Chapter 11

Ding, dong, the bell chimed.

The six members of my family; Brodie, Shelly, Sheri, our mother Sue, Francis and myself were looking around at the number of cars parked out front of the Reynolds's home. When Faith invited us over to join her family for Thanksgiving we had agreed as she stated that the dinner would be a small family get together. Since my mother had never been big on fixing dinner, we agreed. Standing on the porch looking at all the cars parked everywhere including down the driveway suggested that Faith's definition of a small get together and ours was miles apart as I counted over twenty vehicles before Dillon, Faith's father answered the door.

Opening the door it sounded more like a party than a Thanksgiving dinner with a few friends. Growing up in California Thanksgiving had always been (as far back as I could remember) my sisters, Francis, my mother and I. Stepping inside we were directed to the family room which was filled with servicemen watching the Detroit Lions lose yet another game. Standing there, I was offered a coke from whom I did not know, but it did not seem to matter as I was offered a seat. Sitting there watching the game with thirty other men and women turned the game on the television from boring to interesting as people who I did not know argued over everything the television showed. By the time halftime rolled around a lot of people were heading for the bathrooms then back to the snack bar that had been set up for everyone. The women who were not football fans hid in the kitchen and dining room having their own get together with lots of laughter coming from that side of the house.

Doing my own wandering during the half time show I found Shelly and Sheri along with Faith and a couple other girls I did not know in a room that I had never been in before but I knew it was Barbara's room. Previous times I had been to the house I was not allowed inside, now though all I could do was look at the shelves around the room and the number of trophies and ribbons that covered the walls.

When I was noticed standing in the background, Faith grabbed me and before I could protest, introduced me to the girls from families out at the airbase. There were five of them with names like Jamie and Nancy who were sisters; then a second set of sisters, Tiffany and Kaitlin who were older than Jamie and Nancy were. Finally was a cute Asian girl by the name of Jade. That caught me off guard because as far as I remembered there were no Asian men watching the game not that it mattered to me I just thought it was curious.

When they asked what I liked in school, I never got the chance to answer as Faith along with my sisters told of all my exploits from all three of the games I played. They included that I was being moved up to play on the JV squad. The girls were suitably impressed but before I could be forced to go on there was a cheer from down the hallway as several people shouted that the game was back on. Making my excuses to rejoin the crowd the girls played it up saying that they were sad that I was leaving, but as I was retreating I could hear them laughing teasing Faith about her crush on me. I already knew that but I was not going to tell anyone.

The second half of the game was even more entertaining than the first as a number of people got into shouting matches with either the television or some of the other guests. In the end though, it did not matter as Detroit lost a game that was closer than anyone expected. My enjoyment of the game was limited to watching the spectators, as far as the game went it was entertaining and for someone who did not watch a lot of football rather informative. When the game ended, those not permanently stationed around the snack bar returned for another migration until Faith's mother signaled that the food was ready.

With as many people as the Reynolds had invited the serving of food went rather fast with the first couple of people making a line and everyone else joining the end. Unlike school lunches, no one tried to cut in, and everyone was happy. When Faith joined me in line a moment later there were several jokes made at our expense that actually drew the attention of her father. He soon lost interest as he could see that there was nothing going on between us other than a few other people teasing us. Being reassured that there was nothing going on her dad returned to serving the turkey. By the time Faith and I made it too him, I had not one but two plates of food while Faith had one and was putting food on all three saying that we were taking a plate to her sister. Yet once we were done with the serving line, she asked me to take it down there and that she would follow in a minute. I thought it was rather weird that I was taking the food down to her since all three plates were done at the same time.

With my hands full, I walked into Barbara's room and her words nearly caused me to drop the plates that I was carrying as she said cheerfully, "How's it going Sparky!"

"What?" I asked. I was caught off guard by her statement as I had just been thinking about my abilities.

Seeing me stop short at the name she gave me, she added, "Man, you sure are easily spooked. You can set my plate on my tray here," motioning to the serving stand for her bed.

Putting the plate on the serving tray next to her bed as she requested, I answered, "I have a lot on my mind and you caught me off guard."

"You can set your plate over by my computer," she offered when I looked around for a spot for my plate.

When the screen came to life as I moved the mouse to put my plate down my first thought was 'Oh shit!' The oh-shit part was that it was an image of me after I had discovered that I could control electricity and I was there practicing my control. I recognized the image on the screen as me at the grove only the view was across the canal from what I assumed was somewhere on the Reynolds property.

