The Metatronic Chronicles: A Minor Inconvenience

It was late autumn in 1968--football season at Roseville High School. The town of Roseville itself was set in the heart of America’s Dairyland on a wide stretch of the Wisconsin River where the north began, or so said the town’s motto. Consisting of four hundred and eight students, twenty-seven faculty members, four janitors, six cooks and five office assistants, the high school formed a center for civic pride, athletic prowess and community service.

There was nothing atypical about Roseville High School except that its student body contained two of the most interesting, unusual boys. The fact was that there had never been any students quite like seventeen-year-old Michael Leighton Wilder. Maybe there hadn’t been anyone like him in all of Roseville except of course, his brother Daniel Leighton Wilder, who was one year younger and equally as unusual.

It wasn’t so much what they did or what they said. It wasn’t even how they went about their days at school, flirting with the girls, studying, listening to music on their breaks and cutting school before the official 3:45 closing time.

It also wasn’t how they went home after school to work in their father’s business, running forklifts and moving large crates. Neither boy was known for socializing much except for hitting on every girl in school nor practicing in a garage rock band they had formed with two friends from out of town. They dressed much as normal Midwestern small town teenagers did, in blue jeans, cotton or flannel shirts and nylon windbreakers with their father’s storage business logo imprinted on the back. In most respects, they were perfectly normal, ordinary young men.

However, looking more closely, they were set apart from the group in distinctive ways. For one thing, Michael was nearly six feet six inches tall and two hundred and fifty muscular, well-proportioned pounds. His brother stood a mere half-inch shorter, depending on which shoes he was wearing that day, was five pounds lighter and equally as fit. There the physical similarities diverged.

Daniel was fair-skinned, blue-eyed, and flaxen-haired like their father but unlike their dad, his hair thickly brushed his shoulders in a wildly overgrown British Invasion hairstyle. Daniel also seemed to possess intelligence beyond the average student. He excelled in everything he tried, especially music and was accomplished in several musical instruments. He was an especially gifted pianist and composer, which worked well for the garage rock band they had both founded.

As far as girls were concerned, Daniel seemed to keep his interests out of the school, perhaps because he preferred girls of certain maturity, unlike other boys his age. Although he was only seventeen years old, he had no problem attracting attention when he was out and about, which he took advantage of with some regularity. Once in a while, he took it too far and had to beat a hasty retreat from angry husbands or boyfriends, but to him it was worth the risk to sample the treats of the ladies he loved.

On the other hand, eighteen-year-old Michael was also very intelligent but held little interest in school. He did enough to get fair grades but was more interested in female conquests, mastering his guitar and singing in the band. He also had taken piano lessons but only to aid in learning to read music so his piano playing was pedestrian at best. Like his brother, his black hair brushed his shoulders but his dark eyes were enigmatic, always smiling but behind them lurked something almost evil.

It was rumored that Michael had romantic interests everywhere in school and while he was friendly to everyone, he could be manipulative and a bit of a user. Most of the girls he befriended didn’t seem to mind this, perhaps because he was so disarmingly charming. One in particular held a certain fascination for him, but he still saw her as just one of the crowd, a sweet girl, but nothing special.

Two boys of such impressive size in a small school like Roseville was an attention getter. In big city high schools, larger students were not that unusual. But in Roseville High School’s student population, they towered over everyone else. By contrast, despite their impressive physiques, both had failed miserably when asked to try out for the school’s basketball and football teams by the respective coaches.

Furthermore, according to students observing nearby, it was very evident that neither was really putting forth much effort during the try-outs. It appeared to everyone present that both boys deliberately held back enough so that the coaches would have no choice but to eliminate them from consideration. To see them sling their book bags over their shoulders at the end of the day and lope off to cover the two miles home in less than eleven minutes must have left most observers scratching their heads.

For those reasons and a few others, the Wilder boys, both darkly handsome Michael and flaxen-haired Daniel were considered to be more or less normal by their peers—less being the likely choice.

At home were their equally as atypical parents. Mary Brandon had married James Leighton Wilder in Roseville’s city hall eighteen years before. Although she had grown up in nearby Rosewood, James had arrived only a few months before they had wed, coming to work at the local dairy as a truck driver and meeting Mary during a milk pickup on her father’s farm.

James had instantly captured her imagination and amazement as he easily hoisted the heavy milk cans up into the truck and tossed down empty ones. They dated for three weeks before he proposed marriage and she accepted. The wedding date was set for three months later.

