The Lost Swords

by Dave Hicks

 

Chapter 4

 

1

 

While Eleanor was shopping for clothes and underwear, I went to an electrical, a hardware and a computer store, for various items, filling the back of the vehicle. Next, a visit to the bank, to ensure Eleanor would be a wealthy woman, whether she was with me or not. Sometimes, it can be quite handy owning a bank. I went looking for her and helped carry her parcels to the vehicle.

"Art shop next," she announced. "I’ve decided to become an artist."

By the time she’d finished at the art shop, the vehicle was full.

"We would’ve never got all this in the car," she said, as we headed from town.

"Mm," I said.

"Smart arse," she laughed. "You knew the car wouldn’t be big enough."

"I haven’t decided what I’m going to be yet," I said, ignoring her last comment. "What do you suggest?"

"Difficult," she replied, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "What sort of skills do you have?"

"I speak fluent Ancient Hebrew," I replied, "and German, Hindi, French, Mandarin and Cantonese. Sanskrit - that’s ancient too. Plus Arabic, Russian, Latin and Greek. Not to mention all the various dialects and at least twenty other languages I can think of - off hand. Some of the others are extinct, of course - like Ecok. Not much call for that anymore."

"No," she said carefully. "Not much call for extinct languages these days, unless you want to go into politics. What else can you do."

"I helped write the Constitution for this country," I said. "And the Charter of Human Rights for the State of Pennsylvania."

"Did you?" she asked. "Which one were you in the painting?"

"I slept in, the morning we all had our picture painted," I smiled. "The artist wouldn’t paint me in later. He claimed there wasn’t room for me.."

"It’s no good," she said. "All this stuff’s very nice, but it’s just not very current. You must be good at something else - surely?"

"Not much really," I said.

"Then you’re just going to have to be a not-so-very-good, struggling author," she said. "Living off you poor suffering wife’s meager savings and what little she gets from selling a painting now and then."

"Yeah, that’ll do," I said with enthusiasm. "That’s definitely me."

We arrived back at the lodge and proceeded to remove our purchases from the vehicle. I noticed Eleanor was placing shoes in the bottom of one particular cupboard in our bedroom.

"You can’t put them in there," I told her.

"Why not?" she asked.

"I’ll show you," removing the shoes.

I stepped into the cupboard and beckoned her to join me. She laughed and stepped in. I shut the cupboard doors.

"Not a lot of room with you in here," I smiled.

"Kinky," she laughed, pushing her bosom against me. "I didn’t know you were into closet sex,"

A small light came on above us, as we stood among the hanging clothes. I showed her a concealed switch and pressed it. The floor we were standing on, started to lower silently.

"Oh!" she cried, in surprise. "I’m getting a sinking feeling."

We descended about ten meters and faced a dimly lit, bare concrete tunnel, that went into the blackness. I took her hand.

"Let’s go for a walk," I suggested.

We walked for a kilometer and emerged into a large, dim chamber.

"I’ll turn on the lights," I said, throwing a switch on the wall.

Strong overhead lights came on, revealing a large, circular room of rough gray concrete. In the center of the area was a military helicopter.

"Just in case we ever need it," I said.

"That’s an attack helicopter gun-ship, isn’t it?" she stated. "Like the one in the movie ‘Ghost Ship’."

"Yes," I replied, my voice echoing around the chamber. "The very same one, as it happens - that’s where I got it from."

"Yes?" she asked. "You say it like; every home should have one."

"Of course," I laughed. "But I only use it for leisure purposes. I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone with it. Would I?"

"Is it fully armed?" she asked.

"You know it is," I smiled. "Do I work any other way?"

"Mm," she replied, then looking up. "How do you get it out of here?"

"The roof slides back," I laughed. "It’s a bit too large to get it out through the closet."

"Did you make this place?" she asked.

"No," I replied. "It’s part of a old missile defense base, abandoned years ago. One of the reasons I bought the place. There’s ten of these silos around the place. No one knows about it. I removed all records of it from the government files."

We returned to the bedroom.

