Chapter 44

Following behind Rock and Natalie, Lucy and William entered their home with a sigh of relief. They had both been very busy since their graduation. The summer had started with locating, hiring, and delivering Dante to Harry for the purpose of creating a statue of the elderly Druid. That had been followed by their wedding with a week of parties, their honeymoon, visits to a number of tribal councils, and a few visits to Homeless Hotels around the country. Exhausted, they planned to stay at home for a month.

Lisa was in the house waiting for them and pointed to the stack of towels. With a grin, she said, "Everyone is at the pond."

"Who's everyone?"

"The whole staff," answered Lisa with a huge grin.

William thought she looked way too happy. Their arrival home couldn't be that special for her to be grinning from ear to ear like that. He asked, "What's going on? You're acting funny."

Glancing in the direction of her bedroom, Lisa answered, "Nothing. Uh... , would you mind sending that husband of mine here when you get down to the pond?"

"Let him take a break. We don't need to have our luggage carried into the house right away," William answered with a smile.

Lucy hit William on the arm and said, "William!"

"What?" William asked confused by her reaction.

"She doesn't want him to come here to take our luggage out of the car," Lucy said.

"Then why does she want him here?" William asked looking from Lucy to Lisa and back again.

"The whole staff is here and swimming in the pond," Lucy said.

"So?"

Staring at William, Lucy couldn't believe that he didn't understand what she was telling him. Glancing over at Lisa who was looking wide-eyed at William, she said, "He's down there with all of our very attractive staff. I'm pretty sure that he's getting a little excited by the visual treats. Lisa might want to take advantage of all that excitement he's feeling."

"Oh," William said with a frown. He wondered why he hadn't realized that obvious deduction. He shook his head as if he had water in his ear and was trying to clear it.

"Are you okay?" Lisa asked concerned for him. She'd never seen him act so out of touch with what was going on around him.

"I'm fine. Lucy, why don't you head on down to the pond? I'll be there in a moment," William said. His voice conveyed that his mind was elsewhere at the moment.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Lucy asked reaching out to touch his arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Go on, I'll be there in a little bit," William said pulling himself together and giving her a smile intended to reassure her that all was well.

"Okay," she said rather than confront him about what was obviously a lie. Moving slowly, she undressed at the door and watched William for a minute before heading down to the pond. She wasn't going to make a big production out of it, but she was very worried about William. She wished that he would tell her what was wrong with him, but knew that he wouldn't say anything until he understood what was the matter.

William grabbed a soft drink and went out to the patio. Sitting down, he popped open the can and took a long drink from it. After setting the can down, he rubbed his temples with the tips of his fingers in a soothing circular motion. It wasn't that he had a headache. It was that the entire world seemed enveloped in a fog that he was having problems seeing through. It reminded him of the day when he was doing the interviews and had been confused by Lucy's actions.

Looking up at the sky, he asked, "What kind of training is this? I feel cut off from the world."

There was no answer from the Two-Sided One. William sat in the chair wondering what it all meant. He would have scheduled a brain scan except his father had told him that the Two-Sided One had said it was training. It made him wonder what kind of training would have him lose his awareness of the world around him.

For thirty minutes he sat in the chair trying to identify exactly what was wrong with him. With his attention turned inwards, he didn't notice anything around him. He didn't notice the body guards walk past on their way to the pond. He hadn't noticed that Ken had stopped and watched him for a minute before heading into the house.

When he did look around, it was as if he were looking at the world through frosted glass. The trees, lawn, house, and animals looked flat and lifeless. The problem was that it wasn't a visual flatness. It was like being suddenly deaf, but he could still hear. He knew that his sixth sense had turned off once again. Normally when he looked around he saw the past, present, and future overlaid one atop each other. It was a depth of perception that he had known his whole life and it was suddenly gone without him realizing when it had left.

Finally the fog lifted and William could sense the ebb and flow of events around him. He took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. Looking up at the sky, he asked, "What was that all about?"

There was no verbal answer. This time, though, a cloud in the shape of a fat man moved across the sky shaking a finger like he was telling William not to question him. William watched the cloud confused by what he was seeing. He looked around, but there was nothing in the area to give him a clue. He looked back up at the sky and said, "I need to understand."

A voice behind him asked, "What do you need to understand?"

Startled, William turned around to find Tim looking at him with a confused expression on his face. William answered, "Some strange things are happening in my life and I need to understand why they are happening."

"Is this Druid stuff?" Tim asked. Usually when William did something strange, Tim just attributed it to his being almost a Druid. He wasn't sure what it meant to be almost a Druid, but that is how Eddie had described William's situation to him.

"I'm not sure," William said shrugging his shoulders. Giving up on getting an answer to his earlier question from the Two-Side One, he said, "It sure feels like it."

"Do you know where my parents are?"

Looking over to the side, William knew Lisa and Ken were in bed with each other. His full awareness of his surroundings had returned. He answered, "They are busy at the moment. Is there something I can do for you?"

Tim frowned for a minute while he considered the question. He trusted William and valued his opinion, but this was a very personal matter. After half a minute, he asked, "Do you promise not to laugh?"

"I promise," William answered.

Licking his lips, Tim inhaled and then, pointing downwards, said, "I think there is something the matter down there."

Having a good idea what was the problem, William asked, "What's the matter?"

"I know it is supposed to get stiff down there, but today it wasn't going down," Tim said. He was approaching twelve years of age and his body was beginning to undergo the normal changes that came with growing up. Normally, a teenager would have hidden an erection, but swimming naked in the pond made that very difficult. He was sure that everyone had noticed and was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with him.

"Ah," William said with a knowing nod of his head. He asked, "Is there something different down at the pond today?"

"Not really. It's just that all the people you hired are there today," Tim answered.

"And they are all real pretty, aren't they?"

"Yes," Tim admitted. He could hardly look in any direction without seeing a very pretty lady. He'd had a few thoughts of which he wasn't exactly proud.

"That's the explanation," William said. Seeing the concerned look on Tim's face, he said, "Your body reacted to all of the pretty women down there. It's all perfectly natural. There's nothing to be worried about. There's no need for you to feel embarrassed or ashamed."

"But they all know that I was thinking dirty thoughts," Tim said in horror.

"What dirty thoughts? That you thought they were beautiful?" William asked. Seeing the slight nod of Tim's head, he said, "There is nothing dirty about that. It is no dirtier than your mouth watering when you smell your mother's spaghetti sauce cooking on the stove."

"Can't I control it?"

"Only by becoming comfortable with them," William answered.

Wondering how he could possibly become comfortable with such pretty women, Tim asked, "How?"

"You've become used to seeing Lucy without her clothes and don't react to her in that fashion," William said. He wasn't going to mention that his mother was often naked at the pond as well.

"You're right," Tim said after thinking about it for a moment.

"Hold on," William said. He went into the house and removed his clothes. Coming out, he said, "Let's go down to the pond."

The path to the pond had been covered with pebbles that were easy on bare feet. Ken had lined the path with flowers. Tree limbs cast shadows over the path. A few steps away from the path, the natural features of the landscape dominated. The result was a pleasant walk that appealed to touch, sight, and smell. When the birds sang, the ears were treated as well.