Chapter 35: Nicole

"Hey, Pop, how you?" I said on the telephone. I started to fall into the speech patterns of my youth as I dialed my father's telephone number.

"Nicky! It sure is good to hear from you. I'm right as rain. How you? How's college comin' along?"

"Good, Pop, real good. How's Jessie?"

"Fine as frog's hair. She's not here right now, went to the store. How's that husband of yours?"

"Great. Did you get the painting Josh sent you?"

"Yup, it's hangin' on the wall in the livin' room. Everybody that sees it thinks it's a mighty fine picture.

"Well, he has a one-man show in New York this month. That's a milestone in the life of an artist, Pop. One of these days, he'll be a famous artist."

"I just bet he will. That husband of yours can do anything he puts his mind to. I believe that, Nicky. I surely do."

"How are the boys? Have you heard from them?"

"Yes! Bill's wife, Ellie, is pregnant. I'm goin' to be a granddaddy. How about them apples? How 'bout you? When you goin' to give me a grandbaby?"

"One of these days I'll surprise you. That's great about Ellie. A boy or a girl?" Bill had torn up his knee playing football in college, lost his scholarship, and dropped out of school. He was too proud to accept help from me. He found a good wife and made a decent living in construction. He seemed happy.

"They don't know yet. She's only three months along. He was talkin' to me about startin' his own subcontracting business. You might want to talk to him."

"I'll do that. I can help him get started, no strings attached, if he'll let me."

"He's a mighty proud man, Nicky."

"I know. How's Bobby doin'"

"Mighty fine. I sure am proud of that boy." Pop lowered his voice. "He told Jessie he had a girlfriend."

"Really? I'm happy to hear that."

"Well, mums the word. I'm not supposed to know. Why that is, I've got no idea."

Bobby let me help him. I paid his tuition at a good college. He was a junior studying computer science. He'd helped us with the computerization of our compound under the direction of an expert Andy had brought in.

"My lips are zipped, Pop."

I didn't need to ask about Jeff, my youngest brother. He called me from time to time. I was helping with his tuition, too, but he also had an athletic scholarship. Jeff had averaged a perfect 4.0 his first year of college. I asked about him anyway.

"That boy will go far, Nicky. He's like you, a real brain."

"Listen, I called to invite you to a birthday party for Josh and Sandy. If we arrange for transportation, will you and Jessie join us? We've planned the party for the 20th of this month at our house in Scottsdale. That's a Friday, Pop. You'll only need to take one day of vacation."

"I'll need to talk to Jessie, but I sure would like to see you and Josh again and wish him and his sister a happy birthday."

"Great. We'll count on you then. I love you, Pop."

"I love you, too, Nicky. You know, I hope Bill and Ellie's baby is a girl. It sure would be nice to watch another little girl grow up like I watched you."

That brought tears to my eyes. My pop was a sweet, sweet man.

Pop had told me nothing I didn't already know. I'd started my checking visits years ago, and I still checked on my family with quick telepathic scans a couple of times everyday.

You're a good woman, wife of mine. I love you dearly, Josh said in my mind.

Like my pop, you're a sweet, sweet man, Josh Johnson.

"I did it, Nicole!" Darren announced as he came rushing into my apartment. He grabbed me around the waist and spun me in the air. His boyish exuberance tickled me.

"Did what?" I knew but I also knew he wanted to tell me firsthand.

"I walked through a crowded shopping mall and was able to pick and choose which emotions and sensations I'd experience. What a difference! I tamped down all the haters and let happiness reign."

Like with Sandy, Darren had picked up telepathy techniques quickly with few glitches, but controlling his empathic abilities had baffled him at first. All the anger and hate he experienced had really bothered him, and there were times when he considered asking Josh to turn off his empathy switch. Then he'd join the four of us in bed and share our orgasms and love, and he'd persevered. I was proud of him.

Congratulations, Darren, Josh said.

