Feature Writer: FantasyLover /
Feature Title: PERCHANCE TO DREAM 3 /
Copyright: © 2012 by FantasyLover /
Story Codes: Mind Control, MF, Mf, FF, Ff, Magic, Harem, First, Anal /
Synopsis: Stressed archaeologist seeks help from an unusual source by trying an ancient ritual–with unusual results /
Perchance to Dream
Chapter 3
The first half of this summer’s interns arrived in late May. We met them Monday morning, shaking hands as we moved through the much larger than normal group. The first half of the interns was more than we had in total last summer. Of course, we also had a lot more work to do. I noticed a timid-looking young Hispanic woman near the back of the group as we approached. When I neared her, she genuflected to one knee.
“Holy Shaman Miller,” she said reverently in Mayan, her voice quivering with emotion.
“I appreciate the honor but I prefer Mike,” I answered in Mayan as I helped her back up. Her eyes widened as she stared at my hand touching hers. I vaguely remembered telling Ted to consider seriously the applicant from Mexico City. Itzel had told me later that she was both a top student and Mayan, but she only spoke Western Spanish and contemporary Mayan. Itzel moved in beside her to translate when I addressed the group.
“That takes brown-nosing to a whole new level,” one of the girls commented cattily behind me.
“I can see how someone who is ignorant of the facts could draw that conclusion,” I said to her sarcastically. “Do any of you speak contemporary Mayan fluently?” I asked. No volunteers. “Anyone speak Western Hemisphere Spanish?” I asked. About twenty people responded including an apparent friend of the commenter.
“Zafrina only speaks Spanish and Mayan. I would like you to translate my questions and comments and her answers into English for everyone else here,” I told the friend of the girl who made the remark.
“And if you would please correct any major translation errors I would appreciate it,” I asked a guy several feet from the two girls. I saw that Itzel had been translating for Zafrina the entire time.
“Zafrina, would you please explain to the rest of the students why you bowed to me so that they may fully understand?” I asked in Spanish. She started nervously but gained confidence when I smiled at her answer.
“My father is the chief of our village. Last July there was something major going on but he wouldn’t talk about it. All we knew was that one morning, he, and the shaman spent the day fasting and cleansing themselves for a ritual. That night they used herbs in a religious ceremony to help them reach the spirit plane. All night they remained until just before dawn. Much of the village kept vigil, worried. Nobody had ever seen anything this serious before. They emerged in the morning, soaked with sweat and exhausted but happy.
“They explained that a new, powerful shaman had spent the night doing battle with the face of evil. With the two women who fought by his side he managed to defeat the evil, saving many thousands and maybe even millions of lives. After the battle, he also destroyed the two gods who created the evil force. Every Maya chief and shaman, and most other elders were with him on the spirit plane during the battle so he could draw energy from them during the battle. Some were so weak afterwards it took them two days to recover.
“Word of this new shaman has spread throughout the Maya world and everyone knows his name. Every shaman and chief bows to him when they are in his presence. I applied to work here to have the honor of working with him and I bowed to him as is customary for a common person to do in the presence of someone so holy,” she explained. The girl translating managed to keep up and nobody questioned her translation.
“It’s just superstitious nonsense,” the first girl shot back.
“Maybe, maybe not; sleep on it tonight and we’ll see if you change your mind tomorrow,” I told her, smirking. I saw Zafrina’s eyes widen and my wives grinning knowingly.
Next, I launched into my usual “keep an open mind” discussion, one even more appropriate this year. I reminded them that even today with all of our modern technology we had no idea exactly how the Incas built their cities with stones sometimes weighing several tons or how they placed them so precisely that there was no gap between them whatsoever. We didn’t know how Peru’s famed Nazca Lines were created or why. There has been a succession of theories about how the pyramids of Egypt were built. How did such “ignorant” people accomplish these things?
Aristotle postulated as long ago as 350 BCE that the earth was round and that the universe rotated around the earth. As long ago as the year 500 CE, Aryabhata, an Indian Mathematician and astronomer, correctly calculated the circumference of the earth.
Columbus’s voyage of discovery has been hailed for centuries. The fact that Chinese explorers found their way more than twice as far to Africa some 500 years earlier seems to have been lost on us. Even Columbus had to bow to the church at the time by stating that his trip was to prove the earth was flat. Why in God’s name would he want to sail off the edge of a flat earth to prove it so? Even if he did, who would remain to report the fact back to the authorities? Only when Magellan actually completed his circumnavigation of the globe did the church recant their belief that the earth was flat, accepting that it was a sphere. What the church finally accepted was known to the ancients more than a thousand years earlier.
Less than 400 years ago Galileo’s support of Copernican theory that this round world was not the center of the universe ended up with him convicted of heresy and sentenced by the church to spend the last years of his life under house arrest. An interesting point is that Indian astronomers beat Copernicus to the superstitious nonsense idea of a heliocentric universe by more than 2,500 years.
Darwin’s theory of evolution is practically taught as fact in our schools and yet, with all of our “modern” tools and technology, nobody has come remotely close to proving it correct. Rather than surmise that the lack of any evidence to support the theory means the theory isn’t valid, they lamely explain that it simply means we haven’t found the evidence yet.
