Thor's Child ©
by K Pelle
Chapter 15
Dori was highlighted by the stairway light, yet backlit by the light in the hallway and the combination did a marvellous job of showing her figure to advantage. She seemed almost to glow in that light and she was smiling at him as if she was delighted by the way he looked at her. Her skin was darker in colour than a European woman's skin would normally have been, but not a lot darker than a dark summer tan on most women. She had a classic hourglass shape, but was tall and relatively sleek, neither fat nor thin, just pleasantly rounded. He was more interested in her face than her figure though, because her smile was so bright and cheerful.
"Wow, you've got a really great smile," Tor said in a very soft voice. "And you're awful, darn pretty today."
"You twit," Dori giggled, "I'm wearing this bikini so you can admire my figure."
Actually the instant Tor had seen the bikini he knew why her mother had said it should be illegal. It wasn't that the bikini was too small, or too tight, instead the bikini was almost the same colour as Dori's skin, so from a distance it would look as if she was nude. All it had taken was one glance and Tor had broken into a grin. He could see how that would cause a lot of second and even third looks by many folk, since Dori's figure was definitely worth a second glance and that bikini made it even more noticeable. It certainly wasn't something he would have expected her to wear.
"Oh, I thought you were wearing that to announce you were coming out of your shell," he teased with a wink and heard a choked off snort from Dori's mother."But I could say, hubba, hubba ding, ding, look at the curves on that thing!" he continued silently.
"I guess you like, huh?" Dori asked and from the smile on her face Tor knew she liked his reaction to what he saw.
"Ohhhh, yeaaaah!"
"Is Mom still there and watching you from hiding?" Dori started down the stairs.
"Unh huh."
"Just so you know, I cheated and listened to what she said, but I didn't listen in on your comments, because I didn't want to hear your answers," she was about halfway down.
"You heard her?"
"Yep, that's why I took so long. I wanted her to finish whatever she wanted to tell you, but I didn't think she'd say what she did. By the way, you already know she's wrong about my reasons for not having a boyfriend, so just forget her silliness, okay," Dori smiled at him and took his hand, then turned toward her mother when she heard a chuckle. "Tried to catch us being naughty, didja, Mom? Too bad Tor is a nice guy, so even though I teased him, he wouldn't play along with me."
Her mother just grabbed the stack of towels and stomped off without a word, leaving Tor somewhat puzzled, but not for long.
"I thought she'd do that," Dori sent with an audible sigh. "Someday when we have several hours to spend and no chance of interruptions I'll tell you her story, but not right now. All you need to know for now is that she really hates to have anyone interfere with one of her plans."
"The bit about plans sounds like my mom, or any mom for that matter," he grinned and grabbed Dori's hand to lead her outside. "Come on, let's see if we can catch up with your mom."
They didn't catch up, but as they walked out of the path through the trees and into the little glade next to the pool there were several gasps from people. Seconds later there were several slightly embarrassed chuckles as people realized that she wasn't nude. Somehow both Tor and Dori managed to keep a straight face through the whole episode as they walked right to the pool and dove in.
Tor found that once they were in the water, he was no longer the better athlete of the two. Dori could swim circles around him, and she did, racing him to the far end of the pool and beating him handily.
"You're a blinkin' mermaid!" he laughed as they both paused to tread water. "Why aren't you involved in competitive swimming of some sort?"
"I just don't like to draw attention to myself," she answered softly.
"Then how the heck did you ever have the nerve to buy that swimsuit?"
"I didn't buy it. My cousin, Tyeshia, bought it for me when we were in California during Easter holidays. She's really tall, really thin, and real boy hungry, so I think she was using me as bait to draw the guys on the beach."
"I'll bet it worked," Tor laughed aloud.
"Yeah! Too much!" Dori snapped, then dove underwater and swam off.
"Dori?" Tor tried to reach her mentally, but she didn't answer. He wondered if water interfered with that sort of communication, but when she climbed out of the water and walked over toward the others he tried again. "Dori, what's wrong?"
"I'll tell you later, when we're alone!" she snapped, then flopped down by his sister and started a conversation.
"I'm sorry I upset you."
"It's not your fault, it's mine. Now please let me calm down. I'm trying to listen to Alva, but I'm not angry with you, so you can come over here and sit with us if you want to," Dori sounded slightly upset, but not annoyed.
