shared our close rapport with her, } I said.

{The one that is just for our marriage partners?} Sharon asked.

{Yep.}

{Does that mean?... }

{I said yes to all five of you, } Jude said.

Sharon pulled Jude into a hug, then kissed her passionately. {Welcome to our marriage, } she said. {We'll have the ceremony tomorrow if that's okay with you, Jude}

{Can't we do it today?}

Sharon laughed. {No, my love. We have the ceremony at sunrise, to symbolize the beginning. We'll need to wait until tomorrow. That's just the ceremony though. As soon as you said yes, you are married to us.}

{Who's married to us?} Bonnie asked as she came in. {Is it the beautiful little girl we were talking about last night?}

{Yes, Bonnie, } Jude bubbled.

Bonnie gave Jude a hug and a kiss of welcome then asked, {How are your mother and father going to feel about this?}

Jude's face fell, and she looked sober. {I hadn't even thought about them, } she said. {I don't think they'll object though. Mom and Dad married early. He was eighteen and she was sixteen. Once they see how happy I am, I don't think they'll have a problem with it.}

{Do you think you should ask them first?} Bonnie asked.

{No, but I think I should tell them first. I'm not going to let them control me on this, but they do deserve to know before I actually do it.}

{I'll take you to talk with them later, } Missy said. {I don't really have anything to do in at work today.}

{Jude, I don't know if financial security for you is something they worry about or not, but you might tell them that you will be very secure, } I told her.

Jude laughed. {I think they should know that if we are going to be living in a sixteen bedroom house.}

{That's nothing love, } Bonnie told her. {By the end of the year, we should be worth somewhere around two hundred forty million dollars.}

Jude just sat there with her mouth open. Finally she said, {And, you want to marry me?}

{Yes, we do, Jude. Five years ago my father died. We wondered how we were going to make it. Bonnie had to go to work to help support us. When I woke up in Mike's body, all the money the family had was a hundred thousand dad had saved toward our college fund. We have earned every bit of the rest of it since then. Money doesn't matter to us any more. We have enough to last us for many, many years. Love is the important thing. Love and people. You are one of the easiest to love people we have ever met.}

{You all feel that way about me?} Jude asked.

{We talked it over last night, Sweetheart. Everyone agreed. I will say Sharon was a little pissed off we were talking about it when we did though.}

{Why were you pissed off, Sharon?} Jude asked, a look of concern on her face.

{Jude, Mike and I were making love. He was inside me, balls deep, and then he started talking about marrying you. He totally forgot what he was supposed to be doing to me. I had to prod him to get him going again. I told him to pretend it was you he was making love to.}

Jude was blushing a lovely shade of red when I said, {Sharon, my first love, you know I never have to think of anyone but you when I'm making love to you.}

{Yes, I do, Mike. I was just teasing him, Jude.}

Since none of us got much done at work yesterday, Bonnie, Sharon, Cindi and I went in this morning. Cindi went in mainly to talk with Ann.

Sharon, Tim, Ken, and I were talking about investments when the receptionist announced that Mr. Howser from the SEC was here. I told her to send him in and said to the family, <Oh shit! Howser is here.>

As the receptionist was showing him into the office, Cindi said, <Mike! Be careful! He's got a gun!>

<Someone call the police. Let's try to do this right.>

"Good morning, Mr. Howser," I said. "What can we do for you today?"

Howser snarled his lip and said, "Green, I want you to know I saw you and your slut here on that tape. I don't know what you've done with Johnston, but I'm going to find out."

Tim shifted uncomfortably, so I told him mentally to relax and that there was no way Howser could recognize him. "Mr. Howser, I've always been polite with you, even though I think you are harassing us. You are not going to come into my office and insult my wife though. You are welcome to look around, but I will be reporting your words and actions to your supervisor."

"Like hell you will!" Howser said as he pulled the gun out of his jacket.

<Don't worry, Mike. His gun won't shoot. You know the little thing that hits the bullet when you pull the trigger? It won't move any more, > Cindi told me.

<How did you do that, Love?>

<It's something Jude and I learned last night.>

<Good girl.>

<Mike, the police are here. Should they come in now?> Bonnie asked.

<Not yet, Sweetheart. I just turned the intercom on. See if they can hear what he's saying.>

"Mr. Howser, if you shoot me, you'll go to jail for the rest of your life. Do you really want that?"

