Thor's Child ©
by K Pelle
Chapter 14
Tor awakened to find his mother sitting in a chair at the end of his bed, reading a book, but as soon as he started to sit up, she shook her head and lifted a finger to her lips.
"Quiet, not one word out of you for a few minutes. I have something to say and I'd rather not be interrupted, so just lay there and relax," she smiled at him a bit crookedly. "As I understand it, you had a bit of a disagreement earlier, in fact Alva came to see me in her 'Valkyrie' mode, ready to take down names and issue death certificates over the issue. In other words, she was in a protective mood, so I thought I should find out just what was going on. I've heard Björn's and Kai's versions of what happened, then I listened to Rick Chance's and Jackson Larocque's versions as well. None of them really agreed with each other, but if I'd been in your position I think I'd have reacted the same way you did, because I think I can understand what you saw and how you felt.
You see, all four of them had been drinking a bit, but either Björn and Kai had more to drink, or else it affected them more than it did the other two. Just talking to the four of them got me angry about the way you'd been treated, but your father and Alva are practically livid. Björn and Kai meant well, but they realise you saw things much differently than they did, so they're feeling very foolish right now. They want you to know that they weren't playing a practical joke and they didn't mean to hurt or tease you in any way, in fact they were trying to help you. They didn't even realise that you were growing angry at their foolishness, but they say they weren't laughing at you, they were laughing at two grown men acting like little kids in a toy shop.
"That attitude didn't go over very well with either Rick or Jackson though, because the two of them know what the value of all those bits and pieces would be on the open market. Both Rick and Jackson would like a second chance to talk to you about what you want to do. Both of them are very interested in either helping to train and assist you to build the car in trade for your spare parts, or else they're willing to pay you to have someone else help, if you feel you don't want to work with them.
"I realise that you're probably quite disgusted with both your brother and your cousin, but luckily, you aren't going to see them for a while. They are going to be over at your Uncle Nils' farm, cleaning out all the manure that has piled up in his barns and corrals over the winter, then spreading it on his fields. If they finish that before you leave with your uncle and aunt for your holiday, your uncle has a lot of stumps to be dug out and burned from one of his pastures. I think they both realise that they were very foolish and that they'll be paying for their stupidity with hard labour.
"Now that I've had my say, if you want to talk, I'll listen to whatever comments you have and I won't interrupt, I promise."
"First, off, thank you. I know I lost my temper, but I didn't realise they'd been drinking at first, so it seemed to me like they were playing a stupid practical joke on me. Secondly, I was offended by Jackson Larocque, because he seemed to be acting dumb, as if he was trying to make me act prejudiced. I think that's stupid, so I chewed him out over it."
"Well, according to Rick, you didn't seem to lose your temper at all. He said you just reamed everyone out quite thoroughly and very calmly, then walked away. According to him, you didn't even raise your voice. As far as Jackson offending you by trying to make you act prejudiced - well - I imagine he's seen a lot of prejudice in his life, so he probably expects the worst from everyone. Alva knows his wife and Keisha told her Jackson is half white, a quarter Navajo and a quarter black, so the blacks in his old neighbourhood didn't really accept him and neither did any of the others. I suppose he expects people to see him as uneducated, so he acts that way, I really don't know, but I do know he certainly wishes he had today to do over," she laughed softly. "Your dad took away both Björn and Kai's keys and called Nils to come get them. Then, although your dad offered to drive them home, Jackson called his wife to come get them. Alva suspects that Keisha will probably have something to say to Jackson on the way home as well."
"Oh great, after I chewed one ear off, his wife will chomp on the other," Tor sighed. "I just found his speech and actions so silly, almost childish, and I know he's a successful businessman, so he can't be all that dense. I knew what he was doing had to be a put on and thought it was part of a sick joke, so unfortunately I lost my cool."
"Don't feel too bad about it," his mom chuckled. "To be honest, I think Jackson was impressed by what you said and tried to get me to apologise for him, but I told him he'd have to do that himself. Which reminds me, I've invited Rick and Jackson to come out here for lunch and a swim tomorrow, and I told them to bring their families along."
"Oh great, I get to apologise for looking at things all wrong and losing my temper," Tor sighed.
"No, I don't think you have to apologise at all, besides I hear Jackson and Keisha have a very attractive daughter about your age."
"Mom from the way she acts when I'm anywhere near her, I think Dori would rather I didn't exist. I've tried to talk to her, but she ignores me, then two minutes later I'll catch her staring at me. Alva claims she's friendly, but I've never seen that, in fact she seems to treat me like something that crawled out from under a rock. I mean, she's pretty to look at -- heck, let's be honest, she's gorgeous, exotically beautiful, but lots of things are pretty to look at while not being very nice to be around. I mean, I've seen wonderful pictures of volcanoes, but I don't have to be anywhere near an active eruption to appreciate how pretty it can be, because I know it can be dangerous too. I think Dori is somewhat like a dormant volcano and no one knows when she's going to blow her stack or what will happen when she does."
"Well, I can tell from what you said that you'd like to get to know her better, while she may only be playing hard to get, but doesn't realise it makes her look unreasonable to you," she smiled, then chuckled as Tor rolled his eyes. "Now I see from your clock that it's almost time to eat, so Alva will be calling us to the table quite soon. You might want to roll out of bed and run to the bathroom, if you need to wash your hands or anything."
"Oh darn, you mean I missed helping Dad with the chores again?" Tor sat up quickly.
"Having to do the chores alone isn't going to be the end of the world for your father. He has done it before you know!" she laughed, getting to her feet and heading for the stairs.
