Chapter 4: More Practice

Back at the Grotto, Carol is continuing to watch these events.

“Carol, oh Carol, you have watched these events 10 times already.” That was Filene pulling me away from watching yet another time. “Training tomorrow. We will be practicing ‘Seeing Ahead’. You should try to visit your school and notice anything that has changed since you attended.”

Muttering, “Even I know better than to talk with cops”, I promised Filene I would be ready.

I started practicing. I found my school soon enough and soon found a new kindergarten play area. It was new to me but I could see it had been in use for a few years. That’s good – the images are not dancing ... Whoa. Now they are dancing. I got flashes of the lunch area, the dumpsters, and inside a 6^th grade classroom where I’m sure I saw the teacher.

I remembered Filene telling us to take breaks when trying ‘Seeing Ahead’. I focused on the bloody mess after Bill Mack fired his pistol. Each time I watched him kill himself I was happy that he would never abuse anyone else.

I was planning to take my time finding the school but even though I was hardly trying I found the school quickly. This time I went to the kindergarten play area and tried to stay there. I explored the area without any disorienting flashes. I kept telling myself ‘easy steps – take easy steps.’ I walked (that was the wrong word, I was not physically present) to the paved play area.

While ‘walking’ I saw a student walking toward me. I passed 10 feet in front of him and as I hoped, he did not see me. I was almost to the end of the paved area when the dismissal bell sounded. I ended my ‘Seeing Ahead’ and thought about what I saw. I will certainly have something to share with Filene and Margo.

When our ‘Seeing Ahead’ class resumed I was anxious to share but Filene asked Margo how she faired looking for something that had changed.

“My school has a new fence. I tried hurrying along the fence but as I moved it felt like I was going blind.

“Carol, how was your attempt?”

“I found the kindergarten play area and saw how it had changed from when I was there. In my first attempt, I looked around quickly and soon got the flashes. On my second try, I decided to stay there to see I could avoid any disorienting flashes of different places. I moved around in that play area for perhaps five minutes. It was starting to get boring so I slowly walked out onto the asphalt area.

I saw a student walking toward me. I hope I didn’t do anything wrong but I walked closely in front of him then got out of the way. He never saw me because, I guess, I wasn’t really there. Then the bell rang and students came pouring out so I stopped ‘Seeing Ahead.’ Did I do the right thing?”