Death by Fucking              © 2003 by Andrew Wiggin

Chapter 23               Empathic Feedback

The Year Eight

Dee Dee’s Story

     We’ve only been together nine years, but it seems like
forever. My life falls neatly into two distinct eras: Before
Andrew and the Andrew Years.  The eras are so different that
I feel like a totally different person.
     When I was thirty-four, I was doing what I wanted,
working at my chosen career and performing well.  I was
important to some people, mostly customers who I was
assigned to help.  But aside from Donnie, I had no friends,
no lovers, no personal life at all.  I was lonely.
     And then Andrew appeared and for the longest time, all
I had was personal life.  But now things are changing again.
In all the time since we were married, we hadn’t been apart
for even a day.  But business and other things have
intruded.  A foursome went to New York City the other day,
mostly on business.  But other things were also planned.  It
is the other things that have me so upset.  Suddenly the
Andrew Years seem threatened.
     When this whole Jake-Donnie thing came up, I went limp
and let Donnie have her head.  A woman has to do what a
woman has to do, I thought.  When all this talk about
sharing started, I suppose I was a facilitator.  It was so
out of left field that I really didn’t give it the
consideration it deserved.
     For a moment I tried to imagine myself in the role of
adulteress and was repulsed by the thought.  It was
something that would be too dangerous to our marriage, too
hurtful to Andrew, and so wrong for me.  But for some reason
I didn’t extrapolate the same results to Donnie.
     If I’m honest with myself, I think I understand my
inner motivation.  I was first.  I was the one who met
Andrew, who seduced him, who loved him; first.  I suppose
I’ve always considered myself to be first wife.  It’s
selfish and I’m ashamed of myself.  But it allowed me to
suppose that what Donnie did outside the marriage wouldn’t
mean as much.
     Andrew’s just can’t say no to us.  He will do anything
we ask; anything.  He sometimes appears to be the same way
with the children but it isn’t true.  He’s an easy-going
person who can be a strict father when necessary.
     We’ve known for a very long time that if we ask Andrew
for something, he won’t think twice about giving it to us.
It sounds like I am blaming Andrew but I’m really blaming
ourselves.  We sometimes take advantage of him.
     But this Donnie-Jake thing places that on a different
plane of existence.  Andrew should have put his foot down.
I should have put my foot down, I know it.  I’m as guilty as
either of them.  Keeping one’s mouth shut is the path of
least resistance. But it’s often wrong.
     Andrew and Donnie are coming home today.  So now I’ll
learn how things went.  They flew to New York two days ago.
Helen and Jake stayed on since they have more meetings to
attend.  Andrew attended a few of the initial meetings to
lend his weight to the event.  My Andrew is a celebrity.
People get a thrill just from meeting him.  He recognizes
this and sometimes uses it to our advantage, but it makes
him uncomfortable.
     I’m like people, I suppose.  I’m getting a thrill
knowing he will be here today.  But I’m so scared.  How will
we handle this infidelity?
     I don’t have any problem with Andrew being with Helen.
Is that a double standard?  I don’t think so.  Andrew went
along because that’s what he does with us.  We ask and he
delivers.
     He isn’t unfaithful to us.  He’s never unfaithful.  If
he went to bed with a million women, Andrew would be
incapable of being unfaithful to us. He can never really
look at another woman.  We are his only addiction.
     I have this man; this sweet, beautiful, adorable man.
The entire world acknowledges that he is the sexiest man on
earth, yet all he thinks of is us. He’s so wonderful.  If
we’ve hurt him I think I’ll die.
     
