Chapter 10: More Fun

"Sandy dear, isn't that incest?"

"Not really. Do you remember that little chat we had when I was twelve?"

"Oh yeah. I had almost forgotten about that. Does Greg know?"

"Yes I told him the whole story when he brought up the subject of incest."

Sandy and mom spent the next hour embroiled in girl talk of no consequence and border-line unintelligible conversation. Jean even got on the extension and joined in adding her 'two-cents-worth'.

So it was official. Sandy was determined to make me an uncle.

That's a big responsibility. Sure I'm a daddy to two of the most adorable kids ever; but an uncle has a mandatory responsibility to spoil a niece. But, what if she has a boy? Could I spoil a boy? Sure, why not? But what if he doesn't like teddy bears? Oh that's silly. Everybody likes Teddy bears. Oh I was so confused.

I decided to take a walk to clear my mind. While walking down the street, I saw one of the kids in our neighborhood out in the street playing with his little red wagon. I recalled that his name was Ronnie. He seemed to be having a real good time imagining that he was an Indianapolis race car driver. He kind of reminded me of my childhood imagining whatever fantasy struck my fancy at the time. Engulfed in his own little fantasy world, he was oblivious to the world around him.

So intense was his concentration on his little world that he did not notice the delivery truck barreling down the street in his direction. The driver of the truck was concentrating on his GPS unit and not paying attention to what was in front of him. When he had glanced up moments earlier, the road in front of him was clear and the little neighbor boy had not entered the street yet.

As I watched the events unfold it became plain to me that the boy was about to be thrust into an early demise. I couldn't stand by and let it happen. I had to do something quick so in the matter of less that one second I evaluated the situation coming to the obvious conclusion that the little boy was doomed. It only took me less than another second to shout the command "Time stop." The truck froze in position a mere fifty feet from the oblivious boy. I rushed over and picked up the boy and his wagon and put them safely in the driveway from which he had just emerged. I then returned to from whence I had come and issued the command "Time start."

The truck continued down the street and the little boy continued his adventure as a race car driver. Neither of them had the slightest clue of how close they had come to sharing in a disaster. When the enormity of what I had prevented hit me, I was literally shaking like a leaf. I glanced over and saw that Ronnie's mom had come running out and was clutching him to her chest and crying.

When I got back home I related the story to Jean and Sandy. Sandy told me that the boy was Ronnie MacDonald who she had baby sat for some times. It was a short time later when there was a knock at our door. I opened the door and there stood Mrs. MacDonald with Ronnie. When she saw me she set Ronnie down and grabbed me in a big hug thanking me over and over for what I had done.

I asked her, "What did I do?" I was thinking that my stopping time would have prevented her from seeing me move.

"You saved Ronnie's life."

"Do you mean that you saw me?"

"Yes I did and I will be thankful the rest of my life."

"Tell me what you saw."

"I saw Ronnie ride out into the street and I was about to call to him when I couldn't move or speak. I did hear you say time stop and then I saw the big truck stop dead still. I then saw you run over and carry Ronnie and his wagon into the driveway. Then you went back across the street and the truck started up again going down the street. I could move again so I went over to Ronnie and scolded him for riding in the street. It took me a few minutes to realize what had happened and I had to come over to thank you for saving my son's life."

So now I had a dilemma. Evidently the time stop didn't totally affect Mrs. MacDonald like it did others. My concern for the boy mixed with Mrs. MacDonald's love for her son and diluted the strength of my time stop. I didn't want to get into a situation of having to explain my power to her. I wondered if maybe I could summon another power to deal with the situation. But, what power would that be? Then it dawned on me. I could make Mrs. Macdonald forget that I was involved if I could just get into her mind and make some minor adjustments. I asked her to come with me outside to the walk out front. I then had her close her eyes and I closed my eyes and concentrated on entering her mind. I was surprised that it worked and I was seeing her recollections of what had happened playing out like some kind of video tape recording. It was a simple task of erasing any sight of me and effectively removing that section of time which should not have been there since I had stopped time. I then exited her mind and greeted her as she walked by with Ronnie. She responded with, "Good afternoon Greg. It's a nice day isn't it?"