"Maybe I shouldn't? I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Yeah, okay!" she snapped.
Instead of heading for Dori he wandered over to where his dad, her father and Rick were sitting.
"Trouble in Paradise?" her dad asked quietly.
"Not really, she just wanted to talk to Alva for some reason," Tom shrugged his shoulders. "I figured it was some woman's thing, so I butted out."
"Smart fella. If you get pushy with Dori, she gets stubborn. Then if you push any more she can get real annoyed right quick, just like her mother."
"These fellows were just talking to me about your cars, Tor. Have you made up your mind just what you want to do?" Tor's dad asked quietly.
"Pretty well, Dad," Tor frowned slightly. "I want to move the workbench as soon as I can, then I want to build some shelving for storage. After those two jobs are done, I want to move the frame and body to the new shop, but I don't want to take the body off the frame it's on until it's there. I'm worried that the body panels might get warped or twisted in the move if it isn't supported on the frame."
"Good point!" Rick nodded. "Jax was mentioning something about that."
"I was also thinking that I have a large panel van sitting at my place," Dori's dad broke in then. "It isn't licensed, but I could tow it out here and we could load those two pickup bodies into that and leave it here for now. I can park it near the equipment shed, lock it up and leave you the keys. That would get all the parts you're certain you won't need out of your dad's shed and make storage of the parts you might need much easier."
"Oh, don't be silly!" Tor snorted. "I don't care if you two take the pickup bodies away, in fact I'd prefer it if you did. What I'm a bit concerned about is things like fenders, wheels, rad shells and things of that sort. I want to use the least rusted and least damaged of those parts on my car, but at the same time I want them all to be the right year, if possible. As I've said before, all I want is something that looks old and runs like new, but I don't have a lot of time or money to waste on the job."
"I thought you had already sorted all of the parts?" his dad asked quietly.
"Well, I had Björn and Kai helping me, and I'm not too certain that we really knew what we were doing. I kept referring to that line drawing of the coupe for ideas, but I'm not certain that I was doing a very good job and I don't think Kai or Björn were any better judges than I was."
"Ah ha, now your concerns make perfect sense," Jax grinned. "Now for that sorting job you need a professional and since it seems you're my daughter's new beau, I'll offer to help you do it and there won't be any charge."
"Here I thought you wanted to have half of the pickup parts?" Tor teased, winking at Rick.
"Well, yes I do, but . . ." then Jax broke into a grin and shook his head. "I'll be danged. If he's got enough guts to tease me this soon after becoming involved with my daughter, he might have enough strength to put up with her."
Tor just grinned, but Rick snorted loudly and Tor's dad broke into soft laughter.
"Jax, you need to remember the Carruthers boys and add on Tor's record on the hockey team," Rick chortled. "Guts are not something Tor lacks, but he's still a gentleman. He just refuses to back down from a challenge, that's all."
Tor just shook his head at that, "I'm not gutsy, just stubborn."
"That's true, Tor has always had a strong view of right and wrong, but it is his own version of right and wrong, and not always in agreement with everyone else's view of the situation," his dad laughed shortly. "That isn't why I asked you all here though, instead I thought we should clear up how we are going to handle the situation concerning those car parts."
That statement open a floodgate and in a moment Tor's quiet afternoon entered a new phase. Over the next hour his life became much more complicated as Rick and Jax laid out their schedules and set up times that wouldn't interfere with Tor and his dad's work so they could come help him with his car. Actually Tor's dad was quite lenient about the times he would need Tor's help, so Tor had to comment that he'd need to set aside at least two hours every day to work with the horses. Other than that, Tor felt they were rehashing old news and his attention had a tendency to wander and one of the places his mind wandered to was the subject of Dori and just what he was getting involved with there. Only he'd hardly begun considering that situation when Dori called him.
"Tor, can I talk to you for a couple of minutes?" she asked politely
"Sure," he called then looked at the three men. "It seems that I've been summoned, so if you'll excuse me?"
"Yep, Dori's starting to train you already, but go ahead, Tor," his dad teased with a broad wink.
"Naw, your wife and daughter took care of training both you and me years ago, Dad," Tor winked right back, then rushed off, but was followed by gales of laughter.
