by Susan Lowry
Kevin gaped at her. “Difficult? That’s how you describe what this is for me?”
“Shhh… Kevin.” She put her hand on his leg and began to massage it.
He pushed her away. “Telepathy eh? That bullshit is just something people used to do who were desperate for attention, or… to make a lot of money. To get famous even. But it isn’t real! At first I thought the lot of you were as crazy as the rest of those phonies. But then, when Travis… I. Just fess up Lucy. I’m getting fed up with this.”
“Then tell me how we did it?”
His mind was spinning, trying to find that piece of the puzzle that was missing; he was usually so good at figuring things out, at finding the link so that things made sense, so there was logic involved. But like all the other times he’d tried in this case, he just couldn’t do it.
“I’m so sorry Kevin. It took me a long time to understand that people find what Travis and I have… impossible to accept. I tried. Believe me I tried! You still don’t understand. The kind of thing you’re talking about – reading minds, talking to the deceased, predicting the future – there were a lot of people who claimed they could do those things, and others who so wanted it to exist that… yes they would pay for it. But, none of us have those kinds of gifts, Kevin. And as far as Trav and I knew back then, it was only the two of us. Besides, we enjoyed keeping it private. It was our little secret that nobody in the whole world could ruin.”
“What about Rose and Kate and the others? Why didn’t you send messages to them?”
Lucy was sitting cross-legged now, rocking herself gently as she spoke. “Maybe this will make you feel better. Rose, Kate and Sarah, and the men, none of them – not once did they realize they had telepathy until after the plague, when there was no one else to talk to and everything got so horribly quiet. Don’t think they will ever be able to ping the way Trav and I can, though.”
“Ping?”
“That’s just what we call it,” Lucy giggled.
“Ping,” Kevin repeated with a sarcastic tone.
“Ping,” he said again. They were both silent while he thought about it.
“Why am I the only one who can’t… uh… ping?” he finally taunted sullenly.
“That’s the strange thing about you Kevin. We thought all the survivors were telepathic. But you proved us wrong. So sorry darling… I really am!”
“And our kid?” Kevin requested.
He could see that she was trying to process a flood of thoughts that had hit her all at once.
“But… I’ll love it more than anything in the world! Everyone has their disadvantages, in some form… or another.”
“Ya… well, stuck in a world where everyone can read your mind doesn’t sound like my idea of a good time. How’s that gonna work for our baby? Told you I had a bad feeling about this.”
“Aren’t you listening? I told you Kevin. We can’t read your mind! That would be terrible! I wouldn’t blame you for being upset.”
She suddenly looked amused and full of pity all at the same time. Did he appear that vulnerable and defenseless, or even comical to her? And then he saw her try to push whatever she was feeling about him away, to hide it from him.
“Hon… I’m so sorry. But I promise you. It doesn’t work that way. None of us read anyone else the way you think. It’s very simple darling. We open up – kind of like a valve, and decide to let you in. It doesn’t fly out of us without control… well, only at certain times, like what happened to poor Travis… his unconscious cried out to us. It is a perfect reflection of what we see and feel and know, without any distortion, like say, an echo would have… much more exact than that. That’s what is so good about it. There is nothing like it to show someone the absolute truth.”
“You mean you can’t lie?”
“No! Of course not –”
Lucy’s eyes widened and she suddenly put her head in her hands, full of despair. “Oh God. I should have paid attention.”
Kevin was puzzled.
“I knew something was up with him, because he was refusing to ping. It was obvious he was hiding something. Why did I ignore it? I was just too caught up in my own problems.”
She began to weep again. “If only I had talked to him, he might not be lying in that bed. He can’t even tell us what he was up to anymore, and I — I’m to blame for this Kevin. What kind of mother am I going to be?”
***
(November 21st)
Kevin was riding in the back seat with a pile of new winter clothing beside him; boots, shoes and smaller items rattled in the trunk as they swerved back down the road to the lake. Christopher was driving and Kevin glared at the back of the man’s head as the man spoke.
“I mean come on Kevin… it’s not like you are still fourteen? For someone who claims to be so adamant about not reproducing, what could you have been thinking? It’s a miracle you survived Lucy, with everything you’ve put yourself through.”
Lucy was sitting in the front beside him. “Just stop it Christopher!” she interjected. “It was my fault, okay? I didn’t think it was that time of the month; but, I should have taken a morning-after pill anyway. I admit it. I told Kevin I would, and then I didn’t.”
Her natural-blonde hair tossed as she twisted around to look at Kevin. But he could not believe she was being sincere. It all seemed to be a ploy.
“Like I told you Kevin, I – I was scared the pill wouldn’t work, that if I actually had conceived, it would only hurt my child – because the medicine had expired. I didn’t want to end up with a sick baby. I wasn’t lying when I said I’d take it, honestly. I thought I would Kevin, but, in the end… I just couldn’t bring myself to.”
“What were you doing with a morning-after pill in the first place,” Chris wanted to know.
“Oh well it wasn’t like I purposely made a trip into town to get them you know Christopher, just in case. But there happened to be a package of them in one of the hotel rooms.”
