A Gift in Disguise Ch. 04

The bad news, as Jamie so astutely articulated, is that neither the legitimate nor the illicit pharmaceutical industries are likely to care about its origin if they learn of your 'gift.' They are both likely to aggressively pursue you to try and convince you, or coerce you, into becoming little more than a well-paid human lab rat. Whatever they would agree to pay you, Tom, would be chump change to the profits they would reap from exploiting you. That relentless pursuit is what we need to protect you from. Jamie knows.

Fortunately, your behavior regarding your gift has been incredibly appropriate. Most young men with your gift for inducing orgasms would be out screwing every woman in sight. Then they would probably brag about it any and every social medium available.

In your case, the best protection for your 'gift' has been your premature maturity. That you prefer sex with women older than you supports this. But even in high school it sounds as if neither you nor the young lady were inclined to brag about your 'gift.' At that age, young women are usually much more mature than young men the same age, so in that respect, you were even then showing your preference for emotionally mature women.

Though you didn't recognize it as a 'gift' when you began to experience situational impotence, you treated your condition with appropriate deference when you sought to correct it. In retrospect, it's probably a good thing that none of the so-called medical and psychological professionals were successful in treating it! Fortunately for you, Lorraine recognized it as something potentially good rather than as something inherently bad. For that matter, so did Kim and so did Jamie.

At this point, your continued discretion is unquestionably the best defense against exploitation. Jamie has forewarned you, and I'd urge you to heed her warning. Your 'gift' is potentially worth millions of dollars annually to those who would copy it if they could and misrepresent a fake product because they can't. Your sexual contacts need to remain discreet, and you need to be particularly sensitive to women who seem just a little too eager to have sex with you. That apparently hasn't been a problem before, and if you remain aware, it should not become a problem now. Still, if someone seems to display an inordinate interest in you, please let me know and give me as much information about her as you can. I'll check her out.

In that same vein, I do want to ask you about Sharon, the lady with whom you almost had sex at her lake house. Lorraine's reports indicate Sharon still lives in your home town. Lorraine apparently didn't ask, but I will: Do you ever have any contact with her?"

"Yeah. Whenever I go home to visit my parents, I'll usually see her at the coffee shop I like. It's right next to her office."

"And do you talk with her?"

"Sometimes when we're waiting in line for our drinks, sure. Small talk. You know. How's her son, how's grad school going for me. That kind of stuff."

"And that's the only contact you've had with her since the lake?"

"Yes. Well, no. Not exactly. Every now and then she'll send me an email with a joke or something."

Marta's ability to hear with an attorney's ears quickly picked up on that.

"Is it a blast email or are you the only addressee? And do you usually reply to her?"

"I never paid much attention, but I can't really recall ever seeing any addressee listed, so I guess it was probably sent to a lot of people. Sometimes I reply, but usually not."

"How would you characterize the jokes and other material she emails to you?"

"Generally the jokes are adult. The other stuff is usually a picture that has her in it."

"Racy? Sexy? What?"

"Yeah, I guess. In fact, the last photo she sent about two weeks ago was a picture of her in the same swimsuit she was wearing when we were at the lake."

"Did you reply to her?"

"Yeah. I sent her a one-word email: Wow!"

"Did she reply?"

"Yeah. She said, 'Thank you.'"

"Tom, I assume you've not discussed your sexual contacts with her, is that right?"

"No, I wouldn't do that."

"So is it fair to say that she might be interested in starting a sexual relationship with you based on what you two almost did a few years ago rather than on anything more current?"

"Maybe. I don't know. Are you telling me I shouldn't do that?"

"No, not at all, Tom. I'm not going to tell you what choices you should and should not make. I was simply trying to determine if her interest in you might be anything other than physical. I can certainly understand why she would find you every bit as attractive now as she did a few years ago when you were finishing high school. She's what -- in her mid-40's or so?"

"I think so. She's my mom's friend."

"Well, if you do pursue a physical relationship with her, just be careful. And if you do and she seems to show an inordinate interest in your sexual ability, if she even hints at exploitation, please let me know. Based on what you've told me, my guess is that she just wants to get laid by a handsome, athletic young man, but like I said. Be careful.

