Gramps' Legacy Ch. 04

Somehow, she got hold of your father and Thad and they found her a safe place to stay, and a job. Over the next eight or nine years I'd hear about her occasionally from Dan. One Sunday he was over, and we all got a bit tipsy. I wound up as the filling in what was once called a pussy sandwich.

That's when your grandfather and I learned about his sideline. He told us Marie was one of his more popular escorts, and that she often made videos of her dates. He laughed so hard he nearly pissed himself when he told us about her using her 'employer' as her security and cameraman.

"Her employer?"

"Yes, Thad found her a job as a live-in housekeeper with a client of one of his friends."

A few months before the accident, Dan came over to talk with Thad. It seems the man she was living with, or working for, was beginning to become more controlling, more demanding. Marie had told Dan that he was demanding sex from her, even forcing her in front of the little girl, and he was booking dates for her on days and nights when she wasn't scheduled by Dan. Usually those dates were with multiple partners, Dan told us she said, often with six or seven men at a time.

Dan went up to talk to him, and I guess it got better, until the accident. Seven or eight months after Dan died, Marie showed up at the office and asked to talk to Thad. She looked, the only word to describe her is beaten, like life itself had run over her. They were in his office for over an hour, and then he had me reschedule all his appointments for the next two days.

They drove up to Rochester to see the man, Colie, I think his name was. When they came back, Thad looked furious. He told me that weekend, the man had made copies of all the tapes, and that if he didn't contact someone on a regular basis, or if they didn't see the little girl where she was expected to be for more than three days running, the copies were to be mailed to the authorities, the news outlets, churches, everywhere to cause the greatest amount of embarrassment possible.

Thad said the only thing he could do was to protect the youngster from commercial exploitation. He said he managed to get Colie to agree to that, that he would not prostitute the child, and that he would take precautions to see she did not get pregnant. He was, I hear, already using her sexually, and she was bnarely pubescent, and him in his late forties.

Thad gave Marie her job as our receptionist and switchboard girl, and helped her find a place to live. She's been with us for eight years now, and really is one of our bright spots, in spite of the rocky start. Is there a reason you're asking about her?

"As it turns out, I've been dating her daughter for the past two or three years. She was kidnapped in Albany several days ago, and using some information I was able to give the FBI, they caught up with her and the guy who took her, on the Thruway, about a week after she was taken."

"Marie's daughter, your half sister? Am I correct in assuming...Yes, I can see I am. Well it hardly makes any difference in this family. Will you be continuing to have sex with her?"

"No. We've talked, and we'll continue to be friends, but without benefits. She doesn't yet know about our relationship. Do you know where Marie lives? I think it would be better if I told Eileen about us. They're going to meet tomorrow for the first time since Colie forced Marie out of his house. I need to talk to her first."

"She has a small house on Elmhurst, near the grade school, but you should be back to work in time to see her there. You should be aware, Will, when she had her pre-employment physical, she tested positive for HIV. Thad insisted the agency pick up the cost for her treatment. He included her in the family provision."

I nodded. "Given what happened to her, not unexpected, but it certainly sucks big time. Did she know who..."

Gramm shook her head. "She didn't think it was Colie. The symptoms didn't show up until just before she came to see Thad. That was the impetus for her visit."

I called Marie at the office and made an appointment to see her later that afternoon, then took Gramm out to lunch.

I had been back in the office about an hour and a half working on a medical plan proposal for one of the medium sized businesses in town. Marie knocked at the door and asked, "Is this a good time, Will? If not, I can come back when we close up."

I glanced at my desk clock. I had asked her to meet with me in the conference room at four-thirty, and I was a quarter of an hour late. "Horseshit! I'm sorry, Marie. This is fine; please come in. Can I get you something to drink? Tea, soda, coffee?" I put my papers away and stood up to usher her to a chair.

She looked at me, an expression of concern on her face. "Is something wrong, Will? Am I in some sort of trouble?"

"Not at all. I understand you're having lunch with your daughter tomorrow. Do you know how she found you?"

"How she found me? How..."

"And did you hear about Earl Colie?"

"Oh; you know about him and what he did..."

