Chapter 76: Beth

There were two weeks to the end of the term. Then we had a week’s vacation before the next, and then after the Christmas break, my final, semester would began. Amanda, Mary, and my dates were a little less rigid since we were in our final year, but Ness, Melanie, and Sarah’s dates were fixed. They were all in their first year of study.

The plan was for us to go up to the Ranch, although Sarah was going to her parents. They’d kind of guilted her into it and, although she wanted to see them, she didn’t want to be apart from us, or more to the point be apart from Arnie for that long. Arnie had told her that he wouldn’t be able to get the time off, to go on whatever trip her parents had planned, nor could he really afford it since he’d spent pretty much all of his savings on the engagement ring.

It had been decided, also, that Sarah and Arnie would go and meet Sarah’s parents at the weekend. We’d offered to go with them for moral support, but Sarah and Arnie had talked it over and decided it might be better for them to go alone. I agreed, but let Sarah know that we’d be available if they changed their mind.

“How about,” said Mary, “we go see Nana Babi. We’ve not seen her for some time.”

“Great idea,” said Louise. “She was asking about you guys the last time Josh and I went up there.”

And so, it was decided. On Saturday, Sarah and Arnie would head up to see her parents, and we would go and visit with Nana Babi. Still, we had a week to get through before then, and I was just starting mine.

I got to the range in plenty of time to meet with my first client, the head chef from Coquine. He sat entranced as I worked on extracting all of his knowledge. He’d worked in a number of very famous kitchens, including Le Gavroche in London under Michelle Roux Jr. I determined to take as much from this man as I could possibly get.

My second client was a truck driver who used the range when he was in town. He wanted to lose weight. Driving long distances in a truck meant long hours simply sitting still and most trucks these days being very physically easy to drive. Also, the options in truck stops and diners sometimes made making healthy choices difficult.

I took the opportunity to learn how to drive a semi from him. It was far more difficult than most drivers made it look but I was confident that, with a little practice, I would be able to drive one should the need arise.

After lunch I headed to the old house to check on progress. The site was locked up and nothing was happening there. I presumed it would take a little while for Aaron to get things moving, although every delay was an annoyance. I should have gotten him to move faster, under the assumption that I could get the permits quicker, but that would have made things even more suspicious.

I drove back to the house and spent the rest of the afternoon catching up on some schoolwork, for the want of something to do.

I was heading out to the flying school just as the rest of the household was coming home.

Reversing my truck out of the garage, I noted a car parked down the block. There were two men sitting in it. One in the front and one in the back. I wondered what they were up to. Gently I extended my awareness over them, only to be surprised. I couldn’t sense the man in the back, only his driver who had no idea why he was currently sitting in a car with his boss watching a house. He didn’t even know which house he was watching.

Something was definitely suspicious with these two, and I decided to circle around the block so I could take a more detailed look at them. As I turned the corner I got caught up in a small snarl of traffic, students all returning home at the same time, and by the time I’d circled the block the car was gone.

I called Dianna.

“Hey Caleb,” she said, answering her phone.

I told her about the car, and the people in it.

“You couldn’t sense one of the occupants?” she said.

“No,” I said. “It was like he wasn’t there.”

“I’ve seen that once, maybe twice, before,” she said. “Some people are simply born without the part of the brain that is sensitive to powers. Others become immune following some kind of head trauma. It’s not common, but not unheard of.”

“That aside,” I said, “I’m not happy having someone watching our house,”

“Are you sure they were watching you?” she said.

“Not completely,” I said. “But who else? We just got burned out, and the only other people on the street are students and a young family.”

“Did you get a license plate?” she asked.

I replayed the memory in my head and told her the plate number. I described the people in the car to the best of my ability, but I hadn’t really got a good look at them. They’d taken pains to be looking in the opposite direction when I got close enough to see them.

“I’ll run the plate,” she said, “and get back to you.”

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ve no desire to spend another two months in a hotel.”

I was almost late for my flying lesson, having taken the detour and getting stuck in more traffic. Danny was at the school for a change, which surprised me.

“Am I flying patterns again?” I asked. He nodded.

