Two youngsters, not related, grow up in the same household, to become lovers. They are watched over and guided by the ghosts of their parents and the girl's brother. A romance, erotic in tone, but all the real sex is at the end. Enjoy. Votes and comments, public or private, are welcome. Will attempt to answer signed comments. Jb7
JASON QUINN'S GHOST STORY
Hello. Come in, please. How can I help you? Who? Yeah, I knew Jason, knew his folks, both sets. What do you want to know? His life? You said you have a letter from him giving you permission to gather information about him. Can I see it? Hmmh, okay, I guess.
Shit, from his birth until his 21st birthday, nobody I know would have wanted Jason Quinn's life. It was one tragedy after another. By the time he was three months old, he was orphaned, left in the care of his parents' best friends. Good people, just a little liberal or progressive for most folks.
When he was three and a half, his guardian parents, Mike and Sarah Murphy, had a little girl, Melinda, born on Christmas Eve, about six years after their son, Gordie, was born. Meli was born a month early, the birth precipitated when Sarah had an old, rickety step ladder collapse under her. Meli was okay, but the fall caused a tear, actually an avulsion, of the skin over Sarah's abdomen which infected, and she succumbed to a MRSA infection three months after delivering Meli.
Jason's early life was relatively normal until one night shortly after his 13th birthday. He reported he had had a dream that night about Sarah, his first ever. In the dream, she told him that she and other members of his adopted and biological families would visit him from time to time when they had important messages to get to people on 'his side.' It was just a bit after that, Jason told me, he discovered he was able to see and talk to spirits which had lingered behind.
Just before Thanksgiving the year he turned 16, one of the spirits alerted him to some immediate danger to Mike. Mike had gone big game hunting with several friends in the Adirondacks. To get to their base cabin through the heavy snow that had fallen, the group had rented a number of snow gliders of a type called Reindeer.
While traversing a particularly rough part of the trail, Mike was thrown from the snow glider he was on and, was killed instantly when he was run over by the Reindeer following him.
Mike had been a lawyer, a good one. His specialty was estate planning. Perhaps he understood the vagaries of life and death better than most because of his work, or maybe it was his own life experience.
At any rate, since Gordie was an adult, and money was not an issue, the children were able to remain together as a family. Gordie was in college, ready to begin his professional education, working on an MBA. Jason and Meli, a tall gawky prepubescent teen at this point, were left together on their own a great deal.
Mike had arranged for one of his partners to act as a financial guardian, a conservator. That gentleman hired a service to provide housekeeping and kitchen help. He also paid the bills and provided the children with generous allowances.
Gordie's studies didn't allow him time to meet with the conservator, so that duty fell to Jason. Every other Friday afternoon, he would take Meli to the lawyer's office and together, they would go over the bills with the lawyer.
Thanks to some 'friendly' spirits, Jason was alerted early on to a tendency toward 'sloppiness,' as he put it, in the conservator's bookkeeping. After he pointed out the third 'error' to the man, he requested an appointment with the remaining senior partner of the firm. There was an immediate change in personnel, and no further 'sloppiness' occurred.
When Meli commented on how smart he must be to have caught the errors, he confessed to her that he had had help, and told her about seeing and talking to spirits. At the age of 13, it was totally believable, and abfabcool! When he told her of some of the grisly sights and details he was privy to, she agreed that maybe it wasn't totally cool.
It has been mentioned that there were friendly spirits–those who watched over the teens. There were also some more aggressive types–those who wanted and tried to take control of Jason's body, to accomplish some deed. Unless caught totally by surprise, as had happened the very first time he was possessed, this was nearly impossible. Only the angriest of spirits, those hell bent on the destruction of their human host, could overcome the will of a healthy human.
The two teens ate together, studied together, watched TV, went to Saturday matinees, the library, the mall. It was Jason who explained to Meli what was happening when her menses started.
He was the one who scheduled her first GYN appointment, and accompanied her. When she asked him to come in for the first exam, he went along and held her hand through the entire examination. He was the one who brought up the question of tampons and wrote down the brands the doctor recommended.
At the onset of the holiday season of Jason's third year in college, Meli's senior year in high school, and Gordie's first year of working, tragedy again struck the young household. The day after Thanksgiving, Gordie decided that, while the two teens braved the malls, he would string holiday lights along the windows and eaves of their Victorian-style house.
