Second Chances

by P. D. Cacek

  “They don’t know what you’re capable of, Curtis, that’s the problem. And I understand your reluctance to show them, I know how you hate to show off, but if you could just let them know they’re dealing with a true genius, it would help. Could you do that for me?”

  Curtis bobbed his head yes.

  “Thank you. Oh, my, it is warm, isn’t it? How about we sit down for a minute?”

  Eva pushed the wheelchair into the deep shade next to a stone bench and made sure the brake was set before sitting. She’d fibbed to the doctor; Curtis didn’t like the sun or being outside, but she’d be damned if she was going to let anyone else decide what her son was or was not going to do.

  “Fever,” she said, but immediately reached over and placed the back of her hand against her son’s forehead. Curtis’s skin felt clammy and a bit warm, but it was a hot day and boys perspire. “You don’t have a fever. If you had one last night it was because they keep those rooms too warm. I told them you don’t like that, but….”

  Opening her purse, Eva retrieved his tablet and set it on his lap. “Now, I know you’d much rather be inside with your computers and books, but we can’t let them win, Curtis, we just can’t. So, just show them one simple equation or something and I’ll buy you a new external hard drive or whatever you want, okay?”

  Curtis’s body suddenly jerked to the left, his head lolling, coming to rest against his shoulder as his eyes searched for her face. Eva laughed and straightened his head. His cheeks were warm but it was summer, after all, and he looked perfectly well. His eyes, when they met hers, were clear and bright, actually sparkling.

  “I know it sounds like a bribe, Curtis, but it’s an incentive. So, what do you say? Will you show them how bright you are?”

  His sparkling eyes drifted away from her.

  Eva exhaled. Bright and accomplished and stubborn as a mule if someone, especially her, asked him to do something. He’d been that way since he was little.

  “Fine, but I’m only thinking of you, Curtis.” Eva swallowed her frustration as she turned on the tablet and swiped the screen. “So, if you’d rather they think you just have a normal IQ, that’s your choice.”

  She saw his right hand curl into a fist.

  “Don’t get mad at me, young man, I just want them to know how brilliant you are. I can only imagine how bored you must be.”

  His chin bobbed against his chest in what was obviously a nod. How could they say he’d never get any better? He already was better, a hundred times better than when he first arrived. And a million times better than when she’d walked in and found him, choking, his face turning blue as he dangled from that belt….

  “Oh God.” Eva closed her eyes until the memory went away.

  “I know it was an accident, some experiment gone wrong.” She opened her eyes. “But you have to tell them that, Curtis, because they don’t believe me. Please, just tell them it was an accident, show them you’re in there. Sorry, sorry.”

  Eva turned away to hide the tears in her eyes. When Curtis was a child any strong emotion or loud sound terrified him, either turning him into a quivering near-catatonic mess or a one-boy demolition team. The doctors said it was because of the schizophrenia, that he couldn’t handle normal stimuli, and she’d almost believed them. It wasn’t until she read an article in an online medical journal that suggested that a certain percentage of children who exhibit aberrant behavior and who had been misdiagnosed as schizophrenics had exceptional intelligence and only acted out from the frustration of not being recognized as geniuses.

  Geniuses, the article kept repeating, reacted to the world differently than the rest of us.

  Curtis had never been sick, he was a genius.

  “All right, I’ll stop talking about it. You’ll show them when you’re ready and not before, I accept that. But, we can’t let you just sit around like those people inside, you’re a genius and geniuses have to keep busy. So….”

  Eva scrolled through the list of online college courses she’d downloaded right after Curtis’s accident. There were only a few hundred courses and they’d already been through the list three times, but there was still a possibility something would pique his interest.

  “Let’s see…we’re up to the Q’s. Ah, quantum cryptography. That sounds fun, doesn’t it?”

  * * *

  Arvada, Colorado / 9:30 a.m.

  If looks really could kill, Jessie knew she’d be facedown in the school parking lot, bleeding from a hundred wounds, flayed alive and gutted like a fish.

