Crumbly Writer’s Stories
		“Normalcy Is Harder Than It Looks”
		Book 3 of “The Catalyst” Series
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Chapter 12:  A Heartfelt Deposit or
a Fisherman of Women

           

“So, what are the plans for today?” Gail asked as she served us some barebones coffee and eggs. She’d admitted to us that she was certainly no gourmet cook, only knowing how to do the bare minimum, but she seemed happy serving us, as she couldn’t seem to wipe the smile off her face the entire time.

“I don’t know about you, but I suggest we start the day with an invigorating bout of sex, just to make sure everyone is ready and raring to go today,” Chalise cheekily suggested, her wide grin suggesting she was only teasing.

“I don’t think so,” Cate replied, a little dourly. Apparently the coffee hadn’t reached her nervous system yet.

“There’s not much point in even showing up today if he doesn’t have little wigglers left when he gets to the clinic,” Gail told her.

“So what’s the plan?” Chalise asked, getting more serious since her little joke had fallen flat. “I’m new to this, so I really don’t have a clue.”

“Well, all the fertility clinics are situated on the west side of the city, so we should head there first,” Gail explained. “It shouldn’t present a problem since there aren’t as many people there. It’s more of a business community with a few nearby houses, but being a weekend there shouldn’t be that many people around for Alex to trigger.”

“After that we’ll hit the downtown area for a couple of hours to see just how many people Alex attracts,” Cate said, taking over the explanation. “This is mostly a test to see how well we’ve learned to handle these things. We’ve had a lot of time to think about it, so we should be a bit more organized than we were back in New Orleans. As you no doubt noticed last night.”

“Yeah, I noticed the pamphlets,” Gail commented. “Nice touch.”

“It could potentially embarrass us if they get into the wrong hands, we’ve got to be careful giving them out. No dropping a bunch of them in a wind gust just when a news van pulls up,” Cate warned us.

“Granted,” Gail acknowledged. “So how long should this all take?”

“It depends,” Cate said, shrugging as she took a bite of her toast. Gail might not have the best cooking skills, but she had all kinds of exotic English jams that Cate hadn’t encountered before. “Alex’s deposit shouldn’t take long at all. We’ll get there just as they open and hopefully disappear before it gets too busy. As far as how long we’ll stay downtown, that’s anyone’s guess. It depends on how many people approach Alex and how well he handles them. If he gets overwhelmed we’ll simply take off, just as we’ll do if no one shows up.

“We’ve also never actually dealt directly with the Watchers before, so that’s a whole new ballgame. We’ll finally see how many we get in relation to each Seer we encounter. That should give us more of a feel for the actual numbers we’re dealing with.”

We’d discussed this previously at home and had formulated our basic approach. We’d decided to handle any Watchers immediately this time since we weren’t likely to ever see them again, so striking while the iron was hot was important. That’s why we were so ready the previous night. Basically Cate would give them the whole spiel about how they were part of a select ‘people’, and that they needed to learn about their abilities and how to use them. Shani had stopped off at a Kinko’s the other day to run off a bunch of flyers we would hand out to them detailing who to contact, including Patricia in New Orleans, as well as Darice, Peter and David. Cate would also take their numbers for her own record. We still didn’t want to give them our number just to protect ourselves, but Cate would eventually invite them down. We just wanted to make sure we weren’t overwhelmed and could evaluate everyone on a one by one basis. Finally the pamphlet detailed how they should talk to their female relatives about their responsiveness to others, and to get any they suspected might have similar abilities involved with us. Overall it seemed like a nice presentation. I guess Shani got a lot of help in putting it together from Patricia, who’d had more experience in dealing with people in their community in New Orleans. Best of all it was printed on a very cheap paper, so it would start to fade soon in the sunlight and would essentially disintegrate when exposed to water. We paid extra for such cheap paper, by the way.

Everyone agreed with this assessment so we finished breakfast, cleaned up Gail’s kitchen so it once again looked unlived in, and headed out to begin the day.

---

We got an early start and headed off to the Alice Lovett Center for Reproductive Medicine, situated by the St. Johns Mercy Medical Center just off Highways 64 and 270. It was a smaller complex that was situated between a park and a country club, so we thought we should attract a minimum of followers. We hoped to slip in and out quickly.

Walking in, I glanced at all the women sitting there, all basing their hopes on test tubes.

