Chapter 61

Author’s note.
So much to do and so little time to do it in.
Thanks to all who have stuck with me.
Special thanks to Dr Mark for his editing skills and TheSwiss for all his help
PM

“Mr. Stott?” said the Dean as he saw me entering his office behind Sarah and her parents. “You can see I have a meeting.”

“I’m kind of involved,” I said. “Sarah asked if I would come along.”

The Dean looked at Sarah and her family and then sighed again. “Very well,” he said. “Please, take a seat.”

That last was to all of us as he was indicating the chairs in front of his desk. Fortunately there were enough for us all and I sat beside Carrie. Sarah was seated between her parents.

The Dean looked at Sarah. “You wished to apply to study with us,” he said, “but according to your transcript your GPA was only 2.9. I’m a little concerned that you are setting yourself up to fail, especially considering the major that you had selected. Perhaps you might consider taking something a little less academic. The community college has a number of courses that might be more suitable to your educational temperament.”

Sarah opened her mouth, then closed it again and looked at me. I could see that she wanted to explain, to tell the dean that the reason her GPA was so poor was because of the amulet, and that it had been dampening her intellect and crippling her memory. She knew, however, that she couldn’t reveal that. She looked at me, a pleading look in her eye.

“Sarah is going to be studying with me,” I said. “I’m going to be teaching her the same techniques that I learned. You saw how they affected my performance; I fully expect that they will have a similar effect on hers.”

“I have to ask,” said the Dean. “Why are you even involved here?”

“Sarah is my half-sister,” I said. “We only found each other a few weeks ago. It’s a long story and not really relevant. I recently and suddenly found that I have three siblings that I had no idea even existed. I set out to connect with them. Sarah is the youngest of those.”

The Deans eyebrows rose as a look of comprehension crossed his face.

“And Miss Melanie Stott?” he asked.

“Is another one. My brother, Ephraim, is currently studying at PCC”.

I caught the Dean’s thought “Thank heavens for small mercies!” at that. I smiled at him.

He turned his attention back to Sarah and her parents.

“If I accept what Mr. Stott is saying,” he said, “that he can teach you the same techniques that saw his scores improve markedly, then there is still the not insignificant matter of the fees. You originally applied for a scholarship citing that you were not able to afford the tuition and the associated fees. You were not eligible for any scholarships or grants, primarily because of your grades. I can’t go against the decision of the scholarship committee. How are you intended to pay for your studies?”

All three of the family looked at me again. The Dean sighed once more.

“I’m going to be taking care of that too,” I said.

“You?” he asked looking at me.

I nodded.

He too nodded. “It seems,” he said, “that you are not finished with your good deeds. I won’t ask you your motivation. If you would do what you did for a perfect stranger, then how much more would you do for family?”

He turned back to Sarah.

“I’m going to take a chance on you Miss Cross,” he said to her. “You’re already going to be behind the curve, since we’re already a month into the semester. I’m going to give you a year. If, at the end of the year, your GPA is markedly improved, then I will allow you to continue studying with us. If, however, it has not, then I’m going to have to withdraw you from PSU.”

“What would you consider markedly improved?” asked Brian. “If her place here depends on it, it’s only fair that she has a number to shoot for.”

The dean nodded. “That’s fair,” he said. “If she attains at least 3.5 overall GPA, then I will withdraw her provisional status and her place with us will be secured. Of course, this is all subject to all tuition and fees being paid in full.”

He once again turned his gaze on Sarah.

“The major you have chosen is not an easy one. It’s going to require a good deal of work from you. Both your parents and Mr. Stott are going to be investing a great deal of time and money into your education.

“Many believe that school life is easy. Maybe that is because we are not as regimented as high school. Maybe you feel that you can take advantage of the freedom the university offers in this regard and show up for class, or turn in work, whenever you feel like it.” He did cast a small glance in my direction at that.

“Let me tell you,” he continued, “that the next four years are going to be hard work. But, if you put in the work then you will definitely reap the rewards and earn a good degree followed by a good job. It’s up to you. Are you willing to put in the work? Are you willing to repay the trust that I, and everyone else, am placing on you?”

