I want to take a minute to thank all you lovely readers out there in Nifty-Land. I've received several emails, al thrilled that Joe made the right decision to go with his brother to Solum. I love how engaged you all are. It makes me proud to be an author publishing on Nifty!
As for this week's chapters, let's get into it! Andy seems to have had a great birthday and things are finally moving in the right direction. Church decides to take a minute for himself to relax and watch a summer storm. Let's see how that works out for him.
I hope you enjoy this installment! Drop me a line if you want. I'd be happy to hear from you.
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Crown Vic to a Parallel World: From Whence I Came The second installment of the ongoing adventures of Church Philips
37 Childlike Wonder
After the party, the group broke up and scattered around the house. Mary and Bem took the twins to the family room for a movie. Hannah and Leah laid on their stomachs on the carpeted floor to watch the large screen television while Mary and Bem sat together on the couch. They sat against each other with Mary's photo album open on their laps, splitting their attention between the glossy photos and the flickering screen. I couldn't help thinking that the four of them made a good-looking family. Bem fit like he was the missing piece.
Joe had gone upstairs to look through the old paper records he had on the house and property. He wanted to make sure everything was in good order to prepare it for the potential donation to the church. I made a pot of coffee, filled a mug, and looked around for a place to drink it. A flash and a rumble from outside told me the storm that I'd guessed was coming, was almost upon us. I decided to watch.
I shut the lights off in the kitchen, dining room, and sunroom to darken the whole back of the house. I took my steaming mug into the sunroom and sat in the wicker rocker to wait for the show to start. Shawn came in to join me. I felt him before I saw him. He felt a little lonely and wanted company. He sat on the wicker sofa. I moved off the rocker to join him.
"You feel better now?" He asked as he gathered my right hand between his and held it. "Joe said he's coming, Bem and Mary are getting along, and Andy had a great birthday."
"And," I said to cut Shawn off and add to his statement, "my husband gave his heart to me. All he wanted in return was mine."
Shawn smiled a knowing smile at me. "I told you everything would be fine."
"You told me everything would be fine." I repeated. "So far, you're right. I'm not going to jinx it by thinking of all the shit that could still go wrong. I'm just gonna shut up and enjoy the storm."
"Good idea."
The storm started slowly. Distant flashes and rumbles gradually became closer flashes and rumbles that grew in both volume and frequency. The wind picked up and sent the heavy smell of rain whistling through the weather stripping on the sets of sliding doors. The first fat drops of rain fell.
Shawn kneaded my hand. His gentle touch massaged the muscles and joints and traced the scars. Soon after we'd first met, he'd offered to erase the lingering signs of injury and violence that were branded on my hands. I'd refused him then because I felt like the scars were something I'd earned, the physical representation of toil. Shawn had made the offer several more times in the intervening years. I almost let him do it when I was recovering from the mission to the Demon's Citadel. I was in the middle of building my body to match what I thought he'd want it to be and letting him erase the scars seemed like a rational part of that process.
At the last minute, I refused him again. With my bad habits, the smoking and drinking, relegated to the past, and my body no longer an overinflated bag of flab, the only physical evidence of who I once was, were the scars that remained on my hands. Keeping them was like keeping a link to my past. I knew the unfeeling flesh didn't bother Shawn, but I also knew he looked at it more as an unhealed wound than as a symbol of who I once was. He found my permanently swollen knuckles and the roadmap of rubbery skin darkly fascinating.
The other thing that the scars symbolized to me was how perfect Shawn was as compared to how damaged I was. I knew if I ever told him how I felt, he'd object and tell me he wasn't perfect, and I wasn't broken. I knew he'd mean it when he said it and he'd want me to believe it. I didn't know how I could believe it, because the way I saw things, Shawn was perfect, and I was broken. If anything, my scarred hands were more `me' than the smooth, muscled body and healthy insides I'd gained since I met him. Shawn was beautiful and pure. Any beauty I could lay claim to was basically a lie.
