Chapter 79: Game On!

Mid-August, 1985

[My son is going to kick your ass tonight by showing everyone HIS abilities are much better than YOURS.”

“OH YEAH?” Sherman roared, “We’ll just SEE about that!”]

“Yes WE will, Sherm. It just occurred to me, that I’m getting the short end of our bet. Let’s sweeten the pot, shall we? I’ll match whatever money you’ve got left that Butch gave you! I’m guessing that’s close to a million dollars or more. Are you willing to put that up?”

He was speechless, “How did ... No way, what makes you think Butch gave me any money?”

“That black bag he stole from me had about two million in it. You gave Johnny about half, so, that leaves you with about one mil, give or take what you’ve spent,” I sneered at him, knowingly.

Just before he blew another gasket, he calmed down. “Okay, DEAL. I’ve got $750K, but now I KNOW you can deliver on your end of the bet. Plan on PAYING UP.”

He started stomping off. He went about 5 steps before he turned, “Oh, for my students I’m picking my nieces, Bonnie and Bridget!”

Brock, who’d been listening, cleared his throat, “That wasn’t the deal Sherm and you know it, besides, they didn’t enter this year, since they won last year. They didn’t think it would be fair.”

By now, all of my ‘Family and close friends’ had gathered around. Sherman pointed at Ed and Gracie, “Then I want them!”

Joshua let out his ‘donkey laugh’, “I don’t think that you do Sherman, they’re a couple of Charlie’s best friends! Besides, Charlie’s already taught them. They had no intentions of winning the contest, they just wanted to have some fun.”

“Aaargh! Joshua, you knew that and never told me?”

Still laughing Joshua said, “Of course! Ed is the one who introduced me to Charlie in the first place. And, just for your information, Charlie gave the gift to Ann and myself too.”

I felt him flashing Sherman a confirming thought.

Sherman’s eyes were as big as baseballs. “I want that TJ guy and his girlfriend then.”

Now Brock was laughing, “Um, Sherman, I don’t think you do. I might have forgotten to mention that TJ is my boss!”

Sherman was nearly hyperventilating, “Oh God damn, you’re telling me you brought a damn ‘FED’ in here? Are you FUCKING CRAZY?”

Chuckling, TJ and Janet pulled out their badges. Then both of them flashed Sherman.

I thought the poor bastard was going to vapor lock.

Sherman was staring at me with unmitigated hate. “Just how stupid ARE you? I suppose the next thing you’re gonna tell me is that you work for them too!”

“Yes Sherman, I do. What good is having a gift like ours and not using it to help others?”

He was totally bamboozled. With all the people gathered around now, as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t just say his plan was to take over and become the Crime King of all ‘Crime Kings’!

Sherman was still scowling when he shouted out, “Is there anyone here that Charlie HASN’T given his gift to already?”

Dozens and dozens of hands went up. Most notably was Johnny’s.

I looked at Johnny, “Wouldn’t you like to feel what it’s like to communicate telepathically, Johnny?”

Johnny was staring at the floor before looking up at me sheepishly, “As much as I would love to, I have the lowest score ever recorded on my own ESP aptitude test. I’m afraid that would be nearly impossible.”

I thought about it for a minute before looking at Sherman defiantly, “For our little competition, Sherman, how about I take Johnny and you can draw anyone else out of the jar? Would that seem fair to you?”

Sherman was now laughing evilly, “Boy, I’m going to make you regret your flippant cockiness! When it comes to ESP, my friend Johnny is past being retarded. Since you suggested it, I’m gonna make you eat your words. Bring that jar over here and I’ll draw right now.”

Joshua came over with the jar and Sherman quickly dug in and pulled out a card.

I was a bit distressed when he read off, “Steve and Brenda from Dallas. Ohhh, it says you had the highest score on the pre-test!”

I knew that the only reason they even qualified was because of Mary and Greg’s help. Now I had to hope that Sherman didn’t get frustrated with them and do anything to hurt them. I needed to come up with an idea to try and protect them.

I looked at Sherman and said, “I’m going to need to find a partner for Johnny.”

He was sneering at me when I spotted Doctor Honyestewa. I raised my eyebrows and nodded at him.

He smiled broadly, then stated loudly, “I volunteer to be Johnny’s partner!”

Sherman was now laughing so hard he could barely speak, “Oh HELL yes! An Indian and a retard! This just keeps getting better and better!”

He was still laughing as he added, “Steve and Brenda, meet me in front of the stage as soon as Johnny and Joshua finish giving their little speeches. That’s when the REAL fun will begin!”

I looked directly into Sherman’s eyes, “Oh, before you claim victory prematurely, we’re BOTH going to need to have an unbiased witness watching to insure no chicanery is employed!”

Sherman harrumphed, “I don’t like revealing my secrets to ANYONE. Who do you suggest?”

“Joshua will keep an eye on you, since both Johnny and Andre will OBVIOUSLY have their eyes on me?”

He cackled, “Fine, whatever. He won’t interfere with what I’m planning on doing anyway.”

