Chapter 8

The next morning, we were around the breakfast table again. Trish had stayed the night, and was sitting with us, cup of tea in hand and a look of peace on her face.

“How are you feeling today?” I asked.

“You have no idea! I can’t remember a time in my life when I ever felt this amazing!” Trish replied, her voice tinged with awe and wonder. “You know, you really caused a stir the other day at the clinic.”

“Really? How so?” I replied.

“People heard the commotion, and then suddenly you burst out of the consulting room with Anita and just disappeared out the back. I went into the room to see what was going on, and found Martin just sitting there with a stunned look on his face. He turned to me and said ‘I beat my wife. A lot. Whenever I felt like it, which was almost all the time. It’s her fault, she dragged me into this life - I didn’t ask for it.’ And then, after a few moments, he just shook his head like he’d been in a trance or something. He looked at me and said ‘I don’t know why I said that,’ and then he just stood up and walked off!

“When I saw that Anita wasn’t with him, I started to worry. They have history, and we’ve suspected for some time that he was abusing her, but we could never prove it. She came to the clinic fairly regularly with mysterious injuries, and would say ‘I fell down’, or ‘I ran into a door’ or something - never anything against Martin. However, you could see the fear in her eyes, and how dependant she’d been on him for everything. Classic symptoms that she was being abused, and Martin was the abuser.

“I had called the police a number of times to tell them about it, but they always said that without evidence or a confession, they were powerless to do something. I came to dread when they were here because I worried that the injuries were getting worse, and it was only a matter of time before he killed her in a rage.”

She looked up from her cup of tea, and looked into my eyes. “What you did to me - is that something you do often?”

“Do you mean pass out?” I chuckled.

“No - the healing part. Can you do it again?” She said, earnestly.

“Yes. Sometimes it takes a lot of energy out of me, sometimes not, depending on how serious it is. But, yes, I can do it again.” I answered.

“Could you come to the clinic and look at other cases?” She asked, her voice hopeful.

I hesitated to answer. I didn’t really want to become the focus of attention, but I knew I couldn’t squander the gift that I’d been given. “You do realise, I’d have to do this on the quiet - no one can ever know it was me. If people found out what I can do...” I trailed off, letting Trish fill in the details of what I’m implying.

“I understand,” she said. “If people found out what I’d been doing, I’d be out of a job, or even arrested. But you have an amazing ability, and I know that there are people who are suffering, and you could help them!”

Between Carol, Trish and I, we worked out a way to go to the clinic and see “special cases”, incurable cases where medical science can’t help. We would be anonymous, I would be introduced as some kind of visiting specialist. We would swear them to silence, and hopefully keep the secret for a bit longer. As soon as we become common knowledge, I knew we would have to move on from our hidden refuge.

Anita took me to her farm. There was still work to be done, animals to be attended to - she couldn’t stay away for any length of time without there being repercussions. With Martin locked up, it was safe for her to go back home and do the chores that needed to be done. Julie tagged along, because she missed the animals too. Not being a farmer myself, I felt a bit helpless because I didn’t know what to do, so I ended up just following Anita around like a lost puppy as she moved around the sheds and paddocks.

As Anita set the pipes and connections for the irrigation of one of the paddocks, I asked her “Now that Martin has been arrested, have you given any thought to the future? What will you do with this place?”

She kept adjusting valves and connections as she said to me “Not really. I don’t know. I’ve only ever known farming life. I can’t picture doing anything else. I think if I was to become a town girl, living in the village, I think I would go stir crazy before long.” Once the connections were set, she started the water flow, and stood up. We watched as the irrigation sprang into life, and the paddock was bathed in a gentle shower of water. “As tough as life has been for us, I feel connected to this land. I need to work in the soil, to make up seed beds, plant seed, water and weed. I need to harvest the produce, see the circle of life happen, the seasons change. I need to feel that tired exhaustion you feel at the end of the day of steady labour. I think if I went away from this life, I wouldn’t last very long.”

We both stood, watching the spray of water over the seed beds. You could hear the steady ‘thump thump thump’ of the irrigation sprinklers as they directed the water around the paddock. There was a peace to this place, a sense of purpose. I closed my eyes and reached out with my senses and could feel life all around me. It seemed to come from Anita, from Julie and myself. But even more, it seemed that even the plants, the trees on the fenceline, the farm animals all seemed to glow with a steady energy of life and purpose.

I wished we could stay here together, me and you...

I sighed “Me too - this place is beautiful.”

“Huh?” Anita asked.

“You said ‘I wished we could stay here together’, and I said ‘me too’” I replied.

“Um, no I didn’t,” she replied. “I didn’t say anything, I was just thinking that ... is this another one of your ‘gifts’?”

“Oh” I said. “Um, maybe? It’s never happened before that I was aware of.” I filed that away for future reference.

We went inside the farmhouse, and Anita busied herself around the kitchen to make tea. Julie was by the back door with the farm dog, giving it love and attention. You could tell that he was used to it - he flopped down on the floor and rolled over onto his back, exposing his tummy for her to rub. She obliged him, and his tail wagged, and his tongue flopped out to the side in a happy grin. “He’s not allowed inside because he’s a work dog,” she told me earnestly, “but mum lets me play with him by the back door when he’s not working.”

With tea made, we sat at the table in silent companionship. I was starting to have serious feelings for Anita, but I know that I live a strange life and I wanted to see where this relationship might lead.

“You know, I’ve started developing feelings for you,” I began. “At first, I just saw someone who needed to be rescued from a terrible situation, but the more I’m with you, the more I sense a kindred spirit.”

She took a sip of tea, and then said “I’ve never felt anything like I have with you, with anyone else. When we connected last night, I felt like that somehow we became one flesh, one spirit, one person. It was like when we moved, we decided together to move. It was never you dominating me or telling me what to do - we decided together, and it just happened.”

I said “But you know there’s going to be other women. There will be situations where we’re all having sex together - it’s something about this gift. When I get horny, everyone around is me is affected. That’s not going to change, ever.”

“I’m Ok with that,” she replied. “I’m fairly sure that Martin was cheating on me. I was never able to confront him about it - it’s not in my nature to do that. At least you’re telling me up front, you’re not hiding it from me.” She smiled, reminiscing about our first group sexual encounter. “Besides, it has certain benefits for me too! I was so turned on that first time, I can’t believe that I was masturbating in front of you all!”

“That was a hot scene,” I said. “I think that’s probably going to be a regular thing. But I also think I like going to bed with you afterwards.”

“I’m Ok with that too,” she said.

We finished our tea and then Anita went out to complete the chores that needed to be done. I followed her around the farm, getting an education in just how much work is involved to run a place like that.

We fell into a routine: mornings over to the farm to tend to everything that needed attention, and then a trip into the clinic, where I would don a lab coat and wait in the staff common room until an interesting case would come along. Most times nothing would happen, but occasionally Trish would come and get me, and lead me into one of the examination rooms and introduce me to a patient. Cancer was fairly common, and some of the cases were severe. For those, I would be so drained that Trish would quietly lead the totally healed patient (who was usually so shocked and surprised at their sudden reversal in health and fortune), out the back way so as to not cause a scene in the waiting room. Anita would be by my side and help me lay down on the examination bed, and then proceed to make passionate love to me in order to boost my energy levels. By the time were were finished, I would feel mostly normal again. Anita seemed to glow with energy, and sometimes even Trish would be standing just inside the door, hand inside her panties, desperately frigging herself to an orgasm.