Chapter 42: Happy Carol, Curious Mum

Tuesday, April 12, 2005 (Continued)

On the way to the car pick-up point, Donna found me and let me know she had a sports thing to do and she'd get a ride home from someone else. I saw Carol waiting at the usual place. You could see, even from a distance, that she was still very happy. It was good to see. And then she saw me and her visible happiness rose even higher. She rushed to me, and we walked back to our waiting spot with her attached to my arm.

On the way we passed one of my soccer teammates, who said, "Hi Egg. I thought you had a new girlfriend, but isn't this your sister?"

"Yes. Carol this is Robbie; Robbie, Carol."

Robbie said, "Hi," to Carol. Then to me, "You two are very friendly. She's almost as friendly as a girlfriend."

My answer was automatic, "Carol's better than a girlfriend. She's my sister."

Robbie chuckled, "You can have my sister then." He wandered off, chuckling to himself.

Carol hugged my arm even tighter and said, "I wish I could kiss you here. Just wait till we get home, and I'm going to thank you for that."

While we were waiting for the car, Carol suddenly spoke up, and said, "Oh yeah, I just remembered the two girls from lunch. Do you remember them?"

I couldn't resist, "You mean the two girls wearing red clothes?"

Carol didn't rise to the bait at all, instead immediately agreeing, "Yeah, those two. I saw them later. I had planned all sorts of nasty things to say to them, but in the end I just told them 'Mark can choose almost any girl in school as his girlfriend, and the girl he's with is so fantastic she's now my best friend, even though she's years older than me. That you two thought you had a chance gave us all a big laugh after you ran away.'

^-- "I thought that might be enough to put them off, but Judy asked whether it was true you were rubbing your girlfriend's pussy and that she wasn't wearing any panties. I didn't want to get Julia in trouble, so I said, 'Lots of the older girls don't wear panties at school. Forget Mark, young girls like you don't have a chance to compete with the girls he can choose. He could have a different girl for every day of the month, none of them with panties on, so you two don't have a chance.' They looked pathetic when they walked away. I don't think they'll be bothering us again."

I said, "Sounds like you enjoyed yourself."

"Not really. I realize it's going to happen often, especially when you're a senior next year. Julia pointed out that I can't afford to get worked up each time because there'll be too many."

I offered, "You don't need to worry about it, sweetie. I send them packing myself, and the fame crap is dying down now. I doubt very much it's going to be an issue next week, let alone next year. It's just a temporary nuisance and not worth getting fussed about. I've got the two best girls already, so my life is complete. Next year most of the people hanging around us are going to be guys, trying to get close to you."

Carol opinion of that was succinct, "HA! No guy can compete with you."

On that elegantly expressed opinion, the car arrived, and we headed home.

We were the only two at home and we took full advantage of that situation in my room, during which Carol thanked me for my, "Carol's better than a girlfriend. She's my sister," comment - over and over again. It was great to have the opportunity, as Carol needed to go to bed early tonight to catch up on her sleep. We did no more than we'd done before, but we did it several times.

I must not have a very good imagination. Here I was with a live-in serving girl - not quite officially appointed yet but nearly - and the only thing I could think to do with her was sexual play. She hadn't brought me any more than the one glass of milk. Somehow I didn't think I was wasting her talents though.

We heard Donna come home a little more than an hour after us, so that stopped our play. Mom was due soon anyway. I followed Carol back into her room, where Donna was. Carol gave Donna a spin, dressed only in the vest/undershirt thing she'd worn to my room. I don't know what that garment should be called. On a guy it'd be a "sleeveless singlet", but on Carol that name was just 'wrong' - it was far too awesomely sexy for such a boring name. It hugged her figure to perfection, was slightly see-through, and stopped at her waist, so her hips and below were unashamedly naked.

After her spin, Carol gave Donna an enthusiastic hug and kiss on the cheek, and declared, "I am SO happy." Then she ran back to me, and hugged me and kissed me on the lips. "Thank you for making me so happy." Then she ran back to Donna and hugged her again, "He's so wonderful." We got the idea that Carol was happy. Donna and I laughed at her antics.

