01: More Business at Alex & Co.

Kitty and Chalise arrived early the next morning. Kitty had stopped to pick up her friend, both of them anxious for what the day promised. They were in good moods, partly because of the previous evening, partly because they now felt almost fully included in Alex’s world, but also because it was such a beautiful day, revealing everything anew in the fresh light of a bright springtime morning.

There was some confusion over the arrangements of the day’s meeting. No one had wanted to leave Chalise’s mother, Caroline, alone, especially since she hadn’t gotten a car of her own yet. Becky had also pointed out that Cate was still upset with Melinda, and thus it might be best if she avoided that day’s discussion. Melinda was disappointed, but grudgingly admitted she had a valid point. So they reached a couple of work-arounds. Since Brooke wanted to be there, they’d agreed that she could bring her kids by and Caroline and Melinda would babysit for a while. However, Melinda also got Becky to agree to reveal everything discussed during the meeting as she didn’t want to miss any of it. Melinda had also stressed that she wanted to discuss her project with Alex, but Becky assured her she could time it better when there weren’t so many people around. Groveling in front of one’s sister is such a private matter, after all. So Becky promised her she’d arrange for Melinda to meet privately with Alex and Cate later.

Brooke arrived with her kids, to everyone’s delight. The girls doted on Suzy and Josh. They really were cute kids. Suzy knew that they were going to discuss Alex and wanted to join in, but Brooke made it clear that she’d tell her all the important parts. Suzy was hardly pleased but it at least appeased her. Josh was more interested in playing. Brooke planned on leaving the kids with Melinda while they discussed adult topics with Kitty and Chalise.

As they arrived, Kitty and Chalise weren’t surprised when the door opened without their having to knock. It was just one of those things that you eventually got used to being a part of Alex’s sphere of influence, thus they didn’t bother to ask. There were many things that bothered them a lot more than this minor little trick.

Alex welcomed them as usual. In this household everything revolved around him. His parents deferred to him, his sisters seemed to worship him, and the various women waited on him hand and foot. But both girls were used to this unusual situation. Somehow, in Alex’s case, it just seemed like the way things should be. But then again, both Kitty and Chalise had been around him long enough to realize some of the reasons for these odd behaviors. Well, maybe not the actual reasons, but at least a lot of what was involved. They were hoping to discover the final reasons soon.

They both kissed him, reveling in the feelings his presence generated in them. Despite Chalise’s unhappy relationships with her father, brothers, and most of the guys she’d tried to date, Alex—for his unorthodox approach, his women and his many mysteries—seemed like the perfect guy. He’d do just about anything for you, there was never any doubting how he felt about you, and if you were ever unsure about how much he appreciated you, all you had to do was watch the women around him. If he had any reservations about you, they’d certainly let you know it.

Kitty, on the other hand, had tried dating but had never been very impressed with it. Every time she’d go out with someone they’d have fun, that is, until some other girl would walk by. Then suddenly all conversation would come to a screeching halt and the guy would stare at the woman’s chest until she disappeared from sight. They’d then turn back to her and inevitably glance at her chest as if making a comparison, and she’d always come up the loser. They’d quickly look at her face again, as if her chest couldn’t keep their attention, and their eyes wouldn’t connect with hers. She could tell they were still thinking about the woman who had just walked past, judging Kitty as inferior to someone they had never even met. Inevitably she’d freeze up, no longer trusting the guy enough to talk much more, which would leave the guy unable to continue the conversation. That was how the majority of her dates had ended.

Yet Alex was different. Alex actually looked into Kitty’s eyes when he spoke, not because he wasn’t interested in her sexually, it was clear that he was, but because he found her interesting as an individual. He locked eyes with her every time he looked at her. His eyes seemed to look into her very soul. He was always fascinated with everything she said, even if it was some silly joke that made little sense. Just the fact that she said it was enough for him. As a result she would wrack her brain to think up fascinating things to say just to rise to the challenge.

She figured he didn’t stare at her chest largely because he was surrounded by beautiful women. First, his sisters were confident, smart and attractive women. The women that surrounded him were all fascinating, accomplished people that would clearly do anything for him. Alex would look when he wanted, but he had no need to try to look all the time because he could look at beautiful women anytime he desired. And he included Kitty amongst those women. What’s more, he didn’t even appear to notice anyone else around him. If a cute girl walked by, chances were he’d ignore her. If he did notice someone, chances were there was a good reason for it, because as often as not, they would prove to be as fascinating as the rest of the women around him. It was like he attracted interesting people to him, so he didn’t need to worry about anyone else. In fact, he seemed almost afraid to look at anyone near him. That was yet another thing they didn’t yet understand.