  She took a deep breath and pasted on a smile. “Hey, Abbs! Over here!”

  The look intensified. Jessie let go of the smile and leaned back against the sun-heated driver’s side door, watching her sister pointedly ignore her as she dug through the pile of duffle bags next to the idling bus.

  So, have fun?

  Shut up.

  Yup, wounded, bleeding, flayed, gutted and possibly beheaded.

  It was going to be the longest three-mile drive home in history.

  It wasn’t my fault.

  I. Said. Shut. Up.

  Jessie nodded even though no one noticed. It hadn’t been her fault, at least not the part where the U.C.U.A. decided to cut camp short so they could attend a two-week ‘Identification and Disclosure’ course.

  All she’d done was expose an Imposter, dammit. True Borns did that all the time!

  Jessie was about to think-tell her sister those exact words – she could only glare so long – when a tall, lanky boy with curly brown hair and glasses began helping Abbie plow through the pile. Abbie looked up at him and gave him a look that was the total opposite of a glare. Jessie didn’t recognize him, but whoever he was, he wasn’t boyfriend Paul. And Abbie didn’t seem to mind. She was all giggles and flirty and—

  Where’s Paul?

  Her sister ignored her to say something to the tall unknown and tossed her hair as she pointed to her neon-pink bag. The tall unknown said something back and mimed diving in. Abbie laughed and was still laughing, on the outside, when she glanced across the parking lot.

  Jessie shivered despite the morning’s already seventy-eight degrees and climbing temperature.

  She was still trying to rub some warmth back into her arms when they, Abbie and the tall unknown, headed for the car.

  Abbie was still all bubbly and smiley…still only on the outside…so Jessie smiled back.

  “Hey, Abbs,” she said and nodded to the unknown. “Hi.”

  “Hello,” the unknown said. “I’m Nigel Lebbon.”

  Jessie nodded. English. You always did have a thing about British accents.

  Shut. Up.

  Yes, Mum.

  Abbie’s smile twitched. “Nigel, this is my sister Jes—”

  “Jessica Faith,” he said and lunged for her hand, swallowing it in both of his. “I am honored, you are an inspiration. We heard about what you’d gone through, my God, it must have been so horrible. I can only imagine the betrayal you felt when you found out. I recognized your sister immediately, but I still had no idea that I’d have the honor of meeting you.” He chuckled. “Listen to me blather, I am so very pleased to meet you, Jessica Faith.”

  Jessie could feel the rise in temperature coming from her sister when he leaned over and kissed her hand. She didn’t know what to do with it afterward.

  “Um. So…. Hi. Thanks?” She turned her hand and shook his. “Yeah. Um. Can we give you a lift?”

  “Would you? Oh, that would be wonderful! I was going to ride home with the Pattersons. I’m staying with them for the summer and then—”

  “Nigel’s going to the University of Denver in the fall,” Abbie interrupted, planting her hand against his arm, laying claim, “to study information and communications technology, just like me.”

  You are? Since when?

  Shut. Up.

 
“Isn’t that a coincidence?” He was still beaming at Jessie and it was making her skin crawl.

  “Well, Abbie’s always been interested in communicating.” Most of the time.

  The glare returned, briefly.

  “Outstanding. Might I impose on you to drop me off? Do you know where the Pattersons live?”

  “Yes,” Abbie said as Jessie nodded.

  “Fantastic. Let me just drop my gear off and ask if they wouldn’t mind if I ride over with you.” Nigel from England turned, took three steps and turned back to them. “Oh, and what do you say in this country? Um, side-by-side!”

  They both looked at him.

  “You mean shotgun?” Jessie asked.

  “Oh, of course. Shotgun!”

  Jessie watched him jog away when she heard the driver’s side door open.

  And slam shut.

  I’m driving.

  Okay.

  Jessie climbed into the back seat and fastened her seat belt.