That evening and the next morning weren't a very comfortable time for Tor, because he wasn't proud of himself for losing his temper and he wasn't looking for sympathy either. Then too, he was not looking forward to the visitors that were expected to arrive by late morning. First off, he hated apologies, whether he was giving them or receiving them, and secondly he wasn't looking forward to having Dori around for long. He knew she didn't care to be close to him, yet he knew that Alva was going to try to get them together. On top of that he felt he should be working on moving those old car parts to the old garage, but his dad had made it quite clear he was to take the day off and not do any work. Actually, right then he didn't really want to even look at those car parts, since they reminded him of his temper tantrum.
So to stay busy and make the time pass faster, he spent most of his evening and the following morning with the horses, not only was it something to do, but the horses needed the attention anyway. He'd spent the last three weeks just 'topping up' their training and now he was putting the final finish on that training by repeatedly going over what they'd learned. This time his uncle had brought over a pair of three-year-old horses, a mare and a gelding, and while the mare seemed to quickly learn all the lessons, the gelding hadn't done quite as well. For some reason the gelding seemed slow to learn, but Tor was patient and refused to give up. Finally though it seemed as if the gelding was catching on to what Tor wanted -- most of the time.
He was actually on the gelding's back, having him neck rein properly, when both carloads of visitors arrived. At least he had the excuse of taking off the saddle and bridle, then releasing the horses before heading to the house to meet the guests, but he still took his time. Since he knew he'd smell of horse to the visitors, he took the time to head upstairs, then washed up and changed his clothes before joining everyone in the back yard. He'd hardly walked down the back steps before Rick Chance came over to meet him.
"Tor, I am sorry about what happened yesterday. I'm not usually a drinking man, but I wouldn't have had even one beer if I'd known what was going to happen. Unfortunately though, we'd been drinking something stronger than beer, so all four of us were acting somewhat out of character. I really didn't mean to annoy or distress you, and I really hope you can forgive us for acting like fools."
"Forget it, it's water under the bridge and in a way, it really wasn't your fault. As I said yesterday, I was tired and a little sensitive. So, what I saw happening looked to me like a practical joke gone bad, with me as the victim, but I understand I was mistaken. Instead of harping on it though, let's start over with a clean slate and remain friends," Tor shrugged and held out his hand.
They shook hands and talked for a moment, but neither one of them brought up the Ford coupe, or the fact that Tor wanted help to fix it. Then one of Rick's young boys started to squawk about something and he had to rush off. Tor's dad must have been waiting for an opportunity because he chose that moment to call Tor over to one side where he and Jackson Larocque were sitting on lawn chairs. Sighing softly, Tor answered the summons and walked over toward them.
"Grab a chair Tor, the three of us need to talk," his dad said quietly. "We'll get Rick over here in a few minutes, when he's done calming down his young'ns."
"Tor, before you even sit down, I want to apologise for being a drunken fool yesterday. I had a rude wake up call about my alcohol tolerance yesterday, and a reminder that I should never, ever drink whisky, because I become stupid. I know I offended you and I realised later that I was being crass and ignorant. I am truly sorry." Jackson stood and looked Tor in the eye. "You were well within your rights to tell me everything you did yesterday, in fact you were far gentler than my wife was. According to her, you probably saved me from an ass whuppin' too, because I used to drink a lot, then I'd get belligerent when I'd been drinking. Actually, that's why I quit drinking all the time. Considering the company I was in yesterday, if I'd started fight I'd probably have been used to mop your shop floor."
"Okay, apology accepted, and if I was too rough on you, then I apologise too," Tor said quietly. "I rather doubt you'd have gotten a fight started anyway, all of the guys you were with yesterday know Jiujitsu holds that can take the fight right out of a belligerent man. It's surprising what a pinched nerve will do to a bruiser in a bar fight."
"And when have you ever seen a bar fight?" his dad asked.
"Never, Dad, but I've seen one demonstrated and I've been on the receiving end of a nerve pinch during one of Sensei's demonstrations. Those hurt so much you just want to curl up and cry."
"Well, I helped you into the back of my truck the day you got your ankle busted up, and you weren't crying then. I know having your ankle smashed to pieces must have hurt worse than a nerve pinch, so I think I'll pass on having you show me what one feels like," his dad smiled wryly.
"Oh I think I wanted to cry that day, but I guess I was just too angry at myself to let go that much, especially since I'd been stupid enough to let that old fart kick me in the first place. Besides, how would you know if I was crying or not? It was raining so hard we could hardly see," Tor snorted.
"You say you got your ankle smashed? You sure don't move like you had a major injury of either leg," Mr. Larocque frowned.
"Oh, he was hurt, all right," Tor's dad snorted. "He was on the operating table for more than three hours so they could put his ankle back together, being worked on by one of the best orthopaedic surgeons in BC. Then he caught a virus that darn near killed him. He'd just nicely recovered from that, but was still hobbling around with a cane when he got shot at a couple of times, right here at the house, only he chased the thug off by shooting back. Right after that he got tackled at school by another wannabe gangster and darn near had his ankle broken a second time. Just to tie things together though, it turns out that the kid who'd tackled him at school was the same one who'd supplied both the rifle and the car to the kid that shot at him. Tor was only thirteen at the time that stuff all started, but he acted like a man through the whole thing."
"And I called him a wuss yesterday, because my daughter said he was quiet and wishy-washy!" Jackson laughed shortly and shook his head. "When I was about his age I lived in a really rough neighbourhood in San Fran, but I've never got shot at, or badly hurt. So I think I know who the wuss really is, and I sure know which one of us is a tough little bugger. Tor, if you ever see me take a drink again, kick my ass, would ya, because from what Small said about you, I don't think I'd want you to take a swing at my jaw."
"Oh really, what did Rick say about me?"