Sarah nodded vehemently “I will,” she said. “This is all I wanted to do. I’m not going to waste this opportunity.”

The Dean gazed at her for a few moments.

“Then,” he said finally, “welcome to PSU. If you would like to go along to the admissions office, I will let them know you are coming. They will take you through all the formalities.” He looked at me. “Including payment.”

I smiled at him.

We left his office and made our way to the admissions office, where there was a lot of paperwork to fill in. I called Dean to get the details for his accountant so they could organize payment. They also gave Sarah a book list, so I suggested another trip to Briar’s books.

“We’ll cover her books,” said Brian. “It’s the least we can do. I’ll also give Sarah an allowance. If you’re covering her rent and food, then we can’t expect you to give her an allowance too.”

“Okay then,” I said. “When do you want to move in?” I directed this last at Sarah.

“I’m going to be starting on Monday,” she said. “How about Saturday? I’m already a couple of essays behind. I have a few weeks to catch up on everything, as well as keep up with any new work set. It’s going to be hard.”

I smiled at her.

“Don’t worry,” I said to her. “I’ll show you how you can make it a lot easier. You’ll still have to do the work, but with your Telepathy and your full capabilities, now that your amulet has been removed, you’ll catch up quick.”

“My boyfriend, Trevor, is back on Wednesday,” she told me. “Can I bring him over to introduce him? It’s going to be a shock to him that I’m moving in with you guys. The last he heard, I still didn’t have a plan as to what I was going to do next.”

“Is he studying?” I asked.

“His family is paying tutors to school him at home,” she said. “Like I said, they’re pretty rich. They don’t think that PSU is good enough for him, so they’re managing his education. He’s doing something in finance. He is being tutored to take the series 7 and 63 exams. I think he wants to be a stockbroker, like his father.”

I saw Brian pull his face when Trevor’s name was mentioned. There was obviously no love lost there. Cautiously I listened to his surface thoughts.

“Jumped up little prick,” he was thinking. “Looking down on all of us because his parents have money. Like he did anything to earn it.”

I almost laughed, but managed to control myself.

“Sure,” I said. “Bring him over. When are you going to tell him about powers?”

“I don’t think I am for now,” she said. “I think I’m going to wait a bit and see how things go.”

Sarah hadn’t yet perfected her shield and I heard the thoughts from her. Trevor had been putting pressure on her to have sex with him, even before her eighteenth birthday, but she’d always managed to put him off. Although she’d fooled around with him some, she was now wondering if he was the right boy for her.

“Why don’t you bring him over for dinner on Wednesday?” I asked after a quick check with the girls. “He can meet us all and you can break the news that you are moving in with us. We can even show him your new room. You guys are invited, Edgar too, if you think he will be okay?”

“I think it might be best for you to meet him without us there,” said Carrie, her meaning plain. “Let you form your own opinions. Besides he’s not going to be ‘himself’ if we’re there.”

“Does he have transportation,” I asked, “or would you like me to pick you guys up?”

“He has a car,” said Sarah. “A Mustang Shelly I think.”

“Shelby?” I queried and she nodded.

“That sounds right,” she said. “Shelby.”

“Nice,” I said, then glanced at my watch. It was now after lunch and I had another hypnotherapy appointment in a half hour. I’d have to hurry if I wanted to get anything to eat before I had the appointment, and I didn’t want to miss lunch since tonight was my flying lesson so I wouldn’t get to eat until almost ten.

“I’m going to have to go,” I said. “I have an appointment in half an hour and need to get some lunch first. Unless you guys want to come get some lunch with me?”

Brian shook his head. “We’re going to go to get Sarah’s books,” he said. “We need to make sure we can get all the books before next week.”

“Okay then.” I responded and turned to Sarah. “See you Wednesday. About six?”

She nodded, seemed to think for a second and then came and gave me a hug.

