Nexus Foundation

Chapter 1

 

Olympic National Park

Washington

Late Saturday afternoon

 

The second he rounded the bend in the steep rocky trail, Ben knew he was in trouble. Serious trouble. Straddling the narrow path in front of him was a pissed off mountain goat. He couldn’t tell if the goat was pissed off in general or at him specifically, but he knew he was deep in the doodoo either way. He could smell its damp, snow white, wooly coat, sharp against the earthy scent of upland heather and wet granite outcroppings. Time slowed. Ben could see the finest detail of every part of the scene. He could even see the goat’s exhalations steaming in the air and the tiny hairs surrounding its dark wet nose. Ben could feel each bead of sweat trickling through his gray smattered, black hair and under his arms inside his muted red flannel shirt. They stared at each other, its glossy black eyes lasered into his coffee colored ones. Slowly its head dipped slightly and brought dagger sharp 6 inch long ebony black horns to bear. The beast shuddered slightly and drew a deep breath. Ben knew it was preparing to charge the 20 feet between them and launch him off the mountain.

 

Ben’s eyes widened and simultaneously his adrenaline pumped mind ran through what he knew about these goats. Normally, they were not a problem but when they felt cornered there were few animals as dangerous. In the last few years, they had killed two people here in the Olympic mountains of Washington state. Recently, in Montana one had even killed a 900lb grizzly. There were no scenarios that he could conjure that might help. The snow and rock covered slope gave him nowhere to run, not that it would have done a bit of good against an animal that routinely ran sideways along cliffs and could easily jump 20 feet straight up. Playing dead would just ensure that the 400lb beast in front of him would first tap dance its black hooves across his prone body and then loft it off the mountain.

 

Slow de-escalation was the only option that might give him a few seconds longer to live. He began deliberately easing backward and thought this was not how his day was supposed to turn out.

 

 

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Old Bean Coffee,

Harborton, Washington

Earlier that Saturday

 

The day was starting well. Ben cheerfully walked through the beat up wooden door of his favorite coffee shop. The babble of voices rose over the smell of freshly roasted coffee beans. It wasn’t too busy though and the early morning line for coffee was pretty short. And to top it off his favorite barista, Kelly, was working the cash register.

 

Kelly was a real cutie, about 5 foot 5 inches tall, with warm hazel green gold eyes, lightly tanned skin, shoulder length glossy light chestnut colored hair curled at the ends, and a slender but curvy shape. As a result, she was being constantly hit on by every male that came in, and a few females as well. Ben always avoided the temptation to join in. He could see a flash of disdainful weariness in her eyes every time it happened and just didn’t want to be included in that scornful gaze. Ben was quite certain that Kelly didn’t even know he was alive. Wistfully he remembered his youth when young women would, at least, give him a passing look. Well, he was old now, probably 20 years her senior, and while he wasn’t bitter about it and accepted those days as gone, he thought just once it would be nice to see her smile as if she really noticed him. Ah! the follies of old men Ben grumped to himself smiling slightly.

 

As the line wended forward Ben enjoyed the atmosphere of the quirky coffee shop. Old Bean wasn’t at all like the Starbucks across the street. It was an authentic piece of the community that had been on Main street of the small town for decades. It was full of mismatched wooden chairs, local (mostly bad) artworks, and scattered scratched tables surrounded by farmers, soccer moms, and a smattering of college students and professionals head down over their laptops and phones. Ben almost regretted his plans for the day. It would be enjoyable to just sit and relax for a bit, but the high trails in the Olympics were calling him. The most beautiful hikes would be snowed in soon and he didn’t want to miss the last opportunity of the fall.

 

Finally, he reached the counter. Kelly was stunning as always. Just a bit harried with her ruddy brown locks up in a ponytail under her baseball cap. A lavender long sleeved scooped neck t shirt showed just a tiny bit of cleavage and her tight jeans, while not quite painted on, showed some dangerous curves. Ben nearly developed a brain aneurysm trying not to gawk at her like some love struck teen.

 

“What would you like today?” Kelly said in a light clear tenor voice.

 

Ben's brain nearly misfired. His first thought was- If she’s a mind reader I’m in trouble.

 

“Um, just a large drip coffee please.” Ben stuttered, nearly dropping his wallet. God, why am I such an idiot around this woman, she’s barely more than a child he thought.

 

“Do you need room for cream?”

 

“Uh, no that’s alright.” he muttered as Kelly turned to the stainless steel drip coffee urn. Of course, he really did need room for cream. Why in the hell did he say he didn’t? Maybe he should belay the hike and head straight for the old folks home.

 

“That will be $3.75,” Kelly said cheerfully as she slid him his coffee.

 

“Here you go,” he handed her a five. He almost added “Kelly” but didn’t want her to think he knew her name because he was stalking her. “Keep the change!”.

 

“Thanks!” She rewarded him with the briefest flash of a smile.

 

Ben turned, thankfully without knocking anything or anyone over and wove his way through the strollers, book bags, and laptop cords toward the door. Stepping into the parking lot he took a deep breath of the smoke tinted autumn air to clear his head. Looking toward his old slate blue 4x4 he could see the profile of the ridge he was climbing today sticking a snow covered thumb into the clear blue sky.

 

Yep, this is going to be quite a day.

 

 

__________________________________

 

 

 

Olympic National Park

Washington

Late Saturday afternoon

 

 

“Easy now goat, easy” Ben muttered in a low tone as his hiking boots painstakingly traced his path backwards along the trail .

 

Ben seriously doubted the goat was going to heed his advice. He could see the muscled hindquarters of the goat bunching up in preparation for the charge when suddenly there seemed to be a flurry in the air between them. Almost like a heat shimmer in the desert. Ben shook his head to clear his vision. He thought this must be a part of a near death experience or maybe a stress hallucination. Incredibly, the goat just froze in place. A glazed look replaced the death glare on its face and its entire body relaxed.

 

“What the bloody blue blazes is this now?” Ben said to himself. This day couldn’t possibly get any stranger than this.

 

He was proven wrong when suddenly there was a scrambling sound just over an outcropping to his right.

 

“EEEEEpppppp!” bleated something out of sight.

 

Ben just had to see this, near death or not his curiosity just wouldn’t let it slide. Besides, the goat seemed to have completely zoned out for now. He cautiously crept to the right side of the trail where a large granite outcropping loomed out from the ridge he was on and then dropped straight down 1000 feet to the valley floor.

 

Peeking over the humped rock he spotted a ball of white fluff with two black button eyes staring up at him. The baby goat was wedged into the cliff face about 6 feet down from the edge. Its body was resting on a very small node of rock jutting out from the sheer cliff face. It looked like one of its legs had plunged straight into a crack and there was no way it was going to extricate itself. No wonder Mama was so upset. Ben looked carefully at the exposed rock face. Nope. Big nope. Ah fuck no way am I going to try this. Not my job. Why in hell didn’t I just stay in the coffee shop this morning? Ben thought as he began backing his way to the trail.

 

Then the baby bleated again. “baaaaaaaeeeeee”. Its eyes pinned Ben.

 

Crap, that sounded just like his name. Ben knew that the kid had a very nasty short life ahead. Trapped like that it would likely die a hard death over the next few days as thirst took it. Maybe it would be lucky enough to die before the crows and vultures found it and pecked it apart while still living. The baby goat quivered and again tried scrambling out of the crack to no avail. Dammit, he just couldn’t back away. No one could tell him that animals didn’t have emotions. Ben knew that the baby was terrified and that it somehow saw him as a last hope.

 

Alright, then how to do this? Luckily he had left the house that morning with his favorite fishing belt. A worn but sturdy blue canvas and nylon construction from Simms. It looked long enough to make a loop around the little goat’s body and leave enough room for a handhold and he thought he could adjust it so that the little fur ball couldn’t slip through.

 

He slid his small nylon daypack off his back, slipped his belt out, and wound it carefully around his neck, tucking the ends into his flannel shirt where he could reach it easily. There was a tiny ledge about a handspan wide that angled down almost to the rock where the goat was pinned. There also were a few finger cracks that he might be able to use. Ben used to do some climbing as a young man, but he had taken a bad fall while working construction after getting out of the Marines 15 years ago. He was never quite the same and heights now terrified him. Oh well, didn’t want to live forever anyhow he thought paraphrasing an old Gunnery Sergeant he used to work with.

 

Ben rolled over the lip after anchoring his hands in two places at the top of the face. Thankfully, his feet found the ledge without too much problem. Dammit, it was a long way down. The empty air under him suddenly developed a steely presence. Cold air was blowing up the cliff face, chilling the sweat dripping off his forehead. He could smell himself and the fragrant pines 1000 feet below. He only had about 5 feet to traverse but it seemed like a mile. With his face pressed into the rough, wet granite, Ben slid his right hand out about 3 feet to the next crack. Once he wedged his fingers in, he began shuffling along the edge until had to let go with his left.

