Chapter 19: Natalie

As we followed the trail of wonderful aromas to the dining room, my mouth began watering so much, I felt like I was slobbering like an old bulldog. When we finally arrived, everyone else was already seated at the big table.

Seeing us enter, Grace waved as she patted the chair beside her, so I headed that way, stopping to kiss Catherine on the cheek. Of course, that started something and I had to kiss all my cousins, as I made my way towards the seat Grace was holding for me. When I reached her, I kissed her on the cheek as well.

“Hi ya, Sis!” I told her as I started to be seated. It was then, that I noticed the person in the seat on the other side of mine.

“Holy Shit!” I thought. “Another goddess!”

Sure enough, the perfect match to one of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen, sat demurely watching me, a faint smile on her lips. I was so captivated by how perfectly she matched her sister that I stumbled, missing my seat completely.

Of course, that set everyone to laughing. Grace was laughing so hard, she couldn’t speak. I quickly scrambled back into my seat. Then turned to the matching bookend, introducing myself.

“It’s good to finally meet you, Michael,” she told me. “My name is Natalie. I’m Grace’s sister.”

“I think I figured that one out for myself,” I told her.

“Michael, this is my sister...” Grace started to say, once she stopped laughing at me.

“We’ve met,” Natalie told her.

The laughter and happiness around the dinner table continued. Of course, Grace had elected herself to feed me tonight, and she did it while talking across me to her sister. I didn’t care though, because I was hungry.

“When are you going to tell us where you disappeared to today, Michael?” Catherine asked me, about halfway through the meal.

“I met an old man, and spent some time talking to him,” I replied.

“Really? Where did you meet him?” Sarah asked.

“I decided to go for a walk. He had a small campfire out in the field, I’m not sure where I was, but he was interesting, so we talked a long time,” I told them. “He seemed to know all about my empathic abilities, and told me some things to help me use them better.”

“What do you mean? How could he have known?” Catherine asked concern in her voice.

“Where was he camping?” Anna asked. I could sense she was concerned about poaching on her father’s land.

“He wasn’t hunting, because he didn’t have any weapons,” I said for Anna’s sake. “As for how he knew, I have no idea. He was just there, then, after a while, he was gone. It didn’t seem that strange at the time, in light of what he told me. But now that you mention it, it was a little weird.”

I had everyone’s attention now, with my little mystery.

“What did he say to you?” Jenny asked.

“He showed me how, by relaxing, I could extend the range of my empathic abilities,” I replied. Then I changed from ‘speaking’ to ‘thinking’ to them.

“He told me that if I would relax, and feel the natural things around me, I could connect with people without having to touch them,” I thought to everyone at the table. “I’m still working on it though.”

“Cool!” Julie thought.

“WOW!” Mandy and Candy thought at the same time.

“Michael?” Sarah and her sister also thought at the same time.

“This is too weird! What is going on here?” thought Natalie in alarm.

“It’s all right, Nat,” Grace thought.

“Grace?” Natalie said. “What’s happening? I can hear you in my head!”

There were other thoughts flying around the table, as everyone got involved in the phenomena of thinking to each other without speaking. I sat back in my chair, listening to all the excited chatter, aware of the paradox of communication without sound.

“Michael, I think that is enough for the moment,” Catherine said aloud. So I cut the connection I had established in my mind. Everyone looked at each other for a moment, then they all began speaking at once.

“Catherine?” John said, “Can you explain what just happened? Is this how Michael knew that Sarah was pregnant? Or about the mole on my neck?”

“I think we should let Michael explain,” Catherine told him.

“If you can hear me, Michael. I think you should give them an explanation, but maybe not just everything yet. About your grandfather, I mean,” Catherine thought to me.

I looked at Catherine and nodded.

Then I looked at Anna and Nicky and smiled.

“Last Monday, when I woke up from the coma, I had this strange sense of what people around me were feeling. Anna says that it is called empathic communication. She says that Empaths can feel what others are feeling. And because lots of thoughts are tied to our feelings, it seems that I can pick up on those thoughts as well,” I explained.

“I also told Michael that the ability, while not unknown, is very rare. There are not very many case studies published, and what case studies there are, are not conclusive. And in the vast majority of those case studies, the Empaths are females. However, I have never heard of an Empath, male or female, that can do what Michael can do. And it appears that he may have just scratched the surface of his own capabilities,” Anna added.

“So that’s how you knew Randi had been in Keith Williamson’s bedroom!” Jenny exclaimed.

“JENNY!” Randi squealed in alarm.

“What were you doing in the Williamson boy’s bedroom, young lady?” asked John also alarmed.