"Oh, he said you often spar with a Golden Gloves contender and that the first tough guy who tried beating on you with a hockey stick got his jaw busted. On top of that he says you throw him as often as he does you in that Japanese defence stuff he teaches. I didn't realise you could take care of yourself so well, or I'd have treated you with a lot more respect."
"Well, I don't go looking for fights, in fact I hate fighting -- I just defend myself, but I try to be a bit generous and make sure to give back just a bit more than I receive," Tor managed a slight grin.
That broke Jackson up and he laughed loudly. Tor didn't think it was all that funny, after all most of the guys on the hockey team hadn't laughed very hard when he'd used that line. Just then Alva called him though and he excused himself and headed toward her to see what she wanted. Then he realised that she was standing next to Dori and knew that she was going to try to get them together.
"Fat chance, Sis!" he thought to himself, then he noticed Dori react as she suddenly stared at him the way she had other times, but this time she had a shocked look on her face. "Oh damn, what's Alva told her now?"
"Hey, Tor, Dori saw you riding a horse when they drove up and she thinks horses are neat, so I was wondering if you'd like to show off what you do with them. Dad hasn't even started the barbeque, which means lunch will be at least half an hour or more, so wandering down there and back would give you guys something to do."
"Not a problem," Tor answered easily, then grinned. "I don't think the two of us should go for a ride right now though. I just had to wash and change clothes to get rid of the horse smell, but we can sure go look at them."
"Okay, thank you," Dori smiled back and to his surprise, she reached out and took his arm.
Actually, saying he was surprised would be putting it mildly, but once they were around the end of the house so they couldn't be seen, Dori shocked him.
"Okay, Tor, how did you send so clearly that I could hear you from fifty feet away? I have to touch people to hear what they're thinking, so I want to know what you do differently."
"You heard what I was thinking?" he whispered.
"Unh huh, but you just heard me too, didn't you? Otherwise you wouldn't have answered like that," she giggled.
"It's just not fair. She's sexy. She's beautiful. She's smart. She's almost as tall as me. We're even in the same grade at school," then he paused for a second or two, before thinking, "But now dammit, when we're close to each other, she can hear what I'm thinking."
"Fair is fair, since you can hear me too."
"Yeah, but you said that's only when I'm touching you."
"Shush now, just think the words, then no one else can overhear you, except me of course."
"Man, I finally get 'Miss Shy' alone and all of a sudden she's getting kinky," he couldn't resist teasing her a bit.
"Smart ass!" she giggled, then teased right back. "Since you're the only person I ever found who can hear what others think, I might just have to help Daddy, when he works on your car. You can practise your wily seduction moves on me instead of on the 'Triple Threat,' the way you've been doing all year. Just think of all kinky things we could chat about and Daddy will never know."
"I really don't think that would be a good idea," Tor said quietly, then grinned at her. "For one thing, how would you explain the fact that we'd always have to be close enough to touch each other?"
"I'll just have to learn to send my thoughts from farther away, just like you do," she giggled again.
"Well, there's no time like the present. Let go of my arm and try," with that he pulled his arms free and stepped away a few feet, then kept walking.
"No fair! I liked holding your arm and walking at your side."
"Hah, now you're learning to send your thoughts, but at the same time I'm learning how to listen to you too. That way, when you have any kinky thoughts, I can hear them and tease you about them."
"You know what you are, you're a monster, but you're sure not as boring as I thought you would be. In fact I apologise for thinking you were nothing but a big dumb jock who tries to act all shy and quiet when he's not being a hero."
"Well, before we get too close to each other, I think you might want to talk to your daddy about me being a big tough jock. He might not like a guy of my ilk hanging around his little angel."
"Your ilk? My, but you're using fancy words now, aren't you? By the way, come back here, I enjoy having a grip on your arm."
"Okay, I will, but only when you can say 'please come here' from fifty feet away, or about as far away as I was when you heard me first," he grinned at her and started to angle even further away as he walked.
He wondered if she was going to protest, but she didn't, instead when he looked over toward her, he saw she was walking away from him at an angle as well.
"Okay, that's about fifty feet, now please come back to me," she finally said and stood there grinning at him. "Now I can do anything you can do."
"No, you can't."
"Well, I'm not going to try to pee while standing up, or skate around on a hockey rink and beat up on thugs, or do anything stupid like that, but I can do almost anything else."
"Really?" he thought at her in a whisper.
"Yeah, really!" she thought/whispered right back.
"Okay, do this!" he suddenly made up his mind to show her a little more and mentally picked a dandelion flower which had been growing ten feet away, then lifted it and brought it close to her.
"OMIGAWD!" she squawked loudly, then started to wave her arms and back away. "Quick, pretend you're chasing a bee away from me or something! I yelled too loud and people might come looking to see what's wrong."
So he swatted his arms around a few times, then clapped his hands together, looked at her and yelled. "You can quit running and waving your hands around like a windmill. I killed it!" Your Dad did look this way, but I think he finds me chasing bees away from you to be hilarious."
"Thank you!" she said loudly and came running up to give him a hug. "Now, you just have to teach me how to do that trick with the dandelion."
"Um, I don't think I can, really," he sighed. "I had to teach myself how to do it, and it took a while, quite a while."
"So, how did you start teaching yourself? Maybe I can do the same thing."
"I was really tired one night, so tired that I could hardly move and I'd forgotten to turn the ceiling light off before I got into bed. So I lay on the bed and sort of wished the light switch would flip the other way. I just sort of pushed against it with my thoughts and it moved."
"A light switch?" even her thought sounded incredulous.
"Yep, one of those new, real easy to move, silent light switches. It was quite easy to do even the first time I tried it too, but by the time I'd done it half a dozen times I was wiped right out."