Andrew’s Story
     Stepping onto a plane in New York and then stepping off
of the plane in Savannah is a surreal experience.  It’s like
changing countries, changing eras.
     I like New York.  When I was a kid of maybe twenty-two
I had my all-time best Italian dinner there at a little
place off of 3rd Avenue on 53rd Street.  Just shopping at
some of the odd stores in the East Village is interesting.
Walking around Greenwich Village is a trip.
     I’m not trying to belittle New York when I say I was
glad to get the fuck out of there.  For a while I questioned
if we’d make it out.  During the cab ride from the hotel to
the airport the driver thought he was in the Indy 500 and so
did everyone else on the road.
     But I had met who I had to meet, done what needed to be
done.  My wife and I needed to return to our real world for
the sake of our sanity.  It wasn’t New York, per se, that
had me crazy.  It was us, what almost happened.  Sometimes
I’m dumber than a post.
     Donnie snuggled against me through the two and a half
hour flight.  She’s been very loving and affectionate since
our little near-disaster of the other night, not that
there’s anything wrong with that.  In fact, I like it.
     We grabbed the car out of long-term parking and made
our way home.  I love that old plantation that we acquired
from Doris Johns.  It was a wreck when we she gave it to us,
but now it’s a great place to live.  It’s become home.
     I parked the car in the carport and we carried our
luggage into the house.  We were met in the kitchen by six
happy little eKids, hugging us, kissing us, some of them
even talking.  They aren’t used to us being away.
     Dee Dee was standing behind the kids smiling, but only
on the surface.  My wives have several levels of smile.
This one was painted on the front of her face but didn’t
reach her heart.
     
     Donnie and I were still hugging the eKids when Emma
disengaged herself, walked over to Deirdre and said, “Don’t
worry, Momma, Donnie didn’t fuck Jake.”
     
     I could see the look of relief in Dee Dee’s eyes.  But
I couldn’t let what Emma had said pass.  I said, “Emmy, you
aren’t supposed to use that word!”
     
     She said, “But you use it Daddy.”  I really hate it
when a woman throws the truth in your face.
     
     “That’s not the same thing.  I use it only under very
special circumstances, in private with your mothers.”
     
     “But what about when you are together with Jake?  Both
of you say it all the time.  And in the car, what about
then?”
     
     I hate to get in an argument with Emmy.  There’s just
no way to win it.  And she’s only nine.  When she grows up
she’s going to be hell.
     
     “Emma, adults know that that’s a word you never say in
front of certain people.  Can you understand that?”
     
     Emmy hugged me and gave me a peck on the cheek. “Sure,
Daddy, from now on I’ll know not to say ‘fuck’ in front of
you.  It makes you crazy.”
     
     My wives laughed.  My kids laughed.  I know when I’m
licked.  “Kids, your mothers and I have to talk business.
Would you please take a hike for awhile?  Emmy, go jump off
a bridge or find someone else to annoy, okay?”
     
     The kids all ran off, except for Emma.  She looked at
me with those dangerously innocent eyes and said, “Daddy,
don’t you like me to annoy you?”
     
     I said, “For the time being, give me a break, will ya?”
     
     Then she left to plan the destruction of the world or
whatever else was on her agenda for the day.
     
     I said to my wives, “Let’s go in to the living room and
have a palaver.”
     
     As we walked into the room, I noticed that Donnie and
Dee Dee were holding hands.  They have this ‘twin’ thing
going.  They are beyond close.
     There’s this theory I’m working on.  My theory is that
maybe the move to the next generation wasn’t such a big
evolutionary step after all.  Maybe what the eKids have is
just an extension of what many normal H. sapiens identical
twins already experience.
     I’ve seen accounts of studies done on identical twins
that were separated at birth.  Most of the time each twin
didn’t even know that he had a clone running around
somewhere.  And yet their lives seemed to run on parallel
courses.
     I saw a story of twin brothers who married women with
the same name, had the same number of kids, gave the kids
the same names, and did the same job; all the while living
hundreds of miles apart and not knowing that somewhere out
there was a person just like them.  But feeling there was
something missing in their lives.
     There is more going on there than coincidence.  These
people are in some way psychically joined.
     Donnie and Deirdre are psychically joined too.
Whatever seminal fluid I added to the mix was just enough to
move the eKids to the next psychic level is all.
     That’s my theory.  IAM was already breeding for
intelligence.  Then this twin thing popped up.  Through
coincidence or fate or whatever, suddenly the psychic energy
of the IAM girls started going through the roof because they
were all identical twins.  It was a combination of two very
explainable phenomena that created New Man:  breeding for
intelligence and the psychic connection of some identical
twins.  All we did was force a breakthrough; make an
incremental step in the right direction.  Whatever was going
on with twins became extended to everyone in the species;
New Man, that is.  Momentum was already on our side.
     The real question is this: are the eKids the end result
or merely a transitional phase?  That one keeps me up at
night.
     
