Uncle tossed a rock to the far side of the bushes and the bunny streaked out not straight at them but off at an angle. David tried to throw hard. Uncle had critiqued him earlier and accused him of stopping his throw before he let go. David understood the principle he was expressing well enough, but if he did a long follow through he'd lose sight of his target right when he needed to see it.
He did swing further, trying to follow through but ended up with his head bent back at an awkward angle and almost fell over. The bunny was in no danger.
"Ah, if you are not too upset, might I offer a further suggestion?" Uncle asked.
"Take up basketball?" David guessed.
"Always a possibility, to change to another game," Uncle agreed. "Indeed, we might find you an alternative way to throw, like a sling. But having the ability to accomplish this without equipment beyond your hand and a stone has value. Don't abandon it quite yet. But I notice you are throwing overhand almost vertically. I suspect that's because it is a natural way to increase accuracy. Playing darts in a tavern it would be fine. But as we discussed, if you follow through you end up bent over too far to retain sight of your rock."
"Yeah, I noticed that," David said as mildly as he could force himself to say it. "I'm just not sure what you want me to do differently."
"To throw more from the side, twisting your body instead if bending it." At David's dubious look Uncle expand on that. "Watch me. I'll throw the way you do, then the way that feels natural and works for me." He did one, then the other, and looked at David expectantly.
"Do I really look that pathetic?" David asked, horrified. "That looked like a wounded goose flopping on the ground in its death throes."
Uncle paused, trying to find a polite answer.
"That's OK," David sighed. "Just show me again."
Uncle did both throws for his benefit again.
"Let me try it a few times," David said.
"Perhaps close your eyes and just try to visualize the motion a few times instead of fixating on the target," Uncle suggested. "A couple times slowly and then faster. Don't pick too big a rock either."
David tried it and it did feel better.
"OK, let's try one more rabbit and if I can't get it you can get us dinner before we run out of daylight and starve," Dave said.
When they came upon another bush with a glow escaping above it David lifted an eyebrow to Uncle in question. Uncle nodded agreement it was a worthy target.
The bunny ran out and turned straight away from him. He threw and it was much better. He nudged it back on line but it was still going to drop too fast. It might hit the thing in the butt, but not the head. David felt a surge of anger and instead of simple guidance from side to side he pushed with all his anger.
There was a sharp >CRACK< and the stone didn't just hit the rabbit in the head it took it off.
Uncle twitched hard and stared unbelieving. "What was that noise? I don't understand what just happened."
"It was going to miss again and I pushed it. Not just to hit but forward. I'm afraid that was the noise it made going transonic," David admitted.
"I've never heard of such a thing," Uncle said.
"Airplanes do it. Bullets do it too, but people often can't tell the noise the bullet makes flying from the muzzle blast, so a lot of people aren't aware of it happening," David said.
"No, I know about that. I mean, I've never heard of a Sahar being able to push a stone or anything like a bullet," Uncle said, making a long pushing motion with his hand.
"I'm not sure how I did it," David said. "I did pretty much what you do to make it go right or left, but harder. And boy do I feel it." He held up his hand and it was trembling a bit.
"Sit. You look drained. I'll go get the rabbit and we'll sit a few minutes to let you recover. Drink some water," he ordered.
"Can you walk back to camp?" Uncle asked when he returned, holding the rabbit by its hind legs.
"Yeah, but if we see another rabbit you take him," David said. "That took too much out of me to do again."
"It's a deal," Uncle agreed. He took two more on their way back. David was glad of it, because when they got back he was starved. He fell asleep despite that so Uncle had to wake him up to eat.
Chapter 12
"You have shown me two new things," Uncle said the next morning. "I will not be startled if you should do it a third time."
"I'd like to," David admitted. "I have some ideas about electricity. I'm looking forward to having some wire and instruments with which I can play."
Uncle pinched his face in a confused expression. "Is there not electricity all around us every day?" he asked.
"I suppose so," David agreed. "I'm used to what we make in wires and things, but there is static electricity and lightning, if it ever rains here."
"Indeed it does, but not often in this season," Uncle told him.
"You have me thinking now," David said. "There is a potential in the air. There is always a voltage from the top of a high radio tower to the ground."
Uncle glanced up at the sky with concern on his face. "Well please don't get careless in your play and call down lightning on us."
"Thank you for the caution. I'll try not to," David promised.
* * *
By the time they got back to camp David was stumbling. He sat, relieved to stop moving and the next thing he knew Uncle was shaking him awake. He was almost too tired to eat. They had no conversation and when he had a little food in him Uncle told him, "OK, now you can lie down."
He didn't wake up again until the sun was in his eyes.
"We won't try anything difficult today," Uncle insisted.
"I feel pretty good," David told him, "but I might run out of steam sooner than I expect if I push it. I'm happy to stay put and talk to you, think on things a bit."
Uncle wanted to know how things looked to him and he spent quite a long time describing things. However, Uncle never volunteered anything he saw that David didn't. Finally David asked him. "Do you still see things I don't?"