“Is something the matter?” I asked him. He didn’t seem his normal cheery self.

He sighed.

“Things are moving a bit quicker with Arnie and Sarah than I thought,” he said. “That’s why Arnie’s not here. We kind of got into it.”

“Got into it?” I asked.

“He’s going to meet Sarah’s parents this weekend,” he said. “He asked me to cover his lessons Saturday.”

“I knew that was a possibility,” I said. “What’s the problem?”

“I...” he began. Then he looked at me, looking a little lost. I pressed gently with my Empathy, prompting him to want to speak.

“He’s all I have,” he said finally. “All I have left of her.”

“Her?”

“Beth. Arnie’s mother,” he replied.

I sat down on the chair opposite him, waiting.

“Arnie was very young when Beth died,” he said. “It was so stupid. She had an earache. A damned earache, but we were starting a new business, and we were so busy. I was flying every hour and she was managing the office and looking after Arnie. When I wasn’t teaching, I was flying charter for a friend of mine. She just kept popping painkillers and working through. Then one day, I came home and found her laying on the kitchen floor, unconscious. Arnie was asleep in bed.

“When we got to the hospital, they told me the news. She had a brain tumour. An acoustic neuroma. If we’d have gone to the doctors when the earache started, she’d probably have survived. But because we’d left it and left it, fluid had built up on her brain. Even then she might have survived, had I found her earlier but I’d been on a long flight, and she’d been on the floor some time. She’d been sick and some of that had gone into her lungs.

“They put her on a life support machine but, with the pressure in her head and the fact that her brain had been starved for oxygen for so long, she never woke up.

“After that it was just Arnie and me. For years I built the school, and he helped. He’d empty the trash, clean the office, file papers, and make appointments. It was hard at first but we built the school up together. It’s as much his business as mine. I’ve been dreading him going off to commercial flight school because I knew I’d be on my own again. I thought I had more time.

“And then he met Sarah,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong, I like Sarah, she’d a lovely girl, and she seems to have her head screwed on too, but he’s all wrapped up in her. She’s his first real girlfriend and, all of a sudden, he’s engaged. Next, he’ll be wanting to move out and I’ll have lost him completely.”

I felt his fear, his feelings of loss, not just for the son he was scared he was losing, but for his wife, the love of his life, and the mother of his child. He still missed her with every fibre of his being. I felt his loneliness. I looked a little deeper and found that in all that time, he’d never had another relationship. Yes, he’d been out on a few dates, even got laid on one or two occasions, but he’d been unable to move on, still only having room in his heart for the wife he’d lost. He had been unable to give anything more than passing affection to the women who had entered, and subsequently left, his life.

He’d told himself that he wanted Arnie to remember his real mother. The boy had few memories of the woman who’d birthed him, other than the pictures and stories that he’d been told by his father. In many ways that he’d not considered, he’d robbed his son of the chance of having a mother. Some of the women he’d dated would have happily taken on that role in Arnie’s life, and loved him as only a mother could, but Danny was incapable of seeing anyone other than Beth in that role.

Now Arnie was grown, and had found someone for himself, Danny was looking forward to a future on his own. The thought scared him. Terrified him even.

“Have you told Arnie about this?” I asked, pressing gently to relax his normal reticence. He shook his head.

“How can I?” he said. “I’m supposed to be the parent, the strong one, I’m supposed to look out for him, give him what he needs to make a life for himself. How can I let him know that I can’t even do that for me?”

“You need to talk to Arnie,” I said, pulling together everything I’d ever read about counselling. I’d done some reading, when I first started my Hypnotherapy business, just in case I encountered something I felt I needed to understand more. It was not extensive though. I’d read all about the five-stage model developed by Kübler-Ross, which had been extended to a seven stage or even ten stage model. All models agreed, though, that this not a progression that naturally occurs over time, but simply examples of possible feelings attributed to grieving, and that people could, and sometimes did, get stuck with one or other of them, sometimes for the rest of their lives, unless someone helped them to work through the issues keeping them from moving on.

It was clear to me that Danny needed help. He’d been burying his own feelings, his own needs, using the flight school and raising his son to distract him while not actually coming to terms with the loss of his wife, even after all this time.

