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."