"You got tired? Just from working a tiny little light switch?"
"Yep, and since you can see my arms in this T-shirt, you can tell how much muscle I've built up since then. I found that I had to have a lot of muscle to move things telekinetically, so I run and lift weights and stuff like that to get into shape. I eat like a horse too, well, not hay and oats, but I do eat a lot, and yet I seem to burn it right off."
"So, I'll have to bulk up a bit, I guess. You won't mind will you?"
"Why should I mind?"
"Well, some guys would get upset if their girlfriend started to add pounds just after they started dating."
"So you're my gal now, are you?"
"Yeah, I am, because we're two of a kind and on top of that, you're a nice guy who can still make my Daddy back water when he acts like an ass," she giggled as she hugged tightly against his arm. "I'll bet you haven't told a lot of people about what you can do. I sure haven't told anyone I can hear thoughts, after all, both Mom and Daddy have lived through hell because of prejudice, but if people hated them for being of mixed race, just think what they'd do to us!"
"Yeah, I was going to mention that so you could be careful around others. You're the first person I've dared to let know about any of this stuff. That's why I started fooling around with prestidigitation, becoming something of an amateur magician. Then if I do happen to make a small slip, I'll have a little leeway to explain things."
"Brilliant, I like it and you just got yourself a magician's helper, but if you've gone that far to protect yourself, I'll bet you can do more than just that flower thing, huh?"
"Yeah, but like I said, it's all very tiring. For instance using telepathy like this, which is something I'm not used to doing, is even beginning to get a bit tiring."
"I've noticed that," she sighed softly. "I don't want to stop doing it though, because it's so much, I don't know, I guess I could say it's 'fuller' than just talking. I can 'feel' depths of meaning in your words that I can't 'hear' when you speak aloud."
"Giving up already?" he grinned at her.
"Nope, I'm conserving my strength. I may want to use this when we get back to the others, then I can say things they can't hear."
"Well, we've gotta be careful with that. One slipup and we could both be exposed, then where would we be?"
"Huh, why do you think I haven't been dating anyone? All I'd have to do is touch my date and hear something I shouldn't, then I'd be in trouble. Heck, I don't even have any really close friends," she sighed again.
"Well if you really want to be my gal, you'll have friends now, but how close you'll let them get will be up to you," he laughed. "I come with a crowd of people hanging around me. First there's my family, then there's Sunny, Sami, Em and Kevin, as well as their families, but they all come in one big intertwined bunch. Then of course there's the whole hockey team and the people associated with that - heck, sometimes I think the whole darn town wants to be my buddy."
"You know all those people and are around them all the time, but you've been able to do things like this for a while though, haven't you? I mean, you understood how to hear my thoughts so fast, so how do you hide what you can do from everyone else?"
"Well, to be honest, something like this hit me just after puberty and from the very first I knew I couldn't say anything to anyone. I came out here to BC from Saskatchewan and was working with my uncle one day when we had an accident where we could have both been killed. I saved both our lives by using the same sort of talent that I used to pick you a dandelion, but I did it unintentionally. Scared the hell out of myself too, because I couldn't understand what I'd done. I knew I had saved our lives, and I kinda had an idea how it had happened, but I didn't have a clue about how to do it again. Worse than that though, I knew if anyone else found out what I'd done, I'd be in danger from people with warped personalities who'd either be jealous or scared of me. On top of that I passed out after saving our lives that day, which scared me even worse. I was not only afraid of being caught trying to do anything and on top of that I was more than a little afraid that if I did do anything I'd pass out again. If I passed out in the wrong place and at the wrong time, it could kill me. What I didn't realise at the time was that it took so much mental energy to accomplish physical results, but I know now that I'd overtaxed my energy reserves while I was saving our lives, then had passed out from sheer exhaustion. Anyway, that's a different matter, but I'm sure you understand that I was terrified by the implications and possibile dangers of the whole thing.
"Not only that, but I was only thirteen, miles away from home for the first time in my life and living with an aunt and uncle that I really didn't know very well, so I had absolutely no one I could talk to about what I had done. Then following only days after that initial episode, the family we were buying this farm from had to leave, so I was suddenly responsible for the whole place and I was here on my own. I was soon horribly homesick and terrified that I'd do something wrong, but at the same time I just couldn't give up, because my family was depending on me. There was one up side to being here on my own though. There was no one else around, which meant I could experiment with what I could do and try to figure out what was happening to me. And I've read a lot of science fiction, so I had an idea of names for the things I could do, so for some reason that made them seem less scary. Eventually I even worked out an idea how each talent worked, so I experimented with this and that, gradually learning what I could do and how to control the various gifts, or whatever you want to call them," he sighed heavily. "I just wish I'd known about you sooner though, because having someone I could have talked to would have made life so much easier."
"Yeah, I think you're right. I wish I'd known about you earlier too," Dori sighed and leaned against him. "I guess this is a puberty thing, because I was about eleven, nearly twelve when I started hearing things if I was touching people. Um, no, that's wrong! The first time anything happened, Mom and Daddy were having an argument and I could hear what they said, but I could also 'hear' what they were thinking. I was laying in bed, and it was late at night so I was trying to sleep. I tried covering my head with a pillow and everything, but I couldn't shut out what they were thinking, so I went out and screamed at them both. I don't know what they thought and I can't even remember what I said, but they both stopped arguing right away. Afterward, I had to be touching someone to hear their thoughts and like you, it scared me. I suppose I had more fear than you did though, because I didn't really experiment or anything. I just hid what I could do, but boy, oh boy, have I ever been lonely. I thought I was the only person in the whole world who could hear thoughts, which was very, very scary."