     The girls sat on one of the sofas but I remained
standing.  I needed to talk, maybe pace a bit.  Sometimes I
need movement to help me think.
     
     I said, “Girls, I have a confession to make.  Sometimes
I can be a self-centered jerk.  Sometimes I’m not as erudite
as I appear.  I do appear erudite, don’t I?  Sometimes the
things I do or say differ from the things I think or feel.
     What I’m saying is: I screwed up.  It’s this Jake
thing.  It was all my fault.  Donnie isn’t to blame, I am.”
     
     Donnie looked cross.  “Andrew I thought we had been
through this already.  Will you stop being Mr. Nice Guy and
acknowledge that you aren’t responsible for  everything that
goes wrong in this house?  Sometimes other people mess up
too, though not often.”
     
     I’m so used to being the target of abuse by every
female in the place that these little digs just bounce right
off of me.  But I had her this time.  I know when I’m the
culprit.  This time it was my fault.  I figure if I can
accept the blame, in a weird way I’ll be scoring points with
my wives.  That usually translates into good things, often
of a sexual nature.  Besides which, the blame does belong to
me.
     
     “Donnie, we agreed from the very beginning that we were
going to be truthful about our relationship.  We all agreed,
right?  When this Jake thing came up, I was less than
truthful about my feelings even to myself.  Not only that, I
pushed you into it.  Isn’t that true?”
     
     She kind of shrugged her shoulders.  “I had my eyes
wide open.  No one pushed me into anything.  I’ll admit,
whatever fantasies I had about Jake were mostly subliminal.
I never had the slightest intention of acting on them.  I
never wanted to act on them.”
     
     I said, “You see?  I think we can agree that this is
all Emmy’s fault.  She brought the whole thing up in the
first place.  Want me to go out and beat the crap out of
her?”
     
     Deirdre said, “Andrew, Emma told the truth.  It was you
that made the jump of turning Donnie’s fantasy into
reality.”
     
     I agreed.  “That’s what I was saying originally before
I was so rudely interrupted.  I guess I’ve always felt
guilty about these IAM twins.  I don’t want to be unfaithful
to you.  I don’t like being unfaithful to you.  But still I
feel like I’m being unfaithful to you.  Does that make
sense?
     When the Jake thing came up, I thought it was small of
me not wanting Donnie to be with Jake when I’ve been with a
thousand other women.  Besides which, an intellectual
appraisal of relationships seems to indicate that love and
sex are totally separate issues.  Intellectually speaking,
sex has nothing to do with love.  At least that’s what I’ve
been lead to understand.  Jealousy has no place in a mature
relationship.
     But that’s not what it feels like to me.  It’s my
problem.  I know it.  Sex and love are aspects of the same
thing, at least concerning my relationship with you two. I
just can’t keep them separate.  I know I’m immature.  But I
can’t handle sharing you with anyone. I’m sorry I’m so small-
minded and selfish.”
     
     Dee Dee was the first to respond.  “All of us are old
fashioned that way.  The IAM thing is separate.  It really
doesn’t count.  You do your job, we do our job, and IAM
moves forward successfully.  You can’t argue with success.
     We don’t look at these IAM women with jealousy.  We
don’t feel you are cheating on us.  Don’t buy into that
guilt, Andrew.  You shouldn’t.
     We don’t mind that every woman who sees you lusts after
you either.  How couldn’t they?  You are so gorgeous. But we
have our insecurities.  We will have a problem if you start
to lust after them.  We’ve always had this age thing in the
back of our minds, especially Donnie, I think.  It worries
us.  It makes us vulnerable.”
     
     I just didn’t know how to address their concerns about
age.  I said, “Sweethearts, the only ones who care about our
age difference are you.  I’m in love with you; not your
bodies, though they remain fabulous and wonderful.  I’m in
love with who you are and I always have been.  Damn it, Dee
Dee.  I feel like we are going over ground that we discussed
nine years ago.  I don’t care how old you are.  I don’t care
what you look like.  I’m helplessly, hopelessly in love with
both of you.  Nothing will ever change that. I could never
be interested in any other woman.”
     
