Chapter 4: Physical Education

Everyone had to change into the uniform required for PE in a locker room. The uniform consisted of a blue t-shirt with white lettering and blue shorts with a white stripe. That, in itself, didn't bother Sean. However, he couldn't help but feel the heightened emotions, and see the guarded body language from many of the other students as they changed.

Sean had been able to send and receive emotions to animals since his birth, to the level of actual communication. He had always been able to send feelings of love, or calm, or fear to people. Sampling the emotions of people he was with, if he reached out to sense their feelings, was an ability he had learned early. The onset of puberty had heightened those talents, alarmingly.

Suddenly, at the onset of puberty, everyone felt what he was feeling, and just as suddenly, Sean was bombarded with the emotions of everyone around him. It took a week long camping trip with Udit and Lian to regain enough control to function in a crowd of people. The isolation of the mountains was what Sean had needed, to learn to cope with his heightened sensitivity. He learned to turn down the background emotions, both sending and receiving, like turning a volume control on a radio. Sean compared the awareness of emotions to tinnitus, the ringing in the ears, that so many people complain about. The emotions were always there, but he tried to ignore them most of the time.

Sean wasn't body shy but he understood the acceptable, normal behavior of the society he lived in. His discussions with Martha and Seth revealed the wide range of socially acceptable norms that citizens of the United States tolerated. Seth explained it best when he drew a bell curve. He explained the beliefs and activities practiced in the United States at each end of the curve. Then he worked towards the center of the curve from each end, and explained how activities and beliefs changed.

Seth reached the middle of the bell curve and said, "This is where Martha and I believe we are on this curve. We believe in being monogamous so we certainly wouldn't fit at the high end of the curve with all the free love and same sex relationships. We don't believe it's a mortal sin if we sing, or dance, or someone accidentally sees us nude, so we don't fit at the bottom of the curve either. I'm not saying they're wrong at either end of the curve. I'm simply saying this area," he pointed at the highest point of the bell curve, "is where the majority of our society lies. Furthermore, under our constitution, it's as wrong for us to insist that the people at the ends of the curve conform to our beliefs as it is for them to insist we conform with theirs."

Sean, following Seth's lead, was satisfied living at the height of the bell curve. He wasn't interested in the activities or beliefs at either end of the curve. The repression at the bottom end of the curve seemed as crazy as the 'anything goes' attitudes at the top. He knew who he loved. He knew who his life partner would be. He thought he knew what his life's work would be, but the Dream did cause some doubt about that. Sean's discussions with Seth and Martha didn't hint at the myriad feelings that Sean was feeling in the locker room. Embarrassment, uncertainty, anger, false bravado, fear, and curiosity were only a few of the emotions that rolled over Sean.

Sean carefully touched the emotions of one boy's fear to try to understand why he was afraid. The boy had always been harassed during gym class for being smaller and physically under-developed. Some of that harassment wasn't gentle. The boy was also angry. He was smart, and had one of the highest grade point averages in the school, but couldn't defend himself from the knuckle-draggers. Sean was sampling other emotions from other boys, trying to understand, when AJ elbowed him.

"Hurry up," AJ said quietly. "The last five out of the locker rooms have to run laps."

Sean shrugged but hurried for his friend. He wasn't worried about running laps. Running, after all, was simply an exercise in pulling oxygen into the body and dispersing that oxygen to the muscles that were working. Then, the byproducts of the working muscles, carbon-dioxide, needed to be expelled from the body in the following exhales. Simple!

A big, bald man blew a shrill blast on a whistle. He pointed when Sean emerged into the sunlight of the hot, Prescott, August afternoon.

"You five, three laps while everyone else does stretches," the bald man yelled in a voice that would have stood out on any drill field.

Sean looked around to see who the man was pointing at. AJ was beside him and Scott was a step behind him. The boy that was afraid was behind Scott and a chubby boy was last.

"Oh no!" the chubby boy groaned.

"What's wrong," Sean asked curiously.

The chubby boy and the smaller boy both looked at Sean like he was nuts.

"We have to run laps," the smaller boy answered in a tone that suggested that Sean was a little slower than most people the boy associated with.

