JC: Ed Biggers
Part 6: Doyen
Chapter 08
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Kelly returned to the Druid College once her responsibilities to the 
Fusion Foundation were over. Leroy left to move his lab closer to 
home. Ed was surprised to learn that Leroy had learned to fly and 
had purchased a private plane. The three-hour drive to his new lab 
was now just a little over an hour away by plane. Ling, working 
with Cathy and Mary, was still coming to grips with taking over 
the financial responsibilities for the house. 

They were still short-staffed, but it would be a while before the 
employment firm could identify additional candidates. Marguerite 
had tried out the last candidate and selected Mona as her assistant. 
Mary was settling into her job with ease. Claire still had problems 
with the mixed marriage, but was coming to respect the wives and 
understand how it was that Leroy could love them. 

Ed made the rounds of the house, making sure that everyone was 
happy. Satisfied that all was well, he stopped by the playroom 
where Claire was watching over Betsy. Seeing her father enter the 
room, she ran over to him and jumped into his arms. She asked, 
"Are you going?"

"Yes, I am," answered Ed touching her nose. 

She smiled and asked, "Can I come with you?"

"Your mother wants you here," answered Ed. 

"I know, but I want to ride a horse," countered Betsy.

"Not yet," replied Ed. He jiggled her in his arms and said, "You 
know that you are too small to sit in the saddle for hours at a time."

Betsy made a face and said, "Sit for hours? No way."

"That's what I mean," replied Ed with a chuckle. He knew how to 
shut down her enthusiasm.

Shrugging, Betsy said, "I guess you are going to go now."

"Yes," said Ed as he set her down on the floor. He added, "I'm 
going to miss you."

"I know," replied Betsy, "and I know that you love me, so you 
don't have to say it."

Ed chuckled and, after kissing her on the forehead, said, "I love 
you, Betsy."

"I love you too, Daddy."

Ed stood and left the room after Betsy ran back to continue the 
activities that she had been doing with Claire. He exited the house 
through the back door and looked around. Tied to a horse trailer 
parked by the door, his new horse waited for him already saddled. 
He smiled as he thought of the day ahead of him. John had 
purchased all of the property from the house to the mountains 
behind it and Ed wanted to spend the day getting a feel for the 
property. Untying the reigns from the back of the horse trailer, Ed 
mounted and started to ride around the back yard. He wanted to get 
a feel for the horse and allow the horse to get a feel for the new 
owner.

While the horse and Ed got better acquainted, he noticed Dan at 
the fence waving at him. Wondering what the man wanted, he rode 
over to his neighbor and pulled back on the reigns. The horse was 
well trained, requiring the smallest of nudges to convey the desired 
command. Ed said, "Hello, neighbor. Nice day today."

"Sure is," replied Dan eyeing the horse. He didn't ride horses, but 
he did ride a three-wheel ATV. He asked, "You going out into the 
desert for a ride?"

"Sure am. I'm going to ride to the back of our property and back 
again. It should take the whole day," answered Ed. 

"Would you mind some company?"

"I'd enjoy it," replied Ed knowing that he would enjoy having a 
friend that liked to ride in the desert. He looked around and 
wondered if Dan thought he was going to hike while Ed rode the 
horse. Knowing from experience that wouldn't work, he asked, 
"Do you have a horse?"

"No, I've got an ATV."

Ed frowned, as he replied, "I'm not sure how this horse will react to 
the sound of an engine. She and I are still learning how to get 
along."

Dan smiled understanding the concern. He replied, "It's a fusion 
powered ATV. I don't like the noise of an engine."

That was a possibility that Ed had never considered. He wondered 
if Kelly would like to go riding with him if she was able to ride an 
ATV.  "I'll wait for you here."

"Nah, go on ahead and I'll catch up," replied Dan with a smile. It 
was nice to have something to do on a Saturday. He added, "It will 
take me a couple of minutes to get packed up and ready to go."

"Okay," replied Ed realizing that the ATV could move as fast a 
horse over the terrain and had the advantage that it wouldn't get 
tired. He watched as Dan walked to his house with a bounce in his 
step. Nodding his head in amusement, he turned the horse and 
headed towards the desert. He kept a nice even pace knowing that 
Dan would catch up with him. 