“And what are you here for?” I asked after having started a conversation with one pregnant woman. I hoped I wasn’t getting too personal, but I was curious about what she was there for.

She sighed heavily. “I’m having a very difficult pregnancy,” she confessed. “I’ve got terribly morning sickness, I can’t gain weight, and we’re worried about losing the baby.” It was clear from her response that she was desperate to talk to someone about this, making me wonder whether she had a partner to help her through this.

“Well, I hope this is the visit that makes all the difference,” I offered. Just then she grabbed her belly, looking distressed and glancing at the receptionists’ window.

“Baby kicking, gas or something more serious?” I asked, hoping to find a way to assist, but not sure how to direct the conversation that way.

“A little of all three, I’m afraid,” she admitted, giving a little burp.

“Do you mind?” I asked, motioning towards her belly.

“No, go ahead. I get asked that all the time. It really doesn’t bother me as much as it does some women.”

I smiled at that, finally seeing my chance. Leaning forward, I briefly ran my hand over her bulge and gave it a quick burst of energy. I had no idea if it would help, but I figured it wouldn’t do any harm and it just might give the tiny thing enough strength to manage through the difficulties it faced before it came to turn. When I turned away Cate, Chalise and Gail were all looking at me with goofy expressions. They didn’t say it, but they each had “Ahhh” written all over them.

‘I hadn’t really been looking at it previously, so I didn’t really notice what may have been wrong with it, but her fetus looks decidedly better now,’ Gail assured me.

‘Thanks. That’s what I was hoping for.’

The clinic was as difficult as we’d expected. They insisted on all the restrictions we’d anticipated, and complained even though we had a notarized letter from both my parents naming Gail as the responsible party in this regard.

“You know, we really don’t like taking such action for unmarried teens,” the receptionist responded, scowling at Chalise and I while chewing a wad of gum.

“Look, this isn’t our ideal of a romantic way to start a new life,” I explained, trying to win her over to our side, “but I’m planning to join the army on my eighteenth birthday in a few weeks, and I’m likely to be sent immediately to Afghanistan. Chalise’s father refuses to allow us to marry, and she’s too young at the moment anyway. We’re both worried that I may be fatally wounded during my tour and we wanted to be sure there was something left of our relationship if we’re never able to consummate our relationship.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you haven’t been ‘consummating’ your brains out already,” the receptionist scoffed, shooting us another dirty look before finally accepting my paperwork and passing me a small bottle for my little donation.

It was a little lonely in the little room all by myself, but they had a very interesting collection of pornography for my perusal. I glanced at it, just for the ideas you understand, but had a better time simply remembering the last couple of nights and the recent memories of all the women who loved me dearly to provide the proper motivation for making my offering. Of course Chalise had offered to help, but the staff frowns on such things; something about sample contamination from saliva or something.

When I came back out with my samples the receptionist not so happily accepted it.

“You know,” I began, “I was just idly wondering; what would happen if someone I specified ahead of time wanted to partake of my deposit if I wasn’t around? Would there be a specific problem with that?” The receptionist arched her eyebrow at me.

“And would this theoretical person have a specific name?” she asked.

“Several names actually. I’ve got a list, although I’m sure Chalise and my mother would like to add to it over time; whether I’m here to make suggestions or not.” She looked quite surprised now.

“You’ve got several lovers all wanting babies from you if you pass away?”

“Correct,” I said, nodding at her, “at least in theory, although I haven’t necessarily met them all yet. But Chalise won’t hold that against them, and my Mom rather likes the idea of LOTS of grandkids, regardless of who produces them. Not that she won’t love their mothers as well,” I hurriedly assured her.

“I’m beginning to think there’s a little more to your story than you told us,” she argued.

“Still, you can’t refuse my deposit. I have a signed contract,” I smilingly informed her. “I was just interested in the specifics concerning withdrawals?” Both Chalise and Gail walked up and stood on either side of me, putting their arms around me and asked the receptionist what was up.

“I was just asking about the withdrawal restrictions,” I informed them.

“Oh good, I was worried about that,” Gail enthusiastically responded.

“Yeah, her and a bunch of our friends,” Chalise echoed.

Cate choose that moment to join the party.

“Is this bum giving you a hard time about withdrawals?” she asked the poor receptionist.