"What made our dad's laugh like that?" Dori asked silently as she grasped his hand.
"Oh, they were teasing me, saying that you were already training me, so I told them that Mom and Alva had trained both Dad and I years ago," Tor answered silently, then said, "What would you like, Dori?"
"Oh, let's go for a walk down to the horse pasture again," Dori managed to say seriously. "But it isn't fair for you to tell me a joke of sorts when Alva thinks I should be looking upset."
"Why should you be upset?" he asked, frowning slightly as he looked at her. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, not you," she answered aloud as she turned toward the path through the trees. "Now be quiet for a minute. This is going to take me a while to explain."
"Take all the time you want," he squeezed her hand gently, just to assure her.
"I screwed up at Easter and then again today, and both times it was when I wore this bikini."
Tor thought back to the things she'd said about her cousin, the suit, the beach and Dori being bait for the boys and jumped to a conclusion that she'd been involved with someone.
"Well first, Easter is long gone and we weren't close then, so whatever you did at that time is none of my business. Second, I disagree about the bikini, because I think you look wonderful in it," he sent, but a second later he snorted loudly. "It isn't as if I've lived a perfect life either, so I'm not about to bellyache if you feel you've made a mistake or two."
"Yeah but . . ."
"No buts." he growled. "We just got together, so as far as I'm concerned we both start out with a clean slate. I won't judge you over any of your past mistakes, just as long as you don't judge me about mine. Okay?"
Dori just stared at him for a moment, then she was hugging him tightly. He'd barely gotten his arms around her when she kissed him, then after a very short kiss she pulled back and grinned at him.
"We'd best keep walking because I'm not sure I can trust myself to be a 'good girl' around you right now," she giggled. "You're almost too much for a gal to take and still keep her dignity intact, if you know what I mean."
"Well, I'm not sure I do, but then I'm not about to worry myself over anything of that sort right now, not unless you want me to," Tor shrugged. "What I'd prefer is that you relax and be yourself, so I can get to know you as you really are, rather than some disguise you try to show the rest of the world."
"Do you know just how hard that's going to be?"
"Yeah, I do," Tor snorted, then laughed just a bit to show her that he understood and was trying to reassure her, not make fun of her. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to be playing hockey and not reach out to give the hockey puck just a tiny little push when that's all that would be needed to change the whole game? You can't have any idea how tempting that is at times. It would be so easy to cheat and no one would ever know but me."
"Oh, my!" Dori stared at him for a second. "I never even thought of that when you showed me what you could do with a dandelion flower. Shoving a little chunk of rubber just a little bit on an icy surface wouldn't be that hard for you either, would it. Damn, you must have a strong moral code not to cheat at something like that, especially when it would be so easy."
"Wrong wording. I'm not overly moral, just very ethical," Tor snapped. "Moral codes are ideas and beliefs that other people develop and expect you to obey as a means of controlling the population as a whole. That's the sort of crap that gets pushed on you by churches, governments and other authoritarian groups, but I don't listen to some of that very damn much. Personal ethics are my strong point and what stops me from cheating on anything that might matter, simply because I'd be taking an unfair advantage. Hockey is a game of strength, speed and skill, so the only mental portion of the game is really just believing in your coach, your teammates and yourself. It's a game of cooperation, not of pure unaided skill by any one player, not that a skilled player can't influence the game, but all of the skills are physical, not mental."
"Jeeze, here I am, Miss Smart-Ass-Know-It-All, walking along and holding hands with a jock, who has just blown me away by discussing an intellectual concept that I've never even considered before. I'm supposed to be the person that everyone in our classes envies because I do so well in school, but you're blowing my 'F'ing mind, Tor," she giggled, for a second, then suddenly frowned and grew much more serious. "Now, are you really that much of a rebel, or were you just sounding off? It almost sounded like you'd break the law if it suited you, since the law is really just a legalized version of a moral code."
"Now you're starting to understand me," Tor nodded. "I do my best to stay within the bounds of the law, but if following legal means and methods would hurt any of my family, my friends or me, I might step outside the law for a brief time. Robert Heinlein created a character named 'Lazarus Long' who called himself a 'rational anarchist' and only followed the laws that he believed were ethical or those that improved his situation. To a certain extent, that's what I am, only I've modified that to call myself an 'ethical anarchist' instead. For instance when Tommy Carruthers started shooting at our house, I raced upstairs, got out my rifle and shot back. I was perfectly willing to go out on a limb while protecting myself and my family, but legally I was in the wrong. Of course now that I've met you, I've slid even further into ethical anarchy, if that is even possible."