Chalise found Alex was unlike any of the guys who felt she was obligated to date them. They’d all thought that because they were black and aggressive, that they were the most attractive thing in the world. That reminded her too much of the men in her family. Her father talked about promoting blacks and the glory of black pride, but mostly his idea of getting ahead in the world involved either playing up to whites, or playing to their expectations. There was no ‘standing on your own two feet’ as far as he was concerned. You couldn’t achieve anything unless you played the role set out for blacks by the white man for the white man. She didn’t need that kind of thing in her life. She’d be happy being marginally successful if it meant she could avoid acting like that much of a player.

However, she seemed to be in the minority. Most of the guys she met thought they needed to be “gangsta”, which meant they’d act like a thug until they finally got arrested. Then they’d have no options left besides being a convict. She understood black men didn’t have many options available, but she couldn’t see how anyone could win playing that game. That was something else she wasn’t looking for.

Alex was different, though. He demanded to be treated, not according to some role he played, but simply for how he acted and how he treated you. Chalise could understand that. If someone acted like an ass, she’d like to be able to tell them that. Yet Alex never seemed to do that. Sure, he acted like a naïve kid who had never dealt with anyone realistically before, but such honesty was refreshing after having dealt with person after person who’d pretend to be one thing after another.

When she first met him she was sure he was playing another role, talking about women following him all around, about how women kept showing up and how they might pop up at any moment demanding his attention. But in his case he was sincere. What’s more, so were the women that surrounded him. If Alex said he was going to do something, he did it. No if, ands or buts. He told Kitty he wouldn’t ask about her dates with Darrell, and he didn’t. Even when she tried to explain she had no desire to sleep with Darrell. He’d given his word and nothing else mattered, certainly not his own interests in the relationship.

He also told them he’d always tell them the truth, unless he couldn’t. It had sounded strange at the time, but she had known it was true when he said it. He had his own reasons for not telling them things, and she could respect that. It seemed that everyone around him was cautious of what they said or did. Yet in his case it was clearly more than just talk. The things she’d personally observed him doing were absolutely amazing. He drew women to him like moths to a flame. He managed to heal those people in the hospital doing nothing more than holding his hand over their skin. There was nothing anyone could see him doing, but each of them immediately felt better. He never claimed he was going to heal anyone, he simply tried to help. In some of the cases they continued to suffer despite what he did for them, but the effect he’d had on them was still clear. And what he had done in that last case, the one with Mary, was just damn scary. He’d essentially put her down, killing her in full view of the hospital staff, without doing anything to her other than holding his hand over her forehead. The staff hadn’t responded, and there would be no way to prove what he’d done, but both Kitty and Chalise—who’d observed the event—were fully aware of what had happened. Yet she knew, even though he had the ability to do that, he’d only done it because he’d promised to help the girl, and when she asked him he’d finally helped her. And that had been that.

She’d never thought she’d end up with a skinny white boy, but their temperaments just seemed to match perfectly. He treated her fairly and reasonably, he and his sister challenged her intellectually, and he trusted her to behave admirably and morally. If those were traits associated with dating a white boy then line them up. But she knew better than that. His traits weren’t related to his being white. He was unique. She hadn’t met any other white guys who treated her like he did. She knew she’d have to teach him a few things about the real world, about what her people had faced in the past and continued to face every day. But she was comfortable that he’d listen and try to relate to the information. Which was more than any of her black friends ever did with what she told them.

All these thoughts flashed through both girls’ minds in the few moments it took to hug and kiss him hello. Yet the memories were enough for them to feel completely safe in his arms. It even went beyond that. There was something about him which you could trust. When he said he wouldn’t lie to you, except by omission, you knew he never would. However, both girls shook their heads to clear them of such distractions. There were more important things to deal with. His sister Becky approached from behind and hugged him too, though it was the least intimate of anyone in the household. You could tell she wanted more of a hug, but was happy with whatever he offered. Then there was the greeting from his women—his ‘girls’—despite the fact they were all adults and included someone’s grandmother. They both knew each would gladly kill anyone who threatened him, and they’d gladly spend their lives in prison for it, proud they’d served him for only a few moments. Such dedication was almost as scary as that scene in the hospital!

Finally they had to focus their thoughts. The meeting was beginning.

Everyone settled in the living room. There clearly wasn’t enough room for everyone, so some sat at the kitchen bar or on chairs that clearly didn’t belong in the room.

“So who is going to get this show on the road?” Becky asked. She seemed enthused to begin the discussion.

“First, we need know what they aware of,” Anh stated, speaking much clearer, having learned English amazingly fast, but still struggling with it slightly. Everyone turned to look at Kitty and Chalise.

“We’ve suspected several things for quite some time as we’ve observed a lot of unusual stuff,” Kitty told them.