“Thank you,” she said. “I don’t think I would have got in without your involvement. I owe you, big time ... for everything.”

“You don’t owe me a thing,” I replied as she released me and stepped back. “Family looks out for one another.”

Brian shook my hand, and even Carrie gave me a quick hug, and then they were on their way. I was speed walking to the cafeteria to grab a quick bite to eat before my hypnotherapy appointment.

The afternoon went quickly, with two hypnotherapy appointments, and then I headed home. I needed to get ready for my flying lesson. Melanie arrived home just after me, her eyes looking troubled.

“You okay?” I asked her.

She grimaced.

“There’s so much,” she said. “I’m already starting to think I might have bitten off more than I can chew. Since I started late, I still have a few weeks to catch up with all the work, and I have two books to read, and three papers to hand in by the end of the month. I’m not sure I can do it.”

I smiled at her.

“Don’t sweat it,” I said. “Remember how you learned everything you needed to know for your GED in 2 weeks?”

“Yes,” she said. “But I just took the learning from you guys. I can’t do that now.”

“True, but you still have options,” I said. “It’s just a different technique. You have Telepathy, so you don’t even need us any more. Let me show you.”

I sat her down in the living room and asked her to pull out one of the textbooks that she needed to read.

“Look at the first page,” I said. “Don’t try to read every line, just scan the page, top to bottom.”

A little doubtfully, she did just that. I had her do that with the first ten pages.

“Now,” I said, “Lower your shields.”

When she did, I entered her mind, and saw an absolutely catastrophic mess in her short-term memory. There was so much in there, from new people, the classes she’d attended, to the pages she’d just read.

I ignored the rest for now and pulled the memories of the pages into a single entity and then pulled that to the front of the queue for committing to long term memory.

It took less than a couple of minutes before the memories were whisked away into storage and then her brain started to process the rest of the morass. I wasn’t going to show Melanie more than what was possible just now, I’d teach her the how, later.

I pulled back out of her mind and smiled at her.

“Ready?” I asked.

“For what?” she returned.

I picked up her textbook and turned to the first page.

“It says here that the body may best be defined not as a number of discrete organs, but as a series of systems.” I told her. “Name at least five of the systems.”

“How can I?” she said. “I haven’t even read that yet.”

“Yes, you have,” I said. “Think about it for a moment and see if you can figure it out.

She huffed for a moment but then her eyes widened.

“There are eleven major systems in the body,” she recited. “These are; the skeletal, muscular, nervous, endocrine, exocrine, cardiovascular, lymphatic, respiratory, digestive, urinary, and the reproductive system.”

“Tell me the organs that make up the exocrine system” I asked her.

“Skin, hair, nails, sweat and other exocrine glands such as the sebaceous glands,” she said.

She looked at me astonished. “What’s a sebaceus gland?” she asked.

“Fucked if I know,” I said grinning. “But you will once you read the rest of the book.”

“I don’t get it,” she said. “How is that even possible? I kind of understood how you gave me your memories of your learning, but where did this knowledge come from?”

“From the book,” I said. “When you looked at the book, your brain stored that image in your short term memory. A bit like a picture but not, because your brain remembered each word on each page. This was added to all the memories from today, waiting for your brain to get around to filing them away into your long term memory.

“Mostly movements from short term to long term memory are done in some kind of order, although I don’t know what determines the order. It’s not chronological, but there is some kind of queueing system, and the information stays in your short term memory until it’s ‘filed’.

“From what I figured out, there is a finite time for the brain to do this. Because you have only so much space in your short-term memory, if it’s not committed to long term memory soon enough, it may get overwritten by other information. Right now, your head is full of your memories of today, and that stuff you read was at the back of the line to be stored.

“I figured out that the brain looks at the memory, reads it if you will, and then when it figures out that it’s reached the end of that particular subject, takes it off to storage, before looking at the next memory. Unfortunately, anything can ‘break up’ these memories. For instance, if you were listening to a teacher explain something, but then you got distracted by a fly, or someone coughing, that would be enough to break up the memory. The brain would read the first part of the memory, get to the part where you got distracted and go and store the memory. Then it would come back and look at the distraction, then go away and store that, then come back and look at the memory of the lecture, until the next distraction.