Carol said, "You can't tease me, I'm too happy!"

I said to her, "I'll leave you to put on just a few more clothes, for when Mom or Dad get home."

Carol, who had managed to dress herself successfully for years, said in a pleading, little girl, tone of voice, "Can't you stay and help me?"

Donna and I laughed some more. "If I stayed to help you, you'd end up wearing even less than you are now, and you know it, you shamelessly happy hussy! I'll meet you in the kitchen when you've dressed." And I closed their door behind me.

In the kitchen I called Julia and told her I hadn't had any ideas about our being able to sleep all night Thursday. I had a solution to the Aikido problem though. I'd call Mom from Julia's to tell her that one of The Boys would take me to Aikido and watch me as he was interested too. Mom would be busy with Donna's class so that should work okay. With luck I wouldn't even need to specify which of The Boys it was, making it harder for Mom to later discover that it'd been a lie.

A more respectably, but sadly far less sexily dressed Carol came in shortly thereafter, so I finished my talk with Julia and gave the phone to Carol. I heard Carol start the story about the two girls in the reddish clothes.

While I remembered, I went to my room and packed my wedding clothes into a couple of bags to give to Julia tomorrow. The bags weren't big enough to also fit my pajamas into. Oh well.

I put the bags beside my doorway so I didn't forget them tomorrow, and got down to doing some schoolwork.

Carol came in a while later with a nice little snack for me, which I thought was the second best use of a serving girl.

We chatted a bit, then we heard Mom come home. Carol rushed out to the kitchen to greet her. I half-heard Mom mumble something to Carol, and Carol's response was a loud and enthusiastic, "I've had the BEST day, Mom. I had a great lunch with Mark and Julia. It was a great day. I'm so happy!"

A few minutes later Mom came stood in my open doorway, and said, "Your father and I are going out to dinner tonight but I'll cook you three something before we go. Carol's starting that already. You're all right minding the girls tonight, aren't you?"

"Sure, no problem, Mom." No problem at all, even if I had to mind one of them very closely indeed.

I thought Mom was about to leave, but she came in and sat on my bed. "How are your studies going, Mark?"

We chatted about that and a few other such issues. After a couple of minutes, Mom stood up, smoothed my bedspread, and then left.

Carol did most of the cooking while Mom and Dad got cleaned up.

They left while Carol and I were doing the dinner dishes. After the coast was clear, I moved behind Carol, lifted her skirt (she no longer wears jeans) and started fingering her pussy from behind. She wasn't wearing panties either; she's a WONDERFUL girl! I've always had a fantasy about coming up behind a girl to grope her while she's working on something like washing the dishes or cooking. For some reason I find it very sexy. Don't ask me why. I'm just a pervert, I guess.

Carol bent over the sink and spread her legs. Very few dishes got washed for the next fifteen minutes, while I was on my knees between Carol's legs, my mouth and tongue 'washing' her. It was just my way for thanking her for a nice dinner.

Donna wandered in after ten minutes, and merely commented, "I can see why Carol is so happy these days."

I found these sorts of comments from Donna quite surprising. They were mature and approving, not giggly as I'd expected. My opinion of Donna had been rising as a result of her recent reactions to Carol and my 'affair' (or whatever the best word for our behavior was; we don't seem to have discussed the correct word in any of my English classes).

[Speaking of English, I'm going to have another little rant. I wrote above about not knowing the "correct" word. As far as I can tell, "correct" isn't a concept that applies much to English; it's far too much a matter of opinion. I was very recently told off by my English teacher for using too many semicolons. Apparently, "it looks pretentious even when it's correct"! I started querying her on each of my uses, but she interrupted to say that individually they were used correctly, but collectively there were far too many so I should remove most of them. Whoever heard of anything so ridiculous! I can't imagine a mathematician arbitrarily changing a correct set of workings because he thought it contained "too many" ones. I LIKE semicolons; they have a logical purpose and they fulfill it well. I hope my current English teacher reads my autobiography because I'm pretentiously using a shit load of them herein.]

