Diana laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Lewis asked.
“Oh,” she looked up at him. The smile vanished from her eyes. “Just imagining a dialogue between them, y’know?”
“Oh.” Lewis looked down at the pigeons and put on a silly low voice, “Hey baby, why don’t you come over here and mate with me.” His voice switched to an even sillier falsetto, “Oh no you big brute of a pigeon. Get away or my boyfriend Pablo is gonna take care of you.”
Diana laughed. “Naw, she’s just playing hard to get. He’ll be fertilizing her eggs soon enough.”
“Don’t be so sure. I think if we stuck around long enough we’d see a good bird fight. I hear that Pablo is a real thug.”
Diana chuckled, “If you say so.” The light changed from the orange hand to a bright white walking man and they crossed.
Jason was tapping impatiently on the steering wheel of the Electra, waiting for the car in front of him to turn into the donut shop so he could get to school. He was late for work because Haley had spilled her cereal on his shirt, covering him in pink milk and forcing him to change before dropping the kids off at daycare and heading to work. As the red sedan in front of him turned in, the line of traffic the other way took it as an opportunity to cut in front of him and then stop, as the drive thru was backed up at the adjacent shop. Jason banged his forehead on the wheel. “Come on, make your damn coffee at home!”
This was a common traffic jam. It was so common that one day Jason had calculated in his head, while waiting for someone to get out of his way, exactly how much was wasted on coffee a year. A small coffee, no extra shot of espresso, no fancy latte, was a dollar and seventy cents. If a student or teacher at the school drank coffee each of the hundred and eighty days of the school year, even if they had three absences, that came out to three hundred dollars and ninety cents worth of coffee. Jason thought about the months where his health insurance was a few days late so he wouldn’t overdraft his account and the fact that anyone would spend three hundred dollars a year on coffee made him want to blow his car right through the moron blocking the intersection.
He looked at the sidewalk ahead, watching students crossing to get to school. Diana Hill was staring at pigeons and he had to wonder what she was hearing right now. Jason had moved past the point of doubting anything. He had seen incontrovertible evidence of the claims she had made. He’d even sneaked in his daughter’s hamster one day to test it out. Diana informed him that she had hamsters of her own, Simon and Garfunkel, and that they were refreshingly simple compared to squirrels and birds. Also, she had informed him, dogs were far sweeter, though stupider, than cats.
He looked back at the road ahead as the red sedan pulled into the parking lot, clearing the lane. Jason pulled up to the entrance of the school and was waved in by the crossing guard. He pulled up to his assigned spot in the employee parking lot, opposite the gym teacher’s Jeep. Carpe Diem was plastered on the its bumper. Jason stared at it for a moment and nodded.
He knew there were others and, if he could just get them to open up like Teddy or the Hill twins, maybe he could get his answers. “Today,” he said to himself. Today he was going to take another step in his research. He just needed to decide if he trusted her enough to get some help. This was bigger than he could handle, and he knew it.
Jason called Celene Davis’ classroom between periods and asked her to meet him during her free period in his office. After dismissing her first sophomore biology class, Celene checked that her purse was locked in her desk and headed down to the nurse’s office.
“Dr. Davis,” Jason said in greeting. “Please, sit down... I uh, I have some concerns about some of the students and I want your opinion.” He checked to make sure there were no kids waiting outside and then locked his office door. “I’ve been noticing some odd symptoms.”
Celene sat down, keeping her hands folded on her lap and watching him. “Such as?”
He took a deep breath and went around to open his desk drawer. He pulled out his notebook and read from it, omitting the names. “Well, one boy is projecting light from his hands. One girl is speaking with animals. I don’t mean schizophrenic, I mean legitimately Dr. Dolittle speaking with animals. I have a student who has confided in me that he turns water into alcohol. Booze. I’ve also seen a few other suspicious occurrences that I’ve yet to confirm, things like pheromone manipulation and a human lie detector.”
“June Herald,” Celene said without thinking.
Jason nodded. “I’ve tested her ability a little. I don’t think she realizes quite how extraordinary it is. She just sees it as enhanced social perception.”
“It hardly seems realistic,” she began.
“I don’t really know what to call reality anymore. I’ve seen some bizarre things.”
“But you’ve done tests?”
“Experiments, of sorts.”
“Well, we define reality by what we can perceive with the senses. Just because we’ve never seen something before doesn’t mean it is impossible.”
“Just because we’ve seen something doesn’t mean it’s real, either,” Jason said with an edge of hysterical laughter in his voice. “I mean, believe me, I too have wondered if I’m completely insane. But even if this is all some bizarre dream, some trick of my mind and I can’t even trust my own senses, well I can only deal with what I perceive. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen sparks come out of a kid’s fingertips.”
Her eyes widened. “Sparks?”
He nodded. “Sparks.”
“Well, if we start questioning perception and reality too much we’ll dig ourselves into a hole of thought experiment that we may never get out of,” Celene said with a little smirk, “and I, personally, hated my philosophy requisite.”
“Cogito ergo sum,” Jason grumbled.