"Me? What have I done?"
"Well, you're female and I'm a male of the same species. You can bear young, therefore as a male member of the human species, I'm naturally protective of you. However to make things even more telling, I believe the skills which you and I possess are genetically similar, but also relatively rare. As a result of that conclusion and since you are . . ."
"Hold it right there!" Dori lifted a hand and held a finger over his mouth to stop him, then she smiled to take the sting out of interrupting him. "First off, you're sounding like you're giving me a formal lecture or something of that sort. Secondly, Mom has made certain that you and you're whole family know that I'm well within my child bearing years, and as well as that she thinks you are the perfect guy for me to be with. Personally, I think this is one time she may be right, even if it's for the wrong reasons, but first we have to get to know each other a lot better than we do. Can we just talk about normal things today, like school and plans, stuff like that?"
So the two of them wandered about, talking for a while, but eventually they went to the back porch of the house, pulled a pair of deck chairs close to each other, then just sat and chatted. They were still sitting there still visiting, still trying to get to know each other better when all the visitors decided it was nearly time to leave. Before leaving though, both Jax and Rick made a point of talking to Tor concerning the times when they could be around to help him establish his new shop and what he felt they should be doing. Since both men had businesses, most of their time helping Tor was going to be after work, but even then Rick had evening classes in his dojo that interfered on several days.
Dori stuck her oar in the water on that point too, wanting to come and help as much as she could, but that was more to the point of spending time with Tor, rather than her having any special skills. Since it was summer holidays, her only committed times involved her work as a candy-striper at the hospital or her classes with Rick though, so Tor knew he was about to see a lot of her in the next few days.
It didn't take all that long to come up with a workable schedule, but Tor was careful to point out that it wasn't written in stone. He was fairly certain that they'd be able to shift everything out of his dad's machine shed in plenty of time to be ready to go. Actually all he was uncertain about was if he'd have time to do any real work on the car before leaving for his holiday. After all he still had some preparations to make before he would be ready to go anywhere and he made certain that he mentioned some of his plans for things he had to do to be ready for his trip.
As the discussion waged, time passed and the sun moved across the sky, eventually the late afternoon shadows crept out from the tree line and across the grassy areas of the yard. That was a hint for Tor and his dad that chores needed to be done and it was a reminder for the others that they had things to do as well. Tor did get a few minutes in private with Dori before her family left, but besides a few stolen kisses and her promise that if she wasn't working at the hospital, Dori would be along whenever her dad came to help him.
Tor knew that it was inevitable that he was going to get teased about Dori by his family, so when Alva commented while the family was at the supper table, he did little more than shrug his shoulders.
"For a guy who said he thought that Dori was a bit strange, you certainly seemed to hit it off with her today," Alva grinned at him.
"What can I say?" he managed to turn her major grin into a weak smile. "I think she's both extremely smart and very pretty, besides she seems to look at the world almost the same way I do. She's the one that broke through her shyness and started talking, not me. I've been trying to talk to her for months, so if she's changed her mind and wants to talk to me now, I'm certainly not going to chase her away."
"I think you made that quite obvious," his mom smiled broadly. "However, you may have a few people expressing their displeasure about your going out with someone of her mixed racial background."
"That's their problem, Mom," Tor lifted his eyes from his plate and looked directly into hers. "You've always taught me to look at people's actions and personalities, not their race or religion, which means I'm not about to worry too much about bigots or racists. I'd rather spend my time with an intelligent conversationalist than a bigoted fool any day, so the people who would be upset at seeing us together aren't folks I'd want for close friends anyway."
"I expected you to feel that way, but I'm not sure just how Dori's mother really feels about you. I think she might expect you to act less of a gentleman than we would expect, particularly because of Dori's mixed racial background."