     Dee Dee said, “But we are all guilty this time.  The
first rule of our relationship has always been to confront
our problems head on.  You’re right.  You let this one
slide, and so did I, and so did Donnie. It was one that
could have really done some damage.
     You pretend to be a sophisticate but you are really
just a small town boy.  Andrew, just be honest with us.  If
you need to say something, say it.
     And I’m just as guilty.  I should have opened my mouth.
I realized too late that this was a big mistake.  Apparently
Donnie realized it in time, thank goodness.  There is plenty
of blame to pass around between the three of us.  We need to
recommit to openness and honesty.”
     
     I said, “Well yeah, I guess.  Our marriage has been
going down so smoothly that we’ve been out of practice with
confronting problems.  This whole thing was about
insecurity; Donnie’s insecurity about still being attractive
and my insecurity about our sexual relationship.  Dee Dee, I
think you’re going along with this ‘age insecurity’ thing to
show solidarity with your sister.  In reality you have to be
the most secure woman in the world, and I have to tell you
that it’s pretty annoying.
     
     Donnie said, “Okay, Andrew, we get the picture.
Everyone accepts some blame for my screw-up and I thank you
both.  I promise to talk things over with both of you before
making any stupid decisions in the future.  We all agree, so
let’s get off of this subject.  I feel bad enough as it is.”
     
     I said, “Okay, Donnie, don’t get touchy.  There’s more
we need to discuss. Ladies, we have some posts to fill.  New
Man University and the new technology company we’ve been
working on are both getting ready to go.  I didn’t bring
this up before because everything was in the formative
stages.  But it looks like we are actually going to bring
these things off, so now we need some executives.”
     
     Donnie said, “Andrew you should be the lead executive,
whatever title you choose.  Most of this is based on your
initiative.”
     
     I laughed.  “Yeah, right.  Donnie, I’m sitting in a
room with two PhD’s from Duke University.  I’m a Bachelor of
Arts from Low Life U.  We need a university president.  We
need a corporate Chief Executive Officer.  You two fit the
bill perfectly.”
     
     Deirdre objected.  “Why us and not you?  You’ve been
the driving force behind this.”
     
     I said, “First, if only for appearances, it will look
much better if our university president has a PhD.  Second,
you two are the businesspersons in our family, not me.  I’m
along for the ride.  It’s your area of expertise.  The eKids
do the heavy lifting, you two do the organizational stuff,
and I lead the cheers.  That’s the way it works in our
family.”
     
     Donnie said, “Why can’t you be a PhD?  I’ll bet that
Youngstown State would be eager to offer you an honorary PhD
if you agreed to speak at commencement, something like that.
You have to be one of their most distinguished alumni.”
     
     I said, “That’s damning with faint praise.  I can see
the famous alums of YSU being introduced:  Ron Parise,
Astronaut; Ron Jawarski, nationally known sports
commentator; Andrew Adkins, Doctor of Fucking.  I don’t
think so.”
     
     Dee Dee was laughing.  “I love the little side trips
you take in your mind, Andrew.  They always make me laugh.
But I think this discussion of executive selection will have
to wait.  I’m not feeling up to it now.”
     
     Donnie said, “Neither do I.  I don’t feel right
either.”
     
     I was concerned.  “What’s the matter, are you two
getting ill?  Are you going to be alright?”
     
     They said in unison, “We need to visit the Fuck
Doctor.”
     
     I had to laugh.  That’s me: Andrew Adkins, FD.  Those
two picked up my little word trip about Youngstown State and
carried it to the next obvious step.  But they didn’t even
have to concur verbally.  Each knew what the other was going
to say.  It’s eerie.  It’s a twin thing.  It doesn’t even
surprise me anymore.  Glad I’m their husband.
     I’ve been with a thousand different women and not one
of them has held a candle to either of my wives.  Why would
I want beans when I’m getting steak at home?
     There’s more to it than that.  I’ve heard people say
that variety is the spice of life and yadda yadda yadda.
Translate ‘yadda yadda yadda’ to mean: after a while in any
relationship the sex can only be routine, the excitement of
the early days fades away.  Things become perfunctory,
repetitive, boring.  My only response is: bullshit!
     It’s their skin, I think.  My original chemical
attractor theorem remains intact and apparently irrefutable.
When I touch them every emotion I’ve ever had for them
rushes back.  Every time feels like the first time.  I’ll
never tire of them if we live to be a hundred.
     My life is good.
     
