The Dog Who Ate The Flintlock

by Edward Coburn

  “As long as it’s not dark yet. You know I don’t like driving at night. The headlights of oncoming cars really bother me.”

  “I think I should know that by now. As I’ve said many times, you really need to get that cataract surgery.”

  “I know I should. But I just can’t stand the idea of somebody fooling with my eyes. After all, if the doctor should mess up there won’t be any going back.”

  “I know all this. But cataract surgery has come a long way, and it’s supposed to be absolutely safe.”

  “With the emphasis on ‘supposed to be,’” Agnes said. This was an argument that Mark and Agnes had been having ever since the first ophthalmologist let Agnes know she should have cataract surgery sooner rather than later. They had gone to several other ophthalmologists to make sure the first one was correct. They had all concurred, but Agnes was still dragging her feet.

  “All right,” Mark said, “this isn’t getting us anywhere. Let’s just eat so we can get on the road.” He turned to Sarah. “Are you all packed, sweetie?”

  “Finally!” Adam put in, disgust apparent in his voice before Sarah had a chance to say anything.

  Mark turned to Adam with a slightly hostile look. “And did you put her bag or bags in the car?”

  “Definitely bags not bag. She’s taking three and yes, they’re in the car.”

  “Well, I have to have enough room for my…”

  “Okay, that’s enough,” Agnes interrupted before her children got into it again, “just eat please.”

  “Mary,” Agnes squealed as Mary came out of her front door to greet them.

  Agnes hugged her sister before presenting her children whom Mary hadn’t seen for several years.

  She studied Adam. “Surely this isn’t Adam. He’s gotten so big.”

  “Ah Aunt Mary,” he accepted her hug. “You do know I’ll be graduating next year.”

  “Yes, I do. But I didn’t know you’d shot up so. How tall are you now anyway?” she said having to tilt her neck slightly to look him in the eyes.

  “I’m six-two and, before you ask, I weight one-eighty-five.”

  “Did you play football or maybe basketball?”

  “Nah. The guys playing football are monsters, and I wasn’t fast enough for basketball. But I do play a mean game of chess,” he grinned.

  “I also hear you’re quite the actor.” Mary shot a look at Agnes who nodded.

  “I like it. I’m going to look into a major in performing arts at the University of Maine as long as we’re here.”

  “Yea, I know. Your mother so informed me. She said you’re also going to take a side trip to check out West Virginia University.”

  Adam nodded.

  “Well, that would be a good choice too.” Mary glanced at Agnes who shook her head and put her hands in front her chin as if she were praying. Mary shrugged. “I’ve been to Morgantown, and it’s a nice place. Not as nice as Bangor, but it’s nice. And, if you came here to go to school, I could see you sometimes, and you would have a place to crash if you needed it.”

  “My choice will depend upon the school, not the neighbors,” Adam said sensibly winking at Mary. “And though it would be nice to be close to you, I can’t let that sway my decision. After all, what I get out of college will dictate my future.”

  “You sound like a school counselor,” Mary smiled before turning to Sarah holding out her arms.

  Sarah fell into her arms for a welcome hug.

  After a few seconds, she held Sarah at arm’s length. “My, you do get prettier every day.”

  “Thank you.”

  Adam couldn’t let that pass unheeded. “Sarah’s got a boyfriend, Sarah’s got a boyfriend,” he said in a sing-song voice.

  “Stop it,” Sarah slapped him on the arm.

  “There’s nothing wrong with that,” Mary said. “After all she’s going to be in high school next year.” She considered thoughtfully for a minute before she added, “And I seem to recall hearing about your having a girlfriend or two when you were a freshman.”

  “Yea, old love ’em and leave ’em, Adam,” Sarah said getting her revenge.

  “All right you two, that’s enough,” Agnes said.

  “Is anybody hungry,” Mary said. “I fixed roast beef stew and biscuits, with apple pie for dessert.”