"It might be worth it just to be rid of you. You've driven me crazy over the last three years trying to figure out how you're working this trading scam. Now, you waltz into a mental institution and waltz back out with one of the inmates. You're not going to get away with this shit!"

"So, what are you going to do Mr. Howser?"

Howser's laugh was almost maniacal, "First I'm going to shoot you in the left knee. Then I'm going to ask you how you're working this trading scam. Then, if I don't believe your answer, I'm going to shoot you in the right knee. If I do believe you, I'm going to shoot you in the right knee and ask you where Johnston is. If you tell me, and I believe you, then you're off the hook. If you won't tell me or I don't believe you, I'm going to shoot you in the nuts."

<Did the police hear that, Bonnie?>

<Yes, Mike.>

<Send them in.>

"Get up, Green and walk around in front of your desk," Howser commanded.

I did just as he asked. I leaned back against the front of my desk as two policemen burst through the door of my office. You could see Howser pulling the trigger and hear the hammer hitting the useless firing pin as he pointed the gun at me.

The first policeman yelled, "Freeze! Drop the gun!", as they pointed their weapons at Howser.

Howser whirled, facing the officers, still pulling the trigger. Three shots quickly rang out from the officer's weapons, and Howser was laying on the floor. The officers approached him cautiously, took his gun, and rolled him over. He was quite obviously dead.

The older of the two officers approached me then said, "I'm officer Gannon. I'm sorry this had to happen, Mr. Green."

"So am I, officer. I think the man went off the deep end. I have no idea why he seemed to hate us so much."

"He said something about a trading scam. What did he mean by that?"

"We've had some very good luck in the stock market over the last few years. Howser had it in his head that we were doing something wrong. He has investigated us six times in the last three years. We aren't doing anything wrong, so he didn't find anything. Evidently he was obsessed with trying to prove that we are. I understand, from what he told me, that he had the same fixation on another person a few years ago, and actually drove the poor man insane. Evidently the man recently escaped from the asylum they had him in, and so he brought two federal marshals in here yesterday claiming I had helped the man escape."

"Why haven't you reported him to his supervisors before this?"

"Our lawyers have filed several complaints with the SEC, which is the organization he worked for. Nothing has come of the complaints."

"It sounds like he was abusing his powers, Mr. Green. Bringing a gun in here and making the statements he did clearly show that he was unbalanced. I shouldn't say this, but if I were you, I'd be on the phone to my attorney as soon as we leave here."

The officers told us that it was going to take quite some time for them to get the medical examiner in and get all of the photos and everything else taken care of. I asked if we could leave the building, and after taking our home information they told us to go ahead.

We went to Bonnie's office first, and she glued herself to me. <I thought we had lost you, Mike, > she sobbed into my shoulder.

<Not a chance with our youngest spouse around, > I said.

<I know, but it still scared me.>

<Cindi, can you make the firing pin so it works again?>

<Already done, Mike. I also put little dimples in the end of each bullet so it looked like the pin had hit them.>

<Damn! You're good, Lover. I owe you for this one.>

<I know just what I want, > she told me.

<I'd ask you what it is, but I have a pretty good idea, and there are other people present.>

Cindi giggled, and everyone smiled at her. The entire family left the office and went home.

When we got there, I was wiped out. I don't know that it was fear so much, because after Cindi told me she had disabled Howser's gun, I really wasn't afraid, or at least not much. I think it was more of a reaction to the hatred I felt coming off of him in waves. Whatever the reason, I went straight to the bedroom and collapsed across the bed, still fully clothed.

I must have fallen asleep because I awoke some time later, but now I was undressed. Sharon was snuggled to one side of me and Bonnie was snuggled to the other. I jumped when I awoke, and Sharon ran her hand up and down my chest making cooing sounds, while Bonnie kept assuring me everything was okay.

{Cindi, Missy, Jude, could you come in here please?} Bonnie called out. Within seconds all three of them were on the bed as well. Cindi pulled us into a close rapport, and I just let go. It had been years since I cried, but I cried now.

My tears weren't for Howser, or even for me. They weren't for what had happened, but for what could have happened. I cried because it would have been so easy for Bonnie or Sharon or Missy or Cindi or Jude to have been hurt or killed.

I cried because some people don't put a high enough value on human life. I cried because there is so much hatred in the world. I cried.