"I’ll finish putting my stuff away," she said, "then I’ll make coffee. Later, I’m going to have to show you all the sexy underwear I’ve bought."

I transferred the electrical and hardware items I’d bought to the barn, where I’d work on them later. I set up my new computer in a spare room. Then I joined her in the lounge.

"It’s an escape route, isn’t it," she said.

"That’s right," I smiled.

"You think of everything."

"I only wish it were true," I commented. "But in case of trouble, I try to think ahead as best I can. It’s a habit I’ve developed over many years."

 

2

 

"Can I have this room for my studio?" she asked, looking through the window towards the lake. "It really is perfect."

"Sure," I replied. "You’ll need to a place to work, so you can support me with my not-very-good writing efforts."

"I was only joking when I said that, you know."

"I’m not," I said. "It’s a good story. Mediocre people generally attract less attention."

She hugged me and looked into my face intently.

"I thought so," she exclaimed, standing back from me, looking me up and down. "Your eyes have changed color. They were blue, now they’re hazel. And you’re grown about an inch taller."

"That’s right."

"Can you change other parts of your body?" she asked.

"Just about anything, if I wanted to." I replied.

"Heavens," she chuckled. "Think of the fun I could have. A different man in my bed every night."

"It not that easy as that," I laughed. "Major changes can take weeks, sometimes months."

"Why didn’t you make yourself look older, instead of leaving Ingrid’s mother?"

"I’d still end up with the same problem eventually," I replied. "No matter how old I look, some person is going to say - they remember me when they were a child and I haven’t aged a bit. I can’t keep on looking older and older forever. There has to be a limit to how old a person can look. And people do expect you to die sometime or at least get ill once in a while. So at the first sign of suspicion, I stage my own death or simply vanish. The world was much more superstitious then. To remain where I was, would only endanger the ones I’d grown fond of. It’s always best to move on - in the long run. They can trace a person easier now, so I’ve got to be a lot smarter. I have to plan ahead more."

"That’s so sad," she said, standing before me and holding my hands in hers. "And so lonely for you. Century after century. I’m beginning to appreciate the down side of immortality. Always knowing whoever you’re with, will eventually die or you’ll have to leave them. How could you form a close relationship with anyone?"

"Before I met you, I’ve always tried not to get too attached to people," I smiled. "I’m hoping this time will be different."

"It will be," she said firmly. "I know it will be."

After lunch, we lay together, on the bed. I gently massaged her shoulders for a while to relieve the ache, from the weight of her breasts.

"This is what I’ve always dreamt of," she said.

"What’s that?"

"I can paint and draw," she explained, "in a beautiful place by a lake, with the man of my dreams. I hope they never find us."

"It looks like we might’ve got away with it for a while," I said. "You and Claire may have to appear at the inquest later but Isabel may have something up her sleeve."

"Will I have to change my name?"

"No need," I answered her. "Eleanor a fairly common name. Like David. There’s plenty of them around. The secret of adopting a new identity is, not to make it any more complicated, than you have to. It ends up too much to remember and that’s when mistakes get made."

 

3

 

I sat on the verandah of the lodge and checked with my law firm, to see if there were any messages.

The first was from Paul. He wanted to let me know that some enterprising person had translated the conversation between Ko Su and myself during the fight. Ko Su had addressed me as Dai Ho - The Immortal One. The Chinese have withdrawn all demands for an apology and compensation from our government. They felt it was an honor for Ko Su to have lost to the mythical, Dai Ho. They stated; they had no wish to insult the great Dai Ho under any circumstances. Thankfully, the reporters were losing interest in the story now. He and Claire were moving back home and getting on with their life. Claire instructed me to tell Eleanor; she’d put Paul on a new diet and that Eleanor would understand what she meant. Paul added; as usual, it’s been fun meeting me again.

The next message was from Isabel. It confirmed what Paul had said about the Chinese government. Also, the investigation into the death of four foreigners who attacked Eleanor and Claire had been dropped, for diplomatic reasons. The State Department’s suspension of the Michael, the police inspector, had been completely withdrawn. The bodies had been taken quietly back to their own country, for a hero’s burial. The FDI didn’t want to know anything about anything, period. End of story. I didn’t believe a word of it.