“This means that memories are stored much slower since they are stored in much smaller fragments. There is also the overhead of looking at, and assimilating, each fragment.

“I found that if I pre-sorted the memories in my own head, using my Telepathy; getting rid of the distractions, gathering all the relevant memories together in a single block, my brain would store that as a single entity. Meaning it was much faster than the fragmented memories that are naturally occurring. A bit like defragging a hard drive on a computer. In this case I brought the information right to the front of the queue for storage and so it was ‘saved’ immediately.

“I also found out that after a few times of manually doing this, my brain ‘learned’ the procedure, and now it does it without my having to intervene. I now have a completely eidetic memory where I had a mediocre memory before, at best. You have Telepathy, so you can do this for yourself.

“I have to go to my flying lesson now but, when I get back, I’ll show you how to do it. And believe me, you’ll have read all your books by the end of the week and have the knowledge to write your papers without any stress.”

I stood and walked to the door. Melanie intercepted me just as I was about to leave the room and head out.

She grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me down for a deep and sensuous kiss. When we broke apart, I was breathless and more than a little aroused.

“Wow,” I said. “What was that for?”

“Just to remind you how much I love you,” she said.

“I’ll never need reminding,” I said, grinning at her, “but I’m very happy for you to show me any time you feel the urge.”

Once more she stood on tiptoe bringing her face to within millimetres of mine. Again her lips moved, lightly brushing against mine as she said, “Go, or you’ll be late.”

She stepped back grinning at me.

I shook my head ruefully and headed out.

When I got to the airport Danny was, once again, running late.

“Dad says he’ll be a few minutes,” said Arnie. “You want to do the external checks with me?”

“Sure,” I said grinning at him. “Same rules apply though.”

We walked out to the plane and began the external checks. We were almost through with them when Danny arrived.

“How’s it going?” he asked me as he walked up. “We all ready to go?”

“Just about,” I said. “Just a couple more things.”

I completed the checklist and looked around to see that Arnie had disappeared, leaving me with his father.

“All done,” I said.

“Okay then,” he said. “Let’s get aboard and start the preflight.”

There was very little extraneous conversation during the lesson. Danny took me through several manoeuvres and emergency procedures, but seemed to be just going through the motions. He seemed pre-occupied.

I wasn’t particularly bothered by this either. I was doing the drills almost unconsciously, my mind wondering from topic to topic. I was wondering how things would turn out with Sarah, I was looking forward to teaching them both the memory tricks. I almost jumped when Danny spoke.

“Arnie has asked if he can take over your lessons when he hits eighteen,” Danny said. “You don’t really need instruction, but it will give him instructor hours to put in his logbook. Looking at your schedule it will be your last instructor session of your PPL. Once you get that, if you want to get your other certifications with us, you’ll need to rent a plane but Arnie will not charge you for his time. It’s a win-win; you get ‘instruction’ for free and he gets to log instructor hours. He won’t be able to do it all, but the things he can do, would you be happy for him to sit in for me?”

“Sure,” I said. “If it helps him out, then that’s fine. That reminds me: what would be a good plane to rent and where can I rent one from?”

We discussed this, as we finished off the lesson and I brought us back to the airport and landed before taxiing back to the flight school.

Between us we got the aircraft secured for the night and I wished him goodnight before heading back home. When I got in, I was pleased to find that Ness had cooked for me, anticipating my arrival, and my dinner was on the table waiting for me.

I washed my hands and then sat down to eat.

After dinner Melanie came and sat by me. I spent an hour showing her exactly how to sort her memories. I suggested that she go through her memories of the day for a couple of hours before bed. I was hopeful that her mind would take over while she slept and finish the task. I figured that a couple more days like today and she, like me, would have an eidetic memory.

I was surprised to find her asleep on the sofa when I got up the next morning. I woke her gently.