“I’m not here to tell you what to believe or disbelieve in your personal life. All I’m trying to do is get you to keep an open mind about ancient cultures, their beliefs, and their way of life. Maybe their beliefs are superstitious nonsense or maybe they knew something forgotten in the ensuing centuries. If you go into this with preconceived notions, your conclusions will reflect those preconceived notions and not necessarily reality. Much of what is still taught about the cultures of Meso-America and South America came from the Spanish who misunderstood, purposely distorted, or simply lied about what they saw, allowing them to manufacture reasons to force their religion on the natives and to subjugate them for the enrichment of Spain.
The “historical accounts” from Spanish explorers and priests are so inaccurate, it would almost be better to toss them and start over–except that the Spanish destroyed as heretical all of the written records of the civilizations they conquered, just like the church labeled the works of Copernicus and Galileo. Hence, it falls to us to discover and correctly translate everything we can to help us better to correctly understand these early cultures–and possibly even ourselves.”
We had four returning interns from last year who had been group leaders. Picking other interns that had been among the better workers last year I made them new group leaders, and then split the groups into four sections and put one of the returning group leaders in charge of each section. Once that was done, everyone had to suffer through my basic instructions and orientation. Then we handed out assignments to the groups. Still, by late morning, everything was organized and their summer of tedium had begun. Itzel kept Zafrina nearby and had her scanning photos into the computer all day. The times I stopped poring over my computer screen long enough to take a drink or rub my eyes, Zafrina would be watching someone in the room like she was in a dream. She watched each of the girls poring over their computers, looked longingly at the babies, and on the occasion I caught her looking my way she would blush and look away quickly.
Our lunch arrived while Amanda and Itzel were feeding the babies. I paid a nearby catering company to bring in lunch for everyone the first day. They’d been bringing our family’s lunches in for most of the last semester. I figured that I’d put some of the money Amanda made from the drug dealers to good use to make our lives a little less complicated as well as making sure we were eating a little healthier than if we ate the cafeteria food or fast food. Zafrina was on cloud nine when they let her hold the babies for a few minutes. I was surprised when the girls brought her home after work but they explained that she would feel more at home with us than with the other interns. I didn’t really much care either way and knew the girls frequently had their own agendas.
Among the many perks of dream sex is the fact that you can be as loud as you want even with company like Zafrina staying in your home. Before joining the ladies, though, I dropped in on Sandi’s dream, the girl that commented on Zafrina bowing to me. I guess I wasn’t too surprised with what I found, but still left a little surprise her for tomorrow.
I was surprised when I dropped back into the dream with the ladies. Usually they would have started without me but they were sitting around on the bed grinning. Seeing me, they pulled the covers back to reveal Zafrina in her bronze glory and nothing else. In the morning, she begged me to take her virginity for real, after taking her dream virginity last night. With the permission of my wives, I eagerly accommodated her. Aside from walking a little gingerly the rest of the morning, Zafrina was on cloud nine all day.
The laughter among the interns in the morning told me that Sandi had arrived. Still trying to figure out what everyone was laughing about she looked at me. “Aside from superstitious nonsense, can you think of any reason you’d have your pants and shirt on backwards?” I asked. It was difficult not to join everyone else in laughter but I didn’t want to humiliate the girl completely. When I entered her dream last night I discovered just how many difficulties she and her lover Sharon had to overcome to get this far together.
“You hypnotized me,” Sandi accused.
“When? I barely talked to you for two minutes yesterday right here in front of everyone. Oh, by the way, you and Sharon might want to trade shoes,” I suggested. My suggestion made them realize that each of them wore one of their own shoes and one of their partners’ shoes.
“You’re just being mean to us because we’re gay,” she accused, and then slapped her hand over her mouth when she realized that she’d just said it aloud in front of several other people.
I motioned Janice and Becky over. “Could you two convince Sandi that I have no problem with her being gay?” I asked. Several students gasped when they embraced and started a very passionate kiss. Sharon and Sandi just stared, open-mouthed.
They were startled when I closed their mouths for them, smiling. Sandi started to say something but I stopped her. “I have a proposal for you two. Come on into my office,” I said. I saw the nervousness in their eyes and the surprised excitement in Janice and Becky’s eyes.
“You’re not in any trouble. In fact, I have job offers for each of you,” I stated quickly before the girls had to agonize further. I let them stop in the women’s restroom and change before meeting me in the office. I also made sure my wives understood that I was only offering them a job–nothing further. Their playful grumbling ceased when Sandi knocked nervously on my open door.
“Sandi, as you are probably aware, we are very busy with translations,” I commented as I motioned around the room. “I understand how difficult it has been for the two of you to be regarded seriously but I would like to offer you a job working with us doing translations,” I told her.
The shocked look on her face quickly gave way to nervousness. “As much as I would love to take the offer, I don’t feel nearly qualified enough to accept the job,” she answered.
I picked up a printout of the glyphs on one of the stellae we had just translated yesterday and handed it to her. “What does that mean?” I asked.
Her eyes were moist when she looked back up at me. “I don’t know. A couple of the glyphs look familiar, but I have no clue what they mean,” she said sullenly.