"Uh, okay, but what's wrong?" Sean asked confused.

"Sean," AJ said patiently. "Running laps isn't a good thing. We don't all run like you do."

"Three laps in this heat will kill me," the chubby boy said.

"It won't kill me but it sure will be hard to focus after we're finished," the small kid said in frustration. "I've got homework to finish."

Sean looked at Scott and his Second shrugged. "We'll be okay but they'll have a problem," Scott explained, jerking his head towards the small kid and the chubby kid.

Sean nodded thoughtfully in understanding and looked around the field. A sprinkler was running on the far side of the field. He smiled. Available water opened a lot of doors for Sean.

"We'll run together and stay in step. That will make it easier," Sean said with a smile.

His Seconds returned his smile and nodded.

"AJ, Scott, run beside me and stay in cadence," Sean ordered as they walked toward the track that ran around the football field. "We'll do it like Poppa said they do it in the Marines. You guys, stay right behind AJ and Scott," Sean said to the chubby boy and the small boy. "Match your pace to theirs and try to match the length of your stride too. What's your names, anyway?"

"Um, I'm Steve Madison," the small boy said in confusion.

"I'm Kenny, uh, I'm Ken Chandler," the chubby boy said, puffing up his chest a little and deepening his voice. "But, I can't keep up with anybody," he protested, as his chest deflated. "It'll probably take the whole PE period to run three laps."

"Why aren't you running," the bald man bellowed. "Make it four laps, and run! Mr. Stillwell," he yelled at one of his assistants. "Count their laps and don't let them slack off," he ordered.

Ken groaned, and Steve barked a bitter laugh of frustration.

"Just try it like I said," Sean ordered as he started jogging slowly. " AJ, line up. You too, Scott. We'll be okay."

AJ and Scott fell in beside Sean and matched his slow pace. Sean picked up their pace a little as their steps started falling in unison.

Sean looked over his shoulder and said, "Steve, run behind AJ. Match his pace so your left foot lands at the same time his does. Ken, run behind Scott. He's the ugly one on the end."

Scott snorted a laugh and said, "I'll ugly you. I'll tell Megan you called me ugly and she'll beat you up."

"I take it back then," Sean said laughing. "Megan's meaner than I am."

"Who are you?" Steve asked as he struggled to match his pace to AJ's. "I've seen AJ and Scott around, but I've never seen you."

"He's new here," AJ explained. "He's been homeschooled all his life so he's never had to deal with public schools."

"Mu ... must be ... nice," Ken said, already laboring for breath.

"Match Scott's pace, Ken," Sean ordered again. He pushed the boy's emotions with the order to encourage him to comply. "Breath in rhythm with your steps. Left foot, right foot, breath in. Left foot, right foot, breath out. Breath out from your stomach," he instructed Then he started a quiet cadence of, "One, two, one, two." His left foot hit the ground each time he said one.

"Good job," Sean said encouragingly. "You're in cadence but you need to breath out more. On your breathing out steps, force the air out. Force as much air out as you can so more of the good air can get in. Left, right, left, right, one, two, one, two," he continued.

Scott and AJ knew what Sean was doing because he had perfected this technique on them. It was one of the exercises Cory and Lian had insisted on to get the three of them to work as a team. Steve and Ken didn't have a clue what was happening.

Sean reached out with his mind, to the water, and carefully drew extra energy as he released the bonds of hydrogen and oxygen. He was careful not to draw to much energy. It wouldn't do to start glowing while running around a high school track. Sean pulled the free oxygen with the energy and encased the five of them in a bubble of oxygen enriched air.

Sean was monitoring their bodies as they ran, too. Primarily, he monitored their lung's ability to enrich their blood with oxygen and remove carbon-dioxide from their blood stream. A trickle of energy improved their lungs functionality. He also monitored the rest of their body's functions. The efficiency of their hearts to pump more blood to the working muscles was tweaked, so their hearts were a little more robust. The ability of the muscles in their legs, backs, shoulders and arms to use the oxygen was improved slightly too, with another trickle of energy. His monotone, mesmerizing, "Left, right, left, right, one, two, one, two," continued. Steve and Ken didn't even notice when Sean extended the stride and pace.