Now, as for the prosthetic phallus project, your 'gift' is not really an integral part of it. Consequently, I'm going to discuss Jamie's alternatives to DoD funding with her. If DoD does not fund the project, she should pursue patents on the devices. The project is something she can and definitely should pursue. You've been an important part of that, but it's up to you and her how much more involvement you want. Personally, I hope you'll remain active with the project. Jamie clearly likes and trusts you both as a man and as an engineer, and I believe that even though you're a few years younger than her, you're a good influence on her both personally and professionally.

So, that's it in a nutshell. Do you have any questions?"

"Really? I expected to leave here today with a long list of do's and don'ts."

"You can thank Jamie for the brevity of my counsel. It was her urging for you to seek counsel early on that put your case in the 'prevention' category rather than in 'damage control.' Her thinking ahead and Lorraine's and Kim's and your willingness to share your information with me has made my job much easier."

"So, is there anything else?" I asked.

"No, not right now. I'll be checking back with you periodically as you work with Jamie on the prosthetic phallus project. But if you have any questions or concerns, I'll be happy to address them.

Also, I understand that Amanda Wallace would like to meet with you. I doubt that your meeting with her will generate any new legal issues, but if it does, I hope that you and she will contact me."

"Oh my gosh!" I exclaimed. "I was supposed to call Amanda after our meeting two weeks ago." I knew I had put her card in the console in my car, and I reminded myself to dig it out and call her on the way home.

"I wouldn't be too concerned about not calling her yet, Tom. I spoke with her a couple days ago, and it sounds as if the extra time to review all the material about your 'gift' has been productive. And of course she's still got her regular medical practice, so it isn't as if she's been staring at the phone waiting for your call. But yes, it would probably be a good idea to call her pretty soon."

Marta got up from the sofa, signaling our meeting had ended. She walked me back to my car, opened the garage door, and I left for my apartment.

My meeting with Marta Cruz had been reassuring, but I had to acknowledge some disappointment. I found her physically very attractive and sexually arousing. This meeting had not been cold, just professional. I had hoped for a bit more. Then again, in my first meeting or two with Lorraine, I hadn't even imagined a sexual relationship could develop and lead to where it had.

As I stopped at the end of Marta's driveway before pulling out onto the highway, I dug Amanda's card out of my car console and rang her up on my cell phone.

"Thank you for calling the office of Amanda Wallace. Please leave your name and telephone number and I'll return your call as quickly as possible. (beep)"

Well, it's four o'clock on Friday afternoon, so I really shouldn't be surprised she's not there.

"Hello, Dr. Wallace. It's Tom Connors. It's four o'clock on Friday, and I've just left my three o'clock appointment with Marta Cruz. I'm sorry I haven't called you sooner."

Oddly enough, even as I pulled out of Marta's driveway, my thoughts had turned from her to Dr. Amanda Wallace. When I'd first met Marta, I had detected some physical attraction, but when I was introduced to Dr. Wallace, the physical attraction was exponentially larger. Her expressed desire to meet with me to discuss my unusual orgasm patterns exhibited on the CT scans and my "phantom hand job" experienced while masturbating Kim during her CT scan added to my sexual expectations (okay, so maybe my expectations were unreasonably high). But maybe I was overreacting. After all, Dr. Wallace was both an OB-GYN and a urologist specializing in sexual dysfunctions, so for her, the mention of an orgasm was probably like mentioning a transmission noise by an auto mechanic. Just another day's work.

I stopped at the grocery store and got some deli takeout for dinner, then headed home. My evening's entertainment consisted of a deli Caesar salad, a ginger ale, and watching the airheads on Eyenitwit News reporting their version of the daily news.

About 7 p.m. my phone rang. Generally a call at this time in the evening would be from one of my parents.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Tom? Hi, it's Amanda Wallace returning your call." It took me a couple of extra seconds for her name to register with me.

"Oh, hi Dr. Wallace. Thank you for calling back. First off, I want to apologize for taking so long to get back to you. I wish I had some really glib excuse, but I put your card in my car console after our first meeting and just forgot about it. I'm very sorry."

