Chapter 20

"You sure you won't change your mind," the man in the suit asked. The suit he wore while expensive and looked good, did not lend itself to negotiations out in the open in the July sun. The reason he, along with his partner, were standing out in the midday heat in a hay field was due to Burt asking me to help him load up the hay bales that were sitting out in the sun after their loader broke down and would be another week for the parts to arrive.

Both of us knew that he could throw the bales himself but after watching me get mad at another couple of lawyers that suggested I might be a danger to those around me after I told them no thanks, he took the job of keeping me away from everyone. The necessity of being away from everyone was due to the video that had surfaced after I had treated the girl in the hospital along with the magic tricks I used to convince her I could help.

What got people really interested in me was the story that came out later from the reporter I had arrested as he put everything together from the armed robbery in California to what I had done for the girl in the hospital. Any one thing could have been passed over as someone being lucky but with me around them, but as miracles continued to happen around me people were becoming more interested in me to the point that three different medical research labs, one government lab by the name of DARPA and a foreign government all made inquiries saying that they were interested in studying my abilities.

The idea that I was not interested in their offers never even entered their thinking and after repeated offers to me, Brodie, my mother, and even Steve, I finally had enough, telling the previous group that if they bothered me anymore that I would be calling the police saying that I was feeling threatened. Things escalated and they threatened to have me arrested for threatening them. That ended with me stating that bad things would happen if they continued to harass me. The reason I was even listening to this group was instead of being from some research lab the two of them were from a hospital having a very good track record treating cancer and with my coach's son my pet project I figured that I would listen to them and maybe change my mind. The problem now was where they wanted me was nowhere near their cancer hospital.

"Why would I change my mind?" I asked. Continuing, I added, "Look, I am not what you are looking for. I have done my one good deed for the year and after the way I have been treated by everyone these last two weeks makes me want to pass on helping my fellow man."

"The offer is very fair," the lawyer offered.

"The only thing you're offering me is living in a cage to be poked prodded and inspected by people I do not know. You are offering me nothing other than money and I have plenty already," I replied.

"What about your ability to heal? There is so much that medicine could learn from you," This time it was the woman doctor speaking that accompanied the lawyer out to the field Burt and I were working. She was dressed better than either Burt or me, though her shoes were appropriate for walking in a field though boots would have been better. Beyond that, she was dressed in a nice blouse and skirt pair that accentuated her curves though she was older.

"Look, you're the ninth group to find me and make an offer to come and live in their cage while they studied me. The problem is that I have no desire to be studied like some lab rat. Last year when I was electrocuted my mother was approached by several doctors that gave the same arguments that you and all the other doctors and lawyers put forth, going as far as suggesting that they would get a judge to have my committed. I will tell you right now that will never happen. I refuse to be a lab rat for them, you, or anyone else. The ability you claim I have is mine, and with less than a week to go before football I am not leaving since I promised the coach that I would be there for the team," I finished.

Exasperated she shook her head adding, "Football? That is just a silly kid's game. What we could learn from you could potentially save and improve the lives of millions from injuries and diseases."

"Look lady, you say football is a kid's game and that is fine, but gee, go figure, I am a kid and I like the game, so I am going to stay here and play. I never intended for what I could do to get out and after seeing how people have been doing everything including a couple of threats you should be able to understand why I will not be doing three shows a day for you or anyone else. The secret that I can do things is out and I have come to grips that I screwed up. So unless someone wants to pay me, say, a million dollars to disrupt my life to do it again then we having nothing to talk about."

"So you will do it for a million dollars?" she asked excitedly. Adding "Can we monitor whatever it is you are doing?"

"Nope, I said that I might heal someone for a million dollars. I will never give permission to be turned into a lab rat. I did that once and I did not like it, so I will not put myself in that situation again." Getting off the trailer to get back to work, I added, "Now if you do not have anything else to add I have work to do."

Finishing, we shook hands and the lawyer offered me his card, offering if I changed my mind to contact him. I accepted the card but reaffirmed I had no desire to become a lab rat. With Peter's memories floating around in my head about his time in labs as well as my time in the hospital, I knew that it would be a very cold day in hell before I would subject myself to experimentation.

All this time Burt sat next to me on the hay trailer saying nothing. Finally, once the lawyer and doctor were out of hearing distance, he asked as he put on his gloves, "So everything they are saying about you on the Internet is true then?"

Climbing into the cab to start driving while he loaded the bales of hay, I answered, "That depends on what people are saying about me."

He thought about that for a second, then asked, "How about the bus accident last year, why didn't you do more for them if you could have healed them?"

Putting the truck into gear, I answered, "What makes you think that I didn't help them. There were three of them who could have died but did not."

That caused him to pause for a moment.