"Oh, I'm sure Dori's mom told you that she and I had a long chat when she came back into the house to get extra towels," Tor chuckled. "She seemed quite surprised that Dori and I weren't changing into our swim suits in the same room. I think she's just a bit on the strange side, so I'm not about to worry too much about what she says about Dori and me, not after she bragged about her racial background. Instead I'll listen to you and Dad, or to Mr. Laroque, or Jax, as he seems to prefer to have me call him. At least I think he's got his head screwed on fairly straight."
His dad winked and nodded, so Tor relaxed completely, knowing he'd passed some sort of parental test.
"So, I guess my little brother has a girlfriend," Alva tried to tease again.
"I dunno about that," Tor shrugged. "I think it's a bit early to make any assumptions of that sort."
"Oh, come on! I saw the pair of you sneaking in a goodbye kiss or two before Dori left."
"So? It's not as if she's the first gal I've kissed or hugged. I mean Sunny was running around acting as if she was engaged to me a couple of years ago."
"That doesn't count. That was just puppy love. I'll bet you haven't kissed anyone else."
"Well, I didn't initiate any others, but every guy on our hockey team has been virtually attacked by crazy female fans," Tor snorted. "Even Mom's two protectors have managed to catch me when I wasn't expecting them to do anything but perhaps share a hug."
He happened to be watching his mom and noticed her eyes widen slightly. His dad must have been watching as well, because he chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Tor's mom snapped at his dad.
"Oh, just the idea of setting a pair of foxes to guard a young rooster," his dad chortled.
"Hmm, I wonder if I should tell Sami and Em that my dad thinks they're foxes?" Tor teased almost instantly.
"I think that comment had better die right here at this table and not be repeated by any of us," Tor's mom said firmly, but she was smiling. "I guess I wasn't as smart as I thought I was and it seems my young guardians weren't as effective as I had hoped either."
"It wasn't their fault, Mom. They did what they could around here, but they don't travel out of town with the team," Tor winked at her. "If Dori and I do get together, you'd better warn them to lay off their protective roll though, because I think if they tried that with her around, they'd be in trouble."
"Oh I'd think they can protect themselves, Rick's training might help out a bit there," his mom almost smirked.
"Maybe it would help some, since they'd know how to fall," Alva laughed loudly at that idea. "Dori has been studying martial arts since she was ten years old, Mom, so Sunny, Sami and Em are beginners compared to her. She and Keisha only go to Rick's dojo to stay in practise and they spar with Akio, who has been involved with martial arts since she was a kid. Actually, that's how Rick met Akio, through Jax and Keisha."
Later that evening when Tor and his dad went out to do their final check of the farm, Tor's dad raised the question of Tor's thoughts about working on the car again.
"Are you comfortable with Rick and Jax working with you on your car?" he asked quietly.
"I think so, Dad. Getting the bits and pieces of the car was a complete surprise in the first place, then having those two guys jump in and offer to help me to rebuild it was astonishing. I think I'm going to really enjoy going away for a while though, because I need to get used to all the changes that are happening to me and around me," Tor took a deep breath. "I think I need to calm down about Dori too, but I don't think she's going to cooperate with me on that subject."
His dad just chuckled and reached out to squeeze Tor's shoulder in his big hand, but he didn't comment.
"Not going to give me any advice?" Tor looked at him questioningly.
"Ump um," his dad smiled. "I think you've hit another point in your life where you have to take your own path for a while and I can't advise you on what to do. All I can do is to suggest that you take it slow and that you try to be careful of everyone's feelings. Just so you know, I like the young woman a lot so far, but I think she's much different from any of the other girls who have shown up around here. She's much like you in a way, neither one of you talks much, but when you do say something it makes a lot of sense to most people."
"Well, I'm not sure about that, Dad. All I do know is that somehow just being near her makes me feel comfortable and I'm blown away with that. Like I said before, she seems to think like I do."
"That's a good start on a developing friendship, Tor, a very good start!"
There was something about walking around with his dad as they 'put the farm to bed' that was extremely comforting to Tor. It was time for putting the cares of the day aside, but also a time to make plans for the future. That night though, the conversation simply died and Tor walked beside his father in quiet contemplation. But then, Tor had thoughts of his own that evening, thoughts he couldn't discuss with his dad, so when his dad finally headed toward the house to watch the evening news, Tor proceeded to make himself scarce.