Kevin watched Chris adjust his sunglasses while navigating the bumpy road. “If truth be told,” Chris sighed regretfully, “I’m more upset with myself than Kevin, for encouraging the two of you to get together. I just felt so damn bad for you Lucy… when I moved in with Sarah. At least he’s closer to your age, and I thought his company would help.”
Kevin did not buy this sudden turn around; it was not only a feeble attempt at an apology – it was a cover-up for the true story. He couldn’t keep his feelings in a second longer.
“I suspected the worst before I came here,” he began, furiously. But I took a chance on you people, since I was out of options. I even trusted you Lucy. But, I’ve been waiting for the truth three whole months now. I was patient with all of you man… but no, I got nothing, no truth from any of you.”
“Kevin, I thought we resolved all that,” Lucy protested, putting in a good attempt to look shocked, Kevin thought.
“Don’t interrupt,” he said. “The truth only came out because of Travis’ accident – otherwise, I suppose I’d still be left guessing about that. And, for two weeks now, I’ve been trying to accept it. But you can’t blame me for wondering what else you’re holding back.”
“Well, there isn’t anything else, Kevin,” Lucy retorted.
“Oh yeah? What about Hannah? Eh? Her car is in your parking lot for fuck’s sake.”
“The pick-up you mean? Jack brought that back from town. We needed it. Who the hell is Hannah?!” Lucy appeared legitimately confused.
Kevin wished he could see behind Christopher’s glasses. If Lucy did know something about Hannah, she was sure good at hiding it; he was almost convinced.
“This conversation needs to stop,” Chris said.
“No problem. I’m out of here as soon as we get back. You people are hiding things from me, and whatever it is… I don’t even want to know anymore.”
“Kevin! Our baby!”
Lucy was in tears now. Chris braked abruptly, shifted to park, and turned to face Kevin. “Look, things are n
ot what you think.”
“Who is Hannah?!” Lucy demanded, sobbing into her hands.
Chris squeezed her shoulder. “Lucy, please don’t cry; we didn’t want you to be upset. We were trying to protect you.”
“From what?!” she shouted. “Tell me what is going on.”
Chris sighed and shook his head, “Sarah and Kate and Travis don’t know either,” he admitted.
“Jesus,” Kevin snapped. “What happened to her?”
“We found her in Rose’s yard, back at the beginning of July,” Chris said with a sigh.
Kevin found it difficult to control his surging anger. “Why would you keep that from me for three whole months?!!” he demanded.
“I could ask you the same thing,” Chris retorted. “Why didn’t you tell us you were with her? You had plenty of opportunity but you never mentioned her. We had no proof but we were pretty certain you had been.”
“Jesus,” Kevin said.
“You never mentioned her. We were waiting, hoping you would say something and we couldn’t help be suspicious that you hid that. But even then – we gave you the benefit of the doubt. Just in case you didn’t know her. She had the plague and we didn’t want everyone to feel threatened by it again – including you. What good would it do for you to have to live in fear of that again?”
Kevin was shocked. “Hannah thought… since you all survived, that you had the antidote or something far-fetched like that. She was desperate when she came here man. She didn’t trust you, until she had no other options, and then… I guess she thought you maybe had a cure for her too. She thought you caused it man.”
“Caused the plague, you mean?” Christopher uttered.
“We fought about coming here. I wanted to, but she suspected something was wrong with you people. I wonder now if I should have listened. I was desperate too… when I finally came.”
“Kevin! What are you thinking?” Lucy sobbed. “You are so wrong about us.”
“I’m truly sorry you are pregnant Lucy. There should be no more humans born in this world. I certainly didn’t want to be responsible for that. It sickens me to think that my offspring is going to suffer so much. But I know when I’ve been suckered. You’re a good actor, that’s about all I can say.”
“What on earth do you mean?”
“I saw what you did for Travis. You healed him with your minds. All of you, meditating together; or, whatever it was you were doing. You see Lucy, you did convince me that your so-called pings are real! So why didn’t you do the same for Hannah then, eh? You could have saved her too.”
Chris turned around again. “We found her dead Kevin. It was too late. And it was the plague. I highly doubt we could have done a thing about that.”
Kevin blinked. They’d held back too much for too long. He and Hannah had already been deceived before the plague, he couldn’t forget about that nasty little incident – it still confused the hell of him – but he would not be at all surprised if these people had something to do with that too.
Yet, Chris was intent on convincing Kevin to trust him. “Listen Kevin, try to see it from our perspective. We had begun to suspect that our telepathy gene was linked to our immunity. We thought we were safe and that our children would be too. Then you and Hannah came along. Until then, the only survivors we knew existed were telepathic. But your survival disproved that theory. And Hannah’s relapse made us rethink our immunity altogether.”
“Jesus… you’re saying, that if our baby has my genes, it could get the plague. I hadn’t thought of that one.”
Lucy was staring through the windshield blankly, rocking herself slightly.
Chris shook his head in frustration. “I’m saying – any one of us could get the plague. But yes, it’s because of your genes that I’m so upset about Lucy’s pregnancy. We don’t know anything for certain anymore. It’s just too confusing,” Christopher said.