Looking at Barbara, who answered my look by saying, "Relax, your secret is safe with me. Though after I started watching all the video clips I have along with some things I have heard, I do want to ask you a couple of questions."

Looking back at the computer off to the side, I wondered if I could erase what she had recorded if in fact she did have more recorded. While I was still looking at her computer she answered my thought by adding, "Before you do anything to my computer Sparky let me say that everything is backed up and put somewhere where you will never find them."

Looking back towards the computer screen, I heard her click the mouse on the stand and another film clip popped to the top only this clip was of me at the glade practicing healing my leg. From the size of the cut, it had to be one of my last ones as the cut was from my hip down to my knee. I remembered it as one long cut but still not that deep, as I did not trust myself in case something went wrong like if I had gone into shock.

Looking at the various clips Barbara was flipping through I was in shock wondering why I never considered the Reynolds as a possible problem since they were friends. Not knowing what else I could do now at the moment I took a seat at the computer chair and waited for her first question, as I had no idea how to get out of this predicament.

Looking at me as she took a bite of her food, she stated, "I told you to relax. You have nothing to worry about, I won't tell anyone."

"So why show them to me then?" I asked.

"To be honest if I suggested any of this you would simply deny what I had videotaped and I so hate it when people lie to me since I'm a cripple. They seem to think that since my back is broken that my mind was broken in the same fall. As you can see though, I can think for myself and I can make plans. At first, my plan was just to watch and see how the world still goes on without me in it, but that soon got boring until you came along and all of a sudden the world was interesting again. I wasn't going to do anything as I thought Faith had set up my cameras wrong. That changed when some of my friends were over and they were telling me everything that was happening in school. They were telling me how Faith's boyfriend was hanging out with the injured Olympic gymnast who up until her injury never had time for a boyfriend was now hanging out with the fastest kid in school. Then less than two weeks later the girl is back in the gym after what many gymnastics coaches and other said would be a career ending injury. Now she is back in the gym working even harder than before and no one especially her doctors can say why."

"After that I started thinking about the other part of that equation and I remember Faith mentioning to me while I was in Salt Lake City having tests run on my spine how the boy across the canal had been electrocuted. Then just a couple of days later she tells me how that same boy had made a miraculous recovery saying that now you were the fastest player on the team and no one could stop you.

"So you could see how my interest in these different facts drew my interest since I had so much time on my hands. That is when I remembered all the video files I thought was ruined. I started looking at the video files again and wouldn't you know it but I found what is there in front of you. So the two questions I have for you are one, can you do for me what you did for Heather and two, is what will it cost me?" she asked.

As she finished talking, I could see the desperation in her eyes. At first, I said nothing as I had no idea how to respond and we stayed that way until I looked at the pictures of her sitting astride her horse looking proud holding whatever award she had won with her long blond hair hanging down being held in place by her cowboy hat. Looking at her lying in bed I could see the desperation in her eyes that I was the only hope she had to be normal or if not normal at least being able to walk again.

Making my decision to try I realized that I had found my Achilles heel, women, first it was Heather, now Barbara. With a sigh, I answered, "I don't know. There are many factors that I do not know or even realize. With Heather it was easy since she had a knee that was not torn up too badly I had a model to work from so I was okay working on her and if I failed in fixing her knee then all I was out was a couple of dances at the next school dance."

Cheerfully, she answered, "That sounds okay by me but if you fail then taking me out to dance might be a harder because I am hooked into all these machines all the time. Heck, as far as I know you would probably have to drag the bed to the dance too as I am too weak to do anything but use my computer."

Continuing, I added, "Then of course there is payment for services rendered."

"How much do you want?" I could tell she was truly desperate. Continuing, she added, "I got all I could ever need for my care since everyone said that I would be stuck in this bed for the rest of my life and if you get me out of this bed then I do not need that minus any rehabilitation that I need to get my muscles working again," she replied.

Having no idea how much she had, I shrugged saying, "Surprise me."

Well she did surprise me, by offering, "If you can get me up and not only walking again but if I can run and ride my horse again I will give you a million dollars."

"You have a million dollars?" I asked not really believing her.

"I have more than that with the settlements from the various insurance companies. My mom and dad said that a lump sum would be better for me than a monthly payment because if I were ever to walk again they would stop the payments. At the time the insurance companies were quite happy to have a one-time payment and be done with my care."

"What if I can't do what you want, what then?" I asked.

