Secrets 2: Looking Through Different Eyes - 2. Chapter 2 S2

Chapter 02 – Getting Settled In

Devin and I were still in the kitchen getting a drink when we heard the front door open and close, so we rushed out to see who was there. It was Gramps and Pops.

“We thought maybe you’d gone home, when we saw you weren’t here when we got back,” Devin stated.

“No, we won’t be returning home for another week,” Pops responded. “We just ran out to the grocery store to pick up some snacks and drinks for the house.”

“Thanks, we appreciate that.”

“Don’t your wives get upset when you’re gone for so long?” I asked.

“Not really, as long as we spend time with them when we’re at home. In fact, I think they like it when we’re away, because then the two of them get together and do whatever it is they like to do.”

“And Devin’s mom and dad will get together with them once in a while as well, at least when you boys aren’t with them,” Gramps added. “They seem to enjoy being part of civilization and getting away from being holed up at the cabin whenever possible.”

“Yeah, I know. And I also realize they were only staying out there because of me,” Devin stated in a remorseful tone. “They should be able to live somewhere else now, since I’m grown and in college.”

“They just want to give you a few more summers at the cabin first, but they’ll probably move once you’ve graduated and you and Mac are working and have a place of your own.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right, but it kind of makes me feel guilty.”

“You shouldn’t,” Pops responded. “My wife and I did the same thing when Jacob was that age and first learning about his ability, but that was my previous wife. Then Jacob and his first wife did it for your father when he was going through the training process, and you’ll have to do it for your son too, so it all gets paid forward eventually.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Devin reluctantly agreed.

“Why aren’t you guys going home for another week?” I followed, once there was a lull in the conversation.

“We’ll be leaving on Sunday to do some fishing and hunting north of here, but we’ll be returning to the house next Friday before finally going home. However, we are hoping to do something with you boys tomorrow, before we leave to go hunting and fishing.”

“Not only that, but we thought it would allow us to take you out to eat a couple more times before we leave,” Gramps added. “We also thought it would be a good idea to take you to the grocery store so you can pick out your own selection of snacks and drinks. We picked up a few things, but we really didn’t know what you two like, and you’ll need something here for when you get the munchies at night or on the weekend.”

“Thanks, that will be a big help,” Devin responded. “We stocked up on stuff like that last year too.”

“Yes, we noticed that you carried one of those mini refrigerators up to your room.”

“Yeah, we felt we could keep some drinks and other things up there so we wouldn’t be running up and downstairs all the time.”

“We wondered if that was going to be your beer fridge,” Pops stated with a sly grin.

“Nah, we want to get good grades, so we won’t be drinking a lot of beer,” Devin replied. “Well, at least not very often.”

“I was just about to call you out on that,” Gramps countered, “since I realize college students like to party every now and then. If you hadn’t corrected yourself, we would have pushed you on it.”

“Like he said, we won’t be doing it very often because we want to get good grades,” I added, “but we can’t be perfect all of the time.”

“It’s good to let your hair down every now and then so you can do the same things as your peers, as long as you keep your grades up.”

“Do you boys have any plans for tomorrow?” Pops followed.

“Nah, we just have to prepare ourselves for classes to start on Monday,” Devin replied.

“Do you have ice skates?”

“Huh? Why do you want to know that?” Devin responded, since the question seemed to have come totally out of the blue.

“I was thinking that maybe we could take you ice skating tomorrow, if you had skates.”

“Nah, I don’t have any.”

“I do, but they’re at home,” I added.

“It’s a shame, because none of the ice rinks around here rent skates. Mac, maybe you should bring your skates back with you when you go home for Christmas and possibly Devin will get a pair as a present. Then we could always do it the next time we’re all here again, and if it doesn’t happen before the school year ends, then we can always do it next year.”

“Yeah, I guess we could do that,” I replied.