She had a very disarming laugh. "Tom, don't worry about it. I was a grad student once upon a time, too. But I will probably be a little offended if you don't drop the 'Dr. Wallace'. I'd much prefer you call me Mandy or, if you must be more formal, Amanda."

"Okay, and thanks for being so understanding, Mandy. I thought you might like to know that I had just come from meeting with Marta Cruz. She was very complimentary about the privacy protections Lorraine, Kim, and Jamie had in place. She said because of those, protecting whatever it is I have that needs protecting will be much easier."

"Yes, indeed," she responded. "As one who is involved in human sexual response research in addition to having medical patients whose various conditions come with as much emotional baggage as physiological, I fully appreciate the overarching need for absolute discretion."

"When we first met, you mentioned wanting to meet with me to discuss my orgasm responses -- I'm assuming that means what you saw on the CT scans -- and also the mysterious phantom hand job I experienced during Kim's CT scan."

"Yes, if you're willing to discuss them with me, I'd very much like to get more detailed information and your personal impressions of both. I know they're delicate subjects, but I think I may be able to answer some of your questions from a different perspective than either Lorraine or Kim."

"Sure. Lorraine, Kim, and Jamie have all encouraged me to be completely open with you. I think they're looking forward to any help you can give them. So am I. Would you like to discuss it over the phone or is there somewhere you would like to meet personally?"

"If you wouldn't mind, Tom, I'd like to meet with you at my office. I've got some material to show you, and it would be easier to do there."

"Your office is fine with me. When?"

"What's your schedule like either tomorrow or Sunday afternoon?"

Her suggestion to meet on a weekend afternoon caught me a little off guard, but I recovered quickly.

"Where is your office?" I asked.

"It's one block north and one block west of University Hospital. The street address is 4320 W. Duncan Avenue."

"Oh, you're just off campus," I responded spontaneously. "Well, I was going to go to the university swimming pool at one tomorrow afternoon and work out for an hour. I could easily be at your office at 2:30 if that would work for you."

"That would be fine, Tom. The public entrances to the building are closed and locked on the weekend, so I'd suggest you come west from 4th Avenue on Roseburg Avenue, then park curbside as close to the parking garage entrance as you can. What kind of car do you drive?"

"It's a white 2004 Honda Civic."

"Okay, I'll pull along side where you're parked. Then you can pull out and follow me into the underground parking garage. Is that okay?"

"That will be perfect, Tom. I'll see you then."

"Thanks, Mandy. See you tomorrow afternoon at 2:30."

After talking with Amanda, it occurred to me that I ought to talk with Jamie to learn how up-to-date Amanda would be about the new and improved phallus. Jamie had said Amanda was working with her on the project, so it seemed more appropriate that any detailed information about it ought to come from Jamie rather than from me to Amanda.

Jamie answered her phone on the first ring. "Hi, Tom," she said brightly.

Jamie listened intently when I recounted my meeting with Marta. She was particularly pleased that Marta had complimented Jamie on her encouraging me to seek Marta's legal counsel to help prevent my being exploited. Jamie also seemed to genuinely appreciate that I had contacted her before my first meeting with Amanda.

"No, Tom, I certainly don't see any problem at all if you discuss the phallus project with Amanda. But I'll give her a call now anyway and bring her up to date. That way, she'll know what we know. I seriously doubt that she will discuss it too much with you tomorrow. She is more interested in getting a much clearer understanding of your 'gift' right now. Remember, she said she wanted to discuss your uncharacteristic orgasm patterns in some detail, and she also wanted to try and understand the phantom orgasm you experienced when you were masturbating Kim."

"Okay. One other thing Jamie. I don't expect Dr. Wallace to ask, but..." Before I could finish the sentence, Jamie interrupted.

"Yeah, I've thought about it too, Tom. If she asks if we've had sex, should you tell her? That's where you were going, right?"

"Yeah. I wanted to discuss it with you in case it came up."

"Thank you for thinking of my feelings, Tom. My intuition tells me that she, and even Lorraine and Kim, expect us to at some point. For all I know, they may even be counting on it. The fact is, it happened, and frankly, I hope it will happen again. It's perfectly normal, so as far as I'm concerned, we should tell her. We're adults; adults have sex. If I had a vagina instead of a cock, it wouldn't even come up. I don't really expect her to ask, but if she does, I'd vote that we be completely open and honest with her. And with Kim and Lorraine, too, if it comes up."

