Sleight

by Tom Twitchel

  Rubbing his hand over his face he frowned at me. “Unbelievable. And exactly how long have you been carrying around this dandy little piece of information?” He was getting himself pretty worked up.

  “Um, couple days. She’s only been at Kayla’s for like four or five days.”

  “Four—,” he paused, face getting red. “—days? She’s been back for days? What the hell has she been doing for the last month? Has this all been some asinine teenager runaway thing?”

  Regretting having told him I had no choice but to fill him in now. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. She wouldn’t tell me. She just wanted to see me.”

  Sticking the cigarette in his mouth he dug around in his pocket for his lighter, pulled it out and lit it. He scowled at me. “And have you?”

  “Have I what?”

  “Seen her!”

  Another choice. I decided to go halfway. “Yeah, through the peephole in my door. I didn’t open it. I was freaked out because she just showed up and she looked...”

  He blew smoke out of the corner of his mouth. “What? She looked what? Get it all on the table.”

  “She looked strange. Different. Her hair, her clothes, pretty much everything. I mean, she’s the same girl but I almost didn’t recognize her. And she was acting weird too.”

  “Acting weird how?” he took another long drag on his smoke, glaring at me.

  Good question I thought. Hard to describe. Sharp? Cranky? Demanding? “Kind of bitchy.”

  He snorted. “Really? That seems weird to you? How the hell old are you anyway?”

  “You don’t understand, she was the sweetest girl in school. Miss All-American. She never had a bad word for anyone. But she has all this...attitude now.”

  “Drugs.” He said shaking his head. “That’ll go over great with her hoity-toity parents. This Greenberg girl, she a druggie?”

  “No. And I don’t think Justine’s on drugs either. You grownups always chalk up attitude to drugs. I don’t want her parents knowing that I’m the one that told you she’s back. They’ll try to drag me into the whole thing and make it sound like I had something to do with her being missing.”

  “Relax. Doesn’t matter. I’ve got the address for the Greenberg’s. I’m going to swing by there. Tell ‘em I got a tip that Winters was seen in the neighborhood. The Greenberg kid has more to answer for than you. She’s been harboring her. How exactly are her folks feeling about that?”

  “They’re out of town,” I shrugged.

  “Of course they are,” he groused. “Okay, anything else? You got a tip on the Kennedy assassination?”

  “Hey, I told you right? That’s more than Kayla Greenberg’s done.”

  “Okay, we’re done here.” He looked at his car and then back at me, trying not to look at my bum leg. “You need a ride?”

  ‘Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth’ as mom used to say.

  “Yeah. That would be great.”

  I decided that letting him know I was going to be seeing Justine later wasn’t in my best interest. Now I needed to get in touch with her so that she wasn’t blind-sided.

  SEVENTEEN: I LIKED THE OLD YOU

  BY THE TIME I got back to my apartment building it was almost five o’clock. I hadn’t picked up my mail in a few days and was waiting on something important. When I’d texted Justine I’d told her to leave Kayla’s right away and to come to Goodturn’s as quickly as possible. She’d told me that she had already left and I breathed easier. I’d be able to confess to telling Danton about her in person instead of over the phone. Hustling in to the lobby I went to my mailbox, and threw away all of the junk addressed to my mom which left me with a letter from Roosevelt. Not what I’d been hoping for. Stuffing the envelope in my back pocket I headed back out and over to Goodturn’s.

  When I got back to my bedroom in Mr. G’s apartment Kenwoode and Breno were out so I opened the letter from Roosevelt High. It was brief and to the point: my extended fall vacation was nearing an end.

  They were requiring an update from my mother as to when I was going to return to school. Problem there: my non-existent mother was going to be existentially challenged with providing a response. I’d been hoping I could stretch it out through the end of the month but it didn’t look like that was going to happen. Groaning I plugged in an alarm for Monday morning since it looked like I was headed back to class.

