Chapter 7: Telepathy 101

February 21st - March 6th, 1989

As Jennifer got in my car Tuesday morning, I said, “Good morning. You look like you’re happy to be going back to school.”

“You must have read my mind,” she joked before kissing me on the lips.

As I waved to Lee, I asked, “How did it feel to sleep in your own bed last night?”

“Actually,” she yawned, “I didn’t get much sleep. Lee kept me up until two.”

I pulled out of her driveway and then waited patiently as she yawned again and then stretched, enjoying the glowing happiness she was emitting to my empathic senses.

After finishing her stretch, she said, “I think I’ve gotten too used to sleeping in a bigger bed. I was almost afraid to move in my little twin bed.”

I teased, “Sounds like you’ll be getting a bigger bed for your birthday.”

“Don’t do that!” she laughed.

“Is that perfume?” I asked, suddenly getting a whiff of something flowery and sweet.

“Do you like it? Lee got for me.”

“Usually, I don’t care for perfume, but in this case ... It smells like roses.”

“Uh-huh. I thought you’d like it,” she said proudly.

We chattered back and forth on the way to school, never mentioning anything about the symbols, telepathy or any of that. It was just her and I being two normal teens who happened to be in love.

But when we entered the school and Jennifer saw all the symbols spinning around the countless minds in the hall, she stopped in her tracks and sighed, “Ewwww ... Look at them all...”

I gave her a squeeze as I said, “I knew you’d get a kick out of it. I want to show you something. This is what Joey and I call a blanket command.”

I formed the blanket, then tossed it over the crowd, Jennifer giggling when everyone instantaneously jumped up once without noticing they and everyone else had done so.

“That was really neat!” she gushed. “The symbols ... You had just enough for everyone, and they all reached everyone at the same time, even the people at the end of the hall! You have to show me that one later. It must have taken you a long time to figure that out.”

“Well, actually...” I began before noticing my demonstration hadn’t gone unobserved.

Dr. Higgs was standing in the middle of the hall, giving me a “That wasn’t funny,” look.

I said, “Jennifer, like don’t play around with anyone at school, okay? Dr. Higgs would really get pissed if you did, and we owe him a lot. All right?”

She sighed, then noticed Dr. Higgs herself and quickly glanced away from him shyly.

“Okay, I won’t. But you said you’d show me stuff today.”

“I will, but not during school, okay? Meet me upstairs after school. I know a few people who owe me a few favors that will agree to let us practice on them.”

“Really? Okay. I love you.”

I gave her the kiss and thought to her <I love you too.>

While technically I couldn’t actually send her my thoughts like I did everyone else, her telepathic senses had matured enough to detect my attempt and automatically intercept it, ending up experiencing the same thing as everyone else, just with a little more work involved on her account.

As I approached Dr. Higgs, he let a small hint of a smile show through his principal mask of sternness, so when I reached his position, I said, “I did warn you before I did it.”

“I didn’t expect everyone in the office to jump too,” he said with a trace of humor. As we began walking in the direction of my locker, he said, “It was a good thing Joyce didn’t have the coffee pot in her hand. She would have scalded herself for sure.”

“Lucky for her,” I said amused.

“So you did make her have that sneezing fit,” he stated.

As three people in different areas of the hallway started sneezing at the same time, I said, “Now what makes you think that?”

He chuckled, but then got very serious and said, “I hope you don’t let your feelings for her blind you when she reaches that point where she will need you to be firm with her. You do know she’s going to abuse her ability at some point, and you’re the only one who can ... reprimand her.”

“You mean punish her,” I said uncomfortably as I opened my locker.

“No. You punish someone if they do something they know to be wrong. I don’t believe Jennifer will know she’s doing anything wrong when she does it, so I suppose the best word for it would be to correct her. Have her fix her mistake if possible, and make sure she understands that you will not tolerate that kind of abuse ever again. The most important thing you have to remember is to be firm. But not vindictive. That would be even worse than punishment.”

“Okay. I’ll remember that.”