She thought about that for a minute, then answered, "Well I guess we will see what you can do. To start with, I will give you fifty thousand to try. If I use my hands again I would say maybe a hundred thousand dollars, use of my hands plus my legs three hundred and fifty thousand. Half a million if I get all that and you can get me back to where I can go to the bathroom again without using a damn catheter."

"The last half million?" I asked.

"When I can ride my horse again," she answered.

"How long do I get to get all this done?"

"Well I am stuck here in this bed so I am not going anywhere soon. Therefore, as I have all the time in the world, I will leave the time problem up to you since you know more about what you are going to do than I do," Barbara finished.

Thinking about what I did for Gerty, Steve and Heather, I knew this was all new territory for me since each time I had a working model to work with. Working on Barbara's back, I would need something for a model and I could not use my own, so I asked, "What does Faith know about all of this?"

"Nothing really," Barbara stated just before a new voice answered from the hallway.

Joining us in the room, Faith replied, "I know a lot more than you think I do."

All Barbara could say at the sudden intrusion was, "What?"

"Well a lot of what was going on I guessed at but now listening to how you were talking to Brian I understand a lot more now even about Heather and the rumors I was hearing at school." Turning to me she asked, "Can you really do everything that Barbara said you can do?"

All I was thinking was damn now I had another person who knew my secret. Answering her I offered, "I don't know, maybe depending on if I can get the things I need to try."

This time it was Faith who asked, "What do you need?"

"Well to start with I need a model. I need someone that I can use to trace things and how they work. I have never done anything like this and the first time is always harder as I have to learn how to model the various pathways in the body. Second thing I am going to need is a power cord that I can run from another part of the house preferable the garage. I can use house's power but if I have a stronger current I will probably do better."

"Why do you need that?" this time Barbara asked.

"For lack of a better explanation I can do more work that way and that is all I can tell you about that. Finally, I will need a lot of time to do what I do. When I did Heather's knee it took me most of a day to fix her knee, working on you could take a lot longer since a spinal cord handles so much more information to and from your brain that I have no real idea how long it will take."

All three of us sat there for a while before Faith answered, "I've got it, today is Thanksgiving, tomorrow is black Friday and mom always does her Christmas shopping then. Barb and I will have a talk with them after everyone leaves saying that they can go together. That will leave Barb and me here then I can be your model."

Thinking about how my hands explored Heather's body, both before and after I fixed her knee, I thought I might mention it to both of them, saying, "There is one other thing you both should know and that is that my hands will be all over your bodies and in places that maybe only a boyfriend or husband should know about."

When they figured out what I meant both of them turned beet red with Faith's blush going down to the base of the blouse she wore. Barbara on the other hand, stated, "Well you will be the only boy to put his hands on me then if this fails, otherwise you will be the first boy to have his hands on the new me." I noticed that her blush actually deepened.

With the two of them agreeing to my terms, we discussed how she would pay me along with me giving them the number to my smart phone so they could call me when they had their parents' permission. The three of us stayed together talking and eating for how long I had no idea, but it was the return of a couple of the other girls I had been introduced to earlier that broke up our conspiracy. When someone from down the hall called out that the Dallas game was starting, I took that as my cue to leave. I excused myself from the girls and found a seat with the men for the new game.

In the end, I would say that it was not worth it since the game was a blow out with the Cowboys winning by thirty over North Carolina. The only good thing was that dessert was served at halftime and that was the one thing that everyone brought to dinner and that was cakes and pies and I am not ashamed to say I really made a pig out of myself trying my best to have a piece of everything there. By the time we said our good-byes I could have sworn that Brodie would have had to roll me out of their house, as I could not eat anything else.

Lying in bed later, I did get the call I was expecting as Faith explained that her mom was excited about Black Friday and her dad forlorn thinking of everything he would have to carry. Explaining further, she stated he did not want to go but after it was mentioned that he would be alone with his wife for the day he agreed so long as Faith would stay in the house to watch Barbara. We talked a bit longer and agreed that she would call when her parents left and I would simply walk across the field since the canal was dry with the end of the irrigation season.

With that done, I brushed my teeth and went through the rest of my bathroom routine before heading to bed. When the phone rang at two thirty in the morning, I was grateful that I had taken my own advice and gone to bed. Answering the phone, I discovered that it was Barbara and not Faith saying that her parents had just left for the stores and that I was invited over to get to know Faith and her better. The last was said with a giggle coming over the phone that was not Barbara's. The walk across the field was nothing for me since it had been a full moon the night before and the moon was still over the horizon casting its glow over everything.

