My Perfect Tens
Part 2 of 15
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Things are changing for our hero, Jim Allenson. In Part 2 of the 15-part series
"My Perfect Tens,"
we see how Jim's new friend Daniel can improve his life.
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When I saw Daniel last night, he was a sickly and emaciated specimen who looked so bad I thought he needed hospitalization. But seeing Daniel this morning was a shock. The man who'd looked like a skeleton in a loose bag of skin now appeared much healthier. There was some muscle on his frame, and his skin had a much-improved color. It no longer seemed that he was in the middle of a medical emergency.
His hair and beard were still unkempt, and his clothes were still filthy and ragged, but overall Daniel looked strong and vigorous enough that I thought he might be capable of completing the short hike to where I'd parked my truck.
"It's a beautiful morning," he said, looking out toward the ocean. When he spoke, I noticed the most startling change of all. Daniel had all his teeth. Yesterday I saw several gaps in his smile. People do not simply regrow teeth overnight. How is such a thing possible?
"I can sense that you're wondering how this is possible," Daniel said. "I told you, Jim. I was healed by the life energy you and that wonderful young lady gave me when you had sex last night. And again this morning! You can't imagine how much I needed what you gave me. I promise to find ways to express my appreciation."
"I feel strange being thanked for having sex with Rita," I said. "I think I got more out of it than you."
"It doesn't look like that, does it, Jim?" Daniel said, grinning at me with big white teeth that weren't there yesterday. "I have a suggestion," he said. "I believe I am ready for some more food. Why don't you show me how all this fancy camp gear works, and make us some breakfast? I'll try to explain a few things while we eat."
That sounded like a good idea, so I set up my little stove and began making a hot meal. Backpacking always gives me an appetite, and so does sex. I think both of us were ready to eat. Daniel's condition was better, but he still looked severely underweight.
"You already know I spent a little time roaming around in your mind, Jim," he said. "I can tell that you are a rational, reasonable person. What I'm about to tell you would sound irrational and unreasonable to a lot of people. But I'm confident you'll understand."
"I'll try," I said.
"I know you will," Daniel said. "Let's start with the hard part. I'm not like anyone you ever met. You are about to learn some pretty surprising things about me. I believe you'll be able to understand everything better if you know the reason I'm so different.
"Jim, I wasn't born on Earth. I was marooned here a long time ago. I've been living here since my vessel crashed. To sustain myself, I need a steady diet of the living energy your species produces in such abundance. I'm still alive because of the generosity of people who've helped me get the sustenance I need.
"I hope we can have that kind of relationship, Jim. I can help you in ways you will appreciate. Let me demonstrate. Jim, you work out a lot, don't you? You have an excellent physique. But when I was poking around inside your brain, I discovered you don't like one part of your body. Isn't that right?"
Daniel was right. I'm one of those guys who can't develop nice calves. It's genetic. Guys like me always have scrawny calves, no matter how much we exercise them. I don't like to wear shorts.
"Jim, stand up and take a look at your calves right now," Daniel said.
Doing as he asked, I was shocked to see that I had big, symmetrical calves that matched the muscularity of the rest of my body.
"How did you do that!?!?" I asked. "That's amazing!"
"I didn't do it, Jim. You and that charming girl Rita did it. As you know, I used the energy you two generated to heal myself. I knew how much you wanted bigger calves, so I used a little bit of that energy to grant your wish. I hope it makes you happy."
"It does! It does! I can't believe it!" I said. "I never imagined I'd ever look down at my legs and see such nice calves! Thank you, Daniel!"
"It's something all members of my species can do, Jim. Manipulating the energy of living things is the way we survive. I did something else last night. Something for Rita. I felt grateful to her for being willing to have sex with you so quickly. The only reason that happened was I manipulated her mind a bit, and I felt guilty.
"I looked for a way to help her, and I discovered that Rita had a tiny little ovarian cyst that was going to give her trouble someday. It was smaller than a pea, but it was growing slowly, and in a few more years it would get big enough that she'd need a surgeon to remove that ovary. Thanks to the energy you two generated, she won't have that problem. I funneled some of that energy back into her body and used it to shrink the cyst down to nothing. She'll never know she ever had a problem."
"That's amazing, Daniel. What else can you do?" I asked.
"It will take time to explain it all," he said. "I'll start by telling you that Rita had something on her mind last night. I think you'd like to know about it.
"I want to start by stressing that Rita didn't tell you any lies. The stuff about how she was trying to decide whether to accept a job offer in Chile was definitely on her mind. But she left out some important information.
"Jim, Rita is having an affair with her thesis advisor. Two years ago she made a conscious decision to sleep with him because she knew he was in a position to give her a lot of professional help, and he'd be more helpful if they were having sex. She sleeps with him about once a week, and he has used his influence to help her advance in her career.
"The thing is, Rita isn't the one who got the job offer. Her advisor was invited to go down to Chile and conduct some important research. He said he'd get Rita a post-doctoral appointment down there if she went with him.
"Jim, Rita doesn't love this guy, and she was looking forward to getting away from him as soon as she earned her ph.d. But if she goes to Chile, they'll be closer than ever. They'll sleep in the same bed seven nights a week.
"He speaks Spanish - Rita doesn't - so any time she wants to go into town and do anything, she'll have to rely on him to be a translator. She hates the idea of being so close to the guy for so long."
"Ick," I said.
"Double ick," Daniel said. "Rita doesn't hate him or anything, but she is getting very tired of sucking his old cock, and she doesn't want to do it for another year. Despite all that, she's decided to accept his offer. With his help, Rita's career will get a much better start."
That story made me sad. I was surprised to learn that Rita was the kind of woman who'd trade sex for professional benefits. It seemed to devalue the intimacy we'd shared.
"I learned a new phrase from Rita," Daniel said. "She has an interesting way to describe her situation."
"Yeah? What?" I asked.
"She calls it a 'transactional relationship.' Is that a common phrase today, Jim?"
"I'm afraid so. Lots of people have transactional relationships," I said.
"In the past, I've seen transactional relationships where some guy pays some woman to spread her legs. Does that still happen?"
"Every day. How is it you don't know that on your own?" I asked.
"I've been out of circulation," Daniel said. "Before you freed me, I was trapped inside the compass for a terribly long time."
"How long?" I asked.
"I'll never forget that day I was forced to fold up my consciousness and climb into that compass," Daniel said. "April 13, 1893."
"1893! You've been trapped for more than 130 years!? How'd you keep from losing your mind!?" I asked.
"I was hibernating. I was barely aware of anything. But I knew my life force dwindled to almost nothing. I would have died if you hadn't freed me. Thanks again for that."
"You don't have to thank me," I said. "It was nothing."
"It was the exact opposite of 'nothing' Jim. I most certainly do need to thank you. And I promise that I will."
At this point, I began to feel overwhelmed. Daniel had delivered a heavy load of bizarre information, and somehow I accepted everything he said as the truth. In retrospect, I realize that Daniel was using his mind control techniques to help me accept information that I would usually reject.
