Chapter 10: Explorations

Cathy was probably the most successful in taking her remission a day at a time. She was bouncing with happiness when I asked her out.

"Awesome. Pamela is just the greatest sister to let me borrow you!"

"Hey, don't I get some credit? After all, it's my services as a boyfriend you are enjoying!"

"Huh! You are a boy, you are not going to object to another girl in your harem!" She said that with a smile, but almost immediately turned an anxious expression on me, as though questioning her desirability.

I hugged her. "I will have you know that I have the most discriminating tastes. No regular girl will qualify for my harem. Lucky for you, you satisfy my exacting criteria."

She smiled again. "What criteria are those? Two arms, two legs, and two b..."

I shut her up with a kiss. I intended a brief friendly kiss, but Cathy opened her mouth slightly and let the tip of her tongue come out. Without any conscious decision on my part I let my tongue play with hers, and gently mashed my lips against hers, moving them around. My arms ended up rubbing Cathy's body, and her hands snuck into my shirt. It turned into a really long torrid French kiss that I had to finally break to get enough air into my lungs.

We went out to watch a science fiction movie. Cathy liked to heckle the improbable bits of science and I kept hushing her. There were very few people in the theater and nobody growled at us. Halfway through the movie, I hit on the strategy of kissing Cathy when she got too loud to hush her up. Cathy immediately appreciated the benefits of such strategy, and exploited it by starting to talk whenever she wanted a kiss.

We ended up not paying much attention to the second part of the movie. I suspected that at least one other pair of teenagers in the back had much the same plan.

We both blinked at the bright sunlight outside the theater. Cathy was firmly latched to my side.

"What time do I have to bring you home?"

"Any time you like. Since the last chemo my parents have removed pretty much all restrictions from me." Cathy was very matter of fact.

"So, you plan to burn the candle at both ends?" I tried to joke, but my sense of humor left much to be desired. I was still not inured to Cathy's fate.

"Sort of, but not really. I get tired around ten, so we should be back by then."

"Food?"

"No, unless you are hungry. Mom has something for a late supper, and I'd rather not waste the time and your money. It's getting cooler now, how about a walk in Chesney Park?"

We ended up walking in the park for a couple of hours, taking it slow and with frequent breaks on the benches. We talked of the scientific articles Cathy had read recently, her favorite science fiction, and the courses and lectures she'd taken at the local college.

We talked about her cancer. Cathy was matter-of-fact, more than I could be.

"I don't want to die, Martin. I am afraid. I wish I had more time. But I decided I am more afraid of spending my last days, weeks, months in fear. What I am doing now is wonderful. I am spending time with my parents, with Pamela. I especially like this with you. I used to be horribly embarrassed to tell a boy I liked him."

She lifted my hand and kissed the palm. Then she turned it and pressed it against her check, closing her eyes like a contented cat.

"I don't have time for embarrassment any more. I probably don't have the time to find a boy, flirt with him, go out a few times, break up, and so on until I find a boyfriend. So I am intensely grateful to Pamela, and to you," she kissed my palm again, and let go of my hand, "for making my dream come true. I am as happy as I've ever been in my life. If I was more poetically inclined, I would probably write something about how the brevity of time makes the pleasure more intense. But as I am a science geek, I'd rather spend the time in making out with my boyfriend."

And we did. Cathy had very sensitive breasts, after playing with them for a while I pinched the left nipple, and she shuddered in a small orgasm. Like her sister, she had quiet orgasms.

"Cathy, it's getting dark. I should get you home."

"It is getting dark, so nobody will see us on this bench. You made me feel very good. I want to try something to make you feel good, too."

"You don't have to..." But Cathy already knelt on the grass in front of me and was struggling with my fly. What was I to do? Before long she had my cock in her mouth, and it was my turn to make moans in my throat.

Cathy used her tongue a lot, and hummed slightly as she exhaled. I don't think she did it on purpose, it was more a hum of contentment then a deliberate attempt to inflame me, but the result was purely wonderful. I did not last more than a couple of minutes in that soft warm wonderful mouth.

