Chapter 62: Nubbins Inspection

Friday, April 15, 2005 (Continued)

On the way out to the car I had a thought, #3: <Do you realize how good we could be at bowling? There are only ten pins and we can make twelve fingertips. We could bowl the ball down the gutter and still have all the pins fall over just by pushing on their tops. I guess it wouldn't take much force to tip them. Obviously it'd look too suspicious if we bowled in the gutter, but provided we bowled decently we could seem to get a strike every time. We might even be able to push the ball left or right while it's rolling down the lane so all our bowls would look good. That would just look like the ball was curving in a spin the way good bowlers do. And we'd probably only have to TK the pins on left and right, as down the middle will fall over anyway. We could get the top score EVERY game.>

#2: <So if the roulette thing doesn't work out, we can go on the pro bowling tour.>

#3: <Until they played back a slow motion recording of one of our strikes. That might cause a bit of trouble! I think we'd better stay away from televised games. It'd be cool to show off to the girls though. Maybe I should bet Donna $10 that I can beat her. If she fell for it, that'd be a laugh. It's a pity we can't go play with them now.>

#1: <Maybe we get a bowling lane built in the "Mark Wing" of our new mansion?>

#3: <Wow. You're right, we could do that. I think I'm going to enjoy being rich! I don't really want a lane as it'd be boring always getting the top score and the game doesn't appeal to me that much normally, but you're right that we can do fun things with money. What the heck, let's win another mil' just to be frivolous with! I'm sure Vanessa wouldn't mind, haha.>

In the car Mom asked me, "How come you asked Prof and Vanessa about your moneymaking plan before you asked your father or me?"

"I didn't ask either of them, Mom. The only person I told was Julia. She dragged me downstairs to talk with Prof because it's a highly mathematical plan. In seconds he had worked out all sorts of stuff that I hadn't even considered. And then Prof asked Vanessa about it because there's an ethical angle. It wasn't my choice how it worked out; Julia just asked the people best able to help, and it wasn't you or Dad this time. There isn't a single thing that I think you or Dad could help me with about this idea as it doesn't involve stuff you're familiar with."

I waited for a second, and Mom didn't comment, so I added, "Plus I think Vanessa is right about keeping some of my things secret. She had a VERY good point about how some people might react if they knew I could make a few million dollars quickly. She and Prof seem very concerned about security and what would happen if word got out, so I'm inclined to go along with them on the whole secrecy thing. I don't think we should talk about ANY of this stuff in public. We should get into the habit of being cautious. It'd probably be a good idea to not talk about it anywhere other than in the two homes, which might be one home soon."

Mom sort of agreed. She couldn't really argue that it was a good idea for us to risk our lives by discussing something in public that we could discuss at home, if any discussion was necessary.

I didn't want to talk with Mom or Dad about my abilities. I could too easily imagine them exposing me by accident, out of their misunderstanding some consequences of my abilities. I couldn't really imagine Prof or Vanessa making that mistake. If anything they seemed excessively cautious, which was something that I was willing to use to help me avoid awkward questions.

Despite it being a Friday night, the hospital wasn't too busy. "Too early for the drunks," is what Mom said. We only had to wait half an hour.

After my cast was cut off the nurse was confused, "Why isn't your arm wasted?"

This confused me. I only had two arms and I didn't want to waste either of them. Mom leaned over and was surprised too. I soon learned that "wasted" meant shrinking muscles.

I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't know. It's been covered by the cast the whole time so I don't know what's been going on."

The nurse said, "I'll get a doctor," and she bustled off.

We waited twenty minutes for the doctor, who looked at it for five seconds, looked at my file, then told the nurse, "It's hasn't been in a cast long enough to atrophy. Get it X-rayed and I'll look at it then." That was hardly worth waiting twenty minutes for.

So we went to radiology and joined the line there. It didn't take long, what with it being too early for the drunks. After the X-ray we went back to our previous location, and waited some more.

The same doctor eventually came back and examined the X-ray, then referred to my notes, then back to the X-ray. He pulled out the X-ray taken at the time of the assault and displayed the two of them side by side. One pictured showing an obvious break, the other showing a perfectly complete bone. "Puzzling," he said, "I can't see any sign of the healing. I'd almost suspect they'd X-rayed the wrong arm, but I can see it's the right one. Let's examine your arm."