Sandi watched nervously as I touched my right index finger to her forehead and my left to her temple. I set it up so the touches would unlock what she learned in her dream last night. “Look again,” I said softly.
She did, her sullen look slowly changing to one of incomprehension and finally excitement. “Oh, my God, I can understand it,” she squealed excitedly. Sharon quickly hugged her and they bounced up and down together like a couple of excited schoolgirls.
“Does that mean you accept my offer?” I asked, amused.
“Yes,” she exclaimed excitedly and quickly pulled me into her group hug with Sharon.
“You’ll get an assistant’s pay. In addition, we get a quarter of any money we make for the school, after expenses, and you will get a share of that. During the school year, you may work whatever hours fit into your class schedule, but your schoolwork takes priority. I expect a ten-year commitment and there is a very good chance that you will be working part-time as a professor once you get your PhD. We publish our findings frequently and you will get an equitable share of whatever we make from that. Any questions?” I asked.
“You said that you had a job for Sharon, too?” she asked nervously. I smiled knowing how important it was to her to share her good fortune with her lover.
“Sharon, I have a similar offer for you as a translator. I’ve been hoping to expand our services beyond just Mesoamerican cultures. I would like you to be our first translator in a new Mediterranean culture department.
“All I know is some of the basic Egyptian hieroglyphics,” she protested. I performed the same “ceremony” with her that I had with Sandi. In actuality I had left both of them in the capable hands of different ancestors last night and told them they would only remember what they learned when I touched their forehead and temple.
“Do you have something for me to try?” she asked hopefully.
“I have a better idea,” I said as I dialed the phone.
“Dan, how is my favorite professor?” I laughed when he answered.
“Mike, how’s my second-favorite student?” he retorted. His wife had also been a student and was obviously his favorite student.
Laughing at our usual interplay, I asked, “Any chance you could use a little help with some translations?”
“What, you finally came to your senses and decided to drop the Mesoamerican research?” he laughed. Dan and I had kidded each other since before I graduated about our different interests.
“No, I still like doing important research,” I jibed back. “But I’ve got a young woman here who has quite an uncanny expertise with Egyptian hieroglyphics.”
“Is she anywhere near as good as your team is?” he asked. I could hear the interest in his voice.
“You tell me. Why don’t you e-mail me something you just translated or something you haven’t translated yet,” I suggested.
“Hmmmmm,” he mused. I heard shuffling on the other end of the line and then heard him typing. “Okay, you should have it momentarily. Get back to me when she finishes,” he said.
“Why don’t you just hang on the phone a minute?” I asked motioning for someone to check the one computer we had hooked up to the internet. Amanda opened the e-mail and printed the photo, then handed it to Sharon. She looked disappointed at first, and then started concentrating.
“I know you can do it,” Sandi whispered encouragingly. Suddenly Sharon’s eyes grew huge and she grabbed a sheet of scratch paper and began scribbling. Blushing, she handed it to me and I read it to Dan.
“Holy shit, I’ve worked on that for two weeks now and hadn’t even gotten through the first column,” he gasped. “I’ll pay her plane fare and for a place for her to stay,” he offered eagerly.
“There’s a bit of a problem with that offer,” I said. “Her partner is working for me and I don’t think they want to be that far away from each other,” I explained.
“Partner?” he asked quizzically.
“Yeah, as in someone very special that she doesn’t want to be away from for any significant period of time,” I explained delicately.
“Aaaaahhhhh,” Dan answered, understanding both from what I said and what I didn’t say exactly what I meant.
“Any chance you have room there for another professor?” he asked out of the blue.
“What? I thought you liked Southern California,” I gasped.
“I love the weather. The politics suck. They still haven’t passed a budget and the University and all of the schools gave everyone pink slips. They have to give anyone they lay off a 90-day notice so they gave them to practically everyone until they see what the new budget looks like. I’m pretty sure my job is safe but Meagan is worried about hers. We talked about the possibility of moving back closer to her parents last week and I was just putting the finishing touches on my resume to send out,” he explained.
“Don’t bother. If the school won’t hire you, I’ll pay your salary until you find something. There are enough colleges in the area that at least one of them will jump at the chance. Besides, we seem currently to have a pleasant surplus in the department budget. They’ve given me more than twice as many interns this summer.”
“I can’t imagine why,” he laughed. “Let me call Meagan. I’ll let you know tonight,” he concluded before hanging up.
“Who was that?” Sharon asked.
“Doctor Daniel Lorhan,” I commented offhandedly.
“What?” Sharon squealed.
“Who is he?” Sandi asked.
“One of the top Egyptologists in the world,” Sharon answered excitedly.
I called Ted to see if the department could afford another full time–albeit rather expensive–professor. He almost fell out of his chair when I told him who. “How did you manage that?” he gasped.
“Oh, I just found three more assistants this morning. Two translate ancient Mayan dialects but one is strictly Egyptian hieroglyphics. He sent her something he’s been struggling with for two weeks and she translated it for him in minutes. He and his wife are tired of the games the state is playing with the school’s budget and want to move closer to her parents.”
“Where do her parents live?” Ted asked.
“About fifteen minutes from here,” I answered, smirking.