“But everyone has been trying to not reveal too much,” Chalise continued the thought.

“Then we saw what he was doing at the hospital,” Kitty said, “and we knew we were in the presence of greatness. We didn’t know it intuitively, like the rest of you apparently did, but it’s clear he has some amazing abilities.”

“Wrapping up, we know the following things,” Chalise said, summing up, ticking the items off of her fingers. “Alex is sleeping with his sister, Cate. All of you will do anything he tells you, despite how much grief you give him about a variety of things. He seems to talk to people when they’re not in the same room, or, if they are, without any spoken words—”

“It’s a form of telepathy,” Cate informed them.

“Yeah, that’s the word for it,” Chalise responded, not wanting to get sidetracked just yet. “And it’s not just verbal communication either, I guess I should say non-verbal communication. It was clear yesterday that you were all feeling what he was when he made love to us.” She looked around and saw several nods acknowledging the truth of her statements.

“It’s a little more complicated, in that some of us have certain abilities that others don’t,” Natalie tried to explain. “Both Rebecca and I don’t—”

“We’ll get to that in time,” Becky said, cutting her off. “Let them say what they know first before we begin discussing the details.”

“Of course,” Natalie responded. Chalise wondered where her lack of confidence came from.

“Uh, we know he has access to some unexplained source of energy,” Chalise continued, “which he can use to do amazing things in medicine, but there are all kinds of restrictions on what it can and can’t do. We also figured out that he’s unsure what he can do with it yet.”

“Some, but not all of you, can apparently see what he needs to do,” Kitty said, taking over for her friend, “but since he can’t tell himself, you have to carefully talk him through it.”

“And finally, we saw the awesome thing he did the other day. Awesome and scary I should say. He literally...” Chalise started to explain what they’d witnessed, but halted when she saw the look in everyone’s eyes, telling her she shouldn’t mention it.

“It’s OK,” Alex said, holding his hands up, finally speaking up for himself. “I killed Mary. It’s that simple. The woman trusted me and relied on me to help her.”

“You did no such thin—” Shani objected before he cut her off without a word spoken or visible gesture.

“I killed her, betraying her trust in me, just like I betrayed that woman in Missouri. I never even got to know her before—”

Both Kitty and Chalise perked up at this. This was something else they’d never heard of yet. What woman had he betrayed and how? Hopefully they’d learn that soon.

“Enough!” Anh announced. “You do nothing of sort. Girl beyond help. It unfortunate, but you do nothing wrong. Girl in hospital, she ask die. You do as she ask. You do right. You do same if we ask. We respect.” Clearly she was either so upset she wasn’t thinking straight, or Alex was too preoccupied to correct her grammar. Kitty and Chalise figured that Alex somehow guided her speech, not simply translating for her.

Alex nodded, standing straight and regarding everyone. He took the older woman’s advice seriously. Although she rarely spoke, when she did it was worth paying attention to.

“You’re right, of course,” he agreed, nodding sagely. “Now is neither the time nor the place to harp on what’s happened in the past. Kitty and Chalise are depending on me to...” He kind of mumbled the end of the sentence as if losing his train of thought, then perked up again.

“OK, it’s clear that you know a lot, but there’s still a surprising amount that you don’t know yet. Cate, if you’d like to explain about the various people in my life.”

“Gladly, Alex,” she told him before turning to her two friends. “Basically we’ve classified the people in Alex’s world into three categories. It should help you relate to everyone by understanding how they fit into his pantheon. First are the ‘Seers’ or the type 1s. They’re like Anh, Allison, and the other women who can actually see what amounts to people’s souls. They can see people’s life forces, their health, their basic personalities as well as their emotional states. There’s still a lot we don’t understand about this vision, but that seems to be what we currently understand about it. They were also initially drawn to him because of their ability to ‘feel‘ this energy he produces.”

“So that’s what they meant when they said—” Chalise began.

“That he allowed them to ‘see the world differently’. Exactly. He literally gave them the gift of vision, just a different kind of vision. They can see things that are invisible to everyone else, including him.” Both girls nodded that they understood the basic concept so she continued.

“Next, there are the type 2s, or what we call ‘Watchers’,” she continued. “These include Betty, Natalie and Rebecca. None of them can see the things that Seers can, but they can feel it internally. Unfortunately, they generally don’t understand it and simply realize Alex is extremely powerful. There seems to be many more Watchers than Seers, but the Seers demand immediate attention, so they take much more of his focus.”

“Ah, that explains the people in New Orleans who he didn’t sleep with,” Kitty gasped.

“Right, there were quite a few of them, most of whom he never even talked to, but he managed to assign a couple to watch over the rest,” Cate told them. “Plus he’s still got another girl, Patricia, the blues singer still in New Orleans who is helping teach them what they can do and how they can help.”