She wouldn't let me return the favor. "I need more space to get comfortable. And I don't have an appendage to poke out of my jeans. I'd love to feel your tongue down there, but I want a bed and a well lit room. Don't worry, I will make sure you get your chance, even if I have to ask my parents to give us an hour's worth of privacy in my room! I think at this point they are not going to balk."

I had my doubts, but I could see that a bench in the dark was not a good first experience for cunnilingus.

I couldn't spend all my free time with Cathy or Pamela, so I did end up visiting Nathan a few times. I was happy to see him animated, and was gratified that my sorcerous studies so many centuries ago had helped me find the boy.

"Martin, Martin, look at my cast!"

"That's a pretty neat cast. Is it heavy?"

"No, it's a light plastic. It itches, but Mom has a special rod to scratch under it. She won't let me scratch myself, she says I would break the skin. Want to see how I walk?"

His hair looked much lighter, and the smile that I first saw on his picture almost never left his face. He insisted, and I was happy to sign his cast. Then he retold me the story of his adventure, and his spending the night with "hungry beasts" all making sounds around him, and how I eventually found him. It was a delight that his night of fear and pain was now a grand adventure.

I saw his mother glance in. Nathan was too focused on his tale and didn't notice her gaze on him. I suspected it would take a lot longer for her to forget her fear.

Afterwards she pressed some brownies on me.

"Well, I could be polite and refuse a couple of times, but I am a teenage boy, so I am going to be rude and just accept them, with thanks," I said, extracting one from the package in order to eat it.

"Put that back! Here, have one from the latest batch!" She lightly slapped my wrist and instantly looked apologetic. I smiled at her, pushed the extracted brownie back into the wrap and accepted the still-warm one from her.

"Umm, walnuts! I love this, Mrs. Keremough."

"I gave you two kinds in the package. I, I, know I said this many times, but thank you. I don't know how to express..."

"Mrs. Keremough, no need. I understand. If I needed a reward, Nathan's smile would have been sufficient. I am not giving the brownies back, though," I added, eating the remaining crumbs in my hand.

She sighed, probably in relief rather than frustration. "I keep thinking that if you weren't watching that television, or didn't remember stumbling across that hole earlier..."

I told Mrs. Keremough a completely fabricated story of nearly falling down the same hole a few months ago. In fact I don't think I was ever at the dump, but hopefully that would not be something the police would be checking on.

As I walked to my car I thought about Mrs. Gilman's feelings. Was it better to lose your child suddenly, or to know for months or years that she'd be dying? I shook my head violently. Neither alternative was easy to contemplate even in the abstract; when connected to real people I knew and liked, it became unbearable.

Cathy was getting better, seemingly by the day, and it was hard not to hope that the dreaded cancer would be gone for good. She was still pale, but her energy improved, her thin face was a bit rounder, and she bounced around as though without a care in the world.

Probably coincidentally, I resumed spending more time with Pamela. We've talked out the topic of Cathy's improbable hopes and grim expectations and tried, with variable success, to talk of other things when we spent time together.

After a very pleasant interlude in my room, followed by a quick clean-up, we were munching on some vegetables and cheese while talking of school.

"Martin, why don't you try advancing to the senior grade? Most of the courses you'll be taking are senior courses, anyway."

"I am not sure I can satisfy all the graduation requirements with the little time that's left. Why do you ask?"

"They have made exceptions before, for college-bound students with good grades and advanced classes. And in fact it might be easier to take all the college tests quickly in the fall and apply – most colleges don't even need a diploma as long as you have high enough scores and teachers' recommendations. With your ability to take tests – I am astounded by your getting 97 on AP Biology after two weeks of prep – you'll do well. If you get all the standards, including the subject tests, you'll probably get in to an engineering or science major in a good school. Isn't that what you want?"

"That's interesting. I've considered graduating next year, but didn't think I could finish all the requirements. Also, I haven't been all that diligent a student until recently, so I am not sure I have enough 'cred' in school to do this. In fact if it were up to our dear academic counselor, Ms. Sidemore, I'd probably be held back for a year!"

"Boy, she really pissed you off, didn't she? I haven't had much problems with her, but then I am a girl, and an A-student from grade nine; not a 'lazy, mediocre student who suddenly decided he's brilliant and didn't need to follow the course progression'. Her words not mine, and they would probably get her in trouble if I had a recording.