“Tim,” he said as he became filled with doubt. “I’m taking an awfully big risk here by allowing her back to school like this. It’s almost a certainty that she’ll do whatever she does here.”

I sighed, feeling the weight of the responsibility for Jennifer’s future actions being set firmly on my shoulders. I shut my locker’s door very carefully, allowing it to only make the slightest “clink” of the latch as I accepted the possibilities of what could lay ahead. Before Higgs had made me face them, I had simply acknowledged their existence without really taking them seriously. But when I turned around and looked up at him, he saw that I was looking at the whole picture without covering the less pleasant part with my thumb and was satisfied by my nod of commitment to do whatever had to be done.

Despite my excitement for what I wanted to show Jennifer later that day, I couldn’t help but feel a bit ... Well, disappointed doesn’t really describe it well enough, but it’s the closest thing I can think of to what I felt. I had been looking forward to showing her my more elaborate uses of my abilities even before I found out she was telepathic. And now that she could actually appreciate the true nature of what I would be showing her, having the responsibility of making sure she didn’t use what I was showing in a bad way just kind of took some of the fun or pleasure out of it for me.

The worse part of it was, Higgs’s doubts had produced a lurking doubt within me where there hadn’t been any before. And this doubt didn’t have anything to do with Jennifer directly. It was the worse kind of doubt, for self-doubt poised the greatest danger of failing to “correct” Jennifer’s mistakes if and when she made them.

My mood lighten at lunchtime just because I was with her for a while, but even then, I felt more conscious of how powerful Jennifer would be once she had gained all the knowledge I would be sharing with her in the weeks ahead.

Suzi surprised me in fifth hour asking me if I and Jennifer could go to the basketball game with her on Friday.

“I’ll see if she wants to go, but why isn’t Joey going?”

“He’s busy,” she said in an aggravated voice. “Joey always has an excuse not to go. I’m the president of the student council and I have yet to see one single basketball game this year.”

I exclaimed, “But I thought you went to every game. Brad said you did.”

Suzi sighed and said, “I know he thinks I have been, but he’s never actually seen me there. After Joey didn’t make the basketball team, he swore he wouldn’t go to another game of any kind. I told Joey I wouldn’t go without him hoping I could guilt him into going. It really sucks, Timmy. You know how well they are doing.”

“Yeah. They haven’t lost a game yet.”

I sighed and added, “If I had known you weren’t there, I would have gone to all the games myself.”

Suzi groaned, “Timmy, why did do that? Were you really that afraid of being around us?”

I said, “I’m not the one who was afraid. Jennifer didn’t want to take the chance I’d fall in love with you again if I spent any significant time around you. But I don’t think that’s a problem anymore.”

Suzi said gently, “Joey said he fucked up with you Sunday. He was pretty upset about it.”

I shrugged and said, “To be honest, I think I need to keep my distance from Joey for now. Spending time with him always seems to end up upsetting me. I think I just need to stabilize a little more.”

Suzi said cautiously, “That’s a shame. Because you’re not going to play, Joey has decided to not even trying out for baseball this year. You know how much he loved playing. I don’t think he’d pass up the chance of playing with both you and Brad.”

I glared at Suzi, finding myself at odds with myself contemplating that. This would be the last chance the three of us would have to play on a team together, something Brad had been reminding both of us for months. But this the first time since my memories had returned and more importantly felt a real connection to Joey again that it had come up. Part of me suddenly felt panicked about missing out on the opportunity. I felt frustrated how my feelings on the matter could change in just a week.

We had to go to our seats at that point. Suzi signaled she wanted to continue our discussion telepathically, but I pretended not to notice.

Joey had made the varsity team last year and had played most of the season before running away. While being on the team the previous year wasn’t a guarantee to being on it this year, there was no reason to believe he wouldn’t make the team this year if he simply tried out. He certainly was physically fit enough to do so.

Whereas Joey had two solid years of experience, I, on the other hand, had only played in one game in the past three years. The reality was, I wasn’t fit to play. I could force myself onto the team, but I still had yet recovered how to use the knowledge copy I had been gifted at Crow Academy my freshman year. Without that, I’d have to enhance my performance by using my abilities. That was not something I wanted to do, especially when trying to be a role model to Jennifer on how to resist using our abilities like that.