There was minor bedlam as the parents all jumped into the fray.

I decided to experiment, and quickly tried to search Randi’s memories from across the table. I found them.

“John? Sarah? Would you like to see what she did?” I asked. “I mean before you go and say something you might regret later?”

“Huh?” John huffed.

“What do you mean, Michael?” Sarah asked.

“Oh, no-o-o,” cried Randi as she buried her face in her hands.

“Why don’t you ask Randi what she was doing first?” I suggested.

The group’s attention immediately became focused on Randi, who haltingly tried to explain how she and Keith had been studying for their chemistry final and he had gone to his room for a book on molecular bonding. She had followed, curious to see what a boy’s bedroom looked like. They had stayed all of five minutes, as Keith found the book, and then showed her his collection of model planes that he and his dad had built. He showed her a few other things and then, just before returning to the dining room, Keith had told her how pretty he thought she was, and kissed her, awkwardly, on the lips.

When she reached that point, I connected everyone again, and without preamble, replayed Randi’s memory of the event. I cut it off after the awkward kiss. There was no sense in embarrassing Randy with the equally awkward and clumsy grope of her breast, or her hurried exit from the home, forgetting her homework on his dining table.

John leaned over to Sarah and began whispering in her ear.

“I wouldn’t do that, Uncle John,” I told him immediately, referring to his whispered comment. I had used the familial title to soften my words. “It’s impolite, in light of the fact that you just saw your daughter’s most intimate secrets. If what we said last night is true, then there is nothing you can say about this that Randi or the rest of them cannot hear.”

“You’re right. I apologize, Randi,” he told his daughter. “I was just telling your mom that I shouldn’t have reacted as I did. I should have trusted you. I hope you can forgive me?”

Everyone watched as Randi rose and went to her daddy, hugging him. She settled into his lap and the three of them, began speaking in low tones.

“That is so cool how you can do that!” Mandy exclaimed.

“So that’s how you always seem to know what I’m feeling,” Grace said at the same time.

“Do you know what everyone is thinking?” Jenny asked.

“It’s not so much what you are thinking, but what you are feeling, and the thoughts that are tied to those emotions,” I explained. “If you were to think about your homework, without really feeling anything towards it, it would be very hard for me to sense.”

“But how can we hear your thoughts?” Nicky asked. “I mean, I keep hearing you complain about those ‘damn casts’ in my head.

Catherine stared at Nicky.

“I didn’t say it! I was just telling you what I heard. Michael is the one that’s cursing!” Nicky explained, defensively to her grandmother. But I could tell that Catherine was thinking hard about the fact that Nicky could hear my thoughts.

“Is this why the Russians are trying to kill you?” Natalie asked. The room became deathly quiet at her question.

“I’m sorry,” Natalie quickly said. “Did I say something I shouldn’t have?”

“No, dear,” Catherine told her. “It’s just that we have all been avoiding thinking about that topic. The Russians, I mean. And to answer your question, no, the Russians have no idea about Michael’s power. In fact, no one outside the people that are in this room, know about Michael’s powers. And I guess I should caution all of you not to mention it to anyone.”

Nicky got up and came to where we were seated. Grace scooted over and Nicky sat on the other half of her chair as she began talking across me to Natalie. Soon, the three of them were involved in a serious discussion about me. Since I obviously wasn’t needed, I moved around to Nicky’s vacant seat next to Jenny.

“I still don’t understand why I can hear your thoughts, sometimes,” Jenny said to me when I was seated.

“I don’t either,” I told her. “Anna said that I am still developing and that they may get even more powerful, but at this point, I don’t understand them much more than you do.”

“What were you and Anna doing in the barn all afternoon?” Julie asked, suddenly changing the conversation.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to ask Anna that question,” I replied quickly. “But I will tell you I was trying to help her. It’s up to her if she wants to discuss things of a personal nature with you.”

“Were you having sex?” Julie persisted.

“Julie!” Debbie said sternly. She was seated on the other side of Julie and had heard her question.

“That’s okay,” I told Debbie. “After all, you all did promise to answer their questions regarding sexual things.”

“But, it’s none of her business,” Debbie replied. Once more, the table had become quiet, as they listened to our discussion.

“I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we discuss this with everyone else after dinner,” I suggested.

“It looks like it’s going to be a hard night. I’m going to excuse myself for a while,” John said, scooting Randi off his lap and standing up from the table. He offered Sarah a hand.

“Can you come help me?” he asked with a sly grin.

“Certainly, I’d love to,” Sarah said, blushing. Jeff and Debbie got up to leave then too.

“Wait!” I cried above the noise. Jeff and Debbie stopped, and everyone quieted down.