Caleb 74 – Checking out.

Sarah was quiet as we rode back to the hotel.

“Are you okay,” I asked. She grimaced.

“Your timing sucks,” she said.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know you and he needed some alone time, but I thought he should be the one to decide what happened to those two. As it turned out, the police turning up when they did kind of took the decision out of his hands in any case.”

“I know,” she sighed. “It’s just that…”

“You all wound up again?” I asked.

“Both of us,” she said. “I’ll bet poor Arnie is aching in places he wouldn’t want to just about now.”

I laughed. “He’ll get over it,” I said. “It was his left wrist he broke after all.”

She looked at me askance. “You think he’ll…”

“Who knows,” I said. “But that’s up to him. If he’s all pent up and hurting, then it would only make sense for him to do something about it.”

She sighed. “I hated to leave him like that,” she said.

“Then don’t,” I said. “Call him. Talk to him. Hell, get Amanda to help you out and tell him what’s going on. If that doesn’t relieve his pressure then he’s not human.”

“Seriously?” she said. “Phone sex?”

I shrugged. “Why not?” I asked. “If it helps him. You have other options. He has nothing other than his right hand.”

She thought about that for a moment.

“I can’t,” she said.

“No?” I said. “Why not?”

“He doesn’t have a phone,” she said. “He hasn’t replaced the one that was stolen.”

“Ah,” I said. “I forgot about that. Oh well, he’s on his own then. Unless you want to call Danny and ask him to put you through to Arnie.”

She laughed, shaking her head.

When we arrived back at the hotel, I went and showered, then headed for bed. I didn’t see whether Sarah availed herself of Amanda’s or one of the other girl’s assistance or not. She either would or wouldn’t. I just knew that there was no way that she’d ask me. Not yet.

She did, however, surprise me the next morning. She got up with Melanie and me, and followed us into the other room.

“I need to start training,” she said to me. “Will you help me?”

“You know I will,” I said, and gave her about six months of martial arts training memories.

We arrived at Arnie’s house at eight.

Arnie answered the door, he seemed ready to go.

I directed him back into the house.

“You ready to get rid of those wires?” I asked, after taking a look at his jaw. It was strong enough for everyday use.

He nodded.

I used TK to cut through the wires, gently drawing each one out of his mouth, before moving on to the next. The whole process took about ten minutes.

“Gently open your mouth,” I said to him, and he flexed his jaw, he moaned in relief.

“How does it feel,” I asked him.

“Awesome,” he said. “Give me a minute. I need to brush my teeth.”

He darted upstairs. About ten minutes later he returned, looking a lot happier.

“Better?” I asked.

“Much,” he said.

“Go easy for a couple of days. Don’t pick anything really hard to chew. After that you will be good to go.”

“Okay,” he said. “I will.”

“You ready to go?” I asked.

“One second,” said Sarah, and then pulled Arnie into a toe-curling kiss.

“I’ve been waiting to do that since Monday,” she said when she surfaced a couple of minutes later. I just shook my head and led them out of the house.

We met up with the rest of the girls, and Josh and Louise, at the diner.

Josh stood up as Arnie approached the table. He extended a hand to him.

“I’m Josh,” he said. “Congratulations on your engagement. You’re a lucky guy. Lou and I have been around this madhouse for a while, so if you need some outside/inside perspective, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thanks,” said Arnie. “Nice to meet you,” he added to Louise, who stood up and gave him a hug.

“If you spend any time at our house,” said Amanda, “the likelihood is that you’ll see Louise walking around naked. Pay her no heed. She does it to shock mostly.”

Arnie looked at Louise, and then grinned. “I’ll look forward to it,” he said. She gave him a dazzling smile.

“Right answer,” she said, then turned to Sarah. “Hold onto him – he’s a good one.”

“I will,” Sarah said sitting down. Arnie sat beside her.

We ordered breakfast with Arnie ordering pancakes and bacon, which was pretty much my favourite breakfast too.

“Do we have a plan?” I said looking to Mary. She was the one who would have looked through the available stores, and plotted out an itinerary.

“We need to hit the furniture stores early,” she said. “Then, once we’ve got the major stuff ordered, we can start looking for things like blinds, rugs, crockery, tableware, kitchen appliances, towels…”

She continued her list, and I realized that we were in for a very long day.

“If you get tired,” I said to Arnie, “let us know. Your body is almost healed but almost is not completely healed.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said. “I won’t push myself and I’ll let you know if I’m struggling.”

“Beds first,” said Mary, and we piled into three cars and headed for the first bed store.

When we walked into the store, Mary went up to the first sales assistant.

“Morning,” he said to her, “How can I help you.”

“I need,” she began, “one Alaskan king size bed and three kingsize beds. I need them delivering before Friday. Can you do that?”

That kind of set the tone for the start of our shopping. She’d seen that the first assistant knew that there was no way he could get them delivered on time, but was going to lie and say yes, just to get the sale, and then claim unavoidable delays on delivery.

“Oh,” said Mary, before he could open his mouth. “Never mind.” We left the store before the guy had said a word.

It was the third store that we tried where they said, and meant, that they could deliver. The Alaskan King would have to be shipped from out of state from one of their other stores, but they had some normal kingsize beds in stock. It would depend on which ones we wanted though. He showed us which ones would be available within our timeline, and also told us the lead time on the others.

“We don’t need them all for Friday,” said Sarah after thinking for a while.

“As long as we have the Alaskan for the master bedroom,” she said, “and Josh and Louise have a bed, even if it’s not the one that they would prefer, when their preferred one arrives the other can go into the spare room.”

“What about your room?” I asked.

“I like this one,” she said. Pointing to one of the beds that the assistant had told us would be available. She turned to Arnie. “What do you think?”

“I haven’t seen your new room,” he said, “so I can’t say,”

“But do you think it’s comfortable?” she asked, encouraging him to lie down on the bed.

She climbed on beside him and snuggled in.

“Very comfortable,” he said, smiling at her.

“We’ll take it,” she said with a grin.