Coming to that conclusion, I thought to Suzi, <I can’t do it, Suz. There’s no way I could make the team legitimately, and I simply can’t force myself onto the team while at the same time showing Jennifer how not to abuse her abilities.>

Suzi responded, <So you won’t even try? Timmy, you know you’re special beyond just what your telepathy makes you. You might surprise yourself.>

I thought to her, <I’ll talk it over with Jennifer and see how she feels. If she doesn’t mind, I’ll at least try out for the team. But I’m not going to cheat.>

<I’m not asking you to. Thank you, Timmy. Now, what about Friday?>

<I’m sure I can talk Jennifer into going, especially if I mention the fact nobody knows who the mascot is.>

Suzi asked with interest, <Do you know who it is?>

I chuckled, and thought back, <Sorry Suz. Even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell. That’s the best-kept secret in the school, and I’m not about to let it out. Jennifer might though.>

<Hmmph. Oh well. If Jennifer doesn’t tell me either, I guess I could always ask Jo... >

We both looked at each other across the room with the same private thought, then Suzi sent, <You have to tell me if it is him.>

<Oh, I will. I promise.>

“Sorry I’m late,” Jennifer said as she burst into the room on the third floor. “I wasn’t paying atten...”

She never finished her sentence since only the three girls I had recruited that day were currently in the room.

“Where’s Tim?” she asked them.

They just sat there and smiled sweetly at her, then just as Jennifer tried to probe them, I touched her shoulder and made her jump a foot off the ground.

“HOW did you sneak up on me!” she said, half amazed, half irritated.

“You already depend on your abilities too much, Sweetie,” I said, attempting to give her a wicked kiss.

“Now, now,” she said, pushing my face away playfully. “None of that while you’re on duty, teach.”

I sighed discontentedly, then was happy to accept the simple kiss on the lips that caused a bit of a stir with the three freshmen sitting on the couch.

Jennifer’s eyes sparkled with energy knowing why they were whispering while we stood there enjoying the moment. I realized she had used her abilities to peek in the minds of her classmates and had found a great number of the girls in her classes were jealous of her. She had felt upset and threatened at first by the number of girls who would love to take her place, but then it sunk in. She accepted she was special, but not for the reasons I had given her all this time. She knew we shared something in common that none of those other girls possessed. Telepathy, and even more important to her, the sight for the symbols which she knew even most telepaths didn’t have.

Jennifer thought to me, <We were meant for each other, weren’t we?>

I replied, <I’d like to think so. Sweetie, please don’t let it go to your head. Always remember what it was like before you could read the thoughts of others. Remember when I said I was proud of you?>

<Yes. You said I always thought about others before myself.>

<Something like that, yes. Oh baby, it’s so important that you never lose that. Everyone has the right to live their own lives, to be their own person. Not everyone believes in this, but I do, and I want you to too. It’s like at the heart of my being, the thing that makes me who I am. Do you understand?>

<Yes, > she thought to me before kissing me on the chest and giving me a hug.

Once we both had recovered from our little private exchange, we got down to business. Jennifer absolutely amazed me with her talent concerning the symbols. You see, instead of showing her how to make people think or do things she wanted, I started out doing just the opposite, and that was how to undo that sort of thing.

The idea basically came from the karate classes I never personally took. The first thing you learn is how to fall without hurting yourself, so I figured I best teach Jennifer how to take her falls by showing her how to undo anything she might accidentally do by mistake.

This truly was where she had a clear advantage over me, however. I tried to explain how the commands felt inside a person’s mind, and after patiently listening to my descriptions, she asked me to demonstrate it. When I altered one of the girls significantly by making her think she was a frog, Jennifer not only undid the frog commands, but the commands I had used to undo the damage Scott’s eighth-grade history teacher had done.

I was so shocked that I had her do it again and learned that she could see or otherwise sense what the streams of a person’s mind were supposed to be in their unaltered natural state.