Thanks, Josh. I'd started to wonder if I'd ever get a handle on empathy. Nicole did it. She gave me the clue that helped me figure out how to tamp down some emotions and sensations and let others wash over me in all their glory. Sandy, are you there?

Yes, I've been listening. Congratulations, Darren. I remember the day I made the same breakthrough. I felt like celebrating.

Yes, let's celebrate.

I groaned. "I can't guys. Y'all know why. I have a date with the library tonight. Darren, fly down to New York and celebrate with Josh and Sandy."

Josh, Sandy, would I be a bother? Darren asked.

Not at all, Josh said.

Let us know which flight you catch and one or both of us we'll meet you at the airport with a limo, Sandy said.

After Darren left, I raised my shield. I'd been raising a shield a lot lately, not to shield my thoughts, but rather to avoid interruptions. I'd completed and submitted my dissertation, but I'd discovered some holes in my research that I was certain would be pointed out when I defended my dissertation at my orals. I admit it. Orals worried me.

I gathered my notes and other paraphernalia and headed out the door. Two hours at the library, a quick dinner, and two more hours at the library would dispel some of my concern - hopefully.

The closest parking lot to the library was full. Situation normal. I drove three blocks away and parked my Lexus at a parking place at the curb. I'd parked in the same area before and thought nothing of it. I gathered my stuff, locked the car and strode away, cutting through a vacant lot that would knock five minutes off my walking time to the library.

I was halfway through the lot when a large, black man jumped out in front of me. It was dark, but I could still see his crazed eyes.

Josh! I thought. He didn't respond. Josh!

That's when I remembered I'd raised my shield. I lowered it and screamed silently, Josh!

I'm connected with him, Josh said. Back away slowly. If he comes at you, I'll stop him.

"Throw your purse to me, bitch, or I'll kill you," the man said forcefully and raised his right hand.

Josh, he has a gun!

That's when the men flew backwards through the air. I heard the report of the gun going off and the whine of the bullet flying past my head.

Are you all right? Josh shouted mentally.

Yes, the bullet missed me.

I heard his mental sigh of relief.

Go back to your car and drive to the apartment.

Josh, I'm fine. I need to go to the library.

All right. Darren, are you there?

Yes.

Will you meet Nicole at her apartment and drive her to the library.

Yes. What happened? When Nicole raised her shield, I lost contact with her.

The same thing happened to me, Sandy said.

Josh said, Move it, Nicole, or you'll be spending the night with the police. The gunshot has been reported.

I moved it. Josh explained to Darren and Sandy what had happened.

What about the bad guy? Darren asked.

He's not a bad guy anymore. He's a vegetable.

What do you mean?

He had a gun. I didn't have time to be nice about taking him down. I scrambled his brains. As it was, the gun went off anyway. We were lucky the bullet missed Nicole. Nicole, no shields unless you're in your apartment or surrounded by other students in the library. Okay?

Yes, I said.

Darren, would you mind terribly canceling your trip to New York? You'll need to pick up Nicole when she's finished at the library.

No problem.

Josh, Sandy said, how are you? I know turning a person into a vegetable bothers you.

I'm not a happy camper, but I'll be all right.

Are you saying this has happened before? Darren asked.

When no one responded, I said, Darren, I'll tell you about the other times while you drive me to the library.

"Can you do that, and I'm not talking about the morality of it, but rather the ability?" Darren asked as he drove me to the library.

"No." I said. Darren was referring to Josh's ability to mentally throw a person through the air or turn a person into a vegetable. I'd just described the two other times Josh had scrambled the neurons in a man's brain.

"Have you tried?"

"No."

"Then how do you know you can't?"

