Chapter 37: Sunday, August 22, 2010

Sunday, August 22, 2010

The sound of the door opening woke Jake. When he opened his eyes he was confused for a second. Oh, yes, he was in Lizzie’s bed. He smiled at his recollections. He was lying on his back. Lizzie was pressed against him, her head on his shoulder, her breasts pushed into his side, a leg thrown over one of his. He felt her pubic hair against his thigh. It was all very nice.

The squeak of hinges made Jake looked around. Emily was staring at him from the doorway, a broad smile on her face. He put a finger to his lips, indicating that she should be quiet. He slid away from Lizzie and out of the bed.

He looked around for his clothes. Emily held up a bundle. Oh, yes, they had left them out in the living room. Jake motioned for Emily to throw them to him. She smiled and shook her head. She gestured for him to come out of the bedroom and backed up out of the sight. Jake followed her, feeling self-conscious walking around naked in a strange house.

Jake found Emily in the kitchen. She sat Jake at the kitchen table. She went to the refrigerator and returned with a Coke. She popped the top and put it in front of him. Then she sat in his lap, his clothes a ball in her lap.

“My clothes, please,” he said.

She wiggled her bottom. “Why? I think I like you this way better.”

“I’m always available to give you a cheap thrill, love, but I’m not sure about your mom yet. She might not take it well if she comes out here and sees me naked with her 12-year-old daughter.”

“She didn’t mind in Branson.”

“At least she didn’t veto it, but that’s not the same as saying she didn’t mind. Besides, I need to find out how last night will change things — between all three of us.”

She frowned at him. “You listen to me, Jake Fielding. I’ll share you with her but I’m not going to let her cut me out.”

“Then we need to work it out. Now give me my clothes, please.”

She did, but not before she slid off him and leered one more time.

Jake dressed as best he could. Most of the buttons had been ripped from his shirt. Emily gave him a knowing look and then sat next to him.

“Brian came into the kitchen while Julie and I were having breakfast this morning. He told us this strange story.”

“Oh?”

“It seems you got upset. My mom took you to the car. Then, before he could snap his fingers, you and Mom were making out like you were in a porn video. He kept talking about how great my mom’s tits are.”

“While I can’t fault his eye for female flesh,” Jake said, “I do wish he would learn some discretion.”

Emily thrust her chest out. “Are her tits better than mine?”

“It’s too early to judge yet. But I bet they’re not better than yours are gonna be.”

“I’m glad to see that you can take the long view. They won’t always be this small.”

“I can see a difference between Branson and now. You’re very pretty now and you’re ripening fast.”

She smiled proudly. “My first period came last week.”

“Congratulations. Of course, now you’ll have to be careful. You can get pregnant.”

“That’s what condoms are for.”

“Talk to your mom about the Pill or an IUD or something that won’t be forgotten if things get hot and heavy.”

“Yes, Dad. I think I’m ready for you now.”

“I’d like that a lot, but I’m not sure about the timing. I’m finally getting things right with your mom.”

Emily made a sulking face. “You want her more than me, don’t you?”

“No, absolutely not, but I’m not in a hurry with you either. You’re pretty young still. A little extra time to make sure that you’re ready won’t hurt.”

“You’re only a year older than me.”

“All that means is that I’ve just gone through the same things that you’re going through now. I know how things are. I promise, Emily, I won’t put you off for long. You and your mom are both important to me. I want things to work out with both of you.”

“Just so you remember. I’m not going to be cut out, and I’m not going to wait forever either.”

Emily walked to the cabinets and got a bowl and a box of cereal. She put them on the table and got milk from the refrigerator.

“Eat,” she said. “It’s good for you.”

“Not hardly. It’s Honey Nut Cheerios.”

“Sure it is. Look at the box. It’s fortified with vitamins.”

Jake laughed and poured the cereal into his bowl. “I don’t think so, but if you want me to, I’ll eat it.”

A minute later Lizzie appeared at the kitchen door, her hair tousled, covered with an oversized t-shirt. Jake smiled up at her over his bowl.

“I love the way you look in the morning.”

She blushed. Jake could feel that she was embarrassed to have Emily know about Jake and her, but pleased at Jake’s compliment nonetheless. He watched her as he ate.

“We should get you something better to eat than that,” she said.

“No, I have it on good authority that it’s good for me. It’s fortified with vitamins.”

Emily laughed. Jake ate the last bite and rinsed the bowl.

