Caleb 44 - Coming of Age

Author's Note.

Once again, my thanks go to Dr Mark. Since he is in a different time zone to me, I am reminded of Terry Pratchett's foreword on his book Good Omens, which he co-authored with Neil Gaimon. He said:

"I get up early in the morning. Neil gets up early in the afternoon. This book was created in the few hours of each day, when we were both awake." (paraphrase) - Good omens is a great book check it out.

Thanks again for all your likes comments and support - it really does make a difference.

PM

Caleb 44 - Coming of Age

Friday morning found me at the dojo.

Kevin was a little peeved that I had ditched him the previous morning, but he got over it, mainly by kicking my ass on the mat. We were sparring. I left him, having once again extracted the promise of attendance at my birthday party the following day, and went home.

I beat Ness into the kitchen and began to make breakfast. She joined me a few minutes later and between us we prepared the meal for everyone in the house. For the next two hours people drifted in and out of the kitchen, some of them more than once, to grab breakfast.

We finally managed to feed everyone, including ourselves by nine, and went out onto the deck where people were sitting and enjoying the morning sunshine. Ness, Jules, and the girls were busy chatting together, and I presumed they were making plans for the party.

"Caleb," said Amanda, "can we borrow your truck?"

"Keys are on the hanger," I said. We had a key hanger in the kitchen where vehicle keys went. Everyone put their keys there in case we had to do any shuffling around of vehicles in the garage or in the driveway. There was space for two cars in the garage and another three in the driveway. At the moment Amanda's and Gracie's car were in the garage, while my truck and Louise's car were in the driveway. When Ness's car was brought down, we would fill our available parking but for now we had one slot left, which my father's car would take up when they arrived.

I guessed that our HOA Nazi would be coming to give us grief regarding parking during my party. I'd looked up the rules and found out that, in our neighbourhood, there were no restrictions as long as there was no obstruction to driveways. I looked at the detail and determined that as long as a car was more than eighteen inches away from the edge of a driveway, it would be fine. I determined that I would keep an eye on that -I knew that there would be someone else in the road that might also be doing the same.

Alan had offered us the use of his driveway for the party, so that gave us an extra three slots before we would have to resort to on-road parking.

All the girls piled into my truck and set off, for goodness knows where.

I went into my bag, and grabbed some paper and a pen, and began writing notes.

Dear Neighbour.

Just a quick not to let you know that tomorrow night I will be having a birthday party at my house (number six). Although there will be a number of guests, I will endeavour to keep the disturbance to a minimum.

Kind Regards

I made eight other copies of the note, and went door to door on the street, delivering a copy to each house. I had originally thought not to give one to the HOA Nazi but thought that would be childish and so I put one on his door too.

I was still on his porch when Tom Prichard picked up and read the note. I caught a fleeting thought about contacting a towing company. So that was his plan.

He would get a towing company to come and tow cars, illegally, even if they were parked properly. Once they have been removed, the beef is with the towing company, and they are notoriously difficult to deal with. Even if you manage to get away without paying the towing and storage fee - you still have the inconvenience of having to get to the tow yard to reclaim your vehicle. It was petty but that was him down to the ground. I wondered how I could counter him.

I was thinking about that as I was returning to the house. I noticed that there was someone on my front porch.

"Hi," I said. The man, who was in his mid-forties turned around. He grinned at me.

"Hi." He waved the note I had just posted through his door.

"I'm your neighbour" he pointed to the house, the other side of ours from Alan and Anne's. "John Gregson" he held his hand out.

"Nice to meet you," I said. "Sorry we haven't been by to introduce ourselves."

"It's no big deal," he said. "We kind of like to keep ourselves to ourselves, no offence."

"None taken," I said. "If you can't do your thing in your own home then where can you?"

He smiled. "I just thought I'd come and warn you," he said. "Pricktard," he nodded towards Tom Pritchard's house, "will have a problem with your party. Since you're not in the HOA he can't really do anything, but he has been known to pull stunts like deflating tires, keying cars, or calling towing companies. For tomorrow, if you want, I'll put my car in the garage - you can use my driveway - that gives you three cars that won't be on the road at least."

