Mind over Matter

by R. T. Martin

  Parker grabbed his phone out of his bag as an uneasy feeling swelled in his chest.

  By the time he got back to the stage, Caroline was already in the audience watching the scene again. Parker kept a close eye on her, but she didn’t do anything else suspicious.

  What were you looking for?

  ***

  “I still don’t buy it,” Yuan said as they walked out of rehearsal. Parker had just told her what he’d seen. “Caroline’s ego won’t let her sabotage a play that she’s in. Even if she’s not the lead.”

  “Well, why else would she be in the workshop? I’ve done several productions now, and I’ve never seen her show any interest in the workshop.”

  Yuan shrugged. “Maybe she was just bored.”

  They arrived outside to find Drew and Cole reading comic books. “Parker’s being paranoid,” Yuan announced.

  Cole lowered his book. “How so?”

  “He saw Caroline snooping around the workshop. Now he’s convinced she’s going to try and mess up opening night.”

  “What’s the worst she can do?” Cole said. “Besides, you’ll be backstage during the whole performance. You can keep an eye on things and fix whatever she tries to do.”

  Cole had a point, but Parker wasn’t so sure. “I can’t watch everything all the time,” he said. “I have to move set pieces around. I’m not just twiddling my thumbs back there.”

  Cole shrugged. “Better than nothing.”

  Parker sat next to them on the bench and let the issue drop. Maybe I am just being paranoid, he thought. He tried to convince himself that it was just his imagination, but the gnawing feeling wouldn’t go away.

  This is ridiculous, he thought. Cole’s right. If something goes wrong, I have to fix it.

  If he saw Caroline do something, he’d first try to stop it without his power. But if it came down to it, if the only way he could help Yuan was to use it, then he would.

  If I can.

  13

  Parker sat with his friends at lunch the next day. The first performance was that night, only a few hours away, and Parker was a bag of nerves.

  “Would you relax?” Yuan insisted. “Nothing is going to happen.”

  “If you say so,” Parker said.

  “I do. You guys are coming tonight, right?” she said to Cole and Drew. “The show starts at seven.”

  “Wouldn’t miss it,” Drew said.

  Cole grinned at her. “Break a leg.”

  The rest of the day seemed to go too quickly and too slowly at the same time. Parker had trouble focusing on anything in class. He couldn’t stop watching the clock.

  That afternoon, the cast and crew sped through a final run-through. Then Parker helped put the set pieces in their correct places for the beginning of the play. After that, the actors headed off to their dressing rooms. The kids handling light and sound stayed in the tech booth, while the other crew members hung around backstage. There was nothing for Parker to do but wait for the performance to begin. He found himself fidgeting, unable to sit still and shifting from foot to foot with anticipation.

  At 6:30, the doors opened, and the crowd started filing in. Parker peeked around the curtain to get a look at the audience. The auditorium was filling up quickly. It looked as if this would be a sold-out show.

  Backstage, the actors had come out of the dressing rooms in costume, ready for the performance to begin. Caroline was on the other side of the stage from Parker. He watched her closely, but she just appeared to be mouthing her lines to herself. Parker didn’t take his eyes off her. If she tried to pull something, he wanted to see it. Although once the show started, he knew that keeping an eye on her would be harder. There were a few scenes that she wasn’t in—scenes when Parker had to focus on getting props and set pieces ready for the next scene change. He could only do so much.

  The lights went down. Please, Parker thought. Just let this go well.

  The show started.

  14

  Things were going well. Aside from one actor walking out onstage without his character’s signature top hat, there hadn’t been a single hiccup.

  Whenever he could, Parker made sure to monitor Caroline, but he had to make sure that he did his job. He certainly didn’t want to be the reason the show went poorly.

  For the last few minutes of the first act, he actually got pretty laid-back about monitoring her. He was helping one of the actors adjust their wireless microphone pack when he realized he had no idea where Caroline was. He felt his heart skip a beat, but Yuan’s next scene went off without a hitch, so he tried not to worry about it.