 

Three points of contact he kept repeating, three points of contact. It was a mantra that he hoped would keep him from having to learn how to fly. With his feet secure he shifted his left hand into the crack just above his right hand and slid his right foot out along the rapidly narrowing ledge until it bumped into the protrusion holding the baby goat.

 

“Bwaaaaa!” The baby began struggling again.

“Easy little fur ball, I’m almost there” Ben huffed, “We’ll get you back to Mama soon.”

 

Now he just had to anchor himself well enough to slip the belt around Fur Ball and fasten it with one hand while his ass was hanging out over a whole lot of nothing. Easy peasy. The problem was that the next finger crack that would allow him to bend down to Fur Ball was too wide to really wedge into. Ben remembered a technique he had read about where the entire hand was wedged into a wider crack. The closed fist then acts like a cam lock anchor. Okay here goes nothing. Ben grabbed the edge of the wider crack with his right hand and quickly jammed his entire left hand into the crack and made a fist. Okay seems secure enough he thought. Funny but the climbing book never mentioned how much skin was likely to come off your knuckles while using this technique.

 

“Shush now Fur Ball, you need to settle down”. The little goat seemed to be calmed by Ben’s low voice.

 

This little guy has probably never seen a human being before and yet he knows I’m trying to help him, Ben thought in wonder. He carefully slid the belt from around his neck and slowly bent toward the kid. With one hand he painstakingly worked the belt under the little goat's white belly and then grabbed both ends. It took him three tries but finally, he was able to work the tip of the belt through the buckle loop with one hand. Finagling the buckle tongue into the right belt hole was another struggle.

 

Finally just as his left wrist and forearm began shaking he was able to cinch the belt secure. He worked his hands under the belt and began straightening his upper body while gently pulling the baby straight up out of the crack. Amazingly, the goat's leg came out easily and Ben was left with one hand stuck in the cliff face and one hand holding 30 pounds of squirmy mountain goat.

 

Crap, now what. Ben realized he hadn’t thought things through very well. The goat threw his balance off and he only had one hand to anchor himself. Maybe I can just get far enough back along the ledge that I can lift Fur Ball over my head and onto flat ground. He was going to have to let go with his left hand to reach the finger crack to his left. Quickly he withdrew his left hand and stabbed for the crack. For a dizzying second his feet were the only contact with the cliff face. His fingers scrambled over the granite until thankful he was able to slide them deep into the tiny crack. The baby goat must have been frozen by terror as it was perfectly still.

 

Letting out a deep breath, Ben slowly slid back to his left. The ledge he was on rose as it approached the top of the cliff. When he couldn’t stretch any farther Ben stopped to evaluate his position. He didn’t want to risk another one handed reach. On the other hand, if he wasn’t able to get the little goat to the top and it fell back against him then there was a good chance that he would overbalance and fall anyway. His shaking legs and arms decided for him.

 

He couldn’t stay here much longer. One good go and we’ll nearly be done, he thought. Taking a deep breath he pivoted just slightly and with a looping overhand motion slung the baby goat over his head. As his wrist hit the top of the cliff Ben let the belt go. Fur Ball tumbled a bit and then landed on the cliff top belly first with a wuff of air and dust. As he let go Ben’s right hand miraculously slid right into a gap at the very top of the cliff. With a desperate effort, Ben lifted himself one handed up the face. His scrambling feet caught a near invisible bump and he was able to launch himself up over the top.

 

Flopping over onto his back Ben thought, okay, never ever going to do that again. Fur Ball just stared at him in apparent agreement.

 

“Bleeeeep?” Fur Ball questioned.

 

“Yep, that should do it.” said Ben as he reached over and undid his belt from around the baby goat. “I’m going home, buying myself a rocking chair and sitting my ass in it until the day I die.”

 

“Baaaahhh.” said the baby

 

“Bahhahaaaaa!” said mama goat.

 

“Holy shit snacks!” said Ben as he realized he had completely forgotten about the adult goat that a few minutes ago had been ready to launch him into space. Luckily, mama was more concerned about the baby than about Ben. She turned and began slowly walking back up the trail away from Ben. With one last look back toward Ben, Fur Ball gave a hop and scampered after mom, its stubby little tail happily twitching.

 

Ben slowly worked his way into a sitting position glancing about him to ensure there were no other nasty surprises awaiting him on this beautiful Autumn afternoon. Just across from him a few feet up the side of the cut that the trail lay in he saw another of those strange disturbances in the air. Ben shook his head to clear it and it disappeared. Must have hit my head or something. Ben retrieved his belt stood and hefted his day pack onto his back.

 

“I wonder where I can get a good rocking chair?” Ben muttered to himself as he shakily worked his way down the hill towards his waiting Cherokee.

 

 

__________________________________

 

 

The old god shook his head in amazement at all he had just seen. If he hadn’t enchanted the mother goat in time it would have been a disaster for all concerned! He just had to ask his friend, the trickster Coyote about this. Coyote was much more familiar with modern humans and their vagaries.

 

It had been a while since he had been this close to humans. That wasn’t always the case though. For millennia all over the world he had been intimately involved with their lives. On this continent not far from this very mountain he even remembered walking out of the great snowfields alongside the first humans here. He had once been a part of thousands of celebrations of life, earth and fertility. During this time he had been known by many names in many cultures, Pan, Faunus, Kokopelli among others. In all that time he rarely remembered seeing a human with such compassion.

 

He was only in these mountains because he had decided to spend some time with his favorite beings. These mountain goat kids were just delightful to him. Their intelligence, courage, and love of life was unequaled in the animal world and they were incredible fun to watch cavorting in the high meadows and rocky escarpments. They were the undisputed lords of their high realm and it was a great pleasure for him in his waning years to spend time with them.

 

He was old, and he didn’t even know how old he was.These days he couldn’t even remember exactly where he came from. His earliest memories were of grass filled plains and early humans carefully gathering wild grain. But before that, nothing. He wasn’t even certain if this planet or this dimension was his birthplace. He certainly knew of others. Sometimes a vague pull from the night sky made him think of other places and lives. He also knew of other multiple other planes of existence, although nearly all were shut off from him now. This dimension and planet had humans and his favorite animals so he was quite content to limit his roaming here. Someday he knew that this too would come to an end. His last worshipers would forget him or not need him any longer and his energy would fade to nothing. He wasn’t sad about his demise in the same way a star wasn’t or a raindrop wasn’t sorry for their passing either.

 

In the meantime though, he was still alive and still had some small power and he felt the need to do something for this unusually likable human. A boon of some sort, just like the old times. His powers in this plane of existence were limited these days, or he would have just rescued the baby goat himself, but he was still a god and still had fine control of the smallest places between physical things and the elements that spanned probabilities. His knowledge of earth’s living things and how individuals reproduced was unequaled by few other gods.

 

As Ben made his way back down the trail the old god cast his presence into Ben’s mind. He was searching for something that Ben wanted or needed. He couldn’t read inner thoughts clearly in a human mind (higher animals were much easier), but he could get a good sense of wants and emotions and memories. He immediately noted that Ben had a high affinity for animals and nature. That certainly explained some of what had just occurred. Hmmm, maybe I can help that out a bit thought Pan.

 

Not surprisingly, he also noted Ben’s recent need for companionship. Being alone just did not suit these humans, thought the old god. He quickly found a knot of suppressed emotions in Ben’s most recent memories. Ah! He wants to be desirable to females again! The old god chuckled. This, he could do. He might even be considered the ultimate expert in it. Life and how it continued itself were part of his very essence. He was very wise in many other things as well. Unfortunately for Ben, he was also not a human, and had in fact never been even close to human. In spite of untold thousands of years spent with them he never quite understood people and so had no idea of the havoc he was about to wreak on Ben’s once simple life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2

Ben’s house

Harborton Washington

Saturday evening

 

Ben was exhausted. Every part of him hurt. Even his eyelids had aches. After arriving at his modest clapboard sided Craftsman style home just outside of the small town of Harborton, Ben took a hot shower. He let the hot water stream over him until it ran cold. The water stung the scrapes on his hands and arms but still felt wonderful. After dressing his injuries with some betadine and gauze Ben realized he was ravenously hungry. He was too tired to cook but devoured an entire loaf of bread, 2 jars of peanut butter, a pound of bologna, a can of spam and an entire 6 pack of beer. Then he drug himself to bed and collapsed without even taking his shoes off.