As luck would have it, the bed that Josh and Louise chose was also in stock, and so we ordered and paid for those two, the Alaskan king, and one more that Mary liked the look of for the spare room.

The sales assistant looked like he was in for an early Christmas.

“Okay,” said Mary. What about sofas? What do you have in stock?

By the time we’d left the store, we’d ordered all the living room furniture, the dining table and chairs, and all the beds. They didn’t have a great availability of stuff like wardrobes and drawers.

“I know it’s not fashionable,” said Arnie, “but did you think of Ikea? There’s a big store on Cascades Parkway, and their stuff is pretty good. I have a wardrobe and chest from there and, while it’s not handmade, it does the job.

“And,” said Amanda, “they’ll likely have it all in stock.”

“We won’t be buying from there for our new house,” I said, “but for this place, it will be okay.”

I was pleasantly surprised when we went into Ikea. We found not only all the bedroom furniture we needed, but a lot of other stuff too. There were lawn chairs, tableware, and a lot of things like cushions and throws, that I personally was ambivalent towards, but the girls seemed to like. There were also some pleasant framed pictures that would make the walls look less bare.

After we’d spent another small, actually no, not small, real fortune, we went to the delivery desk to arrange for it all to be dropped off. I’d have to let Marcia know that there would be a lot of furniture to assemble. I wondered if she’d be up for that or if I’d have to find someone else.

After stopping for something to eat we went television shopping. The girls wanted the biggest TV that we could get in the living room and Josh and Louise wanted a set for their room. I wasn’t particularly interested in having one in our bedroom.

I watched Arnie when Sarah was talking about her sleeping arrangements. His aura looked complicated. He certainly didn’t seem to be angry about it, or even particularly unhappy. There was some arousal, some fear, worry I guess, still thinking that Sarah and I might be having sex. I still didn’t think he’d worked out exactly how he felt about that.

“What do you think?” Sarah asked Arnie. “Do we want a TV in our bedroom?”

“OUR Bedroom?” he asked.

“Of course,” she said. “We’re engaged. My room is our room.”

“I…” he began.

“She’s not asking you to move in,” I told him, “although you’d be more than welcome. I’m not sure your dad would be very happy if you moved that fast.”

“You’re right,” he said. “That’s going to take some careful planning.”

“But I assume that you are going to stay over some times?” I asked. “You and Sarah need some time for each other. Surely your dad won’t object to that.”

“I guess,” he said, uncertainly. “I’ve never really discussed it with him.”

“That’s a problem for another day,” said Sarah. “The problem for today is, do we want a TV in our room?”

“Not for me,” he said. “I don’t watch a lot of TV, and if I’m in the bedroom, it’s not for watching TV.”

Louise sniggered.

“I meant to sleep,” he clarified, blushing.

Sarah laughed. “Okay,” she said. “No TV in the bedroom.”

We bought the two televisions, with mountings and Jules picked out some other electronics that I hadn’t even realized we’d need.

“When we get to the new house,” she said. “There will be a mesh wifi built in. This house will need it installed if we want good wifi throughout.”

While Jules was picking out what she thought we would need. Sarah dragged Arnie over to the phones. Under the very transparent guise of her wanting a new phone, she got him to tell her which phone he thought was best. Then she bought it for him.

“You can’t…” he began “It’s…”

Sarah levelled a gaze on him that I’d never seen her use before. It was the kind of gaze that starts, or stops, wars that would defeat a rampaging elephant, and would stop an attacking lion mid-charge. Arnie quailed, and then came to his senses.

“Thank you,” he said simply. Sarah gave him a brilliant smile.

“You’re welcome,” she said.

Arnie looked at me a look of helplessness in his eyes.

“Pick your battles,” I said. “You’ll find your life is a lot more pleasant if you don’t argue, and it will be much more significant if you find something you feel strongly enough about that you do.”

He nodded.

“Hmmmm!” Josh said in his best bad Yoda impression. “Words of wisdom they are. Pay attention to the Master you should.”

Arnie laughed, shaking his head ruefully.

It had been a gargantuan task, but we’d managed to order just about everything that we thought we would need, in one day. I had no doubt that we’d forgotten loads and that we’d be picking up all kinds of stuff as we went along. But I was content that at least we’d have somewhere to sit, somewhere to sleep, and something to cook with and eat off. The rest were details, and would be Amazon Primeable if not available locally.

“What time is your dad finishing his lessons?” I asked.

“He should be home just after six,” Arnie said.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll need to come back with you to make him okay with you healing up so fast. It won’t take long.”

“And it won’t hurt him or cause him any problems?” he asked.

“Not at all,” I said. “He’ll be one hundred percent fine.”

“Okay,” he replied.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” Arnie asked Sarah. Sarah looked at me.

“No plans for us,” I said.

“Nothing why?” she said.

“I just thought you might like to do something,” he said. “If I’m going to go back to work Monday, then Sunday might be my last weekend day that I’m free for a while.”

“Why don’t you and Arnie have a day together,” I sent her. “Just you two.”

Sarah smiled. “That would be nice,” she told him. “I’d like that.”

They discussed the details while we travelled back heading for Arnie’s house. Josh and Louise broke off and headed back to the hotel, as did Mary, Amanda, Jules, and Ness.

When we arrived at Arnie’s house it was just Arnie, Sarah, Melanie, and me. They had travelled in my truck with us.

We’d been in the house about a half hour when Danny came in. He looked shattered. I flexed my power gently.

“I’ll be glad come Monday,” he said looking at Arnie, “when you come back to work. There are three lessons in the afternoon, not to mention Caleb’s in the evening, that you can take.”

“No problem,” said Arnie looking at Danny wonderingly.

“We need to go to the courthouse Monday morning,” I said, “to be at the bail hearing for the two guys that attacked you.”

“Of course,” said Danny. “Just make sure you’re at the school by twelve.”

“No problem.” said Arnie.

“Now,” said Danny, “have you eaten?”

I left Sarah with them. They were going to go find something to eat, and Melanie and I went back to the hotel. We decided as a group, including Josh and Louise, to eat in the hotel restaurant for a change. It had been a while and was likely to be the last time we would do that.