"Definitely," Uncle assured him, smiling.
"Maybe I need some more jewel," David suggested, pinching his fingers like he had a tiny piece. He wanted some actually, but didn't want to press for it too hard. Maybe with a little more it wouldn't drain him so to do things.
"Maybe," Uncle agreed. "But I don't want to lead you back to my nephew's by your hand because you can't concentrate and see the path."
"Have you ever had too much and gotten like that?" David asked.
"No, I've only heard of it. It's foolish to hear of other's mistakes and learn nothing from it," Uncle warned.
David just nodded. He really did agree with that. It just wasn't possible for Uncle to know exactly how things looked to him. There were things like the magnetic lines he could see, but he hadn't until Uncle described them and helped him see them. What else was he missing? He looked around and tried to really see.
Uncle looked at him intensely. That just made David paranoid that the old man could read his mind. Well, his face, but close enough.
"Can you see me straining to see?" David asked bluntly.
"I can see you thinking hard," Uncle admitted. "About what is too much to ask. I'm a Sahar, not a mind reader."
"Is there such a thing?" David wondered.
"I hope not. I fear it might drive one mad," Uncle said.
"David looked intently and tried to pick out detail. The sun was near setting and it dropped below the hills. He suddenly jerked up right and really looked. There were two suns, almost superimposed on each other but not quite. The other was further below the horizon than his.
"Their day is different!" he told Uncle, surprised.
"Yes, the same length, but a little ahead of ours. It has been that way, as near as I can tell, all my life. I see that produces strong feelings in you," Uncle said, intrigued.
All David could do was nod. It somehow made the other shadow world more real to him than the odd moons or monsters. He didn't know why
.
* * *
In the morning Uncle cut a fairly stout stick, and a long thin switch from a bush leaving a single small leaf on the very end. David watched him but refused to beg for an explanation. Uncle had that smug look that said he was up to something. So when he headed for the pool the spring made David followed.
Uncle sat cross-legged on a rock facing the morning sun. He had the two sticks, one thin and one thick, in each hand, but didn't do anything with them at first. He just sat quietly. David sat to the side a little bit away to observe.
After fifteen or twenty minutes of sitting quietly, Uncle swung the thin branch out over the water and slowly dropped the end near the surface. There was no wind. It was often calm early in the morning. But such a long thin switch was hard to hold perfectly still. Nothing broke the peace of the pond. It was so quiet David could hear the water gurgling where the thin stream exited the pool.
After a few more minutes Uncle touched the water with the leaf. Just briefly and lifted it away a few finger width's. He didn't repeat it quickly. The third time he touched the water he lifted it away and a dark shape broke the surface. David got a glimpse of a dorsal fin and then it was gone.
Right now a pair of polarized sunglasses would be handy, David realized. The surface of the water reflected the bright morning sky behind it. You couldn't see anything below the surface. Uncle was patient, but the fish never broke the surface again.
"Sometimes this works, but I'm afraid we'll have to seek some other breakfast this morning," Uncle said. He'd been silent, but giving up now he didn't worry about scaring the fish away.
"Let me try something," David offered.
"Do you want me to be quiet again and touch the water?" Uncle offered.
"No. In fact, I'd like you to withdraw the stick, because it might be a danger to you. I'm going to try something new and have no idea how well it will work. Or if it will work at all," David admitted.
Remembering the faux color he’d generated by twisting his knife blade in the gathered magnetic field, David tried to draw the color together just like he'd pulled the sparkly little flecks of heat together before.
It didn't take long before he saw the glow of the color in the air and not just his imagination. He gave a little surge of power, but held back a little so he wouldn't spend himself like he had with the rock the day before. He directed it down, pushing it into the water.
"I see you doing something," Uncle said, interested. “I see a color like that a lot of manmade machinery makes, but I'm not sure what your purpose is."
Three fish of respectable size came floating up in front of Uncle.
"Well, I didn't expect that," Uncle admitted.
"It was electricity. You were right, I didn't need wires or anything fancy to make it. Are those any good to eat?" David asked. "I'm not sure if they are dead or just stunned. If we can't eat them I'll wait and see if they recover."
"They still have life signs around them," Uncle reported. "But two are sufficient to our needs. Let's collect the bigger two and see if the other recovers."
Uncle waded in and grabbed two by their tails. Back at the rock he made sure with his knife neither would recover. He cleaned them and didn't return the offal to the pond. It was the source of their drinking water.
When David came over Uncle handed him a fish to carry. "Look," Uncle said, pointing at the water. The fish they'd left was wiggling its tail just enough to circle in the water, still on its side. As they watched it got upright again and sank out of sight, swimming harder.
His fish was delicious, though it made David crave salt.
* * *
The next morning David shared his thoughts with Uncle. “It’s nothing urgent, but I’ve started to think more about what I will do when I get back, than what we will do next out here. Whenever it is agreeable to you to go back to the city, it will be fine with me.”