 

His dreams were filled with strange images. An odd man playing some sort of flute was laughing and dancing through every dream. Ben hadn’t had a wet dream since his early teens but this one wouldn’t stop. In his dream, strange women of all types and ages seduced him. Embraces and long slow kisses, a wink and then they were gone and the next one approached. Ben had almost forgotten how much he loved women!

 

Next up in his dreams were images of his body changing. In this dream he could see a semi-transparent three dimensional representation of his body. Hot spots in his brain would flare up red and then subside to a greenish tint, then areas in his body, his liver, adrenal glands, hypothalamus, pineal gland, and thyroid would all flare red and then green. His nervous system showed like a string of blue beads and then each bead flared red and then green as well.

 

In the last dream there were smells. He could never remember having the sense of smell in a dream before. It was an almost endless montage of women that he had been close to over his lifetime. Some were just a few minutes next to each other, some were intimate relationships. Every scene of a woman was overlaid by unique scents surrounding her. Perfume, soap, hairspray and the slight musky feminine smell underlying it all. It was intoxicating in his dream. He never knew how much scent communicates between humans! This must be what it’s like for some animals he thought as his dreams finally faded into deep sleep.

 

 

 

 

_____________________________

 

 

 

Ben’s house

Harborton Washington

Monday morning

 

 

After much tossing and turning Ben awoke to the early morning light with an erection that could have drilled holes through a steel beam. It had been years since that happened. As he lay there he reflected that the last time he felt even a little this way was probably when Monica shared his bed. She was a good sort and very well meaning. Beautiful as well. But he and Monica had fizzled out 3 years before and Ben had just never been able to muster the effort to try again.

 

Physically he was fine. Being an outdoor nut and running had kept him in reasonable shape for his 45 years. He still had much of the medium to wiry muscular build of his Marine Corps days spread out over a sturdy 5 foot 10 inch frame. And he even had most of his hair, even if it’s close cropped length was leavened by a good share of gray at the sides these days. His face was weathered with an outdoorsman’s tan and the smile lines were a bit deep around his eyes and high cheekbones. He didn’t feel old, though ,maybe sometimes just tired of looking for something that would never be. He had come to the realization that being alone was his lot in life. He was happy enough with his own company and believed it was a small price to pay for not having to put up with the general population of idiots. Sometimes though, he thought it might be nice to have a female type person to hang out with on a more permanent basis. He really did miss their light voices and quirky (to him) ways as well as their delightful fragrance and soft touch. It’s not likely that he’d be able to find a woman that’d tolerate his salty ass though, thought Ben with a wry grin.

 

Kids were completely out of the question for Ben of course. In addition to the obvious problem of not having a woman around to produce them with, he doubted that he would be even an okay dad. He was entirely too grumpy and thought he would be too prone to let them get into and out of their own trouble. It really wasn’t that big of a deal though. He had his kids at the school. They were equal measures of infuriating, enlightening and entertaining. They kept him honest and on his toes. All in all he enjoyed his job.

 

Done with deep thinking for the moment, Ben sighed and struggled his way upright, wincing as his leg muscles came into play. Haltingly he staggered toward the shower. Stripping his clothes he realized that he stank with an unusual smell like kerosene or paint thinner. Ketones he thought as he remembered one of his few biology courses.

 

“Hmmm that might not be good” If he remembered correctly Ketones were produced when damaged cells in the body got recycled.

 

As he removed the gauze from his hands and arms he noticed that his scrapes were almost completely healed. That’s really strange he thought, maybe they weren’t as bad as he had thought. Shrugging he stepped into the shower and let the hot water revive him. He was still starved and disoriented. He had no idea what time it was as he reached for his phone on the way to the kitchen. No way! Ben panicked as he read the time out. How the hell is it 6:45 am on Monday! He had somehow slept Saturday night and the entire Sunday away. Scrambling, he began throwing his work clothes together into a small backpack and pulling on his running clothes. Whenever the weather wasn’t a total shit show he liked to run the 3 miles into Harborton High School where he was the history teacher. If he hurried he had just enough time to grab a coffee to go. He really didn’t want to have to consume the motor oil sludge that passed for coffee in the teachers lounge. Locking the door to his cottage he dashed out across his backyard and onto the green belt trail that led toward downtown.

 

It took a full mile to stretch the sore spots out and then another to get into a rhythm. With his Asics runners beating out a steady pace. Ben decided to stretch the last mile just a bit. He was out of breath and blowing hard as he finished his run in the back of Old Bean Coffee. Hands on his hips, sweat streaming down his face he walked a few steps to warm down and glanced at the timer on his Casio. He was slightly astonished to discover that he was well under 7 minute miles. He hadn’t run that pace in 15 years! He smiled to himself, not bad for an old fart whose legs had been killing him a few minutes ago.

 

Removing a small towel from his pack he wiped the worst of the sweat off himself, threw the towel back in his pack and walked into Old Bean Coffee. There was a thankfully short line in front of him as he awaited his daily caffeine fix, and for another treat, Kelly was working this morning!

 

The bell on the door chimed as someone entered behind him. A few seconds later he felt a faint brush from behind. Startled, he turned slightly and looked over his shoulder and came nose to nose with a rather pretty 30 something soccer mom type who had her face pressed into the pack on his back.

 

“Um, uh sorry, what is that cologne you are wearing? It smells so good, I have to get my husband some!” She stuttered while blushing furiously. Her normally pale face and neck were rosy with embarrassment but she didn’t back away much. She nervously flicked her artfully tousled black hair back over her shoulder and her light blue eyes fixed on his. Wetting her lips she took another deep breath. “Wow just wow, you smell amazing!”. She continued in a low voice.

 

Stunned Ben, couldn’t come up with anything to say for a second. He noticed the faintest hint of a warm earthy scent mixed with her light floral perfume. If not for his vivid scent dream of the night before it’s possible he would have missed it entirely. “ Well, I’m not wearing cologne and I just finished a run so haha, it’s probably just me.” Ben shrugged, adding a self deprecating smile.

 

“Next please” said a slightly annoyed Kelly.

 

“Oh sorry about that” Ben murmured, stepping up to the beat up old wooden counter. He leaned forward slightly to be sure Kelly could hear him over the background noise a little embarrassed by his sweaty chest. Suddenly her tawny green gold eyes shot open as they locked with his, her generous lips pursed into an “O” and her hand flew to the collar of her long sleeved pale pink sweater. It was just a brief moment but Ben could feel himself falling into the stars that were her mysterious eyes. The odd woman behind him cleared her throat and the enchantment was broken.

 

“Are you alright?” Ben said, a look of worry flitting across his face.

 

“No..., I mean yes, I’m fine.” Kelly said, staring at him.

 

Ben fought the urge to look down and check his brief running shorts to be sure something wasn’t trying to escape. She’d never even noticed him before. What the hell is going on? She actually seemed nervous about something. Surely she hadn’t been affected like Ben was by their brief moment.

 

“Okay then, I’ll take a large drip please.”

 

“Great. Um, I’m Kelly. You’ve been in here before haven’t you?” she stuttered slightly.

 

Lets see, only about 5 times a week for the last 6 months Ben thought. “Yep, I’ve been here a few times lately. My name is Ben”.

 

“Good to meet you, ah.. Ben, I’ll get your coffee” Kelly grabbed a large paper cup in shaky hands and turned toward the drip coffee urn.

 

Ben thought he heard a snicker coming from behind him as Kelly turned back with his coffee. Her hand still shook slightly and she carefully slid his coffee toward him over the counter. Without asking if he needed room for cream. Ben noted this unusual behavior. As aloof as Kelly normally was, she was a really good barista and always gave great customer service.

 

“Um, could I have a lid for that please?” Ben said as he realized Kelly had even forgotten to put the lid on the cup.

 

“Ssssure. Sorry about that!” Kelly reached for the lids knocking the stack of them over. “Here you go”. She quickly grabbed a loose lid and slapped it in place and again slid the coffee back to him. All the while Kelly eyes never left Ben.

 

After a brief awkward silence, Ben cleared his throat “Ah, how much do I owe you?”

 

“Oh! That will be $3.75”

 

He looked downwards briefly to pull a bill out of the small internal waist pocket of his running shorts and was stunned to notice that he could see Kelly’s nipples shyly tenting out the front of her light sweater. Okay this day is now officially weirder than even Saturday was Ben thought. “Here you go, keep the change, '' Ben said, handing her a 5.

 

“Thank you Ben, hope to see you again soon!” Kelly chirped, a blush running from her chestnut hair all the way down to her upper chest.

 

Ben smiled, and as he turned toward the door he heard the woman behind him huff something about getting a room. What is this woman’s major malfunction? Ben wondered.

 

“Ben, oh Ben?” The strange woman behind him said in a sing-song voice as he slipped past her.