"What's wrong?" Shawn asked. His face showed the pain he felt from me. The pain that I was broadcasting without realizing.
I beat the self-loathing down with a mental mallet. I reminded myself of the breakthrough I'd had when I accepted the old me as part of the current me. I also reminded myself that I'd drowned Shawn in enough anxiety since we'd come to Earth. I owed him happy thoughts. I added my left hand to my right and used them to bring his hands up to my face. "I love your hands." I breathed and turned them so I could kiss the backs of each of his. I separated his left hand from his right, took the right between my hands, and pushed three of his fingers and his thumb into a closed fist. I sucked his index finger into my mouth.
Shawn shivered with erotic pleasure as I worshiped the digit. I gazed into his frozen blue eyes while I sucked and teased his finger with my tongue. I took his index finger from my mouth, peeled his middle finger from the fist, and slurped them both into my mouth. Shawn was getting excited; his expression was sultry and his eyes sensuous slits. I felt the first tentative flames of his lust along our link. I wanted to heat him up slowly. I had plans of making love to him later. I wanted to celebrate the nice day I'd had and to reconnect after being away from him for most of it. I had a very slow marathon of very mutual and very passionate lovemaking in mind.
I released both fingers from my mouth and teased my tongue between them. Thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed. The room lit with stark white light, like the flash from a hundred cameras all going off at once. I thought I saw something at the edge of my vision. I broke eye contact with Shawn and flicked my eyes to look behind him just in time for a second flash to light the room.
My searching eyes met Andy's. He was standing just inside the square arch between the dining room and the sunroom. His eyes were wide and staring at me as he'd caught me in the middle of committing a sensual act. I reacted immediately and pulled my tongue back into my own mouth to swear with it.
"SHIT!" I shouted as I recoiled away from Shawn. Shawn wheeled his head around, saw Andy, and made his own noises of frustration at being caught. We both flushed red with embarrassment.
"WELL," I shouted at my nephew with too much angry indignance, "DON'T JUST FUCKING STAND THERE! TURN THE LIGHT ON AND COME IN!"
The boy shifted his feet and stammered with his own embarrassment. "I'm sorry...I didn't...uh...I wasn't...I mean..."
Shawn came to the rescue with understanding words. "It's fine, Andy. It's our fault. Please, come in." He waved the boy in with the hand I'd just been sucking on.
Andy flipped the light on and came in to stand in front of us. He was still uncomfortable. "We can talk later...if you want...I mean...I can go..."
The way Andy continued to stammer made me feel like an asshole for getting angry. I tried to settle him down and did my best to sound contrite when I told him it was OK. "Sit down, Andy." I floated the wicker rocker from its place and set it next to him. "I'm sorry I shouted. Shawn was right, it's not your fault, it's mine. I should know better than to...uh...anything in a house this crowded."
The boy sat and rocked. Shawn and I relaxed into the wicker sofa. I picked up my coffee cup from the sofa arm and found it empty. I pictured the coffee maker carafe and floated it in from the kitchen to fill my mug. Andy watched and giggled with childlike wonder as I brimmed my mug and sent the carafe back without ever touching it. "That's so cool." He whispered.
I sipped my coffee and asked Andy what he wanted.
The boy grew bashful at my question. He lost his focus, and his voice came out in an uncertain mumble. "Nothing really. I guess I just wanted to talk. Everything's changed so much since you guys got here and now, we're gonna go to another world. It's crazy. I guess I'm excited."
"And confused." Shawn added.
Andy looked up and nodded. He seemed to brighten up with the idea that someone understood him. "Yeah...is that weird?"
Shawn shook his head and slid forward to sit on the edge of the sofa. "Of course not. I remember when my uncle told me he was sending me to Earth for the first time. I didn't even believe there was a such thing as a parallel world. He did his best to explain it to me, but nothing could have prepared me for what it's like here."
"What do you mean?" Andy asked.
I almost jumped in to describe my own experience, but I realized I'd never asked Shawn about what it was like for him to come to Earth. I sat back to listen.