  Tossing the letter on the nightstand I decided to check on Mr. Goodturn before I headed downstairs to wait for Justine. Goodturn’s was more public than my apartment but there were long stretches of time where no one walked in, and it was closed. With Kenwoode out, I would be alone with her, no witnesses, and she might be seriously bent about my spilling to Danton.

  Feeling conflicted about it I filled my pocket with a dozen marbles, my favorite makeshift ammunition, as I left my room. I walked down the hall to Mr. Goodturn’s room, opening the door quietly and poked my head in. He looked peaceful. His breathing was smooth and regular.

  My eyes drifted to the three monkeys clock and I wondered again why Kenwoode had brought it upstairs. It couldn’t be for the same sentimental reason that Breno had mentioned. The second sweep hand was moving steadily, and the glass eyes of monkeys one and two shone in the dimly lit room. It was frustrating that Mr. G had seemed to make huge progress, and then during the last two days there had been nothing more.

  I reached out hoping for the best:

  Mr. Goodturn. How are you doing?

  No response.

  I closed the door quietly behind me and headed for the service elevator. Every time I left his apartment I felt a sense of loss, but I tried to boost my spirits with the knowledge that he was doing better. We had a lot to talk about when he came around.

  I was having a hard time digesting what Kenwoode had told me. Mr. G was centuries, as in plural, old. How much knowledge does someone acquire over centuries? And how much money? Kenwoode had alluded to “astonishing” wealth. And what about the people that had been important to him that he had been forced to watch grow old and die while he remained young?

  The rickety elevator bumped to a stop and jolted me back to the present. I walked through the narrow hall that led to the main area of the shop. The dust didn’t seem any thicker than the day before but it was still depressing.

  I’d had been many great experiences in the shop. A lot of ‘firsts’. And more conversations with Mr. Goodturn than I could count. Maddy and I had spent dozens of rainy afternoons in the shop browsing, her looking at records, me looking through old paperback books, Mr. G tinkering with something.

  I sighed. Thinking about the shop being alive with customers and friends was hard when I hadn’t opened it for the third day in a row. With the lights set on ‘closed’ mode there was only an overhead light over the counter and another in the small office. The lighting made the interior look colorless and the antiques seem even older and duller.

  I’d agreed to meet Justine for a couple of reasons: to find out if she was aware of how different she was now, and to figure out where she’d been; because if she was under Sonja’s influence it would be better to know it sooner than later. If she wasn’t, she needed to know what her new eye color meant, and what came with her new ability.

  Either way I figured that it wouldn’t matter if I shared some of my knacks with her. Not all of them and definitely not my biggest secret. There was something else motivating me to take a risk with her: Maddy’s disconnecting with me. It hurt even to think about it. L.A. was far away and there was a reason why there are so many stories about long distance relationships not working out. Especially when the two people are in their teens and aren’t really in a relationship. I’d looked at her online social pages. Recently posted photos of her with new friends, especially one guy who was featured in a lot of them, had left me feeling hollow. I was short on friends, and I couldn’t afford to throw one away.

  My mind was on that emotional cliff when Justine appeared at the front door and tapped on the glass. It
was drizzling outside and she bounced from one foot to the other waving to me. She was wearing jeans and a dark blue hooded overcoat. White tufts of hair peeked out from under the hood, framing her face. Her makeup and clothing were more subdued than the last time I’d seen her.

  I flipped the deadbolt and held the door open for her. She pushed back the hood and shook out her short hair which barely moved. Unzipping her hoodie she looked up at me.

  “Why thank you, Benny how sweet!” she practically sang. For a second it seemed like she was the girl I’d sat next to in homeroom.

  “Hey,” I responded.

  Slowly spinning on her heel she looked around and appraised the shop. “Hmm. Kind of cool, kind of meh.” She glanced at me. “How did you get in here? Do you know the owner?”

  “Yeah, we’re friends.”

  Nodding appreciatively she spun around again. “That’s impressive. And he trusts you to be in here alone? That’s pretty awesome.” She stopped and smiled at me, showing lots of teeth as she rocked back on her heels and swung her arms in an exaggerated arc. “Sooo, what are we gonna do in here all by ourselves with no adult supervision?”

