Chapter 7: A Crisis and a Change of Heart
The general conversation pretty much broke up after the last item was discussed. We got into a more in depth discussion of all the new abilities, although trying to communicate with dear little Anh Ngo was agonizingly slow. Clearly she knew some English words, but she simply didn’t trust herself to misspeak in front of me, so I bore with it. Victoria, or Vicky as I’d taken to calling her, was just a cutie, though, so she made it all worthwhile just to see how seriously she took her important role as translator. She’d beam whenever one of us would tell her how well she was doing. I’m not sure how much she picked up herself, but as I said, she seemed to be very intelligent, so I’m guessing it was the majority.
We managed to duplicate some of Cate’s previous experiments and demonstrations. Anh was clearly amazed when she not only could understand me, but also when I could apparently pick her thoughts out of thin air. Still, she looked like she had expected no less of me. Vicky was intrigued as well.
"You read MINDS?" she asked, clearly excited.
"Not really, Vicky. Actually I do read minds, but only four very specific minds. I can only talk crudely with your Grandma, Patricia, Allison and Shani. It’s nothing like in the movies. But you can’t tell anyone, as it’ll cause a lot of attention and no one will believe it, and they’ll call us and your Grandma liars and cheats. I don’t think any of us want that. I don’t think it will happen because we all know we can’t talk to anyone about this, not your family, not any strangers, nobody but us and your Grandma."
I hoped I wasn't piling the guilt on too far, but there really was no way of getting around it. I was afraid of any trouble a misspoken comment was likely to bring up. After that Cate played with her a bit to help alleviate the tension that I’d built up, which helped, but it was still a very hard evening for a girl so young to handle.
It turned out that little Vicky was only 8 and was in the 3rd grade at a local elementary school. She lived with her parents, along with 2 sisters and 3 brothers and a couple cousins and a few other relatives. All in all it was a pretty large household, which fit into a slightly larger Vietnamese fishing community on the shore. Anh kept the Vietnamese sensibilities strong in the family, and the children were all becoming quite Americanized while still keeping their sense of who they were and where they came from. They were as proud of their heritage as Shani was.
We got talking again, and went on until I noticed Vicky standing beside me again. It occurred to me then that I hadn't heard from either her or Anh lately, but I'd thought that was due to Cate's playing with her. No, I corrected myself, Cate had been involved in this latest discussion so I realized we'd been talking longer than I'd thought.
As I was considering this, Vicky spoke up.
"Scuse me, but Grandma says she needs to get me back for school tomorrow. She’s sorry she has to leave. She says she’ll try to be back tomorrow after my school gets out." We all told her that we were sorry we couldn’t spend more time with them, then the girls and I escorted them out to her nearby, little, used compact car. They both made a big deal out of kissing me goodbye, still very formally, as if this was an important act in a special ceremony.
When we got back to the restaurant Mom and Dad had finished paying the bill and were waiting for us, along with Cate and Henry. We discussed what was next when Patricia and Henry made their exit, no doubt to have the discussion she'd been putting off, and the rest of the women decided they'd accompany us back to our hotel. There was no going home for most of them. Heck, Allison was still dressed up in long white gloves from church this morning. No, the way things were going they'd expect to stay in Cate and my room tonight.
The French Quarter streets were still busy, even after dark on a Sunday night, so it was still a pleasant walk. Everyone was busy discussing details about the issue my father had raised, so they mostly talked amongst themselves, the women moving into little groups to discuss things privately, or with my parents or Cate. There always seemed to be someone to watch over me, though, perhaps because they were afraid I'd become morose about all the plans being made. More likely it was just because they all felt it was their duty to watch over me. As a result I still had a little private time to sulk. However, I was forced to sulk with several attractive women clustered loosely around me.
I thought about the women that had been attracted to me so far. They covered a wide variety of ages, races, education and experiences. There didn't seem to be many commonalities other than they all seemed to be quite bright, but I figured that was more likely either dumb luck or they were still trying to influence me. Oh, and there weren't any fat women yet either. I thought that odd considering just how heavy the residents of New Orleans were, but I simply attributed it to the fact that, so far, I'd only been exposed to busy professional people. Besides, the one black woman I'd pulled in was Jamaican, instead of a native of New Orleans.