“That also explains his comment about women just ‘showing up’,” Chalise observed.

“Exactly. If there’s a Seer anywhere near him, they’re drawn to him and they’ll seek him out, usually not letting anything get in their way,” Cate said, enthused that they were accepting this all so readily.

“Wow, it almost sounds like he’s got an army of followers deployed, moving field generals here and there,” Kitty said, her eyes opening wide at the thought of the numerous unnamed followers she imagined all dedicated to Alex.

“Well, there’s hardly enough to form an army yet, but they’re trying to organize,” Cate corrected her. “Anyway, the third and final group, or the type 3s, are the normal people. That would include the two of you, myself, and even Ryan at the hospital. They are the people without any reason to accept him for what he is, that choose to follow him simply due to his personality. Alex talked and demonstrated to Ryan that he knew what he was doing. He didn’t make boastful demands. Instead he simply quietly walked around the hospital helping people without any explanation. I like to think that that behavior did more to convince Dr. Moore than anything else.”

“So just how many of these do we have to worry about, competition wise, that is?” Kitty asked.

“Well, all the type 1s are pretty consistent in their belief that Alex is bigger than any of them can possibly lay a claim to. They all recognize his abilities and power and want him to advance as much as he can, so they all seem to have accepted Shani’s ‘no nookie without cutie’ rule, putting it into Anh’s too perfect terminology.” They smiled at the overly simplistic explanation of what they’d all been wrestling with these past several weeks.

“Then there’s the type 2s. They’re largely afraid to approach him, recognizing his power but not understanding it. However, if he offers them an opening they’ll gladly take it. I probably shouldn’t mention this yet, but I spoke to Alex about the idea of ‘saving his sperm’ to ensure it’s saved in case something happens to him.” They both simply nodded at this so Cate continued. “I suspect the Watchers will be to glad to begin having his babies, even if they can’t do it with him personally. But largely I don’t think you have to worry about them. They’re mostly like Betty. She’s been secretly watching Alex for the last couple of years, but she’s never said a word to him in all this time.”

“I’d wondered why you two hung around with her so much when she never seemed to actually say much to either of you,” Kitty mentioned.

Cate then explained her own theories regarding the possible biological reasons for Alex’s abilities, as well as Anh’s more practical though unorthodox views. Becky then explained the experiments she’d conducted, and how it explained that they didn’t know what was causing Alex’s abilities. Cate then explained her father’s theory about why everyone put up with what had been happening to everyone.

“I still contend that it’s a very strong possibility, although I won’t swear to it, as I have so little control over my own mind as it is,” he joked.

Chalise seemed to seriously ponder this idea. “The guys at school all seem to be pretty set against him for the most part, while the girls are either pining for him or resentful they haven’t been picked instead of us, so you may actually have something there.”

“It explains why Alex’s parents put up with all this weird behavior, as well as explaining why we don’t all fight amongst ourselves like jealous cats and dogs,” Shani explained, though she didn’t look convinced herself.

“I must say,” Kitty suggested to Alex’s parents, taking a chance, “that you both seem to be taking this thing between Cate and Alex pretty well.” Frank grimaced a bit, but everyone could see his face slowly relax again.

“You should have seen him a little while ago,” Linda told them both. “He was fine with most everything that has happened, but once Cate and Alex actually fell into bed together instead of just hinting they were attracted to each other, he was fit to be tied. However I think I was finally able to get him to see beyond his own anger, so he could finally see how much happier they both are and how well they were coping with it. I think that was actually his biggest fear, that somehow Cate would eventually fall apart, or be unable to cope with its aftereffects.”

“Still, I think it’s amazing that you two are as accepting as you have been,” Chalise said. “I can’t picture my father ever supporting me in anything I might choose to do. Knowing your son is playing with things that no one else has before...” she left the rest unsaid.

“Yeah, well, when everything is said and done, Alex seemed to have a handle on it himself,” Frank said, leaning back and crossing his legs. “He didn’t get carried away, he played it down and tried to control everyone else so that nothing could get out of hand. Besides, neither of us has ever been in a similar situation. This is as new to us as it is anyone else. There’s just no parental rule book for how to advise your kids on subjects like these.”

“So,” Alex said, speaking up again after having simply sat back and let the whole conversation unfold around him, “I was planning on bringing up the whole ‘preserving the genetics’ argument with you both, but now that it’s out, what do you think of the idea?”

“Oh, I think it makes perfect sense,” Kitty responded enthusiastically. “I think you should save as much sperm as you can. In fact, I can’t believe you haven’t purposefully gotten anyone pregnant yet.”