Actually, she later clarified it to be more like smoothing out the streams to a more natural appearance, admitting she couldn’t really know for sure what their original minds had been like and just made the streams of symbols flow in an order that seemed as natural as her own, knowing that she had never been altered herself. This clarification came out when I realized the three girls should have lost their intense desire for giving head if Jennifer had restored them to their pre-Underwood state of mind.

The fact that Jennifer could somehow see her own streams was frustrating to me as I couldn’t view my own. Years later, I attributed that fact to the main reason she had been able to learn so much so quickly. Being able to see the symbols of your mind while knowing what you were thinking and feeling really made the job of figuring out what the different symbols and, more importantly, the different streams did.

I allowed Jennifer to take her shot at fixing one of the girl’s fixation on giving blowjobs, and to my amazement and somewhat disturbance, she did so without leaving any trace of tampering.

There were some side effects, however. The largest came to the fact that Jennifer hadn’t affected their memory in the altering of their thought processes. If I hadn’t felt one of the girls feeling disturbed about her blowjob experiences, all three of them might have left there with a small psychological time bomb ticking in their heads.

So Jennifer did have quite a bit of learning to do, and I was glad to find her accepting the fact that manipulation of the symbol streams was not the absolute answer to every problem.

After dropping the three volunteers off at their homes, I had dinner with Jennifer’s family. I had mentioned going to the basketball game to her earlier to which she said she’d think about it. During dinner, Lee surprised us both asking why we hadn’t gone to a game.

Jennifer probed Lee to see if I had put her up to it, then sighed and said, “I suppose we can go Friday. Just don’t blame me if I’m a zombie with all those people around me.”

Lee groaned, “If you go zombie while watching a bunch of tall sweaty athletic guys run back and forth in front of you, I’m divorcing you as my sister.”

I grinned and asked Lee, “Is basketball your favorite spectator sport?”

Mr. Corrigan groaned, “Don’t get her started, Tim.”

Jennifer cut Lee off, saying, “I’m not a basketball fan. Their uniforms are sloppy looking.”

I asked, “What uniforms do you like? Football?”

“Ew, no. That just makes them look like gorillas.”

Lee said, “No, you prefer little boys in blue.”

Jennifer groaned, “I do not!”

Mr. Corrigan explained to me, “In the second grade, Jennifer had a series of crushes on boys in her class who were cub scouts. Lee loves to tease her about that.”

I asked Jennifer, “So you like boys in uniform?”

Jennifer looked at me and asked sternly, “Why? Are you going to join the army?”

I grinned and said, “No, but how would you feel if I tried out for the baseball team? They have nice uniforms.”

Jennifer was slightly taken aback by that, but quickly recovered and asked, “Are you just teasing me?”

I said, “No, actually. This will be the last chance I have to play on a team with Brad and Joey. They were both on varsity last year. I doubt I’ll make the team, but if I don’t at least try, I’ll regret missing the chance.”

Jennifer asked, “If you make the team, what happens to our afterschool tutor sessions?”

I said, “We’ll figure something out. Jennifer, I really don’t think I’ll get on the team. I was on JV two years ago but only played one game before I was kidnapped. I just don’t have the experience.”

Lee said, “But you’re telepathic. Surely that would give you all the experience you need to make the team.”

Jennifer said, “But that would be cheating, Lee. Tim doesn’t cheat.”

I said, “I could have played basketball and baseball my freshman year, but I didn’t because I was afraid I’d accidentally use my abilities.”

Lee said, “But you played football.”

Surprised that she would know that, I asked, “How did you know that?”

Lee laughed and said, “I went to Oakley too. That was my senior year. Do you remember ‘Tiger Claw’?”

After experiencing a brief flashback, I grinned and said, “I do.” But then I frowned and said, “But you couldn’t remember me just from that.”

Lee rolled her eyes and said, “I dated the varsity football team. They all talked about you. Especially Stan. He hated your guts.”

I made an unpleasant face contemplating Lee and Stan...

Lee laughed even louder and said, “I was not dating Stan.”

