My Only Talent Ch. 07

I laughed. "I had no idea how good she really was until she hit her first serve. She hustled me, but in the end I think she let me win, because she knew what she really needed."

He tried to look intelligent and inscrutable. "Knew she needed what?"

"She needed someone else to be in control. Someone to let her relax and let go."

"Are you familiar with the concept of accommodation?"

I sighed. "Yes. That is one of my fears for Lara, that she will need constantly increasing stimuli and at some point she will need me to be kinkier than I am comfortable with."

"How will you deal with it when you reach that point?"

I sighed again. "I am trying not to reach it, by using relatively mild 'kinks' combined with random reinforcement and punishment and lots of anticipation and uncertainty to keep her off balance and excited. I hope we can reach a level where she can get consistently get excited but get off with relatively normal sex."

He sighed. "And if you cannot?"

"I'll deal with that if and when I need to."

"Do you love her?"

"I'm only eighteen, so who knows? I can't say for sure I do, but I certainly can't say I don't, either. Neither one of us plans to do anything 'permanent' until we graduate."

He looked uncomfortable. "Two other things I should mention. As you seek to increase her titillation, I would stay away from introducing another male into the situation. It would make her feel you do not really care for her anymore."

"But she told me she did not care if I was with other women!"

"She really means that. But if you ever told her it was okay for her to be with another man, she would be sure you did not care for her anymore! Also, you must never appear submissive to her or anyone else. She would rather you embarrass and humiliate her for hours than be submissive to her for one minute. But she loves it when you are tender to her one minute and then punish and humiliate her the next minute! To her, that means she has your full attention."

At that point Lara's dad came in and Doctor Weltschmerz left, all very smoothly timed. He asked me the same questions about love and long term plans, and got the same answers. He seemed happy with that. I told him I could not guarantee that Lara would not get hurt, only that it would never be my desire to hurt her or see her hurt, but that she and I had already agreed to be completely honest with each other. "That's all anybody can ask." He said.

"By the way, you should start dating again, for Lara's sake, and I suggest you start with Lillian Gush."

He looked startled. "But she has never shown any interest in ...."

"What would you have suspected if she had?"

Realization dawned on his face. "Plus," I said, "She is a pretty traditional woman who wants you to make the first move. And if my hunch is right, you will find you can trust her and be honest with her, unlike, say, Marie?"

His face got red. "Even I figured out that would be a bad idea. But I should have realized that Lillian would be a good one!"

We adjourned back to watch the second half of the game and ESU's 2's defense allowed two touchdowns and the 2's offense only scored one, but they still won the game handily, even though they were not favored, leading many to speculate a great improvement in their ranking in the first BCS poll about to come out. Dinner with Lara and her dad was at a very expensive and well reviewed restaurant in one of the downtown towers near the river that I had only read about. Lara said they had the best fried pickles in the world, but I just could not bring myself to order them! They shared lots of stories about Lara's childhood, which obviously was joyous until Lara's mom died, and they both got dewy eyed when the stories included her.

They dropped me back at the dorm, and Laura got out to tell me goodnight. After she gave me a little kiss, complete with an audience of 'step sitter' guys and girls, I decide to give her something to think about. I whispered in her ear "Slut, next time we go out the diner with your father, I may make you crawl under the table and blow me!" her Suzie signal exploded from contentment to rabid, spitting excitement. I pinched one of her nipples and kissed her again. I wonder if her father noticed she was breathing hard when she got back in his limo?

I got to bed at a decent hour, and thought briefly about Melanie and Janet. I suppose I did not have to budget any time for them in the future. In fact, even if Janet called and apologized, I was 95% sure it was better to just end things as they were. I suppose I had made up my mind, because I was off to sleep soon and slept very soundly.