  I’m sure I wasn’t the only reason he started talking to—

  The unmistakable sound of Abbie’s fingers squeezing the steering-wheel cover filled the car. Jessie didn’t need any visual image filling her mind; she could feel those same fingers closing around her throat.

  English Nigel was running back toward them, sun glinting off his glasses and waving something in his hand.

  The something turned out to be three twenty dollar bills.

  “The Pattersons said we should go to Steuben’s and have breakfast on them,” he said as he slid into the shotgun seat, turned toward Jessie and snapped on his seat belt. “Sounds wonderful and I am a bit peckish. Shall we?”

  “Sure!”

  “Yay!”

  Jessie sat back as Abbie started the car and joined the line heading out of the parking lot.

  “Now, while I did see the demonstration on the telly – you were brilliant, by the way, Jessica Faith, very regal – I want you to tell me what it was like when you found out your teacher was a Traveler.”

  “Call me Jessie,” she said and tried not to elaborate too much on her role as the whistleblower.

  Not that it mattered, he was enthralled, and Abbie kept singing ‘Kumbaya’ inside Jessie’s head all the way to the restaurant.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Haverford, Pennsylvania / 12:22 p.m.

  Eva managed to turn her head and cover the yawn before Curtis noticed. He hated to see people yawn. He told her once that he’d proven yawning did not mean a lack of oxygen; it meant boredom. If he saw her yawn, he’d assume she was bored with him, which wasn’t and never would be true. But she’d discovered early on that it was always better not to argue with him.

  Curtis’s logic was impeccable.

  Sitting up straighter, she feigned a cough into her hand and took a deep breath as she turned toward him. “It’s so peaceful out here. And warm. Don’t you think it’s warm and peaceful, Curtis?”

  She’d been cautious for no reason. Curtis wasn’t even looking in her direction. His head thrown back, he was staring up at the trees, specks of sunlight dappling his upturned face with gold. He was probably calculating the weight of one sunbeam on a leaf or something equally important, and she wouldn’t have disturbed him for the world…if he didn’t look so uncomfortable.

  Standing up, Eva took his head in her hands and slowly tipped it forward. His throat made a little clicking sound.

  “You’re welcome. Now, let me see.” Eva checked the time. It was almost lunchtime, but Curtis was on a different schedule and wouldn’t get his next feeding until two. Apparently the food paste they injected directly into his stomach took longer to digest, and she could wait until then. “I think you’ve done enough work for the moment, don’t you?”

  Curtis’s gaze flickered on her for an instant and moved on.

  “I know, you’d rather keep working, but even Stephen Hawking took a break now and then. And you know what they say about all work and no play.”

  Picking up the tablet, Eva closed the file and opened the game app.

  “You like this one, don’t you?” She turned the screen toward him. “I used to play this when you were a baby, but I was terrible at it. I could never get the blocks to go where I wanted them quick enough. It was frustrating, but I know you’re much better at it. I’ll just put it on demo mode until you’re ready.”

  Curtis’s left leg jerked but his eyes had found the screen and stayed there.

  How could they say he wasn’t better?

  * * *

  Arvada, Colorado / 10:22 a.m.

  One of the things Jessie loved about Steuben’s restaurant was the service.

  It felt like they hadn’t been sitting for more than just a few seconds before their orders were taken: Huevos Rancheros for Nigel (“I’m going to be here for a while so I’d better start eating cowboy food.” Abbie: “Tee-hee, tee-hee.” Jessie: ) and Avocado Goddess Toast for Abbie. Jessie had selected the humongous Smothered Breakfast Burrito in the hopes that it would provide enough distraction to ward off Nigel’s seemingly unlimited questions.

  Not that he should have had any more since the game of ‘Twenty Thousand Questions for Jessica Faith, the Brave’ they…he’d played on the ride over.

  But that became a moot point when Abbie, out of kindness or self-interest, dominated the pre, during and après-conversation with her own questions about the U.C.U.A. in England and what he liked to do in his spare time and if he’d like to go hiking in the high country because she just loved hiking in the high country…etc., etc., etc.