  During intermission, Parker felt himself begin to relax. Everything had been going according to plan. Yuan was probably right—Caroline wouldn’t sabotage a production she was in.

  The second act started, and Parker waited behind the stage-left curtain. The two actors who had been flubbing their lines during rehearsal were on stage, but apparently all that practicing had been worth it. They were both doing fine tonight.

  Parker caught something out of place on one of the prop tables—a screwdriver. He picked it up. Did I leave this here? he wondered. No, I haven’t needed to use a screwdriver in weeks.

  He looked around for Caroline, but she was nowhere to be found.

  Someone probably needed it for something, he figured, sliding into his back pocket. He went back to watching the scene.

  The lights went out, and Parker wheeled the tree offstage. Then he grabbed the rocking chair while two other crew members lifted a couch, and they set everything in place for the next scene.

  Parker zipped off stage before the lights came up. Just as he did, he caught a quick glimpse of something very wrong.

  A giant wood panel above the door wobbled slightly. It had never done that before. Parker knew exactly how it was built—that panel was screwed firmly to the doorframe. That was all it was screwed to, but two other large panels on either side kept it in place. If the middle panel fell, it would fall right onto the actors, and it was large enough to seriously injure someone.

  Yuan was standing behind the closed door. She had to enter the scene and deliver a big monologue in just a few moments. Parker rushed over. Maybe he could run a quick fix on the door.

  “What are you doing?” Yuan whispered.

  “Hang on one second,” he whispered back, kneeling down to check the screws in the doorframe.

  “What?”

  Parker didn’t answer. He saw exactly what was wrong. The screws were gone—all of them. The second Yuan put any pressure on the door by opening it, the frame would shift and fall, and the giant panel would come collapsing down onto the stage. It was practically a miracle that it hadn’t fallen already.

  He wouldn’t have time to put the screws back in. “Don’t open the door,” he whispered to Yuan.

  “What?” she fired back in a whisper. “I have to open the door!”

  “It’s going to—” He stopped himself. There was no time to explain. He saw the panel wobble again. Caroline was on stage, and Parker could see her stealing glances at the door. She was obviously behind this. She probably thought that the doorframe would be the only thing that would fall over, disrupting Yuan’s scene and throwing Yuan off her game. Caroline didn’t know anything about carpentry. She couldn’t have guessed that what she’d done would actually seriously injure Yuan.

  Yuan’s cue was coming up. There was nothing else Parker could do without delaying the scene. Instead, he focused on the panel. He needed to stop it from falling. The doorframe would definitely fall. That was a given. It would be an embarrassing accident, but it wouldn’t put anyone in danger. On the other hand, if the panel fell, it could be a disaster.

  Parker had never tried to manipulate something this big with his mind. When he’d built this set piece, he’d used his telekinesis to help, but he’d held the bottom with his arms. He wasn’t even sure he could hold it in place with only his power. He tried to imagine pushing both sides of the panel, pressing it and holding
it up. He was concentrating so hard he was actually sweating.

  Yuan opened the door. There was an audible gasp from the audience. Just as Parker expected, the doorframe fell forward along with the door itself, landing with a loud crack. The panel wobbled back and forth. Parker strained to hold it, trying to control the wobble.

  He could practically feel the weight pressing into his shoulders, but it was working. The panel stayed put.

  For a moment, everyone was silent.

  Then Parker heard Yuan angrily say to one of the other characters, “Some handyman you are. You said you fixed that door last month.”

  The audience laughed. Yuan continued the scene flawlessly while Parker took quick, sharp breaths, desperately working to keep the panel from falling.

  He knew Yuan’s monologue was only about two minutes long, but it felt like two hours. When she was done, the lights went down, and the actors rushed offstage.

  Parker released his mental grip on the panel and let out a deep breath.

  BANG!

  The audience gasped again at the sound of the massive piece of wood slamming face down onto the middle of the stage. There was just a second of dead silence before they started murmuring.

  Across the stage from Parker, Caroline had both hands covering her mouth. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates. She looked horrified.