"That is amazingly generous of you," is said. "Thank you. Can I ask - did you join the HOA or was your house already in when you moved here."

"My wife joined," he said. "He got to her while I was at work. Now we're stuck with it. I've tried to get out, but there's so many penalties involved it's just not worth it. I keep my grass short, and put my trashcans out on time, so he generally leaves me alone."

"Are you sure that offering me your driveway isn't going to put you in his crosshairs?" I asked.

He considered that for a moment. "Fuck him!" he said eventually. "If it does, I'll deal with it then."

"Am I right in thinking then," I asked, "that if the option to leave the HOA were offered, you'd be out?"

"Like a shot," he said.

I grinned. "I'll see what I can do."

He looked at me sideways. "You get me out of the HOA," he said, "and I may even say good morning to you if we pass in the street."

I laughed. "Good enough," I said.

I had two more visitors that day, both of whom warned me about Tom Pritchard and his dirty tricks. Neither went so far as to offer their driveway, but the warning was appreciated. I would have to keep an eye on him. It also gave me an idea of how well liked he and his HOA were. I was beginning to conclude that I was going to do something about that.

When the girls came back, the truck was chock full of stuff - there was a good amount of food and drink, along with some trestle tables, and a stack of other stuff that I couldn't even begin to see. I went out to help them unload but was told, in no uncertain terms, to mind my business and go elsewhere. Josh and Dean were recruited in my stead. I went into the bedroom to stay out of the way.

I poked my head out just before my parents were due to arrive. I was banned from the kitchen and the back yard. I had to content myself with the living room or the bedroom, the den having already been converted to a bedroom for my parents. I wandered out onto the front drive and sat on the hood of my truck. Since I couldn't go into the backyard, I would have to enjoy the sunshine from here.

My parents arrived twenty minutes later.

I helped them in with their bags and showed them to the room they would be using. Jules and Ness came out to meet them too. The twins were still fiddling in the backyard. Jules and Ness gave them the guided tour and then brought them back into the living room. Ness brought us all coffee.

"I need to talk to you both," I said.

"That sounds serious," my mother said. My father as always said nothing.

I very quickly ascertained that he had no shields at all. I wondered how much influence his binding had on him, so decided to tell them all about it, before removing his. My mother, who only had a little empathy, wouldn't have a binding in any case.

It took nearly half an hour for me to explain everything. I talked about the oath, the binding, the council, freeing everyone from their oaths, and finally the formation of the new council. My father went ballistic.

"Who in the hell do you think you are?" he said. "For generations the council has managed the Everson and Stott lines and all of a sudden you come along and think that you can do better? Let me tell you my boy that you WILL answer the councils summons and you will take that oath or..."

"Quiet," I said to him. He froze.

"What did you do?" my mother asked me.

"I'm removing his binding," I said. "He was making too much noise."

"Caleb you can't..." she began but I just looked at her.

I released my father once I had removed his binding, waiting for the explosion.

He looked at me, then at my mother, and then back at me again.

"They did that to everyone?" he asked.

"Anyone with Compulsion," I said. "That's how they controlled the family for so long."

He sighed heavily. "That is so wrong on so many levels."

"What are you doing?" my mother asked me. "You've Compelled him to agree with you?"

"Quite the reverse," I said. "I removed a Compulsion that he has been carrying for over twenty years. I told you the oath is a ritual, that binds a Compulsion user with their own power. His outburst before was due to that Compulsion. What you are seeing now, is what he really thinks, now he is allowed to think for himself."

"How do I know for sure?" she asked.

"You don't," I said. "But then I guess it depends on whether or not you trust me. Since I haven't lied to you your entire life, then I don't see how I might have earned your distrust."

"Caleb," said my father. "You need to let that go - especially now we know about the binding. I couldn't have acted any differently than I did. Even if your mother could, she did what she thought was best based on advice she got, and in discussion with me, while I was under their influence."