I left a note that Isabel was to receive a substantial bonus, paid from the funds they held on my behalf. Everything seemed to have turned out rather nice. And I didn’t like it. It didn’t feel right and I’d learnt to trust my instincts over the years.

Eleanor came onto the verandah and lifted her dress. She was wearing a white full-length girdle, that firmly encased her from her waist, to the tops of her knees.

"What do you think?" she smiled.

"Very nice," I replied. "Very sexy. But you don’t have to wear one."

"What’s that got to do with it?" she asked, sitting next to me. "My husband finds me attractive in a girdle, so from now onwards, I wear them."

"How did you know I find girdles sexy?" I asked.

She gave me a questioning looked then laughed.

"Aren’t they uncomfortable?" I asked.

"You let me worry about that," she smiled. "Lot’s of women wear them. You’re not going to talk me out of it. If my husband likes me in a girdle - I wear a girdle. And don’t suddenly pretend you don’t like them, because I can read your mind - in case you’ve forgotten already."

I hugged her.

"I have some news for you," I announced.

I told her about the messages I’d had received from Paul and Isabel.

"So we’re not on the run anymore?" she said, with a hint of disappointment.

"Apparently not," I replied, running my hand down her firmly encased hips and thighs.

"Only apparently?" she asked. "It’s all over, isn’t it?"

"Yes," I smiled. "But something’s bound to go wrong. It always does. The whole thing went too easily. People are a lot more devious than that, as a rule. David’s rule."

"You big misery," she laughed. "We’re off the hook."

"And Claire says to tell you that Paul is on a new diet of some kind," I remembered. "She said, you’d know what she meant."

"Oh yes," she smiled. "I know what she means."

"That’s good."

"Do we have to move back to the mainland now?" she asked.

"Do you want to?"

"No," she said verbally. "I want to stay here."

"Then that’s what we’ll do," I smiled. "I’ll keep my new identity however. It’s never a good idea for me to go back to an old one."

She hugged and kissed me.

"Can I keep mine too?" she asked.

"Sure."

Eleanor spent the rest of the day in her studio, doing highly artistic things like, hammering bits of wood together and stretching canvas over them. I finished installing my computer and got the satellite link working.

 

4

 

Next morning there was a message from John and Ingrid. They wanted to know if we were okay. I let them know we were fine.

"Would you like to visit John and Ingrid?" I asked Eleanor, over breakfast.

"That would be wonderful," she replied, clasping her hands in delight. "Perhaps they could stay here for a few days. We should really get to know them better. She is your granddaughter, you know."

"I’ve booked us on the 8:30 flight this morning," I smiled.

She looked at her watch.

"Thanks for giving me so much warning," she said, with mock sarcasm, rising from the table and hurrying to the bedroom. "How on earth am I going to get ready in time."

After the flight to the mainland, we hired a car and drove to my apartment. John answered the door and invited us inside. There were hugs all round. Eleanor helped Ingrid make coffee.

"We’ve been glued to the television for the last few days," John informed me.

"Sorry we couldn’t let you know where we were," I said.

"We understand," he smiled. "We knew you and Eleanor had to protect yourselves first."

"I was just saying to Eleanor," commented Ingrid. "You both just vanished. The news was full of it. No one could find you."

There was a knock at the door. John answered it. Michael, the police inspector from the island entered and sat tiredly in an armchair.

"Coffee?" Ingrid asked him.

He nodded.

"He knew you were here," John said to me apologetically. "I had to let him in. He’s a police officer."

I told him it was okay.

"You’ve grown a beard," Michael smiled. "That threw me but Eleanor was unmistakable."

"See, I told you they’d be hard to disguise," I remarked.

"Please listen to what he has to say," said Eleanor. "I feel it’s important."

"I will," I promised.

"You must’ve spent a long time watching this place." I stated.

Michael took a cup from Ingrid and nodded his thanks.

"It was the only lead I had," he replied. "When I was suspended, I took some leave from work. I spent the time trying to find you both."