“Well yes, he—”

“That’s good, because I’ve got a whole list of girls and women he hasn’t gotten to yet, and there’s surely a whole bunch more we’ll meet soon, given we have enough time,” she enthused.

The receptionist started to stammer about something but a professional looking middle aged woman in a doctor’s gown walked up at that point.

“Is there a problem, Linda?”

“These people have a very unusual request,” Linda told her.

“Hello, my name is Dr. Alice Lovett. I’m the director and owner of this clinic. I hear you have a potentially large number of people interested in your, uh, deposit?” she asked us politely. It was clear she’d overheard the previous conversation with the receptionist.

“Yeah, here’s a list of all the people authorized to approve anyone wishing to get access to it. I have no idea how many there may be, or how soon they may or may not be interested, but there could potentially be quite a few,” I told her.

“Uh, a single sample won’t actually last very—”

“I plan on stopping back in every now and then to make additional deposits. We’ll also be doing the same at other clinics around the country, in case you have any recommendations for other clinics that take the same care of the samples that you do. We’d really rather not have a large corporation controlling who has access to the samples if we can avoid it.”

“Wow, you certainly seem to have a lot of, uh, fans. You’re sure you’re serious? You aren’t just pulling my leg?” she asked us.

“Deadly serious,” I answered her, looking her dead in the eyes the way Gail had taught me. “Which is the reason I want to make sure we have this all worked out in advance.”

“You do realize, while there isn’t a fee for private storage of your sperm, there is for withdrawal and implantation. There could be a fair amount of money involved with that many women,” she advised us.

“That would be the responsibility of each of the women,” Cate informed her. “Though I have no doubt they’d have no problem paying it if they could afford to.”

“And you’re really serious?” she asked again.

“Absolutely,” I assured her.

“Am I also to assume the whole story of you joining the Army and going to Afghanistan is a bunch of hooey?” she asked, looking me in the eye with a hint of a smile to hers.

“Hey, we had to make it sound good,” I told her. “We figured you might not accept it otherwise.”

“All right, I’ll take you at your word. For some reason I believe you that this isn’t just some fraternity hazing or something. Yes, if your lady friends wants to have access to your sperm they will be able to, as long as your family agrees. That is until you officially reach 18 years of age. After that we can use your list of numbers to call for confirmation of anyone’s claim.” We all smiled and thanked her, then made out exit, figuring they’d have a good story to tell all their friends.

Walking out of the fertility clinic Cate spotted a couple of more Watchers looking at us from inside the main lobby of the hospital, so we walked over and I introduced ourselves. They were apologetic about disturbing me but I insisted they were the most important thing I had at the moment, and Cate got busy giving them their information. It turned out they didn’t know each other. One was a receptionist for the hospital in billing and the other was visiting someone, but they were both eager to receive our information. While we were talking Chalise ran off somewhere, but when we were finishing up with them she joined us so we could leave.

“I ran back and gave the doctor and receptionist a number to call if anyone comes looking for you,” she explained. “I figure, being this close to the Highway, you’ll likely attract a couple who may take a while to find the location.”

I gave her a kiss and thanked her. That’s why it’s always good to have intelligent people around you, to cover for when you can’t think of all the possible contingencies that may develop. She also did the same to the receptionist inside the medical center.

---

We sat around a little coffee shop that Gail had selected along the Gateway Mall, a one block park that ran from the St. Louis arch right through the heart of the city. It held quite a few tourists, being a Saturday, but probably not many locals other than the workers nearby. It afforded us a nice view and we could observe everyone coming and going.

There were several universities nearby, although most of them were farther west of us. There was also the America’s Center convention center and Busch Stadium nearby, although the Cardinals only played in the evenings. But I didn’t think anyone from either facility would have an easy time accessing us, so I figured we were mostly looking at tourists.

There was no fear of being accessible to people, as we were in the open in a freely accessible spot, so I felt secure we’d attract anyone who was nearby. If we didn’t attract anyone we could always try another location some other time, but for now we were just testing the waters to see how we handled people in an urban environment after being able to plan it for a while. It was essentially a test run for my summer tour.