“Arnie seems like a nice kid,” said Josh. “He’s totally smitten with Sarah.”

“Isn’t he?” said Louise. “I like him. Does he know about you guys?”

“He does,” I said. “Be gentle with him though. Remember, like me, he was brought up a Norm. It may take him a little while to get to grips with our lifestyle, or perhaps he may not. Let Sarah lead.

Louise nodded. “We’ll be good,” I smiled at her.

I got a text from Sarah just after nine.

­_Arnie is going to give me a ride over.

That made sense. He was back as far as Danny was concerned. There would be no reason for him not to drive her home.

I went to bed before Sarah got back to the hotel, so I didn’t see her until I woke the next morning.

She got up, once again, with Melanie and me.

After training we all went out for breakfast, and then Sarah got ready for her day out with Arnie. I was going to use the day to catch up with my schoolwork and get ready for the next week. It was only when I was planning my week that I remembered the tickets.

“By the way,” I said to Sarah just as she was about to go out. “Did you know about the concert at the Moda next Sunday?”

“Duh!” she said. “Who doesn’t?”

“Did you want to go?” I asked.

“What?” she said. “How? Tickets were sold out even before the lines opened.”

“I might have scored a ticket or two?” I said.

“Seriously?” she said. “You’re not teasing me?”

“See if Arnie wants to go,” I said.

“Of course he’ll want to go,” she said.

“If he knows what’s good for him,” chimed Amanda. “How many tickets do you have?”

“Ten,” I said. “That will be enough for us all plus two. I was thinking of asking Josh and Louise.”

“Good call,” she said. “You only have to mention his name and Louise creams herself.

“Not a high bar,” I said. Amanda laughed.

Sarah left to go meet Arnie, and I settled down to my day.

A short time later there was a hammering on the suite door. I went to open it.

Louise launched herself at me as soon as the door opened.

“Is it true?” she said. “Do you really have tickets?”

I smiled at her and Josh, who had ambled in after I’d been assaulted by the cannon ball that was his girlfriend.

“It is,” I said, “but I wasn’t sure if you’d want to go.”

Louise actually growled at me.

“I take it you do want to go?” I asked with a grin.

“What do you want,” she said. “My mouth? Pussy? Ass? Josh’s mouth or ass? All yours. For as long as you want.”

“Like you wouldn’t give them to him anyway,” snorted Amanda.

Louise looked at her, but had to concede the point.

“We’re all going,” I said. “You included.”

Louise squealed in delight and threw her arms around me again.

“Are they good tickets?” she asked.

“Louise, sit down,” I said. She perched on the end of the bed, twitching like a jonesing junkie.

“They are the best seats,” I said, “and, what’s more, they come with backstage passes.”

“Wha…” she began “How?” she asked.

“He’s a friend of mine,” I said grinning at her. “He gave them to me.”

“YOU KNOW HIM??????” she shrieked.

“I do,” I said wincing a little at the noise. “And you’ll meet him next Sunday.”

It took over an hour before Louise would calm down. In the end I had to show her the tickets and the backstage pass armbands before she could be persuaded to settle down. Eventually Josh took her out of our room, presumably back to their room.

“I’ve not seen her so excited since the first time you pulled them into an illusion,” said Jules, grinning.

“I know,” I said. “I didn’t even know she liked him.”

“Everyone likes him,” said Amanda. “And he’s supposed to be such a nice guy. Not one of the usual sleazy musician types that does drugs and sleeps with his fans.”

Mary shot me a telling look. I figured she’d worked out why he’d been coming to see me.

She sighed, her illusions shattered. I gave her a commiserating look.

We settled down for the day. I worked on a couple of assignments that needed to be handed in the following week and also made a start on my Senior Thesis, or at least the outline. I would probably not do much more on it until we’d debated it in class. I wanted to hear other opinions before I settled on an approach.

We ordered room service for lunch since it was easier than going out. I couldn’t wait until I had the use of a kitchen again and could get back to cooking. There were also a few things I’d gotten from the chef of Coquine I wanted to try. I’d not told Ness about that yet. . .I wanted to surprise her. I’d eventually give her all the memories though. She’d get far more use from them than I would.

Sarah and Arnie joined us for dinner. She’d called me to ask what we were doing and if we wanted to meet up. She and Arnie had apparently had a great day doing tourist things around the city, including an aerial sightseeing tour which he’d been able to wrangle since the Cirrus wasn’t booked on a lesson.

We arrived at the restaurant before they did and I saw them arrive, looking like a real couple. They just looked so good together. If there had been any doubt before, it was completely quashed. These two were meant to be together.

I wondered what Sarah’s parents would make of Arnie.

“Did you have a good day,” I asked Sarah after Arnie had left.

“I had a great day,” she said. “He’s just so…”

“I know,” I said. “Is he coming to the concert next Sunday?”

“He’s not a huge fan,” she said, “but he likes the music well enough. He’s coming.”

“Did he get a choice?” asked Ness.

Sarah laughed. “Of course he did,” she said, but I was certain that his choice wasn’t between going or not going.

Just after nine the next morning, I was waiting outside the courthouse. Arnie had arranged to meet me, and we were going to watch the bail hearings. I wanted to see what happened to the two guys who’d attacked Arnie and was hoping that, since they’d been arrested on Friday, theirs would be one of the earlier bail hearings.

I spotted Arnie walking toward me when my phone rang.

“Mr. Stott?” said the voice from the other end.

“Yes?” I said, sort of recognizing the voice but not immediately placing it.

“It’s Aaron, your architect,” he said. “I have the plans ready. You said you wanted to go and file them in person?”

“Yes,” I said. “Can I call you back with a time? I’m just tied up with something and don’t know when it will be finished.”

“No problem,” he said. “I’ll await your call.”

Arnie reached me just as I ended the call.

“Morning,” he said.

I smiled at him. “Ready to go see what happens?” I asked. He nodded.