I kept my game with Carol short, only playing for fifteen minutes. Too long increased the risk.

^

About 7:30pm the phone rang and Donna answered it. It was Sensei Nigel wanting to know whether I was coming to class on Thursday evening.

I very profusely said, "I'm REALLY sorry, Sensei, but I have something else really important that I have to do on Thursday evening." I thought it best to be non-specific, leaving out details like, "I'm marrying my 13-year old sister and 16-year old girlfriend."

He seemed disappointed, but I assured him that I was DEFINITELY going to become a regular student, and that even with my still having my cast on missing a class was a one-time event, to put it mildly!

He asked, "Have the books been useful?"

"I feel guilty for having them so long, and now for another week. I read them both in the first couple of days and haven't looked at them since because they weren't useful, unfortunately. Do you want me to drop them off earlier, if other students are waiting for them?"

Sensei answered, "No one is waiting for them so next Thursday is acceptable. I am disappointed though. From our talk after the last lesson I thought you might have some aptitude for developing ki."

"I AM developing my ki. I just didn't find the books very helpful. They're a bit vague so I've been mostly practicing by myself. Just doing what felt right to me rather than using the books' techniques."

Sensei was puzzled, "I am not aware that there are any techniques other than what the books talk about. I agree they are vague, but it is difficult to be specific about developing ki. It requires years of practice to gain the self-discipline necessary to hold center for any length of time, and there is not much any author can say to change that process. You imply that you are developing your ki using different techniques?"

I certainly didn't want to explain my three-minds-off-duty/one-mind-on-duty technique, so I tried to leap over the issue, "Not so much different techniques. More that the books' techniques don't really apply anymore. More than half of both books is about how to find your center, center yourself and train to hold it; none of which worries me now. Otherwise the books are mostly about the philosophy of Aikido, which is very nice but not what I borrowed them for." I hadn't thought about the books for days, being somewhat distracted, and now I wasn't sure what else I could say about them.

Sensei filled the gap in the conversation. "Last week you said you already knew how to center yourself so I know you did not need to learn that from the books, but there is still a considerable amount of material on improving your ability to hold center. Do you have your own techniques for that?"

"Umm, no, not really. It's more that I don't need techniques for improving because I'm already pretty good at holding center."

"How long can you hold it for?"

#1: <Is there any reason not to tell him the truth? We're just doing what any aikidoka can do, only better.>

#2: <I agree. If it becomes an issue we'll explain it away as a result of our IQ score. That's so freakily high that it could easily explain having the mental discipline required to hold center.>

I answered, "Giving you a duration is a little tricky. Yesterday I lost center a few times, but mostly in the morning. I haven't lost it at all today, although I did deliberately uncenter myself for an hour or so after school when I wanted to concentrate on something else." That'd been my playing with Carol. We'd decided it was okay for all four of our minds to participate in that just one more time.

^-- "I should easily be able to hold center until I go to sleep. I presume I lose it then; I've never thought about that. From now on I should be able to hold it pretty much all the time that I'm awake."

"In that case I suggest you reread the books because you have misinterpreted what being centered means."

"Haha. I understand what you're saying, but I'm very sure I haven't misinterpreted that, Sensei. Remember that you agreed with my describing it as slippery last week. I know what being centered is. It's a slippery, tricky thing and I understand why it takes most people a long time to get good at holding it, but I have an unusually high IQ so some mental tasks are easier for me."

"Mark, there are only a handful of aikidoka masters who can hold center for hours on end, something that has taken them a lifetime of training to achieve, so you have made a mistake."

"I'm sure I haven't, Sensei. It's very easy to tell when I'm centered and the experience is entirely consistent with how the books described it."

"Describe how you know that please?"

#1: <Don't mention flashing, our proximity sense, or anything like that. Sensei doesn't seem to have that sense in the way we have.>

#3: <I won't. I'm only going to say what the books mention.>

"Other than knowing that I'm thinking of my center, which isn't a convincing example, there are other reasons. It feels good. My body feels lighter and more energetic. Not dramatically so, but noticeably. I also move better now; some people have already commented that I'm moving more gracefully, which I recognize as being like you do when you're walking around the pairs practicing on the mats. I also run better. Only by a very small amount, but I can run slightly faster than before. I like long-distance running, and being centered has helped with that."

