Chapter 15

I got home just in time for meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Laugh if you will but it’s one of my favorite things, and my mother’s is way better than the stuff they call meatloaf back at -------. So I was in a better frame of mind when we cleared the table.

I had nothing planned for this evening, so I took out an assigned book and read. My mind kept drifting off to other things, Karen, Macy Associates, my bank account -- other than lunches and bus fare I really hadn’t spent anything I’d earned working for Ted. I’d feel a little more secure when I got back to school with that cushion in the bank.

I also kept drifting back to the odd sensation I sometimes got, like I’d already walked the thread into someone’s epicenter and could sense what they were feeling. My unconscious had been gnawing at this for a couple of months now, and I was starting to get a better understanding of what I was sensing.

When I looked back at it, separated by time and distance, I thought that there was a difference in the immediate connection that I sometimes got and the conscious step into someone’s epicenter. In the latter case I was able to “see” the person’s immediate reaction to something, even specific memories related to that thing, fears, desires, and so on.

The “immediate connection” -- I’d have to find a better name for this -- was more non-specific, perhaps an emotional reaction to a comment, a person, an event. It was a sense of how they were responding to something they saw, or even to me. It lacked any detail. It was a general description of their emotional state, like suspicion, dislike, acceptance, and so on.

This was still a bit vague, but I thought I was seeing some gut-level indications in how they sensed me. This was made harder because I wasn’t feeling this with everyone I met. I’d probably be a mental wreck if that had happened. It only happened sometimes. Why? Beats me. Maybe some persons are “sensitives” for want of a better word, and they expose their feelings internally somehow. I was just guessing, trying to come up with a working hypothesis.

It was going to take some better observation if I were to figure this out. I’ll have to pay more attention the next time it happens.

Still, it had happened. This was a new phenomenon, because I didn’t recall this occurring at all when I first started exploring my new abilities. This was a recent change.

And this suggested that there might be still other changes that hadn’t shown themselves yet because they were still developing. Well, that’s interesting. And a bit scary, too. What if it manifested as a physical change? Jesus. I hadn’t thought of that.

Stan had said that the person who Canary was before he became Canary was just a normal guy working nine to five, probably had friends he palled around with, liked to fish, maybe even had a family. And now he was this odd, twitchy guy who felt things and made everyone around him feel uncomfortable.

If this thing I had was a work in progress, I ought to be careful to watch for other changes. I had thought it was static, that it had made its changes to my brain and was done. But maybe not.

On that happy note, I put my book aside and went down and watched something mindless on television to help drive those thoughts out of my head.

When my mind had been massaged by the TV into something dull and slow, I finally went to bed. Thankfully, I fell asleep in minutes and woke to the sun shining in my eyes. It wasn’t yet 8:30, and I had again forgotten to close the shade.

There was no going back to sleep, so I forced myself into the shower and after coffee I started to feel better.

I didn’t know where everyone else was. Well, Mindy was probably still asleep, but who knows where my parents were.

The phone rang and for once I didn’t hear the pounding of feet as Mindy ran to pick it up. That left me.

“Hello?”

“I was afraid I was going to wake you.” Karen.

“Nope, the sun already did that. I forgot to pull the shade.”

“A lesson you won’t soon forget. So my parents had one of those spontaneous whimsical ideas last night. They used to do it more when I was younger. ‘Let’s visit the zoo!’ ‘How about we make a picnic lunch and go to Baker’s Falls?’ ‘I wonder how they make ice cream? Let’s go to a factory and take the tour!’

“Except this time they decided that they’ll rent a B&B overnight, just the two of them, and go antiquing. I think it’s kind a date-night thing for them. Anyway, they hinted strongly that it was just for them. I played along saying I had a lot of reading to get done for school. Besides, antiquing is overrated.”

“Exactly,” I said. “I was going to have some T-shirts made.”

“Well, save me one. So that leaves me all alone in this big, empty house. At loose ends. Whatever shall I do? Once I finish my reading, that is.”

“I love weekends. When do they leave?”

“They’re already gone.”

“Part of me wants to run over there as fast as I can. But there’s still this issue of having to explain my absence to the family. And my folks are out right now, probably running errands.”

