I thought about my abilities. I thought it was vain to think of them as 'powers'. They were simply things that I could do, like some people can do complicated math problems in their heads, or some people are natural athletes. I remembered an old movie about a 'natural' baseball player. I could just naturally augment my strength and stamina with my mind. I could also talk to Neeka. That was the part that puzzled me the most. It seemed so one-sided that she could hear me so easily, but I had to concentrate to hear her. I remembered being able to talk to her mother as if in a normal conversation, but before that, all I got was her emotions. I vividly remembered the shock of feeling her orgasm through the mind-link. It seemed so strong, where her thoughts had almost eluded me.
I tried to 'listen' with my mind again. This time, I wasn't listing for thoughts or words, but just tuning in on whatever was out there. I tried to clear my mind and find a quiet place to be inside my head. I opened my mental 'ears' and let whatever there was come in.
At first there was only a vague, muddled feeling, like emotional white-noise. I could almost pick out individual emotions. I tried harder and it all went away. I was about to get frustrated with it, when it occurred to me that trying was what made it stop. If I quit trying and just listened it might work better. I opened up again. I made no attempt to find, filter, sense, detect, tune in, or otherwise look for things. I just listened. I let it come to me.
After a minute, I picked up a feeling of great joy and contentment. I thought I knew what that must be, but I did not pursue it. I let it pass by and kept listening. I got the impression of hunger, then another of anger. Each went past like a train whistle on a fast freight. I picked up a chorus of excitement that rose to a high pitch and then crashed into disappointment. That one was easily identifiable. I remembered seeing my father watching football on Sunday afternoon and the missed field goal that could have won the game had sounded just like that, but with sound.
I opened my eyes and took a deep breath. I had made some progress. I felt sure that with practice I could 'hear' fear, a skill that would be invaluable in locating victims. Certainly strong emotions would shine like a lighthouse beacon at night and I would be able to home-in on the source. Just being able to know when I was needed would be enough to call the whole thing a fantastic success.
I went back down to my room and took a quick shower to get the chorine off me, then I put on a pair of my old bike shorts and a cropped t-shirt. I went downstairs quietly to see if the coast was clear.
I had just stuck my head around a corner when Bambi walked past me with the biggest smile on her face. She looked a little dazed as she grabbed me and hugged me hard before she spun off and pranced up the stairs. I went downstairs looking for Jim. He was in the family room, sitting on the couch, staring out the windows.
"Hi!" I said. He turned and looked at me with a funny half-smile.
"Hi, yourself. You were right. She loved it and it did not do me any harm whatever. I enjoyed it more than I thought. You could say that I got in touch with my inner infant."
"Did you say anything about the car?"
"Oh no! First, it would have been crass. Too quid-pro-quo. Second, you taught me that it is better to do good to someone without expecting anything in return. Third, I don't doubt for a second that she will give me the car. The way she looked at me was incredible. It was beautiful. I feel crummy for even thinking of wanting something in return besides the smile on her face."
"Yes, I saw the smile. I think she's going to be wearing it for a while. Listen, I think I'd like to try out some of this stuff." I hooked a thumb at the other end of the room, the end with all the machinery in it. "Could you show me how to use this?"
I spent the rest of the afternoon in the exercise area of the family room. I had Jim show me how to use all the machines and how to set up the stands and load the weights. He gave me some pointers on the proper technique to get the best results and then stood and spotted for me as I worked out.
At Jim's suggestion, I started with the smallest pair of dumbbells and worked my way up from there. I did a set with each and rested before moving up to the next. I was proud of the fact that I made it almost halfway through the range of weight before I had to resort to trance to get the strength needed to complete the set. I got through the last set using the weight that I had used to level Leon. Holding that dumbbell again brought back conflicting memories of regret and revenge.
I had Jim load the bar on the bench with the same weight I had just used. I did ten reps and had him add more. We used the same pump and rest cycle as with the dumbbells, adding more weight each time. When we got up to 220 pounds, Jim started getting a funny look.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"220 is my best press," he said. I tried to think of something to say to him, but nothing seemed helpful. I lifted the bar, steadied it and pumped it ten times. Jim dropped his eyes to the floor as I settled the bar back on the stand.