“Hey,” I said. “What are you doing out here?”

She yawned.

“I started sorting my memories as you showed me,” she said. “I guess I lost track of time. When I decided I’d done enough everyone else had gone to bed. I guess it was about 2am. I decided to rest my eyes a second and then go to bed. I must have fallen asleep.”

“Go to bed,” I said. “You can get a few hours of sleep before you have to get up for school. You’ll be no good to anyone if you’re falling asleep in class.”

“Did you finish all your memories last night?” I asked.

She shook her head.

“I got about three quarters through though,” she grinned at me.

“Take a look at what’s left,” I said and saw her eyes glaze over.

Her face split into a grin. “It’s all done,” she exclaimed happily. “You were right – my brain must have carried on while I was sleeping.”

“Do that for a few nights,” I said, “and I’m prepared to bet that you won’t have to consciously do it again. Your brain will simply pick up the task. Now, go get a some more sleep.”

She nodded to me and took herself off to bed. I went out for a run.

When I got back everyone was in the kitchen, bar Melanie. She was apparently in the shower.

I used the family bathroom to get showered and then joined the girls in the kitchen where Ness had already made breakfast.

I had a full day of hypnotherapy clients at the range today and so I set out to see to them while the rest of the house’s occupants set out to their various days.

All of my clients were repeats so I got on with some of my schoolwork while they sat ‘entranced.’ They were all making excellent progress toward their goals and were very happy to pay me the fee. Mary was, once again, talking about increasing the fees. This was for no other reason than that I had so many people on my waiting list so she thought I could become more exclusive.

I demurred and said that I would likely be getting both Melanie and Sarah involved so we could probably increase our throughput. It would be a great way for them to train their Compulsion and Telepathy and also give Sarah a good way to earn some money and take the pressure off Brian. I was more than happy to pay for anything Sarah needed but I guessed that she, and her father, would prefer that she seemed to be earning her keep. They could have had John pay for her schooling but they had not, which showed that they were not content to live off others.

That night I once again worked with Melanie, sorting through her memories, not discarding the distractions, but moving them to the back of the line, while consolidating all the relevant and useful information into solid blocks. She was getting better at it and, after about an hour, I left her to it. The other girls and I went to the dojo for our regular Tuesday night class which, as usual, I taught.

Melanie begged off although she said that once she’d got her brain processing her memories properly, she’d join the dojo and attend the Tuesday night classes.

We got back from Kevin’s to find Melanie grinning like a lunatic. I’d barely entered the living room when a cushion lifted off the sofa and propelled itself with some considerable force towards my face.

I caught it with my own TK and placed it back where it belonged. Melanie had discovered her fourth power.

“I was in the kitchen,” she said, “getting a drink. I ran the water because it was warm but, as I turned around, the wet glass slipped from my hand. Suddenly it was just there hovering about a foot above the floor. I realized I was holding it and was so surprised I dropped it.”

“We had to go hide in our room,” said Gracie entering the living room. “This place was a deathtrap of flying cushions while she practiced.” She mock glowered at Melanie, but Melanie just grinned at her unabashed. Everyone knew that there was no real feeling in it and Gracie, and everyone else, was as pleased as Melanie was that she had discovered a new power.

Melanie looked at me. “When can I start to learn healing?” she asked.

“Don’t you think you’ve got enough on your plate just now?” I asked.

She pouted.

“Give it a couple of months,” I said, “then let’s speak to Jeevan. I think it would be better for him to teach you than me.”

I’d been thinking about the rest of her and Sarah’s training and wanted to speak to Maggie about it. I wasn’t sure that I was the best person to train them either. I was concerned about Maggie’s manipulation though.

I also wondered about E and what to do with him.

I’d invite Maggie and Dianna for dinner over the weekend and have a conversation with them about it all. Brian had been right. It shouldn’t fall to me to train them. I had more than enough on my plate.

Wednesday’s ethics class was as entertaining as usual. For once it wasn’t all about my life, and we had a lively discussion on the ethics of self-ownership.