"And now you’d like some answers," I said.

He looked at me intently, resting his cup on a knee.

"Are you in trouble?" Ingrid asked me.

I smiled at her and shook my head.

"Sorry," she said, sitting closer to John.

"That’s not why I’m here." Michael said. "I’m on official leave. Enjoying a long, well earned holiday - just like the Commissioner ordered me too - or else. On full pay, with another commendation I can throw in the drawer, with all the others and forget about. I’m to be promoted to chief inspector - provided I keep my mouth very shut and don’t rock the boat."

He paused.

"You couldn’t possibly be here to thank me,." I said.

"No I'm not," he stated. "My visit’s very personal."

"Oh!," cried Eleanor, in my mind.

"What?" I asked her.

"He’ll tell you," she replied. "We must help him."

He reached into his coat and withdrew his wallet. He handed me a photograph from it. It was a picture of a girl, about fifteen years of age. I looked at it and handed it to Eleanor.

"My daughter," he smiled. "Her name is Grace."

"She’s very pretty," I said.

"Yes she is," he smiled. "So much like her mother, in so many ways."

"You’re wife’s no longer with you, I take it?" I inquired.

"No," he replied sadly. "An incurable form of leukemia. Five years ago. It happened very quickly. Luckily, she was spared a lot of the pain that usually accompanies that sort of disease."

I waited for him to continue. Eleanor handed the picture back to him. He returned it carefully to his wallet.

Eleanor reached over and held Ingrid’s hand for a second.

"Let him tell you in his own time," advised Eleanor. "This is very difficult for him."

"Thanks," I smiled to her.

Ingrid took his empty cup and brought him a refill.

"I’m going to be honest with you," he said, taking a deep breath. "My wife was telepathic."

He took a deep breath.

"And so is my daughter," he said. "That’s why I'm here."

 

5

 

"Nothing about you and Eleanor makes any sense," Michael stated. "Four highly trained armed killers drop dead - for no apparent reason - while attacking two unarmed women. Claire is a trained martial artist but Eleanor is not. It's ridiculous. We have a completely unknown martial arts expert. Able to defeat the Chinese national champion as casually as I would make a cup of coffee. Who can move at impossible speeds - and I mean impossible speeds. My brother is a scientist and a very smart one. I have a great respect for his opinions on matters such as this. I had him take a detailed look at the recording of your fight. He calculated the forces and stresses involved on a human body - to be able to move like that. He told me it was impossible - your bones would snap and the tendons would part. That’s for starters. In his opinion, the recording was a clever fake, constructed by the television people. I talked to some of the spectators at the tournament. One showed me a video recording she’d taken of the fight. It was at the same speed as the television recording. I bought it from her."

I nodded for Michael to continue.

"I’ll come to the point," he said, shifting in his chair. "I’m a cop. A very good one. I hate things that don’t make sense to me. I need to know answers, for things I don’t understand. This, I definitely don’t understand."

"Is that what you want to talk to me about?" I asked.

"No," he smiled sadly. "It’s not the major reason. I’m just giving you some background. That’s not why I’ve been trying to track you down."

"What then?" I asked him.

"Something happened when I saw you both in the interview room at the police station," he related. "While all the crap with your lawyer and the idiots from the FDI, was going on. I watched you and Eleanor. Particularly Eleanor. While everyone else was screaming and shouting, she said nothing. Something touched the back of my mind, I couldn’t put my finger on for a while. Then suddenly it hit me. I realized she was talking to you, without saying anything. The same way my wife used to talk to me. I know my daughter has her mother’s talent, even though she can’t talk to me the way my wife did."

"He still misses his wife so very much," Eleanor said to me. "His heart is aching."

Michael addressed John and Ingrid.

"And it wouldn’t surprise me if you’re both talking to each other, right now." he remarked.

Ingrid blushed and John nodded, after a moments hesitation. Michael gave them a sad smile.