{These people are crazy!} Megan's mental voice thundered in Sean's mind as he ran.

{What's wrong?} Sean asked, but he couldn't keep his smile from his thoughts.

{Some of these girls are pure bitches, and the teacher is nuts, } Megan replied.

Sean grinned as he ran, continuing his cadence. {Well, don't hurt anyone. Maybe a nonviolent lesson wouldn't be out of line, though, } Sean replied, as he sent calming thoughts to Megan.

{Stop that. I don't need calming thoughts. I need to break someone!} Megan snapped back at him.

{Just don't let anyone noticing you doing anything, } Sean cautioned, while laughing out loud.

Ken and Steve looked at him in astonishment, wondering what anyone would laugh about while running. Then the drone of his voice as he counted cadence lulled them again. A little later, Sean said, "And, walk," before slowing to a walk himself.

All of them were breathing deep but no one was exhausted. Each of them walked a few paces as if reminding their limbs how to function at the different pace.

"Wow," Ken exclaimed. "I've never run that far before."

"Yeah. Me neither," Steve said curiously. "Why is that?"

Sean chuckled and said, "Running in cadence like that gives your mind something to do besides worry about what you're doing. Your body knows what to do but sometimes the mind gets in the way."

"Oo-kaaayy," Steve said doubtfully. The disbelief in his voice was clear. "That sounds like some of the mumbo-jumbo my Mom and Dad spout. They used to be hippies and still talk about the power of positive thinking. Mom's always setting crystals around the house to draw in 'positive energy' and Dad's always putting signs around the house to remind him of goals he wants to reach."

Sean shrugged and said, "I don't know about the crystals drawing positive energy, but, positive thinking and goal reinforcement aren't bad things. My Poppa was a Marine. He's the one that taught us how to run like that. He also encourages us to believe in ourselves and to set goals."

"Whatever," Ken said, breathing a little harder, now that Sean wasn't trickling extra energy into his lungs. "Um, what do we do now? I've never finished before the end of the class."

"I don't know," Sean said with a shrug. "I've never done this before. AJ?"

"I think we're supposed to join the rest of the class," AJ said drily, as he started walking towards where the class was finishing stretching exercises.

"Why aren't you still running?" the bald man's voice boomed across the field.

"Who is that guy?" Sean asked in irritation.

"That's Coach Strom," Steve said quietly. The resentment in his voice was unmistakable.

"We finished the four laps coach," AJ called back.

"I counted them, Coach," a smaller man with a clip board called. "They ran all four laps."

"He doesn't like anyone that isn't on his precious football team," Ken said, as quietly and bitterly as Steve.

"Why?" Sean asked, confused. "Football isn't a requirement."

"He doesn't have a lot of respect for anyone that doesn't play football," Scott explained drily. "Don't worry about it. We only have to put up with him for one period a day."

Sean looked back and forth between Scott and AJ. "Why didn't you guys tell me about this stuff before? You only told me about the fun stuff. I really don't like having a jerk in charge of me."

AJ shrugged and said, "Because it isn't a big deal. It's just, well, it's just what is. We're kids and the school puts adults in charge of us. Some time they're reasonable adults. Some time they're jerks. It isn't something we think about, or worry about."

"Get over here," the bald man, Coach Strom, yelled. "Run!"

"Ohh, noooo," Ken groaned as he started a shambling run that was barely faster than Sean walking.

Sean smiled in sympathy and trickled more energy to him before starting a slow trot of his own towards the rest of the class.

"We're going to play a little touch football," Coach Strom announced. "The players we have from the school team will be on one team. The rest of you will be on the other team. Separate now."

Coach Strom paused for a moment as the group of students split into two groups before saying, "Players, you will use the plays from your play book. Use this time to learn those plays better. I want them to be so automatic that you can do them in your sleep. I had better not see any unnecessary roughness either. No one's wearing pads and I don't want anyone hurt. If you have any hope of playing in the next game, no unnecessary roughness."