I’d spoken with Chalise ahead of time, telling her she was free to watch, but she wasn’t to interfere no matter what she witnessed. If things went well we’d probably make introductions, but that was for later. For now we were focusing solely on the women who we hoped would show up. Cate was sitting with me at a table within eyesight of anyone approaching, not that we thought anyone would have any trouble spotting me in a crowded theater in absolute darkness. Chalise and Gail were both sitting at different tables in order to avoid intimidating the shier Watchers. We each had something to keep us entertained from the coffee bar, and we all had reading assignments or books to read. Gail was sitting off to the side where she could watch the area for any signs of trouble, just like the security expert she was.

We’d arrived a bit after 10, so we had a little while until lunchtime. It was still early but there was already a good stream of people around us. It wasn’t long before we observed a couple of Watchers observing us, so Cate got up and approached one. They talked for a bit and she eventually brought her by the table to introduce me and allow us to talk. After we’d done this with a couple people throughout the early morning, Chalise started introducing herself to them when Cate was busy. While spotting them with the naked eye was difficult, even for the Seers, when they were around me they were pretty easy to spot.

Cate would give them our prepared spiel, get their names and phone numbers and give them their pamphlet, carefully telling them to keep it private, and to destroy it after they and their families had read it. All in all it wasn’t an overly difficult assignment, sitting around drinking lattes and talking to people.

Things progressed like this, with us doing a steady business with Watchers showing up, but we had no signs of any Seers. We sat and waited, and waited some more, but there just didn’t seem to be any. I guess I’d overestimated how many we might encounter. Chalise volunteered to run back and forth bringing us coffees and biscotti, but that task was soon taken over by a few of the Watchers we’d already talked to who were more than happy to assist us in any way they could. I’m sure the coffee shop was enjoying the increased business we were giving them, but I was beginning to wonder just how long we’d have to sit for one of the Seers to show up. I figured it would take a while for anyone nearby to notice me, since there weren’t many of them compared to the Watchers.

It was 11:42, and we were starting to think about lunch when we heard a shout and turned to see a woman stumbling out of a cab that had pulled up at the corner, not far from where we sat. She ran for us, but quickly saw that the area where we were seated was separated by a small wall. Several of the nearby Waters got up to intercede, but I waved them back, letting them know we’d handle it.

It took her a little while to figure out how to gain access to us via the coffee shop, so we were ready when she finally found us. She emerged from the coffee shop, blathering incessantly and ran to Cate and I, who were sharing the same table with several empty latte cups scattered about. She threw herself into my lap, happily sobbing as she buried her face between my thighs, not far from my crotch. They never fail to make a scene!

Ignoring the pointed looks of those scattered around us, I gently lifted her face and looked into her eyes. She reacted in the typical manner, however holding her face firmly in my hands minimized her physical reaction. Her eyes dilated and went glassy and it took a few seconds before she seemed to get her bearings. While this was happening I tried to make out what she’d been babbling about and took in her appearance. She was pretty enough, although she was a little older and a bit heavier set than the others had been. She had reddish brown hair with fair skin and eyes, and a hopeful delighted expression.

Once her eyes refocused I figured her ranting would resume and I wasn’t disappointed. “Oh Jesus,” she announced, “you’ve come back, resurrected to carry me away to heaven.” I was about to try my stereotypical self-depreciation when she went on. “I knew the country was in trouble, but I had no idea that it was the end time of the Apocalypse. I knew Obama was a Muslim, but I didn’t stop to consider he was the antichrist! It all makes so much sense now; that’s why our church has been supporting the Israelis, because Israel is supposed to be unified before you returned.”

“Uh, I think you’re a little confused,” I told her, still holding her face in my hands, which prevented her from getting overly demonstrative. “What makes you think I’m here in accordance with the apocalypse?”

“Why else would you be here? The whole world has gone to hell, niggers is running everything, decent white folk can’t get anything anymore, everything is going wrong. Surely there’s nothing left but the apocalypse,” she told me with great earnestness. My automatic response was to back away from this hateful response, but what that accomplished was I pushed her away from me.

 ‘Should I do something?’ Gail asked, noticing my distress.

‘No, but this lady is trouble. She’s out of control and will likely end up exposing us! I’ve got to get out of here,’ I told her before attempting to deal with the woman.