  “I’m starving,” Mark said struggling through the door carrying four suitcases. He sat two of them down. “Where do you want us, Mary? Same place as always.” Then turning to Adam, “Go grab a couple of bags son.”

  “Okay.” He waited until Mary nodded to Mark’s question to determine into what room he would have to take Sarah’s bags.

  Mary confirmed what Adam already knew. “You and Agnes are in the room next to mine, Sarah on the bed in the sewing room, and Adam on the couch, if that’s all right Adam.”

  Adam glanced at the couch he’d slept on during past visits. “Of course it is. It’s a comfy couch.”

  Chapter 9

  After all the bags were in the proper rooms, and they finished supper, Mark went out to fill the car with gas and Mary turned to Adam to ask what was uppermost in her mind. “What have you discovered about your abilities since you were last here?” All members of the Pinder family for hundreds of years had had various abilities that traced back to their first abilities-blessed ancestor, Prudence, who was hanged as a witch during the Salem witch trials. From that time forward many family members had had one or more abilities that ordinary people don’t have—although the gifts sometimes skipped a generation and some branches of the family inherited no extraordinary abilities.

  Adam and Sarah had known for many years that Mary could sense people’s emotions. She explained that many people can determine feelings from other people’s body language but what Mary could do went far beyond that. Mary not only felt when people were sad or joyously happy but somehow sensed why they were. Mary didn’t understand how she knew, but she did. One example that Agnes told them about was when Mary’s neighbor found out that she had finally become pregnant after trying for many years. She came over to Mary’s house to tell her, but Mary knew what was up the moment she opened the door and before her friend said one word. Agnes knew about Mary’s ability because Mary had read Agnes’s emotions many times as they grew up. It sometimes irritated Agnes because she was unable to hide the smallest swing of emotion from her sister. It deprived her of some of the simple pleasures of childhood such as that of breaking the news to her parents about the great grade she’d received on a test or on her report card or the gold star she had won for being a good student. Mary also knew when the opposite was true; Agnes had failed or had a bad grade on a test. Plus, Mary always knew when Agnes gained a new boyfriend or had just broken up with her last boyfriend and why it had happened. It was a bit like Mary was intruding where she didn’t belong—almost like Mary had been reading Agnes’s diary. Over time Agnes got accustomed to what Mary could do and became pretty good at hiding her emotions. Sometimes she could completely conceal what she was feeling from her sister while at other times, not so much.

  Agnes occasionally got revenge on her sister because she was endowed with the ability to tell when someone was lying. Again, not merely from reading someone’s body language but because her ears tingled when someone wasn't truthful. They prickled enough, so it was impossible to ignore. When she was young, she discussed it with her mother, and her mother knew precisely why it was happening because her mother, Agnes’s grandmother, had the same ability. So whenever Mary broke some rule or did something she wasn’t supposed to do, she couldn’t lie about it when Agnes was there because Agnes would know. And, naturally, most of the time Agnes took great pleasure in getting revenge by ratting out her sister.

  Agnes’s children learned quite young that they could not keep things from their mother because she always seemed to know when they weren’t telling the truth. She didn’t tell them why until they were old enough to understand and until Adam’s abilities started to show themselves.

>   “Nothing much I’m afraid,” Adam said. “You know I can tell when people are lying like Mom can, and I see visions of events that took place in the past, that are taking place now or soon, and things that will take place sometime in the future. I generally see these visions when I touch some object or person. However, I have noticed that sometimes my nose itches just before I get a vision about something bad that’s about to happen. It’s sort of like an early warning system I suppose.” He briefly smiled.

  “That’s interesting,” Mary said. “Do you remember your Aunt Vivien?”

  Adam shook his head.

  “I’m not surprised. She died when you were about…help me out here Agnes.”

  “He was three when she died. I remember because I was pregnant with Sarah.”

  “How…how did she die?” Adam asked tentatively. “If you don’t mind my asking.”