“What do you think about going roller skating tomorrow instead?” Gramps followed. “It’s a similar type of activity, except you’ll be doing it on wheels, instead of on a sharpened blade.”

“Yeah, that sounds like fun,” Devin and I agreed.

“And if you’ll be here next Saturday, Mac and I can get all of us tickets for the home football game,” Devin offered. “We can buy your tickets at a discounted price and then you can sit with us in the student section, if you want to do that?”

“Yes, it sounds like a great idea,” Pops confirmed, “and we’ve been to plenty of other CSU football games before, and we started doing it even before Jacob went to college here. However, now it’s time to eat supper and this time we’ll take you to a place you haven’t been to before.”

“Uh, wouldn’t it be cheaper if we just went to the grocery store and picked up a few things and then fixed something here?” I asked.

“Yes, it probably would be less expensive, but it’s not like we do this all the time. Just let us spoil you for a little while longer, since neither of us feels like preparing a meal.”

“Ok, if you say so,” and then we went out and hopped in their SUV.

Since both of them are very familiar with the Fort Collins area, they knew of places that we haven’t discovered yet, and this time they took us to a restaurant quite a ways from the campus to eat. Once we walked inside, it seemed as if the other patrons weren’t used to seeing college students there, because some of them were looking at us strangely.

“Don’t worry about them,” Pops told us. “They’re just a bunch of old farts that are set in their ways.”

Devin and I both snorted as we attempted to keep from laughing. We thought it was hilarious that Pops was calling other people ‘old farts’ when he was far older than they were, although he obviously wasn’t set in his ways when it came to doing things. In fact, it often seemed as if he and Gramps acted even younger than our dads.

The owner seemed to know both of them, because he came over to chat after we’d ordered and while we were waiting for our meals to be delivered.

“And who are these fine-looking young gentlemen?” he asked after greeting both of them warmly.

“They’re my grandsons,” Gramps replied, “and Isaac’s great-nephews.”

That comment kind of surprised me, since they were both Devin’s grandfathers, but then I remembered that Devin had told me they did it this way when they weren’t with family. However, my musings were interrupted when Gramps introduced us to the owner, and then the owner turned to Gramps and spoke.

“You’ve got two really fine-looking grandsons and they’re very polite and well mannered as well.”

“Thank you. Isaac and I are both very proud of them,” he replied, and then the owner moved on to speak with the other customers.

After consuming our very tasty meals, we went out and got in the SUV to go back to the house. When we arrived there, Devin brought up the topic of the football game again.

“We shouldn’t have any trouble getting tickets for next Saturday’s game. It’s the home opener and I heard they’re having a pep rally and bonfire the night before.”

“We won’t be going to that, but you two can go if you want. You also don’t have to worry about us changing our minds, because we want to do this with you,” Gramps assured us. “We’ve watched a lot of Colorado State football games over the years, but this one will be special to us for another reason. Not only will we be doing it with both of you, but it will also be the first time we’ve seen a game at Canvas Stadium.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yes, because Canvas Stadium didn’t open until 2017,” Pops added. “Once it did, the crowds suddenly got larger, because the stadium is back on campus again.”

“Really? Where did they play before?” Devin wanted to know.

“They used to play at Hughes Stadium, which was about 4 miles (6.5 km) west of the campus,” Gramps explained.

“We’ve watched them play quite a few football games there, even back when the school was still called Colorado State College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts,” Pops added. “And before they began playing at Hughes Stadium, they played their games at Colorado Field. That was torn down in 1972 and the area was rebuilt into the Jack Christiansen Track, the home of the CSU track team.”

“When did they change the school’s name to Colorado State University?”

“That happened in 1958, and the team continued playing football at Colorado Field until 1968, when Hughes Stadium opened.”

“You guys have been watching them for a long time then!” I stated.

“It was mostly just me until Jacob got older, and then he started going to the games with me when we were living in the house here.”