“Look lady, I hate to disappoint you but—”

“Oh, I don’t mind if you don’t carry me away to heaven yet. I figured if it was time for us all to go we’d all have been lifted into the air at the same time. I figure you’ve got a special role to fill, I—”

“LOOK, calm down, lady!” I insisted. “You’re nuts if you think Jesus came back just to reveal himself to someone so badly disconnected from reality and ignorant of the basic scriptures that she actually believes the President of the United States isn’t even a Christian. Get a grip lady! You’re spouting nonsense,” I told her. However, I realized that it was all a compilation of bits of information that I’d heard before. It wasn’t as if she was deluded, instead she seemed to have trouble balancing what she heard in the media and online. She seemed unable to evaluate information and decide what was valid and what wasn’t, something which seemed worse in someone with the additional resources of a Seer. But even if she wasn’t delusional, she wasn’t clear minded, and I saw nothing but trouble in associating with her.

 “I need someone who knows what’s real and what isn’t,” I continued, “and you apparently don’t have a clue. It sounds like you’ve been focusing too much on the media. You need to distance yourself from talking head opinion pieces and learn to think and read like an adult!” And with that I pushed her away and stood up.

“Tell her what she needs to know, but don’t tell her about us or how to reach us,” I instructed Cate before I stormed off.

‘She’s coming after you,’ Gail warned.

‘FREEZE!’ I commanded without stopping to see if she obeyed or not. I just kept walking.

I was angry and was striding aggressively to work off my frustration. I’d been lucky to get a collection of a lot of good people, so it was only a matter of time before I got someone a bit unhinged. If I’d been a little more saintly, I’d have stopped to consider what was wrong with her, maybe trying to help clear her thinking, but instead I considered her a ticking time bomb, ready to blow at any moment and taking us with her when she did.

After I escaped the coffee shop and reached the end of the street, I asked Gail how she was doing. ‘She’s carrying on like you just stole her firstborn son,’ she replied. ‘Cate’s trying to console her. You were pretty harsh,’ she chided me. ‘No more than I had to be. She’s unstable and a risk to us all unless she significantly changes. She’s already decided who I am and how I’m supposed to act before she even met me. If I vary from her preconceived role, she’s sure to attack me and cause us trouble. She has to give up this life of making assumptions based on what others tell her, and start to think on her own.’

I was steamed! I just kept walking until I reached a nearby office building where I headed inside, away from any unwanted attention. I knew Gail would warn me if there was anything I needed to know and I figured if anyone else was looking for me they could find me here. I stood and seethed for a little while, but finally sat down at a bench near the door, well away from the windows, and tried to calm down. A strange woman came up to me who didn’t have the characteristic look of either a Watcher or another Seer. I recoiled a little, suspecting she’d seen what had happened and was going to cause trouble. I hoped that wasn’t the case, but I knew from experience how people generally respond to the girls’ first exposure to me.

“Excuse me, sir?” the woman asked, nervously combing her mid-length blond hair behind her ear. She looked nice enough. She was poised and in control and was nicely made up with a silk blouse and dark jacket over it. She didn’t look like she was likely to cause trouble, but I’d learned to be cautious.

“Yes, may I help you?” I answered innocently, pretending that nothing untoward had just happened and dozens of people hadn’t been watching it all.

“You don’t know me,” she began, seating herself beside me, “but my husband and I were taking my grandmother to a park nearby when she suddenly started making a fuss, telling us to take this turn and to head this way. She sometimes gets a little perturbed, so we often humor her. However this time she was insistent about where she wanted to go. Anyway, we saw the scene that just happened outside, and grandma started carrying on. I had my husband try to calm her down while I came after you, but she was getting highly distraught.”

I smiled at the woman as I reevaluated her. She was pretty and, like so many in my recent past, quite a bit older than me. She was probably late thirties to mid-forties or so. Her dress told me they were probably making a day of taking her grandmother out.

“Yes, without even knowing who your grandmother is, I can assure you that I’m the one she’s looking for. May I ask your name? Mine’s Alex,” I told her, trying to impart a calming tone.

“My name’s Abby Metcalf,” she introduced herself, shaking my hand. “My grandmother’s name is Ruby Johnson. Her father named all their kids after beautiful stones. Her sisters were named Opal, Gem and Garnett,” she told me, proud of her family story and revealing the obvious love she had for her grandmother.

“I’d be honored if you’d take me to meet her,” I told her.