"I’m here because of my daughter," he continued. "With my wife gone, Grace is suffering. It’s not just the loss of her mother that’s just the problem. She believes she a freak. She’s become withdrawn. She’s sick and she’s getting worse. I can’t help her. I don’t know what to do. I want you people to help her. She’s all I have in the world. And you’re the only people I know who have a chance of saving her."

We sat silently for a while.

Eleanor put her head on my shoulder and sobbed. Tears were streaming down her face. I took a handkerchief from my pocket and wiped her eyes. Ingrid started crying. Paul held her.

"Will you do it?" Michael asked me. "Will you help her?"

"Please say yes," said Eleanor, "Ingrid and I know what Grace must be going through."

"Of course we will," I told him. "We’ll all do the very best we can for her."

"Thank you," he said.

 

6

 

Eleanor and I would go and visit Grace today, after we attended to a few things we needed to do on the mainland. John and Ingrid decided to sail their yacht to the island where we now lived and stay with us for a while. I told them the location of the berth I’d reserved for them.

Eleanor dropped me off in the city and took the car to the university to say good-bye to her friends. I went to my law firm and started to arrange the discrete transfer of funds from my old identity and others, to my new one, through my bank. I left a message for Isabel to commence buying all the properties surrounding the lodge. It would give me ownership of the whole valley, including the lake and its approaches. The abandoned missile base would then be completely under my land. I also asked Isabel to start drawing up papers for the creation of a perpetual trust company, which would administer the property on behalf of an institute or foundation that would eventually be there.

We visited Loretta. Loretta returned Eleanor’s milk to normal, so it was no longer highly addictive. It only required an injection. Loretta seemed genuinely sorry for what she’d done and asked me what help I would need to overcome the withdrawal symptoms. I told her I could manage.

"Is she sorry?" I asked Eleanor.

"Yes she is," she replied. "Probably sorry it didn’t work. It won’t stop her trying something else in the future, however. She can be quite devious. I’ll keep my eye on her from now on,"

While Eleanor gathered various things she wanted to take with her to our new home, Loretta and I talked.

"Eleanor looks so well," commented Loretta. "You must be good for her."

"I think she enjoyed our time on the run," I smiled. "But now, she’d like to concentrate on her art. I have a lodge, by a lake, on one of the larger islands. It’s an ideal place for that sort of thing."

"I watched your fight with that awful man quite a few times," Loretta said. "Can you really move that fast?"

"More than a few people think the recording’s a fake," I replied. "Television studios will do anything for a good story."

"I had a feeling that was the case," she smiled. "You caused quite a stir for a while. What with the Chinese government and everything. At least I know you can look after Eleanor, should the need arise. I assumed that silly woman from the university wasn’t your fiancé."

"That’s true," I smiled.

We were silent for a few moments.

"I’m going to ask you something," she announced. "You may be quite offended by what I have to say. I would understand completely if you said no."

"Go ahead," I said.

"Would you be prepared for me to implant a control device in your head?" she asked. "It takes only a few minutes to perform the procedure. It’s the same type I use on my slaves. It would mean Eleanor would completely control you - and only her. It works only on Eleanor’s voice pattern. Then I would know for sure you won’t leave her."

"I’m familiar with the device," I nodded. "Yes - I’d be prepared to do that."

"Good," she said, rising from her chair.

I followed her to the operating theater. I sat in a chair while she implanted the device into the back of my skull. The operation was over in less than five minutes. We returned to the lounge.

"I want to thank you for allowing me to do that to you," Loretta said. "I doubt anyone else would’ve agreed to have it done willingly. I appreciate what you’ve done and I’m very grateful. I can’t tell you how relieved I am, knowing my daughter can control you. I’ve always had this terrible fear that someday you would leave her and break her heart. You’ve proven to me that you really do love her. I know she won’t abuse the power I’ve given her over you."

 

7

 

I asked Eleanor, on the flight to first island, to explain to me how telepathy works. It was good practice for me.

"I divide people like us into two types - active or passive telepaths," she explained. "I’m both an active and a passive telepath. It’s a bit like a radio, in a way. I can transmit my thoughts and receive yours. You’re passive. That means you can pick up my thoughts, when I send them to you. I think it’s because you’re mentally bonded with me in some way. But you can’t pick up anyone else very easily. John and Michael are the same. Ingrid is an active telepath but John is the only one that can receive her. She can read his mind accurately but other people, not very clearly."