Donnie’s Story
     Although Dee Dee finds this ‘sexiest women’ thing
vastly amusing, I find it thrilling.  She laughs equally
hard about Andrew’s inclusion on the sexiest male list.  It
tickles her to think that stodgy old married people like us
could be so misconstrued by the general public.
     But it makes me feel young.  It makes me feel sexy.
After all, isn’t People Magazine the official arbiter of
what is young and sexy in America?  At least that is what
one is lead to believe.  I want to believe it but sometimes
I can’t.
     My insecurities about not being young and sexy
undoubtedly lead me to this near disaster with poor Jake.  I
don’t know what I can do to make it up to him.  But I do
know that I’ll try to make it up to Andrew.
     Andrew is claiming responsibility for the whole thing.
That is so like him.  He has this exalted view of himself
sometimes, like everything that happens in this family is
his doing.  He is trying to absolve me of all responsibility
for my planned infidelity.  If I had gone through with it
would he still have been so gracious?  Probably; but he’d
still be hurting.
     Ever since it happened I’ve been especially
affectionate to him.  It’s my guilt I suppose.  I’m sure he
is just playing along, waiting for me to return to my normal
self.
     Usually I like to kid him, poke fun at his strange
ways, his verbosity, his childish theories and flights of
fancy.  He is such an easy target.  What would America think
if they knew the very odd person behind that beautiful face?
I don’t know if I could be happy with a ‘normal’ person.
     I’m not so sure that right now I want sex from the
Qfuck doctor’ (that’s going to be our private name for him
for a long time to come, I can tell).  What I want is skin-
to-skin contact.  It’s as if I need to be reassured of
Andrew’s love by the act of touching.  I’m so afraid that I
had driven a wedge between us.
     We went up to our bedroom and each of us disrobed,
Andrew assisting both of us as much as we would let him.  He
loves to touch us.
     We all lay down on the bed, with Andrew in the middle,
with Dee Dee and I snuggled up on each side of him.  Andrew
was sandwiched between the two of us.
     He said, “This is the life: surrounded by two hundred
and twenty pounds of fabulous female flesh.”
     Deirdre said, “Two hundred and twenty-one pounds.”
     I said, “Two hundred and twenty-two pounds.”
     Andrew looked shocked.  “You’re both getting fat!  To
be honest, I didn’t notice the extra pounds anywhere.  I can
assure you they didn’t go to your tits.”
     I elbowed him in the ribs, but we were all so
comfortable that we hardly felt like kidding about the
fluctuation in our weight.
     He held us tighter till we felt like one continuous
person.  We get so close and comfortable this way.  Dee Dee
and I have some kind of connection that seems to defy logic.
Each seems to know what the other is thinking sometimes.
Maybe it’s just that we are so alike that we end up thinking
the same things. But when we get close like this it almost
feels like there is a continuous mental-emotional connection
linking all three of us.
     I wasn’t really overcome by passion, but still I wanted
Andrew inside me.  I looked over at Deirdre. “Dee Dee, would
you mind if I climbed on for a few minutes.  I need to feel
closer.”
     She smiled. “Go ahead.  I’m comfortable just as we
are.”
     I took hold of Andrew at his most sensitive spot and
impaled myself upon his beautiful cock.  We were still a
three-person sandwich, but now I was on top.  I lay there,
just relishing the feel of the three of us together, the
feel of Andrew so deeply inside of me, of his arm pulling me
even tighter.  I could die in those arms.
     My cheek was on Andrew’s chest as I looked into Dee
Dee’s eyes.  She had the contented happy smile she so often
wears.  Dee Dee must be the most secure and happy person on
earth.  She radiates such nurturing warmth.  No wonder
Andrew and I love her so.
     I was there innocently riding Andrew, just making the
slightest of motions to keep up the contact between his
manhood and my womanhood, when it hit me. There was no build
up that I was consciously aware of.  I was suddenly so very
aroused.  I began wildly humping, moving ever more rapidly
up and down his shaft.  I let out a loud moan and I was
having a massive shuddering climax, my pussy convulsing
around his member. My eyes closed in ecstasy as I let the
feelings of fulfilled arousal and romantic lust overwhelm
me.
     I opened my eyes to find Dee Dee staring at me, still
wearing her Mona Lisa-like smile.  I could see by her look
that she was happy for me.  I was happy for me. Andrew loves
me.  As awful as I am, he loves me. I can feel it in my
heart.  I can see it in his eyes. We three have a love that
transcends all else.  I’ll never do anything to threaten
that again.
     