He wasn't looking forward to the grilling that Alva and his Mom were bound to give him, so he called his dog and slipped off for a walk. In hardly any time he was out in the orchard looking for any apples that might have fallen, but the goats hadn't found. All the time he was wandering around he was trying to think of some way to explain his sudden change in his view of Dori, at least some sort of explanation that would sound slightly realistic. There certainly wasn't any way he could tell Alva or his mom the truth, or they'd be calling for the men in white suits, who would likely arrive carrying a straight jacket.
"Whadda ya say Ghost?" he asked the cavorting dog. "Got any ideas for me?"
Only Ghost chose that moment to head out in chase of a squirrel who scampered up one apple tree, then hopped, leaped and jumped from tree to tree, leaving the frustrated dog far behind.
Tor searched around until he found a few fallen and sadly withered apples, scooped them up, and called the dog.
"Come on, Ghost, it's time to go see the horses for one last time today."
The dog gave him a look that said 'Why bother. They're no fun?' then gave a final yapping bark or two at the squirrel, before trotting back to Tor and falling in at heel for a few paces. Soon though Ghost was 'following, by leading the way' as he usually did, happily trotting along and checking that the path they were following was safe for his master. As usual the dog didn't need any explanations or descriptions of what Tor was planning, instead he was simply happy to be with Tor, doing his best to keep up and yet be available if he was wanted or needed. Right at the moment Ghost's undemanding company was exactly what Tor wanted and needed, since it gave him a chance to relax and calm his feelings about Dori.
Actually his surging hormones weren't the main cause of his present state though. Instead Tor was having a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that Dori caused him to have feelings that he'd never had with any other girl or woman that he had ever met. It wasn't simply that he wanted to do things with her that he had never done before either. He felt that his desires for physical contact were under control, yet he felt an unbelievable need to spend time with her, to get to know her, to teach her, to learn from her, anything that allowed 'mental' contact with her. That simply didn't seem reasonable to him since he had known her and gone to school with her for almost three years and she hadn't affected him this way before. Was finding out that she was 'like him' the only reason for his present feelings? Or was it just that both of them had reached some magic plateau in their development, some switch that puberty had finally triggered? It wasn't that she lacked the ability to arouse his physical interest either. THAT was no problem at all, or rather it was a major problem, but one he'd learned to control. It only took a passing glance, or a wink and a smile from her to cause his arousal, but then lots of girls could affect him that way.
That wasn't the problem he was delving into that evening though, instead his main problems with their developing relationship came from a side of his psyche that he hadn't run into previously. Not just that, but it was such a strong feeling that he found it almost unbearable. He wanted to be with her, to hold her, to protect her or to 'talk' to her and he'd found that it felt almost painful to be separated from her when she'd left. He was feeling a loss of her contact, not just her physical contact, but the mental touch that he'd never shared with anyone else. They had shared a mental goodbye as her father drove down the driveway and now there was an empty feeling inside his own mind that he couldn't explain.
He missed the little 'comments' that they had been able to toss back and forth while carrying on innocent, almost vapid conversations. He missed the extra depth of understanding those comments had given to their quiet chat as they sat on the porch. He sighed softly, knowing that his conversations with others were going to seem flat and uninteresting in comparison. Then he snorted softly when he saw Alva standing at the fence, petting one of the horses. He knew she had guessed that he'd head down to see them before heading inside for the night and had obviously decided she was going to be waiting there when he arrived. Well, he'd had a short time alone, maybe he'd had enough time to tie a mental handle to his feelings so he wouldn't appear totally infatuated with Dori when he talked to Alva. It wasn't as if he could avoid the coming discussion, so he might as well wade in and have at it.
"Hah, you decided to waylay me, huh?" he said loudly as he walked up behind her, then grinned as she jerked in surprise.
"Dammit, you startled me!" Alva snapped as she spun to face him. "How do you manage to walk so quietly anyway?"
"Easy, I don't thump my heels as I take a step, unlike a certain heavy-footed nurse I know," he grinned handing her a couple of apples so she could feed one horse while he fed the other. "Now since you've managed to intercept my path, I imagine you want to know more about my feelings for Dori, don't you?"
"Well, yeah, but you're making it sound like I'm snooping."
"That's because you are," Tor chuckled. "You're my big sister and being snoopy comes with the territory, doesn't it?"