The flight school was no longer enough of a distraction, especially now he’d brought his son to adulthood and Arnie was showing signs of independence. Suddenly he was facing a gaping hole in his life, where his wife used to be, and he could no longer hide from it.

Danny shook himself. “You’re right,” he said. “I shouldn’t be bothering you with all this. I honestly don’t know what came over me. I’ll talk to Arnie when he comes home. You have patterns to fly, and you’ve already lost nearly a half hour of flight time.”

I stood up realizing that, unless I used powers on him again, he was not going to discuss this any further. He’d closed up and was looking up at me expectantly.

“I’d best get to it,” I said. He grinned at me. It was forced.

“I’ll see you in a little while,” he said as I headed to the door. I’d just opened it when he called me back.

“Caleb,” he called.

“Yes?” I replied.

“Don’t say anything to Arnie about this. Okay?” he asked.

“You need to talk to him,” I said, specifically not making him that promise. I fully intended to talk to Arnie, and probably Dianna as well. He needed help and I doubted very much that he was going to seek it out without some kind of prompting.

It was after ten by the time I got back to the house after my lesson. Mary and Amanda were in the room watching television. Jules, I presumed, was in her workshop, and Ness was in the kitchen. Melanie was working on her laptop. Sarah and Arnie were in Sarah’s room.

“Arnie’s staying over,” Mary told me. “Apparently he had a row with his dad.”

“I know,” I said. “Danny and I had a chat.”

“Oh?” she responded. I sent her the memory of my conversation with Danny.

“Oh!” she said again. “What are you going to do?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “If Sarah weren’t involved and likely to get drawn into the mess, I’d be seriously thinking about backing away and leaving them to sort themselves out. It’s clear to me that Danny, at least, needs some professional help, but I’m not the one to give it. I’m not qualified.”

“We could talk to Grandmother,” she replied, “Maybe she’ll have some thoughts.”

I nodded thoughtfully. “I’m not sure that Arnie staying over is going to help the situation,” I said. “But it’s not really my place to get involved.”

“But I noticed,” she responded, “that you didn’t promise not to tell Arnie.”

I sighed. “I guess not. I need to speak to Arnie. Sarah too I think.”

“You want me to go ask them to join us?” she asked.

I shook my head. “I’ll do it.”

“Sorry to interrupt,” I sent to Sarah. “Do you and Arnie have a minute please?”

I felt a moment of surprise, and a twinge of annoyance, at being interrupted. I hoped I’d not timed things badly.

When Sarah came out of her bedroom a couple of minutes later, she was still fully dressed, so I mustn’t have interrupted too much. Arnie followed her out.

“Is there a problem?” she asked, a little defensively.

“Kind of,” I said.

“I thought you said...,” she began but I held my hand up to stop her.

“Let me show you something before you say anything.” I said to her.

Sarah nodded, and I turned to Arnie.

“You remember I told you that one of my powers was Empathy?” I asked. He nodded.

“And that one of the things I can do is share memories?” I went on. He nodded again.

“Something happened tonight that I’d like to show you, it will mean my giving you one of my memories. Once you have it, it will be like you were present when it happened. You’ll remember it from my point of view. I’ll have to briefly touch your mind to give it to you, but I promise I won’t be looking at or taking anything from your mind, simply giving you a memory. Would that be alright?”

He looked at Sarah, and she nodded at him. “It’s fine,” she said. “I promise.”

He looked back at me. “Okay,” he said.

They both sat on the sofa and I gave them both the memory of my interaction with Danny. I included the thoughts that had been running through my head while we’d been talking.

“Oh,” Arnie said, tears springing to his eyes once he’d assimilated the memory.

“Oh no!” Sarah echoed, tears actually running down her cheeks.

“I didn’t know,” he said. “I just thought...”

“How could you know?” I said. “You weren’t old enough to really know what went on back then and ever since your dad’s been putting on a brave face for you. The problem seems to be that he never actually got over your mom’s death and has literally been using both you and the flight school to distract himself all this time. The flight school isn’t going to go away, but his primary focus, you, seems to be leading up to moving on. He’s scared, but more importantly he now has to face a reality he’s been hiding from since her death.”