"Well, you have someone to lean on now," he wrapped an arm around her body and pulled her into a sideways hug.
"Yeah, and I plan to make up for years of loneliness. I've got plans about how I'm gonna rock your world!" she giggled and snuggled against him tightly.
"That may be a problem," Tor sighed softly. "First off, I'm going to be away for a while this summer, so we're only going to have a couple of weeks before I leave. I'll be going with my aunt and uncle to their hideaway and I think they plan to be gone for a month."
"That's not so bad. I was worried about mentioning the summer holidays too, because Mom and I are going to San Francisco for two or three weeks, but it's about the same time. At least we can write to each other while we're apart."
"Unh uh, sorry!" he chuckled. "We're going to be out in the wilderness, with no mail delivery, no phone calls, not even any radio messages - no contact at all."
"No contact of any kind? Where the heck are you going?"
"It's a little hidden valley, up in the mountains in the middle of Vancouver Island. Aunt Hanna and Uncle Nils bought the place a couple of years ago and I went up there with them last year. I fell in love with the valley and now I even own a share in it, courtesy of their generosity, but that's mainly because their two sons don't like the wilderness much and my aunt and uncle needed another family member's name on the lease."
"Mmm, so you're going camping for a month in a place where anything could happen and no one would know about it until it was too late? I don't think I like that much. You could get hurt, or even killed!" she pulled away and stared at him with a heavy frown on her face.
"Oh, I don't think so. I'm quite tough and I have a few advantages that most people haven't got."
"Like what?" she snapped.
"Like the ability to teleport out of danger for one. I'd show you, but not until we can be certain no one can see me do it."
"You can do stuff like that too?" she 'sounded/felt' absolutely astonished.
"Yeah, along with a few other things."
"You have to show me how you do everything that you can do, so I can try them myself."
"I don't think so. Not until you have a better grasp on things and learn to have full control over what we've done today," he shook his head. "Otherwise you're just going to get frustrated by trying too much at once."
"I'm already frustrated!" she snapped, then grinned, "but my frustration right now isn't about this sort of stuff. Suddenly I have a boyfriend and I know we're going to be separated in just a few weeks, which brings on a level of frustration I've never felt before."
Just then Tor heard the old dinner bell ringing and he knew they were being called to lunch.
"Time to eat," he grabbed her hand in his. "Let's make Alva happy and walk back hand in hand."
"Alva, heck! I'll walk with you like this anytime you want, because it makes me happy, so Alva doesn't count for much in my books, except that she got us together," she giggled and squeezed his hand tightly. "Besides, if you think Alva will be happy, Mom will be delirious since she thinks her little girl should be dating at this time of her life. I think even Daddy will like the idea, because he considers you to be pretty special right now."
"Even after yesterday?"
"Especially after yesterday!" she giggled. "He knows he was being stupid yesterday and he's really very sorry about that. You should have heard what Mom said to him about drinking, acting childish and picking fights. That's when Mom told him that if you two ever fought, you could probably clean his clock in a few seconds. Anyway, Daddy says it took a lot of guts for a fifteen-year-old kid to face him down and call him on his actions without losing your temper, but he admitted that he deserved everything he got."
"That reaction surprises me," he looked thoughtful. "I guess we should start talking out loud now, since we're getting close to the house."
"Yeah, you're right, and we'd better change the subject we're discussing too," she admitted. "So what are you planning on doing with your life after high school?"
"Well, I think I could probably go right into hockey as a semipro, or maybe even a pro, but I like coaching much more than playing. Because of that I was thinking about attending university to take a sports program after high school, hopefully I could learn how to be a better coach than I am now."
"You could always take courses to become a teacher, focussing on teaching phys. ed. I'm sure courses like that would include being taught some coaching skills. Personally, I'm not certain if I want to be a teacher or a nurse, but I do like working with young kids. I've been doing some work at the hospital as a Candy Striper, so I've had some experience with that side of things. The problem I have with that is I hate to have to work with the kids who are really ill, the ones who are so sick they won't make it and they know it, so they have no hope, that really bothers me. So I guess teaching might be the better choice, wouldn't it?"
They were still talking about their future plans as they walked around the corner of the house and into view of everyone else. Of course they were suddenly the center of attention, but fortunately that didn't last long since the burgers were ready and everyone was hungry. Dori and Tor filled their plates with potato salad, cole slaw and burgers, then found seats a little way away from everyone else and continued talking quietly. They noticed that both of their mothers were having a chat and that their dad's had their heads together as well. Right about then, neither of them cared about that though, instead they were too busy getting to know each other a little better than before. Of course Tor went back for his second helping of food, but Dori surprised her mom and dad when she had seconds as well.
"You realise that you're hungry because you've been exercising your telepathic muscles, don't you?" Tor teased.
"As long as I use it to build some kind of muscle, I don't mind. Then when I'm strong enough, I'll beat up on you without even lifting a finger," Dori snapped right back, but mentally stuck out her tongue at him.
Tor had to disguise his snort of laughter at that idea as a small cough. "Okay, I guess I asked for that, but maybe we'd better be quiet and careful again."
"Yeah, but you started it, smartass. Now be good and shut up, I'm hungry and it's impolite to talk while you're eating."
After everyone had eaten and the area around the barbeque had been cleaned up, the men wanted Tor do go up to the equipment shed so they could all have a look at his bits and pieces of old cars. They didn't go alone though. Dori wanted to come along, but so did Keisha and Akio, and as a result everyone went to have a look, even the three little kids.