Sunday morning I had an early breakfast and realized I had not planned any date for Sunday. I suppose my father would have to give me credit for having had two women at the same time on Friday! My open dance card made me think of Peggy Duchenne, which made me think about bird watching, which made me think of my grandmother. She was up at 6 every morning, so I called her. She was glad to hear things were going well at school, and I told her about wanting to make a first date with a girl who was a bird watcher. She sounded skeptical, and then she said "Robert is this girl really sending for you? Most birders are fairly cerebral and inhibited."

"Yes, she is grandma, and such a strong, sweet and clear signal I have never experienced before!"

She snorted. "Be careful, when a girl sends like that, she wants you and she doesn't care who knows it. But I can suggest some good birding sites nearby for this time of the year. In fact, you can go down to the Hochiem's place near Three Rivers if you want to. They are traveling and offered it to us to use all fall. It is many acres of private land on two rivers and three avian migration routes. Unless your friend is very experienced and has been to that area many times, I can virtually assure you she will see several new species." She gave me directions to get there, the gate code and a detailed description of where to find a hidden key for their house, and the alarm code. She made me promise to check the drip systems on all the plants and check the bird feeders and salt licks for the cattle and deer.

Then she giggled like a school girl. "If I may make a suggestion, Robbie?"

"Of course, grandma."

"Well I was just thinking about how I got your grandfather interested in birding. She cackled. "You see, I wanted him to really pay attention and help me look for new species."

"And how did you accomplish that?"

"Well" she giggled again. "We called it strip birding: every time either one of us logged a new species, we would both have to remove an article of clothing. When he started out, almost every bird he saw was new for him!"

My little granny? "What happened if you were both already naked and one of you found a new species?"

She guffawed! "Well, your grandfather made up that rule; the one that spotted the new species got to make a request that the other one could not refuse!"

"Why Grandma, did Granddad take advantage of you?"

"Oh yes. It was wonderful! He made me do things I had never done before. He said we were both learning new hobbies. But I was a better birder, and I made a few requests of my own. Good times!"

We talked a little more about my visit home for Thanksgiving, and my cousins from Boston, who were coming down at that time, and then we said goodbye, after she made me promise to give her a detailed 'trip report'. Since I had 'sewing circle' coming up next Friday and Sunday, and I knew Suzanne would be at an away soccer game all day that Saturday, it was time to get to know Peggy a little better. I asked Kevin about borrowing his car, and he said he was driving to the away football game with a caravan of ZZZ members, so no help there. I hoped Peggy had wheels. I decided to wait until 9 on a Sunday morning to call. On an impulse, I Googled Dr. Weltschmerz, and discovered he was pretty hot stuff. He was a PhD in Neuropharmacology in addition to his MD, and was cited in psychiatric and scientific articles all over the place. He also was a major mover behind the new medical school planned in conjunction with ESU and the major hospitals in town.

I needn't have waited to call Peggy. When I finally called her she was actually out birding. I told her my plan and she volunteered her 'jeep' since all her gear was in it, and to make a picnic lunch, and then asked very specifically where I proposed to go. I gave her the approximate location, and she was very pleased: she had not been down there ever and her log search app told her there were several species that should be there this time of year that she needed. Since it was a 2 hour drive from campus, she suggested we take off about 4AM, and I agreed. She reminded me to bring a hat and some sunscreen; she would have some binoculars I could use. It sounded like a date for next Saturday was checked off on my 'to do' list, but Peggy was still on it, and I really did want to do her.

Then I got a text from Nora, saying she wanted to talk to me and could we take a walk around the lake for a while. I suggested we get box lunches at the dining hall and have an impromptu picnic and she agreed. We grabbed our lunches and some bottled water, stowed them in out backpacks, and headed south for the walking trail around the river as it passed through town. If we traversed the whole circuit it was about eleven miles, so we could certainly have a nice long talk. I heard clear and beautiful little Suzie signals leaking out as we reached the trail and headed east along the northern bank of the river.

Nora began the conversation. "I assume Suzanne relayed what I said to you, but I wanted to tell you some more things myself."

I just walked. She continued "I am so torn. I am paralyzed by indecision. I think I know what I want, but I cannot reconcile it with what I have promised my family. That's why I need to talk with them over Christmas break."