"Because the ability comes from not only Josh's highly advanced empathic powers but also his psychic healing ability. The attitude bundles he threw at my assailant were empathic constructs beyond my ability. I can form a construct and send it along a telepathic scan to connect empathically at a distance, but my constructs contain little energy. Josh's bundles are much more complex than any I'll ever be able to construct. I can read attitudes, but I can't translate them into thoughts. I don't need to because I'm telepathic and translating attitudes into thoughts isn't necessary as long as I can hear the thoughts. Imagine what it would be like if you only had empathic abilities, with no telepathic aptitude. Imagine further that you were a teenager and had no one to help you control those abilities. That was the condition Josh lived through until not too long ago. What he did with his paranormal talent is truly incredible. I can read attitudes, but not like Josh. I can bundle and transfer a simple attitude to someone, but not like Josh, and I have no psychic healing abilities at all. When it comes to empathic ability, Josh is beyond college post-graduate work, and I'm still in high school. Conversely, telepathically he's my equal."

"Which puts Sandy in elementary school and me in kindergarten."

"You're doing fine," I said.

"Is there a switch for psychic healing?"

No, Josh said, not that I can find. He chuckled. I looked, too, because I knew one of you would ask someday. I'm surprised you asked, Darren, instead of Sandy or Nicole. I've come to believe that psychic healing is an extension of empathy. If I'm right, both of you - Sandy, too - have the potential of developing the ability sometime in the future.

Josh, I owe you an apology, Darren said. When I first heard what you did to Nicole's assailant I felt a sense of dread, and that dread came from a belief that what you'd done was wrong.

It was wrong, Darren. I destroyed a life.

No, you protected a loved one. You did what you had to do. No, that's not correct, either. After Nicole described what happened, my attitude did a one-eighty. You hesitated to avoid destroying that cretin's life, and in the process put Nicole's life in jeopardy, which for one brief moment made me angry with you.

"Darren," I said. "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Josh is hurting right now. Why? Because to protect me he just turned a man into a vegetable. How do you think Josh would feel if he'd destroyed my assailant and then discovered the man didn't have a weapon, that he could've been easily controlled without permanently taking away the man's ability to function? Besides loving each other, the four of us have an obligation to help each other remain human and compassionate. Josh reacted perfectly to the situation. If the bullet had struck and killed me, Josh's reaction would have still been the right and only reaction under the circumstances he faced. Never forget, Darren, that what we do is very powerful and can easily corrupt us, can turn us away from our humanity, our compassion, our love. I love Josh Johnson because he isn't corrupt. If he'd scrambled that man's brains before he knew how much peril I actually faced, I'd have lost respect for him. Soon you will make a vow that no matter what happens you will always love and respect us. That vow is a heavy burden, Darren. That vow led Josh's reaction tonight."

I listened to Darren turn over my words in his mind until full understanding washed over him.

Josh, Darren said, I love you.

As Darren pulled into the parking lot close to the library, I was surprised to see a parking spot near the back of the lot.

"Pull into that open space, Darren," I said.

"I can drop you off closer to the library," he said.

"Darren, I just came close to losing my life. That hasn't happened to you, so you don't understand, but if it ever happens, and I hope it doesn't, you'll feel what I'm feeling right now."

I felt his empathic scan.

"Yes," I said. "You know what I want, what I need. Pull into that parking space and fuck me."

As he bought the Escalade to a stop, I scrambled through the console to the second roll of seats and lowered the back on one of them.

I giggled. "Just like high school."

"Oh, did you do some back-seat fucking in high school?"

"Yup, my first few years of college, too. How about you?"

"Uh-huh. Whew! You're wet!" he said as hand cupped my cunt after I'd removed my panties.

"Eat me, Darren. Eat my wet pussy."

With his knees on the floorboard, he threw my legs over his shoulders and did what I'd asked him to do. He ate me through a quick climax. He climaxed with me, spurting his come onto the seat and floor. He hadn't learned to tamp down Sandy or my orgasms yet, but my recovery time was very short. The oral sex had done little to quench my need, and because I was still hot, he was still hard. He pushed me higher on the reclined seat and covered me.