Stopping at the end of the row to change positions, he asked, "What about Sierra and those other girls on the softball team, did you have something to do with the way they were playing?"

"Does it matter if I did? I asked.

Grinning as he shook his head, he answered, "Not at all."

Grinning, I replied, "Then I might have had something to do with that."

He smiled as we switched positions. We did that for a while, Burt asking questions, me answering trying not to give too much away. At first the questions revolved around what the girls did for me in the spring and the final question before we took the hay out to stack it was, to ask if I was going to do the same thing this year.

After I stated that I had no idea if I wanted to put up with the hassle, he laughed declaring, "Yea, I can see getting a blow job and laid every day from a bunch of different girls is a chore that takes a lot of effort. If it was me, I don't think I would ever get tired of that."

Thinking about Sierra and her early morning blowjobs, I did agree that it was nice. Jokingly after that, he asked what it would cost him to get what I was giving to the girls since he would not be offering me the same service in exchange. We talked a bit more and in the end, I stated that I would boost him for a dinner a week and the promise never talk to anyone else about what he knew about me. I knew it wasn't much, but he was my friend.

My problem turned out not to be from Burt as he was as good as his word, the softball team was another matter. Julie was the first to find me after returning from her vacation in Georgia. She came out to the ranch as soon as she arrived home from the airport doing nothing more than dropping her suitcase then telling her parents that she was going to find her friends. The friend she was looking for was me, and I was out covering Brodie's work. Because Brodie knew her from her previous visits to see me he told her where I was working.

Not bothering to wait for me to come in from the field, she came out and after a short greeting asked if our agreement from the spring was still good. I still had not made a decision if I wanted to continue and I told her. Explaining my reasons why I did not want to continue I told her how a few reporters were still buzzing around town looking for a story about me. I knew that because Brodie's friends reported to him that the reporters had asked for interviews about our family.

Stating all this Julie just enhanced my resolve that this was the right thing to do. Julie on the other hand was not going to be denied her boost to her athletic abilities. Presenting me her final argument to me that I should continue boosting her performance, she dropped to her knees right there in the field, opened my pants and proceeded to give me a blowjob just the way I liked. After the blowjob I was convinced and I told her so, Julie though, was after some relief for herself and she continued to do her best to convince me. I will say that I was late getting home that night.

The other softball players were another matter as one moved into town with her family. The remaining players were my problem and they did talk though very few people listened to their stories except the reporters. Even when video appeared, everyone claimed it was faked, as no one could do what the videos were proclaiming I could do. What I could not avoid was the desperation of people or in my case teenagers who wanted to be known for something. For athletes it is their desire to be famous.

A couple days after Julie renewed her contract with me, she started showing up for her morning boost before her cross-country team met to run, and then the other girls on the team paid me a visit. The first issue I had with them was that they were dressed in running shorts and tee shirts with their sports bras underneath. Of course, their visit was after Julie's and while she was gone, the smell of sex was still in the air. Our talk was short after mentioning that they were interested in whatever I was doing for Julie. What the four of them were not interested in was paying me the same way or anyway at all, preferring to plead that I should do it for the school.

When I laughed at their 'proposal', the four of them got mad and tried to threaten me that they would expose me. Considering what I was already experiencing with reporters buzzing around, their threats were hollow. I eventually showed them to the door since we were at an impasse as none of them wanted to exchange services with me. I did make one concession and I gave them the option to pay the same as Cindy had promised but failed to deliver the previous year but all that did was piss them off even more. In the end, the four girls left stating that I was insane for wanting to be paid with sex and a hundred dollars a boost was too much. I agreed with them and showed them the door.

The following Monday after my failed meeting with the girls from the cross-country team the football team met for practice for the first time. First up were speeches by the athletic director as well as the head coach stressing sportsmanship along with a zero tolerance for any drugs or drug use no matter who was involved. It was a good speech since the problems with the players in the spring. When he finished talking, we cleared the bleachers and hell week started in earnest, with all the assistant coaches yelling at everyone to clear the stands.

For the next two weeks, the coaches did everything they could to separate the players that wanted to be there from the ones that thought it would be cool to play football. At the end of the two weeks of constant drills, the coaches had managed to cut the roster from two hundred and fifty kids down to enough for three teams.

When the coaches posted the rosters at the end of Friday's practice, Burt and myself were on the varsity roster with Burt as starting defensive end while I was listed as a corner and receiver. We had one week of practice before we had our first scrimmage.

That scrimmage was an absolute rout with Burt spending most of his time in their backfield chasing the quarterback as well as both of their running backs. My playing time was more limited as the coach pulled me stating that he was holding me as a surprise after the first quarter due to Burt causing enough trouble in their backfield. By the start of the second half, we were both on the bench saying that there was no reason for either of us to get hurt in a scrimmage. We won the game by thirty-five.