It was after ten that the two we were interested in were finally led into the courtroom. They had a public defender, who launched into a litany of excuses as to why these two fine and upstanding young gentlemen, who had admittedly made a mistake, should be allowed out on bail pending their trial.

I felt Arnie stiffen beside me. I put my hand on his arm. The last thing we needed would be an outburst from him.

“Watch and wait,” I whispered.

“So,” said the judge to the first man. “What do you have to say for yourself.”

The defendant raised his eyes to the judge and opened his mouth.

“FUCK YOU!!!” He yelled. “YOU CUNT!!!!”

His lawyer paled.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Arnie’s face flush. He bit his lip. Then he looked at me. I heard the question in his mind, and nodded.

Both men were denied bail, and also racked up an impressive one hundred and eighty days of jail time for contempt, and a psychiatric evaluation each. That was before they’d been tried for their original crime, that of assaulting Arnie.

“You did that?” said Arnie. “You made them insult the judge?”

“They’d have gotten out on bail otherwise,” I said, “and either skipped town, or maybe hurt someone else, before their case came to court. And I’m not sure that their bleeding heart defender wouldn’t have got them some wrist slap sentence based on the fact that their mommy didn’t give them any jelly on their toast when they were kids.

“They needed to be punished for what they did. Believe me it could have been much worse for them.”

“How do you decide?” he said. “With what you can do, how do you decide what is enough punishment, or when to get involved, or who to help? With what you did for me, how is it that you’re not living in the kid’s hospital curing cancer and stuff? Can you even do that?”

I sighed. “Yes, I can,” I said. “And I have. But there are so many other things that can get in the way. I just have to be guided by my own conscience, and sometimes that of those around me. It’s a minefield and I have no doubt I’ve made mistakes. But I’m trying to make as few as possible.”

He looked me in the eye.

“Shit,” he said. “When you told me about your powers, I thought how great it must be to have that kind of power, to be able to do those things. But it’s not that simple, is it?”

“No,” I said. “It’s not. You know we need to stay hidden. If it came out that these kinds of powers existed, we’d be hounded by all kinds of people. Some would want our help. Others would be looking for ways to make money from us, both legally and illegally. Finally, there would be those religious nuts who would want to purge us from existence simply because we don’t fit with their religious beliefs.

“That’s not to mention those who would want to dissect us and see if they could figure out how to recreate, weaponise, or counter our powers. Did you ever see the movie Phenomenon?”

He nodded. “Yes,” he said.

“That is why it’s so important we stay under the radar. We are watched too. If I were to go crazy and start doing stuff with my powers, I’d get stomped. There is a whole division of the FBI who stop people who are abusing their powers. In fact, I’m hoping to join them.”

“But isn’t what you just did…” he asked.

I smiled at him. “What I just did could be classed as abuse. But even if it’s picked up, it will most likely be seen as proportionate. We’re allowed a certain leeway. There are wild power users out there, ones not from any bloodline, that are going around raping and killing with impunity. Those are the ones they are fighting against, the ones WE are fighting against.”

“Those two men will go to prison. They deserve that for what they did to you. It’s likely that, even with my intervention, they’ll get a lighter sentence than is warranted. I could do something about that, but I’m not going to. They’ll get punished and that is what I wanted.”

Arnie sighed. “Thanks,” he said. “I know I’d be frustrated if they’d been bailed out right away. When the police told me it was likely they would never be caught, I felt powerless. I wanted to go find them and do something, I don’t know what, to them. Then you found them and they got arrested. I’d have been even more frustrated if they had walked away from this without punishment.”

“And now?” I asked.

“I feel better,” he said, “knowing that they suffered for what they did to me.”

I nodded, satisfied.

“Thanks, Caleb,” he said. “I don’t think I realized how badly I was affected by what happened. Now it’s done, I feel a lot better.”

Arnie left to go back to the school, and I called Aaron.

“Can you meet me in an hour?” I asked, and he agreed.

We entered the planning department together and waited in a short line to be seen by one of the planning clerks.

When it was our turn the planning clerk, an older lady, looked up at Aaron who was clutching a lot of papers.

“Can we speak to the person in charge of planning applications please?” Aaron looked at me like I’d grown an extra head. He was even more surprised when she nodded and stood up.

“Follow me please,” she said, and led us to a door. She punched a code into a keypad before allowing us through into the offices beyond. We walked through an open office with a number of desks and to a closed office door. She knocked.

“Enter,” said a male voice and we were led inside.

The man behind the desk was corpulent. His face was florid. The broken veins on his nose, and watery yellowed eyes, spoke of a drinking problem that was likely to be the death of him, and quite soon if I were any judge.

The clerk, having conveyed us into his presence, nodded and smiled at us, then closed the door behind her as she left.

“How can I help you?” the man said looking at Aaron.

“I’m here to make an application for permits to build a new property. The old property on the site was destroyed in a fire and the site has been cleared in preparation for a new build.”

The man indicated the chairs on the other side of his desk.

“Please sit,” he said. “Show me the plans.”

We spent about an hour in his office. He went through everything, asked many questions, and apparently was satisfied with the answers. About halfway through he pressed a button on his desk and a younger woman came in.

“I need you to scan some plans into the system for me,” he said indicating the plans that Aaron had laid out on his desk.

“Yes sir,” she said before picking up the plans and leaving the office.

Ten minutes later she returned with the plans and a sheet of paper.

“Here is the archive number,” she told the man. He thanked her and she left.

“Well,” said the man, obviously satisfied. “If more people would present their applications with such diligence, the process would go much smoother. I’ll approve these now, but the permits are issued by the system. It normally takes between twenty-four to forty eight hours for that to happen, so you can expect to have your permits by Wednesday latest. However, I can see no reason that you can’t make a start. I very much doubt anyone would even notice, but should you get any questions about permits, here’s my card. You can direct them to me.

“Inspections will have to be completed at the requisite points, and a habitation certificate issued before you can actually move in, but you know all that.”

“Y-yes,” said Aaron, completely stunned.