"People on Earth...they fight. It's crowded here, everyone fights for space, they fight to have their voice heard above the crowd, they fight traffic, they fight for a place to belong, they fight to accomplish, they fight to mate, they fight nature, they fight each other, they even fight themselves."
Shawn seemed to excite himself as he talked about the difficulty of life on Earth. He calmed when he mentioned his home world. "On Solum, things are more spread out. There's less people and they live longer. Life isn't a fight as much as it's an experience. Since our magic comes from nature, we live in harmony with nature more than we try to bend it to our will. Since our lives are longer, there's less of a rush to succeed. Things are calmer, quieter, they don't bustle like they do here. It's easier to be content."
Andy nodded like he understood, but I sensed he was doing that more to be polite than because he grasped what Shawn was talking about. I added my own thoughts to expand on what Shawn said. "The capital city is like a big town; there's green space everywhere, people are spread out, there's no traffic, it's quiet. When we went to Philly, did you feel...I don't know...a little stressed?"
"Yeah." Andy agreed.
"Cities on Solum aren't like that. Shawn and I have traveled over most of the world. I've never seen a place on Solum that's even close to what South Street is like. I think that's why people seem nicer there. It's not that they're actually any nicer than people on Earth, it's that they're not constantly under strain, so they don't have any reason to be mean."
"It sounds great." Andy said.
Thunder crashed and lightning flashed, the noise forced a pause in our conversation. The lightning lit the room like we were inside the camera flash instead of just in front of it. Wind blew sheets of rain against the sliding doors and tossed the shrubs outside. I concentrated on the operable set of doors with the leaky weatherstripping and protected them with a panel of magic. Andy noticed where I'd looked. He saw the rain sheeting off the magic instead of the glass. He got up from the rocker to look closer at what I'd done.
Andy stared through the glass. He looked in the same manner that he'd used when he'd admired his father's art. He scrutinized it from every possible angle. I opened the sliding door with magic so he could have a closer look. "Go ahead," I offered, "touch it if you want."
Andy flinched as the door slid, seemingly of its own volition. He reached out with tentative fingers and touched the magic. He pushed until his hand flattened against it. "So cool." He breathed and added his other hand to the exploration. "How do you do that?"
"That's tough to explain." I said. "I'm a telekinetic, I can move stuff with my mind."
Andy shot an indignant teenaged scowl at me. "I know what telekinesis is, Uncle Church." He scolded.
I raised my hands, palms toward him, to show surrender. "Sorry, didn't mean to insult your intelligence."
Andy acknowledged my apology with a crisp head nod, and I went back to my explanation. "Anyway, what you're leaning against is the force I use to move things. I found out that with enough magic, I could make that force a solid object."
"Does that mean this wall thing is hard to make?" He asked.
"No. I have a lot of magic, so something like that, something that would be impossible for most people with my type of power, is pretty easy for me."
Andy turned to face us and leaned his back against the magic. "How much magic do you have, Uncle Church?"
I looked to Shawn to help me explain. I had no idea how to convey the massive amount of power I had at my fingertips. Shawn sensed that I needed help and spoke up. "The amount of power Church has could best be described as a fuck ton."
Both Andy and I stared at Shawn. It seemed that even during their brief acquaintance, Andy had come to understand that Shawn tended to be reserved and proper. If I'd used a term like that, it wouldn't have drawn a second look, for Shawn to use it, was a shock. I got my bearings and teased Shawn a little. "Would you care to elaborate on that very specific terminology for our friend here? Obviously, I know what you're talking about, but I don't think Andy is familiar with Solum units of magic measure. For example, is a fuck ton more than a shit load?"
Shawn chuckled, both at my silliness and at the look of confusion on Andy's face. The poor boy seemed at a loss to know if we were being serious or kidding. Shawn explained. "I said that as a joke, but also to make a point. Church's power is impossible to measure."