The doctor proceeded to poke and prod. Even with my limited medical experience, I already knew that doctors love to poke and prod. "Great muscle tone. Even better than mine."

He made me arm wrestle with him. Not exactly like that, but he pulled my arm around and made me resist and pull back.

"Have you been exercising it?"

#4: <I just noticed that I can't see the suicide scars on our wrists. There's no sign of them at all. Isn't that a bit strange?>

I pulled my arm up and had a close look at its wrist. Even a REALLY close look didn't show any scar. For a comparison I pushed up my other sleeve, and compared the two of them. No scar on either. It looked like I was comparing muscle tone, so that was okay. I was answering the doctor's question at the same time, "No. I don't do any exercise. I'm a bookworm. The last week or so I've been using the sling less and less, and occasionally using the arm to lift things, but only because it felt healed and safe to do so. I've been using my other arm in preference, and only using this one when I needed two arms."

The doctor said, "Well, I'm puzzled by how well healed it is, but there's no reason why you can't go. I'd say 'take care of it', but I'm almost hoping you break it again so we can regularly X-ray it while it's healing, but that's just my curiosity speaking. You're free to go."

Mom said, "So it looks like your teacher was right, Mark?"

The doctor looked at Mom, who started explaining. I'd have preferred her to keep quiet, but trying to shush her now would be making the doctor even more suspicious. Mom said, "His Aikido instructor said it'd heal faster because he has good ki, whatever that is."

"What's Aikido?"

Mom said, "It's a martial art. Mark's been studying it recently."

"I can't see how it'd accelerate bone growth so much. What do you do at Aikido?"

Mom said, "He's only been to one..."

I interrupted, "Mom, I'd like to get out of here now. I'm hungry, so can we go home please?" I turned to the doctor, "We're free to go, right?"

I stood up and started pulling down my shirt and otherwise getting ready to go. He nodded, and so I made sure we left quickly, in case his curiosity got the better of him.

#4: <Let's not let ourselves get caught by anyone, okay? Can you imagine them deliberately breaking our bones so they could watch them heal? It looks like Aikido healing includes scars as well as bones too. How did we learn to heal faster without even knowing we were learning it? And how is it possible to heal faster anyway?>

I'd seen that Mom had realized that I'd cut her off, and why. While were walking away from the doctor she tried to apologize. I immediately cut her off, "NOT here! At the homes only." Let her stew in her juices for a while. It'd be good for her. This was EXACTLY what I'd been worrying about in the car on the way here: someone unintentionally saying too much to a wrong person.

In front of the doctor I'd told her I wanted to go home, but that was just the easiest thing to say at the time. I was pleased that Mom drove to the Williams'. On the way back I remembered that I could go for my license now. I'd better do some last minute study. A practice session in Dad's car would be a good idea too.

We rang the doorbell, heard the pitter-patter of footsteps to the door. Carol's head appeared from behind the door, with a flushed looking face. "Come in, come in," she urged.

When the door was closed behind us we saw the reason for Carol's urgency. She was naked. It was amusing to see how far her blush spread. It was good to look at her for other reasons too.

Mom asked, "Carol! You're naked." It's hard to fool my mom.

Carol looked down shamefully and said, "Donna and Robert have gone bowling, Andrew has gone out with his girlfriend, and all the others are in the tub. Julia is making me serve them drinks, and to wait until you came home to let you in. It's been very embarrassing." In other words, Carol's been having a great time.

I said, "Carol, walk ahead of us back to the tub room. I want to watch you walk."

Carol blushed again, then led off.

Mom chuckled, and quietly said to me, "Ahh, yes, I remember now. I had forgotten about Carol's 'kink'. I guess Julia is demonstrating it again."

We walked toward the hot tub room in silence, then just before we got there Mom said to me, "I'm sorry I said too much to the doctor."

I had also been thinking about it, and was ready for this. First I called ahead to Carol, "Carol, you go ahead. We'll be there shortly."