I DIDN’T like the way he said that.

I kept quiet, because I had a sneaky feeling Josh wouldn’t be the only one keeping an eye on him.

After Sherman departed there was a definite buzz going around the room. Most people felt that all this was just a build up for the contest. Kinda like prize fighters used to do before a big fight.

I was feeling very uneasy about what was to come later.

Right at 7 o’clock Joshua and Johnny conducted their opening speeches. They had decided, at my request, to have both Sarah and I speak. Everyone was delighted when ‘Jonah’ flew Sarah around the tent. Nearly everyone at the Jamboree was present and when Joshua announced the opening round of the ESP contest they were told how it was going to work.

Joshua explained that because of the additional help Steve and Brenda were getting they would not qualify as the sole first place winners. Whoever scored the highest besides them would also get a first place trophy. Johnny and Andre stated they weren’t in it for the prize.

Since both Joshua and Johnny were going to be tied up as either participants or referees, Ann enlisted Jamie, Sarah, Dad and Bob to help judge the first round. That would all be done while Sherman and I were ‘coaching’ our students in another area of the tent. The two areas were located on opposite ends so as not to interfere with each other. Sherman wasn’t terribly happy that he wasn’t going to be allowed to use the mobile laboratory.

I did manage to pull Steve and Brenda aside for just a second. I quietly told them not to allow Sherman to give them an injection of any kind. I told them that if he tried they needed to start screaming immediately.

I may have frightened them, but I felt it was for their own good.

Mary and Greg assured me they wouldn’t let that happen. They planned to have ringside seats to see exactly what it was that Sherman planned on doing.

I took Johnny and Andre Honyestewa to our little area and began.

I decided to first talk to Johnny to see if I could figure out why he didn’t believe he had any psychic abilities. He started out saying, “One of the reasons I’ve always been interested in ESP was because I could never figure out how someone could do that kind of thing. I believed in it totally, especially after I was with a lady friend and she suddenly knew her kids were in trouble.

“You see, her kids were out in the yard and stumbled upon a nest of rattlesnakes. She grabbed her shotgun and a stick just before running out to the yard, leaving me flabbergasted. Luckily she got out there in time before any of her kids had gotten bitten and started blasting away at the nest. The kids hadn’t even begun screaming, yet she knew they were in trouble. I pondered about that for days and days trying to figure out how she knew the way she did. I kept trying to see if I could get a premonition like that and after trying and trying I realized that I couldn’t.”

I had to grin before I told him, “I’m afraid, my friend, that you’re a lot like me. I have a feeling your only problem is that you over-analyze everything instead of just letting it happen. When Joshua first asked us to try and levitate a pencil I struggled and struggled. My brother Bob only needed a second before his went flying across the room! After talking to him he looked me right in the eye and said, ‘Quit trying to think it through, Charlie, just do it!’ I just cleared my head and the next thing you know my pencil floated right up into my hand! Think about this for a second. How can you logically explain something that is totally illogical?”

Johnny’s eyes shot open and a smile crept across his face. “Okay Charlie, so how are we going to do this?”

I held out my hands, palms up. “Johnny, if you trust me, I want you to take my hands and look deep into my eyes. I’m going to connect with you and gently guide you down the path to telepathic communication. Would you like to go for a mental walk with me?”

Still smiling, Johnny reached out and took my hands. “I’m ready whenever you are, Charlie.”

I felt the longing in his soul as the doubts in his head began to vanish. I began flashing to him that everyone has the ability and that all they needed to do was to relax and believe it. When he flashed me back I discovered that, not only did he have psychic ability, that it was actually quite strong. We conversed back and forth for nearly 2 minutes before he gasped, “I don’t believe it! If I hadn’t noticed that your lips weren’t moving, I’d have NEVER believed we just had that conversation. It’s like you were talking to me just as clear as day.”

I chuckled, “Just keep listening in to me while I see if Andre is ready to join our little circle.”

Andre was smiling widely after hearing that last bit of our conversation.

He eagerly took my hands and with only the slightest of pushes, he and I connected very deeply. I wasn’t sure if Johnny was still with me, but I decided to give Andre something I felt he would appreciate beyond all else.

I decided to take him on a journey.

I wanted to show him the Spirits that Linda and I had met. Being careful not to include the pendant and where I found it, I replayed the entire journey for him. When the Spirits began talking, Andre was squeezing my hand so hard that it hurt.

He was completely captivated and when the vision ended, it was apparent he had been weeping.

He flashed to me, “Charlie, if what you just showed me wasn’t some kind of a game, then you’ve just fulfilled one of my life’s greatest quests!”

“Andre, I would never do that to you. I know exactly what it meant to you. I assure you that everything you just saw happened exactly the way you saw it. I wish I could take you to that place but I think you heard the Spirits say I could not do that.”

