Legacy

by Gerald Pruett

  Ellen grinned before saying, “Of course.”

  Shannon grinned before continuing with, “Anyway, Harris will put the crystal ball in front of Martha and recite the incantation. Once the incantation is done, Harris will ask the pertinent question about your great-grandmother. The answer to that question will then be pulled from Martha’s head—no matter how vague or fragmented the memory is—and into the crystal ball. The crystal ball will restore the clarity of that memory and then shoot the memory into the minds of everyone in the room.”

  “So if I’m in the room, I will see it as if I was remembering it?” Ellen asked.

  “Exactly,” Shannon confirmed. “Oh and the bigger crystal ball you have will increase the intensity of the experience. So keep that in mind when you buy the crystal ball.”

  Ellen looked towards Harris before saying, “We’re buying the biggest crystal ball that the store sells.”

  Harris just amusingly grinned as he continued to cook breakfast. Everyone was then drawn to the door as Allyson said, “I see everyone is getting an early start for a Saturday morning.”

  “I woke up from the smell of the bacon cooking,” Ellen said.

  “That’s what woke me up too,” Avery said just before he entered the kitchen. Everyone turned towards him.

  “Will someone get the plates out from the cupboard?” Harris requested.

  “I’ll do it,” Allyson said as she moved towards the cupboard.

  Hours later in Saint Louis, Ellen and Harris had found a shop that was open on Saturdays that sold crystal balls. They bought the biggest one that the shop had and were now walking back towards their rented SUV.

  Before they could reach their SUV, a thirty-year-old woman approached them and asked, “Are you the two who are looking for Martha Starr?”

  “Who are you?” Ellen quickly asked in a slightly paranoid tone.

  “I’m Wendi Lombardi,” she replied. “Martha is my grandma. Her last name is DeNatale now though. You two are the ones who are looking for her… right?”

  “We are,” Harris confirmed. “But how did you know that we were coming and that we were looking for your grandma?”

  “My grandma assures me that both of you will believe me, so here it is,” Wendi began. “My grandma is a psychic. She has been getting visions of you two searching for her that began last Tuesday around three in the morning.” Ellen slightly recoiled as if she had breathed in a bad stench. “Did I say anything wrong?”

  “Her brother and my sister were husband and wife,” Harris began. “They were both killed in an auto accident around the time that you had mentioned.”

  “I’m sorry,” Wendi said in a consoling tone. “I didn’t mean to…”

  “It’s fine,” Ellen quickly interrupted with. “So your grandma saw us coming?”

  “Yes,” Wendi confirmed. “She saw that you two—an Englishman in his mid-twenties and a teenage girl—would show up at this store around this time to buy… something. She asked me to come and escort you two to her.”

  Harris gestured towards the SUV—which was three vehicles away—while saying, “Our vehicle is that SUV.”

  Wendi gestured towards her Jeep Wrangler while saying, “My vehicle is right there.” When Harris and Ellen looked, they saw a seven-year-old boy in the passenger seat, staring at them.

  “The one with the boy sitting in it?” Ellen asked.

  “Yeah, he’s my son Tony,” Wendi confirmed. When Ellen politely waved, Tony waved back. “Anyway, once you two are set, I’ll lead you to my grandma.”

  “Alright,” Harris replied. “Let’s go, Ellen.”

  Ellen gave Harris a nod before she began walking again. As Ellen and Harris were getting into their SUV, Wendi was getting into her Jeep.

  As Harris was driving behind Wendi on South Kings-highway Boulevard towards Shaw Avenue, Ellen looked at her surroundings. After reading a sign that pointed the way to one of the Saint Louis’s tourist attractions, she verbalized her thoughts, “I wonder if the ‘Missouri Botanical Garden’ is open today.”

  “We aren’t here to look at flowers,” Harris told her as he followed Wendi west onto Shaw Avenue from South Kingshighway Boulevard.

  “I know,” Ellen retorted. “I was just wondering. I’m also wondering where ‘The Hill’ is at that I keep seeing signs for.”

  “I believe that this section of town is considered ‘The Hill’,” Harris said.