 

“Yes, miss?”

 

The woman stuck her hand out “My name is Nicki, and I also hope to see you again.”

 

“Sure, I guess” Ben smiled quizzically as Nicki grabbed his hand and pulled him into an awkward half hug. He could feel her small firm hand as well as her other considerable assets pushed up against him and the hard nubbins of her nipples threatened to bore a hole through his chest. “Ohhhkay, I gotta go now” he said as he carefully extracted his hand from the depths of her bust. Ben then made his escape as quickly as he could without running headlong into the door.

 

What the hell is going on? Ben felt like he had woken up in another world. Maybe there’s something in the water and random people are just acting strange as hell? As much as he wanted to just sit and think about it for a bit, he had to get to work. Luckily the school he taught at was only 2 blocks away from the coffee shop. Ben started out at a brisk walk. Unseen by Ben there was a grayish minivan that pulled out from the coffee shop shortly after he crossed the street and walked around the corner. The van slowly trailed a block behind Ben until he could be seen entering the boy’s locker room toward the rear of the red brick gymnasium building attached to the mid century main school building.

 

The first period warning bell rang after Ben finished his shower just as he was slipping on the pair of khakis and blue button down shirt that made up his school “uniform”. His shirt seemed to be a bit tight. I’m going to have to have a word with the laundry service about shrinking my clothes, Ben thought smiling. Of course that amounted to a stern talking to himself as he did his own laundry. He had to rush a bit as it was now 7:50. Being late to his own class was not a good look. He had enough problems keeping a lid on 20 to 30 hormone driven teens without giving them an excuse to give him a hard time about being tardy for his own class.

 

Ben strode quickly around the last corner toward his class room and bang into 90lbs of sophomore ditz. Papers and books flew everywhere. “Are you okay Lizzie?” Ben said, immediately recognizing the petite brunette now sprawled on the tiled floor of the hallway, her dark blue denim skirt in disarray about her slender pale thighs. Her baggy light blue sweater rucked up on her waist.

 

“Sorry Mr. C, my fault I was in a big hurry” Lizzy said she straightened her heavy black framed glasses and pushed them up on her nose.

 

“Nonsense, I plowed into you. Here let me help you.” Ben gave her a hand up and began helping Lizzy scoop up her fallen belongings. Lizzy was a great kid, nerdy, cute, and easily the smartest in her class of two hundred students, if not the entire school, but she was notoriously scattered. Ben wasn’t entirely surprised by the flustered look on her face, or by the slight flush. But what happened next was completely unexpected. With no warning Lizzy slammed into him knocking his 5 foot 10 inch frame into the steel lockers behind him. She threw her arms around his neck, planted her lips on his and began checking to see if he still had his tonsils. Stunned, for a split second Ben actually almost enjoyed her inexpert affections, then his mind caught up with events.

 

“Woah! What the heck are you doing Lizzy!” Ben exclaimed as he pried her arms from around his neck. With her hands in his, he stepped away and quickly scanned both directions down the hallway. Luckily, right before the final bell the hallway was empty. “Lizzy, you could cost me my job!”. Lizzy backed away, dropping her head into her hands.

 

“I don’t, I don’t know why I did that!” she bawled.

 

“No, no. It's alright we can talk later. Don’t worry about it, just scoot or you are going to be late.”

 

“Sssure, sure. Later” Lizzy grabbed up the last of her things, turned and ran down the hallway throwing a hasty look over her shoulder.

 

Ben shook his head, shrugged and turned back toward his classroom. What’s going to happen now? Maybe aliens?

 

 

Chapter 3

 

Monday Morning

Old Bean Coffee Shop

Harborton, Washington

 

Kelly stared at Ben’s back as he exited the coffee shop’s front door. She couldn’t fathom what had just happened to her.

 

First there was her uncharacteristic reaction to Ben’s presence. She had seen the polite, distinguished looking older guy many times before. He was a bit of a mystery to her as for some reason he never had tried to chat her up. Today was totally different though, she just tingled all over when he leaned toward her. Her body betrayed her like never before. Luckily she was behind a counter so the signs of her arousal weren’t too obvious, still though, she hoped fervently that no one else in the coffee shop had noticed her rattled state.

 

Then there was her reaction when that older slut Vicky or Nicki?...whoever- tried to jump his bones right in front of her! The nerve of some people thought Kelly with a mental huff. Kelly had had to fight to keep from launching herself over the counter at the busty brunette soccer mom bimbo. She couldn’t remember ever having this sort of jealous reaction with her many boyfriends from before the ‘incident’. She hadn’t had a date since then and truthfully couldn’t imagine ever dating again.

 

She was hit on pretty much continually though, and had been ever since Junior High. Unlike many beautiful young girls she had never let it go to her head. Her dad had always told her ‘beauty fades, but who you are to yourself remains.’ Her mom and dad had kept her grounded firmly in the reality of the teenage dating ritual. She started dating at 16 and was a pretty typical teenage girl as far as boys went. She had had a series of boyfriends with remarkably little drama as she knew none of them were going to be the “one”. Her first sexual experience was also not remarkable, not unpleasant, just not all that she had been led to believe by her friends, her books. movies and social media. She had continued dating casually after she graduated high school and began college. She had pictured a future where she could meet someone (NOT from Harborton) in college and shortly after she got her degree they could marry, make a home and start a family. Along the way maybe she could find a way to help people. It wasn’t everyone’s sort of dream but it had suited her fancy.

 

Now that simple homey dream felt worlds away. She just couldn’t picture it any longer. She knew no one that she could care about would want her once they knew who she really was. Even if they did, she didn’t think that she could bear the touch of another, in fact any closeness at all, either physical or emotional made her frantic with anxiety. Her mom was the only person that she allowed even a hug. She had begun to learn to live with her aloneness though. She had her classes at Evergreen college. Working toward her psychology degree was a long process but it kept her busy. She also had her books and her WWF wrestling on TV. And there were a couple of casual girlfriends to chat with if she got too lonesome. No dates though, and not even a thought about men.

 

Until today.

 

His deep coffee colored eyes had been so soft and kind and when he smiled the crinkles around them had deepened with warmth. And his scent! When he leaned in toward her she thought she would faint. Her throat tightened and at her center a warm tingle had begun spreading throughout her whole body. He had smelled like trees, mountains, and earth with smoky wild overtones. Looks Wise, he wasn’t handsome by any measure. It looked like his nose had been broken once and then poorly set and he had a slightly crooked smile to go with high cheekbones in a tanned face. He didn’t have the body of a gym rat but instead looked like the ranchers and cowhands she remembered from her girlhood dude ranch days in Montana. He was filled out but lean with long working muscles and scarred forearms and hands. His voice was a bit scratchy but deep and when he spoke she felt shivers running down her back right to her core. She couldn’t tell his age. He could have been anywhere from his 40’s to his 50’s. For some reason that didn’t seem to matter at all.

 

Now that Kelly had a chance to think about it a bit she found her mind swimming in conflict. She almost felt betrayed by her own body. For the first time she felt she was approaching total lack of control over herself. Her body had been aching to follow Ben out into the parking lot and wrap herself around him so tight he could never walk away. But her mind couldn’t let go of that terrible night almost 2 years ago now and was screaming at her to run away as fast as she could. She didn’t even know anything about this person!

 

Kelly continued her shift in a muddle and remembered little of it. Thankfully, little miss big tits had exited shortly after Ben without getting a coffee so Kelly didn’t have to pretend to be nice to her. The rest of her day was uneventful. Kelly didn’t think she could handle any more disruption to her simple life and she needed time to process her newly awakened feelings. As she ended her shift, she realized she really wanted to talk to Ben, to maybe get some answers about the feelings he caused in her, but she had no idea how to get in touch with him, or even his full name. Instead she collected her things from the back and picked up the tray of day-old baked goods her boss, Bernie, had set aside for her to take to the woman’s shelter. A few months ago she had worked out an arrangement with the owner that anything left over after 3pm she could donate. The coffee shop got a tax deduction and the women at the shelter got some really tasty desserts for their evening group therapy sessions. Win, win all around thought Kelly as she slid the tray in the hatch back of her beat up mustard colored Corolla station wagon.

 

The car was older than she was but had been lovingly maintained by her Dad before he passed away last year from a heart attack. Now it was just her and Mom in the little white frame house just a few miles from downtown Harborton. Before heading home though she had to drop the tray of pastries off at the womans’ shelter.

