Chapter 13

August, 1951

I showed up at Brenda's front door promptly at 10:00AM; my motor scooter was parked at the curb. I rang the doorbell and waited nervously for somebody to come answer the door. The door opened to a vision of loveliness! Brenda was standing there in some of the shortest shorts I had ever seen and her top showed her off to perfection. I admit to standing there with my jaw at about my knees and my eyes as big as saucers. Brenda giggled and invited me in.

We went into the kitchen where her mother was standing. Brenda ran to her and whispered something in her ear and they both giggled. I looked as completely bemused as you would expect, considering my vast experience with women. Elizabeth apologized for laughing, but she said that she couldn't help it—I had looked so cute when I was astonished. I grinned and told her to forget it.

We left on two motor scooters. Douglas had insisted that Brenda take hers for safety's sake. He very rightly figured that I would be too distracted with her holding on to me and pressing her breasts into my back. We put the two clothes bags into my scooter and the food hamper into Brenda's.

It took us nearly half an hour to reach the pool, since the one we wanted was clear across town. It was fun riding side by side, carrying on a shouted conversation, as we rode through the little to no traffic that time of day. Sometimes talking was more fun than mind-speaking. We parked and took our hamper to find an empty locker. Once we were no longer weighed down by the food, we went into the office and I paid for us both. We went to the bathhouses to change after agreeing to meet by the water slide.

I changed as quickly as I could and rushed out to the slide. There was a lot of scenery walking by, but I was really anxious for Brenda to hurry up and make her appearance. Finally, I was rewarded by the sight of Brenda walking toward me, dressed in a very skimpy two-piece outfit. I tried not to be so obvious this time, but I couldn't help staring. I was really surprised that her mother would let her wear that outfit in public, but I sure wasn't going to complain! When she got close enough, I told her what I thought of her swim suit and she just giggled.

I asked her if she thought it was safe to wear that suit on the water slide. Brenda assured me that she would be perfectly all right and I shouldn't worry so much. I agreed to stop nagging and we climbed to the top of the slide; ever the gentleman, I let her climb ahead of me. When we got to the top of the slide, Brenda remembered that she had not applied any sun tan oil. I told her not to worry about it; her health maintenance program would protect her. She said that was no fun; she expected me to spread it for her. I said that I was always glad to oblige a lady; we could apply the lotion after our first trip down the slide.

That was a lot more fun when I was sliding with my date! Brenda went to fetch her lotion while I watched her walk away—heaven on earth! When she got back, we sat on one of the benches beside the pool and I applied the lotion to her back. She then rubbed it on me and I had to admit that she was right; this was a lot better and more fun that a health maintenance program. She even stood up and let me rub the lotion on her legs, all the way up! After that, I wasn't sure it was safe for me to stand up for fear of tearing out the front of my swim trunks.

We made several more trips down the slide and then it was time to eat. I went to get the food hamper from the locker and we walked to the picnic area. We found a secluded table and I put up my invisible bug screen. We ate the sandwiches and iced tea that Brenda had made—ambrosia fit for the gods! We sat for a while talking after we finished eating.

I asked, "Brenda, have you tried time or universe traveling, yet?"

"No, I have been a little afraid to go by myself. I know I have the TK armor and can jump any time I want, but I am just a bit unsure of myself. Will you go with me on my first few trips?"

Talk about ego massage! This was just the sort of thing I ate up. Here I was, the big, strong, macho man going along to protect the fragile woman who was begging for my protection. There was no way I could have refused Brenda's request, even if I had wanted to. So I asked, "Have you decided where you would like to visit first?"

"I am interested in medicine, so I would like to visit ancient Greece and see Hippocrates in action. He lived around 400 BC, but it is practically impossible to pin down a location. All we know for sure is that he was born on the island of Kos in about 460 BC and died at Kos in about 370 BC. We would have to use POV to find him, but it should be possible for me to do it with your help. Are you willing to try?"

"Of course! I'd be delighted to help you. When do you want to go?"

"I'd like to go sometime in the next few weeks, but I have a lot of work to do, first. I need to perfect my mind-speech and I need to work on my vision clouding. Can we go to your house in the empty universe and practice these skills?"

"We sure can. Would you like to go tomorrow?"

"Absolutely! That would be perfect!"

We talked for a while longer and then went back to the pool to swim. We swam and generally fooled around until it was time to leave. We got dressed and headed back to Brenda's home. I helped carry her stuff into the house and stayed to talk to Elizabeth for a few minutes. As I was leaving, I thanked Brenda for a wonderful day. I said that I had never had more fun at the pool and would like to go again when we could. She thanked me for inviting her and said that she also had a great time. She was looking forward to our next date. In the meantime, she would meet me tomorrow at the house in the "EU" (Empty Universe) at 10:00 AM.

When I got home, I gave Mother a complete rundown of our day at the pool. Mother was pleased at my ability to sustain a social occasion without falling flat on my face. She said that she could tell that I was happy and was glad for me. She laughed over the sun tan lotion incident and gave me a wink of encouragement.

I told her of my plans for tomorrow and asked her for help in stocking the kitchen with a few food items. She suggested that, if I had the strength for it after my hard day at the pool, we should jump back a few hours and make a trip to the grocery store this afternoon. I said that I could manage, so that was what we did. She bought a range of stuff that would keep fairly well and helped me stow it at the house.

I decided to try an experiment. I bought a quart of milk for the refrigerator and a quart of milk to store on the shelf without refrigeration, but with a TK lock on it. I wanted to compare the relative freshness of the two lots of milk after several days of storage. It was my guess that a TK lock would prevent any deterioration of the milk or anything else stored that way.

I met Brenda at the house the next morning and we began practicing. Within a couple of hours, she was confident of her ability at mind-speech and vision clouding.

I told her that I was working on a version of TK armor which would make us invisible. Maybe, with her help, we could get it perfected in time to use on our trip to Greece. What I was trying to do was trap the light striking the armor from the back and display that light as a picture on the front of the armor. I had got it to work after a fashion, but I felt that it took too much personal attention for it to be practical. I showed Brenda what I had developed so far and asked her to try it out. Between the two of us, we made considerable progress and we thought that we might have all the problems solved with only one or two more days of work. She wanted to pick up the development of the armor the next morning and I agreed. With that, we returned home to get some necessary chores done.

At last, we were ready to visit ancient Greece. We concentrated on the time around 390 BC, since we guessed that was when Hippocrates would be about 50 years old and at the peak of his productivity as a teacher and organizer. We found him living and working in a village outside Athens. He had a small school going and a general medical practice.

Hippocrates had a "clinic" where they specialized in treating broken bones. The usual treatment at the time was for the victim to visit a temple dedicated to Apollo and beg for help; a suitable sacrifice was expected by the priests. The victim then waited on the pleasure of Apollo for healing. Hippocrates, on the other hand, treated broken bones with splints and traction, where appropriate, and a lot of bed rest. His treatment had been so successful that the followers of Apollo had chased Hippocrates out of Athens.