Chapter 15: Learning to Trust

June, 1985

[“Do you trust him to keep our secret?”

“I’d like to think so, ... but,... “]

Joshua took a deep breath before looking each of us in the eye. “Let me ask each of you a question. I want you to think about it carefully. Your answer will be my answer as to whether or not I breathe a word of this to my friend Johnny.

“Would any or all of you be willing to dedicate one year to a project that my friend Johnny and I might want to restart? And what if I could virtually guarantee that each of you would make more than $1 million. Would you be interested?”

The four of us just looked at each other, stunned by the question. It took almost 5 minutes before any of us even started flashing questions at each other.

The idea of $1 million each for one year’s participation was extraordinarily intriguing. As a family, $5 million would set us up for life, if the money was invested properly.

The one thing that we flashed unanimously between us was that we really needed to talk about this, only in private. They let me know that they wanted me to speak for all of them right now.

Joshua and Ann were both calmly looking at us. I DID have some questions.

“Joshua, you have to know that you caught us completely by surprise with that question. What kind of guarantees would we have, if we did agree to do this? After a year, WOULD we be free to walk away? None of us are naïve enough to think the government, if convinced of our true abilities, wouldn’t want to lock us up to work with them permanently! We’re all pretty sure that you and Johnny aren’t independently wealthy enough to pay us that kind of money. And I guess the other question is, why the sudden pressure?”

“I’ll answer your last question first. If my friend Johnny EVER found out that the five of you REALLY existed, he would be like a ‘pit-bull on a pork chop’! I told you that I was extremely disappointed when our project got defunded by the government. Johnny was devastated!

“His part of the research was charting the area of the brain that was responsible for the abilities that you possess. Since we really only had the three clairvoyants, he had lots of data on them but he really had nothing to compare them to. I know for certain if he saw your EEG’s he wouldn’t doubt you for a second. If he saw CHARLIE’S EEGs from when he broke that steel tire iron, he would COMPLETELY freak out. I’m just afraid that he would PROMISE to keep you a secret, then renege the minute he saw you in action. He would immediately realize all the possibilities that now exist that were previously unfathomable.”

I sighed, “So what you’re saying is, the $1 million each would be what he MIGHT offer to get us to up root from here and get this project restarted. Do YOU think there would actually be a chance you could get funding without getting any of the ‘alphabet soup’ agencies involved?”

“That’s the $5-million-dollar question, isn’t it? We would definitely have to throw someone a bone. Under NO circumstances would any of us breathe a word about Bob and Charlie’s ‘unique’ abilities. We wouldn’t have to, because your ‘telepathic’ abilities alone would astound them to the point that yes, we could most likely get independent funding.

“They would want to do a ton of tests trying to disprove your abilities, but we all know that you’d pass them all. The question would be; could we get funding without involving ANY government entities. That’s something Johnny and I would have to discuss before I even tell him your names. We might also have to consider giving you ‘new’ identities before we introduce you to anyone. That way all of the research would be done under your NEW identities and after it was finished, you could reassume your true identities.”

Mary asked, “So you HAVE given this some thought I see. Just how soon would we realistically have to do this?”

“Would the four of you even CONSIDER doing this if the conditions could be made right?”

Greg said, “I think a lot would depend on the amount of money involved. We would all be giving up our jobs and would still have to take care of the house and our other bills. Considering the risks, the reward would have to make it worth it.”

“I certainly understand that. Right now, I would suggest that you all plan on starting your jobs and let me see where this goes. Johnny currently lives in Tucson, Arizona and practices and teaches at the University of Arizona. I want to see what I can find out without telling him anything. But if all of you are serious, that certainly will give us something to talk about. Remember, to me, all of you kids are like family. If anything, I’m going to err on the side of caution. I can promise you that.”

I was relieved by Joshua’s last words, but I was still curious. “What are YOU hoping to get out of this? Are you hoping to restart the program?”

“Maybe, but I was also hoping to get you to try and ‘teach’ Ann and I how to communicate like you guys do. That would be more reward than you’ll ever know!”

“We’ll be glad to do whatever we can.” I assured him.

“If Ann’s theory is correct,” Joshua hesitated, “I, well, may have a difficult time both asking for and accepting the kind of ‘help’ I need.”

I was clueless. I saw Ann blushing, the girls were giggling and even Greg was smirking at my ‘dumb-ass’ look.

“WHAT?” I said with some frustration.

Mary flashed, “Charlie, Ann’s theory is that because we’re all sexually intimate, we’ve gotten this advanced as fast as we have.”

“Ohhh, now I see, OH GOD! ... Josh, I think I see what you’re talking about.”

Joshua was blushing now.