He was using an aluminum extension ladder. To better see how the lights looked as he put them up, he plugged them into an extension cord and carried the lighted strings on his shoulder as he climbed the ladder. At the top, he shrugged the lights off his shoulder and laid them on the steeply pitched slate shingled roof, from whence they immediately slipped into the partially filled eaves trough.
If the kids had been home...if some neighbor had heard his scream...if someone had been able to call for help immediately...it's impossible to say. The autopsy indicated he had survived the electric shock and the fall, but not for long.
A week after the funeral, Jason, now a tall, slightly built, good looking twenty year-old, was able, based on his history with the conservator, to convince the Family Court he would be able to continue caring for his 17 year old sister and give her the support and guidance she required. Meli's promise to comply with Jason's directions helped.
After granting Jason's request for custody, the judge asked to see him and Meli in his chambers. Removing his robe, he turned to the two and commented, "I was a friend to both of your fathers. They would be proud of you. Jason, I understand that you are a year ahead of schedule towards your Bachelors degree, even with your responsibilities at home. That is admirable.
"And you, Meli, an A+ average overall, including your AP classes. You're a senior now, right?" She nodded. "You do your parents proud.
"Because of Gordie's sudden death, and your age, Meli, at the time of your father's accident, I am guessing that he never discussed the terms of your trust with you. Is that correct?"
Meli nodded, a puzzled expression appearing on her face. "Trust? What trust?"
"You will inherit the bulk of your father's estate upon satisfying certain requirements. Failing that, you will receive enough money to see you through college and support you for one year after your terminal degree. In extreme terms, if you decide to become a psychiatrist, and can qualify, your father's estate is charged with supporting you for a year after you meet the minimum standards for that profession."
"You mentioned some requirements she had to meet," Jason interjected.
"Mmm, yes. The first, and apparently least important, she must maintain a passing grade, academically. The second...I wish my wife were here. The, uh, second," he paused and took a deep breath. "Ordinarily, in cases where a child is orphaned at Meli's age, they would be declasred an emancipated minor, and would legally have the same right and responsibilities of an adult. But her trust has a complicating clause, in effect until she is nineteen, requiring she be supervised. On the day before your nineteenth birthday, Meli, you have to provide to this court a doctor's statement that you are still a virgin, based either on objective evidence, or their clinical judgment.
"Failure to satisfy either requirement will result in the forfeit of your father's estate to the benefit of several organizations your father predicted you would not want to benefit. They tend to be right-wing, reactionary groups.
"And, Jason, there is also a benefit to you for helping her maintain her virginity. Mike's will states that for each year until she is fifteen, $10,000 will be placed in escrow, to be paid to the trustee of record the year she becomes sexually active. That amount increases to twenty thousand for the years fifteen through twenty."
Meli spoke softly, "Just out of curiosity, how large is the estate?"
"Based on the annual audit, last year on the anniversary of his death, your father's estate was fifteen million dollars. Of that, twelve has been earmarked for you. The balance is being used to cover administrative costs as well as your living expenses. Control will be passed to you on your nineteenth birthday, after the court receives satisfactory evidence you have met the two requirements.
"Jason, I also helped your parents with their wills. You also have a sizeable amount due you when you complete your Bachelors degree, around two million at the last audit, and growing rapidly due to the investments in emerging technologies at the time.
"Are there any questions I can answer for you, for either of you?" The two youngsters looked at each other, then back to the judge, shaking their heads. "Okay. If anything, anything at all comes up, feel free to call me."
Meli was quiet that evening, distracted. Just before bedtime, she shook her head and looked at Jason. "It really doesn't make any difference, does it, knowing all that money is there?"
"Day to day, no. but it is something to consider when you start making college plans and thinking about marriage." Meli looked at him, both of them lost in thought.
That night, as Jason crawled into bed, Meli knocked on his door and walked in, wearing a shortie nightie, without waiting.
"Can I sleep with you tonight, Jason? I don't want to be alone."
The request did not seem at all unusual to Jason, although he understood that the entire rest of the world would raise it's eyebrows. Since Mike's accident, the two teens had spent nearly every waking moment out of school together. Gordie's accident had brought them even closer, if that were possible.
Whether cuddling on the couch watching TV, or in less intimate contact as they pored over books, newspapers, homework and recipes together, it was as if they each required physical contact with the other. While they did not share tub and shower, it was not unusual for them to share the bathroom, and they had often seen each other totally undressed.
"Do you mind next to the window? My alarm is on this side."