Emma’s Story
     I could feel that Momma Donnie was finished.  I don’t
usually eaves-drop on my parents (it pisses Daddy off if he
thinks we are doing that), but they are so emotional we kids
have trouble tuning them out sometimes.   Besides, I needed
to talk to them and I didn’t want to interrupt at an
embarrassing time.  It wouldn’t be embarrassing for me, but
they are so sapien.  So I waited till Donnie was finished.
     I knocked.  I heard Daddy say to come in.  My parents
were lying in bed, all wrapped in each other.  One of my
favorite things is to feel their love for one another.  I
want to help them feel that too.
     Sometimes Momma Donnie is afraid of losing Daddy’s
love.  She doesn’t understand that it can never happen.  I
want to help her understand that.
     All three of them smiled at me when I went into the
room.  They didn’t mind me being there.  And they were
interested in why I was there.  After all, we kids never
interrupt our parents when they are making love.  It’s one
of our rules.
     
     I said, “Could I talk to you for a minute?”
     
     All three of their heads were sticking out from under
the covers.  Momma Dee Dee and Momma Donnie were snuggling
with Daddy in between.  Daddy’s nice to snuggle with.  I do
it all the time when we are watching movies.
     
     Dee Dee said, “What do you want to talk about, honey?”
     
     I said, “I need to talk to you about something.  You
had a problem and maybe I started it by opening my mouth.  I
like to open my mouth.”
     
     Daddy said, “It wasn’t your fault, Emmy.  You just told
the truth.  Maybe sometimes we don’t need to hear all the
truth all of the time.  But what happened wasn’t your fault,
so don’t worry about it.”
     
     He didn’t get my point.  “Daddy, I know it wasn’t my
fault.  I just gave you some information.  Then you three
went crazy.  I think we need to talk about your
relationship.”
     
     Donnie said, “What are you talking about?  You’re our
little girl and we love you.  But you have no business
interfering in our relationship.”
     
     I said, “I’m sorry, Momma, but I know more about your
relationship than you do.  I think I can help you understand
each other better.”
     
     Daddy intervened.  He appreciates my mind more than
either of my mothers.  They’ve never really understood how
smart we are.  To them we are their sweet and talented
little boys and girls.  Daddy knows better.
     
     “If you have something you think will help, Emmy, we’ll
listen.  But this better be good.”
     
     I said, “Well your problems all started with one of
Daddy’s ridiculous theories.”
     
     Both of my mothers laughed.  Daddy said, “You’re
cutting me to the quick, here.  Which theory are we
referring to?”
     
     I said, “It’s that silly ‘chemical attractors’ thing.
You talk about it so much I think that Donnie and Dee Dee
actually believe it.  But it’s not only stupid, it’s
dangerous.”
     
     Daddy looked hurt.  “Stupid?  Dangerous?  Maybe you
better explain yourself.”
     
     I said, “Daddy, you’ve convinced yourself that your
relationship is built on some sort of chemical attraction
that none of you can fight.  Don’t you see that Donnie might
think that as she gets older and enters menopause that her
body chemistry might change enough to turn off the chemical
attraction?”
     
     Daddy looked shocked.  I could see tears forming in
Momma Donnie’s eyes.  Daddy said, “Donnie, you don’t
actually believe that, do you?”
     
     She said, “I don’t know.  I guess that the thought had
crossed my mind.  I’m old, Andrew.  Menopause is right
around the corner.  What then?”
     
     I jumped in.  “Daddy, your theory sucks.”
     
     He said, “Well, do you have a better one?” rather
petulantly for a thirty-four year old man, I thought.
     
     I said, “Actually, I do.  Had it occurred to you that
it might just be love?”
     