"To you and to Eileen. Yes. When she was a teenager, and what he did last week."

"What do you mean, last week?"

"We'll probably never know how, but he tracked her down in Albany and kidnapped her on her way to work, Tuesday before last. He held her captive until her story made the news on Rochester television stations, then he tried to move her and was caught at a Thruway rest plaza south of Buffalo."

"Was he arrested?"

"No, he tried to run away and ran into the path of a tractor trailer exiting the highway. The front wheels ran over his chest."

"The bastard got off too easy!" she whispered, her face grim and set, making her look years older than the forty she was. She shook herself and sat up straight. "God forgive me for saying that.

"So, you know about me and Earl, and Eileen. May I ask how? I've tried hard to keep my personal life a secret here, except for people who had to know in the beginning."

I swallowed hard. At first, when I thought about how to tell her about me and Eileen, I thought I'd just blurt it out. And then thought that wasn't too cool, given all she's been through, and tried to think of any smooth way to say it. And came up blank. So..., looking at my desk, I said,

"Eileen and I have been, uh, dating for the past couple of years." I looked up at her and caught her recognition of the meaning behind my words.

"Umm," she cleared her throat, "by dating you mean, uh, you two were, mmm, physically involved."

I nodded.

"You are aware..."

"Yeah, I learned this morning, err, early afternoon."

"Does Eileen know?"

"Not that I'm aware of. I haven't spoken to her today, and in a way, it is kind of weird. When we last spoke, yesterday morning, we agreed our relationship wasn't going to develop into anything more than it was and we decided to just stay friends, without benefits, as it were."

"Thank God for small favors. I'm sorry, Will, that wasn't very nice of me; it's just, after everything she's been through, and I've been through, the last thing she needs to be doing is screwing her half-brother. Excuse my french."

I sat and looked at the woman in front of me. Except for a wariness around the eyes, and some lines around her mouth, she could have easily passed for Eileen's (not much) older sister. The sense of exasperation she was obviously feeling, and expressing, brought some color to usually pale cheeks, highlighting her blue eyes.

"I suppose I should tell her tomorrow. Is that why you asked to see me today?" Her eyes sought mine.

"No, actually. I wanted to know if you wanted to tell her, or if you wanted me, or the two of us together, to tell her. I do know she remembers you with love, and is happy to have found you. In all our time together, she never talked about her father. And whenever she mentioned Colie, she just referred to him as that bastard." She nodded, a small smile on her lips.

"She also talked about getting some counseling, but can't afford it. I told her, if you're willing, we can get her on your policy, in a manner that doesn't cost you anything." She nodded again, this time with a wider smile, one that took years off her face.

"Thank you, Will. Of course I will. Can you join us for lunch tomorrow, and we can introduce her to her half brother then?" I nodded.

"What time?"

I was parked across the street and down the block from the restaurant where we were to have lunch, watching for Eileen to arrive. When I saw her enter, I got out of the car and walked into the restaurant just in time to see her arrive at Marie's table. Marie got up to welcome her with a hug, and signaled that I should join them.

Just as I walked up to the table, I heard Marie say, "Eileen, I'd like you to meet your half-brother."

Eileen sort of half turned in her chair to look back over her shoulder. "Hi, Will," she said, looking past me. Turning back to Marie, she asked "Who..." and looked back at me. "No! Oh my god! He is..." and broke into a mixture of giggles and coughs, interspersed with full out laughs.

"OMG! Will, and...all this time, and you didn't know, either? That is so freaking weird...and you, Mom, did you know he...of course you would, but you didn't know we...oh, fuck! I need a drink!" We flagged the waitress and ordered drinks all around. It was enough of a break for Eileen to recover slightly. She looked at me.

"That helps explain some things, doesn't it? You're a real nice guy, Will, and whoever nabs you is going to be one lucky girl. I could never figure out why that spark you talked about the other day never developed. Now we know why. Of all the single men in the world, why did it have to be you?"

She paused as the waitress set our drinks down. "I love you, and frankly it is more than sisterly love, but as you said, I'm not in love with you. I'll fu...mm..screw you at the drop of your pants, but marriage with you isn't in our stars, regardless of the blood tie. And I'm a little sorry about that."