Since Dori was hanging on his arm, Tor never had a chance to really watch her face, but he did get to view the faces and reactions of all the others. Jax, the name Jackson had again insisted Tor and his family use, was clearly the most enthusiastic about the whole thing, but Rick wasn't far behind. Tor's dad seemed somewhat less enthusiastic, but tolerant. Tor's Mom looked as if she seemed to think the whole thing was a bit silly, but relatively harmless. Alva appeared to think the whole enterprise was a bit of a joke, or at least something she couldn't see much sense in doing. Keisha reacted quite strongly when she saw the coupe body, getting a pleasant look of nostalgia on her face, but other than that, she seemed quite indifferent to the whole thing. Akio frowned and asked a few questions about the upholstery Tor was planning to use, then took her three kids to look at all the farm machinery stored in the shed.
Dori stayed at his side as Tor, Jax, Rick and Tor's dad discussed what had to be done and how soon the whole project could be started. Ollie wasn't in a real rush, but Tor was planning to be out of town for some time and would be leaving in about two weeks. He felt that it would be preferable if everything was moved before Tor left, especially since they'd already cleaned out the old two car garage in order to give Tor a separate place to work on the car.
It wasn't long before the women and children went back to the house to get ready to go for a swim. Tor's dad went off to do a chore or two, but Jax and Rick wanted to see the garage where Tor would be building the car. Dori and Alva came along with three guys as they walked down the driveway. The two women talked quietly as they walked side by side, but just behind Jax, Rick and Tor, who was busy explaining his ideas about the layout he wanted to set up in the garage.
"The old garage is weather tight, with some insulation in the walls, and the interior has been sheeted with cheap wood panelling, so the place shouldn't be drafty or anything. As far as I can tell, the roof doesn't leak either. At least there's a decent concrete floor and the building was wired for electricity, so it has some lights and a few plugins. There's an old stove in there and I'd like to take advantage of that for heat during the winter, which means I have to plan around that space in whatever I do. The stove sits opposite the two main doors, in one corner of the far end wall, so I thought I'd move the shelves that are in the middle of that end wall and put my workbench there instead," Tor explained as they walked to the old garage, which sat on the opposite side of the driveway from the new carport on the house.
"Oh, are you moving that workbench sitting near the old coupe body to your new shop when you move your car parts?" Jax asked.
"Yeah, the workbench was part of the deal that Dad made with old Wally Friedman. There are a bunch of boxes of new parts and special tools for building the car, which are stored under that bench as well, but I don't think you guys even noticed those. When we were loading out the car parts, the workbench looked like it belonged in the building and all those parts were in new containers, so we were going to leave all that stuff behind. However, Mr. Friedman insisted I take everything and leave the place totally empty," Tor grinned. "So, before we finally left, that old quonset hut was completely cleaned out – I even swept the floor for good measure."
The tour of the old garage didn't take all that long, since it was nothing but an empty building, but both of the older men agreed that it was a decent size to use for the job and would be quite suitable. Tor mentioned that he might have to install more lights, then led everyone outside where he pointed out the lean-to shed at the side of the garage. That was where he planned to store all the spare parts, but both men frowned at that idea, both of them were worried about rust and corrosion since that lean-to was open to the air on one side and had a dirt floor.
Instead they offered to help him check out what he'd need and separate the needed bits from all the spare parts to make certain he wouldn't need anything more. Then they'd take the spare parts and store them in an empty building on Rick's farm. In return they agreed to help Tor finish his car by June of the next year and they promised not to work on any of those spare parts until Tor was satisfied he wouldn't need them. Before he agreed to go along with that, Tor wanted to check what his dad thought of the idea though, so the entire group headed back toward the house.
As they walked, Tor found that Dori was on his right side now, while Alva walked on his left.
"Your big sister is curious about us, you know," Dori thought and sent a 'mental' grin. "She's curious about why we've hit it off so well now, when we hadn't gotten together before."
"I'm afraid that ball is in your court, young lady. Alva talked with me about that yesterday, and I told her I thought you were either shy or something along those lines. I told her that I'd tried to talk to you, only you gave me the cold shoulder, but then you did the same thing to all the guys, so I wasn't offended by it. I also told her I thought you looked gorgeous, if that makes you feel any better. In fact I never, ever imagined that you and I would hit it off in any way, but then I didn't know you were talented and wanted to be around someone with the same sort of talents," Tor managed a smile, a real one.
"Are you calling my ability to hear your thoughts a talent?"
"Yeah, what else would you call it?"
"A skill, especially since it seems we can learn to do more than one thing."
"Ah, but you haven't proven that you can do all the things I can do yet."
"Ouch, you had to remind me of that, and it's not fair either. I started to hear thoughts when I was only eleven, so I was doing this almost two years before you, but you say you just learned how to 'project' your thoughts today and yet it seems you're already better at it than I am."
"Ahhgh, you two are the strangest teenage couple I've ever seen, walking along side by side, not even touching and not saying one damn word. What is it, me being here with you or something? Cripes, I was expecting fireworks, or at least a bit of excitement, but all I'm seeing is calm acceptance," Alva suddenly complained grumpily, making Tor laugh and Dori giggle.
"You know me, Alva. When I'm happy, I'm quiet," Tor teased.
"And I'm still trying to get over being surprised that Tor isn't the loud obnoxious jock that I thought he must be since he's a star hockey player and always the center of attention. Just wait until I get over my astonishment, then I'll start talking and get him to answer me too," Dori added with a big grin, then grabbed Tor's hand and started swinging it back and forth between them. "I'm still getting used to the idea that there's a guy interested in me, and not only that, but he's a fellow I like. Give us a break would ya? Please, just let us get to know each other in our own way would you, as a favour to me?"
"Oh, okay," Alva sighed. "It's just that I look at you two and don't know what to think. You aren't acting anything like I'm used to seeing people act when they've just gotten together."