“And when we do, what do you intend?” Uncle asked. “Will we part ways and you will leave for home immediately?”
“I’m not in a rush to do so. If you advise me against it I will certainly pay attention to your advice. This is interesting and beautiful,” David said, making an encompassing gesture at the land. “However I’m not a hermit. I’d never choose to stay out here indefinitely. I miss people and the activity of a city. I do wonder how the city will seem to me with this new vision. You made clear you find it noisy. I do hope I’m not ruined for being around people.”
“If you find it burdensome you can let the weed slowly leach out of your body until it is bearable. You would have to be cautious then in taking more, that you don’t overshoot what is agreeable. Do you have some sort of deadline for returning?” Uncle wondered.
“I have to return and report success within three years to my father’s attorneys if I wish his inheritance, not exactly a rush. I have to admit I’m less worried about it now than when I agreed. What I’ve learned is much more life changing than the money could ever be. I wasn’t poor when I went to the reading of his will and agreed to come on this quest. Making money isn’t as terribly difficult as some would make it out to be. I do feel oddly compelled to see the attorney who charged me with coming to you and report it went well. We are not friends, and his duty is not primarily to me. Yet I’d get a great deal of satisfaction to tell him it was accomplished.” David frowned, thinking about it.
“It might be that will give me a sense of closure on my father’s death.”
Uncle lifted his brows at that. “Is there something unsettled? There’s a limit what sort of burdens the dead should impose on the living. Was there something beyond this trip and an attempt at discovery you haven’t told me?”
“Nothing more from my father, but this shoved my brother and me back in conflict, when I’d managed to disengage from him to a large extent. He was… disdainful of the terms my father set for this trip, and insulting in how he expected me to discharge them.”
“From what I have observed of human nature,” Uncle said, very carefully, “No matter what report you brought back, I would not expect your brother to suddenly become approving if he is so set in his opposition to you.”
“No, you’re right. But I do expect some he slandered me to, like the attorney and some of the family will see the truth of the matter. That would satisfy me.”
“That seems like a reasonable goal,” Uncle agreed. “The morning is not far along and you are a much stronger walker than when we started. If we start back now we can make our previous camp well before dark. Would you like to do that?”
“Yes please, Uncle. I’d like that,” David agreed
Uncle stood and pulled the strap of his sack across his shoulder and started walking. Nothing was different and yet everything was different. It was a life changing moment that divided one significant part of his life from another. Uncle didn’t look back to see he was following.
* * *
Uncle was right, David decided. He wouldn’t have tried to match the old man’s pace like this coming out. He was thinner and hardened somewhat, but mostly David suspected he’d have never tried to maintain this pace before. He might have run up against a wall of fatigue and collapsed, but more likely he’d have just given up and begged for a halt long before he actually couldn’t take another step.
If he had to… David wondered what the limits of his new ability would allow him to do? If he could push a stone, could he not force one foot in front of another? Of course then when he did give out it would be much worse, as he’d have exhausted himself both mentally and physically. That didn’t seem like a smart thing to do. It would leave him defenseless to drain himself so completely. But it was a whole new idea to explore.
Watching Uncle stride along ahead of him, David had to wonder if he drew on his talents to make up for his age. Could he have fallen into the habit of doing so and not even realize it was happening? He tried to visualize how one would do that. Would you envision your foot and push on it like a thrown stone? Or would you try to apply force to your
whole body, lifting it to make the load lighter on your feet and legs?
The thought became the deed. When he went to put his foot down he failed to find the firm footing he expected. Off balance he overcompensated in panic, his next step coming down much harder than normal. He tripped, cried out with a little noise, and pitched forward throwing his hands up to keep from slamming his face on the rocks.
Uncle looked back at his little exclamation to see him pitch forward and throw his hands up, but instead of going down hard he dove forward and glided at an angle for about three body lengths before landing loosely on his hands and knees.
The whole thing was so shocking David didn’t even try to push himself back erect. He just rolled over on his back breathing hard and blinking at the sky.
There was a fairly big rock handy nearby, jutting out like a ledge. Uncle sat down on it, looking a little shocked himself. He propped his chin on his clasped hands, elbows on knees, and looked down at David with a worried expression.
“I, uh… I… ”
Uncle cut his babble off with a chopping motion of his hand. “You flew.” He accused.
“Is that against the rules?” David asked.
Uncle looked at him astonished, mouth open, and leaned back flat on the rock, knees still bent and feet on the ground, laughing so hard he had to hold his ribs. He started to get it all under control, thought of it all over again and started up a second bout of laughing until he stamped his feet up and down like a little child.
When he finally sat up he had to wipe his tears with the collar of his garment. “That was so priceless. I’m sorry I have nobody to share the story with who could possibly appreciate it.”
“I’m glad I can amuse you,” David said, a little miffed. He was sitting up now. “I didn’t really fly,” he protested. “I just sort of eased my falling.”
The Way Things Seem Page 11