He stopped at one point and examined a barrel cactus. There was a 
small burrow, created by a desert mouse, near the plant. The tell-
tail signs of mouse tracks dotted the area around the hole. There 
were little pairs of footprints with a line running between them 
made by a tail. A few feet away, another set of tracks that were 
parallel lines across the desert floor showed the passage of another 
desert creature. The sand was still filling into the track. A snake 
had been by here, but it had not encountered the mouse. The last 
mouse tracks at the burrow led into it. Smiling, he turned the horse 
so that they would ride diagonal to the snake tracks. After all, the 
snake had passed by just a couple of minutes ago and he didn't 
want to spook the horse. 

He looked back towards the house and saw Dan on his ATV 
moving carefully across the terrain. It pleased him that the guy 
wasn't charging over the plants and wildlife in a mad dash across 
the desert. At least he wouldn't have to teach the guy to respect 
nature. 

Looking up at the sky, he noticed a vulture circling as it rode a 
thermal. The wings were outstretched, unmoving, but each time it 
completed another circuit, it gained another hundred feet in 
altitude. The vulture moved away seeking another thermal to ride. 
It was amazing to watch the life created by the Goddess using the 
power of the God to fly. 

The sound of sand crunching behind him announced the arrival of 
Dan. He stopped next to the horse causing a slight shudder of 
muscles in its forelegs, which signaled only a slight tension at the 
appearance of the ATV. Ed was pleased with the reaction of the 
horse. He reached down and rubbed the horse's neck.

Dan noticed the interaction between Ed and the horse. Not really 
knowing that much about horses, he was impressed by it. He 
commented, "That's a magnificent horse."

Smiling at the exaggeration, Ed said, "It's a good work horse at the 
end of its career. My buying it was basically its retirement."

"Oh," replied Dan. 

Looking down at Dan, Ed said, "You look like a city boy to me. 
Why did you decide to move out here to the wilds of Arizona?"

Dan frowned at the characterization of being a city boy, but it was 
an accurate description. He answered, "My fear of women had 
gotten to the point where I couldn't really relax in town. Women 
were everywhere. Here, I could get away from them by riding five 
minutes away from the house on this ATV."

"Still have that problem?" asked Ed knowing that he had been over 
a couple of evenings to learn Tai Chi from Ling. 

Dan looked at the horizon for a moment and then answered, "There 
are nerds, super-nerds, and pathological nerds. I'm the last kind and 
women have tortured me my whole life. I've been ridiculed, stood-
up, harassed, and belittled in public and in private. On the other 
hand, I'm obsessed with sex. My body reacts to the female form 
and that just sets me up for more ridicule. So I guess I still have 
that problem, but I trust Ling and Claire not to ridicule me."

Ed thought back to the old days before he met John. In those days, 
he would have torn Dan apart. He sighed and said, "We live our 
life according to two major rules. If it harms none, then do it. 
Protect the weak from the strong. They would never ridicule you. 
They will push you to be the best that you can be, but never 
negatively."

"We aren't making very good progress on our trip," remarked Dan 
deciding that he needed time to think about what Ed had said. He 
heard the words, but didn't understand the full implications. 

Ed nudged the horse and it started forward at a leisurely pace. Dan 
started the ATV and rode beside Ed while he considered what the 
cowboy had said. They rode along silently for a while not talking. 
Ed felt it was reminiscent of the discussions with John where they 
would spend most of the time quietly pursuing their own thoughts.

After thirty minutes, Ed stopped his horse catching Dan by 
surprise. The man stopped and looked at Ed wondering what had 
provoked him to stop to find that Ed was looking at a hawk resting 
on a cactus. He examined the hawk and noticed the tension in its 
body as it stared at a location on the ground. After a few seconds, it 
flew down and, with a screech, captured a desert mouse. It then 
lifted off the ground taking the mouse with it.

"The cycle of life," remarked Ed after the hawk had disappeared 
from view carrying its meal with it.

"The drama of life," countered Dan.

"That too," agreed Ed.  It was easy from outside to watch life with 
an emotional detachment that enabled one to see the cycles of 
season and the food chain. For the individuals involved, it was a 
drama of life that counted, a drama marked by birth and death, pain 
and pleasure, and hope and despair. 

Forgetting for a moment about the fact that Ed was a Druid, Dan 
said, "It makes you wonder about God. Does he help the hawk feed 
itself so that it can live or does he help the mouse so that it can 
live? How does a God can make such a choice?"

"The Gods and Goddesses do it by dealing with quantities rather 
than individuals. Some hawks fail and others succeed, while some 
mice live and others are consumed. If they need to deal with 
individuals, they give gifts to a few that can intervene on their 
behalf," replied Ed thinking about the activities of the Druids. 
When there was trouble, Druids stepped in and helped the 
individuals using gifts bestowed upon them.

