I picked up Brenda from St. Ann's on Friday afternoon. Central had been closed for teacher's conference, a perk that the private preparatory did not have. Still, it allowed me to pick her up.
Brenda saw me, and came over very fast. It was two weeks since our picnic, and the weather was absolutely cold now. She climbed in, and we kissed briefly.
"So, want me to run you home, or do you want to go to my house? Mom is gone until six tonight," I added hopefully.
"Hmm, home to my house, or home with my boyfriend. Decisions, decisions. I choose your place of course, silly," Brenda said while rolling her eyes as if I were stupid or something.
I put the truck in gear, and headed to my house. Visions of what we had done at the log cabin flashing through my head. I was hoping for at least a partial, if not total repeat of what we had wound up doing to and for each other.
That had been the first time I had seen a girl totally naked, and Brenda had been beautiful. Her breasts were a handful, with nipples that stuck out a good eighth of an inch when they got hard. Her waist was slender, and her pubic hair had been a light brown. She had shaped it and shaved down there so as to be interesting to me. She had been very responsive to me.
She had not wanted to go all the way; but 'the way', as far as we had gone, was really great in my book! I was hoping, hoping, hoping!
"So, are you going to the winter carnival this year?" Brenda asked.
She was referring to the winter festival that the town threw every year, to showcase the arts and crafts and other things.
"You mean the festival? Sure, wouldn't miss it. Want to go with me?" I asked.
"Can't. Dad is running a booth this year, and I have to work it. You could always stop by and visit though," she said with a sigh.
"I still don't know why they have to do it in the winter. A nice spring festival would be better. They could get rides and stuff," I groused.
"Hey, it's a business thing. Showcase arts and crafts, sure, but it's mainly for the businesses in the area to make a bit of money during an otherwise slow time," Brenda explained.
"Hmm, maybe I should do up a lawn and garden care booth? Wouldn't be hard. I could make fliers and pass them out!" I said excitedly.
"Won't work. You need to have your plans in at least a year in advance, to get approval and a space assigned in one of the three buildings or two tents being used," Brenda told me reasonably.
I sighed.
"Yeah, there's always something, ain't there?" I grumbled.
We arrived at my home, and I pulled into the driveway, parking by the garage door. We got out and made our way into the house. She flung her book bag down on the couch. She took off her coat and it went next to the book bag.
She looked cute standing there in her catholic uniform. God, how could such a repressive religion (when it came to sex), dress up their girls so cutely in neat little sexy uniforms?
"Like what you see?" Brenda asked me.
"God, yes! You're so sexy dressed like that," I answered honestly.
"What is it about girls dressed this way that gets you guys so excited anyway? I never have understood that," Brenda said moving into my arms.
What followed was a wonderful hour of mutually satisfying touching and feeling of the other's person. She still didn't want to go all the way, but as far as we went was absolutely wonderful. I also respected her right not to go all the way. When she was ready, I would be there for her.
Winter had set in with a vengeance. I had placed a lot of weight in the back of my truck for traction purposes. On top of that, it had snowed the night before and I had a lot of snow weight added to the artificial weight I had added previously.
I was running mom's briefcase out to her. She had left it at home, and she needed it for her work. She was already on site, and could not afford the time it would take to come back home and get it.
"I hope being an insurance investigator is worth it mom," I muttered to myself.
When I thought about it, we lived well at the least. Not as well as my girlfriend did, but then, they owned three businesses. Mom worked for an insurance company's fraud division. It kept a roof over our head and food on the table; and, if we were careful, all the bills paid. Of course, now that I was making money, mom charged me rent, of all things! She told me she was preparing me for the reality of life.
I was seventeen, almost eighteen, and thought that her charging me a hundred dollars a month was going a little overboard. After all, it was her job to care for her child, according to everything I had ever heard.
I was feeling peculiar. It felt like there was almost a tugging at something inside of me. I finally got to the address Mom had given me. Sure enough, there was her car. I pulled up behind her car and parked my truck. I left it running and ran the briefcase out to her. She was happy to get it. She hugged me goodbye, and went to the door and rang the bell.
I got back in my truck and slowly pulled away. While the main roads were clear, these secondary ones were still snow covered. I did not want to slide off the road, or smash into a parked car. There were several parked, snow-covered cars along the street.
As I neared my turn off, to go back home, I paused. I still felt that tugging feeling. It wanted me to go in the opposite direction. I considered for all of three seconds, and then followed the tug. I was soon at a dead end, and got out of my truck. I left it in park, but with the engine running.