“Look, if the university can’t afford him right now, I’ll donate enough to cover his salary” I offered.
“No, that’s not the issue. The building is starting to get rather cramped suddenly,” he explained. I excused myself and found Amanda. She laughed at my question and the reason for it.
“Shit,” I whistled when she told me how much money she currently had in the offshore accounts. Evidently, she had a couple of large chalkboards in one of our spare bedrooms and tracked the smaller dealers that she made turn themselves in. Then she went after their suppliers, right up the chain of command. She also went back down the chain after getting names from the suppliers of all of their dealers. She had practically eliminated four major drug chains from the eastern seaboard. The higher up she went the more money they had available to “donate.”
Ten minutes later, I was in Ted’s office. “Now what?” he laughed good-naturedly.
“How much would it cost to build a new building four times this size with state-of-the-art equipment and three floors of underground climate-control vaults?” I asked.
“Mike, you saw what happened last year. The Chemistry department had the rug pulled out from under their construction plans at the last minute when the economy went south,” he sympathized.
“I know, how much?” I asked. Raising his eyebrows questioningly, he told me just north of $500 million.
“How about to have it done in time for classes next year?” I asked.
“Another 25% to 40% or so,” he estimated.
“And then to have this building gutted and remodeled for the chemistry department?” I asked.
“Probably $100 million or so,” he answered guardedly.
“Then you’d better get busy. I have a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, and who will underwrite the entire project. I can have a check for the first $500 million in your hands within a week,” I said.
“I’m going to assume that you’re serious,” he said warily.
“Do you even have to ask?” I commented as I got up to leave.
“Oh, I’m guessing you’d rather wait until tomorrow to talk to the three new assistants?” I asked.
“Yes,” he groaned as he picked up his phone.
“Phil, Ted. Are you sitting down?” was all I heard of his conversation as I left the office.
The architect was in my office the next morning when Ted rushed in. “You didn’t waste any time,” he gasped waving the check. Amanda had contacted the bank right away and arranged to have a courier fly out last night with the check.
The architect wasn’t too happy with me. He wanted to build a “masterpiece” but I told him we just wanted a building to match what we had now. That way it would blend in with the rest of the campus. I wanted a four-story building four times as big with an additional three floors belowground for climate-controlled storage. I was pleased when both Phil and the Chancellor agreed with me.
I was doubly pleased when Dan and Meagan strolled into the office just as everyone was packing up to leave. I performed the introductions to a very excited Phil and the equally excited Chancellor. Dan and Phil left to discuss a contract and the Chancellor and the architect headed out to find the head of the chemistry department to discuss renovation plans.
“You’ve done well for yourself,” Meagan smirked. I introduced her to my now five wives (we didn’t discuss Nuk yet, and Zafrina was still unofficial). I also made sure the girls knew Meagan and I had dated in college. “Among other things,” Meagan said teasingly. She always loved to tease me.
“Mike has good taste in women,” Amanda retorted plainly checking Meagan out.
Meagan laughed her melodic laugh. “I think we are going to be very good friends,” she laughed as she hugged Amanda.
“Is it safe to ask what happened?” Becky asked.
“It just didn’t work out,” I answered quickly.
“Still the gentleman,” Meagan said quietly. “Can I tell them?” she asked emotionally. By now, my throat was tight enough thinking about what had happened so long ago that I just motioned for her to go ahead, unwilling to trust my voice.
“What Mike isn’t telling you is that I made a complete ass of myself and he saved me in spite of it. My parents were very conservative and as soon as I got to school, I went crazy and tried everything they wouldn’t let me do while I lived at home. Mike was the first thing I tried out. We dated for a couple of months and he gave me a little grief when I started smoking pot. My roommate Carol was another thing I tried. Carol was jealous of the time I spent with Mike but I didn’t know it at the time. I also didn’t know until a year later that she purposely kissed me one day when Mike could see us. He never said anything about it to me.
“When that didn’t work to break us up, she talked me into going to a party with her saying she didn’t want to go alone. I broke my date with Mike that Friday night telling him I had to go home for the weekend. At the party, I had a couple of beers before Carol lit a joint. By the time we finished it I was totally buzzed. I still protested when she offered me something else but I was in no shape to argue for long and I took the pill she gave me.
“We sat and laughed at the guys while they told dirty jokes for a while before I started feeling really weird–almost like I was watching the world through someone else’s eyes. My mind was so gone that when one of the guys kissed me I kissed him back. I didn’t even care when he started groping me or taking my clothes off. When he climbed on top of me I was just thinking how good sex with Mike was and was looking forward to feeling that way. I was disappointed when he was done in such a short time. When a second guy took his place I remember hoping he knew what he was doing. The next thing I remember was waking up in Mike’s bed the next morning.
“At first, I thought it had just been a bad dream. When I tried to get out of bed, I hurt everywhere. I could barely walk to the bathroom and when I got there I saw my hair. It looked like I used a case of hair gel on it and clumps of hair stuck out every which way. I had bite marks all over my breasts with something brownish covering every bite mark. I had to bite my hand to keep from screaming when I went to the bathroom and there were more bite marks inside of my thighs.