“Then I think we’re done,” said the man. “Don’t forget to stop off at the cashier’s desk to pay for the applications on your way out. Thanks for coming in. Good day.”

He pushed the button again and the young woman came in.

“Would you show these gentlemen out please?” he asked. She nodded, and led us out of the office to the public area of the building.

“What just happened?” he asked, after we’d paid the fees and exited the building.

“We got our permits,” I said smiling at him. “I have to say, I’m surprised it was that easy. I thought you said it would take a month or two.”

“I… It should…” he stammered. “I don’t understand. I’ve never had anything like that happen before.”

“It’s good news though, right?” I asked. “Does that mean we can start work?”

“Yes,” he said. “Although I’m not ready now. I was expecting to have a couple of months to line everything up. Now all of a sudden, its go time. I still haven’t contracted someone to dig and pour the foundation.”

“Marcia,” I told him, “my contractor, has someone she’s worked with before, and recommended. Maybe liaise with her?”

“I’ll call her this afternoon,” he said. “I still don’t believe what happened.”

I shrugged. “Obviously he was impressed by your diligence. Nice job. Keep it up.”

He smiled uncertainly at me, and then shook my hand and walked off, shaking his head. I grinned.

It was time to go to the new house. I’d told the realtor I’d be there at two, and I made it with only a couple of minutes to spare.

“Mr. Stott,” she said. Having arrived before me. She smiled at me.

“Welcome to your new home,” she said holding out a bunch of keys. “There are three sets of keys. The two remotes for the garage are in the kitchen on the worktop.”

“Thank you,” I said taking the keys.

“I hope you’re very happy in your new home,” she said as I signed the receipt for the keys.

I walked into what was going to be our home, probably for the next six to nine months. I didn’t know how long it would take to build a house, but it didn’t really matter now. Everything was underway and we had a place to stay. It would happen when it happened.

“CARLY, NO!!!” I heard a woman shriek and then felt something hit my leg. I looked down to see a small child, probably two years old, wrapped around me. She looked up at me with a grin.

“Hello,” I said to her. “I guess you’re Carly?”

“I’m so sorry,” said a harassed woman, coming over to peel the child off me. “She’s normally so shy with new people.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Kids are like cats. They instinctively know who doesn’t like them, and they make a beeline for them. I think they do it just to annoy.”

The woman stared at me. Had I really just told her that I didn’t like kids, in particular her kid?

I grinned at her. She smiled back uncertainly.

“I’m Caleb,” I said holding out my hand. “I think we’re about to be neighbors.”

“June,” she said shaking it. “And that, as you know, is Carly.”

“How old is she?” I asked.

“Two,” she said, “going on forty.”

I laughed. “Did you know you were buying a house in the middle of studentville?”

She grimaced. “No,” she said. “We did it all online. My husband, Carl, got moved out here by his company. We did the Google Maps tour, and the area looked good. It was only after we arrived that we found out that all the houses were rentals, and full of students.”

“Ouch,” I said. “Well, I’m sorry to break the news, but we’re all students too. Although we bought this house. We’ll try not to cause you too much trouble.”

“It’s not been too bad,” she said. “It can get a bit noisy from time to time but, other than that, the guys around here are pretty good. It can just be a problem getting Carly off to sleep, especially on the weekend.”

“Well if we are ever doing anything to disturb you,” I said, “don’t hesitate to come over and let us know.”

“Thanks,” she said looking a little relieved. “That’s good to know.”

“I’m going to have a contractor coming in to do some work on the house this week,” I said, “but she’ll finish at a reasonable time. We’re planning to move in over the coming weekend. There’s a few of us you’ll see around.”

Just then Marcia’s truck rolled up.

“Speaking of…” I said indicating Marcia as she got out. “Here she is now. Have a good day. Bye, Carly” the little girl waved.

“Recruiting MILFs now?” asked Marcia when she arrived at my side, June having retreated into her own house.

I laughed. “My new neighbor,” I said unnecessarily. “Her kid took a shine to me.”

We walked toward the house.

“How do you feel about assembling do-it-yourself furniture?” I asked. Marcia sighed.

I gave Marcia one of the keys to the house so she’d be able to come and go as she’d pleased. The majority of the furniture was due to be delivered on Wednesday, although the IKEA delivery was due Tuesday. I wanted there to be plenty of time for the assembly.

“The architect called,” she said. “I’ve given him the name and number of the foundation guys, and he’s going to get in touch. Did you use your powers to get the permits?”

I grinned at her. “It wasn’t difficult,” I said. “And it was nothing illegal. I just made the planning office manager decide he’d do me a solid. There was no reciprocity, so no bribery. He did it out of the goodness of his heart.”

Marcia snorted. “Yeah, right.” She went out to her truck and started unloading materials.

“What’s this for?” I asked.

“This is Jules’ workshop,” she said. “I’m building her a bench and putting in a load of power outlets over it. That should take me most of the afternoon. Then tomorrow it looks like I’m building furniture.”

“Not your favourite job?” I asked.

“Hate it,” she said. “But if it pays a wage. . .”

I laughed. “Of course,” I said. “Just let me know how much and I’ll transfer the money across.”

She grinned. “I will,” she said, picking up some of the materials and walking toward the house.

I grabbed the rest and followed.

Having helped Marcia carry the rest of the stuff inside, I set off for the hardware store. I needed to get some keys made.

Arnie was at the flight school for my flying lesson, but since I was going to be flying patterns solo, his job would be to sit in the flying school and be available in case I had any issues. With that in mind, I took Sarah with me to keep him company. I doubted that they’d get up to anything actually in the school, but at least it gave them time together.

I’d been surprised at Arnie’s proposal, so soon after he’d met her, but while I’d been healing his immediate injuries, I read his mind to find out what had happened to him. I’d seen his thought processes.

He’d been shocked by the revelations, at first thinking that we were pranking him, but he realized rather quickly that it was true, or at least we believed it was. Then he had a few moments of worry about getting involved with a group of people that were clearly, if not insane, into some strange, perhaps drug induced, scene. That thought too was dispelled when he found out that we could actually read his mind. He was convinced.