“I grew up in Fort Collins and we continued living here until I started puberty, and then we moved to the cabin so I could start my training,” Gramps told us. “My mom used to go to the games with us, but she stopped doing it when I got older. She said she only came to the games to support me, because I was interested in football, but she didn’t feel she had to do it once I was no longer a child.”

“He’s referring to my previous wife, his mother, not my current wife,” Pops informed me.

“It was nice that she did it though,” Devin stated. “My mom has done stuff like that for me too.”

“Yes, most mothers will do whatever it takes for their children,” Pops followed.

It was still early, so they told us about where they were planning to fish and hunt the following week.

“And we’ll be happy to take you there with us sometime, if you’re interested. In fact, we can take you there when we go fishing over Spring Break.”

“Yeah, that would be great,” we agreed.

Now that we’d covered everything, we said goodnight to them and prepared to go to our room. Before we split up, however, Gramps made a final comment.

“Look, we want you boys to be yourselves while you’re here, so my dad and I talked about this earlier. We feel badly that you don’t think you can have sex while we’re at the house with you and we want to correct that situation. We were both young once too and remember what it was like to be young and in love, and we want you to know that we don’t have a problem with you two having sex. Maybe we teased you about it before, but it didn’t mean we wanted you to stop.”

I was too dumbfounded by his comment to say anything, but it didn’t stop Devin.

“See, I told you! It’s your problem, not theirs.”

I merely looked at him in horror, since he’d said this in front of his grandfathers, and when they turned to leave, I punched Devin in the arm.

“You’re a big help,” I said in a hushed voice. “There’s nothing like putting me on the spot in front of Gramps and Pops.”

“Don’t worry about it, because it won’t cause them to think any less of you.”

“I hope not,” I stated as we headed up to our room.

After Devin closed the door behind him, he looked at me and spoke.

“You know, now that you’re also a skinwalker we’ll be able to take turns transitioning into someone else when we’re making love.”

“Huh? Why would we want to do that?”

“Oh, come on. There must be times when you’ve thought about a guy you know, maybe someone you’ve just met or a possibly even a celebrity you admire, and you’ve considered what it would be like if you got him in bed. Come on, admit it!”

“Ok, maybe I have done that a few times, but I would never cheat on you.”

“That’s the best part about this. You’d be able to fulfill your fantasy without cheating on me, and I could do the same with you.”

“I don’t know. I’d still feel like I was cheating on you.”

“But even though I look like someone else, you’d still know it was me, so you wouldn’t actually be cheating.”

“I guess, but I’m going to have to think about this some more before I’ll be able to decide if I want to do it. For tonight, though, let’s just make love to each other.”

“Ok, that’s fine with me.”

We then had the most energetic love-making session that we’ve had in a while and it made me worry whether we’d managed to keep the noise down. I also wasn’t sure if Devin was more into having sex tonight because he was already thinking about us taking turns doing it as someone else or not, but no matter what prompted it, the sex was still great.

The more I thought about it, however, I began to consider it might be something we could try after we’d been together for a long time and the sex was becoming repetitive and less fulfilling. That might be a good time for one of us to transition into someone else so we could imagine we were having an affair. Maybe that would be enough to add the spice that we’d been lacking, but I didn’t think I was ready to try it yet. I’m sure Devin will try to insist that we give it a try, but I’ll put him off until I think it’s really necessary. For now, however, I still enjoy making love to him and having him make love to me.

When we woke up Saturday morning, Gramps and Pops took us out for breakfast, and while we were eating Pops asked a question.

“Do you want to go roller skating after we finish up here, or do you want to do it later?”

“Let’s do it after lunch,” Devin replied.

“And we can eat at the house this time, instead of going out,” I added.

“We don’t have anything at the house,” Gramps stated.

“Then let’s stop at the grocery store on the way back to the house and pick up some things.”