I had to concede that point. "I have freed all of our users," I said to him. "The proposal is to form our own Council. We think you should be on it. What do you think?"

He nodded. "It makes sense," he said. "Who else?"

"Maggie, Gerald's father, and Dianna," I said.

"Why not you?" said my father. "As the family's most powerful user surely you should have a place?"

"I'm way too new to powers," I said. "I'm still coming to terms with some of the issues having powers brings. I will be lobbying though - the use of amulets has got to stop. No matter what the council says there is no way that I will allow any child of mine to be crippled in that way."

"And what if the new council says otherwise?" asked my father.

"Then I'll tell you what I told Maggie," I said. "I will not be having children."

My mother gasped.

"I have already been made sterile," I continued, "as have all my girls. The only way I or they can have children is if I, or another Healer, undoes what was done. Unless I get a guarantee that my children will not be forced to wear the amulet and will be brought up as the children of other bloodlines are, there will be no continuation of the line from my loins."

My father nodded. "What about an oath?" he asked. "Would you swear one?"

"No," I said. I had thought about this for a long time. "I am bound by the laws of the land, just as everyone else is. Unless there is a clear benefit to me or mine in swearing such an oath, then I see no need for one."

"Don't you think that you are undermining the council before it's even formed then?"

"Personally," I said. "I don't see the need for a council - it's another level of middle management as far as I can determine. It may start out with the best of intentions but give it a couple of hundred years there will be some busybody who gets themselves on it and wants to micromanage.

"I may be a Stott, I may have Compulsion, but I am also a Healer. They require no oaths and the power I learned to control from them makes Compulsion look mild. We exist in a framework of Norm society - maybe five hundred years ago when Norms didn't know we existed we needed councils. But they know now, and there are rules and laws in place that take into account our powers. We don't need more."

"Then why form the council at all?" asked my father.

"Optics" I said. "We're far more likely to be allowed to break away from the Eversons if we are seen to have a structure to replace them than if we all are appearing to go rogue."

"And what are the optics of you refusing an oath?"

"Not my problem," I said. "I did the work. I freed you all. You are completely at liberty to go and bend the knee to the Eversons and retake the oath if you so desire. I will not be taking any oaths to them, or to you."

"What's happened to you," asked my mother.

"To me?" I asked. "I guess I grew up."

"You've become hard, and confrontational," said my father. "It doesn't suit you, and I don't like it."

"That's too bad," I said, rejecting the first thing that had sprung into my mind. I was starting to heat up. "I am what you brought me up to be."

"We never brought you up to be disrespectful," said my mother.

"Respect is earned," I said "not demanded. If you feel I am not respectful to you, then perhaps you should look in the mirror and ask yourself - what exactly did we do to earn respect from him?"

"Caleb," the voice came from behind me. Dean.

"Pops?" I turned.

"Take a breath son," he said. "You're winding up at the wrong people. You already know they had no choice. I know how hard it is to let go, especially when you have held onto something that hard for that long, but you need to let it go. Otherwise, it's going to eat you up.

"Whatever happens next, you've won. You and your line are no longer bound to the Everson Council. What they will do about it is anyone's guess, but fighting among yourselves only weakens your position against any counter they try. You must be united. You must be together. If you're not, then all the ground you gained so far, you will lose in an instant.

"Your folks didn't have your power, your advantages. They did the best they could with what they had. If you ask me, given the way you turned out, they did a fine job. My grandchildren, when they come along, are going to need all their grandparents. Don't rob them of that because you are still angry and taking it out on the wrong people."

I sighed, "Sorry Pops," I said quietly.

"It's not me you need to be apologizing to," he said. Why did I know he was going to say that?

I looked back to my own parents. My mother was looking at me, my father at Dean.

"I'm sorry," I said.

"In some respects, Dean is right," said my father, "and in others he is wrong. We did fail you, but our failure happened long before you were born. We should have done something back then, but we were just carried along. My swearing the oath was almost an afterthought, since my power was so negligible, but it was enough; enough to keep me bound, to make me do what, in my heart, I knew to be wrong.