  “Why?” Ellen asked.

  “That would be something you need to ask Wendi or Martha.”

  Harris followed Wendi for a short distance before the two had parallel parked their vehicles. Harris grabbed the shopping bag that held the crystal ball and the notepad before he got out of the SUV.

  Once Ellen, Harris, Wendi and Tony were gathered on the sidewalk, Ellen told Wendi, “This is my first time in Saint Louis, and while we were following you I kept seeing signs indicating that this area is called ‘The Hill’. But why is this area called ‘The Hill’?”

  “The elevation of this area is the highest in Saint Louis with the intersection at Arsenal and Sublet being the highest,” Wendi explained.

  Ellen just gave a polite nod as a response.

  Wendi pointed towards a house, but before she was able to continue a sparrow landed on Ellen’s shoulder.

  “A bird had landed on you!” Tony uttered excitingly while pointing, which caused the bird to fly away.

  “Birds seem to like me,” Ellen said as she watched the bird fly to a nearby tree. “It’s the first time that a bird had landed on my shoulder with people around me though. Usually I have to be alone before they’ll come to me like that.”

  “We could’ve used you here back in June when my friend’s cockatoo got out of its cage,” Wendi told Ellen. Ellen just grinned. Again Wendi pointed towards the house. “Anyway, there’s where we’re going.”

  Wendi and Tony led the way to the house, and once inside, Wendi introduced Ellen and Harris to her grandmother.

  Once the introductions were over, Martha asked, “You’re Alexander’s granddaughter aren’t you?”

  Ellen nodded before saying, “He died before I was born so I had never met him.”

  “I knew him and your great-grandmother,” Martha said. “In fact, you have your great-grandmother’s eyes.”

  Ellen grinned before saying, “My mom—when she was alive—use to tell me that I had my dad’s eyes. I’m glad that my eye trait goes further back than him.”

  Martha shot Ellen a curious look before saying, “I get the impression that you don’t care too much for your dad.”

  “I have my reasons not to, and I don’t care to discuss it with people I’d just met,” Ellen bluntly said.

  “Of course; I wasn’t meaning for you to confide in me about it,” Martha assured Ellen. Ellen just nodded with a polite grin. “Anyway, I bet you two were surprised when Wendi had approached the two of you.”

  “To say the least,” Ellen said as she looked over the room.

  “We were surprised to learn that you’re a psychic, Martha,” Harris added.

  Ellen was noticing that there were a few crystal statues and other crystal knick-knacks decorating the room.

  “It was your great-grandmother, Ellen, who showed me not to fear my gift, but to understand it and to embrace it,” Martha said. Ellen turned towards Martha while wearing a pleasant grin. “I had seen in my vision that you two had brought something—something that would help you two to see what I’ve seen.”

  “Yes, a…” Harris stopped talking and looked at Tony.Martha followed his gaze. “Yes; I brought something.”

  “There are a few things I would like to show you two… especially to you, Ellen,” Martha began before turning towards Wendi. “You might want to take Tony to the park for a while.”

  “I want to watch,” Tony insisted.

  “You’re too young, Tony, to see what I want to show Ellen and Harris,” Martha told him.

  “It’s lunchtime anyway, Tony,” Wendi began w
hile glancing towards a clock, which read 11:53 A.M. “You and I will bug your dad at work and bum a meal from him.” Wendi then saw the curious look that Ellen was giving her. “My husband is a cook at… at the restaurant around the corner.”

  An understanding expression came across Ellen’s face before she nodded with a grin and saying, “Ah.”

  Wendi gestured towards the door before saying, “Let’s go, Tony.”

  “Fine,” Tony grumbled as he moved towards the door.

  Once the door was closed behind Wendi and Tony, Martha told Harris, “You can now set up what you need to set up.”

  “Where should I set it up at?” As if it was an afterthought, Harris continued to say, “A table and three chairs will be all we need.”

  Martha thought for a second before pointing in the direction of a closet and suggesting, “I have a small folding table and folding chairs in the hall closet that can be use for this. We can set them up here in the living room.”