I stopped, as did Mom. When Carol was out of sight I said, "Yes, you did. Imagine if he notes in my file that I seem to heal faster than other people and then in five years time someone in authority is suspicious about me and reads that file. He might decide that breaking a few of my bones and timing their healing would be an excellent way of testing to see whether I'm normal or not. That would be a very bad thing. Not only the pain, but I can't exactly control how fast I heal, can I? So that experiment would end up confirming that I aren't normal, then God knows what they'd do to me.

^-- "There was NO need for you to explain ANYTHING to the doctor. I'd say, 'Who the hell cares whether he understands or not, ' but the truth is that I care VERY much that he DOESN'T understand about me. The less he knows, the less chance there is of him getting curious. His job was to make sure my arm had healed. We could all see from the X-rays that it had, so it was time to leave. You even heard the doctor joke about me breaking more bones. That sent a shiver up my spine. That was EXACTLY the reason Vanessa suggested that the less anyone knows about my uniqueness, the less chance there is of someone accidentally saying too much. If I wasn't convinced before, I certainly am now. In the future I will refuse to answer some of your and Dad's questions about my uniqueness, regardless of your being my parents, if there is no need for you to know." So there! That should give me exactly what I want: the ability to refuse to answer any question I don't want to. I must remember to thank Vanessa for that. I almost felt like going back to thank the doctor for his joke about my breaking my arm again. But, on the other hand, there was a naked Carol in the next room. A difficult decision it was not.

There wasn't much for Mom to say. Guilt is a great way to get someone to do what you want. I led off, and we resumed our walk to the hot tub room.

When we entered, Dad and Prof were in the tub on one side, with Julia and Vanessa on the other. Carol was sitting outside the tub massaging Julia's shoulders.

Upon her seeing us, Julia called out, "There are swimsuits hanging on the hooks," to which Julia pointed, and there was a suit for Mom and me.

#3: <How did Mom's get here? I assume ours is just a spare from one of The Boys, but where did Mom's come from? It's weird how females can do things like that.>

In keeping with the 'getting Carol to do things' theme, I had an idea. I walked straight toward the door that led to the Guys' Room, calling behind me, "Carol, bring my swimsuit please and come help me get undressed." I'm SO helpless!

Carol happily bounded across the room to grab my swimsuit off the peg. I walked into the Guys' Room and Carol followed immediately after. As soon as the door closed behind us I took her into my arms and kissed her. I also immediately put one hand onto her pussy and probed it with my fingers. "Why is your pussy so wet?"

"Because Julia is being so nice to me." Good answer.

I kissed and probed some more. My question had been answered but I like being thorough. We weren't supposed to be playing around too much until after the damned trial, so I had to stop myself. I stood back and said, "Start undressing me, please Carol."

She started doing so, saying, "I LOVE to obey your orders, especially that one."

She removed my sweater, folded it and placed it on a nearby seat. After she had similarly placed my shirt, she asked, "Can I look at your arm?"

I have a policy of never saying "No" to beautiful, naked, wives (mine, I mean), so I said, "You can look at any part of me you like."

Carol giggled, and said, "Goody, but just the arm for now." She reached out and gently - very gently - grabbed hold of my right arm.

I said, "There's no need to be gentle. Other than its being white, it's as good as new. Treat it just like my other arm." She held it up horizontally across her front, then leaned forward and rubbed her breasts against it. I thought that was an excellent use for an arm.

She was still being gentle, so after a few more rubs I put my arms around her and pulled her into a kiss. Mid-kiss I bent her over backward so my right arm was the one holding her up. I broke the kiss, and said, "See, strong enough to hold you up." We kissed some more, I stood her up, and we resumed the undressing part of my getting ready for the hot tub.

Carol removed my pants, folded and placed them. Then she knelt down beside me and pulled down my shorts. Somehow my cock accidentally ended up in her mouth, and she had great trouble getting it out, even though she tried repeatedly.

After only three or four minutes, she managed to remove it. I was very disappointed. Carol, still holding it firmly, said, "I think they'll suspect we've been misbehaving if you went back into the room with this lovely thing standing proud in your swimsuit. I think we should do something to make it go away, don't you?"

I laughed, and said, "If I went back WITHOUT an erection, then they'd REALLY be suspicious!"

