Chapter 4

Béla had decided not to wait until her infant unshielded. She introduced herself, mind to mind, and named her Elizabeth, her name from before. Her nickname, Jake decided, should be Liz or Lisa, so as not to be confused with Beth, whom Tanya believed, along with Béla’s sisters, the spirit that animated her child had once been.

Béla decided on Lisa, so that’s what they started calling her. The test was, of course, whether or not Lisa responded to her new name. She did, and it didn’t appear to upset her.

Lisa wasn’t a crybaby. If she did cry, it was because she was angry about something. But, at least, she didn’t burn anyone after that first time.

“I think she was ashamed of her behavior,” Jake suggested. “That’s why she teleported to our bed.”

“Yes, probably,” agreed Béla, “but who taught her proper behavior so she could be ashamed when she did something wrong?”

Jake shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea.

Lisa was five months old and growing rapidly. In fact, she was already as large as a two-year-old human. For the last four weeks she’d been crawling everywhere. Now, she was starting to walk.

Frank Junior stopped by to see how his second family was doing, and jokingly suggested that Lisa’s development was a little slow.

“What do you mean, slow?” Béla asked, defensively. “She’s five months old and she’s walking!” She stood, patiently waiting for Frank’s reply.

“Yes, but, you’ll have to admit, she has the appearance of a two-year-old,” he told her. “I’m just saying that her mind is developing more slowly than she’s growing, physically.”

Béla was silent. She was thinking, ‘If Lisa would just unshield her mind, her progress would be much faster, I’m sure!’

But Lisa’s mind was her own. She could understand what was said to her, but she didn’t talk, and she didn’t mind-link, although she demonstrated that she could hear what was ‘thought’ at her. So far, her maximum teleport range was forty miles. Jake discovered this by inventing a game where she would ‘throw’ a portable transmitter as far as she could, then they would go look at the ‘big screen on the wall’ to see how far away it was.

The second part of the game was retrieving the object. That was harder, and Lisa was often frustrated, not able to locate the object once she’d released it back into the physical universe. But, she’d succeeded twice, now. The first time she’d just retrieved the keypad, having forgotten to make an image in her head of the whole object.

The second time was picture-perfect. Lisa dropped the thing right in front of Jake. Later, when Jake picked it up to use it, it seemed awfully light, and it didn’t work. But that was because its internal circuitry was still lying out on the rocks, somewhere.

“Tanya’s coming,” Béla said, holding Lisa in her arms. “It would be nice if you would say something to her.”

“Alright,” Lisa said.

Béla nearly dropped her and screamed. “Jake! She talked!”

Lisa, terrified by her mother’s sudden outburst, teleported to safety in her room upstairs.

“Lisa, I’m sorry, baby,” Béla said, trying to woo her back. “I didn’t mean to yell...” She sighed and sat down on the couch. ‘I’m not going to chase after her. Not again!’

After a moment, Béla heard a sound at the top of the stairs. She looked up. Lisa was standing there, quite grown up looking (for a two-year-old), watching her.

‘Please, baby, come down, ‘ Béla thought at her. She very carefully did not emit a single wave of emotion as she watched her child obey her first mind-to-mind command.

Jake came into the room just about the time Lisa reached the bottom of the stairs.

“Want some pancakes?” he asked Béla.

“Okay,” Lisa said.

She was talking, now. By the end of the day, both Béla and Jake wished Lisa would shut up so they get some sleep.

Tanya arrived with Frank the next afternoon, missing their son’s visit to the cabin by only a few days. Béla had worked on him, helping him to get over the loss of his kid sister and the incredible guilt he felt about leaving her behind when he’d been asked to come across the country and play doctor to Béla and her unborn child.

The afternoon went pleasantly enough. Lisa, although talking, kept watching Tanya closely. After dinner, Tanya stepped out onto the porch for a moment to enjoy the sunset and the northern lights. After about twenty minutes, she realized she wasn’t alone on the porch. She turned and saw Lisa, sitting a few feet away, just watching her.

“Well, hello, darling,” Tanya said, smiling at her. “Have you been out here long?” ‘I wonder what she wants. I think she’s wanted to talk to me all day.’

“I’m sorry,” Lisa said quietly.

“Why are you sorry, darling?” Tanya asked.

Lisa looked sad – a very grown-up look for a two-year-old.

“I hurt you,” Lisa said, frowning as she tried to express herself with words.

“What do you mean, you hurt me?” Tanya asked, squatting down on her heels. Lisa was an adorable child, Tanya realized. ‘If Béla had ever been little, she would’ve looked like Lisa.’

“I sent your lady away,” Lisa admitted. Then she blinked several times, trying to concentrate. It seemed important to her to say things to Tanya.

Tanya was very quiet for a moment, trying to put together what Lisa was telling her. Lisa didn’t know that many words, so it was important to keep the conversation on a simple level.