“Oh my god,” said Arnie. “I can’t ... I didn’t ... What can I do?”

“He needs help,” I told him. “Professional help. He should have gotten this years ago, but he needs it now.”

Sarah took his hands in hers.

“Go home,” she said to him. “He needs you. We’ll help you both get through this. Won’t we, Caleb?”

“What should I say to him?” he asked.

“My advice,” I said. “Just go home and apologise for the row you had. I’d not mention that you know about this, not yet at least. Try for normalcy. If he’ll talk then let him, but I doubt he will, over and above superficial conversation about your argument. I’m going to talk to Dianna tomorrow. She’ll have a much better idea of what to do. I’m not trained for this, but she is.”

“You think she’ll help?” he asked.

“I think she’ll be able to advise as to the best course of action,” I said. “Whether that’s her getting involved directly or referring on to a grief counsellor or other professional.”

Arnie stood. “Thanks Caleb,” he said. “I was mad at him, but I can’t be now, not after seeing that.”

“Call me later?” asked Sarah standing up to hug him.

“I will,” he said holding her for a few moments.

“If things escalate and you argue again,” I told him, “come back. You can always stay here. I’m hoping it won’t, but you can never tell in situations like this.”

“Thanks,” he said, releasing Sarah, and holding his hand out to me. I shook his hand. He headed out.

Sarah looked at me. “What are we going to do?” she asked.

“I know what we’re not going to do,” I said.

“What?” she asked.

“Get stressed about the situation,” I said. “I don’t know if you saw what we saw from your sharing your first time, but his feelings for you are as strong as yours for him. Nothing and no-one is coming between you two.”

“What if his dad tells him...”

“First off, Danny wouldn’t do that,” I told her. “He knows how Arnie feels about you. He loves his son and wouldn’t destroy his happiness like that. Secondly, Arnie wouldn’t listen if he did. My concern here is Danny, and by extension Arnie. The last thing I want is Danny falling apart because of your relationship. Not because I think he would break you up, but because Arnie loves his dad and would be upset and feel guilty about it, and then you’d feel guilty too. That guilt would eat you both up.

“But I don’t want you to worry about it just yet. Let me talk to Dianna and get her opinion about what we can do. Don’t forget, we not only have access to a very highly qualified and experienced counsellor in Dianna, but she, and we, have powers we can use to help too. We’ll sort this out, don’t worry.”

Sarah, who was currently being held by Mary, nodded at me, tearfully. “Okay,” she said.

I sent Dianna a text before going to bed.

I sent her a thumbs up emoji.

Despite our advice, Sarah couldn’t help but worry. She didn’t come to bed at the same time as me as she’d gotten into the habit of doing. I knew she was waiting for Arnie to call her. He hadn’t called by the time I fell asleep.

Melanie got up with me the next morning to train.

“Let Sarah sleep,” she told me. “I came to bed just after midnight, and Arnie still hadn’t called.”

I nodded to her, and we slipped out of the bedroom, and went out for our run.

As we ran I monitored the minds in the area, looking for people in vehicles that shouldn’t be there. There were none that I could detect, nor did we see any. I was less trusting of my scanning since I’d not been able to sense the second guy in the car the previous day. I reminded myself to ask Dianna if there was any result from running the car’s plates.

“How’re you doing?” I asked Sarah when she came in for breakfast.

“I’m okay,” she said, but she didn’t really look it. Had I not seen her sleeping when I’d woken up, I’d have been certain she hadn’t slept at all.

“Did Arnie call?” I asked.

“He sent a text just after three,” she said. “He said that he and his dad had been talking, but just about the future, not about his mom.”

“You want to take the day off today?” I asked.

“I can’t” she said, “I can’t afford to miss class.”

I nodded to her. “Alright,” I said. “I’ll talk to Dianna this morning. I’ll meet you in the cafeteria for lunch at twelve thirty?”

She nodded. “Thanks,” she said, giving me a hug.

When she arrived, I led Dianna into the kitchen and made coffee.

