Chapter 17

Tammy and the girls were on my mind when I woke up in the middle of the night. I HAD to find a way to communicate with my family, about the people I needed to help, without sounding completely insane. They'd been through it with me the last time, but in another reality, altogether.

"Sometimes I just know stuff..." I said to Jim, Colleen, Rebecca, and Beth Ann. They could see my anxiety about having this particular conversation, and I was determined to have it out, since Jim brought it up. We were in the kitchen, and Colleen was asking about a large payment I made to a Doctor Abrams in New York City. "I've hesitated to tell you these things because it sounds insane. You need to love me enough to hear me out before you declare me mentally unfit and send the guys with the butterfly nets to take me away.

Jim was trying to extricate himself from the topic, "Carl, I have no interest in how you spend your money. It's yours, and you pay us to keep track, pay your bills, and make sure your identity is not compromised. THAT is why I wanted to ask when such a large payment was transferred.

As long as you intended to spend the money that way, Nannette will make certain that it is not held up. PLEASE don't think we are questioning your habits, because that is simply not true."

"Please hear me out," I said carefully. "For as long as I can remember - I've just known things that I shouldn't know. This is one of those things. I KNOW that little girl is sick, and going to die if I don't get her to Doctor Abrams. That's all I know, but it's enough to get me moving to take care of it.

"There's another little girl in the Kansas City area that needs a new liver, but her mother's insurance won't fund it because she has a less than fifty percent probability of survival. I don't care if it's one percent. I want to give her the chance to live, and since I'm rich, I can.

"Yesterday, I arranged for Tabitha to see a specialist who will transplant a new liver into her little body and give her a chance to be a child, instead of patient.

"You guys need to understand that this is going to continue to happen to me. I will just know something for no reason, and when I act on it you'll think I'm crazy, but when you see it play out, you'll know it's not ... completely crazy ... I mean. It's the way the universe apparently gets certain things done, because it's not coming from me.

"Coming up is another crazy coincidence. I'm going to hire a law firm to follow a young mother, with three daughters, who will be running from an abusive husband and father who has started to sexually abuse the girls. I can't tell you why I know that, you just need to understand that I do. I want to create a trust that will take care of them, including food, shelter, medical care, and cars when they start to drive, until they graduate from college, buy their first homes, and are completely independent.

"I just know these things. I can't tell you why. Sorry. It's just what it is."

I looked at the three of them, hoping they wouldn't decide to run for the hills.

Jim broke the silence and the tension when he said, "Carl, I think it's wonderful that you have chosen to take on these reclamation projects. I admire you greatly, for being a man with such passion for people in need and for having the determination to help them. I want to be part of what you're doing. Think about us creating another trust that we both contribute to, and using it to make other people's lives better. There's no hurry. We'll discuss it after you're had time to digest what I'm asking."

We sat silently while they absorbed what I'd told them. It took a while, but Jim looked at me and said, "That's how you knew the things you told the DHS Secretary about the mob, isn't it? There was no secret discussion where those things were disclosed. You have some connection that allows you to know things that need to be fixed, cured, resolved, or stopped, don't you? I don't pretend to understand, and I bet you don't either, so our best approach is to accept that God endowed you with this understanding of things beyond the rest of us, and He intends for you to be His hands. The only thing left is for us respond to help you any way we can.

"It's quite remarkable. I need to think about what that really means, but one thing I do know, is that none of us can ever breathe a word about your gift. The government would kidnap you and bury you in an underground military base where they would experiment on you until you died. OR they had you killed because they feared what they couldn't understand or control."

He turned to Colleen, Rebecca, and Beth Ann. "The four of us hold Carl's life in our hands. We can't allow a single word of this to slip out, or we'll wake up one morning and never see him again." Everyone considered the import of his warning.

Hank and JoAnna brought Brian home after almost three full weeks of traveling. Hank had called and thanked me for funding their trip, and asked Beth Ann if it was Ok for them to extend a few days and take Brain to Lake Tahoe, to --0rent a boat, and explore. Then they decided to skip Tahoe and ended up at Lake Powell for boating, skiing, and sightseeing. Brian was ecstatic about their trip and kept us up for hours telling stories about his vacation.

For the first few nights, we kept our new foursome low key, but on the third morning, Brian saw Beth Ann and Rebecca come out of my bedroom, and smiled in approval, so we decided to be ourselves. Brian never seemed to mind his mother having such an unusual love life, but he did insist I let him in on my 'babe' secrets, so he could score at school. I promised to have 'man talk' with him one day soon, as it applies to high school freshmen.