“I couldn’t figure out where Mike went but found a note on his chair. It said:
Meagan-
I couldn’t find your clothes last night–sorry. I’m pretty sure I got all of the pictures. They are in the grocery bag. I put iodine on all of the bite marks and left my sweats for you to wear home.
Mike
“The bag with the Polaroid pictures was under the sweats he left for me. He even pinned the legs of his sweats up so I wouldn’t trip on them. I threw up twice just looking through the pictures. There were pictures of 14 different guys having sex with me, several of them choosing to use my backside. There were pictures of Carol and me going to town on each other and then more pictures of the guys using me again. The last pictures showed me covered in cum. Mike had obviously taken a lot of time cleaning me up after getting me to his place. I sat there and cried for hours thinking about what he must think about me and knowing that he took care of me anyway.
“When Mike hadn’t come back by lunch, I went back to my room. One of the girls I’d seen at the party told me I was lucky Mike carried me out when he did. I guess the cops showed up half an hour later and Carol and most of the guys ended up in jail for drugs. The college later kicked all of them out of school and they all lost any scholarships they had.
“I couldn’t even imagine facing Mike after that and avoided him for weeks. He kept leaving notes asking me to call but I ignored them. I went so far as to drive home to stay every day after class. It was near the end of the semester when Dan taught a couple of days of my Cultural Anthropology class, covering for another teacher that was ill. I knew the moment I saw him that I wanted him. He made me talk to the department head before he’d discuss dating me but we started dating before Christmas. I fell for him so hard I’m surprised I didn’t get a concussion. He asked me to marry him over Spring Break. For a second I felt like I was in Heaven until I realized I had to tell him about what I’d done.
“I sobbed through the story, waiting for him to call me names or get up and storm out, disgusted with me. When I finally finished all he said was ‘But you still didn’t answer my question.’
“After screaming ‘Yes, ‘ hysterically Dan explained to me that one of the guys from the party had told him what happened shortly after we started dating. Dan got pissed but rather than take just one person’s word he asked Mike. Evidently, the guy told Dan that Mike stormed into the place like a squad of SEALs. When two guys tried to stop him, Mike put both of them halfway through the nearest wall. The next two guys that tried to stop him ended up with a broken arm and broken ribs. The guy on top of me at the time ended up with Mike drop-kicking his nuts. At that point, everyone cleared out of the room and Mike covered me with a blanket he picked up off the floor and carried me out of the house.
“When Dan asked him about it all Mike would tell him is, ‘When I can walk on water maybe I’ll criticize her for what she did. She screwed up and she knows it but it looks to me like she has her act together now and that you make her very happy.’ Dan said that he felt like an absolute ass for being so upset with me after what Mike said.
“A year later, I saw Carol again and she apologized to me. She explained that she was jealous of the time I spent with Mike and wanted to break us up. When seeing her and I kissing didn’t do it she set up the whole thing at the party. She even had one of the guys call Mike to tell him I was there and what I was doing. That’s when he came and got me. Carol was sure he was going to kill her when she saw the look in his eyes, but all he did was offer to get her safely out of the house and take her home if she wanted. She was so shaken up she just stayed there and ended up being arrested.
“After Dan slipped the ring on my finger and we cried together, I asked him to please tell Mike I was sorry–I still hadn’t talked to Mike but realized that he and Dan were fairly good friends. Instead, Dan drove me over to Mike’s place. I was so nervous I wanted to throw up. Mike hugged me and all he said was that he was glad I was okay and that I was happy. Dan even asked Mike to be his best man at our wedding.
“It took me a long time to realize why I fell for Dan so hard. About four years ago, Mike came to Los Angeles for a conference and Dan insisted that he stay with us. One night while the two of them were sitting in the living room laughing and drinking beer, I realized that, if it weren’t for the difference in their voices, I wouldn’t have been able to tell them apart. They are so much alike that they could be brothers,” she sighed. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place, especially mine. Much of what she just told us I hadn’t heard before.
“I guess I should go find my husband,” she sighed but had to wait until all of the girls gave her an emotional hug. Then she gave me a light kiss on the cheek and turned to go find Dan.
I got absolutely nothing done the rest of the day as I just sat and looked blankly at my computer screen, going over and over and over what happened all those years ago. I finally realized that I had just bottled up all of the pain and emotion when it happened while I tried repeatedly to get Megan at least to let me know she was okay. In fact, it was more than a year later before I even dated again. Fortunately, I was all cried out by 5:00. Sometime during the day, the girls had invited Dan and his family to dinner and Becky and Janice had left early to get things together. Heck, I didn’t even know if we had enough dishes for that many people.
I greeted them at the door. “Hey, buddy, how’s it going?” I asked Mark, their 12-year-old son. When I had been in Los Angeles, Mark’s class was studying the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas. He was so excited to hear that some of my work was with Mayan relics that he asked me to talk to his class. I managed to sneak in a couple of hours to talk to his class Friday morning before my flight left and he was an instant hero at school.
Today he just grunted and pushed past me into the house. “Don’t take it personally. He blames you for us moving,” Dan explained quietly.
“Better to have the kids upset with me than with you,” I answered. Meagan hugged me when she came in.