Knocking on the door, Faith met me, still dressed in her nightgown. Glancing down I could see that she did not sleep with any type of bra on, not that she needed too but I could see her nipples tenting the front of her nightgown. Returning my gaze to her face when she cleared her throat I could see she was more than a little excited whether by my simply being there or what I was going to try to do. As she pulled me down the hallway, I wondered why anyone would think that I could do anything at all. Then again why was I there thinking that I could do anything in the first place? Thinking like that would make anyone insane. Never-the-less there I was and as I stepped inside I could see Barbara under her covers only this time I could see that her shoulders were bare and the one arm that had limited mobility exposed with nothing on.

Stepping into her room, I realized what Faith had moved a few things around and now there was a second bed in the room although this one was not as complex as the one that Barbara was lying in. Once there I took a seat and pulled out a few of the anatomy books that I still had from the library and the three of us discussed what I thought I was going to do and how I was going to go about doing it. I was surprised when Barbara had Faith bring up on her computer images of all the x-rays, CAT scans, MRI's and everything else done to her since her injury two years before. Looking at the x-rays that were taken immediately after her injury then the ones since then I could visualize what I needed to do.

With Faith's help, we turned her over and with a sheet to keep her modesty intact arranged things around her so that I could not see the deterioration of her body to keep her nervousness down. I understood her nervousness because her muscles had atrophied to the point that she was skin and bone and even with the minor muscle control she had remaining in her neck and shoulders. It was a vast improvement over the rest of her body. After that, I had Faith get in the other bed only she had no modesty as she pulled her nightgown over her head showing me her lovely little tits that sat proudly on her chest though they were nothing more than slight mounds. All I was thinking when she pulled her shirt over her head was, 'God bless America.'

I was staring at Faith and I stayed that way until stayed until Barbara cleared her throat, saying, "Hey the patient is over here." That just caused both girls to giggle while I stood there embarrassed.

After that, I put a towel across her back then I took the chair they had set up between them and I put my hands on Faith first to see how the nerves moved along her spine both going to her brain and coming from it. What I found was actually a relief to me as most everything I found on Faith was located more or less in the same area on Barbara, which meant that I did not have to go searching for things. Sure, the wiring was different but not different enough for me to screw up her back even worse if that was even possible. Settling in with my focus, I went to work removing the scar tissue

What I found was that everything the doctors had used x-rays, CAT scans, and MRI's did not lie as her spinal cord had been partially severed. For me though it created several more problems because the scar tissue was just that: scar tissue with none of the neurological connections I thought should have been there. I had an idea on how to do the repairs my problem then became how much time I had available before Barbara's parents got home. Settling in I started to weave her spinal cord together by triggering a memory that corresponded with certain muscles and I would follow the impulse down her spine. When I had that located I would stimulate the muscle and trace it upwards when I had the second end I would fuse them together.

Fourteen hours later I called it quits for the day as one of the side effects of my noninvasive medical procedure fusing nerves back together was that there was a lot of swelling that ice and her various medications could only numb the pain but not stop it completely. Stepping out into the hallway to use the bathroom I returned to find Barbara and Faith both smiling at me with tears in their eyes.

Wondering if I had done something wrong, I asked, "What's up?"

Barbara looked at me with a huge smile and tears streaming down her face, stating, "My back hurts!"

With that statement pandemonium between the sisters broke out as the sisters screamed or I should say that it was Faith that was screaming while Barbara just laid there crying. When I mentioned that we needed to get things put away before their parents got home I found myself being assaulted from Faith who jumped off of her sister's bed to wrap her-self around me, and doing her best to drive her tongue into my mouth. Priding myself on not being a fool to pass up a good thing, I returned the favor and we went on like that for a while. Barbara cleared her throat saying that I was right in that things needed to be put away before their parents got home. Faith reluctantly let go, though she did say that after all of this she would be seeing me later. After a quick helping hand putting away the heavier things, I realized something that I had missed in the morning after my staring at Faith; that I never had the power cord I had requested. I did not need a break to recharge. It was something that I would have to talk to Steve about when I had time to see him again.

Heading home after the three of us made arrangements to get together the next time their parents were out, I was feeling tired as I crossed the field. A whole line of dark clouds that the weather reports stated would be the first snow of the year blotted out what light there was. Heading to my apartment, I put my books back on the shelves that I had pulled them from that morning. Heading to the main house to see what was for dinner I discovered that my mother was up to her old tricks by leaving a note on the table stating that they were going out for dinner and since I did not let anyone know where I was then it was up to me to fix my own dinner. How I loved my mother and her concept of punishment in thinking that I would go hungry. Little did any of them know that I now had a source of income beyond being a martial arts instructor!