"I forgot that you were a Druid. I hope I haven't offended you," 
Dan apologized, wondering if he had insulted Ed by talking about 
God. In his mind, God was the Christian God he had learned about 
in Sunday School. It never occurred to him that Ed might view it 
differently.

"No problem," replied Ed surprised that Dan was worried about 
offending him. He added, "There are times when I forget that I'm a 
Druid. For a lot of my life, I wasn't a very good person. Then one 
day, I met John Carter and he taught me how to be a better person. 
Sometime along the way, I became a Druid. All that did was allow 
me to help others in ways that were not possible before. I may have 
met my Gods and Goddesses, but deep inside, I'm still a person 
with all the faults, flaws, and irrationalities of every other person. I 
just try not to let them dominate how I behave."

The comment struck Dan speechless. After that first day when he 
met Ed, he had researched all that he could about the man on the 
internet. It had taken him almost an entire day to read the official 
Fusion Foundation resume for Ed. The man was a giant among 
men. 

He had been surprised to learn that Ed was the head of an entire 
branch of the Druid Organization. It was the most mysterious 
branch of the Druid Organization. The cowboy riding a horse 
beside him didn't fit what he had thought a religious leader should 
be. He had expected Ed to act more like a Cardinal, than a regular 
guy. Dan said, "I guess I don't understand how you can meet a God 
and not become something other than human."

Tilting his head back, Ed laughed aloud as though he had heard the 
funniest joke of his life. After calming down, he noticed the hurt 
look on Dan's face and apologized, "I'm sorry. I don't understand 
how you can meet a God and become something other than 
human."

Stung by the comment, Dan said, "I don't understand."

Ed kicked the horse and it started to move forward. Dan, taken by 
surprise, had to hurry to catch up. When Dan had caught up, Ed 
said, "Look around. What do you see?"

"The desert."

"How does it make you feel?"

Dan looked around trying to really see the desert. Cactus grew in 
patches around him. A layer of long thorns with sharp tips 
provided a barrier between him and the meat of the plant. There 
wasn't moisture on the ground or humidity in the air. Bare rock 
covered by thin soil lent a hostile feel to the land. If left alone out 
here, he'd die from hunger and starvation within a very short 
period of time. He answered, "Pretty small and vulnerable."

"It tends to strip away some of that feeling that you're a master of 
the universe, doesn't it?" asked Ed as the horse stepped around a 
cactus. 

"You can say that again," answered Dan. It was a fact that he 
tended to feel small in the face of the expanse of the desert. He had 
to steer around a patch of cactus and envied the fact that Ed could 
let the horse pick a path through the plants. 

"Wouldn't you say that makes you feel more human?"

"Yes, I guess so," replied Dan surprised at the characterization.

"You're looking at a very small part of the Goddess. Imagine the 
impact of seeing all of her. You'd feel human and nothing else. All 
that Master of the Universe baloney gets stripped away, leaving 
behind a real human being - a human that likes to play, to love, to 
eat, and to make love."  

Dan didn't comment on what Ed had said, but understood that he 
was seeing deeper into the soul of Ed than he had ever seen of 
another human being. It made him think about what it meant to be 
a human. It seemed that in years gone past, he had forgotten how 
to play and to love. He realized that he might never have known 
how to love. It was a fact that he had never known how to make 
love. 

The men continued on their journey, not talking as they each 
pursued their own thoughts. It was a glorious day with perfect 
temperature. The sky was that amazing blue color that is only 
found in the southwest. Not a cloud marred the expanse of blue 
above them. The result was that shadows were sharp and well 
defined. The colors were intense and bright. This was the kind of 
day that recharged Ed's soul and when he was the most at home in 
the desert. 

Around noon, they were an hour from the edge of the property and 
Ed began to think of eating. He looked down at Dan and asked, 
"Are you getting hungry?"

The reminder of food made Dan realize that while he had packed 
water, he hadn't brought any food. Embarrassed, Dan confessed, "I 
forgot to bring food."

"No problem. I have an MRE. They're not great, but they are 
good."

The men stopped and ate lunch. Dan watched as Ed ate his 
sandwich, amazed at his total concentration on the food. Seeing the 
delight that Ed got from his food made him wonder if he actually 
knew how to eat. They didn't talk much as they ate. Once done, 
they mounted up, Ed on his horse and Dan on his ATV. 