“Okay. They probably won’t be gone for too long, will they?”

“Doubt it. I’m guessing grocery shopping for the errand du jour. They should be back in an hour or so.”

“Right. So figure something out and give me a call later, okay? I’ll read till then.”

I hung up, my hand still clutching the handset of the wall phone, my brain already plotting.

I went upstairs, two at a time, and pulled out a change of clothes, got my toothbrush, and ... Nuts. Almost forgot. That’d be awkward, huh? I went back in my closet and rummaged in my secret hiding place and pulled out a box of condoms. I hadn’t used this particular box since last year about this time, and verified the expiration date. Yup, still good.

I stuffed everything in my backpack. And just in time.

“Tom, the phone rang earlier. Who was it?”

Mindy always assumes every call is for her. I decided to wing it. “It was Bucky Reilly. He and a few others are going to his family’s cabin for the day to swim and eat, and he asked if I wanted to come.”

“Oh,” she said, losing interest. Nothing to do with her. Well, maybe my parents will buy it, too.

I added a swim suit to my backpack so there wouldn’t be any questions, then realized I still hadn’t eaten anything. I went down and fixed some breakfast, and by the time I was cleaning up my parents came in with several bags of groceries.

“Help us with this stuff, Tom. Get the frozen stuff into the freezer compartment, please.”

I did that, and while rearranging it to make everything fit I said, “Bucky Reilly called out of the blue earlier. He and a few guys from school are going up to his folks’ cabin for the day to swim and catch up. We’ll stay overnight, be back early afternoon tomorrow.”

“Bucky? You haven’t seen him since last year, have you?”

“No. Not really. I think he went to State after graduation, can’t remember. Anyway, it might be fun and I didn’t really have anything planned.”

“Well, lucky you. I wish one of my friends would invite me up to their cabin for the day.” She was just goofing on me now, telling me how fortunate I was to have friends like that.

“You don’t need the car, do you?” she asked.

“No, I’ll find a place in somebody’s car, there should be plenty of room.”

“Okay. When are you leaving?”

“It was a bit vague, but I’ll just go over there and hang out till they’re ready to go.”

“Fine. Thanks for helping with the groceries.”

And it was done. I couldn’t really call Karen now, with so many ears about, so I went to get my backpack and slipped it over my shoulder, calling goodbye as I went out the front door.

I headed in the general direction of Bucky’s house in case anyone was watching. Fortunately it was also in the general direction of Karen’s as well. At the first pay phone I came to, I dug a quarter out of my pocket and called her.

“On my way. I’ve lost all the tails that might have jeopardized my mission.”

“You read too much spy fiction, Carter. See you soon.”

Her house was a long-ish walk from mine. Usually I rode my bike, but Bucky’s house was much closer to ours and I would have walked there.

While I walked I recalled the only time we’d ever made love in her bed. It was last New Year’s Eve, in fact, and it had been more than special. In fact, I had thought about it a lot in the succeeding months. And the only part of it that wasn’t perfect was that I’d had to leave her to get the car back home. I’d wanted to wake up beside her.

I turned onto her street and half a block later I was at her door. I raised my hand to knock and the door opened before I could touch it.

“And what fairy tale did you spin when you left the house?”

“Reunion of old high school friends. At his family’s lakeside cabin. Last minute invitation, so I’ll have to hurry.”

“Maybe you’ll make a decent spy after all. C’mon in.”

Even when she was wearing old clothes she still looked spectacular. The collar on the shirt was a bit worn, there was a paint blotch that hadn’t entirely washed out of her jeans. You wouldn’t notice because of that brilliant smile and those eyes that grabbed you and drew you in.

“You ate already?” she asked.

“I had breakfast. I’m good for a while.”

She had coffee brewing so I said I’d have another cup. I filled her in on the latest at work while she poured.

“So I was surprised to find that Ted is getting used to working with the PC. He’s figured out how to run reports that tell him what’s selling and what isn’t, how much he’s brought in over any particular period, and what things need to be reordered. I’ll give the guy credit, he’s worked his way through his initial computer phobia.”