“Emily, you and your mom are coming over for dinner at two,” he said as he put the bowl in the sink.

“We are?” Lizzie asked.

“Yep. Sunday dinner is important to Leanne. She likes having family there. Now I’ve got to go.”

“You have to leave so soon?” Emily asked.

“I’ve got an errand to run. I have to find an open pet store.”

Jake felt Lizzie’s shock. “You’re not serious.”

“A bet is a bet,” he said. “You wouldn’t welsh on a bet, would you?”

“Jake, you’re not really going to make me, are you?”

Jake gave her a big smile, kissed her and Emily, and went out the front door. He wasn’t going to make her kneel beside him during the meal, but she was going to wear the biggest, gaudiest leather dog collar he could find.

It was only two miles from there to home. It wasn’t hot enough yet to be too unpleasant. He decided to walk rather than call for a ride. He eavesdropped on Emily and Lizzie until they went out of range.

Well, that was about time. I hope that means you’ll stop acting so weird around Jake now.

Oh, God, everybody’s going to know about me and Jake, aren’t they.

Leanne hurried to the kitchen to oversee the final lunch preparations. The family started to find seats at the dining room table. Lizzie and Emily did, too, although Lizzie looked uncomfortable. Leanne and the servants came in, bringing food.

Jake excused himself and came back a minute later with a small plastic Petland shopping bag. He sat down at the head of the table and casually set the bag on the corner next to him. Lizzie saw it and cringed. Dishes started circulating around the table.

“Lizzie, aren’t you forgetting something?” he asked.

“Jake!” she whined. “These are my friends.”

Jake picked up the sack and walked behind Lizzie, everybody’s eyes following him. He put his mouth close to her ear.

“I think we can forego the part where you have to kneel beside me,” he said softly, “but still, I did win. I’m going to claim part of the spoils.”

Jake pulled a large, brown leather dog collar from the bag.

“Lizzie and I had a small wager,” Jake said to the room in general as he fitted the collar around her neck. “I will say no more about it, except that I won and Lizzie now has to wear this.” He threaded the end through the buckle and took out all but a little slack. “I want to point out a few features of Lizzie’s new accessory.”

“Jake! Do you have to do this to me?”

“You can call me childish if you want, but then again, I am 14. Do you want me to hold you to the entire bet?”

She looked down glumly. “No, Jake.”

“As I was saying, you might notice the large letter L that has been monogrammed onto the collar. And here’s my favorite feature...” Jake pulled a dog tag out of his pocket and held it up for everyone to see. “It reads, ‘Lizzie. I belong to Jake. If I am lost call 972-555-1792.’”

Jake hooked the tag on the D-ring and turned the collar so that the tag hung down the front of her neck.

“Oh, that’s so neat,” Shannon, who was sitting next to her, squealed. “Jake, can I have one, too? I promise I’ll never take it off.”

Lizzie looked at her in surprise. “You would want to wear this?”

Shannon nodded her head earnestly, her eyes shining. “The dog tag is a stroke of genius. I would cherish it. Ellen would, too.”

Jake looked over at Ellen. She was nodding at him. The envy was obvious on her face. It looked like he had missed an opportunity, Jake thought. He went over to Ellen and kissed her on the cheek.

We’ll just have to see if there’s a dog collar in your future, he sent her. You’ll have to earn it first.

Christine ran around the table to Lizzie to look at the collar.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “You are the luckiest woman alive.”

Lizzie looked around, mystified. “Jake, did you put them up to this?”

Jake walked back to his seat, kissing Lizzie on the top of her head as he walked by.

“No, it didn’t occur to me that they would react that way, although if I had been using my head, I would have foreseen it.”

“But why?”

“You’ll understand when you get to know them better.”

Jake picked up the platter of fried chicken that was parked next to his plate, took a couple of pieces, and passed it on. Conversations broke out around the table. Leanne smiled down at Jake from the far end of the table for a second and then turned her attention back to Donna. Throughout the meal Ellen, Christine, and Shannon’s eyes kept returning to Lizzie’s collar.

Brian swam up to Jake who was sitting on the side of the pool.

“Dude, now I know that you’re using your thing on women.”

“Since I am not, I don’t see how you could know that.”

“Because of Lizzie.”

“I don’t follow.”

“She’s got the best tits anywhere, except for your mom, of course. Why would she give you the time of day?”