As I was making the coffee, I asked her about the car.

“That must have been weird,” she said, “not being able to see someone with your powers.”

“Kind of,” I said. “What’s even weirder though is that I’ve become so reliant on my powers, that when they didn’t seem to work it kind of threw me. It was almost like I’d bumped into someone invisible. I knew he was there, but couldn’t ‘see’ him.”

“The plate you gave me wasn’t for the car they were driving,” she said. “They were from an RV and had been stolen that morning from a parking lot.”

“So definitely suspicious then,” I said.

“I’d say so,” she said. “Are you sure they were targeting you?”

I shook my head. “They were a bit down the block, but looking in our direction. I can’t imagine anyone else they’d be targeting though.”

“Next time you see them,” she said, “call me, and we’ll get them swept up and find out what the hell is going on. Being in a car with stolen plates would be enough probable cause for an arrest.”

I nodded. “I will.”

I handed her the coffee I’d just finished making.

“So,” she said. “Sarah’s boyfriend’s dad?”

It was much easier to simply give her the memory. I did so, and sipped my coffee while she assimilated it.

“Oh dear,” she said shaking her head slightly.

“Once again,” she continued, “your instinct with regard to these things was spot on. He definitely needs help, and soon. He’s buried his grief about his wife’s death for so long and now that his son is no longer giving him a distraction to focus on, it’s coming back to bite him.”

“What can I do?” I asked.

“You,” she said. “Nothing. This is something that needs a trained professional to deal with. My concern is that this could hit him hard enough to make him suicidal. I’m of two minds whether to ground him. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility he could deliberately crash his plane, and if he has a pupil when he does...”

“Oh shit,” I said. “That won’t help him at all, and it might cause even more problems for everyone.”

She thought for a moment. “Do you think Arnie will talk to me? I’d like to get his input and see if we can figure out a way to help his dad.”

“Damn,” I said. “I thought you’d just recommend someone for him to talk to. I didn’t mean to drop this on your lap.”

“Yes, you did,” she grinned, “and it’s fine. I will be recommending someone. I don’t have time to take this on long term. However, we need to get something in place and soon. I have enough time to do that.”

“Call Arnie,” she said. “See if he has time to talk to me.”

I picked up my phone.

“Hey Caleb,” he said. He sounded tired.

“Hi Arnie,” I replied, “How’s things.”

“Weird,” he said. “Dad and I talked for ages last night, but now I think about it, we didn’t actually say anything. He didn’t mention Mom at all, or anything like that. We just talked about my future and about Sarah, and why he was worried she and I were moving too fast.”

“Are you busy?” I asked.

“Not just now,” he said. “I have a lesson at one this afternoon.”

“Where’s Danny?”

“He’s on an extended lesson in the Baron. He’ll be back at twelve.” He replied.

“Are you tied to the school, or can you spare an hour?”

“No,” he said. “I’m not tied there. In fact, I was just in the store picking up some lunch for us both for when he gets back.”

“Dianna would like to talk to you,” I told him. “Can you come to the house?”

“Sure,” he said. “Give me fifteen and I’ll be there.”

I left Dianna and Arnie alone to talk in the living room, and was sat at the dining table making notes on for my Senior Thesis. What was happening right now, ironically, gave me even more insight into this issue. Yet another problem had crossed my path, and I had to decide how to deal with it, or whether I should even get involved.

Granted it was a problem that I’d likely have come across with or without powers but, even so, I felt some responsibility and a need to try and help. Was that my Powers talking, or was that just a personality flaw in myself? Did I have some kind of Hero complex? A need to be seen to be fixing the world’s ills?

“Caleb,” Dianna’s voice brought me out of my reverie. I looked up.

“Arnie’s going,” she said. I stood and walked to where Arnie was standing by the front door.

“You okay?” I asked.

He nodded. “I think so,” he said. “Dianna says she has some ideas of how to help Dad. I’ve got to go or I won’t be there when he lands.”

He surprised me by pulling me into a hug.

“Thanks Caleb,” he said.

I patted his back. “We are family now,” I said, “and we’ll get this sorted out. Don’t worry.”