When we got back to the hotel my parents decided they wanted to participate in more discussion, so we opened the connecting doorway between our rooms and everyone wandered back and forth. Natalie had to head home to be prepared for work the next day, although she casually announced she would also put in her resignation notice. Most of the discussion was still about future plans. Specifically regarding what everyone wanted to do about me, so I pretty much stayed out of it. We sat there and continued to hash out details for quite awhile, I mainly focused on issues not having to do with multiple women moving in with me. I think I was starting to doze off, as it had, once again, been a very busy day.
A while after we’d been back at the hotel Cate’s phone rang. She answered it while the rest of us listened to her conversation.
"Yeah?" she answered informally, figuring it wouldn’t be a stranger given the late hour.
"Oh Hi, Becky!" she responded happily, enthused that she could get some feedback from her sister.
"Wow? Really?" She covered the phone and told us, "She says that guy is having emergency surgery on his brain as we speak." We all sat up and took notice.
"Here, you’d better talk to Alex. It was his women that figured it out," she said after a pause, and handed me the cell phone. "She wants to know how we knew something was wrong."
"Uh, hello Becky?" I hesitantly greeted her, already dreading questions about new insights and strange women.
"Hey there, hope you’re having a good time," she greeted me. It’d been a while since I’d spoken with her. "What’s this about ‘your women’? Does she mean her and Mom?" Having made the basic assumption Becky was off and running, so I didn’t feel any pressing need to correct her. "Anyway, getting back on target, the hospital staff is very interested in how you detected his condition. They said it was completely asymptomatic but that there was a sizable tumor about the size of a large plum in the right hemisphere of his brain. They said he might have noticed it sooner if it had been in his left hemisphere. Since it was asymptomatic they're all questioning how I detected it," she stated, emphasizing how they thought she had been there when she had, in fact, been back working in a lab in Illinois.
"Wow, sounds like we caught it just in time," I replied, ignoring her implied question about my knowledge of the event. Oh, I knew the subject would come up, but I was just hoping to postpone it until I had more of a feel of how much trouble I was in.
"Yeah, he walked into the emergency room and demanded a brain scan. As a result of what they saw they rushed him straight into surgery. It took a bit to organize a team that fast, but they wanted to address it right away. It seems the tumor was impacting areas of the brain around it and was causing them to atrophy. They’re not sure what effect the surgery will have, but are hopeful since it hadn't yet affected his performance, but every brain surgery is major so they'll all be watching him very anxiously.
“Anyway, how’d you detect it? They said there were no obvious signs." Ah, here it is, I thought to myself, the heart of the problem.
"Just lucky, I guess. A friend of ours saw him walking funny and thought we should ask him about it."
"Hmm, this friend a doctor? And if so, why couldn’t you use him as a reference? And how’d he notice his walk when the neurologists at the hospital didn't notice it?" she pressed.
"Boy, you’re just full of questions," I stalled.
"Yeah, the local doctors have been grilling me for awhile. They seemed to think it was me who saw him on the street and spotted it. I had to bluff my way through and it made me sound like a real idiot. Especially since I have no medical training whatsoever. What's more, I have no actual experience with patients, just with lab work and theoretical situations."
"Ouch," I commiserated. "Don’t you get any brownie points for spotting it?" I hated putting Becky into a difficult situation.
"Not really. Doctors always want answers. They’re not very good at giving credit; they seem to think it makes them look fallible. Anyway, I’d avoid the hospital for a bit. The doctors are all full of questions, and the guy and his wife aren’t very likely to be speaking with you right now. The guy's going to be out of it, and his wife is now faced with the sudden onset of crippling medical bills and all."
"Geez, you just can’t win for losing, huh?" It was amazing just how complicated saving someone’s life could be.
"Nope, not in today’s world with lawyers around every corner. Anyway, you should be OK. But I’m dying to hear the full story," she stressed, already guessing there’d be a fascinating story behind the day’s little adventure.