  “I’ll get them,” Ellen volunteered. “You’ll need to show me where the closet is though.”

  Martha grinned before telling Ellen, “Follow me.”

  Harris put down the shopping bag that held the notepad and the crystal ball on the couch before following Ellen and Martha to the closet.

  After pulling out the table and three of the four chairs from the closet, Ellen carried two of the chairs to the living room while Harris carried the table and the third chair.

  Once the table and the three chairs were set up, Harris again picked up the shopping bag, pulled out the notepad and the crystal ball from it and then placed them on the table. Everyone then took a seat at the table with Ellen having the best view of the front door.

  As Harris was preparing the incantation, Ellen said hesitantly, “My… my uncle had mentioned a letter that he had found. I’m guessing that the letter was from my great-grandmother, and it said that our family’s Legacy is among the ‘stars’ of Saint Louis.”

  “Yes, I have them,” Martha told her. “They are in a storage space that I rent. The storage facility isn’t far from here and after we get done here, I’ll take you to it.”

  Ellen nodded with a grin before saying, “That sounds good.”

  Within a short time the incantation set-up was complete, but before Harris recited the incantation, he told Martha, “Once this begins we really shouldn’t be interrupted. So I was thinking that we should put a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the front door.”

  “Good idea,” Martha agreed before standing up. “I’ll make it and hang it on the door.”

  It only took Martha a short time to create the sign, post it on the front door and retake her seat at the table.

  Harris glanced at his watch, which read 12:17 P.M., before he recited the incantation, and after the incantation was finished, Harris asked, “What do you want us to know, Martha?”

  Ellen, Harris and Martha watched as the color of the crystal ball changed from a clear crystal to a swirling rainbow color. Soon after that Ellen and Harris found themselves seeing through Martha’s eyes, hearing through Martha’s ears and experiencing Martha’s life as it had played out sixty years ago.

  “Oh God. Robyn. Sarah. Look at what is a part of our class this year,” Amy said loud enough for her teacher—Gloria Anderson—to hear.

  While standing her ground at the entrance to the room, Martha stared harshly at the three fifteen-year-old girls just as Robyn uttered, “Oh God! Why don’t her parents commit her to the funny farm and be done with it already?”

  “She’s too much of a bad joke for the funny farm,” Sarah chimed in before she and the other two giggled.

  “Girls!” Gloria uttered sternly while she allowed her eyeglasses to dangle at her chest from a chain around her neck. “And boys!” All eyes had whipped towards Gloria as she stood in front of her desk while staring discontentedly at the three teenage girls who were bad mouthing Martha. “There will be no verbal or physical abuse towards each other in this classroom. Is that clear?!”

  ‘Yes, Ma’am’ and ‘Yes, Mrs. Anderson’ were what Gloria heard from her fifteen-year-old students.

  Gloria faced the new arrival before asking, “What is your name, young lady?”

  “It’s Martha Starr,” she said while she continued to stand her ground near the entrance to the room.

  Gloria gestured towards an empty seat that was three seats from her teacher’s desk while saying, “Please take this seat, Martha.”

  “Oh God,” were the mumbles that Gloria heard from the students around the specified seat.

  “Did I just hear an ‘Oh God’ from a few of you?” Gloria demanded to know.

  “She’s a freak, Mrs. Anderson,” one of the boys insisted. Martha stopped walking towards the seat that she was asked to take. “One week in this classroom you’ll learn to see her that way too.”

  “What is your name, young man?” Gloria asked.

  “It’s Matthew Brown, Mrs. Anderson,” he replied.

  “Matthew, I have always liked to encourage each one of my students to speak his or her mind about a disgruntle issue he or she might be faced with within my classroom. Now am I right to assume that you have a problem with Martha sitting next to you?” When Matthew acted as if he was scared to answer, Gloria continued with, “This is the time to speak freely. There is no wrong or right answer and you won’t be punished for speaking your mind.”

  “Okay, fine,” Matthew began. “Yes, I do have a problem with that.”

  “Does she talk to you when you ask her not to?”

  “No, but she mumbles to herself a lot and it’s distracting.”