Carol giggled. "Haha, you might be right."

I said, "All this playing around is very hard for me, pun intended. I want to make love to you so much it hurts, which means it'd probably be a good idea for us to go back to the hot tub. Pass my swimsuit please, my sexy darling."

"Aww." But she did it, right after kissing my cock goodbye.

After I joined them all in the pool - Mom had somehow managed to beat me back even though I'd had twice as many people as normal involved in helping me undress - Carol said, "Mark, Mom, would you like something to drink?" I noticed that there were glasses already placed around the tub, so I ordered after Mom. Carol went back to the Guys' Room to fetch them.

On her return, after the drinks had been handed over, Julia made her stand beside the tub. Julia turned to Mom and said, "You expressed some doubt whether Carol got off on being embarrassed. Shall I tell her to spread her legs and hold her pussy open for all of us to inspect?"

I couldn't swear to it, but I thought I saw Carol's pussy throb (I happened to be looking at it at the time. Not an unlikely coincidence). I didn't even know they could throb. I'll have to look into that some more.

Mom laughed, and said, "I don't think that's necessary. I'm convinced already."

Carol laughed, looked Mom in the eyes and smiled, then said, "Aww." I don't know whether Carol intended it to be, but it was actually a very smart comment because it let us know that she was well aware that Julia was playing with her, and that it was with Carol's consent and enjoyment.

Julia said, "Come join us in the pool please, wife. I want to cuddle with you."

^

My right arm became the topic of conversation, and I had to hold it up for inspection.

Dad asked, "How come it doesn't look like a stick?"

Mom opened her mouth to reply, then looked at me.

I said, "It's okay within this group, Mom, especially if I'm holding the evidence up in the air."

Mom smiled and said, "The doctor was surprised by that too. The X-ray showed no break and a perfectly fine bone. Not even the usual bulge around the healed break. It looks like Mark's Aikido teacher was right. I find it amazing that some people can train themselves to heal bones faster and keep their muscle tone the way Mark has, but that's what his teacher expected."

I said, "It's mentioned in my Aikido books at home, Mom. I'll show you when we get back, although they don't say much."

There were a few questions about it being sore at all, was it strong, that sort of thing. All easily answered.

Dad was particularly impressed, saying, "Every other broken arm or leg that I've seen, which is quite a few, always come out of their casts looking very thin and weak."

Julia said, "This reminds me of when Mark had to fight the last bully - remember the football player who wanted me to go on a date with him? Mark couldn't fight properly with the cast on his arm and I was very worried for him. I nearly yelled out to the bully that I would go on a date with him if he left Mark alone, but I was afraid that he'd rape me. How often have you feared being raped, Mom and Felicity?

#4: <Oh no! Remember Julia said she'd bring this up? I'd really rather not hear this.>

#3: <And look at how much attention Carol is suddenly paying to the conversation.>

Vanessa said, "All too often, I'm sorry to say. Especially with a husband like Prof, unfortunately."

#2: <She can't have just said what it sounded like she said. It's unimaginable that he'd rape her! That's just bizarre!>

Prof said, "Yeah. We've talked about this a few times. Even in my prime it's unlikely I would've been able to protect her because of my size and leg. Or rather, 'lack of size and lack of leg', haha."

#3: <Do you understand what he's talking about. The leg part I mean?>

#4: <No idea.>

I looked down at Prof's legs, but they were hidden under the bubbles.

Prof saw me looking, and said to me, "You look puzzled, Mark. I guess Julia's never told you?"

She'd never told me anything about Prof's legs, so I said, "No. I don't think so."

Julia said, "It never came up."

Prof leaned back and stuck his right leg up out of the water. Most of it anyway, as it ended in a stump just below the knee. Or since he was pointing his leg upward, maybe "just above the knee" would be better English. It's a confusing language, so you'll have to work out for yourself whether it was his lower- or upper-leg that was missing.

"Gosh." I don't think I've ever said "gosh" before in my life, but this seemed like an appropriate time to start.

"Seen enough?"

"Umm, yes, thank you."

Prof laughed as he dropped it back into the water. "I lost it in a car accident many years ago. Get Julia to tell you the story sometime."

Julia said, "Mom tells the story FAR better than I do. She should tell it."

