Kallie frowned. “I don't understand. Then why did she come here?”
“You really don't know?”
“No,” Kallie sighed.
Madame Isabel reached across the table and took Kallie's hands into her own. “She came here about you.”
Kallie pulled back, bringing her hands in. “Me? What about me?”
“When your mother found out the cancer would eventually take her life, her main concern became your wellbeing. She'd known about you since your birth.”
“What about me?”
“You have ability,” Madame Isabel said in measured tones. “A very unique ability.”
“I don't understand,” Kallie said.
Madame Isabel pushed back from the table and stood up. “Follow me.”
Kallie hesitated, but then slowly got up and followed Madame Isabel down a hallway. She was led into a backroom where Madame Isabel removed a quilted throw rug from the center of the room, revealing a basement door. Kallie followed her down into the basement where they were greeted by a tall, muscled man with a thick gray beard. “This is my husband, Jack,” Madame Isabel said.
Jack looked at Kallie curiously and then anxiously glanced behind her and up the stairs. “It's okay,” Madame Isabel said to him. “You can leave us now.”
Jack's face softened. He looked back at Kallie, offering her a half smile before climbing the stairs.
“My husband's a little overprotective,” Madame Isabel offered.
“He doesn't talk much?” Kallie said.
“Only when he has something to say,” Madame Isabel said.
The basement felt dank and a little drafty. Kallie shuddered, wondering what she was about to find out. Madame Isabel pointed to a chair pushed under a small card table. Kallie sat down in the chair, looking anxiously at Madame Isabel.
Madame Isabel sat opposite of Kallie at the table. “You are a very special young lady.”
“Really?” Kallie said.
“Yes,” Madame Isabel continued. “Very special.”
“Like mentally challenged special?”
“No, it's nothing like that. Much of it I can't tell you now. Consciously you're not ready to receive it. But what I can tell you is that it's related to your déjà vu sensations.”
Startled, Kallie asked, “How do you know about those?”
“I have a gift similar to yours, albeit on a much smaller scale.”
“Did you say gift? What kind of gift?”
Madame Isabel reached over to her left and retrieved a thick book from a stand lined against the wall. She placed the book on the table between them and looked intently at Kallie. “It's the gift of remembering.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The next morning Kallie overslept, awakening with only enough time to rush-brush her teeth, take a quick wash up of the vitals, and to throw on the same clothes she'd worn the day before. Luckily, on her way to campus, she hit the traffic flow just right, making it through every traffic light without once having to stop. She was able to get to Professor Sampson's class just before he closed the door.
She'd spent the rest of Sunday afternoon at Madame Isabel's house and didn't start the drive back to Bengate until well past eight o'clock. When she'd gotten back to her room, she'd immediately powered up her computer and typed in the search term, eternal return. She'd found a wealth of information on the subject and had stayed up most of the night reading through it all. Whether she believed any of it or not was another matter.
She ghost-sat through the rest of the day's classes, taking notes she doubted she'd be able to fully decipher later. She'd been too occupied with what Madame Isabel had told her and what she herself had discovered on the internet to concentrate on any of the lectures. By late afternoon, she was mentally exhausted. As she approached her car, she vaguely recalled talking to Seth after their morning class. But she couldn't for the life of her remember what it had been about. All she wanted to do now was get home and sleep a couple of hours, and then continue her research on eternal return.
“Kallie!” Someone shouted her name from behind her just as she retrieved her car keys from her purse. She turned around and saw Josh waving and jogging toward her.
“I thought that was you,” he said as he approached her. He was breathing a little heavier than a twenty-foot jog should've required. “Is everything okay?” he asked between breaths.
“I'm fine,” she said. “But you don't seem to be.”
“Yeah, I really should cut back.”
“Smoking?”
“Nah, sitting around.” He took a deep breath. “Ah, that feels good. What did your doctor say?”
“He confirmed the seizures. But he's confident it's something we can handle.”
“That's great. Will you still be able to participate on the project?”
“I hadn't thought about it. Would you guys still want me to? I mean, with my déjà vu supposedly being related to seizures and all?”
“The project's not just about déjà vu,” Josh said. “You still have a brain and we're still essentially studying the brain.”
“Well yeah, I guess I still do have a brain. We'll see,” she said. She offered him a friendly smile before turning back to her car.
“Uh,” Josh said. “I was kinda hoping I could buy you a sandwich or something. We usually buy our test subjects lunch and we were going to get you dinner the other day, but of course that didn't work out with your, uh…”
She looked over her shoulder. “Yeah, the seizure, right. Look, it's really sweet of you, Josh, but it's totally unnecessary. Besides, I'm really tired, maybe some other time.”
“Yeah, sure,” he said with strained cheerfulness.
She turned back to her car and then paused before turning back to him. “On second thought, I could eat a sandwich.”
Josh smiled. “Did I sound that pathetic?”
Staving off sleep and conveniently forgetting the tightly sealed leftovers she'd brought back from home yesterday, she said, “Not at all. I just remembered that as a poor college kid I ought not to turn down too many opportunities for a free meal.”