“There is a movement,” said the professor, “that is insisting that everyone who is physically able sign up to be organ donors. In some countries, such as the UK, you actually have to opt out of being a donor, rather than opting in, but there are a lot of objections to this, not least from religious bodies who, for various reasons, prohibit organ donation. Some even prohibit the receipt of donated blood.

“So,” he asked, “to what degree do we own our own bodies? Should we be obliged to donate our organs after our death, or even our blood while we are still alive?”

I was actually quite interested to see which side of the argument that the Kumbaya crowd would come down on. On one hand I would expect that they would argue that social responsibility would state that everyone should donate if they were able. On the other their defence of the individuals’ rights in the past made me think that they might come down on the side of the individual’s rights to own their own bodies.

It was no surprise that they were the first to speak. I grinned widely to myself when they established their position. I had several points I was simply dying to make.

“People have the right to determine what happens to their own bodies,” one said, “even after death. It’s their body therefore they should have the final say as to what happens to it.”

“What if them refusing,” I asked, “causes the death of another. Let’s say, for instance, that I have a twin, who is in complete renal failure. We are a rare blood type so the chances of getting an outside donor are so small as to be impossible. If he doesn’t get the transplant, he will die. I have two perfectly good kidneys and could easily spare one. Shouldn’t I give one to him to save his life?”

“It should be your choice,” said the boy who had spoken before. “It’s your body and, therefore, your choice.”

“Even if refusing him the kidney means that I’m effectively killing him?” I asked.

He nodded vehemently. “It’s your body!” he said. “It’s your choice.”

I smiled.

“I take it you’re pro choice, regarding abortion, then?” I asked, knowing from previous heated debates that he, in fact, was vehemently pro-life. I saw a small smile on the professor’s face as I walked him into that trap, and the boy flushed and start to stammer.

Dana linked my arm as we walked out of the class. She was grinning.

“That was cruel,” she said, “but funny.”

“I sometimes get sick of them,” I said to her. “Half the time they are just spouting propaganda. They have no real understanding of the issues but are just following what is the current politically correct fashion.

“They ought to develop opinions of their own, rather than just spouting the current ‘influencers’ ‘four legs good, two legs bad,’ diatribe. They are fucking sheep without brain or rational thought.”

“Now then,” said Dana with a grin, “come down off the fence and tell me what you really think...”

I grinned back at her.

“I think,” I said in answer, “that I am hungry.”

“It isn’t lunchtime yet,” she said. “I have a class.”

I sighed. “I need to go eat since I have back-to-back hypnotherapy sessions until four thirty.”

She pulled a face. “I have to go,” she said. “I missed this class last week. I can’t miss it two weeks in a row.”

“You go,” I said as she pulled me into a hug, kissing my cheek.

“See you later,” she said and walked off briskly toward her next class.

I smiled to myself as I headed to the cafeteria. I had a half hour to get something to eat before my first session.

I was mid-way through my last session of the day when my phone beeped to say I had a text message. It was from Sarah.

¬_Are we still okay to come over for dinner? She asked.

¬_Looking forward to it. Are you or your boyfriend allergic to anything or is there anything you don’t like to eat? I responded.

¬_No allergies she sent immediately, but I could see that she was typing, and it took a good long time before her next send came through.

¬_Trevor is a little picky about what he’ll eat. He doesn’t like foreign food or anything spicy. If we ever go out to eat, we usually go to a burger joint or a steak house. His idea of exotic is to have wavy fries.

I considered that for a few moments. My immediate, knee jerk, reaction was to cook something spicy or exotic, or even do the moussaka, but that would just make me look like an asshole, especially after Sarah’s text. I decided to go by the discount warehouse and spent nearly five hundred dollars on Black Angus Ribeye steaks. He’d better appreciate these.

I also got the other ingredients I’d need and some pre-made desserts.

I wasn’t going to do fries. I didn’t have an industrial frier and cooking fries for that many people, would take too long. I decided baked potato and salad, along with some sour cream would be a perfect accompaniment to the steaks.