The thought of Sarah having sex with other people he really disliked. Not that he disliked the idea per-se but he hated the fact that thinking of her with another guy bothered him, while thinking of her with other girls made him horny. He recognized the hypocrisy of that thought, but he found the thought of her with me even more difficult to quantify. It upset him and made him even more horny in equal measure.

He'd needed time, and space, to think. The bottom line was that he knew Sarah and he were just right for each other. He also knew that he was so lucky that she even looked in his direction. She was so beautiful, intelligent, sexy, funny, and, yes, hot. If he didn’t snap her up, he could miss his chance to be with the hottest girl he’d ever known, and that included the other girls in Caleb’s ‘harem.’

He’d been walking down 4^th Street when he noticed the Jeweller and, as if a ray of sunlight had shone through the clouds and shown him the way, a ring had stood out to him in their window. He’d gone over to take a look and, as soon as he saw it, he knew what he was going to do.

He didn’t notice the two men watching him as he looked at the ring, or them watching him through the window as he handed over almost all his savings to the clerk, as the clerk handed him the ring box.

He was grinning when he left the shop…

There was no doubt in my mind that Sarah and Arnie were made for each other. There was also no doubt that Arnie was in for an ‘interesting’ time, coming to terms with his fiancee’s new life and lifestyle.

Arnie and Sarah both came out of the flight school as I taxied the Cirrus over to its slot on the tarmac outside. They watched as I completed the shutdown checks, and then Arnie and I ‘tucked the plane up’ for the night.

On Tuesday morning I went to the house. I had no appointments planned that day. I’d asked Mary to cancel all those that could be for the entire week, so my only appointments were with my singer client, the last one being on Friday, which would be his last one too.

I helped Marcia, and the delivery driver, carry in the boxes of stuff from Ikea, and placed each of them into their destination rooms. That took a good couple of hours, and was a decent workout. Since this house was not a bungalow, all the bedrooms were on the second floor. I then spent the rest of the day labouring for Marcia, as we assembled the furniture.

It was actually quite a lot of fun and, with powers, we made great inroads. It was just after lunch when I noticed that we had an audience. I’d just opened one of the big boxes that had been stacked in Josh and Louise’s room when I turned to see a snot nosed Carly, standing in the doorway of the bedroom, staring at us. She grinned at me when she saw I’d noticed her.

I guessed we must have left the back door open.

I went over to the window and stuck my head out. June was in her back yard hanging out laundry. It appeared that she hadn’t noticed Carly’s disappearance yet.

“Hi, June,” I waved to her, and she gave me a tired smile and wave.

“Are you missing something?” I asked. She looked confused for a moment, and then looked around at a small sandbox, where it appeared she expected to see Carly playing.

“CARLY!!!” she yelled.

“Kids and Cats,” I said. “You want to come get her? She found her way into our house.”

June darted to the back door of our house and, on finding it open, came straight in.

“Where is she?” she asked.

“Up here,” I said.

June climbed the stairs and found her daughter sitting in the doorway of the bedroom where Marcia and I were busy assembling furniture.

“Carly,” she said, a hint of relief in her voice. “What are you doing in here?”

“We must have left the door open,” I said, “ I guess she got bored and went on an adventure.”

“I’m really sorry,” June said picking up her child who groused. “She’s just so fast. I can’t take my eyes off of her for a moment.”

“No worries. Bye, Carly,” I said waving to the child as she was carried back to her own yard.

“I’ll give it two weeks,” said Marcia, hanging one of the doors on the wardrobe we’d just assembled.

“For what?” I asked.

“Before you’re balls deep in that one,” she said.

“She’s married,” I said. “I’ve not even seen her husband.”

Marcia raised an eyebrow at me. “Is that relevant?” she asked.

“Actually, yes,” I said. “I’m not in the homewrecking business.”

Marcia shrugged. “Two weeks for her. Maybe three for him.” she grunted.

I laughed and picked up the second door, handing it to her so she could attach that one too.”

It was a productive day and we’d gotten most of the self-assembly furniture built. There were just a couple of items that Marcia was going to finish off the following day. She’d also be at the house to accept delivery of the beds, sofa, dining table and chairs, and the other furniture. She was pleased that she wouldn’t have to assemble those. The delivery guys would set them up. She was also going to hang all the blinds and do all the incidental jobs that needed to be done. She had three days to finish off because, on Saturday, we were moving in.

Wednesday morning was my ethics class. The professor had picked a topic from the pool of those that he’d been given from those doing their senior thesis on ethical issues. Of course it might not have been, since he said that he’d be injecting a couple of topics of his own too.

This morning’s topic was something that we’d debated before, and may even touch on many other subjects.

“It would appear,” said the professor, “that we are living in an age of entitlement. Many individuals consider that their personal opinions supersede everyone else’s rights and so, no matter the situation, what they want to happen should be the outcome. There are literally hundreds of videos on the internet of people asserting that what they think should be trumps reality. I’m not going to refer to them by their common nickname because I personally find it sexist and offensive. They come in a range of age, ethnicity, and gender identity. The question is ‘why’? Why are we suddenly inundated with a myriad of people who consider themselves to be above the laws and, supremely important, unwilling to accept even the most basic of restrictions put in place for their, and society’s, welfare and protection. Where did they come from?”

The following debate was interesting and lively. I did consider that some of the students in the class fell nicely within the parameters of the question itself, and appeared to demonstrate the behaviours of the subject of the question.

There were a number of people that blamed the breakdown of family values and, predictably, the loss of religion and religious beliefs was mentioned strongly too. One demon that raised its head as being largely to blame was the Internet.

“Explain,” said the professor.

“The Internet,” said the student who’d brought it up, “is a massively double-edged sword. You can find just about any information you want in seconds simply by typing that something into a search engine. The problem is that ANYBODY can post on the Internet, and nobody actually fact checks anything that is posted. That means that the reader themselves has to determine the veracity of the data that is published, and most people are simply not equipped to do that.