They reached the edge of the property an hour after finishing 
lunch. Ed looked around and noticed a dark area that seemed odd 
to him. He stood up in the stirrups to try and get a better view of 
the area. Puzzled, he said, "Dan, there's something odd over there. 
I'd like to investigate it."

"Let's go."

Ed frowned and directed his horse the two hundred yards to the 
area that had caught his attention. As he got closer, he could see 
that it was a rather large hole in the ground. Dan sped up so that he 
reached the hole first and turned the ATV so that the headlight was 
shining into the hole. Ed reached the site about the time that Dan 
dismounted from the ATV and was edging closer to the hole. Ed 
shouted, "Stop. Go back to the ATV and back it away."

Puzzled by the command, Dan stopped and looked at Ed 
wondering what was the matter. The look on Ed's face convinced 
him that Ed was concerned for his safety and did as he had been 
ordered. He parked the ATV beside Ed.

Ed's hand had immediately gone to his medallion on seeing the 
hole up close. There was something about this place that sent chills 
up and down his spine. When his hand touched the medallion, the 
hole shimmered and shifted as though it wasn't for him to see. 
Removing his hand, the hole returned solidly placed in the earth. 
He touched the medallion again to find that an opaque barrier with 
writing of some kind on it now hid the hole. Blinking his eyes, he 
could see that they were Native American symbols that he couldn't 
interpret. 

Dan had watched Ed, hand clutching the gold medallion, as he 
stared at the hole for almost thirty minutes. He was beginning to 
get worried at the statue-like rigidity with which Ed was looking at 
it. When Ed moved, Dan jumped in surprise and asked, "Are you 
here?"

"Pardon?"

"I asked if you were here. It was like you were somewhere else," 
replied Dan with concern.

Ed was silent for a minute and then reached into his saddlebag. 
After feeling around in it, he pulled out the GPS. As he took a 
reading, he said, "This is not something for us to investigate. We 
have to leave it for others to investigate."

"You're kidding? We have to get the police or something?"

"No. It is a tribal matter," replied Ed as he backed his horse away 
from the site. He stopped and turned to Dan. In a very urgent 
voice, he said, "You have to promise me that you will not talk of 
this discovery until the proper people have been notified."

Dan looked at the hole and then back at Ed wondering why the 
man would request him to make such a promise. Shrugging, he 
said, "Okay."

The voice didn't ring of conviction and Ed's truth sense told him 
that the man didn't believe the criticality of the promise. Holding 
out the medallion and bending down closer to Dan, Ed said, 
"Touch the medallion and promise me that you will not talk of this 
discovery until I have notified the proper people."

Dan got off the ATV and approached Ed. Causally reaching out, he 
touched the medallion as he made the promise. Touching the 
medallion transported him, naked, to a meadow facing a 
tremendously grotesquely fat man with a cock that seemed to hang 
down to his knees. The fat man, lips flapping, said, "I shall keep 
you to this promise if I must."

Dan's body reacted by producing an almost painful erection. 
Barely able to breathe, he said, "You are the Two-Sided One."

The man transformed into a woman, just as fat and grotesque. She 
said, "Yes, I am."

"Am I to serve you?"

"Only in keeping this secret," replied the woman as she 
transformed into a handsome man and attractive woman joined at 
the hands. The woman ran a hand over his face and said, "Perhaps 
now that you've come to our attention, the God or the Goddess 
may call upon you."

His cock erupted as he returned to the desert, spilling his seed into 
his underwear like a kid having a wet dream. Embarrassed at the 
sudden wetness in his pants, he looked up at Ed. Awed by the 
experience, he said, "I met the Two-Sided One."

Nodding, Ed replied, "I know."

Ed was putting the horse into the trailer after watering it and 
feeding it, when Walt came out and said, "I'll drive the horse back 
to the auction yard. Why don't you go inside and clean up?"

Nodding, Ed answered, "Thanks. I appreciate it."

Entering the house, Ed went directly to his office. Once there, he 
pulled out a sheet of paper and grabbed his favorite pen. Pausing, 
he started to write a letter detailing what he had found in the desert. 
He recorded the location of the site and the writing that he had 
seen. He was careful to avoid writing the symbols in a single line, 
breaking it into sections that destroyed the continuity of the 
message. In some circles, symbols had power and recording them 
could have unforeseen consequences.

Once he had finished the letter, he sealed it in an envelope and then 
sat there wondering to whom he should sent it. Finally, he 
addressed it to William. He wrote on the back of it that the letter 
was to be opened upon arriving at the Native American College. 
He trusted William to identify the proper person to whom to 
deliver the information. 