"We need you, Caleb. The council needs you. The Family needs you. You will be the pillar upon which our power stands. If you, of all people, refuse to acknowledge us, then we are finished before we start. An oath to the council will make the difference between success and failure. There will be no binding; it would be honor-based. You would not allow a binding oath and I, we, wouldn't ask or expect it. Surely, we could come up with something everyone could agree on."

I thought about that for a few moments. "If we can come up with something between us, that I am comfortable with, then okay," I said. "Then you would be able to say, with truth, that I had sworn an oath to the new council."

I glanced at my watch. "That is," I remarked, "if Dianna doesn't explode when she finds out. She's due any time."

"Caleb," said my father. "I know it's asking a lot, but please, think about forgiving your mother. It's been said over and over, but she did what she thought was best based on advice from her matriarch and pressure from her husband. If you hate me for failing to protect you, then that's something I'll have to bear. But she is as innocent as you in all this. Please."

I looked at my mother, who was looking, not at me, but at my father.

There was a knock at the front door.

Jules showed Dianna into the living room.

"Mary, Amanda," I sent. "Dianna is here will you come in please?"

The twins came into the room and sat on the sofa. Dianna, who had come in smiling, looked around at the faces of those present. She suddenly looked worried.

"Is something the matter?" she asked.

"Please," I said indicating the seat between the twins.

"Did I do something?" she asked.

"Dianna," I said "there's something you need to know. Please sit down and I'll tell you everything."

She sat looking nervous. I gave her all the memories. I watched as she assimilated it all. I watched her face, her aura, listened to her surface thoughts. They all said the same thing. She was sickened and horrified to find out that the oath was a binding and that all of the Stott line, since who knew when, had been Compelled into obedience using their own power.

"I am so sorry," she said, tears streaming down her face. To me, to my father and to my mother.

"It is not for you to apologize," I said. "You weren't to know. They played you as much as they played everyone else."

"I didn't even see it," she said. "I swore the oath. I remember thinking that the language was a little archaic, but I just put it down to it being an old oath used traditionally. I never even considered that it might be a ritual. It's not in the rituals book, I would have remembered it."

"Jules said the same," I said, "but someone on the council must know."

She nodded.

"You've broken the Compulsion on everyone?" she asked.

"My father was the last," I responded. "Maggie will be making the official offer, but we are forming our own council, and we want you to be on it."

"Me?" she said, surprised. "But I'm..."

"You're someone we trust," I interrupted, "and the Everson Matriarch."

"Grams," said Amanda. "Just so you know, we will not be swearing any oaths to the Everson Council. What they did was terrible. I won't be bound, even in honor, to a council that would condone that."

I expected Dianna to try and dissuade them. "Too fucking right," she said. "Those hypocritical pricks have been spouting on about Compulsion being dangerous, and they are the ones using it in the worst way. The first time I lay eyes on a council member I will be rescinding my oath."

"More importantly," my father said. "Will you agree to be on our council."

"Who else will be on it?" she asked. Her eyebrows raised when she was told.

"I thought Caleb for sure," she said, "But I like that mix. I particularly like you being on it," she said to my father. "It's a good call. Yes, I would, if offered, join your council."

I stood and walked over to her, taking her hands, and pulled her to her feet. I put my arms around her and held her to me.

"Thank you," I said.

The twins both stood and joined the embrace.

Dinner was prepared by Ness. I was allowed to the table to eat, but I was not allowed in the kitchen area. Presumably as they had stuff in the fridge that they didn't want me to see. I couldn't even go out on the deck with Dean for a beer. We, my father, Dean, and I, ended up sitting on the sides of the bed of my truck, while we enjoyed a beer. I was half expecting the police to show up and question us about underage drinking, but it didn't happen.

"Are you going to say anything to the council?" I asked Dianna as she was getting ready to leave later that evening.

She shook her head. "I'll leave it all up to Maggie," she said. "She is the one that needs to break the news. Don't be surprised though if one or more council member turns up here tomorrow."