 

Harborton’s women's shelter was currently in the basement of the local Baptist church. It rotated between several locations in town and was supported almost entirely by donations. These and a small grant from the state allowed the shelter to provide a temporary shelter to women and their children from abusive situations. There was also a small job assistance office and twice a week volunteer counselors dropped by for individual and group sessions with the women and their children. Kelly had been volunteering at the shelter for a few months now and was familiar with the myriad of situations that these women had endured. She could see that the counselors often had a real impact on the women and children. Not everyone, or even most could be helped as much as they might need, but the volunteers were committed to doing as much as they could. These people have real problems, ones that weren’t their own fault Kelly mused as she parked in front of the church. Maybe, someday she could be one of those that really helped.

 

As Kelly retrieved the tray of goodies from the back of her car and headed into the side door of the church she wondered if anyone here would know how to get in touch with Ben?

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4

 

 

 

Later Monday morning

Harborton Senior High School

Harborton, Washington

 

Thankfully, Ben’s day continued in a mostly ordinary manner after the collision with Lizzy outside of his classroom. No aliens appeared in his first two classes, just the “normal” semi-bored teen sophomores, juniors and seniors that took his history and civics classes. Ben was an anomaly among the other high school teachers in that he was 45 but had only been teaching for 10 years. He had picked up his love for history through his travels while in the Marine Corps and after getting a medical discharge from the service, he decided to return to school at UW for his history degree and then his teaching certificate. Ben was also unusual in that he didn’t really need to teach. He got a pretty good disability pension, fully owned his house and had invested well over the last 20 years or so. He wasn’t rich by any means but he could always scrape by without his teaching salary. To the sometime delight of his students it meant he really didn’t give a flying fuck at a rolling donut about some of the ridiculous restraints considered normal by the school establishment.

 

His third period class was a great example of his unusual teaching methods. US History to WWII was not the most exciting class he taught but he had a simple rule. You don’t have to pretend to pay attention but you weren’t allowed to actually fall asleep. He kept a stack of felt blackboard erasers by the front of his desk for just this eventuality. About 15 minutes after class had started Ben could hear a soft snuffling sound coming from the middle of the second row back. Without pausing his lecture he picked up an eraser and fired it right at a sleeping student wearing a bright red and white lettermans jacket. The eraser struck the jock’s forehead straight on with a soft “pwhack” and bounced off him right into the lap of the smiling blond girl seated just in front of him. The entire class erupted into laughter as the hapless Junior shot straight upright and darted sheepish glances around him looking for the source of his sleep disruption.

 

“Thank you for the entertainment, Mr. Morrison. Please see me after class. Sarah, would you mind?” Ben said. The senior girl slid smoothly out of her seat with the errant eraser in hand. She flashed an easy bright smile and her long red gold hair bound in a ponytail bounced jauntily as she strode to the front of the class. As she approached closer, Ben could see her waver a bit and a light blush appeared on her cheeks. She stretched out the eraser and her fingers and Ben’s touched briefly. As their eyes met the moment stretched into infinity. An actual spark flew between them and Ben thought not again! He subconsciously braced himself for another armful of girl as Sarah’s flush deepened.

 

Thankfully, she dropped her hand “Ah ah, here you go Mr. C”. Her hands fidgeting nervously with each other as she stared at him.

 

“Thank you Sarah, now where were we?” Ben said as he struggled to assemble his thoughts. Sarah blinked, gave her golden head a little shake and then turned quickly her tartan skirt whirling about her long athletically slender legs as she fled back to her seat. Dang that was a close call thought Ben. He decided right then he was quickly going to have to come to some understanding about what was happening around him or lose his job and/or his sanity.

 

The rest of the class was a bit of a blur. Fortunately, it seemed that the rest of the students hadn’t a clue about what had happened between Ben and Sarah. As the period ended Sarah hung back a bit until one of her many friends called out for her to hurry up. A quizzical glance at him and then she rushed out to join the other students for lunch. Ben had completely forgotten that Zeke Morrison was supposed to see him after class. There are bigger fish to fry at the moment thought Ben. He was going to have to follow up with the boy though. Zeke was usually a good student and falling asleep in class wasn’t like him.

 

Ben took his lunch to a bench outside rather than endure the hour long daily bitch session that was sure to take place in the teachers lounge. He mostly got along with the other teachers, but their experiences were so far out of sync with his that he just didn’t have much in common and felt little sympathy for the largely irrelevant issues that were so important to them. In Ben’s world you dealt with things the best you could. If you could change it, do so. If not then endure it. Whining about it just wasn’t an option. This attitude was what had made him an excellent Marine but horrible as a sympathetic ear for the other teachers and staff.

 

Strangely though he seemed to be at least tolerated by most of the students. Maybe because he treated them with whatever respect they earned, didn’t believe in bullshitting them and encouraged them to have their own opinions. While in the service he had seen too many young people at most, a year or two older than these, sacrifice everything. Treating them like children just seemed wrong. In any case, he preferred to use lunch as a bit of time to relax and zone out in his own form of meditation.

 

There was no peace in these thoughts today though. He needed to get to the bottom of this whole situation quickly but didn’t have a clue on how to go about it. Maybe it would be a good idea to talk it over with someone he could trust but there just wasn’t anyone he knew that wouldn’t think he was becoming an egotistical idiot or going insane. Mulling it over it occurred to him that maybe Lizzy was an option. She was extraordinarily intelligent and Ben didn’t think that she would blab about what had happened. She seemed at least as embarrassed as he was about the incident and could maybe offer some insight as she was also involved.

 

He would love an excuse to talk to Kelly but it would just be too embarrassing if what he thought was attraction was just a bout of indigestion or something. No, in fact. He was quite certain Kelly had been experiencing something unusual but not directly related to him. There was just no way that a woman that young and beautiful would even give an old fart like him the time of day.

And then there was Sarah. There had been something fierce in her sapphire blue eyes today during their encounter. Although he didn’t know her well he knew she was way more than a typical bubbly blond teenager. He could still recall the first time he had seen her.

 

 

__________________________________

 

 

 

4 years earlier

Behind Harborton High School

Harborton Washington

 

Ben could sense trouble in the air. He had thought he never again would need the instincts honed in multiple combat deployments, but they still came in handy as a high school teacher. When he rounded the back corner of the main building he immediately assessed the conflict environment. Brad Metzger had a small disheveled looking hispanic girl pushed up against the brick back wall of the school. Her hands were pinned over her head by one of his as he tried to grope her twisting figure with the other. It was very obvious that she wasn’t there by choice. He wasn’t sure but he thought her name was Maria. She was a new transfer from another district. Ben was on the farthest corner about 80 yards away, too far to quickly intervene directly but he was about to shout out to Brad when a blond fury burst around the corner about 15 feet from the two of them.

 

“Brad you little weasel dicked mother fucker! You better let her go right now or I’m going to kick your ass so hard you’ll need to take your hat off to shit!” The blond tornado shouted.

 

Ben was speechless. The small blond girl didn’t curse like a sailor. She cursed like a 20 year veteran First Sergeant dressing down a new boot who had just screwed the pooch. In spite of himself and the situation he was both amused and wondering where she had learned that kind of language at her tender age. She was probably one of the new freshmen and couldn’t be older than 14. There was something about her that told Ben beyond any doubt that Brad was about to have a very memorable day in a very bad way..

 

“Oh yeah, I bet!” replied the pimply faced waste of breath that was Brad. He obviously was a master debater but did not have a firm grasp of the situation or the danger he was in.

 

Brad turned to face his attacker confident that he could teach her a lesson. After all, he was nearly a foot taller and outweighed her by at least 40 pounds. And she was a girl!. He was expecting her to stop in front of him and start yelling again. Then there might be a round of pushing back and forth (that he would obviously win) and finally a wild punch or two that, thanks to his superior reach, would put his opponent down. This was the pattern of ‘fighting’ he was used to in his many dustups in junior high and now high school.

 

Brad was unaware that he was about to fight by a different set of rules, namely, no rules at all. Ben thought briefly about intervening but for some reason he didn’t think the little blond had anything to worry about and Brad deserved what he was about to get.

 

The blond stomped up to Brad and without pause or hesitation, turned a step forward into a lift kick right between Brad’s skinny legs. Brad never knew what hit him as the arch of her small sneaker clad foot followed through nearly to his shoulder blades. Brad crumpled to his knees as if his strings had been cut. As her lead right foot withdrew and contacted the ground the blond shifted her weight slightly twisted her hips and slammed her right elbow right between Brad’s beady eyes. Ben could hear the solid ‘thunk’ as she connected. Brad collapsed backwards onto the pavement either severely stunned or completely unconscious. If this fight had been between two high school boys it would have been way over at this point. Indeed, most men will stop when their opponent is unconscious. Not this one though. She pounced like a jungle cat onto his chest, her knees pinning Brad’s arms to the deck and proceeded to literally beat the living snot out of him.