"We’ll have to explain it when we get back, if then. It’s pretty complicated, but we shouldn’t really discuss it over the phone," I told her.
"Ahh, suddenly all mysterious are we?"
"Yeah, you know me, full of mystery and such." I normally wasn’t very quick with the clever responses when things started getting awkward.
"The only mystery you’re full of is the mysterious smells coming from your bedroom," she joked, returning to our old teasing ways. "Anyway, I’ll talk to you later. I had a long day and I've got to get ready for a lot of questions tomorrow. Bye," she said, finishing off without giving me time to respond to her last statement.
"Bye," I finished and hung up, relaying the information to the others. We sat around discussing the implications of this bit of additional knowledge. Soon it was getting late, nearly 11 p.m., when I was suddenly hit with this feeling of dread, then a sudden feeling of being wet, cold, miserable and lonely, and the single image of a dark, empty road stretched out before me. Reacting quickly I was instantly on my feet.
"Quick, Anh’s in trouble, we’ve got to go get her," I informed everyone, wanting to immediately do something but not quite sure what.
"Whoa, whoa, what the hell?" my father protested, demonstrating he was personally exempt from Mom’s warpath concerning inappropriate language.
"Dad, she’s cold and lonely out on the street. She might have had an accident or something. We’ve got to do something."
"Surely it is late enough that she’s been home for some time," he said, glancing at his watch. "She shouldn’t be on the road at this hour."
"She’s on the road and she’s wet and upset," I answered with certainty.
"OK, OK, don’t jump down my throat. I’m just trying to establish a degree of common sense. Are you even sure it's her and not Patricia?"
"No, I'm sure it's her. Don't ask me how, but I just seem to know. Besides, she's the only one who lives out in the country."
"Did you guys get anything as well?" Cate asked Shani and Allison, looking straight at them.
"I picked up something like a distress call," Shani responded, "but I don’t think I get these messages as strongly as Alex does. I’m sure if she’s in trouble she’s calling for Alex and not me."
"I'm not even comfortable with the idea of telepathy yet, I've got no idea how it works but yeah, I felt something," Allison agreed.
"Do you even know where she is?" my father asked.
"No. I don’t," I stated, realizing just how unprepared I was for any kind of rescue mission.
"Sit down and focus then," Cate counseled. "Just relax and think about her. Try to feel her out and see if you can pick out her location." So I slowly made my way to the bed and lay back, closing my eyes and tried to relax, despite the feelings of panic coursing through me. I was just starting to cast about my mind for her when the sharp ring of the hotel phone jolted through me like an electric shock.
"Hello?" answered my father, having reached it before anyone else could respond. Reaching across I snatched it right out of his hand.
"Yes?" I asked a bit curtly, desperate for more information.
"Alex? Alex, I can’t talk long. I just snuck away so I could call. Grandma’s in trouble. She and Daddy had a big fight. It was all about you. He threw her out into the street. She’s out there all alone."
"Can she drive or call a cab or anything?" I asked.
"She doesn’t have a cell phone, Alex. She doesn’t have a purse or anything and Dad locked the door behind her. You’ve got to help her Alex." She was starting to sound a little panicky so I asked her to tell me her address, which helped calm her down. I quickly jotted the address down.
I was struck by how the panicky Vicky didn’t sound like the awestruck Vicky. Her sentences, while quick and simpler than before, were plain and spoken clearly. Apparently the scare put more emotions to her words.
"Oops, I gotta go. Help her Lãnh... uh, Alex, please!" and with that she hung up. I briefly wondered what she had started to call me.
Turning to everyone else I brought them up to date. "OK, I’ve got an address. That was Vicky. She says Anh’s been thrown out by her son. The vision I have doesn’t show any houses so I’m guessing she’s walking away from the house."
"Before you go rushing off, who’s going with you?" asked my father, always the responsible one.
"Going?" I stupidly asked.
"Someone’s got to stay here, in case she or Vicky calls again," he cautioned. "Who’s going with you?" Looking around I took in all the concerned faces around me.
