Chapter 6

I awoke late the next morning to the sound of the shower running in the adjoining bathroom, Jenny must be getting ready for school I thought, I'll give her a little privacy and then get my own ablutions out of the way. After I had cleaned up I made my way down to the kitchen, Jess greeted me and commented that I looked a lot better than yesterday. Jen was about to leave for school and she gave me a quick kiss on the lips before taking off.

"She worships you Jimmy, don't ever hurt her, she would be devastated if you did." Jess told me, "don't worry Jess, I may not know who I am at the moment but believe me I have the greatest of respect for Jenny, she's like a sister to me" Jess laughed, "she is your sister you dope" although I sensed a little unease in her voice.

"I have to go over to Snowden to do some shopping, will you be OK on your own?"

"Don't worry Jess; I'm feeling fine, a little tired still but nothing to be concerned about. The head is still a little sore but it's a lot better than yesterday. I'll be OK, you have a good day shopping and I'll see you when you get back home. Uncle Ron will probably visit so there's nothing to worry about."

"All right, if you are sure you will be OK I'll be off then."

After Jess had left I started to explore the house, my room was a typical boy's room with model boats and planes, a set of golf clubs in the corner made me wonder if I could play the game, I'll have to ask Jenny about that. I stuck my head in Jen's room, not to be nosey but to acquaint myself with the layout of the house. Her room was all pink and lacey with stuffed toys on the bed.

The house was a big rambling place with high ceilings and polished boards on the floor, heavy rugs were scattered about the place. I'd already been in the living room and kitchen so I moved on into the lounge room, a bay window overlooked the gardens, there was a huge fireplace with heavy fire irons, the fire was laid and ready to be lit. A locked door in one wall caught my attention, it was a heavy door with a Yale lock and an older lever type lock, both were locked, I looked through the keyhole into what I took to be a study, I'll ask Jen why it is locked although it wouldn't surprise me that John was the cause.

I had been poking around for a while when I heard a car coming up the driveway, looking out the window I saw it was Ron, good, maybe I can get a few answers.

I invited Ron in and put on the kettle to make a pot of tea, while we were waiting for it to boil we sat down at the kitchen table. "I'm glad you dropped by Ron, I've got a lot of questions and a big problem I need some advice on."

"Fire away Jimmy, I try to answer all your questions." Just then the kettle started to whistle so I got up and poured the boiling water onto the tea leaves and got a couple of cups from the cupboard.

"The first question that comes to mind is do I still call you Ron or should I call you 'Dad'?" Ron looked like I had hit him between the eyes, "what makes you think I'm your father Jimmy?"

"You told me when you walked into the hospital ward the other day; this is the problem I urgently need to discuss with you. Although you didn't say it out loud I 'heard' your thoughts, you were thinking "thank God my son is alright", since I had the bang on the head some weird things are happening, I can hear people's thoughts and I find I can probe their minds, fortunately I can tune them out, some are quite embarrassing."

{This is something I hoped he would never find out, how the hell can I convince him he's wrong?}

"You can't convince me I'm wrong, you must have a good reason for not wanting it known that I'm your son, perhaps if we talk about it I might understand better."

"Give me a few minutes to get my head around this Jimmy, you've taken the wind out of my sails and I'm foundering" he rather shakily replied.

I poured the tea and we sat in silence, I had tuned out to give Ron some privacy, "are you reading my thoughts Jimmy?" I assured him that I wasn't.

After a spell Ron looked at me and said, "if what you say is true and although it's outside the norm I do believe it is, then we have a lot to discuss. I want your assurance that what I tell you remains between us, that is very important to all of us."

"Yes Ron, I'll hold everything we talk about in confidence, you obviously have good reasons or you wouldn't ask me."