  “Okay, like with many people, Martha verbalizes her thoughts,” Gloria began. Martha slightly grinned. “I’m certain if you let her know that you are being distracted, she will stop verbalizing her thoughts so loudly.”

  “Martha’s mumbles aren’t verbalized thoughts,” Sarah said.

  “What is your name, young lady?” Gloria asked.

  “It’s Sarah Lester,” she replied. “And Martha’s mumbles are… well, she acts as if she is witnessing events that only she could see and commentaries on those events are what she mumbles out.”

  “Martha, I’m sure that you don’t mean to be distracting…” Gloria was only able to get out.

  “No, Ma’am,” Martha quickly agreed.

  “So in the effort for everyone in the classroom to get along, try not to verbalize your thoughts so loudly,” Gloria continued. “Okay?”

  Martha slightly grinned while nodding and saying, “Yes, Ma’am.”

  Gloria grinned before gesturing towards the seat again and saying, “Please take your seat.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Martha said as she continued to walk towards the seat.

  Martha barely heard Matthew as he grunted out his final protest of her sitting next to him. Martha saw that Gloria had heard Matthew too, and after a slight hesitation, Gloria went on as if she didn’t hear him and glanced towards the clock.

  Martha went to sit down, and when she touched her seat, she was given a psychic vision of Gloria and Principle Summers conversing in the hallway outside the classroom.

  Martha stood as a statue while psychically seeing Gloria noticing a distraught expression on Principle Summers’s face and asking, “Is there anything wrong?”

  “Warren McCrae’s mother had phoned the school a short time ago,” Principle Summers began before getting teary eyed and slightly losing his composure.

  When Principle Summers failed to continue, Gloria said, “As to how emotional you seem at the moment, I get the feeling that Warren won’t be joining my class.”

  “I’m sorry. I actually have a history with his family,” Principle Summers explained as he tried to gain control of his emotions. “And you’re right. As Warren was preparing himself for school this morning, he had a severe asthma attack. His parents weren’t able to get him to the hospital in time.”

  “My God!” Gloria uttered in an empathetic tone. “How tragic!”
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  “Yes,” Principle Summers agreed.

  Martha was then pulled out of her vision with a start when someone touched her arm.

  When Martha jerked loose from Gloria’s hand, Gloria put up her hands in a surrendering manner while saying, “You don’t like to be touched. That’s fine.”

  “It’s not… I’m sorry,” Martha said as tears formed in her eyes.

  “It’s fine,” Gloria assured her as another student walked in.

  “I told you that she was a freak,” Matthew said loud enough for Gloria to hear.

  “That’s enough, Matthew!” Gloria sternly ordered as she gave him a quick glance.

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he retorted.

  “Are you okay, Martha?” Gloria asked. “We can talk privately if you’d like.”

  “I’m fine,” Martha said while wiping the tears from her eyes and attempting to sound convincing. “I just want to take my seat.”

  “Of course,” Gloria said before turning to see who had walked in seconds before.

  The new arriving student was taking one of the backseats when Gloria glanced his way. Her gaze was then drawn to Principle Summers as he walked in.

  “Mrs. Anderson, may I have a word with you?” Principle Summers requested in a mournful tone as he stood at the door.

  “Of course, Principle Summers,” Gloria said before walking in his direction.

  Martha watched Gloria as Gloria followed Principle Summers into the hallway. Once Gloria had shut the classroom door and Martha had lost sight of them, Martha turned and stared at the top of her desk.

  Martha stared at her desk during the time that it took for Gloria to re-open the door and re-enter the classroom. When Gloria walked past Martha’s desk, Martha watched Gloria with her peripheral vision as Gloria took her place at the front of the classroom.

  “Students, I’m certain that a few of you know Warren McCrae,” Gloria began. Martha refused to look up as tears formed in her eyes. “I’m sad to inform you that Warren had a severe asthma attack this morning. He was pronounced dead soon after he was rushed to the hospital. There will be a formal announcement of this tragedy later today. Once a time has been arranged all the faculty members will be informed of it and then we will inform our current class.” There was a short silence before Gloria continued with, “Martha?”