I turned her face to me and leaned over to kiss her. Far from a lover's kiss, it was definitely more that brotherly. "I know what you mean, and feel the same way." As I was talking, a bee began buzzing in my bonnet. I reached over and took hold of her arm, just above the right elbow, and entered her mind, looking for some kind of switch. I became aware of Lande in my head.

"Don't be angry, Will. I wondered about her , too and thought you might need help activating her abilities. What you are looking for is a spot on the brainstem structure, just below the medulla. It sort of 'looks' like the g-spot feels, small and spongy. Connect with me so I can help you 'see' what you're looking at."

As Lande spoke to me, I wondered what in hell she was talking about. How was I supposed to go looking for something when I could not literally see inside Eileen's head. But, as she guided me along the neural pathways down into the lower brain, it was like I could see the nerves as we traveled along them, leapfrogging across the synapses between the dendrites to speed along the axon to the next synaptic juncture.

Along the way, I was aware of Eileen's confusion from the news she had just received, and her thoughts as she attempted to process and integrate that information. There was also her awareness of her surroundings, and of me in her mind. She tried to contact me, but for the moment I had to ignore her requests, and felt her begin to panic at the strange presence in her head. As best I could, I sent her a calming message, telling her I'd explain in a minute.

We headed deeper into the more primitive areas of the brain, the part that dealt mainly with housekeeping chores for the body, keeping it running and safe. There, also, were the areas dealing with emotions, probably the scariest part of the journey. Then we entered the brainstem structure, and Lande alerted me to lookout for a 'bumpy ride' as she put it. We passed over the medulla and almost immediately Lande screamed "Yes! There it is! We found another cousin!"

She showed me how to activate Eileen's powers, and then wished me luck. Before I exited, I spoke to Eileen. "Besides your mother and me, do you see anyone here you know?"

"Will? It was you! O thank God, I thought I..."

"Yes, and I'll explain in a minute. Do you see anyone?"

"Umm, yeah, there's a girl from my Econ class. She's a bit of a snooty bitch, but we've talked."

"Don't laugh, but see if you can tell what she's thinking."

"???" In her mind I could feel the uncertainty, then there was a lot of chatter, like you get when tuning the old analog radio sets; slowly one signal came into focus, along with a sense of wonderment. When I was certain she was able to read the girl's mind, I pulled out.

"Hey, sis. Now you know how I found you. The ability runs on our father's side of the family."

"What ability?" demanded Marie. "I've been sitting here for the last five minutes talking to myself while you two have been acting like you're on some kind of honeymoon, staring into each other 's eyes and mooning over yourselves."

I looked at her. "When you were with Dad, did you ever experience this?"

Her eyes opened up so wide, they looked like sandwich plates, as she nodded. "Every time I was with him. I mean, whenever I saw him. I can remember he'd greet me with a hug and I'd hear this voice, then everything would be a fog until he was leaving.

"A couple of nights a week, I'd have the same 'foggy' experience and wake up the next morning, obviously having had sex. Then I had the idea to ask Earl to go along and videotape me doing whatever I was doing. That's how I learned what your dad had turned me into. And gave Earl the means to do what he did to us. I loved you dearly, sweetheart, and hated to leave you with him, but I didn't have a choice. But frankly, I hated Dan after I discovered he hypnotized me and made me a prostitute."

Strictly speaking, it wasn't hypnosis, but within the experience of 99.999% of the population, it was the closest concept which explained what had happened to her, so I didn't disagree or argue the point. "I don't blame you, Marie, but I hope you won't hold it against me. I've just shown Eileen how he did what he did to you."

"No, Will, I don't. At least, not yet. I heard that Thad kept your father's stable in operation. Have you been in contact with your managers, or with the girls?"

I shook my head and was about to explain when Eileen asked, "What stable? Will's family doesn't have any horses."

"Escort stable," I flashed to her.

"Oooohh, that kind of stable," she said, causing her mom's eyes to widen again in wonder.

"How did you...the voice, in my head...you can..." I nodded. "That's how he...and you just did it to Eileen. Will, I swear to you, if you put her in harm's way even a little bit, I'll cut off your balls and feed them to you," Marie hissed at me.

