The Vision Master

by William Hill

"So…you're saying I'm…a…'Vision Master'?”

  "Well, not yet. You’re what we call an ‘Initiate’, a beginner, someone with a talent or skill that hasn’t yet learned to control it, or use it to its fullest extent. The ability to use dreams — visions — in purposeful ways tends to run in families, so it may be an inherited trait. Occasionally someone with the talent will pop up in a family that apparently has never had one before, but that only means that in that family it was maybe a dormant, or recessive, gene, or whatever is the basis of it, and that the family is distantly related to ours and all the other families like ours", his dad explained. "So, yes, you are, or possibly will be, a Vision Master. If, and how strong of one, is yet to be seen."

  "Close your eyes and think of a place you'd like to be. And remember, you want me and your father to be there with you," his mother told him, as she got up from the table, leaving him and his father there, and walked to the farthest corner of the room, about twelve feet away.

  He closed his eyes, thought for a minute, then dreamt about all three of them at the beach at Ocean City on a summer day. He could feel the heat of the sun above in a clear, cloudless blue sky. He felt the grainy sand strewn with broken seashells beneath his bare feet, smelt the salty odor of the blue-green ocean, heard the squawking of gulls above and the crowd sounds on the boardwalk, and watched Sandpipers dart through the gentle rolling surf. He looked and saw his father beside him. Where’s Mom? he wondered, as they walked along the shoreline. He held those thoughts for a few minutes and, opening his eyes, let the vision pass.

  "Very good, Liam" his father said, smiling. "The Sandpipers were a very good touch!"

  "Mom?" Liam asked, looking at her with amazement in his voice.

  "Well dear, I thought I could smell salty air, and I think I heard gulls, but otherwise that's all. Sorry, but it was a very good first try!"

  "I'll say!" his father exclaimed. "To cast a vision more than ten feet, even partially, on a first try with other people is very good, indeed! Liam, the mind is just like any other muscle, it needs to be exercised to grow strong. Practice makes perfect, as they say," his dad explained enthusiastically. Then, frowning, he cautioned Liam. "There are a few rules you must know first, before you try it again with anyone else. Firstly, you must never envision — fantasize — about anyone, if that person is near you. They might find themselves with you and experience your vision too. And they would not only become scared, they may be offended with what you were dreaming about."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Well, I'm sure you've had some fantasies about you and Carol..." he said with a wink.

  "Oh!" he said with a blush.

  "Secondly, when you cast a vision it becomes as real as life. However, you do have control over your vision. You can alter its future events if you foresee them, and you can end it whenever you want. But! If you just let the dream flow unscripted, so to speak, like your pirate adventure, anything can happen, meaning you or whoever is with you could really get hurt. Even die. So you must be very careful because once a thought is thought it can't be recalled, and there may be no opportunity to rethink.”

  "You mean if, in my pirate dream, that bullet that grazed my forehead..."

  "Had been an inch or so farther over, you would have probably died, not only in your dream but in this life as well. Don't ever forget that a cast vision is real life while you're in that dream," his mother informed him.

  "Thirdly," his father continued, "You have a moral responsibility to protect anyone you bring along into your vision, as well a moral responsibility to do no one harm, unless it is to save yourself or a companion."

  "Lastly, there unfortunately are some Vision Masters who use their gift for evil purposes. In time, when you are more experienced, you will be able to identify them. But you must use yours for only good. I trust you will. Any questions?"

  He didn't know where to begin. Did he have any questions? Only about a zillion.

  "I'm sure you do" his father said with a laugh. "Just pick one, for now. You don't need all the answers tonight."

  "Okay, how about three? First, you've been talking about day dreams. What about night dreams? Are they visions? Can they also come true?"

  "Fortunately, no, if they did we'd all be dead from our nightmares as children. No, only waking dreams, those controlled by our conscious mind, our will."

  "That makes sense. Second, are you and Mom ‘Vision Masters’?"

  There was a pregnant pause before his mother answered. "Being a Vision Master is not something one goes around telling people, as it can be dangerous to your own safety. Ordinary people don't...no, can't...understand, they would feel threatened, and would react with hostility just as they did with Grace. They don't drown or burn at the stake anymore but they do have insane asylums, and psychotropic drugs that can make a mad man sane but make a sane man mad. So, should you ever feel that you want to reveal yourself to someone else, be aware that you risk life and limb. Just be absolutely positive that whoever you confide in will keep your secret. However, to answer your question, in part, no, I'm not a Vision Master. If that ability was ever in my side of the family, the de Chevening’s, it's either been so long ago that it's been forgotten, or if a family member is, or was one, they never revealed it out of fear."

  "Okay, that answers Part A of my question. Part B, Dad?"

  "I could say, 'Need to know', but I think you have to know now. Every family has its secrets, and a family isn't a real family without trust. You're my son. I trust you to keep this between the three of us so, if you haven't been able to read between the lines in our conversation, the answer is 'yes'. Now that's your three questions answered. It's late, time for homework and bedtime. You can ask all you want tomorrow."

  "Okay, but there’s no school tomorrow so there’s no homework and, besides, that was just two questions, one with two parts. Number three,” pleaded Liam, "am I real, or am I part of your ‘vision’?"

  At first, a puzzled look crossed his father's face. Then, as the significance of Liam's question became apparent, he burst out laughing. "Good question! I've never considered the possibility that all this — I, us — could just be a figment of someone else's dream! No, you are as real as I am. I think," as he started laughing again.

  Liam got up, said "Goodnight", and headed for his room. His father's last words, "I think", echoed in his head. He sure hoped his father was right.

  Chapter Seven: The Bookstore

  “Vision — it reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. See things as you would have them be, instead of as they are.”