Celene watched him for a moment, trying to read his intentions. He had called her in here for a reason. She had a list as well, but she wasn’t about to give them up. “Have you displayed any unnatural abilities, Dr. Livingstone?”
“No.” Jason shook his head and looked down at his list. “Wait, why have you?”
Celene took a deep breath. She didn’t answer him. “I understand you came to me because I am the only other qualified scientist in this school, but I have to inquire what you plan to do about this.”
He hadn’t expected that. He wasn’t sure what he had expected her reaction to be, but he wasn’t prepared to lay out a game plan. “I want to get a list, get them to agree to meet each other. If we can get them all in one room we might be able to come up with a cause, a reason.”
“And if they turn out to all be genetically altered super clones?”
He laughed. Even after all he had seen, that seemed funny. “I don’t know. Help them deal with it? Moderate a support group?”
Celene leaned forward, suddenly looking severe, “I’m not interested in exploiting any children, Dr. Livingstone. I left research a long time ago and I’m not going to hand anybody’s son or daughter over to our catastrophe of a government to be poked and prodded and exploited.”
“Woah, I’m not either!” Jason threw his hands up. “I have three kids of my own; I’m not going to start cutting anyone open. I just think we can’t leave them confused, thinking they’re alone. Some of them have come to me on their own.”
Celene nodded and sat back in her chair. Jason scratched his beard. “Is Penny one of these kids?”
“I have been reviving dead plant life since April,” Celene said. She wasn’t sure if she was prepared to give up Penny so easily.
“Oh.” Well that answered his earlier question. “April?” He scribbled in his notebook.
“We’ll use my home,” Celene said. “My daughter is in high school and so a bunch of teenagers showing up at my house on a weekend won’t look nearly as suspicious. Kids can tell their parents it’s Science Club. You and I will individually approach the students on our lists and test them a little before inviting them, make sure our suspicions have a
leg to stand on.”
“Right,” Jason said, grateful that he didn’t have to give her a list of names right now. He could talk them into joining a group, but he wasn’t going to give up their names and break their trust.
“Sunday, eleven-thirty. That should give people time to be out of church.”
Jason wrote the time on his calendar without description of the event, just in case somebody looked. “Sunday. That should give me plenty of time.”
Celene got up, still rattling off instructions to the nurse. If they were going to do this they would be smart and organized. “Students, in turn, can invite only friends who have confided confirmed abilities. This is to be absolutely secretive.”
Jason nodded, rushing to unlock the door and open it for her. “Of course,” he mumbled. She had quickly taken control of the situation and he couldn’t deny that he was relieved.
“We should try to avoid being spotted chatting too much,” Celene said. “We don’t need any eyes on our interactions. So I’ll see you Sunday.”
“Sunday,” Jason repeated, flashing a relieved smile.
“Bring a few bottles of Coke,” she said, her expression softening just as she crossed to the door to the hallway. “I’ll bake cookies.” And with that Celene walked out the door and headed back to her classroom.
Jason went back to his desk and sat down. He stared blankly at his list, unable to decide who to start with. He hoped the cookies were chocolate chip.
In Lewis’ mind the crowds were roaring. The stands were at maximum capacity. He was in London or Athens or somewhere. Anywhere but here.
He put his heel on the block and squared up. Lewis was wearing discount store sneakers. His green Chucks were too expensive to burn out. He closed his eyes and breathed. The Olympic crowd chanted his name in the back of his mind.
Football practice had been over for twenty minutes. The stadium and the track were empty. He was going to see how fast he could push it today. Zach was ready to keep time.
“Go!” Zach shouted. He clicked the button. Lewis was gone. The boy ran around the track. He was a blur. Zach stared at the line in deep concentration. The green t-shirt flashed in front of him. He pushed the button again. He could smell rubber burning.
“Holy cow!” Zach shouted. “Lewis, good God, four point three-three seconds!” That was as close as they could get with a stopwatch.
Lewis rolled on the grass next to Zach. He was laughing and his shoes were smoking. The soles were gone in some places, revealing singed sock. Lewis himself seemed immune to the friction. “My sneakers caught fire!”
Zach looked up from Lewis’ smoky soles and saw a woman leaning on the fence. “Oh shit, Lewis. Someone saw.” He didn’t know if they should try to run. It wouldn’t make any difference either way. The best he could do was stand here and hope that she’d arrived just after Lewis’ flash performance.
“It’s alright,” the woman called as she passed through the gate. “I won’t tell.”
Zach and Lewis saw, as she approached, that it was Dr. Davis. “That’s a pretty neat trick,” she said when she was only a few feet away from them. “How long have you been able to do that? April? May?”
“Uh... yeah.” Lewis and Zach were both frozen in place. They didn’t trust her but neither of them saw another choice but to answer.
“You can relax,” she crouched down and ran her hand along the tips of the blades of grass on the field. They were brown and dry from a recent heat wave, namely Lewis’ sneakers. When she touched them they blushed green and rose again to full height. “I’m really in no position to tattle.”