“Ok, and then you can select some more snacks and whatever drinks you want as well and we’ll pay for everything.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

All-in-all, we had a wonderful breakfast together, and then we went to the grocery store to do some shopping. After wandering up and down every aisle, we took our selections to the register and checked out.

When we got back to the house, we carried everything inside and put it away, and then Gramps and Pops asked us about the courses we were taking this semester. Even though they didn’t fully understand everything we were telling them, they tried to appear interested and supportive, which was appreciated. We also talked about how we felt the football team was going to do this year.

After we ate lunch, Gramps drove us over to the roller rink and we each rented a pair of skates to use. I was happy to see they were the type with two wheels on each side of both the front and back, not the inline variety, because I hadn’t done this since I was a kid. I soon learned it was about the same for Devin as we cautiously made our way out on the skating rink.

As we were attempting to reacquire the skill we’d once possessed, Gramps and Pops began skating circles around us. Devin and I were amazed that they appeared to be so comfortable and confident on the skates, even more than we’d been when we were younger. In fact, it appeared as if they must do this frequently, although I suspected something else might be in play. I studied them carefully to make certain they hadn’t transition into a roller derby phenom from the 1950s, but that didn’t appear to be the case. They were just being themselves and having a good time.

They were also patient with us as well, because we were improving slowly, but still falling more than we were skating. Along the way we both managed to accumulate multiple bruises that covered the lower half of our extremities and proved how poorly we were doing. Although we never got good enough to actually keep up with Gramps and Pops, we gradually improved. We were doing much better and falling less often, but by then it was time for us to leave. Since he had noticed how much we’d improved, Pops decided to comment.

“We’ll have to do this again, now that you both appear to be doing much better. I hope you had a good time.”

“Yeah, we did,” we agreed.

“Especially after we started doing better and falling less,” Devin added. “I was about to ask you if they rented padded pants that we could put on to stop the bruising.”

Gramps and Pops both chuckled at his comment, and then we traded in the roller skates for our shoes.

When we got to the house, I grabbed my laptop to see what team CSU would be playing against next Saturday and discovered they’d be playing Washington State. After that they would have two away games in a row, but the first away game would be against Colorado, so I suppose we could drive to that game if the team did well in the season opener. Otherwise, we’ll just watch the Colorado game on TV or listen to it on the radio.

After that, Devin and I went up to our room to rest for a while, but first we checked to see how bad the bruises were from skating. Luckily, they weren’t as bad as we’d imagined.

A short time later, Gramps and Pops told us to get ready because they were taking us to Dominick’s for supper. As soon as we had washed up and changed, we loaded into Gramps’ SUV again so he could drive us there.

As soon as we’d ordered, Gramps asked a question. “Do you know which football team CSU will be facing next week?”

“Yes, I looked it up and they’ll be playing Washington State at 2:00.”

“Do you know how good either team is?”

“I’m not sure, but CSU will be playing an away game at Colorado the week after that.”

“Ah, a rivalry game early in the season.”

“Yes, and if CSU does well on Saturday, we may drive to Colorado to watch that game too.”

“We’d love to join you, but we’ll be heading home next Sunday.”

When we went to bed, Devin and I made love again, and it was another energetic, yet passionate, session. I wasn’t sure if merely talking about possibly transitioning into someone else in the future had turned Devin on, but he was a lot more into love making this time than he’d been recently, except for the previous night.

When we woke up on Sunday morning, Gramps and Pops took us out for breakfast, and then we said goodbye to them as they prepared to head out on their fishing and hunting trip.

“Do you even have your fishing gear and guns with you so you can do this?” I asked.

“Yes, Jacob built a false floor in the back of the SUV and carpeted it so it looks like the real thing. There’s a 6 inch (15.25 cm) gap under the carpet where we store those items, and our fishing poles and the shotguns are there now, since we’re only planning on hunting rabbits, pheasants, and grouse. If we bag enough of them, then they and the fish should take care of our meals, so we’re all set.”