     He frowned.  “That isn’t the point, Emmy.  We felt like
this from the first moment we met.  Love doesn’t work that
way.”
     
     I said, “Why not?  All three of you are special people
for Homo sapiens.  You must be or you wouldn’t have given
birth to New Man.  Would you like to know how I think it
happened?”
     
     Dee Dee jumped in.  “Oh, yes, Emma.  I certainly would
love to hear this.  I’ve always thought that Andrew’s theory
was more amusing than factual.  I personally never took it
that seriously, though apparently Donnie did.”
     
     Daddy looked at Momma Dee Dee with his mouth open.
“You don’t buy my ‘chemical attractors’ theory?  Why not?”
     
     Dee Dee kissed Daddy on the cheek.  “Don’t be hurt,
Andrew.  That theory gave me an excuse to seduce you, so it
served its purpose.  But it is just a little silly, don’t
you think?”
     
     Daddy turned to me.  “Okay then Miss Big Mouth.  Let’s
hear the official New Man theory.”
     
     “Daddy, it’s more than a theory.  Let me explain.
First, you and Dee Dee talked on the phone a lot before you
met, didn’t you?”
     
     He nodded.  “Well, yes.  So what?”
     
     “So you started to know each other even before you met.
And you both liked each other.  You liked each other’s
minds.  You both needed someone who was intelligent and who
respected your intelligence as well.
     The important factor that you haven’t considered is
empathy.  The things that separate New Man from Homo sapiens
are intelligence and empathy.  The telepathy part is a
subset of empathy, I think.  But all three of you are in the
upper one percentile of H. sapiens for both intelligence and
empathy.  That’s unusual.
     Dee Dee and Donnie have the empathy that many identical
twins have, multiplied by the fact that they are fourth
generation identical twins.  Each generation was more
empathic than the previous one.  It has reached the point
that you are almost telempathic with each other.  You must
have noticed.”
     
     Momma Dee Dee and Momma Donnie looked at each other.
They shared an embarrassed smile.  I knew what they were
thinking.  I can read their thoughts, after all.  They did
notice. Most of their shared empathy was during sex.  That
is when their emotions are at their peak.  I thought I
better not bring that fact up.  They like to pretend that
their sex lives are private.
     
     I continued.  “And Daddy, you are just a naturally
empathic person.  Call it pure chance, but you are even more
empathic than Dee Dee and Donnie.  After all, you felt us
girls in Momma’s womb, and our Mommas didn’t
     That brings us back to when Daddy and Dee Dee first
met.  You already liked each other’s minds.  Dee Dee
especially liked that Daddy respected her for her brain.
And then when you met, well, you both were physically
attracted to each other.  You are both very attractive for
H. sapiens. So you liked each other’s minds and found each
other very physically attractive.  And Daddy, you thought
Dee Dee had a sexy voice.  You were half-way in love with
her before you met.
     What happened was, when you touched, (you did shake
hands, right?), the empathy factor kicked in.  You felt each
other’s natural attraction and your high empathy caused a
bridge.  You got caught in an empathic feedback loop that
built upon itself.  Each person’s attraction for the other
fed upon itself and just kept getting greater.  You were
madly in love before you even realized it.  That’s what
happened.  It had nothing to do with chemistry and
everything to do with love.  You love each other because of
who you are, not because of some imagined body chemistry.”
     
     Donnie said, “But what about me?  How could the same
thing have happened twice if it wasn’t chemical?”
     
     I said, “You were both totally ready for each other
when you met.  Momma, you were prepared to love Daddy even
before you met him.  And Daddy was fooled when you first met
into thinking you were Dee Dee.  So when you touched (you
did touch, didn’t you?)” - I could see by their guilty looks
that they touched about as much as two people could possibly
touch when they first meet – “you got caught in the same
empathic feedback loop that Daddy and Dee Dee fell into.
When Daddy found out you weren’t Dee Dee, and he must have
suspected something because he could subconsciously sense a
difference in your empathy, he found he was in love with you
too.”
     
     Momma Dee Dee said, “I like this theory.  This is a
good theory.  Sorry, Andrew, but until something better
comes along, I’m buying Emma’s theory over yours.”
     
     I said, “Uh, Momma, I’m not done.”
     