Relieved, I said, “Good, because you have no idea how big of a bullet you avoided. He was the biggest asshole I ever met. He even treated his sister like a...”

I stopped before I said “whore” as I realized that discussion wasn’t proper for the dinner table.

While I didn’t allow Jennifer’s accidental probe through, I saw from the look in her eyes she wasn’t going to let the topic go without an answer.

So I simply thought to her, <He raped his sister and then would scare off anyone she tried to date.>

Jennifer gasped, making Lee ask, “Are you two talking in each other’s heads?”

Jennifer said, “Yes. He said Stan raped his sister.”

Lee’s shock was evident, but when it was my turn to be shocked when Lee said angerly, “Stan might have been a bit of a self-absorbed asshole back then, but he was not a rapist.”

I said, “Let’s not get into this at the table. We can talk after dinner.”

Lee looked like she was about to argue, Mr. Corrigan interrupted by saying, “I’m confused. Tim, were you on the varsity team?”

I said, “I was the JV team most of the time, but I played in three varsity games.”

Lee said, “He was the Leaping Tiger. He could leap up into the air, snatch the ball and then land on his feet running.”

I said, “And I have no idea where I learned that from.”

Lee chuckled and said, “Remember that time where you leaped into the arms of the guy carrying the ball?”

After another flashback, I grimaced and said, “I got chewed out for doing it, but then it made the news that night.”

Jennifer asked, “Why did you do that?”

I said, “I didn’t mean to. The guy was twice my size. It was supposed to be a tackle, but once I was up in the air, I realized all I was going to do was hurt one or both of us. Luckily the fullback realized that himself and decided it was better to drop the ball and just catch me. After that, they never put me into a position where I’d have to try something like that again.”

Lee said, “It’s a shame you never played again. I went to a game last year. They really could have used you.”

I shrugged and said, “I had more important things than playing sports going on.”

Mr. Corrigan asked, “What position would you play if you got on the team?”

I asked, “Which team? Football or baseball?”

Mr. Corrigan said, “I was thinking baseball, but what position do you think you would play if you had been on the football team this year?”

I shrugged and said, “I honestly don’t know. I played cornerback and a little bit as Mike. But if I had been on the team all three years, I might have ended up on offense, possibly as the quarterback.”

“And baseball?”

I said, “I was slotted as shortstop and as a backup pitcher. I doubt I’d have any chance at pitching at this point.”

I looked at Jennifer and asked, “What do you think? Would I look good in a baseball uniform?”

Jennifer looked at me uncertainly, then at Lee and asked, “How much time do jocks have for their girlfriends?”

Lee smirked and said, “That depends on how hard you make them work to get what they want.”

Jennifer rolled her eyes while Mr. Corrigan cleared his throat disapprovingly.

Lee said more seriously, “Jennifer, if he makes the team, you can go watch him practice with the other girls. It’s not the same as spending the time with him, but you won’t be bored.”

I said, “And maybe you and Suz can hang out together.”

When Jennifer gave me a skeptical look, I said, “There aren’t many people who know as much about what you’re going through as she does. Give her a chance, Jennifer. There isn’t a person alive who doesn’t like her once they get to know her.”

Jennifer sighed, but then put a thoughtful frown on as she turned her attention back to finishing her dinner. Lee, her father and I continued making small talk for the rest of the meal, Jennifer sometimes piping in.

Once the dishes were cleared and Mr. Corrigan retired to the family room for some TV, Lee, Jennifer and I decided to play cards until it was time for me to leave.

After the deal, Lee asked, “Who told you Stan raped his sister?”

I didn’t answer immediately as I felt Lee was not only angry but feeling a bit guilty which confused me.

After running my empathic taste buds over those feelings, I asked, “Why does it matter to you? Who is Stan Beckersman to you?”

Lee avoided my eyes while saying, “I’ve known Stan a long time. His father was not the nicest person.”

I vaguely recalled Stan’s and Sheryl’s parents were divorced, so I said, “But they didn’t live with their father.”