He stepped back and nodded. “I’d best go,” he said. He nodded to Dianna and left. A moment later I heard his car start.

“Are you going to be able to help?” I asked Dianna who was still standing by the kitchen door.

“You need to be careful with him,” she said. “Sarah’s not the only one he has feelings for.”

“I know,” I said. “I’m not sure whether that’s good or bad.”

“Right now it’s good,” she said, “but you need to manage it carefully or it could turn bad.”

I nodded. “One problem at a time. Danny?”

“We need to get him to seek help,” she said. “And that is going to be the issue. He desperately needs grief counselling, but he’s in denial.”

“How do we do that?” I asked.

“We don’t,” she said. “You do.”

“Me?” I asked. “How? How do I even start that conversation.”

“You don’t” she said.

Now I was completely confused.

“Come,” she said. “Sit.” She indicated a chair. “I’ll explain.”

“So,” I told Sarah, showing her the card that Dianna had left with me, “That’s the plan. This woman is apparently the best in her field. She has powers, so she will almost certainly be able to help him.”

“It sounds kind of underhanded,” she said. “Are you sure it won’t make things worse?”

“There’s no guarantees with this kind of thing,” I said. “But Dianna says she’d used this technique before with positive results. Apparently, FBI agents aren’t the easiest of people to get to admit they need help either. Dianna can’t do it herself, but she’s had others do it for her, and it worked well.”

“And Arnie is onboard?” she asked.

“Arnie is worried about his dad,” I told her. “He’s also a pilot, not a counsellor. He and Dianna talked for over an hour. He’s onboard.”

“So, when are you going to do it?” she asked.

“Tonight,” I said. “Arnie’s going to text me.”

Danny tossed and turned in his bed. He’d had trouble sleeping for the last few nights with thoughts and memories of his beloved Beth flitting through his mind.

It was true that she’d never been far from his thoughts. Ever since that doctor had come to speak to him in the ICU waiting room after they’d done the tests. The tests that showed that she was gone. She had left him alone and with a baby to look after as well.

For a brief moment he hated her. The anger at being abandoned. She had deserted him when he needed her the most. What did he know about looking after a child? He was a pilot, a newly minted instructor. They were supposed to be building the flight school together. How was he supposed to build up the school, do the instructing, complete all the office work, and look after a kid to boot?

Next, guilt had crashed over him. How could he be so selfish? He’d just been told that the woman he was supposed to love had died and all he could think about was himself. He hadn’t even spared a thought for her ... the fact her life had been cut short. She’d never do the things they’d planned to do together and never had the chance to give little Arnie the little sister that they’d planned. She never got to grow old and travel as they’d often spoken about as they’d sat chatting in the evening, much preferring to talk and just spend time together than watch the inane drivel that was on television.

He’d sworn then that he’d dedicate himself to bringing her dreams to pass. He’d build the flight school until it was the best and most popular one in the state. He’d bring up Arnie to be the best and brightest young man he could possibly be. He’d never forget her and never ever stop loving her.

He woke with a muffled sob, realising in that moment that he’d fallen asleep. Someone was sitting on the edge of his bed.

“Arnie?” he asked, his eyes still not focused. The figure moved in the semi-darkness.

“Danny,” she said leaning forward. He saw her face. It was Beth. But how? How could she be here now? She’d died all those years ago. She looked exactly the same as he last remembered her. She’d preferred to wear Jeans and a loose flowery top, and she was dressed so now. She looked so young. Was he ever that young?

“I’m dreaming,” he realised, reaching up to pinch himself but then stopping. If dreaming allowed him to see his beautiful wife again, then perhaps it would be better if he didn’t wake up at all ... ever.”

“Beth,” he whispered, scared that by saying her name, he’d break the spell and she’d vanish.

“How are you here?” he asked.

“We needed to talk,” she said, “so I came.”

“Talk?” he asked.

“You’ve done so well,” she said with a smile. “It took a little longer than we planned, but you’ve done almost everything we set out to do. I’m sorry I left you to do it all on your own, but I’m so proud of you. Arnie has grown into a fine young man, thanks to you and, between you, you’ve built up the school just like you promised.”