  “I don’t mind,” Mary said. “She had a massive stroke and died quickly. The doctors said there was very little if any, pain.”

  “Well at least there’s that,” Adam said.

  “Yea,” Mary said. “When it’s my time I hope I go quickly. Well anyway, back to Aunt Vivien. She didn’t have visions as you do, but she did tell me that her nose used to itch when something was about to happen whether bad or good.”

  “Mine only itches when something bad is going to happen.”

  “That may change over time or not,” Mary said. She turned to Sarah, “Has anything occurred strange to you sweetie? Something you couldn’t quite understand.”

  Sarah shook her head. “The only thing I know of is that I can generally remember what I dream about which, I’ve heard, most people can’t. Is that right?”

  Mary nodded. “Most people remember little bits or snatches of their dreams, but few people can remember entire dreams. And you’re telling me you can?”

  Sarah nodded. “I can. But it’s a pretty trivial thing considering what you, Mom, and Adam can do.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Mary said. “Dreams are the way our subconscious minds talk to us and bring important things to our conscious minds that we may have seen but didn’t consciously register. Also, you may be able to correlate separate items into one cohesive thought that will provide some important insight into your life. So, you shouldn’t discount your ability to remember dreams so quickly.”

  Sarah shrugged.

  “Besides, other abilities have been known to appear later as you mature. Remember you’re only fifteen.”

  Sarah smiled. “So someday I may be able to see visions like Adam does?”

  Mary shook her head. “I doubt that. Adam’s ability to see visions is rare. I know of only one other of our ancestors who had that ability. But you may develop some other ability. Maybe ESP like my father had.”

  “ESP?” Adam said with a look of puzzlement on his face. “Like what?”

  “You may have read about the military experiments with ESP during World War Two. The hope was to be able to use people with ESP to communicate with each other over long distances such as from a submarine to the submarine’s land base. And they also hoped they could teach people with certain talents to heal people psychically on the battlefield. Their experiments went nowhere for either healing or communication, according to my father, at least. He did tell me before he died that, as far as he knew, the experiments were still going on.”

  “What could grandpa do as far as ESP?” Adam asked. “Bend spoons and stuff like that?”

  “I see you’ve done a little reading on ESP,” Mary said.

  “Nah,” Adam said. “We saw a TV show about some people being able to bend spoons and others supposedly reading other people’s minds.”

  “The only thing your grandfather could do is make a playing card float. But that’s definitely something most people can’t do,” Agnes put in. “I know because I’ve tried it. It always gave me a headache, so I quit trying.”

  “Have you ever tried, Aunt Mary?” Sarah asked excitedly.

  “I did a few times, but as your mother said, it always gave me a headache too. I guess neither your mother nor I are destined for ESP fame.”

  “Ah, Aunt Mary,” Sarah said, “I know you don’t want to be famous.”

  “No. Fame has a lot of pitfalls, at least according to what I’ve observed from those who’ve had fame. Just look at all the celebrities that have drug problems, have gotten in trouble with the law, and so on.”

  “I guess if fame is that big of an issue I had better give up on acting because I have plans on becoming one of the most famous actors ever,” Adam said.

  “So does everyone in Hollywood and on the stage in New York and look at the handful who actually make it. I don’t think you have a whole lot to worry about,” Agnes said with a wink.

  “Gee thanks for stepping all over my dreams, Ma,” Adam said acting devastated. He knew she was right because the odds stacked against him were indeed long. Making it big in Hollywood or on the New York stage was probably not going to happen. But, he also knew if you don't have dreams you don't have anything to drive you to whatever heights you are destined to reach. If those heights include riches and fame, so much the better as long as he didn’t let either one get the better of him.

  “Now you know I didn’t mean it like that,” Agnes said, “so you can stop with the dramatics.”

  “But, back on topic,” said Mary.

  “And what was our topic?” Agnes asked.

  “ESP of course.” Mary turned back to Sarah. “Has your mother ever helped you try to do what your grandfather could?”