“People are more inclined to believe an easy lie than a difficult truth and the more often the lies are repeated, the more people believe them. They then get picked up and repeated and expounded on and, before you know it, the truth doesn’t really matter. People are quoting any old dross that they read, heard, or imagined, whilst prefixing that particular piece of misinformation with ‘FACT’ in block capitals as if that in and of itself wins the argument.”

“That has always been the case,” said the professor. “You only need to look at propaganda, or the media, to see that. What makes the Internet more culpable than, say, a tabloid newspaper?”

“Access,” said the student. “While the effects can be, and are, similar to tabloid or even mainstream media, the Internet is so unregulated and accessible that a stupid video can get tens of millions of views, taking their message worldwide in an instant. There are no other media outlets that have anywhere near that kind of power without some other kind of checks and balances. Never before have stupid people had access to such a wide audience.”

The professor nodded.

“Some very good and insightful thoughts,” he said. “If I were writing this up, I’d resist the temptation to stray into solutions. The question is why this has happened, not what we can do about it. That is, in and of itself, a completely different question. And as a final thought, I wouldn’t use the title, ‘Where did all the Karens come from?’”

That raised a laugh.

Dana and I walked arm in arm to the cafeteria for lunch, meeting up with the other girls there.

“How’s the house coming along?” she asked.

“Very well,” I said. “I’m hoping that a lot of the furniture will be delivered today. Marcia and I built up some of the wardrobes and stuff yesterday. If all goes to plan, we’re going to move in Saturday.”

“Gracie and I will be expecting an invite to the party,” she said with a grin.

“Of course,” I said. “That goes without saying. It will probably be a week or two away though. It’s going to take us that long to get settled.

“How about the last Friday of the semester,” suggested Jules. “That’s three weeks away.”

I looked around my girls and they all seemed to think that was a good idea.

“Sounds good,” I said.

That afternoon I, once again, went to the house and found that all the furniture had indeed been delivered. The beds were all set up in their appropriate rooms and the living room furniture had been installed also. We had lawn chairs out in the yard and Marcia had even hung the television up on the wall, although we’d have to wait until the following week for the cable service to be turned on. Fortunately, there was good 5G service in the area, so we’d not suffer for the lack of internet while we were waiting.

While Marcia pottered around the house doing all the little jobs that she’d identified, I made up the beds and started to unpack all the kitchen stuff that we’d just stacked in there. There was everything from crockery to cutlery, appliances to cookware. It took some time to organize the kitchen the way I wanted it, and I grinned to myself knowing that Ness would grumble about some of the choices I’d made. I’d defend them but, over the course of the next few weeks, I’d find that she had reorganized the kitchen to her liking.

I didn’t mind. It kept her happy, which made me happy too.

When Marcia came to find me, to tell me she was done for the day, I realized what time it was. It was after five and I’d not intended to stay this late. I locked up the house and made my way back to the hotel.

Thursday morning, I got an email from the FBI HR department.

Dear Mr. Stott,

Thank you for your email.

Since you are claiming exemptions from our standard criteria, there is a need for you to go to a field office and discuss the exemption with a senior agent. The agent will confirm that you qualify for the exemption claimed.

Please contact your local field office to schedule a meeting. This meeting should take no more than thirty minutes and will enable us to move your application forward to the next stage.

The contact details are attached.

Kind Regards

I sighed and wondered why they were making me jump through these hoops. There were several people working in the local field office who should have been able to validate my use of the exemption. However, Maggie did tell me that HR liked to make people jump through hoops.

I sent a text to Maggie.

­_I’ve been told by HR to organize a meeting at the field office to confirm I qualify for the exemption.

­_I heard. It can’t be me, Dianna, or Frank considering we have a previous relationship with you. Call the office number and ask to speak to Arthur Clarke. He is a section lead who is read in and will be able to confirm your exemption. I know he’s in today and tomorrow and then goes on leave for two weeks, so I’d call today if I were you.

I did as suggested and, about fifteen minutes later, called the office and asked to speak to Arthur Clarke. His secretary answered the call.

“Good morning,” I said. “My name is Caleb Stott. I’ve been…”

“Can you make eleven AM?” the secretary asked, cutting me off.

“Er, sorry?” I said nonplussed.

“Eleven AM,” said the secretary. “Are you able to make it here for then.”

“Yes,” I said.

“Perfect,” she said. “We’re on the seventh floor. Come out of the elevator and take a left. Follow the passage around and you’ll end up right at my desk.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll see you then.”

She hung up. I could only assume that Maggie had already let them know I’d be calling.

I got changed. I didn’t really have a suit and I made a mental note that I should probably get one, or two, before the process really got started. I put on a pair of smart pants and a white button down shirt before heading in to the office.

The parking attendant was patrolling the FBI parking lot when I pulled in. It was the same woman I’d met the first time I’d been to the office, when I’d dropped my ID on the floor while trying to look cool.

“This is FBI parking only,” she said to me. I guessed that she saw so many people each day, there would be no real reason for her to remember me.

I pulled out my ID and showed her. I felt quite pleased with myself that I’d managed the nonchalant flip open of the credentials. She grinned at me.

“You’ve been practicing,” she said. “That was pretty good.”

I laughed, realizing that she had indeed remembered me.

“Thanks,” I said. “It took some time to get right.”

I walked the half block to the entrance to the building and entered.

I looped my ID over my belt and passed through security with no issues. I’d left my weapons at the range, in the safe there, since I didn’t have a secure gun safe to use at the hotel. One of the jobs Marcia had on her list was to install the new safe.

Rosie was on the front desk and she waved at me as I walked in. I went over to say hi.

“I was told that you were coming in,” she said. “You know where you’re going?”

I nodded, “Yes, thanks,” I said smiling at her.

“Okay then,” she said. “See you later.” I checked my watch; it was ten minutes to the hour.

“Good morning,” the secretary said as I approached her desk. “Mr. Stott?”

“Yes, hi,” I said.

“Take a seat,” she said. “I’ll let Special Agent Clark know you’re here.”