  Right back to the flirty Justine in a heartbeat. “I thought we could talk in Mr. Goodturn’s office.” I pointed to the doorway at the far end of the long glass counter.

  “Sounds like a plan. Lead the way!” she laughed. Her spirit was completely different from the conflicted girl who had said goodbye to me two days ago. It made me wary.

  We walked back to Mr. G’s office and I took a seat in his old wooden desk chair, leaving the even older metal folding chair next to the desk for Justine. She sat down and pulled her legs up under her, sitting cross-legged. Looking around she took in all of the gizmos and doodads cluttering the floor to ceiling shelves. She wrinkled her nose and gave me a lopsided grin.

  I asked, “You seem pretty happy, what’s up?”

  She rocked slightly, smiling at me. “Wellll, I’ve made a decision,” she said, her lavender eyes glowing.

  My stomach started churning and a chill ran down my back. “A decision? Uh, must be pretty big.”

  Leaning forward she placed her hand on my knee, eyes sparkling and grinning wide she whispered, “It is. I’ve decided that I’m going to embrace the new me.”

  EIGHTEEN: GIVE IT TO ME STRAIGHT

  IT WAS ALL I could do to keep myself from jumping out of my chair. What exactly did that mean? Her fingers squeezed my leg and she leaned closer.

  “I’m not waiting for you to make up your mind anymore, Benny. I’ve made up my mind.”

  I started to get up but she moved even closer and put her hand on my chest. “Wait,” she said. “Hear me out. I’ve been going through this transition. So many things about me just feel different. And I kind of like it. Really like it actually. I’m not waiting on the things I want to do anymore, or the things I want to say either.”

  My hand sought out the marbles in my pocket and I palmed a couple.

  “I love you. There I said it. It’s out there. You don’t have to take the first step and you don’t even have to say it back. Not right away. Whatever is holding you back I want it to go away. Unless it’s Maddy...and then...then I guess I step back and let you go to her, because that’s what love is right? Wanting whatever is best for the person you care so much about.” She sat there her eyes bright and full.

  On the one hand I was tremendously relieved. I let go of the marbles and withdrew my hand from my pocket. I’d thought I was two seconds from getting turned into the equivalent of a zombie. Then again, now I had been put on the spot, the same one she’d had me on a couple of times. She had given me an out, sort of, by telling me I didn’t need to respond in kind. But every guy on the planet knows how that works.

  “Justine, I—” I started.

  “Benny, stop. Don’t say anything right away. Think about it. That’s all I’m asking. And I’m ready to tell you a little bit about where I’ve been and what’s happened to me,” she said.

  I could see the vulnerability in her eyes and despite my nerves it made her less threatening and more like the girl I knew.

  “I’ve got some stuff to tell you too,” I said. “There are things I want to tell you. I’m going to be straight with you. Things not many people know about. I’m willing to make a leap of faith too but it’s going to take some time to discuss it and it’s going to sound crazy.”

  She leaned back and loosened her grip on my leg. “Okay, I’m listening.”

  I started by beginning with moving into the apartment building next door. I left out the significant fact that I lived on my own and my ‘mom’ was a cover. I told her about discovering my knacks, not all of them, and how I used them to make money by performing magic in the parks. She raised her eyebrows but didn’t interrupt me. I skipped over parts that would reveal too much which made sharing any of it tricky. When I got to Sonja and her pursuing me she interrupted.

  “Wait, what now? This is the woman who hired those goons that kidnapped us? And she was after you why?” To say she looked skeptical would be an understatement.

  “She has a knack, an ability of her own. Two actually. One allows her to sense knacks in other people; the other one steals knacks and pretty much turns that person into a vegetable.” It sounded ridiculous even to me.

  “Seriously? And her eyes are lavender? Like mine are now? Is this the part of the story where you tell me I’m like her? Because that’s just...that’s stupid. I don’t feel like there’s anything different about me,” she said, her arms crossed over her chest and her lips pressed together in a tight line.