  Sarah shook her head.

  “Well I, for one, think we should,” Mary said and regarded Agnes for confirmation that it was okay.

  Agnes shrugged. “I guess it’s okay. But if you try, you’d better be prepared for a headache.”

  “Well, in that case, I don’t know if I wanna try.”

  “Don’t worry,” Mary said frowning at Agnes. “Even if it happens, the headaches pass quickly. At least mine did. But far be it from me to force you to try. I only want you to try if you want to.”

  “I…I guess I’m okay with trying. How did grandpa do it?”

  Mary walked over to her desk and took out a deck of playing cards. Just then Mark came through the front door. “The car’s all gassed up. What’ve you guy’s been up to?” He knew about his wife’s and children’s abilities. Before he and Agnes got married, she had caught him in a couple of innocent white lies and had explained what she could do and extracted his promise to never lie to her again. He agreed knowing he wouldn’t get away with it anyway.

  “I believe we’ve mentioned our father and his small abilities with ESP haven’t we?” Mary asked.

  “You have. So, let me guess. You want to test Adam to see if he has ESP in addition to his other abilities.”

  “Not Adam, Sarah. But that’s not a bad idea either since Adam has so much potential. His abilities are as well developed as anybody I’ve ever heard about,” Mary said.

  Sarah suddenly looked crestfallen. For once she had been the center of attention instead of Adam. Mary saw this and asked, “Are you ready to try Sarah?”

  She brightened immediately. “Yes, please.”

  Mary took several playing cards out of the pack and placed them face down on the table. “All right. All you do is concentrate on the card you want to cause to float and picture it a few inches off the table. Understand?”

  Sarah nodded and immediately began concentrating. It took only a few seconds before the card actually began to float above the table. “I did it!” Sarah screamed while her face flushed a bright red. The card instantly fell back to its original position. “Ah, not fair. I thought I had it.”

  Agnes beheld her daughter with admiration. “You did have it. The card rose from the table. You can try it again if you want to, but be careful how hard you concentrate lest you end up with a headache.”

  “I want to try again,” Sarah said concentrating on a different playing card. Suddenly it
began to rise. She stared at the card, and it stayed stationary several inches above the top of the table. She raised her eyes slightly, and the card rose another inch. Suddenly she screamed out in pain, and the card dropped back to the table.

  “Are you all right, honey,” Mark said putting his arm around his daughter’s shoulders.

  “I’m okay,” Sara said. “I just felt a stabbing pain between my eyes. But it’s gone now.”

  “I don’t think you’d better try that again.”

  Sarah nodded rubbing her forehead. “Not right now, at least.”

  “How about me?” Adam asked looking at the playing cards.

  “Are you sure you want to try? Sarah’s experience was obviously not too comfortable,” Mary said.

  “I think I’d like to try. Now that Sarah made the card float I have to know if I can do it too.”

  “Jealous because your sister can do something you can’t?” Agnes smiled.

  “No,” Adam glared at his mother. Though he really didn’t like the idea that Sarah could do something he couldn’t. “I just thought it might be fun to try.”

  “Okay,” Mary said. “Just be careful. Stop if you feel any discomfort at all.”

  “Okay,” Adam said concentrating on one of the playing cards. Nothing happened even though he stared for several seconds. He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

  “Hurt?” Mark asked.

  “Not exactly, but nothing happened. I guess I can’t do it.”

  Sarah smiled at her brother. “But I can. I can do something Adam can’t,” she said in a sing-song voice.

  “And how many visions have you had?” Adam retorted.

  “All right,” Agnes said. “Let’s not start that.”

  Chapter 10

  Mary looked at Sarah again. “Are you up for another experiment?”

  “Such as? You want me to try to bend a spoon?” Sarah said.

  “Nothing quite so dramatic,” Mary said picking up one of the playing cards. She held it in front of her face and stared at it. “I want you to see if you can tell me what card I’m holding. You want to try?”