Andre gasped, “Charlie, do you realize that the man in the center, the one with the flowing white hair, was the exact same vision I’ve had of my great-grandfather’s great-grandfather? It was like he was speaking to me. He told me, just now, that I had to keep your secret. He also told me of several places on our reservation that I needed to explore. He promised me that if I undertook that journey more things would be revealed to me. I don’t know how I can ever repay you for this gift. That you and your sister have been blessed with the power of healing was made completely clear to me. I will never speak of this to anyone, just as both you and the Spirit asked. I hope we can get together again sometime in the future to discuss whatever else I may discover on my new journey.”

I was smiling at him when I felt Johnny flashing, “I’m not sure exactly what just happened between the two of you. I’m so new at this it just seemed like a dream. Were we just talking to some Ancient Indian spirits?”

Andre smiled, “I suspect, my friend, that both of us may have been given some answers tonight. Answers that we’ve searched our whole lives for! Whether or not Charlie is a catalyst may remain to be seen. That he was chosen to receive a very special gift, however, is no longer a question. At least with me.”

I must not have angered the Spirits. When Andre and Johnny began talking about what they saw on the journey that I’d taken them on, it was apparent to me that they had both received slightly different messages. Much like what Linda and I experienced. Several times they questioned each other about precisely what they’d heard.

It was also obvious that Andre and Johnny could converse telepathically with the best of us. When I flashed whether or not they wanted to work on anything else, they both smiled.

Johnny flashed, “Maybe someday you can teach me how to fly, but I think we need to get back to the competition. I’m very thirsty and I really need something to drink!”

Andre agreed wholeheartedly and I apologized for not having some Gatorade with me.

Johnny just chuckled, “Now I know why Joshua always has Gatorade around! Doing this makes you develop quite a thirst.”

Just as we were getting back to the main area, Mary flashed, “Charlie, you’d better get down here fast, Sherman just pulled two syringes out of his little black bag.”

She’d sent that out as a ‘Mayday’, so that everyone who COULD hear her, did. Even Andre and Johnny heard her as we all began running to the other end of the tent.

Just as we arrived at Sherman’s cubicle, Brenda let out a loud scream, “Charlie said you’re not to inject us with anything! Get away from us with that, we don’t want to be in this competition anymore!”

The second we all busted in to Sherman’s cubicle, Johnny saw the syringes and yelled, “Sherman, God damn you! This contest is over and you lost!”

Sherman flew into a full, out of control rage, swearing at us and saying that we had no business interfering with his lesson. He looked at me with hate filled eyes, “I see I’m just going to have to TAKE what I want!”

With that, he stuck one syringe into each of his thighs, then pushed the plungers.

In a matter of seconds his eyes were on fire with a look that would’ve turned Satan to stone.

Before I could react, I felt his snakelike presence invading my mind like a giant anaconda, squeezing its prey. Greg flashed that he couldn’t use his bubble since Sherman had my hand in a death grip.

I knew he was in my brain trying to either kill me or somehow steal the abilities that he believed made me a catalyst. Due to the injections, his strength was now overwhelming. The next thing I knew, it felt like I was weightless.

Sherman was trying to put me into a Tesseract.

Through all the pain, I knew I had to stop him from doing that at all cost. My family would then be defenseless against him and there was no way I could let that happen.

I knew that my entire family was attacking him, at least physically. He was screaming from the physical pain caused by the girls kicking him and slapping his face.

That distracted him just enough for me to break down the Tesseract and escape.

Then I realized why I’d been able to escape. He had been systematically putting my family, each into one of their own! First Johnny then Andre, then Sarah and Jamie.

I heard TJ threaten to shoot him when suddenly both he and Janet disappeared into their Tesseracts. I then felt him refocussing on me. I knew I needed to go on the attack and fast.

I retreated back into my brain and ‘transforming’ my hands and arms like samurai swords I began cutting the head off the snake. The problem was, that every time I cut one head off, two more grew back in its place! They seemed to attack my brain with even more of a vengeance. I felt Greg hugging me from behind and suddenly my samurai swords transformed into a giant wood chipper.

Even with Greg’s help, I soon began feeling extremely weak.

I was expending a tremendous amount of energy and I was still totally defensive. I knew I needed to somehow get inside Sherman’s head and try to neutralize the core of his ability.

I felt Mary pleading with me to not give up.

Sherman flashed malevolently, “I want you to know what it feels like to lose your son, you little bastard. I’m crushing his little brain right now!”

Mary began crying and screaming that something was happening to the baby.

I was instantly so engulfed in a combination of fear and rage for my unborn son, that it felt like I was moving at the speed of light. Bob flashed that he was now with Greg, hoping to amplify our powers. I ‘rode the snake’ inside Sherman’s head! My eyes became like the lasers that burned a hole through Butch and Benjamin and began destroying everything in its path.

Suddenly and without warning, everything went black.

I don’t know how long I was out but when I regained consciousness I suddenly felt all alone.

My whole family were instantly freed from their bonds and had gathered around Mary and me.

They were all crying.

I realized that I could no longer ‘hear’ any of them in my head; it felt as if all of us had become deaf and dumb. That’s when I noticed a trickle of blood running down Mary’s upper thigh.