 

“Note to self…’self, never, ever piss this one off’ ” Ben said under his breath as he got closer.

 

Ben could see the snot fly and hear her as she chanted over Brad, every word accented with a punch to Brad's pimply face.

 

“You. Will. Never. Ever. Ever. Touch. Her. Again”

 

Ben decided that this was probably enough. Even Brad was probably smart enough to figure out that it wasn’t going to be a good idea to harass any girl with this one in the vicinity. Besides, he was a little worried that the blond might break her hand on Brad's thick skull. By this time he had managed to get close enough to the situation to participate.

 

“Okay sweetie I think he gets the general idea” Ben said gently as he picked the surprisingly diminutive blond pixy up off the roadkill that had once been Brad.

 

“Grrrrrrrr...are you sure?” The blond literally growled at him as she stood with bloody knuckles.

 

“Yep, this….” Ben gestured and paused searching for a word.

 

“Cum stain” she supplied.

 

“Hokay, that's a word I wouldn’t have thought you would know, but yes I think that it fits this idiot as well as any…Anyway- he has had enough” Ben laughed as he grabbed the moron in question by his collar and hoisted him to his feet. “Why don’t you go see if your friend is okay?” Ben said, trying to distract her. He heard it sometimes worked with tigers standing over their prey and was willing to give it a shot.

 

Luckily she took the bait. “Um okay, I don’t really know her though”. She said as she walked toward where the even smaller girl was slumped against the wall.

 

“I think her name is Maria,” said Ben. It was interesting to Ben that she would go to war to defend someone she didn’t even know. “Oh I’m Ben.. I mean Mr. Clarkson”

 

“I’m Sarah sir.” she said, suddenly respectful.

 

Ben could feel Brad start to come back to full consciousness. If this piece of shit knows what’s good for him he’ll stay quiet until she leaves Ben thought. No such luck.

 

“I’m going to go straight to the principal! You can’t do this to me!” shouted Brad.

 

“Be quiet you moron or I’ll let her have you again.” Ben said to Brad. “If she had any training you’d be going to the morgue instead of to the nurses office.

 

“But, but, but…” Brad stuttered.

 

“Besides, do you really want all your moron buddies to know that that cute little blond over there kicked the shit out of you all by herself? I’ll be sure word gets around. Hell, I’ll help put the posters up.”

 

Brad started to speak and then shut up looking down at his sneakers. Ben came to a quick decision. If he took an ‘official’ stance on this Brad would get off with a stern warning that would have no impact whatsoever. He had already had several to no effect and no one in the school administration seemed to understand they had a wannabe rapist on their hands. Also the blond girl would likely get suspended and maybe worse for having the courage to do what really needed to be done. He decided to use a little of his ‘I don’t really give a fuck’ discretion.

 

“One more thing,” Ben lowered his voice to a whisper, “You live over on third street right?”

 

“Uh yeah” Brad said in a surprised voice.

 

“If I ever hear even the insinuation that you did anything like this to another girl, I’m going to find you. Then you and the blond and I are going to take a little trip to the woods. I’m going to give her the rustiest, dullest knife I can find in my shop and I’m going to hold you down while she cuts your nuts off.”

 

Brad turned as white as a sheet.

 

“Now look over at her and tell me that you don’t think she would really enjoy that kind of trip,”

 

Brad turned to look at Sarah. Her left arm was draped over Maria’s shoulder and her knuckles dripped blood slowly onto the pavement as her ice cold sapphire blue eyes fixed onto Brad like a gunsight.

 

Ben could hear Brad gulp as his legs nearly gave out in fright.

 

“Ah! I think you finally understand the gravity of the situation.” Ben let go of the boy's collar and gave him a not so gentle but almost fatherly slap on the cheek. “Good, we're all on the same page here. Now get yourself to the nurses station and in the future be really careful about running down those stairs.” Ben said with an almost genuine chuckle.

 

“Uh what stairs?” said a confused Brad as there were no stairs anywhere near them.

 

“I’m sure you’ll think of some. Now off you go before I change my mind.” Ben clapped Brad on the back and Brad shuffled off in an odd limping but hurried gait.

 

Turning back to the two girls. “Maria, are you okay? Do you need anything dear?” Ben said in his softest voice.

 

“No I’m okay, she got here before he could really do anything” Maria said in a lightly accented voice, looking at Sarah in awe.

 

“Yeah, I’m quite sure he won’t be a problem in the future thanks to your new friend”. Ben grinned looking closely at Sarah for the first time. For just an instant his heart leapt as he regarded the feisty bundle of girl with shoulder length red gold hair. She was barely 5 foot tall and had no boobs to speak of yet but he could tell this one was going to be a total heartbreaker. “Damn, am I becoming a pedo or what?” Ben said under his breath.

 

Sarah paused for a second regarding Ben as well, then swirled and wrapped Maria up in a tight hug. “Will you be my new bestie Maria?” She said over the smaller girl's shoulder.

 

‘Yes, of course! You really want to be my friend?” said an astonished Maria as her tear streaked face lit up.

 

“Absolutely!” said Sarah as she turned back toward Ben.

 

Ben was really impressed. He wasn’t really familiar with Sarah as the school year had just started but every time he had seen her she had been in the center of a group of chattering girls. It was pretty obvious that she was the ringleader of the most popular girls in her class. He didn’t know much about the popular kids culture but he thought this behavior by Sarah was really unique.

 

“Okay Sarah we need to look at those hands of yours.” Ben said, stepping over and then kneeling in front of the petite blond and taking her right hand gently in his.

 

“Yes, I’ll marry you” said Sarah and then her and Maria giggled as Ben reached around his back for the small first aid pack he carried whenever he was on parking lot watch.

 

“Haha, I’ll keep that in mind Sarah, remind me when you’re a little older” Ben laughed. “Now let me take a look. I don’t think we need to bother the nurse on this. It might be better to keep things on the DL.” Her knuckles had stopped bleeding. A little antiseptic clean up and a couple of small bandages was all she needed. Ben noticed she didn’t even wince when he had to scrub a bit with the antiseptic. This is one tough little cookie Ben thought.

 

“I guess I will have to be more careful when I’m fixing my bike huh?” Sarah said looking into Ben’s eyes and adding an exaggerated wink.”

 

Ben shook his head and laughed. She was smart, cute, funny, loyal and fierce. The boys in this school have no idea what they’re in for. As he finished up he leaned in a bit and in a stage whisper said to her “Next time you want to play Barbie Doll assassin let me know first and I’ll help you hide the body.”

 

Ben had meant it as a not very good joke but was just a little worried when she replied in a flat serious voice. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind and return the favor if needed.”

 

Christ on a crutch at a bake sale! Ben was surprised by her yet again. He had no idea if he was talking to a 14 year old girl or an SOF operator. What in the hell are they feeding girls these days?

 

“That should do it ladies” Ben said standing up and sliding his first aid kit around to his back. “If either of you have any problems, come straight to me, Okay?”

 

“Yes, Ben, Oh sorry Mr. Clarkson!” Sarah chimed in a slightly sing-song voice looking up coyly through her long lashes. Maria just stared at the both of them with an amused look on her face. “Um one question?

 

“Yes Sarah?”

 

“Do you reeeally think I’m cute?” Sarah said drawing out the ‘really’ into 3 syllables.

 

“Sarah, I wish you’d forget that I said that. I was trying to make a point and it’s inappropriate of me to say something like that.” Ben said, pinching the bridge of his nose trying to relieve the headache he knew he was about to have.

 

“Too late. And you didn’t answer my question.” Sarah instinctively knew that Ben couldn’t lie to her.

 

“Okay, okay, fine. I think you are cute. Now go, leave this old man alone” Ben made a shooing movement with his hands.

 

Sarah looked up and fixed Ben in her gemlike blue eyes. She then tilted her head slightly, bit her lower lip and nodded to herself. “ Yes Ben” she said in a low soft voice (conveniently forgetting that he was supposed to be ‘Mr. Clarkson’).’Then with a cheeky smile and another wink she whirled, grabbed Maria’s hand and bounded off toward the front of the school.

 

“Cmon Mar Bear!”

 

Ben shook his head. He should have realized that out of all that happened that day what stuck in Sarah’s mind most was that he thought she was cute.

 

 

 

Chapter 5

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch Monday afternoon

Harborton Senior High School

Harborton, Washington

 

Ben finished up his lunch, returned his tray to the cafeteria and headed back to his class room to resume his afternoon classes. Luckily Lizzy was in his AP History class for the last period of the day. When Lizzy walked into the classroom later that afternoon she ducked her head down and made her way quickly to her seat in the front row, carefully avoiding looking at Ben. Ben sighed, she must be just about as embarrassed as a teen can get. Ben himself was dismayed that even for an instant he had reacted to her onslaught. It was completely out of character for him and he was determined to figure out what was happening and that it would never happen again.