“Really?” she asked surprised, “I’d love to take you. I’m still sure this is all a mistake because there’s no way she could possibly know you, but she seemed so insistent. She kept talking about how you were important and that God wanted her to meet you. Frankly, I’d thought she’d finally lost it.” I sent Gail a quick message telling her to use Chalise to convey a message to Cate without revealing herself to the woman and to come meet me. I told her where I was and that I’d alert her where I was heading. As we walked arm in arm from the building I glanced again across the street but couldn’t see anything from where I was. Abby led me down the street, around the back of the coffee shop to a little park bench along the mall where a little old woman sat with a nice looking gentleman, dressed much like Abby was.

“Do you have many scenes like that?” Abby asked as we walked together.

“Believe me, only a few is way too many for a shy kid like me.”

“You’ll have to tell me all about it,” she insisted. I knew I never could and hoped she wouldn’t press. As we neared the bench I told Gail where we were and asked her to hurry up. I wasn’t sure whether we were visible from the shop where Cate and Chalise were, but I was still nervous. However, I felt the new woman would respect my command from earlier so I thought we’d be safe enough. I just hoped I hadn’t left my sister to the whims of a crazy lady.

‘How’d Cate make out?’ I asked Gail.

‘She had her hands full when I left,’ she responded. ‘I told her to get rid of the crazy biddy as soon as possible, and to take refuge where you just came from with Chalise, if she could get away from her.’

‘I just hope she’s OK,’ I worried along with her.

‘I had one of your new Watchers convey the message so Chalise would be able to get away as well. I told the same girl to try to take the woman somewhere else if she could, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up. We’ll probably have to relocate now,’ she told me. ‘By the way, you realize that I watch many of those same shows?’

‘That’s fine,’ I assured her. ‘I don’t have a problem with how people enjoy their time, how they get their information or what their political stripe is. In fact, the more viewpoints I have access to the better. But she was talking such a mash-up of fact, fiction and pure make believe that it showed she couldn’t differentiate between them. What she was saying went beyond conservatism. Conservatives know what not to say in public, and the fact that a Seer can’t identify when someone is upset by their language just demonstrates that she’s not all there. If she doesn’t know whether it’s appropriate to use the N-word, then I can’t count on her not to reveal information about me to the wrong people. She apparently took the gist of the information from talk shows, then added anything that sounded similar regardless of the source. It’s that inability to evaluate situations that’s my problem with her,’ I stressed. Again, such mental communications don’t take long in real time.

As we neared the two people on the bench Ruby sat up on the edge of her seat and seemed about to bolt to meet me, only her grandson-in-law was holding her arm firmly.

“Grandma Ruby, I’d like—” Abby tried to get out, but Ruby cut her off.

“You’re here! I’m so happy you could come,” she almost shouted at me in her enthusiasm, holding her arms wide in welcoming invitation. As I stepped up to envelope her in a hug Gail let me know she was just behind me. I’d been keeping my eyes low and on the ground to prevent early eye contact, but now that I was almost to her I finally looked up and met her gaze. Her head immediately jerked back and she started to go down. Abby’s husband grabbed her and I moved forward to help. Abby also rushed forward. We both eased her to the bench as Abby hovered nearby. Gail managed to catch up with us as we were waiting for her to recover.

As we sat hugging the old woman Gail reached out to me mentally. ‘She’s not all there, boss. Extensive damage, I’d say severe Alzheimer’s. Probably reaching a good 30 to 40% of her brain. It’s not easy to judge because the damaged tissue is mixed in with functioning brain tissue. I’m sending Allison the view so she’ll know what we’re looking at,’ she told me.

‘I see it and it’s fascinating,’ Allison responded. ‘I never thought to examine anyone with Alzheimer’s yet. I doubt there’s much you can do for her, though. What you’re observing is brain plaque. She’s likely too far gone to accomplish much. I have no idea just how cognizant she’ll be though,’ Allison told me. ‘No one has ever observed how much of a damaged brain is actually functional before.’ I simply accepted both messages as I regarded her.

She was, as you might imagine, thin and frail. It was obvious she once had dark hair although it was all white now. She still had a strong sense of presence about her. She finally started to come around and had to look away from me because of my overwhelming aura. As she did I saw her studying the things around her. I knew what was happening and just let it happen.

“What’s wrong with her?” Abby asked, fretting worriedly but not acting on it, letting her husband deal with her.

“Don’t worry, she’s fine. This is all normal. She’ll be OK in a few minutes, but she’ll have several wild—” That was as far as I got.