     Daddy said, “There’s more?  I thought you covered all
of the bases.  If my wives like your theory better than
mine, then fine.  I’m going to withhold judgment for a while
until I know more.”
     
     Donnie hit him. “Andrew, don’t be a spoil sport.  This
theory works for me.  It means we love each other forever.
Even if we can’t prove it, it’s a lovely theory.”
     
     “Daddy I have some bad news for you.”
     
     He said, “What?  What could be worse than attacking one
of my finest theories?”
     
     I said, “Well, you know this ‘sexiest man on earth’
thing.  It might not be entirely accurate.”
     
     He said, “Now what!  You haven’t been ‘adjusting’ the
polls have you?  I should have realized it.”
     
     “I didn’t adjust the polls, Daddy.  I didn’t do
anything, this time.  It’s just that you are famous for
doing a certain thing.  People think you are the best in the
world at doing that certain thing.”
     
     Momma Dee Dee was amused.  I think she finds everything
funny.  My Momma just loves life.  “Go ahead, Emma.  Say it.
You mean that people think that Daddy is the world’s
greatest lover.”
     
     Daddy said, “Okay, where are you going with this?”
     
     “Think, Daddy!  Who have you been making love to?
You’ve been with a thousand different women, but they are
all IAM twins!  For them you are the world’s greatest lover.
Your empathy touches their empathy and you can feel what
they need.  You do all the right things for them because you
can sense what is right for them.  It’s just a natural fit.
     But before you met Momma Dee Dee, didn’t you have
lovers then?  Did they think you were God’s gift to women?”
     
     He said, “Hey, my sex life before I was married is none
of your business.  Come to think of it, my sex life after I
was married is none of your business either.  Okay, I’ll
admit it.  Sex was always pleasant but not spectacular.  Sex
only became spectacular after I met Dee Dee and Donnie.”
     
     I said, “Aren’t you glad you didn’t go to bed with
Helen?  She would be the first to discover the truth.  And
she would have won the bet between her and Donnie.”
     
     Donnie said, “How did you know about our bet, you
little vixen?”
     
     Daddy was ready to capitulate.  “Forget it Donnie.
Emmy knows everything about everyone.  That’s who she is.
One of the things that have gone down the tubes with the
advent of New Man is personal privacy.  It’s an alien
concept to them.  Still it’s just a theory.  She can’t prove
it.”
     
     I said, “But I can prove it.  I can make you understand
it.  I can let you feel it.  How would that be?”
     
     Daddy answered. “What are you talking about?  How can
you let us feel it?”
     
     I asked, “Do you trust me, Daddy?  Would you let me
tweak you a little bit?”
     
     I could feel his fear.  He has this fear of mind
control.  That’s why he is such a freedom of speech
advocate.  He doesn’t want people controlling what he thinks
or says, ever.
     
     I said, “I promise I won’t be making you think anything
or feel anything that you don’t already think or feel.  I’ll
just open the pathways that are already there a little bit.
You three are so close to us kids in empathy.  Would you
like to feel what we feel?  If you don’t like it I can
change things back.”
     
     Daddy had his doubts but I could tell that Momma Dee
Dee and Momma Donnie were all for it.  I could see that they
were rubbing his chest under the covers.
     
     Donnie said, “Oh, come on, Andrew.  Let’s experiment a
little.  Maybe it will be fun.  If you don’t like it, Emma
can take it back, can’t you Emma?”
     
     Daddy sighed.  He can never say no to my Mommas.  He is
such a pushover.
     
     He said, “Okay, Okay!  I’ll do it.  You better not
screw this up Emmy, or I’ll rip your arm off and beat you
over the head with it.”  He is so funny sometimes.
     
     I closed my eyes and just felt them.  I followed their
pathways.  I knew what I was doing. I’ve been this way many
times, just to see if I could do it.  I just never made the
adjustments before.  I was telling the truth.  They are so
empathic already, especially for H. sapiens, that the change
was a minor one.
     
     I opened my eyes and my parents were looking at me
lovingly.  They knew!  I felt it.  I climbed on the bed and
crawled on top of Daddy’s chest.  I hugged him.  I couldn’t
help it, I began to cry.  Daddy finally knows how much I
love him.