 

During class Lizzy was not her usual bubbly, ditzy self. Ben never could understand how a genius like her could also be such an airhead. Usually she was full of insightful, if sometimes irreverent questions and observations. Today she was abnormally subdued and refused to even look up at Ben. As the day’s final bell rang out Ben finally got her attention.

 

“Lizzy can you please stay for a minute?”

 

“Sure Mr. C” Lizzy mumbled, pushed her oversized glasses up on her face, looked up at Ben through her slightly uneven brown bangs and remained sitting.

 

After the classroom had emptied Ben walked over and made sure that no one was outside the open door, then returned and sat on the front of his desk facing Lizzy.

 

“Lizzy…” he began.

 

“I’m so sorry!” She wailed. “I don’t know what happened, why I did that, you must think I’m awful!” Lizzy began sniffling.

 

“No, no, it’s fine...I don’t think what happened was your fault” Ben said quickly trying desperately to avoid the waterworks he could see coming. Ben had a real problem with women or girls crying. It probably was from living with 3 younger sisters growing up. Ben thought of himself as, if not courageous, as at least not a coward. But the first sign of tears and his resolve would turn to jello and he would do anything to get the tears to stop. He would rather face machine gun fire than listen to Lizzy cry.

 

Luckily for Ben, Lizzy hesitated a second, gave a slight hiccup and looked up into Ben’s eyes “Really? You’re not just saying that?”.

 

“No, really. In fact I am hoping that maybe you could help me figure out something that’s been happening to me, or rather around me today. Can you stay for a few minutes?”.

 

“I, I guess so, But why me?”.

 

“Well, for one thing you are the smartest person I know. For another you seem to have been caught up in what’s been going on. I could really use someone with an analytic mind to help understand something that seems so unreal that it doesn’t feel possible.”

 

Lizzy beamed a quick smile at Ben.“Okay, I guess I can try.”

 

Ben spent the next 10 minutes going over the details of what had been happening to him that day. Lizzy flushed as he recited their encounter from his perspective but otherwise didn’t interrupt. Ben could see her entire demeanor change as she shifted into her problem solving mode.

 

“Okay. So it wasn’t just me? There were 3 other females just since this morning that had unusual reactions to you?

 

“Yes, as unbelievable as it seems. Can you tell me a bit about what you were thinking and feeling when you…ah…were overcome this morning? Sorry to bring it up, but maybe it would help me to understand what was happening”.

 

Lizzy hesitated a second and Ben could see her gathering her confidence. “Well nothing at first but then when you touched my hand and leaned in to help me up, I could smell you, You smelled so incredible, like nothing I’ve ever experienced I can’t even describe it. I just felt this rush throughout my body and I just had to get as close to you as possible.” Lizzy glanced down shyly once again. “Um, ah…parts of me got very excited”.

 

This description was not at all how Lizzy normally spoke- she must really be rattled Ben thought.

 

“Oh! I see”. This was not at all how he had envisioned this conversation going! “Anything else that you can think of?

 

Lizzy paused, “Um no, not really. The...whatever it was seemed to last for another hour or so and then faded. Can I ask something?”

 

“Sure, anything.”

 

“Did you feel anything yourself?” Lizzy really wanted to ask more and she really wanted to come clean and tell him that she was still feeling the effects from this morning, but she was afraid he’d not let her get close to him again!

 

Ben hesitated, remembering a light floral and citrusy scent and that single moment of intense feeling that he had allowed himself. “Uhhh well…”.

 

“No never mind, it was a stupid question. Of course you didn’t have any reaction. I’m just a little sophomore nerd. All these beautiful women and girls seem to be into you suddenly. There’s no reason…”

 

Ben respected Lizzy and thought she deserved honesty no matter what light it showed him in. “Yes Lizzy, I had a moment as well, you are a very attractive young woman, but of course I would never take advantage of you like that so I pushed you away as soon as I could. Not to mention, we were in the middle of the hallway!” Ben finished with a chuckle.

 

Lizzy blushed in pleasure and one corner of her mouth turned up in a tiny grin, then she returned to the subject at hand. “Okay then. So whatever is happening seems to be at least somewhat reciprocal, and I think we can say it has something to do with proximity and or scent”

 

“I can’t imagine what has changed about me or around me in the last 24 hours to account for this.” Ben said. He thought about his goat adventure on the mountain but shrugged it off as irrelevant. Then suddenly he flashed on his erotic dreams over the weekend and it was his turn to flush. Luckily, Lizzy seemed to miss this. “I was so tired from a hike that I did over sleep an entire Sunday. And when I woke up I noticed that I was incredibly sore and smelt like I had just ran a marathon.” He had also had an enormous erection, but he wasn’t going to tell a 16 year girl old that!

 

“Hmmm that points to some possible physical changes in your body. Well, if we are going to be analytical about this, let's first try to determine what is happening. Then we can figure out the how and the why. Proximity is one factor. For me at least the effect seems to also include smell. This points to some sort of pheromone effect. Pheromones in humans though just aren’t that strong. Their effects tend to be much more limited and human pheromone receptors are mostly inactive, although subjects didn’t have to actually be consciously aware of a smell for it to change their results in behavioral tests. I think there’s more to this than that.”

 

“How on earth do you know this stuff Lizzy?” Ben said, impressed that she could just pull all this up.

 

“My dad and my Auntie both work in related fields and I read some of their research papers on this a few years ago”

 

“Well the premise seems reasonable. Do you have any ideas on how we can test this?” Ben said.

 

“I’m not sure, I’ll need to think about it a bit and maybe do some digging.”

 

“ Wait a minute, if it may be about smell, would it be helpful to have something that had my scent on it?” Ben was thinking about how tracking dogs used clothing as a scent marker.

 

“Hmmm. sure. Maybe I can come up with a way to test for unusual chemicals. My Auntie works in a biochem lab in Olympia”.

 

“Can we keep this as private as possible? I really wouldn’t want this to get out.” Ben reached over to the back of his desk and retrieved his pack. Reaching in he pulled out one of his running shirts. “This should do it. So sorry about the sweat.” Ben rolled the shirt into his towel and handed it to Lizzy.

 

As Lizzy reached out for it, she got light headed and was nearly overcome again. This time though she was a little more prepared. “Uh yeah, this should work. I will be really careful not to let anyone know the personal details.”

 

“Thanks so much Lizzy. I trust you and I really appreciate the help and I’m so glad to know that I’m not losing my mind!”. Getting to his feet Ben reached out to shake hands with Lizzy.

 

“Sure Mr. C,” Lizzy said, sliding out of her chair onto shaky legs. “I’ll let you know as soon as I can what I figure out. In the meantime try not to let these women gang up on you.” Lizzy said with a cheeky grin as she turned to walk out.

 

“Haha you bet!”. Ben chuckled. He had no idea what the evening was soon to bring.

 

 

 

__________________________________

 

 

 

On the way to Ben’s house

Harborton Washington

Monday afternoon

 

Ben generally ran both ways to and from school, but since he had given away part of his running clothes a brisk walk was in order to get him home. He could have called an Uber but he couldn’t justify it for the 3 miles to his house. Besides, a brisk walk in the autumn air along the green belt trail that led to his backyard would be a great way to clear his head out of all this nonsense. He still couldn’t quite relax though. Every so often he could swear he heard little voices in his head. A few minutes down the trail he watched a young boy of about 5 playing fetch in his backyard with a bouncy golden retriever.

 

“C’mon, throw it!, please! Now!, Now!, Now!” Ben heard in his head, but the boy wasn’t speaking. The dog was barking its fool head off though. Ben shook his head ruefully thinking that there must be some sort of strange sound reflection or echo happening.

Ben was so distracted that he didn’t notice the little red Honda Civic that would parallel his trail route for a block or so then turn up a side street only to return again a few blocks later. Unbeknownst to Ben the little car managed to track him almost up to his backyard.

 

Ben ducked under the low hanging branches of the big Hemlock tree that stood marking the boundary between his backyard and the paved green belt trail and walked toward the back of his house. As he glanced up at his back porch he saw the big striped gray stray tomcat he occasionally fed waiting at the back door..

 

“Ah there you are, I haven’t seen you for awhile Tom!” Ben greeted the huge 20 pound feline.

 

“Well if yah were a wee less stingy with the treats I might stoop by more often.” said Tom.

 

“What the…” muttered Ben as his brain vapor locked and he fainted onto the grass.

 

Ben awoke to a large furry paw swatting him repeatedly across the face. “Wake up yah wee numpty!!” Ben heard in a distinct Scottish accent as he slowly regained consciousness.