“You’re so bright. Are you God?”

“No, Ruby, I’m not. But he sent me just to check up on you,” I told her.

“Everything is so pretty. It’s like the world is a … a…,” she said, trying to search for a word that would never come to her.

“Like a rainbow?” I prompted her.

“Yeah, like that,” she said, reaching up as if trying to touch all the colors she saw.

“You know that Ruby’s mostly gone now, don’t you?” I asked Abby.

“I know,” she responded, a gentle tear leaking from her eye, “but she was so clear and responsive as she was leading us to you. Even now she’s much better than she has been. I was hoping that maybe you could make a difference somehow,” she explained hopefully.

“There’s a lot I can do, and that we can see, but we can’t heal damage already done. What’s already occurred to your grandmother’s brain can’t be reversed. Her brain has deteriorated quite a bit, and I can’t restore the dead cells. Her brain is largely gone,” I explained as gently as I could.

“That’s pretty much what I figured. Still it’s good to see her so happy. It’s been so painful to watch her slowly losing herself these many years. She looks so happy now,” she said as we both watched her grandmother walking around trying to touch all the new colors she saw. Ruby seemed to have completely forgotten about me, except in continually shielding herself from my aura.

“Yeah, she’ll be seeing a lot of various colors now, just don’t let the doctors convince you anything is wrong. I have no idea how much longer she’ll have, but we do know she’s already lost a lot of her major brain functions, probably a sizable chunk of her memories.”

“Yeah, I know, she doesn’t even know who the hell I am a lot of the time,” Abby said, grieving a little for one still present but already absent.

As we spoke Ruby finally walked up to me and knelt down before me and laid her forehead against my legs.

“Thank you, Lord, you’ve given me such a gift.”

“How is it you know so much?” Abby ventured to ask, ignoring the actions of her grandmother. “You’re so young, you barely look old enough to vote and not old enough to drink, yet here you are, appearing to little old ladies, making a change to their lives and giving me an official diagnosis of a disease that can’t be properly diagnosed until an autopsy is performed.”

“Hey, nothing says I’m correct. I’m just good at guessing about these things,” I bluffed as I casually cradled Ruby’s head, giving it a gentle bathing in energy. Again, I had no idea if it would help, but hopefully it would give her a temporary mental boost.

“Yeah, I heard what that one lady was saying to you. She thinks you’re Jesus coming back to Earth in anticipation of the Apocalypse.”

“Hey, I’m certainly no Jesus,” I protested. “He at least had a job, I don’t even have that much. I’m just hoping I have enough guidance to make it through my finals.”

“Jesus was a kid once too, and I’m sure he did amazing things then as well,” she gently told me as she rested her hand on Ruby’s head.

“Well, talk like that would have certainly alerted the Romans, so I think I’ll just duck the question for the time being. Let’s just say that I’m concerned about Ruby, and I’m sorry I couldn’t have known her when she was more alert. I’m sure I could have helped her in some small way.”

“Yes, I’m sure you could have. I’m hoping I’ll hear about you in the future, as you seem destined for great things, but somehow I think with your temperament, you’ll manage to stay behind the scenes, never taking credit for anything.”

“Not if women keep running up to me, screaming that I’m Jesus, arisen from the dead some two millennia too late,” I laughed. She laughed too, not taking any of this too seriously. “Seriously, take good care of yourself. If you can help others like you wanted to help my Ruby, then you’ll do well, whatever you have to accomplish.”

---

Cate and Chalise were not happy campers when they finally caught up to us.

“Where the hell were you two?” Cate demanded. “You abandoned me with that crazy-assed lady and just disappeared? She cried for ages, babbling about how unworthy she was, how she’d been rejected by Jesus, and how her life was now worthless.”

“I’m sorry, but I was meeting with another Seer. I hated leaving you in that position, but I don’t think we can have anything to do with her. She’s clearly too unstable and too dependent on others to do her thinking for her to do anything but get us in a world of hurt.”

“Yeah, I got that too,” Cate admitted. “Her name was Clara Thomas, by the way. She was pretty ignorant. For as much as she kept quoting the Book of Revelation, she didn’t seem to know it very well. I think she knows her bloggers better than she does her scriptures.” She took a breath and hugged me tight. “So how was the other one? Was she any better than the one I had to babysit? I noticed you didn’t bring her back with you.”