"I agree completely, Jamie. I don't think I could pull off being dishonest with Lorraine or Kim or Amanda, and certainly not with you, even if I wanted to."

"Good! I'm glad that's settled."

"Do you know yet if it will be Kim or Lorraine wearing the prototype phallus?"

"I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner. This improved prototype was designed using Kim's personal traits and characteristics, so she will be wear-testing the first one. But I'm debating whether to ask Lorraine or Amanda to be the recipient. They've both experienced the feel of the phallus's infrasonic stimulation of their respective G-spots externally, but neither one has experienced it internally yet. I can see some benefit in having Amanda getting it since she's an OB-GYN and urologist. Should something start to go wrong, she might be more quick to recognize it and immediately terminate the test."

"That's a good point. Do you think Amanda will be willing to be the first -- what did you call it? -- 'recipient'?"

"I do. She is extremely excited about the prosthetic phallus project. She's already contributed very significantly to the project, and I think she will be attentive to the little details that will make subsequent phalluses even more natural appearing, feeling, and responding."

"When do you plan on asking her?"

"Well, since I'm going to call her as soon as you and I finish talking, I can ask her tonight. I hope it doesn't divert her focus from her meeting with you tomorrow, though."

"She doesn't seem the type to be easily distracted."

We talked for a few more minutes, then I excused myself to do a little bit of studying before heading for bed.

I debated whether to walk or drive first to the university pool and then to Amanda's office. Then I recalled that Amanda would be looking for my car, so that x'd out the walk.

Given the summer heat, I was surprised that the pool was relatively empty of people. That gave me the opportunity to swim laps without dodging pool toys. After leaving the pool, I showered to get off the worst of the chlorine smell, then dressed in my cargo shorts and cheap polo shirt, then drove toward Amanda's office.

My driving route from the pool took me in front of the building. During my four years of undergrad studies and now two years of grad school, I had walked by the building many times but had really paid very little attention to it. Aside from the six-inch numbers "4320" over the double glass main entry door, there was no signage to denote its occupants or even the usual university logo to associate it with the university. In every respect including its architecture, it was nondescript, vanilla, easy to walk by but never notice.

I turned right on 4th Avenue, then right again onto Roseburg. There were no cars parked along the curb, so I pulled into the spot closest to the parking garage entrance to wait for Amanda. The entrance was secured by a sliding bar gate. Just a minute before 2:30 a BMW M3 pulled alongside my car and stopped. I looked to my left, and Amanda waved from the M3's driver seat for me to follow her.

We pulled into the garage, she into a spot marked "reserved." She motioned for me to pull into the spot next to hers even though it, too, was marked "reserved."

She remained in her car while I parked next to hers on her driver's side. Then, trying my best to imitate a gentleman, I hopped out and went to her door to open it for her. Because of the day's warmth, I had hoped she would be wearing some revealing summer dress -- or even less. Instead, she was wearing conservative slacks and a disappointingly unrevealing, unsuggestive blouse. They were not particularly stylish -- more like off-the-rack everyday work wear. Certainly not anything that would even remotely arouse a 23-year old male grad student. Maybe just as with Marta Cruz, I had somehow gotten my sexual signals crossed with Amanda.

"Hi, Tom," she said cheerily. We started walking immediately toward the door connecting the garage parking to what I presumed would be the interior office space of her medical practice. "I hope you didn't have any trouble finding this place. Have you been waiting long?"

"Only a couple minutes, and no, I've been by here many times as a student. But actually I've never really paid much attention to the building."

"It's convenient to the hospital, and I had a chance to buy it two years ago when the university declared it surplus. The school wanted to upgrade it from administrative offices to classrooms, but it was going to cost too much to bring the fairly old building up to codes and to the university's and state's standards for classrooms, so they decided to unload it. I think they were willing to give me such a good deal on it because it was going to hold my medical practice and research facility. Even though the research part of it has to do with human sexual responses, the school was assured that I would not be doing any medicine or research that would be even remotely controversial."