“Thanks,” I said sitting down on one of the chairs placed against the wall. The secretary picked up her phone and spoke into it in a low voice.

She hung up the phone and stood.

“You can go in now,” she said, walking to the office door and opening it for me, indicating for me to step through. I thanked her and went past her.

Agent Clark was seated at his desk. He looked up as I entered and smiled at me.

“So,” he said waving at the chair opposite his, indicating for me to sit. “You’re the famous Caleb Stott.”

“I hope not,” I said. “I’m not sure fame is what I’m going for.”

He laughed. “Maggie asked me to be the independent verification that you are eligible to claim the exemption. Like all special agents, I’m fully read in on powers, even though I don’t work for the ESP section.”

“And you’ve spoken to Maggie?” I asked. He nodded.

“So what do I need to do to prove I’m eligible to claim exemption?” I asked.

“Nothin’,” he said. “But you and I had to meet so I could honestly inform HR that I’d verified your eligibility.”

“Oh,” I said a little nonplussed.

“Get used to it,” he said. “HR make us all jump through hoops for our entire careers. I think they get off on the power they have over us. If you can’t handle that then perhaps rethink your application.”

“I can handle it,” I said with a smile.

He grinned. “Good enough,” he said. “Well, thanks for coming in. I’ll email them to let them know that I’ve confirmed your exemption and I’m sure they’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks,” I said, standing up.

I went to the house to find that Marcia had finished up all her jobs. There was an envelope on the dining table, with my name on it. Inside was Marcia’s bill for the work there. I thought it was underpriced, so added a thousand dollars on and sent across the money.

Friday morning was the last session with my famous client. When I ‘woke’ him he sat looking at me for a few moments.

“Do you think that will be enough?” he asked.

“I think so,” I said, knowing full well that it would be. “But if you feel yourself slipping then just call me, and we can arrange a follow up if you’re close by.”

“I can’t thank you enough,” he said. “You’ve definitely saved my career, and probably my life. I was dubious when we first met, but you are everything I was told you are. What’s more there hasn’t been a whiff of a rumour about me coming to see you.”

“Confidentiality is important to me,” I said shrugging.

“Are you coming Sunday?” he asked.

“I am,” I said. “I’m bringing several friends who are big fans.”

“I’ll be happy to meet them,” he said. Then he stood up. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope.

“You said,” he said, “that I could pay you at the end, if I was satisfied with the service. I’m more than satisfied so here is your payment.” He handed me the envelope. I pulled out the check and looked at it. Twenty thousand dollars.

“We said five thousand,” I said.

“Like you said,” he said. “That’s half the money you saved me since I started with you. I wanted you to know just how grateful I am. I really should be paying you more.”

I looked at the check again, then mentally shrugged.

“Thank you,” I said.

He held his hand out, and I shook it.

“I’ll see you Sunday,” he said before leaving the room.

I deposited the check into the bank on the way back to the hotel. Mary had insisted that I keep a separate account for the Hypnotherapy business in order to make paying the taxes easier. She raised an eyebrow that evening when I told her how much I’d deposited.

We spent the whole of Friday evening packing. Although we didn’t have much when we arrived at the hotel, we’d accumulated an awful lot of stuff in the short time that we’d been there. A lot of the clothes that Amanda had bought were still in the original packaging, but there was still plenty that we’d been using, as well as all our electronics and other items.

By the time we went to bed, everything we owned was in bags, boxes, and suitcases, apart from the stuff we’d need for the next morning.

Everybody was up early. Melanie, Sarah, and I had gotten up as usual at four, and we’d done some exercise in the other suite and then gone out for a short run. Although Melanie wasn’t yet up to my standard, she was far and away better than Sarah. We both held back and did a fairly gentle five miles, by the end of which Sarah looked like she’d run a marathon.

“Give it a couple of months,” I encouraged her. “You’ll be actually feeling great after running that distance. That’s just a warm up.”

She grimaced at me. “I hate you,” she said, panting.

I grinned at her. “I love you, too,” I returned. She stuck her tongue out at me.

After we’d showered, we joined the rest of the girls who were eating breakfast. They’d ordered while we were getting ready. They’d packed up the rest of our stuff too. We were ready to go.

Just after eight, I went down to reception.

Mei-Mei wasn’t on duty but an older lady by the name of Lauren was at the desk.

“Morning Mr. Stott,” she said. “Ready to check out?”

We’d informed the hotel that we’d be leaving today.

“Yes,” I said. “We’re going to need some help carrying everything down please.”

“I’ll send some of the porters up,” she informed me with a smile.

She tapped on her computer for a few seconds and the printer on the desk beside her began to spew out paper.

After a few minutes she collected it all and placed it on the counter turning it toward me.

“Would you like to check your bill?” she asked.

I glanced over it, a little startled by the price. We’d been in the Nines for nearly a month, charged multiple meals, snacks and drinks to the bill. Two suites and two rooms came to quite a sum. There was no way that I’d be going through it minutely though. I hadn’t kept a tally of what we’d ordered on room service for instance. The total looked to be about what I’d expected though, so I simply handed her my card.

“Oh no,” she said. “Payment’s already been arranged. I merely wanted you to confirm the amount.”

I sighed. Knowing exactly who’d arranged payment.

I texted Dean.

­_Thanks for picking up the tab.

_It came from your account. I figured it would be better for you to keep what money you have there.

Not for the first time I wondered just how much money was in ‘my account,’ and if indeed it existed anywhere but in Dean’s head.

I gave up worrying about it though and headed back up to the suite.

Fifteen minutes later there was a knock on the door and three porters stood there, with trolleys, ready to help us take all our gear down. We filled Amanda’s and Ness’ cars and my truck too. There was just about enough room left for us all to fit inside. Josh and Louise had not been as frivolous with their spending but, even so, there was enough to fill Louise’s trunk and back seat, leaving just enough room for her and Josh.

We thanked the porters, giving them each a tip. Since we’d loaded the cars up in the parking structure, having had the keys brought to us by a valet, we drove out and headed towards our new home.