"Well, I'm not really sure…" I hesitated.
"The two of us are coming," Shani answered for herself and Allison. "We're not going to stay here when one of us is in trouble or when you need us."
I looked at Cate.
"Relax, Alex. Remember what Anh said today. You know what to do, just trust your judgment." I took a deep breath then turned back to her.
"OK, you're going as well."
"They aren’t going to be much of a help if there’s a confrontation," Dad countered.
"Why would there be a..."
"I’m assuming you’re the source of the fight?" he posed.
"Yeah," I acknowledged disconcertedly.
"So you’ve got to assume there’s a possibility of a confrontation. I think I’d better go with you, which only leaves your mother to stay here to cover us."
"All of you go, I’ll keep watch here. Just don’t get into any trouble," insisted my mother.
"OK, that leaves six of us in our little car," he warned.
"I've got my car right outside, Cate can ride with me and you can decide who rides with whom after everything is said and done," Shani insisted, not questioning the fact that I was the one making all the decisions for them all.
"Next, what are you going to do?" My father pressed again. "Are you going to try to reason with her son, an adult, and probably the head of the family, or are you going to bring her here? And, if you bring her here, does that mean you’re going to be taking care of her?"
I sighed heavily. "Dad, I can’t decide all of that now. We’ve got to help her right away."
"Just be aware of what’s involved. That’s all. You’re assuming a lot of responsibility here. You were nervous about it when we broached it at dinner, but now you're facing it directly. If you’re going to accept it, then I want you to be willing to commit to it when the time comes. It’s time to stop being a child now that you have people who depend on you." It seemed a bit harsh seeing as how I’d only known the people involved for a couple of days, but I took his guidance as I was heading out the door. Everyone came tumbling out behind me, while Mom called out her wishes for our success. I ran down the hall, down the stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator, and out into the hotel’s parking lot. I didn’t know if anyone else was keeping up, but I got the car unlocked and settled myself, buckling up as they started to drift in. I hadn’t driven the entire way down here, but that was due to my father’s concerns about “distracted teen agers”. Well now I was focused. I was highly focused! I was already pulling out by the time Dad finally reached the car, so I stopped just long enough for him to dive in. Luckily Allison already had her smart phone out and was calling up Google Maps to give us directions there.
There was a lot of anxious discussion in the car as I sped through the night. I was lucky I wasn’t stopped, driving so fast through the city, but it was late on a Sunday evening so I guess the cops weren’t out in force at this hour. I emphasized that Anh wasn’t in any immediate physical danger, just that she was disconcerted and a bit scared. That stopped most of the panicky reactions; well, all of them but mine. I felt personally responsible. I had brought all of this upon them. All the women looked up to me to lead them in this new life, and I’d already gotten Anh kicked out of her home. I had to make this better somehow.
I think the others were discussing options and possibilities, but my mind was so busy racing through my own thoughts that I think they eventually gave up when I stopped responding. Instead I just focused on the road ahead as I drove as fast as I thought I could safely get away with.
As I drove, I sought to reach out to her, trying to sense where and what direction to go. I felt she was relieved that I was coming, but was still distressed by the entire event. I felt right making a few turns, but that was probably just wishful thinking on my part. If I was right she was walking rapidly away from the house, probably in our direction, whichever direction that was. It had begun drizzling just after dinner, and had been raining off and on since then. No one dared try to turn on the radio since I wanted my mind clear of interference in case I got any further messages.
It occurred to me I should really have discussed the matter of my driving with someone, seeing as I didn’t know how I got when I received a telepathic message. If I got all glassy eyed and spaced out I probably shouldn’t be driving, but I wasn’t about to relinquish my personal sense of responsibility just yet. Bringing it up at this point would just worry people and confuse the issue. Right now the issue was crystal clear, I had to get to Anh right away and fix things!
I got a brief feeling of alarm, aside from my own, and instantly knew it must be Patricia. I could distinguish it because mine was a calm panic, whereas hers was a more complete panic, clearly set off by my own state of mind. I guess I inadvertently sent out my emotional response without thinking about it. It seems I did that a lot anyway.