Grabbing the letter, he went down to Cathy's office with the letter 
expecting to find Mary staffing it. Instead, Cathy was behind the 
desk working through the books. When he entered, she asked, 
"What can I do for you?"

Handing her the letter, he said, "You can make sure that William 
gets this when he goes to the Native American College in 
September."

Cathy raised an eyebrow as she looked at the letter and then over at 
Ed. She wondered why he wouldn't keep it himself. As though 
reading her mind, Ed said, "You never know where I will be the 
day he leaves for there."

"Okay."

"Where's Mary?"

Cathy looked up and said, "She's staffed the office all week while 
I've been out shopping for wedding dresses. I thought I'd give her a 
Saturday night off."

"Oh," replied Ed. He had not been aware of that. He asked, "How 
is she working out?"

Cathy said, "I like her, but I lust after her voice."

Ed laughed as he left the office and headed to the poolroom. Now 
that he had taken care of his problem, he could relax. Inside, he 
found Dan was already there in the pool having a splash war with 
Ling. Smiling at seeing the neighbor naked and relaxed around an 
equally naked woman, he stripped out of his clothes and went to 
the shower to rinse off the dirt and grime of the trail. Once he felt 
clean, he went into the hot tub to relax. 

After fifteen minutes in the spa, he got out and dried off. Ling and 
Dan had already moved over to the chairs and were talking. As Ed 
approached, he was surprised that Dan didn't have an erection. He 
joined them at the chairs and said, "I wonder where the snacks 
are."

"Mona is bringing them down anytime now. And yes, you get your 
iced tea." She giggled at the idea of the shock that little Mona 
would have when she came in the room. She was such a shy little 
thing and it amused Ling at how she tried to overcome it. 

Ed wondered what would happen when Mona came into the 
poolroom and encountered a number of naked people for the first 
time. He looked in the pool and saw that Betsy was swimming laps 
using the breaststroke. It was amazing that a three-year-old could 
swim that well. He was busy watching Betsy when Mona entered 
the room carrying a tray. 

Mona froze at the door and looked at the naked people sitting in 
the chairs. Her wide eyes could hardly believe what she was 
seeing. Her worst fears had come true. Marguerite had warned her, 
but she hadn't really believed her. Moving in a trance-like gait, she 
approached the little table on which she was supposed to set the 
snacks, while staring at Ed's cock. She bent down and set the tray 
on the table without removing her eyes from his crotch. 

Noticing Mona's fixed attention on Ed's cock, Ling remarked, "Do 
you see something that you like?"

"Yes, very much so," replied Mona without realizing what she was 
saying.

The exchange attracted Ed's attention and he turned to see what 
they were talking about. He was shocked by the intensity with 
which Mona was staring at his cock. Glancing over at Ling, he saw 
her smile while she, with a wicked little smile, made a gesture like 
she was tweaking a woman's nipple. Glancing over at Dan, he saw 
that the man was staring at Mona as if looking in a mirror and 
seeing what he had been. He knew that Mona was not seeing Ed 
the man, but Ed the cock. 

Mona slowly moved around the table and then knelt in front of Ed. 
He looked over at Ling and raised his hands as if to ask what he 
should do. He looked down to see her reaching for his cock. A tap 
on the shoulder finally drew Mona's eyes from his cock. She 
turned to find Betsy standing next to her. The reality of what she 
had been doing ripped through her mind and she paled. Betsy 
asked, "Are you okay? You look kind of funny."

Mona turned a bright red as her entire body blushed in 
embarrassment. Without answering Betsy, she ran towards the 
door with her hands over her eyes as she cried. She hit her shoulder 
in passing through the door, but didn't slow down in her rush to get 
away. Betsy, looking confused at Mona's reaction, asked, "Did I do 
something wrong?"

"No, Betsy. You didn't do anything wrong. She was lost in another 
world for a moment and then realized what she was doing in this 
one. She ran off because she was embarrassed," answered Dan.

"Oh." Betsy paused and looked at Dan for a minute. She said, 
"You don't talk funny anymore. I think I like you better this way."

Dan smiled and replied, "You might say that I was living in 
another world, too. I just woke to find that I was supposed to be 
living in this world."

The comment puzzled Ling and Betsy, but Ling was wise enough 
not to pursue it and Betsy didn't care enough to question him 
further. She turned to Ed and asked, "Can I go play with Lucy?"