Josh laughed. “I know that's right.”
They drove their individual cars, her Honda following behind his Taurus. Figures, Kallie thought ten minutes later as he pulled into Quiggy's. It was the same sandwich shop that she and Seth had eaten at last week. Evidently, the place was 'the spot' amongst Bengate students. A fact Kallie might have known had she not dropped out of school during her first semester last year or had had some semblance of a social life this year.
As she walked up to the counter to order, she remembered how good the Reuben had been and considered ordering it again. But today's special sounded absolutely divine. It was a Club Croissant—smoked turkey, shaved ham, crisp bacon strips, melted provolone, with lettuce, tomatoes, and red onion all stuffed into a flaky croissant. It came with a drink and a choice of either chips or fries. Both she and Josh ordered the special with fries. For her drink, she went with the sweet tea, while Josh ordered a Coke. She found a table by the window as Josh paid for the food and then brought it over.
Their conversation was just as pleasant and seamless today as it had been last week. Josh really was a great conversationalist and an even better listener. Obviously sensing that she didn't want to discuss epilepsy or seizures, he astutely stayed clear of those topics.
She took another bite of her sandwich and then finally asked him, “Why did you major in religion?”
Josh stuffed a fry into his mouth. “What you're really asking is what I plan to do with the degree?”
Kallie giggled. “Well, yeah. Sorry, I didn't mean to laugh. I guess I really shouldn't since I haven't even decided on a major yet.”
“Nah, it's a fair question. I know when they hear that I have a religion degree most people think I'm some type of Christian freak or am vying to one day be pope or something. But the truth is I'm not even what you'd consider as fundamentally religious.”
“Fund
amentally religious?” she repeated. “That's not a phrase you hear every day.”
“What I mean by that is that I'm not an ultraconservative, right wing Bible-thumper. In fact, I don't belong to any church. I haven't even been baptized. So obviously I don't have any designs on becoming a preacher or the pope.”
A corner of her lips curved upward, forming a half smile. “I'll ask again, why study religion?”
“It's not obvious?”
“No, I'm afraid it's not,” she answered curtly.
He furrowed his brow and bopped himself on the forehead playfully. “Funny, I thought it would be. Well, I studied religion and psychology because of my fascination with people. I'm curious about why people think the way they do. Why they believe in what they believe in or don't believe in. I don't think there's any better way to learn about people than by learning about their religion.”
“Interesting,” she said. “But wouldn't that only let you learn about some people? I mean, not everyone is religious. Some people don't even believe in God.”
Josh sipped his soda. “You see. That's a misconception right there. Religion isn't really about God. At least it's not just about God. Religion is what a people believe in. Everyone believes in something, even if that something is to not to believe in anything, including a higher power. While some people may believe in God, others may only believe in nature.” He pointed to a saltshaker on the table. “Some people might worship that. Their God might not be an omniscient presence from the heavens. It may be nature, science, an inanimate object, or nothing at all. To me, religion is not just belief in whatever. It's also non-belief in whatever. In other words, I feel that some people may religiously choose to disbelieve. And that to me is their religion.”
“I kinda get your point,” she said.
“Good,” he said smiling. “I'd hate to have to get out the charts.”
They ate in silence for a while and then she asked, “What do you know about eternal return?”
He chewed slowly, studying her for a moment. “As in the universe will recur?”
“Yeah,” she said. “Do you think that's possible?”
“It's the prevalent belief in most Indian religions, such as Hinduism and Buddhism. But none of the Abrahamic religions believes in a recurring universe. For them, it's one universe, one lifetime, one timeline.”
“But what about you? Do you believe it could happen?”
“I don't know. I suppose it could. It makes as much sense as any religious belief.”
Kallie glanced around the sandwich shop. It was getting close to dinnertime and the place was starting to fill up. “It sounds like a crazy thought to me. And it sure doesn't square with the Bible.”
“I wouldn't necessarily say that,” Josh said.
“Listen, my grandmother dragged me to enough Bible studies in my day, and I can assure you that there's nothing in it about recurring time. I'm sure Pastor Martin would've mentioned it at least once. He could've kept some people awake with that bit of information.”
“Do you know Revelation 22:13?”
She chuckled. “It's funny you would ask if I knew that particular verse. One time, I had to memorize it for Sunday school.” She straightened up in her chair and in a pronounced voice said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” She smiled. “That's the New International Version translation, thank you very much.”
Josh smiled. “I'm impressed.”
“Well, don't be. I can remember a lot of verses, but only because I was made to. I'm not Mother Teresa.”
“Okay,” he said. “I'm not exactly sure how to take that. But anyway, what does the first, the last and the beginning, and the end connote?”
She thought for a few minutes, but couldn't quite grasp what he was referring to. “I don't know,” she said finally.
“Think about it.”
“I have and I give up,” she said irritably.