Ann was still blushing but said, “I see Mary has clued you in about our conversation. I know that neither Joshua nor I can begin to ask you to have sex with us. And I’m not sure that ‘just sex’ is even PART of the answer. I do feel however, that the deep love the five of you have, in conjunction with the fact that you’re all sexually intimate, is much of the reason for the DEPTH of your abilities.”

“Well, sex has ZERO impact on my connection to Greg or Bob! We’ve never even kissed each other. Our spiritual and emotional connections are closer than most brothers though.”

Joshua looked surprised. “Oh, Ann and I just assumed that you guys were intimate too. Goes to show, you shouldn’t ‘ASSUME’, as it makes an ‘Ass out of You and Me’!”

Greg added, “There’s more ways to be ‘intimate’ than sex. I love Charlie more than you could ever believe! We just have ONE boundary that we’ve mutually decided will NEVER get breached. We have no problems being naked and hugging, as well as other intimate contact EXCEPT kissing!”

“Well let me ask you then, what do you feel happened between the two of you that opened up your channel of communications?”

Greg thought for a minute. “Thinking back on it, it probably started about a year and a half ago. Charlie and I met two years ago while we were doing our summer internships. Very early on I developed a respect for Charlie. He took his job very seriously just like I did. What I noticed about him right away was his work ethic. He always came to work on time and gave 100% every day. He was incredibly intelligent, without being cocky. It was clear that he really wanted to learn.

“Since we worked for different companies and doing somewhat different jobs, our experiences were never exactly the same. One Friday after work, we started talking over drinks at a bar and didn’t stop until after breakfast that Saturday! We started having breakfast every Saturday and it just sorta became our routine. Right before the finals in December of our Junior year, we were both very quiet over breakfast. Unbeknownst to either of us was the fact that we were BOTH stressing out about an upcoming final. For me it was in Advanced Calculus and for Charlie it was Structural Engineering. We were both on the verge of failing. We were also both too proud to admit it and ask for help. We also BOTH knew that these subjects were the others ‘forte’.

“I believe that’s when ‘IT’ happened. We were both looking at each other and our eyes became locked together. It was like our souls melded together. We were both silently begging each other for help! Our ‘Pride’ refused to let us ask, but our souls knew no such ridiculous boundaries. We were both on the verge of a breakdown. Then I said ‘Of course I’ll help you!’ But Charlie said the exact same thing with the exact same timbre and phrasing. I mean, it was scary. The massive relief we both felt left me shook up like I’ve never been shook up before. And Charlie was worse. Probably not worse, but he lets his emotions out a lot easier than I do.

“From that moment on, we were closer than brothers. By the end of the weekend we had gotten each other completely up to speed. I felt like Charlie was better able to explain things to me than my math professor ever could and Charlie said the same thing went for him. We vowed from that day forward to never let our pride get in our way again. We never really tried to figure out how we were able to communicate like that until just recently. Does that make any sense to you?”

I had gotten so caught up in Greg’s story that I hadn’t noticed that the girls were misty eyed and so were Ann and Joshua.

Joshua said, “It makes all the sense of the world! At the time, both of you were overwhelmed by WHAT had happened, not HOW it happened.”

Joshua then chuckled, “It still doesn’t answer my question about who might have been the catalyst. I’m starting to believe it might’ve been Charlie, but from the way you explained it, it could’ve been either of you. It does however give me hope that your abilities can be learned.”

Ann smiled. “It also makes me even surer, that while probably not sex, deep emotional love, DOES play a part in all this. Now Joshua and I just have to figure out how to tap into that love. It’s obviously not something that can be ‘manufactured’ as needed.”

“No, probably not, just like I wish there was a way I could reconstruct the visions I’ve been having to get a better look at them.”

“You had another one, Charlie?” Joshua asked.

“Yes, it happened when I shook Greg’s new bosses hand after our visit. It was strange, because it felt like he was trying to tell me something, but for some reason couldn’t bring himself to do it.”

Ann looked at Joshua and said, “I wonder if we could try hypnosis on him, Babe? It seemed to help the clairvoyant guys to elaborate on their visions, even though it wasn’t to the extent we had hoped.”

Joshua thought about it for a second. “It’s certainly worth a try sweetie, Charlie is a whole lot more advanced than they were.”

I looked at Josh, “I don’t know if I CAN be hypnotized, I don’t really believe in it.”

Jamie started laughing like crazy, “The guy who can bend steel and not even USE his bare hands doesn’t BELIEVE in hypnosis? Really???”

“It’s not really a matter of believing in it, as it is a matter of trust. My Ann is a highly trained hypnotist and is very good at it. She can also leave you with a posthypnotic suggestion that will allow you to hypnotize yourself at will.”