  There didn’t seem to be any choice but to plow forward. “You are though. When I passed out downtown the other day? That was you unintentionally using your knack. In fact, even our attraction to each other is partially influenced by the fact that we both have them.”

  Eyes wide, she said, “You’re attracted to me?”

  Seriously, that was her take away? “You know I am. When you wrote in my yearbook, ‘more than meets the eye’ you said, that was probably your knack curiosity, sort of like a personal magnetism sensing my abilities.”

  A smirk slowly spread across her face. “I like the part about you finding me attractive, but the other stuff? I knew you were a bit of a nerd, we both are, but you can’t seriously expect me to believe any of that.”

  I decided to be more direct and reached out mentally.

  Can you hear this?

  Nothing.

  She just sat there, so she was one of the many that couldn’t converse with me telepathically. I’d have to try something else and probably flashier than a card trick.

  “Okay, hang on.” I fished a marble out of my pocket and held it in my hand. “Watch.” Focusing my telekinetic knack I influenced all of the space around the marble and made it rise out of my hand and remain suspended in midair.

  Her eyes widened and her smirk faded. “That’s...how are you doing that?” She glanced at the ceiling and then at the space between my extended palm and the marble.

  Putting my hand down, I kept the marble floating. “Watch the marble. No wires and no tricks. It’s all me.” Changing the influence I caused the marble to shoot across the room and imbed itself in the wall. While she was doing the jaw-drop I manifested again and made a block of plastic with a half dollar coin inside it float off a shelf and move toward us where I let it gently descend to the top of the desk.

  “Pick it up,” I said. “Run your hands over it. No wires. No trick.”

  Hesitantly picking up the plastic cube she turned it over in her hands. Frowning, she set it back on the desk and looked at me.

  “How are you doing it? I mean, I’ve seen stuff like this on TV. You say it isn’t a trick, but...”

  She was a hard sell. Probably because if she admitted I had a knack, she would have to consider that what I had said about hers was true. I stretched out a hand and pushed back her sleeve to expose her bare skin. “Look at your arm.”

  Glancing at h
er arm and then flicking her eyes back to mine she raised her eyebrows.

  “Focus on your arm,” I directed.

  Once I was satisfied that she was concentrating on her bare arm I manifested my knack illusion, causing a vivid blue heart to appear on her skin. I expected her to jump or scream. Instead she sat there with her mouth hanging open and then clomped her mouth shut, slowly lifting her head to make eye contact with me.

  Her eyes were welling up. “Benny, how are you doing this?” I broke my concentration and the heart disappeared.

  I reached out and took her hands in mine. “Justine, I really don’t know exactly. I discovered that I could do...things...a couple of years ago. We aren’t the only ones. There are others but they’re few and far between. Sonja, the woman who’s been after me, she’s been doing this for a long time.” A tear brimmed over and slid down her cheek. “I’m your friend. I’ll stick by you but to help you I need to know where you’ve been and what you know about what happened to you.”

  She pulled her sleeve over her hand and used it to wipe at the tear. “Is Maddy like you? Like us?”

  “No.” That was her biggest concern?

  She frowned and bobbed her head. “I woke up in a clinic. It’s in Tacoma or Puyallup I think. I could smell a pulp mill, so that’s where I’m guessing it was. It was strictly low tech. The doctors there, I don’t even know if they were real doctors, they wouldn’t tell me who had brought me, only that my expenses were taken care of by someone.”

  “When you left, how did that work? Did you run away?” I asked.

  Shrugging she leaned her head back and waved a hand at her face, trying to hold back more tears. “No. I was doped up while I was there. What I remember is kind of jumbled. They just came to me and told me I was ready to go. Asked me who my best friend was, and where she lived. Stuck me in a car with a bag over my head and dropped me off in front of Kayla’s. It was at night and I know we passed that pulp mill, the smell was horrendous.”