"Can you tell me what you want?"

"Not yet. Not until I know what my real and feasible options are."

I decided to change the subject. "Do you know where you are going to school next year?"

She smiled. "I have a conflict there, but not a big emotional problem. One choice is to get an MBA first, then pursue a PhD, the other is just go PhD directly." She went on to describe her options, which were plentiful. She was still leaning towards working on Wall Street, and leaning toward an MBA at an American school to build up a network of contacts, then doing a PhD somewhere to make international contacts.

"That's called a high class problem, beautiful. All the options are good." She went on to describe in complete detail the decision tree she had used to evaluate everything, and how all the paths seem to have roughly the same expected value. I told her I would choose the MBA just for the diversity of experiences it would give her. She smiled.

Then I went back to selling. "Speaking of diversity of experiences, you should really factor into your plans that a relationship with Suzanne or me would be valuable, but a relationship with both of us would be priceless experience and a plus for your career!"

She smiled one of those 'are you bull shitting me?' smiles. I extended my remarks. "Lots of organizational politics are just head games and attempted intimidation, and lots of it involves sex, flirtation, and living right on the edge of sexual harassment. You need to have some rock solid experience that will make you totally comfortable with how attractive you are and give you the ability to banter comfortably about any sexual propositions you may get. If you decide to accept some of them, you need to have the skills to enjoy them and make your chosen partners very happy, too!"

She smiled again. "You are a born salesman. For a moment there, I almost believed you had my best interests at heart, not just that you want into my pants."

"Good salesman are not born, they develop. And really great sales people find out their prospect's real needs and best interests, and find a way to satisfy them, that's how they make the sale, and get return customers. And your interests and mine are not mutually exclusive, they are in fact congruent. I desperately want you to be healthy and happy, and I also desperately want to be with you." I went for the close again. "And so does Suzanne."

A little A Capella singing group of Suzie signals leaked through her defenses, but then they were squelched by sheer force of will. This woman was so strong! It only made me want her more. She spoke haltingly "So she has told me, and also how much she trusts you. I envy her that. I will continue to struggle with it until after Christmas break, and then I will tell both of you what I have decided."

We had reached to the point on the south side of the river that was right across the water from where we started, but about 2/3 of the actual distance around the trail. We tanked up on cold water from coolers supplied by a helpful local footwear store, then found a spot on the retaining wall were we could eat our lunches and watch people run by and dogs retrieve balls. We were both a little winded and a little hungry, so there was no conversation for a few minutes.

We had just finished lunch when a couple approached us. The woman said "Robby?" and I looked up. It took me a minute to recognize her. "Strelsa?" I said. "I never expected to see you again." It was Strelsa Streling, who went to my high school for a year as an exchange student, then went back to Austria. She was blonde, about 5' 10', with grey blue eyes and perfect skin and a trim figure. She looked even more toned and athletic than she did in that junior year in high school.

We gave each other a hug. We had always been just friends, and she apparently had the kind of 'chastity vow' that I did. In fact she told me that she sought me out as a friend because she heard I was one of the guys who had not succumbed to Suzie Packard's charms. I once told her that if I was going to break my oath I would be more tempted by someone like her than Suzie, and I can still remembered how red she turned. I did not hear Suzie signals from her back in high school, I suppose because I was relatively undeveloped as a receiver and could only hear obvious signals like Suzie Packard sent. But I was hearing signals from Strelsa now: a strong and clear signal for her husband, pure and clean; and a weak but pulsing signal for me.