 

Ben cracked open his eyes afraid of what hallucination might greet him and discovered he was nearly nose to nose with the giant long haired tabby. Its gold eyes fixed on him and he could swear that Tom had an smug look on his face.

 

“You can talk? You can TALK! Have I completely lost my mind?” Gasped Ben.

 

“Of course I can yah eejit! Yah just never boothered tah listen afore. Noo how boot letting us in? I’m fecking hungry and it’s thirsty work keeping this dump rodent free,”

 

Uh… yes of course. One second please.” Why the hell am I apologizing to a figment of my imagination Ben wondered as he shakily drew himself to his feet. Ben opened the back door and let them into his small kitchen while trying to pretend he couldn’t hear Tom’s comments.

 

Tom fell in behind Ben muttering to himself.“Geez, all I doo tah keep the laddie safe and moose free and this is the tanks I get.”

 

Ben automatically reached for the sack of dried food he kept under the counter and self consciously poured a generous portion out into the dish he occasionally fed Tom out of. He then reached into his refrigerator for a beer.

 

“Aye tank good, noot that Yank piss water this time” said Tom as Ben opened a bottle and poured out a generous tot of Harp lager into Tom’s water dish. Ben’s mind just couldn’t deal with all that had happened to him today and he could feel himself checking out of Hotel Reality. Ben glanced at the mostly full bottle, shrugged and took a deep swallow while Tom lapped greedily at his bowl. Why not have a few with the neighborhood stray cat? It couldn’t possibly make his mind any more fuddled he thought.

 

“Ah, do you have any ideas about why I can talk with you all the sudden?” Ben asked.

 

“Ach noo...I’m a cat, not a feckin’ headshrinker” Tom smirked. “Did yah have anything else unco hap’n to yah recently?”

 

“My whole damn life has been weird since Saturday when I had an adventure with some mountain goats up near Mt Washington. Now that I think of it, that whole episode was strange start to finish. It just didn’t seem “natural” somehow.”

 

“Well there yah goo! Mayhap there was a stray one of the Fae folk around and he granted yah a boon. They are well noon ta do that”.

 

“I guess that makes as much sense as anything else I can think of!” Tom shrugged. “But have you always been able to talk like this? Can all animals ‘talk’?”

 

“I dunno about all animals, but I was raised from a wee bairn by the gent that used to live across the street there. He lived by himself and I was his only company. We had long conversations and he read ta me ever evening. I dunnot think he understood me thoo I tried tah talk tah him.”

 

“I remember Sergeant Major McMichaels! He was quite a character. We would trade war stories whenever I saw him in his yard. I was sorry about his passing, he was one of a kind”. Ben paused as he remembered something. “Say, he left me a box of his old military mementos, maybe you’d like to go through it with me sometime?”

 

“He was a good auld sod. Aye I’d like that! He was a grand story teller and it would be great to connect his stories with photos and such.”

 

“It must have been hard for you when he died”

 

He was family tah me. When he passed, some strangers came roun and there was talk of taking me off somewhere and I was having ought of it. As soon as I could I scarpered off”.

 

“I didn’t know Tom, or I could of looked after you better than I have. Sorry about that.”

 

“No mind laddie. I’ve managed quite well on mah oon. And the snacks and a dram or two of lager have been much appreciated. It’s more than most of the other homeless animals manage anyhoo.”

 

So, do the other animals talk?”

 

“There are some I ken. Although noon of the wilder sort. Ever soo often I warn a stray dog off yer yard and they seem ta understand somat. Ha! the ones that don’t, don’t last long.” Tom grinned an evil grin and casually stretched out a paw revealing long razor sharp claws.

 

“So why stick around here?”

 

“Sar’nt said ye was a good sort, and after he took ta bed sick he said ta look after yah if I cud. He was a wee bit worried as yah have no kin and no lassie to mind you. It seemed the right thing ta do.”

 

“Yes, that would be like him to look after his ‘troops, and thank you Tom’.” Ben smiled wistfully thinking fondly of the old non-com, late of the British Royal Marines. Ben turned to look at the photo of his old unit next to the fridge. “Here’s to absent comrades!” Ben said as he hefted the bottle up and chugged the rest down.

 

“Aye laddie here’s to those we’ll jine on the other side.” Tom intoned soberly as he finished lapping up his ale. “Noo enough of this shite. Let’s have a proper pissup!”.

 

“Now that sounds like a plan!” Ben chuckled as he drew out another lager from the fridge.

Chapter 6

 

 

Lizzy’s’ house

Harborton Washington

Monday afternoon

 

Lizzy pulled her little blue Ford Fiesta into the driveway of her ranch style brick house situated a couple of miles outside of town. She grabbed her backpack from the front seat and walked briskly up the stone walkway to the front entrance. As she unlocked the door to an empty house she remembered that her dad was gone again on a business trip. He worked for a large biochem company based in Seattle and spent much of the month traveling.

 

She dropped her backpack on the couch, kicked off her sneakers on the way to the kitchen where she pulled a juice out of the fridge. Lizzy debated with herself on the best way to approach the conversation that knew she had to have about what had happened today. Lizzy went back to the living room and flopped on the couch with a sigh and pulled out her phone to call Carol.

 

Carol was her friend, her mentor and (Lizzy thought) her wanna be step mom. Carol was also a Molecular Biologist working as a researcher at Evergreen State College just a few miles away. She had known Lizzy and her dad for most of Lizzy’s life and had been there for both of them when Lizzy’s mom died from cancer 6 years earlier. Carol had worked closely with both her mom and her dad at a previous job and they stayed in touch. When Lizzy’s mom passed Carol stepped up to help out. She was Lizzy’s only real ‘girl’ friend and the one who had gotten her through many stages of her girlhood. Lizzy was not going to be sharing with Carol about her first real kiss though!

 

“Hey Carol!” Lizzy chirped as Carol picked up.

 

“Hi Elizabeth! I was just about to call you. Is everything okay?” Carol replied. Try as she might Lizzy had never been able to get Carol to call her ‘Lizzy’.

 

“Yeah everything is great, I have some questions and something I hope you can help me with”.

 

“Sure, I was planning on dropping by with some pizza tonight any way if that’s okay?” Carol often stopped by to check on Lizzy when her dad was traveling.

 

“Better than okay, that sounds great!” Lizzy hated to cook and hated to cook just for herself even more.

 

“Okay see you about 6 then!”

 

“Awesome! See you soon Auntie Carol!” Lizzy smiled into the phone as she hung up. She really loved Carol and she knew that Carol liked being ‘Auntie’, although Lizzy had suspicions that Carol would also love being called ‘Mom’ someday. She had her doubts about her dad getting his head out of his backside long enough to make that happen though. He completely came apart after Lizzy’s mom died. Lizzy had feared that she was going to lose him as well. Luckily, he pulled himself together enough to manage most things, but not enough to be there as much as Lizzy needed him. Lizzy felt a little guilty about thinking this, but she knew it was true.

 

With a sigh Lizzy dropped her phone and sagged back into the cushions. How the heck is she going to get Carol to take her seriously? I’m probably going to have to show her, Lizzy thought. She wondered if the “Ben” effect would hit her as well. She really didn’t want to share Ben’s smell with anyone but there was no other way.

 

“Oh crap what if it doesn’t affect her?” Lizzy said out loud. That would mean that either her or Ben or both of them were loony. No. It’s just not possible that the ‘Ben effect’ would have no impact at all. Lizzy knew the way she felt that morning was real. In fact, she still tingled from it, and all day she had these unexplained urges to rub her thighs together whenever she thought of Ben. Her small nipples would also crinkle up and become so sensitive it was almost painful to feel them against the inside of her bra.

 

She didn’t understand what was happening to her exactly, she had never felt anything like this. It’s true though that she had had a crush on Ben for years. In fact Ben was her hero, although Ben probably didn’t even remember why that was. It had happened when she was still in Jr. High. It was such a horrible, embarrassing day and Ben had been the only bright spot in it when he had come across her crying alone behind the football field during his lunch time run. She closed her eyes and remembered the first time she had met Ben.

 

 

__________________________________

 

 

 

3 years earlier

Football field Harborton Junior High School

Harborton Washington

 

 

Lizzy was completely destroyed. What was happening to her and why now?

She had been walking between classes when a sudden warm flow had started between her thighs drenching the crotch of her jeans in a dark stain. She panicked and fled out the door onto the football field that was situated between the high school and the junior high. She collapsed behind the deserted bleachers and broke out into heaving sobs. As she sat crying, she was hoping beyond hope that none of her idiotic tormenters had seen her flee or why she fled, but they must have thought.

That was a preview of Nexus Foundation. To read the rest purchase the book.

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