“Not much better, she had advanced Alzheimer’s. Her 40-year-old granddaughter sought me out. She was barely there, although she was delighted at all the colors I’d given her. She was as happy as a five year old,” I explained sadly.

“Not a very successful weekend, huh?” Cate summarized.

“No, not so much, but it’s more experience for us. At least we know more of what to expect the next time,” I said, trying to encourage them. “Although we created a bit of a scene this time, at least we managed it. That’s good. It shows we’re learning how to handle things. Plus we handled the Watchers upfront this time, as opposed to simply ignoring them just because they don’t get in my face. That’s definitely a positive step. We should be better equipped next time.”

I gave Chalise a big hug next. “Not quite what you were anticipating, huh?”

“No, I really didn’t know what to expect,” she answered, hugging me back. “I guess I was expecting more of what Gail’s arrival was like, but I guess you have messy ones too,” she said, moving back to look at me. “You really think she’d be dangerous?”

“Definitely, despite her ability to detect people’s emotional responses, she has no clue when she offends people. Compound that with her inability to evaluate the likelihood of unsubstantiated rumors, and we have the makings of a disaster. If we tell her anything about us, she’s likely to blurt it out to the wrong people at the wrong time. If I don’t behave like she expects me to, she’s likely to turn on us. She may have enhanced abilities, but without a little common sense, it won’t do her any good, and if she brags to anyone about it, they could trace it back to us.”

“You’re right, that’s a recipe for disaster,” Gain confirmed.

“She doesn’t seem capable of thinking independently. Having already created a host of assumptions about how she expects me to behave, once I varied from it she’d likely go off the deep end. She has to learn to think for herself and not just swallow other people’s opinion. If I didn’t eventually raise her dear departed brother, she’d have likely turned Judas on us,” I explained, playing on the whole resurrected Jesus theme.

“So, what now; do we wait around or are we all done?” Cate asked.

“We’ll hang around a while longer, after all, there are still quite a few Watchers around and we may still find another Seer or two. But we might as well grab some lunch. There’s no reason people can’t find us while we’re relaxing,” I assured her. “After no one has shown up for a while, we’ll head home.”

“You know, Kitty is going to be so upset she missed all of this,” Chalise sniggered. I looked at her like she’d just lost her mind, not such a good thought considering the two we’d had to deal with this morning.

“What are you talking about? This was nothing but boredom and craziness. Why would she ever want to be here to see this kind of nonsense?”

“Because it’s what you do,” Chalise insisted, “and I got a chance to see how you actually go about it. I got to see just how many people you affect, I saw how they respond to you and how you handle them. Plus,” she smiled at me in remembrance, “it’s very entertaining watching you deal with crazy ladies.”

So we found a nearby restaurant and had lunch, well away from the coffee shop. We hung around for a little while and saw still more Watchers, although we didn’t encounter any more Seers. I’d kind of been hoping to meet someone new so we could perhaps learn something new, but it was looking unlikely now. We sat around for a while but not much changed. Chalise eventually got bored and went looking through some of the shops with a few of the new Watchers, while the rest of us kept observing the folks passing by, drinking more and more soda to augment the multiple fancy coffee drinks we’d had earlier. I had a feeling we may be up all night as a result. Finally we figured we’d seen about everyone we were likely to so we decided to give up and head back. I figured we could always come back and try again later, but we were all pretty well done for the day.

We bid Gail au revoir and she gave us all big hugs goodbye, as she said she should probably do some damage control with her friends.

“I’ll hold you to your promise when we see you next weekend,” Chalise told her. “I’ll learn everything I can with Kitty and appreciate her to heck, but then we’re both coming back for you.”

 “You know, Gail,” Cate said as she hugged her next, “I’d love to make love to you as well. Now that I can feel your love for Alex, I kind of internalize it as well, so I also interpret it as love for me and what I love. It makes me feel close to whoever he’s close to. Thus I’d love to share that love with you, whether it’s with him there or not. I respect all of your arguments from earlier, but I just want you to know that I’ll be thinking of you whenever Alex is busy doing something, or someone, else.”

Gail was a little done in with these expressions of affection. She hadn’t really been expecting it after such a short time but she respected it and simply held them tighter before finally releasing them. Soon we were in our car and heading home.

           

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