"But you can pick up anyone?" I stated.

"That’s right," she smiled. "I’m different for some reason."

"I’ve got it," I announced. "All the men are passive and all the women are active."

"Very good," she laughed.

"Why?"

"I don’t know why," she replied, with a smile. "It’s just the way it is. You, John and Michael are more sensitive than most men. That’s what makes John such a successful psychiatrist and Michael such a good policeman. You pick up on clues and thoughts, most people would miss. I hate using the word psychic. I wouldn’t be surprised if it hasn’t got you out of a few nasty situations in the past, however."

I nodded in agreement.

"So Grace will be an active telepath then?" I asked. "But with no one to transmit to, because she’s isn’t bonded with anyone yet. Maybe you have to fall in love."

"I imagine so," she answered. "It’s so much harder for women when we reach her age. It may have something to do with the onset of puberty. There are times when we pick up so much stuff from people, we think we’re going mad. And we feel so alone. It’s a bad time for us, until we learn to control our talent. I suspect many young female telepaths commit suicide around her age or a little later. It’s very sad. That’s why it’s so important we help Grace."

"I’m sure we will," I smiled to her encouragingly.

"I was very lucky," Eleanor continued. "For some reason, I knew I was going to meet you someday. All I had to do was hang in there. If it wasn’t for that, I probably wouldn’t have made it. Ingrid had already met John early, so they got through it together. He simply stuck by her, no matter what. He didn’t understand what was happening but he wasn’t ever going to leave her."

"What about Paul and Claire?" I asked.

"That is perceptive of you," she smiled. "Yes. Claire is what I call latent. She’s a late developer. We really should spend some time with them. It’s going to happen to her and Paul shortly. Better it happens with us around."

"Do you think I should invite them to spend some time with us?"

"I think it would be a very good idea," she smiled.

I rang Paul and invited him and Claire to visit us for a few days. He agreed immediately and said they would leave tomorrow.

She hugged me.

"You didn’t have to let my mother do that to you, to prove you love me," she said. "I already know you do, sweetheart."

"I wanted to do it," I replied.

"But do you realize the amount of control I now have over you now?" she asked. "I can make you do anything I want. Anything. Please think about that. We may be able to find a way to get it removed. My mother might never know the difference."

I shook my head.

"Loretta wouldn’t ever be happy until she had this done to me," I said. "Her fears would always be there. She may discover it was removed. That would destroy her trust. She’s not a silly woman, by any means."

"That’s so very true," she said, kissing me. "She can be quite astute for someone who’s not a telepath."

"This way, she doesn’t have to worry anymore," I smiled. "I trust you, my love. I did it more for you than her. At least you don’t have to worry I might run off and leave you one day."

"But it’s you I’m worried about, my lovely man, not me," Eleanor said. "It’s wonderful you trust me so much but what would happen if I started using it?"

"Would that be so bad?" I replied. "Who knows - there might be a time you need to."

She looked at me thoughtfully.

"You mean you want me to use it?" she asked.

"Let’s just see how it goes," I answered her, avoiding her question.

"But you’re my lover, not my slave," she replied. "Surely you wouldn’t want me making you act and think the way I want you to. Would you?"

"Just think about it, honey," I said.

"I will," she said, holding my hand.

 

8

 

We arrived at Michael’s house in the mid afternoon. He and Grace were waiting for us. Eleanor and Grace didn’t say a word to each other. They sat facing each other in the lounge, deep in a mental conversation neither Michael or I could hear. We sat on the verandah with a supply of beer and waited for them to do what needed to be done. He talked about his love of fishing. I told him I had an unspoiled lake he’d enjoy, if he ever visited us.

After an hour, Grace came to her father and embraced him.

"It’s wonderful," she laughed, kissing him on the cheek. "Eleanor and Ingrid are going to help me. Another lady called Claire will be with us too. We’re all going to help her too. She’s one of us."