She introduced her husband, Gunther Granath, who was a new assistant rowing coach in ESU's new Title IX inspired rowing program. He looked like a Nordic warrior in an old Nazi poster, with blonde hair, blue eyes, 6' 2", and a trim body and broad chest. He spoke with a slight German accent, in contrast to Strelsa's neutral sounding and somewhat Americanized English. I introduced her to Nora, and they both bowed their heads to her somewhat formally. Then she spoke to them in strongly accented German, and their eyes widened and rapid fire back and forth dialog followed. I took German in high school, but I could just barely follow the drift of this conversation, and soon they were all laughing. Then Strelsa said something under her breath in another language I could not catch, and Nora's eyes widened. Gunther and I obviously could not follow what was being said. Nora then replied, in what sounded like the same new language, and Strelsa's face turned bright red. They spoke in low voices just to each other for a few moments while Gunther and I looked uncomfortable and clueless, and then the two girls gave each other a little hug, exchanged phone numbers, and then Gunther and Strelsa resumed jogging.

We resumed our walking course in the opposite direction. "You are going to have to tell me about what just happened. I could follow the German pretty well, but they seem very surprised that you spoke German. And what was that other language?"

Nora chortled. "I don't just speak German. I am native speaker fluent, and I used the local dialect from the mountains where Gunther was born, since I spent several summers there as a child, and recognized his accent. That's what surprised them so much." She laughed again. "Strelsa is apparently a very vocal and expressive lady, and she does her 'under the breath muttering' in Polish so Gunther doesn't catch on when she is exasperated with him!"

"What did she mutter?" I asked. Nora laughed again.

"She said 'I knew I should have eaten this candy when I had the chance' referring to your young tender body, I believe. She said you were the only honorable boy in the high school, because you did not want to screw Suzie, like everyone else did. But you did tell her that you thought she was attractive, and she will always remember that. Who is Suzie? Do you have a story to tell me?"

I told her about Suzie Packard, the first girl to ever signal for me, and how she signaled for everybody, and why I called them the Suzie signals. I also told her about my family and how I had been told about my talent. She looked very thoughtful.

"Did you say your mother and your grandmother both knew about the signals, and your talent?"

"Yes, and so did Mrs. Douglass." I explained about my first sex teacher. She asked about Mrs. Douglass' husband. I said I never met him but he was kin to my father and he had the 'talent' too.

She drew in a breath sharply. "You may be even more dangerous than I thought!

I was surprised. "What do you mean by that?"

"My parents told me that the vast majority of 'talents' are male, and inherit their ability from their fathers. Most talents do not even tell their wives about it. The fact that so many people knew about it makes me believe your mother and grandmother may have had my kind of talent for controlling their signals. My father thinks that a 'hybrid' child from a talent mother and talent father would get a 'double genetic dose' of ability. What else do you remember them telling you?"

"Only what they told me about never using my talents to take advantage of girls, and staying celibate until I was 18. They said parts of my brain would not develop properly until I was eighteen."

"That lines up with some of the things my father told me. But it also leaves some questions open. Most talents do not have any 'code of conduct' like your family did. In fact, some of the worst behavior comes from what my father calls 'sports' that never get any education from their fathers at all!"

"What does 'sport' mean?"

"It's a term for spontaneous point mutations that just show up unexpectedly in the blood line and produce the talent. The father has no talent, the mother has no talent, but their male child suddenly does. Some of those 'sports' have very strong and vigorous abilities, more so than many who inherited it from their fathers."

We were approaching the end of our circuit around the lake. "Why did your parent's want you to avoid talented males? Just to make sure they did not 'love you and leave you', or is it something else?"

"Well, there is a bias among some talent families against 'sports', maybe because they are strong and dangerous. Did you ever read the Harry Potter books?"

"Who hasn't?"

"Well, many talents hate the untalented 'muggles' and are very suspicious of 'sports' thinking that they will breed with talents, be stronger, and eventually replace the current families with stronger 'muggle' hybrids, like 'mudbloods'! Also, many of the talented think it is perfectly okay to manipulate and use 'muggles' for their own pleasure, even sadistic pleasure and financial gain. That is the real evil that my parents are trying to protect me from!"

That was a lot for me to contemplate! I guess I would have lots of questions to ask my family when I went home for Thanksgiving! Nora and I walked back to campus, and she let me kiss her when we said goodbye, and perhaps let the kiss linger a little longer than I expected. Maybe I would get a late Christmas present!