“Maybe not when you met him. Stan always had to prove himself to his dad. If he didn’t bring home a trophy, he got whipped. Only when Stan got big enough to stand up for himself and his mom did his mom divorce the asshole. You say he raped his sister. I just can’t believe that. He was always protecting his sister.”

I sighed and said, “All I know is what Sheryl told me and what I experience myself. Stan was a bully and liked terrorizing anyone he saw less than him. Nothing you can say will make me see him as anything else. I take it you and he were more than friends at one time?”

Lee said, “He was one of my first boyfriends.”

Jennifer made it obvious she was uncomfortable with the topic, so we dropped it.

After our goodnight kiss, Jennifer said before closing the door after me, “You would look good in a baseball uniform.”

I grinned and thought back to her, <Thank you.>

While Brad was ecstatic hearing I’d try out for baseball, Joey appeared torn.

In the class we had together, Joey thought to me, <Did Suzi put you up to this?>

<What? Trying out for baseball?>

<Yes>

<She asked me to think about it, but she wasn’t just thinking about you. This is our last chance for the three of us to do something together. I don’t really think I’ll make the team, but if I don’t try, I’ll always regret it.>

<So you’re not doing this just to get me to play?>

<I’m not trying to manipulate you, no. If I don’t make the team, I don’t care what you do.>

<And if I don’t try out and you do make the team?>

When I didn’t answer right away, Joey thought, <What’s the matter? You can’t tell me you wouldn’t enjoy playing even if it was only Brad.>

I thought back, <I thought you wanted us to bond again and I figured this would be a safe way of doing that. Just forget the idea. I don’t really see any way I could make the team in the first place. I’ll tell Suz to stop trying to manipulate us.>

After a few minutes, Joey sent, <I’ll do it if you do.>

When I didn’t answer, Joey sent, <Are you ignoring me?>

I sent, <No. I’m trying to work out how I feel about it.>

<What’s there to feel about? Either you didn’t believe I’d do it or... >

<That’s not it. I’m conflicted now. You and Brad are sure things, and I really want to get on the team. But I can’t cheat.>

<Fuck Tim. Get some perspective. It’s just a game. Nobody who you take the place of will have their futures ruined by not being on the team. If you’re really worried about it, just make sure it’s a junior so they can play next year.>

<I have to set an example for Jennifer.>

<Fine. Set an example. Show her how sometimes you can get what you want without hurting anyone.>

<That’s not what I’m trying to teach her.>

<Tim, sooner or later, you’re going to have to take her to Marlfield and then she’s going to learn about your father’s girls. Getting yourself on the baseball team is nothing compared to seeing that.>

When I didn’t respond to that, he added, <Don’t pull the shit you pulled on me. Yes, you need to establish the difference between harmless and harmful. But being all virtuous all the time will just make her hide things when she has a moment of weakness and fucks up. Trust me. I know. That’s what happened to me. Once you start down that slippery slope, it’s hard to stop.>

<Okay. I’ll talk it over with Suz.>

He sent, irritated, <Fine. Talk it over with Suz. I guess I can’t blame you for not trusting my judgment.>

<Joey, it’s not your judgment I don’t trust. It’s mine. I have all these conflicting feelings about this and Suz has always helped me sort through them.>

<If you can’t figure this out for yourself without someone else’s help, how are you going to deal with the really big decisions like what you’re going to do next year? Stop looking for other people’s approval and go with what your heart tells you. You used to do that, remember?>

<If I did that, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.>

At that point, I shut the blinds inside my head to block any sort of response he tried to send.

I was angry, yet I didn’t understand why. I kept telling myself Joey didn’t understand the issues I was having, but I couldn’t fault what he said. Except for the bit about my heart. My heart was the source of my confusion, not the answer.

Over the next three days, Jennifer’s confidence and knowledge grew at a rate I never would have believed. Everything I explained or described to her was in terms of how I knew it best which boiled down to commands and sensations. Jennifer used these to guide her in learning how to do it from the symbols and their streams point of view, and while we differed on the implementation, Jennifer managed to work it so the resulting “footprint” as I called it was the same and easily detected and removed by myself or any other experienced telepath.