  While filling Jessie’s head with the lilting strains of ‘Kumbaya’.

  The girl had talent.

  Jessie was reaching for her cup of coffee when Nigel did his own reaching across the table and took her hand.

  “So, Jessica Faith.” He gave her a little wink. “How do you feel about hiking?”

  The sudden silence inside her head was almost painful. Jessie pulled her hand away and smiled.

  “I hate hiking,” she said, “and I like girls. Could you pass the cream, please?”

  Abbie choked on a crumb of avocado toast as he handed Jessie the creamer.

  “Thanks.”

  And turned his attention to Abbie.

  “So, Abigail, where will our first hike be?”

  Abbie glanced at Jessie as she wiped the crumbs from her mouth. Jessie, I….

  I lied.

  What?

  I really like hiking…and you’re welcome.

  They ignored her for the remainder of their meal.

  It was heaven.

  * * *

  Haverford, Pennsylvania / 1:43 p.m.

  “Help me! Please! My son!”

  Eva could feel her heart pounding against her rib cage and prayed it wouldn’t give out until she got him inside. Her legs had twisted out from under her once as she pushed the wheelchair up the deceptively steep incline. If she hadn’t been holding on to the chair handles she would have done worse than scrape the skin off her right knee.

  The wound felt like a hundred wasps were stinging her, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered but Curtis.

  “Help me!”

  Two male nurses or interns or whatever appeared out of nowhere – thank you, God, thank you – one grabbing her, the other trying to wrestle the wheelchair from her. Curtis didn’t move, hadn’t moved since she woke up.

  “Please, help me.”

  “I’m trying to, ma’am,” the man standing beside her said, “but you have to let go. I have him, it’s okay.”

  “He won’t wake up. I must have fallen asleep, but it couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. And we were in the shade. I made sure of that but when I woke up…the shade…his face was so red and he was shaking. That’s what woke me up, I heard the wheelchair shaking. I thought he was j
ust asleep, but he wouldn’t wake up. Why isn’t he waking up? Curtis? Curtis!”

  The man holding her pulled her away from the chair. “He’ll be okay, just let Jeff take him.”

  Eva let go of the handles and watched the man disappear with her son into the building.

  “I just closed my eyes for a few minutes.” She clung to the man’s arm as they continued slowly up the walk. “It couldn’t have been longer than that. Curtis hates the sun. You saw how red he is, that’s because he burns so easily. I didn’t think to bring any sunblock. Why didn’t I bring sunblock?”

  “It’s okay. Let’s just get you inside, okay? Jeff will see that Curtis is taken care of, I promise.”

  Eva looked at the man and nodded. “It was so warm and…. We both must have fallen asleep, but he won’t wake up.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” The man’s voice was very soft and gentle, a contrast to the strength she felt as he helped her walk. Her knee was really beginning to hurt; she couldn’t stop limping. “Are you okay?”

  “I slipped,” she said and for some reason that made her laugh. “I’m clumsy.” Eva stopped laughing. “Why did I fall asleep?”

  “You were probably tired.”

  Eva nodded; she still felt tired, almost too tired to walk, but she did – one foot after the other until they entered the building. The lobby was cold and so dark after the almost blinding sunlight she couldn’t see for a moment. But when she was finally able to, he wasn’t there.

  “Where’s my son? Where’s Curtis?”

  “I’ll go check, ma’am,” the man said and waved to the nurse at the reception desk. “Can we get a wheelchair over here?”

  “Curtis already has a wheelchair,” Eva told him.

  “This one’s for you,” he said, taking the one the reception nurse brought and helping Eva into it. “We need to take a look at your knee.”

  “It’s only a scrape.” Eva would have stood up and demanded they take her immediately to her son, if her legs hadn’t started to tremble. “Please, I need to see my son.”

  “I know, and I promise we’ll go find him as soon as we get you taken care of. You’ve got a pretty good sunburn too.”