  That, thought Parker, is definitely the face of someone who’s guilty of sabotage.

  15

  “Where are the screws?”

  Caroline whipped around to face Parker as he stormed over to stand behind her offstage. “What screws?”

  Parker felt his jaw clench. “I have to fix the set piece you ruined. Where are they?”

  Caroline looked as if she were about to plead innocence, but something changed. Her face fell, and she looked ashamed instead. Silently, she reached into a pocket and produced about a dozen screws. Parker took them.

  “Do you realize what would have happened if that panel had fallen on someone?”

  Caroline’s eyes drifted to the ground.

  “Parker, what happened?” Ms. Frasier was quickly moving through the crew and actors, and she looked furious.

  “Someone took the screws out from the door piece,” Parker said flatly. He showed them to her.

  “Who? Why would someone do that?”

  Parker turned to Caroline. “Good question.”

  “Can you fix it?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “I’ll come in early tomorrow and take care of it. It’ll be ready to use again in time for the next show. This time, I’ll screw it to the other panels too. This won’t happen again.” He was still looking at Caroline rather than the director.

  The rest of the play was a bit awkward. The crew members removed the wooden panel and the show went on, but the set had a huge rectangular hole in the middle of it. Characters had to mime knocking on a door that wasn’t there. At least no one had been hurt, though.

  After the show, Parker caught up to Caroline as she headed toward the dressing room. “What do you want now?” she demanded, but she sounded more nervous than hostile.

  “Listen,” he said. “I could’ve ratted you out to Ms. Frasier, but I didn’t. So I expect you to keep that in mind. Nothing like this is going to happen again, right?”

  He wanted to make sure the point was driven home. Caroline opened her mouth to say something, then seemed to change her mind and simply nodded.

  “Yuan won’t have any more problems.”

  Caroline shook her head.

  “Good.”

  ***

  After Yuan and Parker finished with postshow cleanup, they met Drew and Cole at a pizza place not far from the school.

  “I think that ad-libbed line after the doorframe fell was actually the funniest part of the whole show,” said Drew as they dug into their food.

  “Yeah, some people in the audience clearly thought that was just part of the script,” Cole added. “At least until the panel came crashing down.”

  “So what do people think caused that?” Parker asked.

  “Chuck strikes again,” Cole said with a smile. “Nobody knows.”

  “Word will get out that someone took out the screws,” Yuan said. “A couple people heard you tell Ms. Frasier.”

  “Think they’ll pin it on Caroline?” Drew asked.

  Yuan shrugged. “Maybe. But it doesn’t matter to me if she gets punished or not. The important thing is that nobody got hurt. And you know what? After everyone left, she actually told me I did a good job, and she apologized for the things she’d said. It felt sincere too.”

  Cole nodded. “And it only took a near disaster.”

  “Hey,” Drew said, shrugging. “Whatever makes her nicer.” He looked at Parker. “How do you feel about the fact that you used your power?”

  Parker smiled. “It feels really good. If I hadn’t been there . . .” He trailed off, not wanting to think about that too much.

  “Does this mean you’ll keep using your telekinesis for the greater good?” asked Drew.

  “Maybe just not in dodgeball,” Yuan added, nudging Parker playfully.

  “Yeah,” Parker said. He looked at his friends and smiled to himself. Even if he didn’t use his power as frequently has he had been, it was good to know that if someone ever needed it, he was here to help.

  Five Years Later

  Three Suspects Captured After Bizarre Robbery

  A robbery at Slade National Bank was interrupted after three male suspects held tellers at gunpoint. The suspects mysteriously seemed unable to leave the bank once they had the money. Witnesses report that, on their way out, the suspects suddenly froze in place. Once law enforcement arrived, the suspects claimed that they had been temporarily paralyzed. Witness Parker Pelham, who was in the bank lobby at the time of the attempted robbery, said, “I don’t really know what happened. But I’m glad they didn’t get away, and I’m glad no one got hurt.”

  About the Author

  R. T. Martin lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. When he is not drinking coffee or writing, he is busy thinking about drinking coffee and writing.