Shawn held his hand out to me. "Let me have your coffee cup." I handed over my now-empty mug. "You see, Andy, I am considered more powerful than average. Let's say the amount of magic I have would fill this coffee cup. By comparison, Church's magic would be equivalent to all the rain that fell from the storm outside."
"Where?" Andy asked.
"Where what?"
"All the rain that fell where? In the back yard, on the whole yard, on this block?"
"No," Shawn shook his head, "all the rain that fell from the storm, everywhere it fell."
"Wow." Andy said. He straightened off the magic panel and came back to sit in the rocker.
I pushed the sliding door shut, got my coffee cup back from Shawn, and called the carafe in from the kitchen for another refill. Andy's eyes watched the carafe fill my cup and return to the kitchen. "Do you think I'll have magic?" He asked.
Shawn kept control of the conversation while I sipped my coffee and waited for an opportunity to contribute. "You do, everyone does." Shawn explained. "We just don't know what your power is yet. We'll figure that out when we get to Solum. I know someone who can help activate your power and teach you how to use it."
Andy pressed for more information. "Is there any way to know what it'll be?"
"Not accurately. Powers run in families sometimes, but we don't know what magic your mother would have had. Your father is an empath, but your uncle's magic is physical. There are many variables. We'll just have to wait and see."
Andy opened his mouth to say something, then changed his mind and clamped it shut. The boy changed his mind again and asked his question. "Would you guys start my power like you did for my dad? I'd be more prepared then. I mean, I could start learning now and when I got there, I'd already fit in."
Shawn slid into the sofa to sit closer to me. I automatically shifted my coffee to my left hand so I could wrap my right arm around Shawn and pull him into me. He settled against me and exhaled a contented sigh.
It seemed to be my turn to speak. "You'll fit right in, Andy." I said to reassure the boy. "You have so much going for you. You're young, good looking, smart, funny, creative, and talented. Whatever power you have will compliment what you already are. You won't need it to fit in. Solum isn't like a cartoon movie. We aren't surrounded by brooms sweeping and stuff like that. You can walk down any street and not see any magic at all."
Andy objected. I don't think he believed me. "But what about your coffee? You use magic every time you want more."
"He's a big show-off." Shawn accused me. "If we were at home and he wanted coffee, he'd get up and get more just like you would."
It was my turn to object. "I never..." thunder crashed again and drowned the rest of my words with rumbling.
"Never what?" Shawn asked and looked at me like he was looking over glasses he wasn't wearing. His words didn't call me a liar, but his expression and tone of voice did.
I grinned at Andy and shrugged. "I'm a show-off." I admitted.
Andy laughed at me. "It's OK Uncle Church. If I had that power, I'd show off to."
The three of us chuckled. I spared a glance at the sliding doors as I recovered. The wind had settled down and the rain was tapering off. I released the magic panel that had protected the operable set of doors and returned my attention to the conversation. When I looked back, Andy had a bizarre look on his face that I quickly understood to be his effort to stifle a yawn.
"Tired?" I asked.
He nodded and yawned like a bored lion at the zoo. "Yeah...busy day."
"Yes, it was." I agreed. "I hope it was a good day."
Andy focused a hard stare on me. He made firm eye contact like what he was about to say was deadly serious. The look reminded me that he was definitely my brother's son. "It was a great day. Thank you, Uncle Church, Shawn, for everything." He stood up, hugged us both, wished us a `goodnight,' and headed for bed.
"That's one hell of a great kid." I said to Shawn when Andy had cleared the room.
Shawn agreed. "Yes, he is. Joe did a good job."
I floated the wicker rocker back to its place and gave Shawn a squeeze. "You ready?" I asked.
"That depends." He said and paused.
"On?" I asked.
"It depends on what I'm getting ready for. You were doing pretty well with that magic mouth of yours before Andy walked in. I hope I'm getting ready for more of that."
Shawn's lust caught fire and seared a path along our link. It hit me like a wall of heat would from the opened hood of an over-heated car in the dead of the summer. I let my own lust loose and fed it back to Shawn. "Mmmmmmmm..." He purred. "You want slow, or fast?"