"Touché," she managed to snort before giggling like a kid. "So I'm curious, so what? After all you're my little brother and Dori is a very good friend."
"Well, in a way Dori has a split personality, she has a protective face that she shows while at school and a totally different personality when she's able to relax. There's no surprise about that though, since she was almost raped a few years ago, and it was while she was on her way home from school, so she's learned to protect herself by seeming to be quiet, shy and retiring. She felt comfortable when she came here today though, so she opened up and I saw a more open side of her that I liked a lot."
"That doesn't explain her reaction to you though."
"Well, of course not!" Tor snorted. "She was labouring under the mistaken impression that I was some sort of swelled headed jock, not the quiet reserved fellow I really try to be. The unfortunate part is that my sister was partially responsible for her feeling that way."
"Me!" Alva squawked. "You're blaming me for that?"
"Yep, you and everyone else who seems to think my ability to play hockey well is the main feature of my life. Nobody seems to mention anything else about me, or at least that's the impression I've gotten when I've happened to overhear people talking about me, before I totally tune out their silly prattle. That sort of crap gets a bit tiring after a while. I'm no friggin' superman and I wish people would realize it."
"I guess we're proud of you and I'm sorry if our pride has caused you any problems."
"Oh heck, I'm used to that sort of crud," he shrugged his shoulders, then snorted softly. "Since you know her as well, you could have warned me that Dori's mother is a raging lunatic though. She practically gave me orders to prove to Dori that sex wasn't something to be afraid of, which certainly wasn't what I expected."
"Well, Keisha has a few problems, the first of which is the fact that Dori is an only child and that's not from lack of trying, so she may be compensating for her desire for more kids. Maybe she's looking forward to having grandchildren instead now, but I wouldn't know about that. Of course you also mentioned the fact that Dori was almost raped and acts extremely shy in public, so Keisha may be stepping over the line a bit to balance that out too. I hope she didn't say anything about sex or things of that sort when Dori could hear her."
"You're worried about what Dori heard, not about what Keisha said to me?" Tor stared at her in astonishment.
"Naw, I know you and if you're still a virgin, then it'd be a miracle, not when you consider all the attention you've had over the years from girls who do think of you as a minor hockey god. Heck for that matter, considering the attention that Sunny has paid you over the years, you've had all sorts of opportunity to satisfy your basic instincts."
"Well, Sis, I think that's almost insulting," Tor sighed. "It isn't anything I didn't expect from you though."
"Are you trying to say that you're still a virgin?" Alva looked at him in disbelief.
"Well, it's none of your business, but yes, I am," he spun on his heel and walked away.
He didn't really care if she knew he was a virgin or not, but he used the idea that he was offended by her question as an excuse to get away from her. He wanted to do that before she did ask a question that he would find either embarrassing or perhaps worse, a question that might force him to either lie or dissemble to prevent her from finding out too much. There were simply some questions that he couldn't answer and still appear sane to most people. After all he and Dori could both do things that were impossible for anyone else Tor knew or had heard about.
However that brought up a question that had been bothering him all afternoon: if there were two people in existence with special mental abilities, how many more were there in the world? There were two in the small local population, but that might be only an oddity since both he and Dori were relative newcomers to the area. Still, if there were two mentally different people, there were almost bound to be more. Not only that, but he remembered the talk about Wayne Gretzky, something about a scientist wanting him to will his brain to science because he seemed to anticipate things before they happened. So the subject was out there. In fact, hadn't he heard rumours that both the US and Russia were conducting experiments concerning telepathy and telekinesis? If one government was interested in that sort of research, then others were probably interested as well which could become a major problem.
If he or Dori made just one slip at the wrong time, then they'd either have to become fugitives or else they'd end up in some damn government program or other, probably military. Since they lived in Canada it would probably be a Yankee military program of some sort, because he couldn't see the Canadian government actually developing the balls to fight with the Yanks, not over a couple of teenagers. Crap, he could count on hiding himself or at least fighting his own battles to remain free, but now he had to consider protecting Dori as well. Double crap, he should have thought of that today and said something about it to Dori, but then she had years of practise at being paranoid about hiding her talents, why should she change now? Unfortunately she might slip now, just because she knew that she was no longer one of a kind and wouldn't feel she was a complete oddity and might say the wrong thing at the wrong time.