"Don't worry, Marie. That ability runs in Dad's family, but it has to be turned on by someone who already has it. Once it is turned on, it protects the individual from being taken over in that way. I can communicate with her telepathically, or I can link our minds so we can share our physical and emotional feelings, and I can, in a sense, hypnotize her, but unlike your experience, she would be completely aware of what is happening, and if she wanted to, simply wake up and reassert her own control."

"That may very well all be true as gospel, but I repeat, you cause her any harm, and..." her expression left little doubt what would happen.

I nodded and stood up. "I understand completely, Marie. You two need some time together. Take the rest of the day, indeed , the rest of the week, to get reacquainted. And don't worry about the time. I'll find some way to account for it.

"Eileen, I'm glad to welcome you to the family. As you try to use your power, you'll have questions. One will be just what they are. The telepathy seems to be universal. Beyond that, there is some variation. Call me next week and I'll set you up with someone to help you discover your limits."

"Thank you, Will. I'll call you." Eileen and Marie stood up to walk me to the door.

"Me, too, Will. I don't mean to sound like a harridan, but after all we've been through...I hope you understand."

"I do, Marie. Don't worry about it. I'd be a little surprised if it were otherwise." I gave them each a hug. "I'm just glad Colie is out of your lives and you have found each other again. Have a good week."

For the next few days, Pan, Lande, Nana, Mom and I were busy exploring the limits of our mental powers. I had already arranged with Pan to work with Eileen, and she was ready as soon as my new sister called. As we neared the end of our extended workshop, Gramm called and invited herself for dinner.

Pan and Lande offered to cook, and prepared a Moroccan tagine with lamb shanks, summer root veggies, some dried apricots, and prunes. Over dinner Gramm asked about Eileen and Marie, and why I had given Marie so much time off.

"Well, you know a little bit about Eileen's childhood, and how she was sexually abused. That went on from the time she was twelve until she ran away from the guy when she was seventeen and on her way to college.

"Somehow, this Spring, he found her in Albany, kidnapped her and held her captive for a week, raping her several times a day. He was transporting her to what I guess is a white slavery procurer in Chicago when he was caught at the last westbound rest area on the Thruway. He ran in front of a truck and was run over.

"Given all that had happened to the two of them, I thought they needed some time to heal and bond."

"How is she doing dealing with the assault?" asked Lande.

"Not sure. She said after the initial shock of being kidnapped, the worst thing was dealing with his small prick because he would get her to the point of arousal, but wasn't big enough and didn't have enough staying power to make her climax. Beyond that, it was pretty much of a replay of her childhood experience with him. We're going to get her hooked up with a counselor who can help her deal with it all."

"Good. She seems like a tough girl, like the rest of the Body."

"Amen to that," added Pan. "Will has asked me to help her learn what her abilities are. Starting some time next week?" she asked, looking at me.

I nodded. One of the great things about telepathy, even though reading it takes as much time as talk, thinking is done in a flash. Concepts, not words, are transmitted. This entire exchange took less than five seconds. Mom and Nana were following it along with us, and their eyes were bouncing around looking at the 'speaker' throughout the conversation.

Gramm noticed, and, laughing, asked, "What's up with you two? It's like you're watching a tennis match, or a play with some real fast dialogue, the way your eyes are moving."

Before Mom could answer, I stepped in. "They're waiting for me. I told Mom I was going to take some time off to show Lande some of the State, maybe take her up to the cabin before she has to go back to Dublin."

"Ohhh, lucky you, Lande. It's beautiful up there this time of year; anytime, really. I haven't been up there since Danny died. I take it somebody has, making sure the cabin is okay."

"Yeah, Gramm; Gramps and I went up for a weekend three or four times a year to fish after I got out of high school." I turned to Lande. "We have an island, almost on the Canadian border, near Goose Bay. It's about twelve acres, about twice as long as it is wide. It has two cabins so two families could go up at the same time and not stumble over each other.

"That was the theory. In reality, the far cabin, as it was called, sort of devolved into the kids cabin at some point. Since Dad died, we've loaned it to friends who needed a getaway."