“Are you okay?” she asked. I could tell by how worried she was that somebody ratted on me today.
“Yeah, I guess I didn’t do a very good job of dealing with all of my feelings back then and had to get it out of my system,” I answered. I almost gasped when their daughter Sally came in. She’d been a gangly ten-year-old tomboy last time I saw her. Now she was only an inch shorter that her 5’10” mother and her development well underway.
“I didn’t know Meagan had a sister. I can see why she kept you hidden, though,” I teased Sally. Sally’s look instantly turned from sullen to beaming.
“It’s me, Sally,” she giggled.
“Where?” I asked as I looked out the front door for another person.
“Right here,” she laughed, stomping her foot in mock anger and shaking me by the arms.
“You?” I asked, sounding astounded when I looked at her. “Nah, you’ve got to be at least 21 or 22. Sally’s only fourteen,” I teased.
“Uh-huh,” she protested insistently.
“If you insist,” I conceded as I spun her slowly around. “But that’s not the way Sally looked in the last pair of jeans I saw her in,” I teased. She blushed bright red while Dan and Meagan grinned, trying to suppress their laughter.
Amanda also had a highly amused look on her face and graciously gave way when Sally practically glued herself to my side. Amanda got her place back when we got to the table, though, and Sally sat next to her brother and between her parents. Halfway through dinner Meagan snorted as she tried to stifle a laugh, waving off everyone’s unasked question of what had been so funny.
Later, Sally spoke up, asking me if I really was a shaman. “Oh, definitely,” Zafrina answered for me, her English improving noticeably every day. She explained once again the story of her father and the village shaman. When I looked back at Sally, I thought I saw a disgusted look for a split second.
A few minutes later she asked if I could do magic as a shaman. Amanda started answering that one for me. The girls knew I didn’t like talking about myself. This time, though, I definitely caught Sally’s look of annoyance when someone else answered her question. A quick look at Meagan confirmed my suspicions as she was grinning knowingly at me.
The conversation continued, switching topics several times before Dan acknowledged that they would be flying back to Los Angeles in the morning. They had to give their notices at work, pack, find a mover, and get their house listed–no small task with the economy the way it was. “Call the realtor with the flyer on your front door,” Itzel commented out of the blue. I nodded when a stunned Dan and Meagan looked at me.
“You guys must be interesting to be around,” Dan commented shaking his head amusedly.
“We keep Ted on his toes,” I quipped.
“So, Mark, how is school?” I asked. I knew he was being a grump but he wasn’t my real target. Sally was since she’d been frustrated so far in her attempts to get my attention.
“Fine,” Mark huffed.
“Are you looking forward to starting high school?” I asked Sally.
She perked up instantly. “I guess so. I had trouble last year with math and hopefully the kids here won’t be as mean,” she said.
“I had trouble at first with math, too” Nuk interjected. “Mike helped me, though. He’s really good at math.”
“Really? Could you help me too?” Sally asked excitedly. I hadn’t counted on this.
Meagan saved me. “Honey, Mike has a lot of important work he’s doing. Your father and I have a hard enough time finding time to spend together. Imagine how difficult it is for Mike to have to find time to spend with five wives,” she explained–emphasizing five wives.
“Fine,” Sally answered, her tone and mood a carbon copy of her brother.
A quiet gasp next to me got my attention. When I looked, Itzel was staring blankly at nothing in particular. Her body relaxed and her presence returned to her eyes a second later. “As a shaman, Mike has lots of tricks up his sleeve. I’m sure he can find time to help you with your math,” she told Sally.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Sally thanked me, and each of the wives she knew about. I wondered what the heck that was all about.
I found out as dessert was being served. Itzel had me help her serve desert and once we were alone in the kitchen, she explained. Teacher’s Kids (TKs), preacher’s kids (PKs) and cop’s kids (CKs) tend to be very rebellious to compensate for the fact that their parents are authority figures in the community. Sally was purposely doing poorly in math because she got so much grief about being a smart student and because several of the kids had her mother as a teacher before. The girls in her school were constantly picking on her, probably jealous of her looks. Her rebellion started several months ago when she started using drugs. Not having access to enough money to buy them she ended up bartering sex for drugs and had sex three or four times a week with different guys that kept her supplied.
She was so depressed with her life that she was storing up some of the drugs in order to overdose and kill herself. I was the only thing that had really caught her interest in nearly a month. If she went back to Los Angeles for even a short time, she would go through with her suicide. Her only hope lay in us keeping her here, keeping her off drugs, getting her unhooked from drugs, and keeping her interested in me.
“That’s going to sound just wonderful to Meagan,” I complained curtly. “I think she’s going to have a difficult time believing it’s not just some way for me to get back at her.”
“And that’s why you have so many loving wives to help you,” Itzel answered, kissing me before loading me down with dishes to carry back to the table.
Itzel had Amanda and Meagan help with the next batch, commenting to everyone that I whined too much. Yeah, whatever. Their conversation took several minutes and Dan kept looking at me to find out what was going on. I just shook my head each time. She did a good job of hiding it, but I could see that Meagan had been crying when they brought back the rest of the desserts.
“Sorry, technical difficulties,” Amanda explained. Dessert was a lot quieter than dinner and I caught Meagan giving me appraising looks a couple of times.