“Did you just--” Zach started.
“Yes,” she cut him off, “and I don’t think you and I are the only ones, Mr. Mercer.” Her eyes went to Zach. Struck by lightning. Twice. “Mr. Jacobs, have you spoken to Dr. Livingstone lately?”
“Uh...no. I have an appointment with him tomorrow.”
As she had thought. He had said he had a student who shot sparks out of his fingertips. “Well I’m pretty sure I know what that is about. Tell me, were you struck by lightning or were you the lightning?”
She knew the answer when his body tensed and his face turned white. She nodded. There was a break, a small game of chicken. Who would confess more first?
Lewis finally spoke up. He was usually the first to open his mouth in almost any situation. He had an abundance of curiosity and an extreme lack of patience. “Who else do you suspect? There’s more, right?” It seemed illogical that these three random people were the only ones.”
“Have you heard Miranda Rutherford rattle off whole books after reading them once?” She wasn’t going to name Penny first. She was still reluctant to let even Jason in on that secret. Penny didn’t even know that she knew. Besides, she already had Minnie psyched for their little meeting Sunday.
“Yeah, that’s a bit weird, but I mean something solid,” Lewis folded his arms across his chest, “clearly inexplicable. Not just ‘she claims she only read it once’ inexplicable.”
“Frank,” Zach said. “I’m not sure how strong he is, but let’s just say we’re talking less like Schwarzenegger and more like the Incredible Hulk.”
Celene hadn’t seen that one. “Francis Guerrero? The Center from Miami?”
Zach nodded, “And June, she does this freaky lie detector thing that doesn’t work on me.”
“Or me.”
“Or Minnie Rutherford,” Celene said, remembering the lab makeup a few weeks back. “It doesn’t work on anyone else with powers, but Dr. Livingstone, who is completely normal, seems convinced.
“We’re having a meeting on Sunday,” she said. “Dr. Livingstone is speaking to a few students he’s been working with and I’ve got my own list. It will be at my apartment, first floor of the grey house across from the florist down the block, eleven thirty in the morning. We want to see who else is out there and what we have in common. It might give us some answers. But this is not to be discussed with anyone who isn’t displaying some kind of gift, got it? To anyone who asks it’s an invitation only, interest meeting for a science competition.”
Zach and Lewis checked in with each other by way of a quick glance. Each of them felt nervous about exposing themselves to others, but eager to lean more. For Lewis it was a matter of knowing just how special he was that tempted him to go through with it. For Zach it meant uncovering the secret to why his junior year had not gone the way he had planned. He’d already lost football for the season and it was putting a further strain on his relationship with June.
Zach spoke for the boys, “We’ll convince June.”
It was odd to see two football stars conversing with a science teacher alone on the track. Celene knew she should move along before someone joined them out there.
“Sunday then. Be punctual, please.”
Celene started back toward the gate. “And please, until then, stop showing off.”
“Yes m’am,” Lewis did a mock salute. Now that they had a mutual secret, he figured he could get away with a little cheekiness.
Dr. Davis left and headed to her car. Zach and Lewis stared at each other for a minute, each feeling unsure what to say now that it was clear this thing was bigger than the both of them; there was no way to gauge, yet, just how big it was.
Lewis finally spoke, “I need new shoes.”
Zach laughed. The bottoms of Lewis’ cheap-o sneakers were almost gone. “Yeah you do.”
“In union there is strength.”
-Aesop
xiii.
Along each side were placed five tall gilded chairs.
Each was a seat for a handsome governor.
Earth, sky, and sea were all represented here.
Two thrones faced the doors.
The statuesque men and women sat in their chairs.
They exchanged glances as their minds raced wildly.
They had an important decision to make
from their lofty thrones.
The ruler of the underwor
ld sat below.
His living bride sat silently beside him.
It was offensive that they were excluded
from this decision.
His brother could never know he was jealous.
He reached for his bride’s warm hand; his was cold.
She had hated him when she’d first arrived here,
but she warmed to him.
She could never love him after what he’d done,
but she could try not to be miserable.
She could use her power to help poor lost souls
find their way through death.
She was at once his wife and his prisoner.
She often looked up at the mountain above
yearning for a life at her mother’s right hand
on the mountaintop.
That life could only be here for half a year.
That rightful place at the eternal council.
She spent the other six months in bleak darkness
with her cold husband.
“Know thyself.”
-Delphic Maxim
XIII.
Celene Davis was baking cookies when Penelope wandered out into the kitchen in her pajamas. She saw the cooling racks out and frowned. Penny double-checked the clock to make sure she hadn’t slept too late. It was ten in the morning. “Why are you baking this early?”
“Get dressed! People are coming over in less than an hour and we still have to clean.” Celene waved her spatula in the air as she ran to the oven to retrieve the latest batch of chocolate chip cookies.
“Who?”
“Uh...” Celene set the fresh pan of cookies on top of the stove and ceased bustling around the kitchen for a moment. She supposed she couldn’t avoid the topic any longer. She’d been postponing this discussion all week. “Sit down.”
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