He hugged her.

"I’m really glad," he grinned.

Eleanor joined us with a coffee cup in both hands and sat beside me. I took a cup from her and thanked her.

"I have to spend some time with them," Grace announced to Michael. "It might be a few weeks, but we can phone each other every day. Can I go?"

"What ever you and Eleanor think is best," he smiled.

"I forgot," Grace said. "Who’s going to look after you?"

"As of this moment, I’m on the first real holiday I’ve had in ten years," he laughed. "Maybe I’ll be able to get some serious fishing done, at last. And I’ll come and visit you, of course. David’s got a lake, he tells me."

He saw the doubt on her face. "

Don’t you start worrying about me, young lady," he smiled. "You get well - that’s the important thing to do. I’ve got your phone number and David’s told me exactly where you’ll be. I might even do some fishing in the lake they have there. David says the fish even bait the hook for you. That I have to see."

He turned to Eleanor.

"I want to thank you," Michael said. "She hasn’t said that many words to me, in the last six months."

Eleanor smiled.

"I’ve got to pack," said Grace, giving her father another kiss and vanished into the house.

"It’s amazing," he remarked. "That’s not the same daughter I had yesterday."

"Do you feel comfortable with her coming with us?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied. "I want what’s best for her. Nothing else matters. I know she’s in good hands and I can always visit her when I get lonely. I ran a check on John and Ingrid. They’re as clean as any honest people can be. Both are highly respected in their professions. Eleanor’s from a good family. It’s you I know nothing about."

He paused.

"I can’t say I understand how this telepathic thing works but I remember my wife saying how hard it was for her at Grace’s age. She nearly didn’t make it. She was going to help Grace, when the time came. But as you know, she died before that could happen. Meeting you people was a stroke of good fortune."

"And what about all the unanswered questions you have about us?" I asked. "The tournament and people dropping dead?"

"I gave the commissioner my word I’d drop the whole matter," he replied, with a smile. "And that’s exactly what I’ll do. Maybe one day, you might like to tell me what really happened, over a few beers. I’m a patient man."

While Eleanor helped Grace pack, I phoned for a sky-cab to take us to our island. There isn’t a normal air service between the two islands and it would’ve meant a flight to the mainland first, to get home.

That night, Eleanor and I lay in bed.

"It’s been an interesting day," she said.

"It has," I agreed.

"Grace wants a figure like mine, you know," Eleanor stated.

"Did she say why?" I asked.

"Yes," answered Eleanor, moving closer to me. "Grace wants a man like you, when the time comes. She thinks you’re wonderful. She’s got pictures of you in a karate gee on her wall. You’re quite a hit with all the girls at the moment."

"That’s all I need."

"Don’t be too worried," she laughed. "Tomorrow it will be some movie star they all fall in love with. Fame doesn’t last long in the mind of a fifteen year old."

"I wonder what Michael will think of the idea of her having big boobs?"

"It doesn’t matter," responded Eleanor. "She’ll do it anyway. The same as I did."

"And you’re going to help her?"

"Yes," Eleanor replied. "Of course I am. I got all the drugs and what-have-you I need when I was at Mum’s house. It’s much better for me to do it than anyone else. At least I know what I’m doing. That way, it gets done properly and she gets the body and the breasts she really wants."

"When will you start?"

"We already have," she replied. "Don’t worry. It’s not going to happen overnight. It takes a quite a while to make sure everything develop properly."

"She just seems she’s so young to have her hormones changed around," I said. "She’s just a kid."

"No telepath is just a kid at fifteen," she smiled. "By fifteen, they learned an awful lot."

"I’m not sure about it."

"That’s because you think like a man," Eleanor replied, with a smile. "The onset of puberty is the best time to do it."

She pulled my head gently onto her breast.

 

 

 

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© 2002 by Dave Hicks. All Rights Reserved. These documents (including, without limitation, all articles, text, images, logos, compilation design) may printed for personal use only. No portion of these documents may be stored electronically, distributed electronically, or otherwise made available without express written consent of the copyright holder.