I walked up to the traffic barrier and looked past it. The street ended here, but twenty feet further on was a sort of ravine. I was feeling the tug strongly, here! I climbed the metal barrier, and walked to the ravines edge. God! I felt like I wanted to go down into it, but snow was everywhere. I was not sure I would be able to climb back up, after I went down.
I looked towards the bottom of the ravine. It was wide at this point, at least fifty feet wide, if not a little more. I stared and stared. Then there was a moment when I was dizzy and sort of disoriented. When my head cleared, I was at the bottom of the ravine!
"What the fuck!" I yelled, panicked.
I had somehow gotten to the bottom of the ravine! As I looked around, there were no footprints except for where I was standing! Now how did that happen? I considered likely explanations. I was also feeling another thing at the same time! Power!
Something inside of me seemed to open, and, well ... drink in what I was feeling.
I didn't do it on purpose. Something in me did it automatically, I guessed. I stopped feeling the cold, and just basked in the new feeling.
I am not sure how long I was like that, but when I started thinking coherently again, my first thought was how was I getting out of this damned ravine. That's when I heard it.
"Use the power of the road," was the feeling/answer I got.
It wasn't actually a voice, more of an impression of some vast ... something. It was not alive, nor was it dead. It just was. It waited, weighed, and accepted me. I felt good, but I didn't know why!
I reached out with something in my mind, and touched the vastness of 'the road'. POWER! How did people not feel this? I was amazed at what I was feeling, and what I was doing, too.
I walked towards the opposite side of the ravine, and as I went, the power started to diminish a bit. I walked back to the side my truck was on, and I felt the power get stronger then weaker. The power was contained in a corridor in the ravine, and the sides were sort of powerless.
Now all I had to do was figure out how to get back to the top, and my truck, which I had left running! I looked around for an easier path to the slope, anything. I looked at a tree that was growing on the slope on my side, just a little ways down.
Try as I might, I could not get upslope. Damn! If only that weird something would place me back at the top of the ravine, I would be good to go. But no, I didn't get that feeling again. I looked again at the tree. If only it would fall over, I could use its branches and sort of climb up it.
No sooner did I think of that, than the tree in question let out a huge groan, and fell over, its top landing a short distance from the bottom! Jesus! I looked around.
"Did you do that?" I asked out loud.
I didn't get an answer, but there was a feeling of vast amusement, then it was gone. Just a flash, and then it was gone. Sheesh! Whatever this power was, it was controlled, and it could do things. I really needed to understand this thing, and my connection to it.
Using the tree, I climbed up. Then using an exposed root, I made it to the top of the ravine. My truck was still there, running quietly.
I made my way to it, and noticed for the first time that it was cold. Now how had that happened? I should have really noticed before this, how cold it was.
I really needed to talk to someone about this. I knew better than to talk to my mom. She had drummed into me, since I was little, not to disturb her with this kind of stuff. I knew of the reality of the other things in the world that no one knew about. I had a feeling she knew about it, too, but didn't want to talk about it.
That left Brenda. I had been going out with her for a couple months, now. I liked and trusted her. We talked about everything under the sun, except I did not mention my abilities with understanding animal speech, and calling faeries. I'm not sure how she would react to that. I'm sure I would have to prove it. In all honesty, I had not seen any faeries, and didn't expect to, during the winter. Calling them was the easiest way of proving what I could do.
After I got home, I made a snack, and considered my options some more. I really needed to try to get control over the abilities I had. Oh, I could call faeries, and understand the animals, but I should be able to use a more proactive form of the power. I mean, what good was it unless you could use it?
After thinking this, wondered if I was able to do anything without being close to that road, that the vast ... something had told me it was. I thought back to the time I had weeded the garden without touching the weeds. If I had done it once, I should be able to do it again. After all, it was something within me, right?
I was tossing a ball up in the air and catching it, thinking furiously. I looked at the ball, thinking if I had power, I could affect its arc and time in the air. I tossed it up and thought, 'stay up', at the ball.
While it didn't stay up, did it hesitate a brief second? My heart pounded and I did this over and over. Yes! The ball was hanging in midair longer! I concentrated and soon I had the ball floating in midair. I was sweating.
The phone rang, breaking my concentration, and the ball fell. I answered the phone. It was Brenda.
Edited by TeNderLoin