"I think Tor does that to me a bit," Dori giggled. "Tor makes me feel comfortable enough that I can enjoy being with him and not saying much. Today for some reason I see him as a strong protector type who quietly does his thing, but you can ask Mom, she'll tell you that I'm normally very quiet myself. When you've seen me at the hospital, it was usually with a bunch of boisterous kids, or else when I'm trying to cheer up someone who's very ill. That's really the only time I act outgoing, other than that I try to be as quiet as a mouse, so I don't draw attention."
"You're pretty enough that you don't have to say much," Tor turned and winked at her. "You do remember that I've been asking you to go on dates for about two years, don't you? If I'd known it would take my sister to act as a matchmaker to get you to accept me, I'd have hired her a long time ago."
"Hah, every time you asked me to go somewhere it was just after you'd won a hockey game or done something exceptional to draw attention to yourself and I was trying to hide from all the fuss," Dori stuck her tongue out at him. "I tried to tell you I was the quiet sort who dislikes drawing attention to herself, but you just wouldn't listen to me."
"You picked the wrong guy if you want to be unnoticed," Alva laughed loudly just as they came to the steps leading into the house. "Tor has a habit of quietly sneaking up on a problem and then noisily blowing whatever was irritating him to smithereens. That tends to draw attention, and not only to him, but to those around him as well."
"Yeah, and I don't think I can change him, but then I don't think I'd want to if I could. I kinda like the idea that I'll be dating the local town hero, so I guess I'll have to get used to getting a lot more attention than I'm used to having," Dori giggled then as she saw her mom standing in the kitchen. "Oh, Hi Mom, love the suit! Can I wear my bikini too?"
"Well, since the Eklunds often go skinny dipping in their pond, I don't think your bikini will be out of place," Keisha smiled, astounding Dori.
She spun around and stared directly into Tor's eyes, "You mean you people are nudists, like we are? Well, we are when we can be, but we haven't been able to do it much since we moved here."
"Nope, we're not really nudists as such," Tor had to laugh in embarrassment. "We're just a family who doesn't worry much about our showing our skin in the house, or up at the swimmin' hole. However, as far as I'm concerned, you can run around without clothes just as much as you want. Mom might disagree with that idea though."
"There are times when that would not be suitable," Tor's mom said as she came into the room in an old one piece swim suit. "I don't think today is the day for you to run around bare naked, young lady! I'll warn you now that you and I will have to have a discussion about that and several other related subjects in the near future, especially since you seem to have set your cap for my youngest son."
"I think the idea of a discussion between the two of you is a very good idea," Keisha smiled and nodded her head. "I believe I will want to have a similar discussion with Tor concerning what behaviour we would be comfortable with around our home as well. Since our children seem to have become a dating couple during the day, both families will have to make some adjustments, but I would like those to be as small as possible to retain our present comfort level."
All Tor could do was stare at her and nod his head. Somehow he hadn't expected her to sound so formal or so well educated, not considering the way he had heard her husband sound and act. She must have seen the expression on his face and interpreted it as astonishment, because she grinned.
"Didn't expect me to sound like I had any schoolin' huh?" she winked, surprising him again.
"Nope, you caught me, because Jax had said something about growing up in a rough part of San Francisco and I made an assumption I shouldn't have," Tor grinned back at her, thinking that he was going to like this woman - a lot!
"Most men do," Dori's thought intruded. "She's my mom and I'm prejudiced, but I wouldn't trade her with anyone I've met, at least not yet."
"Well, I did grow up in the same area, but my family was a bit better off than his was. We both have a rather broad ethnic mix in our families too, so the main difference was in our education. My mother was a teacher and her family came from Jamaica. Her father was French and her mother was a typical mixture for any Jamaican at that time, black, white and who knows what else. My grandfather was a Louisiana Creole of mixed blood, who sailed around the world on a merchant steamer and brought back a Vietnamese-French wife. So my father was another mixture altogether. As closely as I can figure it, I'm almost as close to a 'Heinz 57' as you can get. But then Jax is a mixture of indeterminate black, Navajo and French, with some German ancestry thrown in, so Dorothea puts us both to shame, at least as far as mixing nationalities or races of her ancestry is concerned."
"Mrs Larocque, if you and Dori are the end results of racial mixing, I'd definitely recommend the practise be followed as often as possible. You are exceptionally good looking, while Dori is outstandingly gorgeous, but what is more important, the two of you are both extremely intelligent," then Tor slowly grinned, "And if you're trying to get me or my family to show prejudice because of the mixed racial backgrounds, you picked the wrong house and the wrong guy. I know a ton of beautiful women with gorgeous figures, but in Dori's case, it's what she can do with her mind that drives me nuts. She's absolutely bloody brilliant, but even better - she thinks like I do and that just blows me away."
"If only she knew how truthful you're being," Dori giggled as she leaned against him. "See why I think he's a keeper, Mom, and on top of that, I think his mind is faster than mine, but I really do like being appreciated for something other than my looks. I think he considers them as a bonus though."
"He'd be darn silly to not notice that you're pure eye candy," Tor's mom winked at the two of them from over Keisha's head. "Now, are we going for a swim or not? Akio and her three kids are already heading up there, but she says she doesn't want them to go in the water until more of us are around, just in case one of them gets in trouble. The kids can all swim, but someone else should be there to act as life guard."
"I'll hurry to get up there, Mom," Alva volunteered, already having changed into a two-piece swim suit. "Dori, you can either change down here in the bathroom, or upstairs in my bedroom. If you change in my bedroom, there'll be less traffic when we get out of the pool and we're trying to get dressed quickly, but in relative privacy."