Allison kept me going, supplying me with gum so I wouldn’t grind my teeth too much, talking me through the directions, keeping me informed of the remaining miles and estimated arrival time.
I careened around a few corners but nobody complained, everyone was instead just hanging onto the safety straps above the doors. I’d insisted everyone fasten their seatbelts when we started. No one had yet developed any powers of clairvoyance or telekinesis, so I’d be on my own if I encountered any troubles.
Allison was also handling phone calls. Cate called just to check up on our current status so Allison relayed what we knew. Mom called part way there to check in and to relay that she hadn’t heard back from Vicky. Chances were that she’d been caught using the phone by her parents. I briefly got angry at Victoria for giving the story away to her family, but I couldn’t keep that going. She was only a kid, and asking kids to keep secrets just wasn’t fair. Besides, her parents probably already let her have it for being involved <i>and</i> for being silent about it as well. I wondered whether I’d have to rescue her as well. Then I began imagining the difficulties involved in trying to take a little girl away from her parents. No, I knew we had no choice there. If Anh wanted to come with us that was one thing. However, if she chose to abandon us for her home and family after some tears, then we’d just have to buck up and accept it. Until then she was my responsibility. She had expressly put herself, her entire future, into my hands. Of course, dealing with Anh without Vicky there to translate was going to be a major hurdle!
Allison relayed information to Natalie and Patricia as well as the other calls, letting them both know how little we knew but emphasizing that she wasn't injured or anything, just scared and alone. That seemed to have halted the panicky messages I was getting. Now I just felt my own panic and worry, which seemed to be enough for all of us.
As we neared the house I had to cut back on the speed significantly. It was rural, dark and tree lined; the heavy scent of the water on the night air. The headlights didn’t do much good as we’d go around curves in the many poorly paved sections of road. Just as I came around one particular curve I felt a sense of relief and immediately hit the brakes. I almost panicked again, remembering that Shani had been following me as I rushed speeding throughout the trip here, and I expected to feel a crush and the tiny tinkling of broken glass but it failed to pass. I felt a giggle in my head, a relief in itself, along with the sense of not being there yet, so resumed driving until I found her standing almost in the middle of the road.
I stopped and jumped out of the car, rushing to her and lifting her off her feet and hugging her tightly to me. She felt good and safe in my arms. Hearing motion behind me I was suddenly reminded that we were sitting in the middle of traffic, as little of it as there was. I carried Anh still clutching me back to the car. Allison took over from me, moving her into the back seat with her, while shoving my father into the front seat beside me. They were clucking at her, making no sense at all, when I turned and looked her in the eyes.
"Where to?" I asked slowly, being careful to enunciate. I still had no idea just how much English she knew.
"I need things," she stated plainly. "Either t’night or morrow. Spect fight," she warned.
Looking her in the eyes I answered, "Expect a fight then," as I started to get into the car. Cate ran up to the window then and asked what was happening, so I said that Anh was safe, and that we were headed to the house to get her things. I could tell from Cate's expression that she expected there to be trouble, but I was still hoping we could handle this all amicably. As she ran back to Shani's car I started our own car moving forward towards Anh's house.
I didn’t even ask her where she was going to go. I figured that was her choice. She’d decided she didn’t want to stay at home. Anything further was her choice, but it was my responsibility to give her that choice. In that, my own choice was significantly narrowed to only a few simple options.
"Maybe I’d better go..." my father started as I came to a stop in front of her house.
"No, Dad, you can come in to back me up, but you’ll stay in the background. This is my responsibility and it’s an issue between her son and me. You didn’t start this, so I don’t expect you to finish my fight for me."
"I’m just hoping it won’t be a fight," he stated flatly.
"So am I, Dad, so am I," I answered.
Feedback on my stories is always welcome. Please send it to crumblywriter@gmail.com. Also visit the Story Blog. You should be warned that the blog includes a lot of information regarding the story, like what I'm trying to achieve, various reader's responses to the material, subtleties in it's tellings, so it makes sense to visit it and get a feel for what's going on.