After the wedding, they had moved to a large Victorian Queen Anne, a well-worn, decrepit but still basically sturdy twelve thousand square foot former mansion with twenty three rooms including ten bedrooms, each with its own bath. It has once been a former lumber baron’s house during the towns long past heyday as a lumber-processing center but had now fallen on hard times.

Mary had been unsure about such a large house but James had insisted because he loved its size and history. It was also in need of major repair, which made it very cheap, and he was a good carpenter and all around handyman. So with a small amount of money he had made from the sale of his late parents’ property, they bought the old house and moved in.

After making a few rooms habitable, the couple settled into the first floor while James restored the second story in his spare time. Michael was born a few months later while Daniel arrived almost eleven months to the day after Michael’s birth. After delivering the second of two husky, squalling, punching, kicking boys, Mary’s body just couldn’t take anymore and she was forced to have a hysterectomy a few months postpartum.

In the meantime, James had used what was left of his funds to purchase a failing storage business less than a mile from the house. Though he had a bit of a rocky start as he learned the business, it eventually became a thriving commercial success, over the years adding refrigeration and freezer units, large vehicle storage and pickup services. With no similar businesses for a hundred miles around, the Roseville Commercial Storage Company was in demand and though it didn’t turn the family into millionaires, it kept them comfortable, the house maintained and the bills paid.

One particular autumn morning started out as an indistinguishably ordinary day. Always, the early bird, Daniel was showered, dressed and out the door by the time Michael even opened his eyes. Mother Mary was in the kitchen when he left, but only bade him a brief “goodbye” and a quick kiss as he waved and disappeared through the back door. James was already at work, leaving Mary to deal with her boys most mornings but that didn’t usually last long before they were gone to school and out of her hair.

When Michael finally appeared at the kitchen door and sat down for some breakfast, she smiled admiringly at him. “So,” She said. “What’s the plan for today?”

He glanced up at her and winked as he poured himself a cup of coffee but paid no attention to the fact that there was no food on the table. “The usual, school, a Geometry test and homework,” he answered, sniffing the coffee before venturing to take a sip. The stuff tasted bitter and he put the cup down to let it cool. “Exciting, huh?”

“Homework? It’s Friday. Don’t you have anything exciting planned?” Mary asked, wanting to know what the boys had in mind for the evening. “Like dates? With actual girls?”

Michael saw his mother’s frustration and smiled slyly. “Maybe dates, but with girls? Nah! We like sheep!”

His joking tone told her that she was being lied to and she went for it. “Whom are you going out with? Anyone I know?”

Michael knew his mother would worry until he told her exactly what they were going to do so he finally relented with a jab of his sardonic sense of humor. “Ok, we’re going over to Alice Fitch’s house for an orgy,” he confessed. “Then we’re going out to run down deer on foot, catch it with our bare hands and eat it raw. We’ll be coming home all bloody, so don’t wait up.”

Her face went gray for a moment, and then she grew angry. “Don’t tell me things like that!” She spat. “After what I put up with between you two, I’ll take you seriously! Besides, that Fitch girl already has enough problems without you spreading stories like that.”

He relented a bit, having mercy on his gullible mom. “Sorry. Seriously, I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Daniel. He’s the Perle Mesta of this house. I just tag along and survive on his offal.” He suddenly felt uncomfortable, so he finished his coffee despite its hot temperature and rose from the table. “We’ll be home after school, at least for awhile. That much I can tell you. What comes later this evening is up to Daniel and I’m sure he does have something planned.” Grabbing his book bag, he gave his mom a gentle kiss and headed for the door.

Mary watched him go, and then suddenly called out “I’ll be waiting up for you tonight so no more shenanigans! I don’t want any more calls from the sheriff!”

“Promise!” Michael’s last words rung in her ears as she closed the door behind him. He began to trot down the street heading for school, easily toting his twenty-five pound book bag across his shoulder. As he rounded a corner two blocks down, he saw Daniel on the sidewalk in front of a well-kept brick home, waiting to join him as he passed.

“Mom better not find out!” The words exploded in Daniel’s mind as the two ran along.

“Find out what?” He teased back the same way. The two brothers shared a very strong telepathic link, something they had developed over the last few years. They had found the ability by accident when Michael once got lost in Goose Lake Woods and managed to find his way home by tuning in to his brother’s thoughts guiding him. After much trial, error, eavesdropping and fighting, they had now each managed to learn how to control it, including blocking the other one out if necessary since they were in each other’s business all the time.