Then Tor was astonished when not only Alva headed out the door, but so did Keisha and his mom.
"What the heck!" Dori turned and stared at Tor. "Did both of our mothers just leave, especially after that talk about nudity and everything else?"
"Well, it might be a test," Tor frowned, because that wasn't like his mom, then commented aloud. "Do you know where Alva's bedroom is?"
"Yeah, she showed me that before and my bikini is up there already," Dori grabbed his hand and they headed up the stairs side by side. "I'm not going to close the door, if you want to peek."
"I think we'd both better be good today and we should change quickly too. Besides, until I get used to what you look like in a bikini . . . Well, just seeing you in that will have to be enough for today. If I see much more than that right now I might blow a mental circuit breaker or something."
"You silly twit," she giggled. "Of course I could just look in Alva's mirror and send you a thought picture instead."
"I can see I'm going to have to learn how to filter your incoming thoughts," Tor chuckled silently as they came to the top of the stairs. "Alva's bedroom is that way, and mine is the other direction."
"Yeah, I know, thanks though. I'll see you in a few minutes."
"Okay, I'll wait for you here, at the top of the stairs."
"Are you sure you don't want to come have a peek at the goodies?" Dori sent, as she walked away, intentionally wiggling her butt.
"Nope, better not, and you should know that the swing of your butt looks much sexier when you don't try to force that outrageous wobble, deary."
"Spoilsport, and here I worked so hard to get that swing just right."
"Well, I could send YOU a mental picture of the comparison between normal and overdone, if you'd like?" Tor grinned as he entered his room and quickly stripped, then pulled on his swim trunks. "What, no comment?"
"I'm trying to be civil," Dori thought back and Tor could hear the giggle in her thoughts. "Besides, you were being mean and didn't look in the mirror, so I couldn't 'see' anything."
"Tor, where does your Mom keep the spare towels?" he heard Keisha's voice ask from the bottom of the stairs.
"Oh, I'll come help you find those," he answered instantly and quite loudly. "Dori, I'm going downstairs now, your mom needs help to find the towels, okay?"
"Sure Tor, I won't be long," she called back.
When Tor got to the top of the stairs, he looked down to see Keisha standing at the bottom with a smile on her face, shaking her head.
"You two just cost me ten bucks in a bet I had with your mother," she laughed. "We gave you the chance to get a look at each other and you blew it!"
"That's what parents get for not explaining the rules to their kids," Tor grinned. "If you wanted us to sneak a peek, you could have given us a clue, you know."
"Dammit, Jax was right, you act like you're thirty, not fifteen," Keisha laughed again, but this time it was a lot warmer. "I really hope you two are serious about each other and that this relationship lasts a long, long time, because if it doesn't, I think the two of you could really hurt each other. Now, first we find those towels, then you and I need to have a quick talk while my daughter gets herself into a bikini that should be outlawed."
"Oh, boy, thanks for the warning, and maybe I should go upstairs to slip my jock strap on underneath my bathing trunks," Tor said as he opened the linen closet in the hallway. "Before I run off to do that though, what towels did Mom want?"
"Oh, she just wanted a few extra towels, but mostly this was an excuse to talk to you. First though, forget the jock strap! Dori needs to see your reaction for her own peace of mind. It's great that you think she's smart, but I know my little girl and if you don't think she's sexy she'll just try harder, but at the same time she may be a bit leary of you in some ways. I am not going to put any additional barriers in the way to keep you from becoming closer to her, because I think she'll do that herself. In my opinion though, she really needs a boyfriend and I don't think she could have picked a better one.
"Now, you should know a few facts about Dori that aren't common knowledge. In the first place her body developed early, so although she wasn't quite thirteen years old, those two Carruthers boys that you tangled with tried to rape her, but she broke away from them and ran off. Her clothing was torn and she had some bruises, but the cops couldn't get enough proof to charge the bastards, so the little pricks were free to hassle her every day at school. I took her to see the doctor and had her checked out, but pysically she was okay. Since Jax was just starting his business and I was working long hours, we couldn't be with her all the time we should have. So, because we felt she was in danger, I arranged that she'd have a ride home from school every day and I had her put on the pill as well, just in case. Jax and I certainly didn't want to take a chance of having any of those Carruthers bastards in our family. She's never been the same since – instead of acting normally and going out with any nice guys, she's acted like she was terrified of all guys. So, you're the very first young man she's shown any interest in seeing, and that just might be because you put those same two slimy slugs in jail.
"Now legally, you are both underage and since I'm not family, I can't even discuss sexual situations with you. Off the record though, if the two of you do get involved, I'll do my best to look the other way. Your mother and I had a talk earlier and she knows how I feel, but I don't think she agrees with me." Keisha sighed softly. "You know my opinion though – I think my daughter needs to stop acting like a frightened virgin and as far as I know, there's only one cure for that! I think you're just what the doctor ordered to teach her how to be a vibrant young woman, because I think you're a really nice guy and I can't see you forcing her in any way."
All Tor could do was stare at Keisha in absolute astonishment. He couldn't believe that she'd literally told him she'd cover for him if he had sex with her daughter. He didn't know about Dori, but he knew he wasn't ready for that step just yet, only somehow he couldn't tell Keisha how he felt. As well as that, he knew that Dori had been shy of guys for a totally different reason, but once again he couldn't say anything. He didn't know what to say or do. He was completely speechless.
The sounds of flushing of the upstairs john, then the closing of the bathroom door and the rapid footsteps along the hallway came as welcome relief. He had an excuse to turn and walk toward to bottom of the stairs, then look up.
Everything but the sight he saw at the top of those stairs faded from his mind in that instant.