Ed frowned as he answered, "Only if it is okay with her mother."

Betsy, still naked, tore out of the room to find Mary. She liked 
Mary and the fact that she took her to the park everyday to swing 
on the swings made her a great person in her book. It surprised her 
that Lucy got tired so quickly, but Betsy didn't care. She would do 
the running for both of them. 

Once Betsy was gone, Ed turned to Ling and asked, "What was 
that?"

"What?"

"Mona."

"Oh. I think she'd like to jump your bones. I'm rather surprised that 
prim little Mona didn't care that I was here watching the entire 
time," replied Ling with a giggle. She had actually enjoyed the 
entire show and had hoped to see it run to completion. 

Ed stood and gathered together his clothes. Glancing down at the 
snack tray, he said, "I better make sure that she doesn't quit."

"Can I watch?"

"I didn't know that I had married a voyeur, but for your 
information I'm going to talk to her," replied Ed recognizing that 
Ling was teasing him. 

"You're no fun," teased Ling before sticking her tongue out at him.

Ed laughed at her antics and left the room walking in a leisurely 
manner. Behind him, Ling was asking Dan about his day in the 
desert with Ed. It pleased her that Ed had found someone close by 
with whom he could go out in the desert. That he had used an ATV 
to keep up with Ed on horseback had been a bright idea.

Dressed in his robe, Ed sat in his comfort chair waiting for Mona 
to arrive. He didn't know what to say to her, but he knew that if he 
didn't do the right thing that she could set back her development as 
a chef for years. His thoughts were interrupted by a very soft 
knock on the door that was barely audible. He stood and opened 
the door.

Mona, staring at the floor, was terrified that she was going to be 
fired. Uncomfortable, she said, "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I did. Come in," invited Ed as he stepped back to make room 
for her to enter the room. He looked down at the top of her head as 
she passed by him. As he closed the door behind her, he said, 
"Please, take a seat."

Mona looked around seeking the proper place to sit and chose the 
couch. She crossed her legs and stared at a spot in the center of the 
floor. She didn't see it, since the tears starting to well up in her 
eyes blinded her. This was the last thing that she wanted to do and 
now that she was here, all she wanted to do was to end it. In a soft 
voice, she said, "I'll pack and leave in the morning if that is okay 
with you."

"Why would you want to do that?" asked Ed as he sat on the other 
end of the couch. He sat so that he was facing her across the empty 
space in the middle of the couch. The arrangement provided 
distance and intimacy at the same time.

"My behavior was inexcusable," answered Mona feeling perfectly 
miserable. 

"You don't say?" asked Ed with a smile. It had been his experience 
that the only thing that was inexcusable was evil, but he had seen 
no evil in her actions. He had observed weakness, but that was not 
the same as evil. He leaned forward and said, "I thought your 
behavior represented a very real and honest desire on your part."

The observation, rather than reassure her, only caused her to cry 
harder. This was not the first time that desire within her had 
emerged and caused her trouble. She sobbed, "I'm so bad!"

"In what way?"

"Sometimes, I…" 

She wanted to explain, but could not put it into words. How does 
one explain an obsession when they don't even understand it? All 
she knew was that there were times when she saw the sexual 
organs of a person, that she had this great desire to experience it. 

The emotional damn inside burst loose and she cried, "I'm a slut. I 
see a sexual organ and I have to have it."

It was a harsh assessment, but she spoke as though she believed it 
was true. He asked, "You have never had a real relationship, have 
you?"

"How can I? Once I saw a guy pissing against a wall and ended up 
having sex with him in an alley. I saw a woman in the ladies' room 
remove her panties to have a quickie with her date, but fell to my 
knees in front of her. I was lucky that I escaped with just a slap 
across my face. No one would want a relationship with someone 
like me!" The anguish in her voice was real.

Ed stood and walked to the other side of the room as he considered 
how to deal with the situation. Turning his back on her, he thought 
about her situation with regards to the household. She was weak 
and required protection, but in her weakness she had a strength that 
could harm others. He came to a decision, hoping that he wouldn't 
regret it. 

After a minute, he turned to face her and said, "You can stay until I 
find a way to help you with your problem. Tell everyone in the 
house the nature of your problem. If they accept your attentions, 
then you have done no harm. If they reject it, then you have done 
no harm since they know to expect it. Should you continue and 
they slap you, allow that to serve as a warning to stop and do not 
take harm from it. If you rape anyone, I will prosecute you to the 
fullest extent of the law. Do not ever touch the children."