“Good luck then and we’ll see you again next weekend.”

“Yes, we’ll return on Friday and be back in plenty of time for the football game.”

“Ok, we’ll look for you then,” Devin responded, and we said goodbye to them one more time before they drove away.

As soon as they were out of sight, we went into the house and started preparing for our classes to begin the following day. We gathered the textbooks we’d need for our Monday classes and placed them in our backpacks, and then we made certain our laptops were fully charged before we put them in the backpacks as well. We now felt we were set for the next day.

We took it easy after that, but when we started getting hungry we decided to walk to the dining hall for lunch. On our way out of the house we were confronted by a plump, older woman.

“What are you two doing in that house?” she screamed. “Did you break into it?”

“No, we’re staying here now,” Devin responded.

“That’s not possible. I’ve only seen two older gentlemen and their caretaker around here before and you’re far too young to be any of them. I think I should report you to the police.”

“You can if you want, but it will only make yourself look foolish if you do that, because one of those older men is our grandfather and he’s letting us stay here while we’re attending college.”

“Then what’s his name?”

“His name is Jacob McCaskill, and the other guy is his brother, Isaac McCaskill. He’s our great uncle. In fact, they just left here, but they’ll be back on Friday to go to the home football game with us the next day. If you want, you can check this out with them when they return on Friday. They’ve gone hunting and fishing for the week.”

“I might just do that, because something just doesn’t seem right about this. I live in the house next door,” she said as she pointed toward the house on the left side of the property, “and I’ve been watching this place for a long time. I intend to find out what’s going on over here.”

“You can check with them if you want, and I’m sure they won’t mind telling you the same thing.”

“Fine, I’ll be sure to do that.”

She then turned and started walking away, but she kept glancing over her shoulder and watching us as she waddled down the sidewalk and turned up the path leading to her front door.

“Do you think she’s going to be trouble?” I asked.

“I hope not, but I assume she’s the granddaughter of the guy that was trying to steal part of this land and the reason Gramps and Pops had the stone fence built on that side. Maybe there’s an old family story that she heard about how the owners of this property had outsmarted her grandfather and made him look foolish and she’s trying to get a modicum of revenge for him. Gramps will be able to set her straight if she comes back to check on our story, though, and I’m positive it will give him great pleasure to do so.”

“By the sounds of it, she’s definitely going to check with him, but what do you think she meant when she said she’s been watching this place for a long time and intends to find out what’s going on over here?”

“I don’t have a clue and it bothers me too, but she’s probably just a nosy old bitch that gets her jollies from causing trouble.”

“Do you think she’s just letting us know that she intends to make sure no one is breaking into the house or that we don’t get too rowdy while your grandpas are away?”

“Possibly, or maybe she’s just upset that this is their second home and not their primary residence. She might also be upset that their house is nicer than hers or even jealous of the fact that they own a lot more land than she does and they don’t even live here full time.”

“Or it might just be a lingering result over how they stopped her grandfather from stealing some of their land, although she wouldn’t know they were the same guys.”

“I hope it’s nothing more than that, but I’ll mention it to my grandpas, just to make sure.”

I guess I raised too many questions, because Devin spent the rest of the day brooding about the woman’s comment and wondering if there was a hidden meaning behind what she’d said. I thought she was just trying to scare us and letting us know that she’ll be keeping an eye on us while we were staying here. If it’s more than that, then it might be something we should be worried about, but I’m sure Gramps or Pops will let us know.

Even though I was doing my best to distract him from his concerns, I wasn’t having much success helping Devin forget about what the woman had said. He continued brooding about it for the rest of the day, but I finally made him forget about her when I offered to let him choose who he wanted to be, or who he wanted me to be while we were making love. That seemed to do the trick, because he chose to transition into Rory Fitzpatrick as he made love to me. I think being 6’ 1” (186 cm) had given a boost to his self-esteem and he slept soundly for the rest of the night.