“You haven’t been paying attention, Brian. Lizzie and I have chemistry. We’ve been percolating since the day I met her in Branson.”

“Then you were able to use her thoughts to figure her out.”

“There’s some truth in that. I was pretty sure from reading her that we were compatible. Although it didn’t stop me from making some mistakes with her.”

“Like what?”

“She’s troubled by the difference in our ages. She’s worried about what it looks like to others. There were a few times I made it worse by ignoring her concerns in front of everybody else. On the other hand, I did learn something last night that helped me to close the deal.”

“See? Just what I was saying.”

“Come on, Brian. Say you’re at the beach and you take off your shirt. You notice that a pretty girl nearby likes what she sees. Are you above flexing your pecs when you think she’s looking your way?”

“Shit, no, if I thought it would get me some pussy.”

“What I do sometimes is to use the telepathy to find out what a girl wants and needs. That’s it. I’ve only used it once to make a girl give me pussy. That was my first time. After that, I found out that I didn’t need it.”

“If I had as many women as you did, I could afford to be choosy, too.”

“Brian, if I did use my power on you I would program you to realize two things. First, it’s because I’m nice to women that they come to me. Without that, I wouldn’t have a bunch of women to pick and choose from. Second, since I don’t use my abilities on them, I don’t have that much of an advantage over you. There are ways to tell what women are thinking. All you need to do is learn how. And to do that only requires that you take an interest in them. If you become a student of womankind, you’ll be able to read them nearly as well as I do.”

Brian looked at him as though he had two heads.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Jake finished reading the first story in his textbook. It was “The Cask of Amontillado.” He sat for a while considering, as he had been prompted by the textbook, the irony in the story. He had brought the book along to Ellen’s first occupational therapy session. He had anticipated that there would be time to read it while they were waiting for the therapist to see them. Unfortunately, he had been right.

Julie and Carol had started school that morning. He figured it was time for him to return to his own studies. The story had been quirky but interesting. And ironic, he told himself, a little like how Ellen had sacrificed herself to make them all safer.

Read me, Ellen sent from her wheelchair next to his seat.

What Jake found in Ellen’s mind was a complex montage of thoughts, but they seemed to be centered on the theme of sacrifice. The phrase, dulce et decorum est, made appearances in contexts both ironical and sincere, but for Ellen, it was mostly sincere. To die for something one believed in was honorable and praiseworthy. In the Bible, that kind of sacrifice was referred to as the highest form of love. To make it into something pitiful deprived the person doing it of the honor that he had earned. For Jake to agonize over her injuries dishonored the sacrifice she had made willingly and lovingly.

Jake cringed. The last thing he wanted was to make things worse for Ellen. But what could he do? He didn’t know how to stop the guilt and regret.

Finally, an aide appeared at the door to the waiting room and called Ellen’s name. Jake rolled Ellen and her wheelchair forward. When Jake was told to remain in the waiting room, he got to work changing attitudes, starting with the aide and going on through all the therapists on duty and their supervisor. By the time he was done, the staff was determined to do everything possible to help Ellen and to do it on schedule.

The aide passed Ellen off to a therapist who began an assessment of Ellen’s condition. Jake watched the process intently, keeping his attention focused on the neurological flows in the vicinity of the lesions as the therapist tested a gamut of mental and physical skills. Every time Jake noticed a signal being disrupted, he stimulated the nerve pathway involved.

Jake was impressed by the wide variety of skills that the therapist was able to assess. Even though Ellen was unable to do more than stutter out a few words in response to questions, the therapist discovered deficiencies in Ellen’s ability to use mathematics, her long-term memory, and her ability to distinguish between left and right. The more issues the therapist uncovered the heavier it weighed on Jake.

When the therapist was done, he addressed them. “The good news is that Ellen’s disabilities aren’t as serious as the notes of the treating physician led us to believe. I’ll formulate a plan that addresses the deficits we’ve verified. I believe that daily sessions will produce the best results. We’ll start tomorrow. Can Ellen be here at the same time as today?”

“Can we have the therapist come to our home?” Jake asked.

“That can be done, although that is more expensive than office visits and you might have to buy a few pieces of therapeutic equipment on your own. The insurance company will balk.”

“Money is not an issue. The family will be glad to pick up the difference.”

“Then I will make the arrangements and call you later today with a schedule of which therapists will come and when.”

Jake pushed Ellen back to his car. He opened the door and let her climb in the car.

“Y-y-you attend always.”