I took Shawn's hand and brought it to my mouth. I kissed, licked, and sucked his fingers one at a time while I told him my plan. "I thought I'd...kiss...touch and...lick...taste and...suck...explore every...lick suck...single...kiss suck...inch of...suck lick suck...your stunning body." I blew on the fingers I'd been teasing and felt him shiver with anticipation. "Will you let me have what I want?"
"Oooohhhhh ye-ah." He breathed.
We got up from the couch and held hands through the dining room to the stairs. I paused at the stairs to lean my face down toward the family room to wish Mary and Bem a good night. Mary called out to me before I could utter my pleasantry. "Church, look." She said and waved me down.
Shawn and I went down the short flight of steps and approached the couch. Mary held up a five by seven snapshot. "It's you." She said as I accepted the photo. I looked at it in the low light of the darkened room. My eyes adjusted and I was confronted with an image of myself.
The photo was taken in the driveway of the house. I thought hard and remembered the moment in the image. It had been early in the summer of 2019. I was at Joe's place after work to check on the underperforming central air conditioning. I'd already been in the house to confirm the air handler was freezing up and that a shot of refrigerant was needed to make the system work correctly. I'd gone outside to retrieve the borrowed refrigeration gauges and tank of R-22 from the Vic and decided to have a cigarette before getting back to work.
I'd leaned on the fender and fired up a smoke. I crossed my arms over my chest and let the cigarette rest in my mouth as I smoked it. Joe came out of the house to see what was keeping me and to give me shit about wasting time on a cigarette when his house was still hot. I left the cigarette smolder in my miserable face and gave Joe the finger to respond to his harangue. He took the opportunity to snap a photo of what he snidely called `a portrait of the American working man.'
I'd taken the cigarette from my face to tell Joe to `ram his bullshit up his ass' and went back to leaning on the fender to finish my smoke. After that, I charged the air conditioner, made sure it was working, and left to the begrudging thanks of my brother.
The man in the photo was me, that fact was undeniable, but that man was barely recognizable as compared to the person that held the photo. The man in the image looked like the monster that Shawn had met inside my mind. He was sweaty, sunburnt, scowling, and miserable. His equipment-rental-house t-shirt was navy blue and faded, speckled with burn holes from weld flash and grinding sparks. The cigarette burned from the corner of his mouth like it lived in his face. If I didn't know the story behind the image, I would have guessed the man was flipping off the whole world. Everything about his crossed-arm posture, his dress, and his expression radiated misery and hate.
I took my cell phone from my back pocket, opened the camera app, and snapped a picture of the photo. Mary asked me about the action. "Why?" She asked.
"Because I don't ever want to forget." I explained without explaining anything. I handed the photo back to Mary and she stuck it back in her book.
"Anything else?" I asked.
Mary shook her head. Bem voiced some mild concern for my reaction to the photo. "You alright, Big Guy?"
"Yeah...I just...I don't like seeing pictures of the past. It wasn't a pleasant time for me, and I don't like reliving it."
Mary apologized to me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to...I guess I just thought...I wanted to show you how much progress you've made."
"Progress...yeah." My self-loathing tried to deprecate any progress I might have made from being the man in the photo to the man holding the photo. I remembered the discussions I'd had with Shawn recently and his assertion that I hadn't been the man in that photo, or the monster from my mind, since I met Shawn. I shrugged at those thoughts and forced a smile on my face. "It's fine. We had a good day and it's over now. Time for bed."
Bem grinned a leering smile at me. "But not for sleep, huh Big Guy?"
I grinned a real smile down at my friend. "Who knows?" I shrugged again.
Bem chuckled and threw his arm around Mary to pull her against his body. "Shawn knows." Bem teased. "Good night, you two. Enjoy!"
I laughed in response and Mary blanched. We said good night and Shawn and I went to our room. Despite the melancholy detour, we still had a great night.