He felt he should say something to her, warn her in some way, but he didn't know if he wanted to call her on the phone. He knew he wasn't strong enough to reach out all the way to town by 'thought,' and he wasn't going to try. Even if he could manage to do it, the amount of energy it would take would be horrendous, but he didn't really want to say anything about the subject on the phone. Phones could be tapped, then he snorted in disgust at that idea. That was simply paranoia at it's finest - who would tap the family phone of either a farmer or an autobody man? He shook his head at that and was still smiling wryly when he walked up the back steps toward the kitchen and met his Mom at the door.
"Well, you were easy to find," she smiled at him. "I was just going to call you. Dori phoned and wants you to call her back, in fact I just got off the phone with her, so if you'd been two minutes sooner, you could have just taken the call. She has a surprise for you."
"A surprise?"
"Ummhmm, and it's her surprise, so I'm not saying anything," his mom grinned, then winked. "Just so you know, I like that kid. She's something else and she suits you to a 'T' as a girlfriend, but she's gonna run you ragged."
His mom broke into a laugh then and walked away shaking her head. When Tor looked over at his dad who was having a coffee at the kitchen table, but he just shrugged and shook his head. Obviously he either didn't know or didn't agree with what was going on.
"Use the phone in the office and I'll keep the women folk from listening in on this one," his dad said quietly. "I think you'd appreciate that."
"Thanks, Dad. Now all I need is the phone book so I can dial the right number . . ."
"555-0134," his mom called from the living room. "And tell that old man out there that I wouldn't listen in on your private conversations anyway."
"Yes, Mom, and thanks, but he heard you."
"Yeah, but did he listen?" she laughed.
Because of that laugh, Tor knew there wasn't an argument brewing between them, instead his mom was obviously teasing his dad over something and it was obviously none of his business. He went into the office and closed the door, then sat down at the desk and dialled the phone. It was picked up almost instantly and Dori was on the line.
"Tor?" she asked breathlessly.
"Yep, you called."
"Are you sitting down?"
"Yeah, why?"
"The hospital screwed up and I'm not listed to be on shift for the next two weeks. Mom's holidays are right, but mine are screwed up and on top of that my aunt and uncle in California are moving, so we won't be going down there on holiday. Anyway, that doesn't matter much to you. What does matter is that Dad is going to put dealer plates on his old panel van and bring it out to your place tomorrow morning, so you can load it up with any parts you know you aren't gonna use. Mom is going to come take him back to town in time to open the shop, but he's going back to your place tomorrow night. That means I can come out with him in the morning and help you with whatever you do all day long, if that's okay with you?"
"Well, I won't argue about that idea," Tor smiled. "I do have to work though, so it won't be like today was."
"Hmmph. I knew that," she snorted shortly. "And just so you know, Buster, I've helped dad around the body shop, so I know what hard physical labour is like. Your new gal pal isn't some delicate maiden who is scared to get her hands dirty, only since we'll be handling rusty old car parts I'll probably wear a coverall and gloves."
"It's July, Woman. You'd roast in a pair of coveralls," Tor snorted.
"Not if that's all I wore," she giggled.
"Even then they'd be hot and you'd be opening the top of them to cool down. So I guess I should warn you that if you tease me all day long I might get so frustrated that I'll turn you over my knee and paddle your bottom," Tor said teasingly.
"Ohhh, tell me more, I might like it," Dori giggled. "Anyway, since Dad opens his shop doors at eight and he'll have to drive to town after going out to your place, I'll be seeing you sometime after seven in the morning, okay?"
"Okay, I may still be doing chores, but you can always talk to Mom or Alva while you're waiting for me."
"Well, I imagine Dad will want to talk to you anyway, so we'll probably come looking for you instead."
"Okay, I'll see you then."
"Night, Tor."
"G'night, Dori."
After spending a few minutes with his folks to let them know what was going on, then a few more minutes in the shower, Tor headed for his room. That night Tor was very tired and went to bed earlier than normal. He fell asleep almost instantly and slept the whole night through without any dreams or nightmares, or none that he remembered anyway.
The next day started a ten-day long chapter in his life that could only be described as extremely hectic, but also very gratifying in many ways.