Lucy finally spoke robotically. “If I’d known about this Hannah dying, that the plague had returned… oh, I would have taken that pill for certain.”
“We were trying to spare you the agony of worrying about that deadly virus returning pumpkin. You said you had no interest in Kevin and after we’d decided that you and I were going to try soon, I — I never thought you would allow this to happen!”
“So that’s why you offered to father my child? Just to get me to stay away from Kevin?”
“Lucy, I was doing what was best for all of us.”
Lucy was beside herself. “Does this mean we’re all going to die? You impregnate Sarah and allow Jack to try with Rose, even after knowing the plague has returned? Oh no… and now my baby too! Does it even have a chance?”
“We can’t sit and wait for the worst Lucy. We have to continue on, doing what it takes to survive. We could wait until we are all too old to ever reproduce, and then find out it would have been okay. Then we’d be certain the human race would become extinct, now wouldn’t we?!”
Chapter Twenty-Five
More Surprises
(November 23rd, Year Two, PA)
Rose ran so fast she nearly tripped over the shrinking head she’d left to rot in her yard, its orange pumpkin flesh disfigured with creeping brown and gray decay, the face Travis had carved into it just a few nights before his accident, withered, and half buried in a drift of leaves, its warping triangular eyes and nose peering up at her dejectedly.
The wind whistled in her ears as she raced down to the trail by the lake, barely glancing at the waves whooshing urgently to shore, crashing over the docks and knocking the boats to and fro. Turning towards Sarah’s house, she skipped up the stone steps two at a time and ran across the patchy lawn.
She was out of breath when Chris — already wise to what had happened — opened his door, stretched his arms around her with a firm squeeze, and then let her go.
She was barely able to get her words out coherently. “Oh… he’s upset about his leg, not being able to get out of bed, and so on and so on. But he remembers me!!! He talked about all of us, as if he’d never forgotten a thing!”
Sarah came barreling out of the other room so quickly she nearly slid into her. “Oh Rose, this is wonderful news!”
For a moment, all Rose could do was smile and nod.
Sarah squealed and jumped in the air. “I knew he would come through – I just knew it!!!”
The three of them laughed simultaneously.
“He woke up – just like his old self. We talked for a while… doesn’t remember what happened yet so, I had to do some explaining. I’m sorry my dears, but I – I’ve got to go – Travis doesn’t want to be alone. Come over right away. He wants to see everyone!”
This time as Rose took the short-cut across her lawn she kicked the pumpkin over a few feet so it was out of the way and it sank into the pile of leaves with the twisted face staring up at the sky. When she opened the front door Travis was calling from his bedroom, “Is Kate coming?”
“She’s on the way my dear,” Rose promised, going straight back to his side.
“She doesn’t have to look after Snowy for me now that I’m home… does she? Can she bring him with her?”
***
Rose seemed truly sad about everything that was happening to Travis – as regretful as he, almost – especially sorry that he’d not been with them to help lay Snowy to rest. She sat beside him explaining what had occurred while he had been sleeping until Lucy knocked at the front door. Travis stashed his soggy tissues under his pillow before she got to his room.
“Hi Lucy,” he said. She blinked at him and burst into tears. She did not look well at all, worse than him, he thought. He knew what she’d done for him and that made him weep even harder and he needed to blow his nose again.
The astronaut and Sarah arrived after that, then Jack, Kate and Ben. Finally Kevin squeezed past everyone to get to his side. They were so happy that he was getting better that they kept giving him hugs and kisses and stayed a long while. Even with what had happened to Snowy, he was
feeling a little better just having everyone there with him.
***
He detested his debilitating cast already, two more weeks in bed seemed nearly impossible. The thought of a wheel chair after that was not so bad. Jack told him it would be at least a month before he’d be walking again.
He was so drained and bad-tempered he did not even want to play games on his touch-screen most of the time. When he wasn’t sleeping he was trying to understand how he could have fallen from a railway bridge onto rocks – he hated high places and it seemed highly implausible.
He remembered the chipmunk in his camera’s viewfinder and clicking the shutter – excited about the painting he and Kate would create from an image which had supposedly been lost in the river. But that was all. Not even the slightest recollection came after that no matter how much he thought about it.
Since he slept a lot, it took him several days to discover something strange was going on with Rose, who, right in the middle of a conversation, would sometimes disappear into her own inner-world and walk away, later pretending she had thought of something important that needed immediate attention. Quite certain he knew what that was all about, he didn’t press for an explanation. But that’s when his real troubles began.
Now that his head was not so fuzzy he wanted to ping. What had he really missed all those days he’d been sick? Words had only left him confused. Connecting that way was far superior and would help him put the pieces of this strange puzzle back together so he could come to terms with his unlucky fate once and for all.
Yet Rose went about her day unaware he was trying to reach her. It was horribly distressing. Lucy didn’t hear him either and he felt a growing panic with each failed attempt. He was afraid, and then mortified to discover he’d completely lost his ability ping.
Rose explained it was only temporary and that his head just needed time to rest. She made him a special batch of chocolate brownies. But he couldn’t eat much of anything for days. He was not at all convinced she was right.