Chapter 7

Well, maybe "hurt" wasn't the right word. There was no penetration, but his hand continued to sting for some time from the bullet's impact. "Storm Who Walks, why does my hand hurt so bad, even though the bullet did not penetrate the shield?"

"I was just told that what you feel is the residual energy from the bullet. The energy had to go somewhere when your shield stopped the bullet, and it showed up mostly as heat, which you are still feeling. Pour some cool water over your hand, and you should feel much better. But you should have learned a valuable lesson, namely, bullets and other such cannot penetrate your shield, but you will still feel some effects, so you will have to try to avoid being shot. Otherwise, you are going to suffer some pain!"

"Thanks. That makes sense. It looks like I can't be a human shield for other people, except in emergencies. The cool water helped a lot. Maybe, I should just keep a raincloud over my head all of the time." The latter was said with a grin.

"That would call a lot of attention to you, but there is no reason why you can't call up some water by TP or TK to cool you if you do get shot. By the way, you are to be congratulated on making that shield on your own. That's another thing that I was not scheduled to teach you for some time. You are learning so fast that you are throwing my schedule out of kilter. Seriously, I am proud of you!"

"Thank you. Your praise means a lot to me. Can I safely wear the shield all of the time, or are there times when I should take it off?"

"You can wear the shield as much as you like. It will not harm you, though you may want to take it off when you are bathing, so that you can enjoy the feel of the water directly on your skin."

"OK, I'll keep that in mind. Is there another skill that you can teach me?"

"Not now. You need to practice your current skills until they are automatically applied when you need them. There will be occasions when you don't have the time for conscious thought about when and how to use your special skills, so you need to practice, practice, practice.

"In fact, I have just been warned about a potential danger with your TP skill. You must be certain that you don't transport something and try to put it where there is already a solid object. Even water can cause trouble, but that is not so certain. The only completely safe place to put something you have moved with TP is where it will only move air out of the way as it appears.

"Trying to make two objects occupy the same place at the same time will cause a catastrophic explosion. All of the conflicting matter will be converted to energy and will kill or smash anything within range. I know you will not appreciate just what I am trying to warn you about until you see an example, so, take the smallest grain of dust that you can find and TP it a few inches into the ground at a range of one mile. Make sure that the area around the place you pick is clear for a radius of a half-mile."

Fire Bringer was dubious that any explosion could be that dangerous, but he was smart enough to follow directions. He took a speck of dust so small that he could hardly see it and TPed it to a spot he had checked out a mile away. The moment the dust particle reappeared amidst the dirt already there, there was a tremendous explosion that blew a monster crater in the ground and knocked Fire Bringer to the ground with the shock wave. The noise of the explosion was literally deafening.

Storm Who Walks said, rather dryly, "I hope you believe me, now."

Fire Bringer shook his head and said, "Oh, I believed you from the start, I just couldn't imagine such a powerful explosion coming for something so small. You can bet that I will be very careful with my TP from now on. Let's go look at the crater, Far Seeing doesn't do it justice."

He TPed to the bottom of the crater and saw nothing but fused glass from the tremendous heat of the explosion. The crater was nearly hemispherical and 15 feet deep. "Shit! I can't just leave this hole here, somebody could fall in and get hurt. I'll have to fill it in, but I'm going to use TK to do it." Filling in the hole with over 7,000 cubic feet of dirt took a while, so Fire Bringer was brought to a full appreciation of the dangers from careless use of TP.

That afternoon, Fire Bringer asked, "Storm Who Walks, I am kind of lonesome for human company. Do you think it would be OK for me to go into town for a while?"

"I presume you mean that you would like to visit a saloon. I suppose that would be OK. Just remember not to drink any alcohol and don't cheat at poker!" There was a chuckle in Storm Who Walks' thought as he said this, because he knew that cheating was not an option.

Fire Bringer cleaned up the campsite and mounted his horse. PUFF! and they were on the outskirts of a moderate size town. He rode to the livery stable and left his horse and mule. It was only a short walk to the nearest saloon, and Fire Bringer walked up to the bar and ordered a beer. He sat to one side of the room and looked over the crowd.

Two of the prostitutes had seen him come in and decided to have a little fun, since there were not yet enough of the regular customers around to provide much business. They both were in their early 30s and not as disreputable looking as most of their calling, so Fire Bringer was not frightened when they sat down beside him, one to either side. The first prostitute said, "Hello, Sonny. Do ya want some fun?"

Being totally naive, the boy did not know what she was talking about and had not yet read her mind. His answer was, "Sure. I always like to have fun. What do you have in mind?"

The other prostitute said, "Do ya have $2?" At his affirmative nod, she took his hand and stood up. "OK, then, come with us." She led him up the stairs with the other woman right behind. Now, he was getting some hint at what she had in mind, so he started getting embarrassed. As a precaution, he read her mind, and that was the first time he really understood what a prostitute did for a living! Now, he was fully embarrassed!

Storm Who Walks popped into his mind with, "I have checked both women, and they are free of disease, so you may indulge in sex with them if you wish."

"Thanks, but I don't know ... I can see that they are doing this as a joke on me, but I am inclined to see where it leads."

"Very well, I'll do what I can to assist you in impressing them."

Both women were giggling as they went into the room. "OK, Sonny, that'll be $2 afore we do anythin'."

Fire Bringer gave her 2 silver dollars and she put one in her pocket and gave the other one to the other woman. When they had their money, they pulled their dresses over their heads and were naked, except that they were still wearing their laced-up boots.

"OK, let's see what ya got ta offer," said the first woman and loosened his belt and pants. She pulled down his pants and saw his flaccid cock. It was of normal size for a 12-year-old boy, maybe a little over 3 inches long and ¾ of an inch in diameter. She smiled and said, "Let's see ifen we kin git this little sojer ta stand ta attention." She spit in her hand and begin to rub his cock to try to get an erection, only half expecting to, considering his age.

Aha, his cock began to grow. She smiled and looked pleased with herself as she continued to jack his cock. Fire Bringer's cock continued to grow ... and continued to grow ... and continued to grow. She dropped back on her ass and stared in disbelief at his cock. It was now at least 8 inches long and over 2 inches in diameter. She sputtered and pointed at it; the other prostitute could not see what was going on, since she was behind him, so she stretched around to see and promptly fainted from shock. This was all the other woman needed; she jumped up, screamed and ran, naked, out of the bedroom.