“Time,” Josh said. “The first, the last, the beginning, and the end represent time. And how can time or anything be first and last simultaneously or both the beginning and the end unless it's joined together, like a circle. Think about a wall clock. Midnight becomes noon becomes midnight becomes noon. The world is round. The planets revolve around the sun. Take Halley's Comet. It comes into view from earth every seventy-five to seventy-six years. What do you think it's doing? Touching the end of a line and coming back? No, it's on a circular path. Everything in God's creation is circular. He announces himself, Alpha and Omega. That's a circular concept. Based on it alone, I would argue that even biblically speaking, time is circular, not linear.”
She slowly nodded her head. “That makes some sense I guess. But surely that verse couldn't possibly mean that.”
“It could have at one time,” he said.
“I don't understand.”
He looked at her curiously for a moment as if trying to decide if she was prepared for what he was about to say. “Remember that the Bible's words were often interpreted and sometimes manipulated by very knowledgeable and powerful men. And sometimes those men didn't trust laypeople with everything that they themselves had known.”
“Are you saying that there were Christians who believed in eternal return?”
“What I'm saying is….” He paused midsentence when he noticed the young man standing outside the shop, looking through the window at them. “Do you know him?” he asked Kallie.
Kallie turned and looked out the window. When she saw Seth standing there she suddenly remembered their conversation after class this morning. They'd agreed to a date for this evening at Quiggy's. Man, what this must look like to him, she thought. She smiled awkwardly and waved him inside. She turned back to Josh. “I'm sorry. But I was actually supposed to be here with him now.”
“You broke a date to be with me?” Josh said jokingly. “And brought me to the very spot you were supposed to meet. I'm flattered.”
“Hah, ha,” she said. “You chose the spot. Would you mind terribly if he joined us?”
“I won't if he won't,” Josh said.
A moment later, Seth stood at their table. “Sorry I'm late.” He eyed Josh suspiciously. “I'm real sorry.”
“Excuse me?” Kallie said.
“Our date,” Seth said strongly. “I'm a half-hour late. I called your cell phone to tell you I would be, but it kept going to voicemail.”
“I must've left it in the car. There's no need to apologize. I sort of forgot we made the date.” She nodded toward Josh. “Seth, this is Josh. He's a grad student in the Psychology department. Josh, Seth.” Reluctantly, Seth offered his hand and the two of them shook hands like little boys made to do so for not playing nice. “Join us,” she said.
“That's okay,” Seth said, eying the almost-gone sandwiches and just-about-finished drinks. “It looks like you two are about done anyway.”
“Go ahead and order something,” Kallie said.
Seth looked away for a brief moment as if trying to decide how big a deal to make the situation. “Okay,” he said sheepishly. “I'll go order something.” He turned stiffly and walked toward the counter.
“Nice meeting you,” Josh said to Seth's back. To which Seth threw up his hand without bothering to turn around.
After Seth had gotten out of earshot, Josh said, “Listen, I know this is awkward. So, I'm going to bail.”
“You don't mind?” Kallie said.
“Well, I do, sort of. But like you said, you two already had a date planned, and I do appreciate you spending part of it with me.” He stood to leave. “But I would like to finish our conversation.”
“So would I,” Kallie said.
“I'll see you at tomorrow's project session?”
“Sure thing,” Kallie said.
After Josh left, Seth returned to the table, carrying a food tray. “Sorry he had to leave,” he said in feigned disappointment.
“Yes, he had some other place to be.” She nodded toward his food. “You should hav
e gotten that to go.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Father McCarthy's rented Impala fell in smoothly behind the red Mustang as it left the sandwich shop trailing behind the Hunt girl's Honda. In the past week, McCarthy had racked up hundreds of miles. After learning from Swag about demonic openings, he'd traveled to Rock Hill, South Carolina, to the home of Bishop Boland for confirmation. After that, he traveled back to Bengate. He'd wanted to speak again with Swag in person before making the trip back to Philadelphia. He'd wanted to make sure the two of them were still on the same page and there weren't any hard feelings between them. Swag seemed genuinely thankful for the priest's attempt at conciliation and as a show of his commitment to their working relationship; Swag shared with McCarthy his discovery of Kallie Hunt.
After finding out about the potential Rememberer, McCarthy spent the weekend finding out everything he could about the girl. He ended up tailing her from Bengate to Charlotte, back to Bengate, and then to Lumberton, with a stop in Maxton squeezed in on the way back to Bengate. Though the stop in Maxton to the home of a 'yellow pages' psychic was a bit curious, McCarthy's surveillance and background check of the girl hadn't found anything otherwise troubling about her.
Swag seemed to have genuine confidence in the girl. It was a confidence that McCarthy had yet to fully grasp or understand. He hated being in the position of relying solely on Swag's word on the girl, especially in light of his growing concerns about Swag. Admittedly, the young preacher’s ability, as was the ability of each of the Rememberers, was invaluable to A.I. But in recognizing that value, McCarthy believed that A.I. ran the risk of corrupting Swag. His inclusion in the organization combined with his remembering ability afforded the young preacher with knowledge that McCarthy felt few, if any men were mentally equipped to handle. And now with demonic openings being included in the equation…he tried pushing the thought away. But if absolute power corrupted absolutely, what then was the result of having absolute truth?
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