“You know what,” Amanda said, getting everyone’s attention. “We need a little more help in the office. I bet that Sally could do it, earn some money over the summer for new clothes, and save us enough time that Mike could work with her on math.” It was a performance worthy of an Oscar.
“Really?” Sally asked, almost jumping out of her chair.
“I’m sure your parents need to discuss it tonight, but if they agree, I can pick you up tomorrow morning on the way to work,” Amanda offered.
“We’ll discuss it tonight,” Meagan said lovingly to her daughter. I could see the happy tears in Meagan’s eyes when Sally jumped up excitedly and hugged her. I also saw Meagan mouth “later” to her mystified husband.
They left shortly after dinner saying they had to be up early to get to the airport. As I expected, we all sat down as soon as they left to discuss what was going on. Itzel had been the one to tell Meagan about Sally. She’d been surprised at first but quickly realized that Sally had become quite withdrawn in the last few months. She was shocked about the drugs and even more shocked to hear Sally was trading sex for drugs. Itzel explained that I was the only thing interesting enough to her right now to keep her going, and that going home would be fatal. She also told Meagan my worry about how she would take the suggestions about me being around Sally. Despite the tears, Meagan actually managed a wry smile.
“Of all the men in the world, he’s the one I’d trust most with my daughter regardless of our history.”
Amanda then explained briefly about our abilities to enter people’s dreams. She explained how we had made it so that we couldn’t hurt people or make them do anything against their will, “Except criminals like all of the drug dealers that have turned themselves in,” she sniggered.
“That’s you?” Meagan gasped. Amanda just nodded. She also set up a “‘dream conference” tonight with Meagan, Sally, Itzel, and herself.
“So what am I supposed to do with the depressed fourteen-year-old daughter of my best friend and my former college girlfriend?” I grumped.
“We won’t know until later tonight,” Amanda said trying to sooth my ruffled feathers. “Besides, you started it,” she giggled.
“What?” I shot back.
“You saw how she lit up when you commented on the way she filled out her jeans,” she snickered, which got the rest of them laughing too.
“I was just trying to cheer her up,” I protested.
“Oh, you definitely did that,” Janice jibed which sent them all into hysterics. I still didn’t see what was so funny.
Amanda straddled me when they all finally finished laughing–except for an occasional snicker. “Mike, I don’t know how to tell you this but you are a chick magnet,” she said with a completely straight face. She sounded serious but I was waiting for the punch line. “I’m serious,” she said when she turned me to face her.
“Last year nearly every one of the female interns would have jumped into bed with you if you’d asked,” Janice voiced her concurrence.
“The morning after our first date all they did was grill me about what you were like in bed until you came to get me,” Amanda explained.
“And all they did while you were gone was plot how to get themselves into your bed,” Janice added.
“Women are drawn to you. We see it all the time as they stop and watch you when you walk by, even women that haven’t met you. I thought it was the power but nobody watches Itzel or I like that–male or female. I’ve seen how they act after you leave. It’s like they have an itch that needs to be scratched,” Amanda continued.
“Well, there are only six itches I intend to scratch,” I answered defensively.
Itzel was the only one that didn’t chuckle at me. “Mike,” she said seriously as she turned my face to hers, “there are going to be a lot more than six women whose itches you scratch. You can fight it and be miserable, or trust us, accept it, and enjoy yourself,” she said as she motioned around the room. They all nodded in agreement.
“I haven’t had to deal with any issues of jealousy,” Amanda confessed. “We know how you feel about us. We know this is bigger than just us. Between us we’ll keep it straightened out so just relax and let us steer,” she said.
“Fine,” I huffed, flopping back on the floor, resigned to my fate. I realized a split second before my head hit the floor that what I’d done was not a bright idea. Even with the padded carpet, it was going to hurt. I was more surprised to find that Itzel had already put a throw pillow from the couch where my head hit.
“I won’t let you or anyone else get hurt,” she promised. Seeing the look of utter devotion in her eyes I couldn’t stay upset any longer, pulled her to me, and hugged her.
We went to sleep when my physical body could no longer rise to the challenge of trying to keep the women happy. I noticed at some point that Amanda and Itzel left our dream orgy. The remaining four women left me no time to think about it, though, demanding that I please them repeatedly. The girls finally came back into our dream–and brought Meagan with them. Amanda arrived a second before everyone else, and I noticed that I was almost decent when Meagan arrived, a sheet having appeared in my lap.
“Mike, please save my daughter. I don’t know what it will take but I trust you, whatever you have to do. We had Dan join us for the last part of the talk about Sally and he agrees,” Meagan said emotionally.
I wanted to get up and hug her and comfort her but decided that the sheet covering me might not stay strategically placed if I did. “I promise,” was all I could choke out before Itzel took her back.
Our fun and games ended while Amanda explained what happened. They confronted Sally who denied everything at first. Meagan then told Sally in great detail about her own drug-induced screw-up in college and how I’d saved her even though she’d cheated on me.
“You and Mike?” Sally gasped. Sally finally broke down and told them everything, sobbing in her mother’s arms.