Searching the refrigerator, I located the leftovers from Thanksgiving and in the tradition of my family before we moved here, I made myself a pair of turkey sandwiches along with the trimmings. Then to top it all off I took one of the pie tins complete with the pie back to my apartment to suffer in silence. Oh, what a silence it was because I don't think I uttered a sound until I finished off the pie. As if all that food would be punishment enough.

I stayed up after I finished dinner working on some of the things that Steve and I had bounced back and forth between us. What I searched for was ideas about my abilities. What I found in most of the stories were nothing more than someone's wild ass guesses. In a handful of other stories, there were some ideas that with some help they might prove beneficial.

That was where Brodie found me several hours later after all of them returned from the movies. He left soon after I assured him that everything was good and my only problem was that I wore myself out. I never told him what I was doing and I felt bad about not telling him, but overall after our conversation after the wedding I was not sure he wanted to know more. Turning in I put that thought out of my mind thinking that if Brodie wanted to know, all he would need to do was ask. Rolling over with my pillow, I did my best to let that thought go away, thinking that I would have a nice long rest since it was Saturday.

At least that was the plan when I went to bed. That plan ended around ten P.M. when I started to get updates on Barbara's condition. By midnight, I texted Faith that I was going to bed, I felt good about what I did, not that I really knew what I was doing but I considered it a good sign if Barbara was saying that she was feeling tingly. Early Saturday morning I knew it was a mistake to give Faith my cell phone number as the updates started again only now they were describing what she was feeling as if she was covered in red ants as her skin felt like it was on fire. When the next series of texts arrived, Faith was asking when I was going to be over. I asked about their parents; they said that they were gone already with their mother's friends taking her out for a second day of bargain shopping. Their father on the other hand, had been called out to the airbase to do something called "Officer of the Day," either way I was going over with Faith using the old whine until the guy crumbles. With less than a month with a new phone and I was already considering changing my number.

If I thought the greeting I had the day before was enthusiastic it was nothing like today because as soon as I knocked on the door Faith flung the door open and I found myself being assaulted as Faith wrapped herself around me kissing me soundly. At first, I just enjoyed her but after a minute like that Barbara called out from down the hallway saying for us to get a room. That's when Faith separated from me stating that Barbara had moved her foot.

After that, she grabbed my hand and simply pulled me down the hallway to Barbara's room. Barbara was also smiling but I could see that she was covered in sweat, which I had no idea about, talking to her I found out that she had been trying to tense her muscles and that all the sweat had been from her trying to exercise with little success. Offering to try some more she readily agreed and with Faith's help we had her on her stomach and her modesty gone as she stated that she did not care for a sheet to cover herself and that I could look and touch as much as I wanted. I did put a towel over her butt, as that was still too much of a distraction for me.

Remembering that I did not have my power cord I asked Faith for one and both of them looked puzzled when I plugged the cord in and laid it out under the chair I was using. Feeling the additional power from using the cord, I found my focus as I put my hands on her neck. Merging with her I first went through checking the work I had done the day before. I found several areas that I had not connected properly I repaired them and then moved on, not wanting to take a chance that her body would not finish the repairs that I started. With that done, I started working with Barbara moving muscles that had been idle and atrophied for over two years. At first getting her to move her toes was the hardest, why I did not know unless it was simply the distance from her brain but we worked on both of her feet for over an hour before she moved her foot. Sure, it was only a slight movement but it was movement she commanded. The second foot soon followed, and by the time her mother was due home we had all of her extremities twitching which was good enough for me. That meant that I had reconnected everything back where it was supposed to be, the rest I figured that Barbara could do with regular physical therapy.

Even the pain she had been feeling earlier was gone replaced now with exhaustion from having worked out literally all day on muscles that hadn't been used in years. Faith and I had barely left her room when we could hear snoring behind us. Looking back, we could see that she was sleeping peacefully. Myself, I just felt ten feet tall knowing that I had repaired her back. The kiss I got from Faith left no doubt that if we had time things would have gone a lot farther between us. They still might have, but the sound of a car crunching the rocks on the other side of the house reminded us that we were out of time for the day. For myself, I did not want to play my cards too fast and chase her off. Though by the way Faith directed me I would actually say that I was moving a lot slower than what she wanted because our last kiss left me with a hard on that as I walked home would not go down as I thought about Faith.