Chapter 4

I got into an argument with John, just before the end of the second year. The guy just would not take 'no' for an answer! While I admired his determination, it meant he had little or no thoughts for my feelings on the subject. I told him exactly how I felt, and told him if he continued to harass me with "missions", then our friendship was done.

That was the way the year ended. Levy told me to not worry about John, that he would come around. I just nodded. He wished me a good summer, and reminded me to practice.

This is not to say I had not helped the authorities on a couple cases. I had. I just did not want John dictating to me. I had a life, and wanted things for myself. Not only was I taking computer classes, but I was studying Wall Street and high finance, too.

I also found and bought an older model car. It was in bad shape when I got it. It was a 1966 Volkswagen Fastback. It needed a lot of work, which took time away from other projects, but I felt it was worth it. By the time I was done overhauling it, I had a good running car that took me wherever I wanted to go.

I packed my stuff, and made the trip home, taking it easy. It took me most of the day, but my car ran like a champ the whole way. Mom took one look at my car and laughed.

"Tom Wilshire! What on earth are you doing with that old rattletrap? Surely you could have gotten something better? Your dad left you enough for a new car if you wanted," she said laughingly.

"Well, I wanted something that was cheap to run. Do you know what kind of gas mileage I get with this car? Besides, I wanted the money to invest in the stock market. Buying this car leaves me a lot of capital," I told her loftily.

Mom just laughed. That was how my summer break started. I settled back into the routine of farm life. Not that we farmed, but there was the cow to milk every morning and every evening, the eggs to gather from the chickens, and the garden to tend.

I also found time to practice, practice, practice. I started getting flashes at first. Soon that changed, though. I could SEE what I had been doing! Time was like the skin of an onion. You peeled one layer back, only to reveal another!

That was the way I saw time. If I concentrated, I was able to look past the immediate past, and into a deeper layer of what had happened. When I focused on a specific layer or time, it fixed there. Don't ask me how I did it, but that's what happened. I was very excited!

The most recent events were bright and shining, with the next layer a little less shining, and so on. As I looked at the energy of the past, I found that the further back I went, the darker the time layer. The end of where I could see was 1800! I could tell something was there, further back, but I just couldn't penetrate that far... yet!

Now that I had that part of the problem solved, I set about trying to gather the energy into useful form. This was easier to think of, than to do. I knew if I could see and use my gift in a new way, then gathering the energy should be possible.

In the meantime, I practiced with my newfound ability. I am afraid that a lot of people thought I was probably a little crazy. I would latch onto a particular time line, and start following the events and people in it.

Thus it was that I could be seen walking around town with a sort of vacant expression on my face. I can't tell you how often I was stopped from walking into the street, or just narrowly avoided an accident of some kind.

All in all, I got a reputation that summer as being a little addlepated. Of course, Mom heard about it, and asked me what was wrong. I thought long and hard about telling her what I could do, but I still decided it was wise not to let her in on my talent. I just told her I was a bit distracted.

As the summer wore on, my ability to look into the past got even better. I could go as far back as 1789 by the end of July. My ability to go farther and farther back seemed to be getting easier. I wondered if that was because of the training Levy had me doing.

August saw me approaching as far back as 1772. Ok, I admit it. I looked in on some of the more famous battles of the American Revolution! I couldn't help it. I took a few days here, a few there, and went to known battle sites, and watched what happened. I also "found" a few items of interest from that era.

It was not as easy as it sounds. Most of the battle areas had been picked over thoroughly. Still, I spent several days actual time watching certain people, and managed to watch a soldier go off by himself to die.

The poor guy was so confused that he stumbled down an embankment, crawled into a small opening that you could call a cave, only if you were charitable. There he died, alone. He was a British officer. He was well equipped, since he was an officer. After the battle, the winners sent out parties to search for wounded and dead, but missed this one.

I then started to go faster and faster forward in time from that point. I watched closely. I found I could sort of fast forward, like watching a videotape! I watched as the dead soldier was partially eaten by animals.

I watched the seasons come and go. I watched until I caught up to my own time. I looked around. It was getting late and I was in a small gully. The opening the soldier had crawled into was gone. It had been sealed by a slide years ago, and I had to get a shovel and dig.

That was how I found myself on public land, carrying out a veritable treasure of historical items, as well as other items I was able to convert into considerable wealth. The officer had had a nice leather pouch, which held quite a few gold and silver pieces. I also had his weapons which were not in bad shape, considering. He also had been carrying a leather bag of some sort, with maps and a diary! Most everything had been protected from the elements by being in the hole, which had been sealed shut by a mudslide.

I did not spend all my summer touring battle sites, though. I invested in a couple more stocks, and put even more money into one I already owned. I was getting a very good return on my investments.

It was one week before I returned to college, that it happened. I had gone to the church I went to as a child and settled in for a sermon. I looked around with my gift's eye, and was stunned at the power that seemed to be here.

Power? How did I know there was a lot of power here? All that straining, and going to church opened the way. I gave it some thought as I sat there. Perhaps I needed a sort of specific power source? After all, people, came to church for one purpose, and they were all there for the same reason.

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