When she finally finished, Amanda told her she would need three days of drug rehab. The fact that it was in our house caught Sally’s attention immediately. “You will be asleep for the entire three days,” Amanda warned. “After that, you will come to work with us and we’ll see where things go from here.” Sally had insisted on one thing, though. I had to give her a “proper” kiss in the morning before I left for work and Sally started her rehab. The girls all giggled about that before renewing their insatiable demands for me to scratch to their itches.
Dan and Meagan brought Sally by in the morning. “I have no clue what happened last night or how but I’m definitely a believer now,” Dan said as he shook my hand. “By the way, can you do anything about Mark?” he asked teasingly. I was surprised when Itzel handed him a business card.
“Talk to this guy when you get back here. Take Mark with you when you look at the fourth house he shows you and Mark will be fine,” she said mysteriously. Meagan flowed into my arms as if she’d never left them, hugging me emotionally.
“Thank you,” was nearly all she said except for, “I believe you owe Sally a proper kiss.” They turned and left with only Meagan looking back to make sure I was doing a proper job with the kiss.
She needn’t have worried. Sally wasn’t letting me go until she was sure she’d been kissed properly and was quite satisfied with the reaction I had to our kiss. “Okay, take me to sleep-jail,” she sighed to Amanda, looking back wistfully at the lump in my pants.
I spent most of that night holding Sally in her dreams while she suffered through withdrawals. Even though both of us were naked, she was oblivious to everything except that her body craved drugs and she couldn’t get them. Unfortunately, I was under no such compulsion and spent the night with a gorgeous, naked, young woman writhing and squirming in my arms. Even sweat coated and with her hair matted from the sweat she was beautiful and my body responded accordingly. Amanda finally took pity on me when she arrived, face covered in girl-goo–and gave me the best blowjob of my life. Then she held me while I held Sally.
When Sally finally slipped from the dream plane Amanda took me back to the girls and we fucked like horny bunnies. I actually felt good in the morning despite spending much of the night in Sally’s hell with her.
The next night was even worse for Sally and I was tired in the morning, emotionally drained even after the enthusiastic dream sex with the girls. Dan called, amazed. Evidently, their home had sold within hours of being posted. Their realtor told them to turn down the first two offers even though it was what Dan expected to get for the home. The realtor explained that prices where they lived hadn’t dropped nearly as much as other parts of the city. Sure enough, they got an offer for exactly what they listed the home for–more if they would leave all of the furnishings. They figured that it would be a lot cheaper to leave their furnishings and buy new ones than to pay to move them so all they had to move was their personal effects. They also found Sally’s stash of drugs right where she told them it would be and called the local authorities with the names and addresses of the dealers she bought them from. Their personal belongings were already packed and headed cross-country and they would be here late tomorrow morning.
Sally was much more coherent the third night. “Did I just dream it or did you hold me all night?” she asked as she cuddled against me.
“I’ve been here in your dreams every night,” I answered.
“Did we … uhh … do anything?” she asked nervously.
“No, we didn’t,” I answered.
“Darn,” she replied. “I thought you said I was pretty,” she protested.
“I did. In fact, you are stunningly beautiful,” I answered.
“Really?” she squealed excitedly as she spun to face me. Her mouth covered mine and her tongue wrapped around mine like an anaconda around its prey. Before she released me, I realized that she was on top of me, trying to align my shaft in her sheath. I quickly rolled us to the side to dislodge her. “What?” she asked in a hurt voice.
“First, you have to finish your treatment. Tomorrow your family will be back and I expect you to have a long, serious, honest discussion with your mother. After that, I expect you to talk to my wives and think things through carefully for many days. Then I will talk to you about sex,” I said seriously.
“How many days?” she asked excitedly.
I knew it was a losing battle. “As many as it takes for you to do everything and then convince me that you’ve thought it through seriously enough to answer any questions I ask you,” I answered, exasperated.
“Okay,” she replied gloomily, “but I hope it doesn’t take too long because I’m really horny,” she blurted out.
“I’ll have the ladies find you something with batteries unless you want to ask them to help you with the problem,” I said, smirking.
“What?” she squeaked, blushing clear down to the top of her stomach.
“Which what, the batteries or my wives?” I asked smirking.
“Both,” she gasped.
“My wives enjoy sex with each other as much as they do with me. As for the batteries, a lot of women use them,” I explained. I was still enjoying the fact that I finally had the upper hand, even if it wasn’t likely to last very long.
“What should I tell my mother?” she finally asked, sidestepping the two choices I gave her.
“I think you should tell her everything you have thought about for the last three days and anything you didn’t tell her during your talk the other night. I’m pretty sure she won’t be nearly as judgmental as you think.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t believe what she did in college and especially that she told me all about it,” Sally said soberly. “And I can’t believe everything you did for her after the way she treated you,” Sally said ruefully.
“When you really care about someone their safety takes precedence over your feelings,” I answered emotionally.
“Did you love her?” Sally asked.
I’d actually been expecting this question at some point. “I don’t think we knew each other long enough to say that but I thought we were well on the way,” I answered.
“My mom still loves you, too,” she said quietly. Gratefully, the rest of the night was spent just holding each other quietly.
THE END OF CHAPTER THREE