Sensei asked, "What do you understand about how I move around the mats when the students are practicing?"

"You move gracefully. You avoid them because you can sense their movements better than your eyes can, from the front but also when they're behind you too. You can move through them more harmoniously. That's correct, isn't it?"

Sensei confirmed, "Yes. That is correct. Are you telling me that you can do this too?"

"Sure. Not on your mats because I haven't had a chance to do that yet, but it's the same thing as walking down a crowded corridor at school."

"Yes, it would be exactly the same. Nonetheless, it takes many years to learn to hold center for any appreciable length of time. No one has learned as fast as you are claiming to, young man. You sound very sincere and as if you understand, so I am quite puzzled. Are you sure you cannot come on Thursday evening?"

"Very sure, I'm sorry. There's a small chance my other engagement might be canceled or postponed, but I don't think so. If it is, I'll come, but it's very unlikely."

#2: <Do you think we shouldn't have told Sensei how good we are at centering? It's too late now, of course, but we could back off on any other claims.>

#1: <I think we tell him as much as we can, as much as possible that fits within the capabilities of aikidoka I mean. Not our TK obviously, and not how we center ourselves. He will see us training so he'll notice how good we are at centering. I certainly don't want to deliberately do badly because I want us to advance up the Aikido levels as far as we can on the chance that there may be other merged people at the top.>

#3: <Yeah. Also I doubt we could move clumsily now if we wanted to, so he's going to notice we're graceful. It is our middle name, after all.>

#2: <I agree it's not doable or practical to try to be ungraceful. Also, I think Sensei is probably a very moral man. Aikido seems like something that only appeals to good people. It's a purely defensive art, it's gentle and philosophical, etc. The newer students could be all sorts of people, but I bet the long-time aikidoka are all good people. We won't tell him anything about merging, multiple minds, or any of that stuff, but I think we should generally show him how good we are at known Aikido abilities. Agreed?>

#1, #3: <Agreed.>

Sensei asked, "How skillful do you believe you are at projecting ki?"

"I don't know. Centering is an on/off thing so it's easy to know how good I am at it. But I don't even know what skillful means when it comes to projecting ki, so I can't give you an answer. Maybe you'll be able to tell me after I start training."

"I had expected a different type of answer from you, but that was a good one. You mentioned something about long-distance running earlier. Would you explain that more fully please?"

"There's not much to explain. The books talked about moving in harmony with the Universe, and moving did seem smoother when I was centered so I thought I'd test it. I like running so I did some stopwatch trials around a track, comparing centered and uncentered times. I'm a couple percent faster for the same amount of effort when centered. It's a very small improvement, but it is noticeable."

"I have not heard of anyone testing their ki so scientifically before. If you can remain centered so long, maybe your attitude is part of the reason. However, I am puzzled by your running result. When I move around students on the mats I am reacting harmoniously to their ki flows. 'Moving in harmony with the Universe' is a grandiose description, but it has the correct connotation of moving in harmony with the ki that is flowing around one. The philosophy of Aikido has it that ki flows into and out of every living creature - which is how the wild stallion was calmed in the parable I told you - but when you are out running by yourself, where is the ki coming from that you are moving in harmony with well enough to increase your speed?"

"The books talk about ki 'coming from the Universe'. I assumed it was from that, even though I don't know what that means. I would've suspected it of being philosophical rather than scientific, but I scientifically measured a significant difference in my speed so there is something happening."

Sensei said, "I had forgotten the books included that. When we train we are solely concerned with the ki that flows out of the participants, not 'out of the Universe', whatever that means. I had always assumed it meant that the Universe was the source of the ki we all project, but that does not accord with your claim. I will ask around to see if anyone else thinks they move measurably better alone when centered compared with uncentered, especially when running alone. You have made me curious enough that I would like to try that myself, but I fear my long-distance running days are behind me. You were running alone, were you not?"