“Find out that you leave early so you can stop at Mrs. Blankenship’s house after her husband has left for the day!” Michael knew his brother was not afraid of Mr. Blankenship and had been seeing his wife two or three mornings a week for about a month now, ever since he had met her at a convenience store. It was nothing like love, only like lust and the teenager was having the time of his life collecting twenty dollars a visit for his time. Cash.

“I’m doing the old lady a favor!” Daniel shot back as the school came into view. The ‘old lady’ was thirty-seven, approximately the same age as their parents. “She’s alone most of the time and needs someone to talk to!”

“Daniel, no one pays for someone to talk to except if they need a shrink!” Michael answered. “If you’re banging her, it’s going to get back to dad! And mom! And her husband!”

“Her husband isn’t a problem,” Daniel growled out loud as they slowed down to enter the building. The bell rang just as they split up to go to their classes. The two boys wouldn’t see each other again until the fourth period study room they shared at 10:15AM.

But Michael paid no attention to their physical locations as his voice went on in Daniel’s head. “Blankenship is rough. He could even be a gangster. Dad says he does a lot of business in Chicago that he doesn’t pay taxes on. He could be dangerous if he caught you.”

“What does dad know?” Daniel retorted the same way and then blocked his brother out to concentrate on what his teacher was saying.

At 10:15, Michael sat down next to him in the study room. “Dad knows a lot,” he said, going on with the conversation telepathically as if no time had elapsed. “He’s done business with the guy. Remember all those washer/dryer sets we shoved around for months? They were his and he paid nearly twice the regular rate to keep them with us. Why? Were they hot?”

“Who steals washers and dryers?” Daniel snapped back at him. “They were surplus and he was saving them for some big sale he was going to have at his store. Don’t be stupid! What’s the matter with you--are you jealous? Do you want to screw her?”

“I wouldn’t mind it, but that’s not the point. The point is that Blankenship can hurt you and you don’t see that.” Michael opened his history book and appeared to begin to read as he caught the eye of the study monitor. “You can be hurt. So can mom and so can dad and so can I.”

“I’m not afraid of him!” Daniel slammed his own book shut and rose from the table. “I’m going to the library. Don’t follow me and I’m blocking you out. See you after school!” He left his brother, signed out on the library sheet and headed across the hall, leaving his brother sitting alone.

Michael watched him go, then sighed and looked back down at his history book, irritated at his brother’s stubbornness. While he read with one eye, the other almost seemed to move independently as he glanced around the room, admiring the 25 or so girls who were studying along with him. Tall, short, thin, fat, brown, white, yellow Michael liked them all but he mentally chose one that he knew would be willing--mousy, bespectacled and overly chubby Alice Fitch. With a flick of his hand, he motioned to her and then rose to sign out for the restroom. Two minutes later, she signed out as well and they met in a short, out of the way, unguarded hallway.

“My mother says you’re dangerous,” Alice giggled softly as Michael slipped his hand under her blouse, lifting it up to reveal a pink lacy bra. “I’m not supposed to see you anymore.”

“Your mother is right,” Michael muttered as his hands slipped around to try to unhook the bra. “We don’t have much time, five minutes at most.”

There were many prettier girls in school, but Alice appealed to him because she was soft and warm, so vulnerable to his influence and had the largest breasts in school. Other girls fell under his spell too but Alice was his version of a charity case.

The bra hooks defied him until he finally gave up and decided to go directly for his main objective instead. He moved around behind her.

She closed her eyes, leaned forward and whispered, “Do it!” Then waited for him to follow through. He was about to grant her wish when he heard Daniel screaming telepathically. Startled, he stood up straight, nearly dropping her to the floor. “Jeez, Daniel!” He said out loud.

Alice opened her eyes just as he took off running down the hallway. “Daniel?” She echoed. “What’s wrong with Alice?” He didn’t answer and disappeared around a corner, leaving her to button her blouse and return to the study room.

“Oh, Michael,” she sighed sadly as she went, then whispered what she had wanted to tell him to herself. “I’m pregnant.”

Michael went into the library and looked around. His brother was nowhere to be seen. “I can’t find you!” He shouted telepathically. “Where are you?”

There was no answer for a second, and then a weaker response came. “Mike, come help me! They shot me! Behind the tennis courts!”

Panicked now, Michael headed out of the school and toward the athletic fields where the tennis courts were located. As he rounded a turn behind the slatted fence, a bright flash greeted him, the last thing he saw as a human.