Vanessa said, "I'd be happy to. Not now as I told it to Felicity and Steven not long ago and it'd be boring for them to sit through it twice."

I asked a really intelligent question, "But I've seen you wear two shoes?"

Prof said, "Yes. I have a prosthetic lower-leg and foot. I leave it wrapped in a towel in one of the cubbyholes when I take it off to have a soak in this tub, as the steam rusts the buckles too fast if I leave it uncovered."

"Oh. You move well though. I've never seen you stumble or anything. I thought you had two legs." Somewhat inane, but the best I could do at the time.

Prof said, "I've had years of practice and it's quite easy if the amputation is below the knee. Trouser legs disguise it perfectly so most people have no idea, just like you."

I thought it best to say nothing now. Vanessa leaned over and kissed Prof's cheek. "My Hero."

He kissed her back, "My Cheap Deal."

Mom laughed, and said, "You didn't call her that last time."

Prof said, "I like to vary it a bit."

Mom, "But what does it mean? It's not exactly romantic, is it?"

Julia recited, "Dad would've paid an arm and a leg to have Mom as his wife. It only cost him half a leg, so he got a cheap deal." Obviously Julia had heard the expression explained many times.

Mom and Dad laughed. I did too, a little, although I wasn't exactly sure why. Mom said, "I was wrong. It IS romantic."

Vanessa said, "Especially considering what it nearly cost him."

I could see that Mom and Dad understood, but I was confused again. Julia said, "Wait till Mom tells you the story." Julia was wearing a swimsuit, but I also have a policy of doing what nearly naked, beautiful wives tell me, so I started waiting.

Julia said, "We were talking about the fear of being raped. Mom said 'all too often'. What about you, Felicity?"

Mom said, "Of course. 'All too often' for me too, even though Steven is a big guy. There have still been plenty of times that I've been alone and scared. Like every single time I'm parked in a dark parking lot or hear footsteps behind me at night and can't see where they're coming from, or plenty of other times. Unfortunately, at those times, wishing Steven was with me doesn't make him appear."

I noticed both men had their arms around their wives. Neither looked shocked at the conversation, so it was something they were aware of.

Julia said, "The reason I asked is because, since then, I've woken up a couple of times realizing that I was having a dream about being raped. I should have said 'nightmare', except that I was aroused. I'm confused by that. Is having such dreams normal?"

Now the guys looked uncomfortable. And I'm including myself in the "guy" category, in case you're not following the story closely enough to have picked up on that nuance of my character.

Vanessa said, "Yeah, I think it probably is normal. I can't say I've discussed it much, but I have experienced it, and I can work out the psychology of it quite easily. I think having those thoughts from time-to-time is natural. Not too often - that could be a sign of an imbalance - but sometimes is almost certainly normal. Felicity?"

"Yes, same here. I've had them, and even enjoyed them, but I haven't enjoyed the fact that I enjoyed them. Sometimes I'll have a momentary flash which is exciting, but I'd much rather I didn't. Some women enjoy that fantasy more than others. I'm in the 'others' camp."

Vanessa said, "Julia, you said you'd had them a couple of times. That's getting excessive in just one week. If you have another one let me know and we might have to get you some counseling."

Julia said, "Don't worry about it, Mom. They were both the same night, one after the other, and I haven't had it since. I'm sure it was nothing."

#4: <I'm sure it was "nothing" too. It was, in fact, a made up story just to prove the issue to me, as she said she would. Julia was right yet again! Rape fantasies aren't as sick as I thought they were, even though the thought of them makes me shudder.>

Julia had a new topic all ready to go. She said, "I'd like to start researching what we're calling 'mansions' to get an idea of price and suitability. I'd like to visit a few, but no realtor is going to take a little girl like me around to look at million dollar homes. I can call up and make appointments and arrange all the details by pretending to be a secretary, but I'll need to go with either Mom or Felicity. We probably won't be ready to buy for a few weeks, but I'd like to get some initial impressions now in case we find out something that changes our plans. Also, some of the houses we look at might still be on the market when we've got the money so that'll save us time later. What do you two think of my making some appointments for Sunday afternoon. Can either of you take me with you then?"