Chapter 3
Finally, my first year in college was done, and I headed home. Mom was looking worn, so I changed my plans from working, to staying home with her. My stocks were doing well enough that I was reinvesting in other stocks.
Yes, I got another job with a cleaning company. I also got access to several places which I found were good for tips. So far, my investments were doing well. Dad's will had been a surprise. He left most everything to Mom. She had been co-owner of the farm for years, so she didn't have to pay any taxes on it when he died.
Still, Dad had left me some savings bonds, and access to an account he had set up when I had been born. He had been putting money in it all these years, and it was to have been mine when I went to school. With his illnesses and all, I guess he had forgotten it. It was a little over 18,000 dollars. Mom never knew about it at all.
The big surprise, was that Dad had had an affair, years before I was born. The result of that affair had been a child. I had a half-sister, and she was named in the will. The mother of my half-sister had never wanted any support from Dad, which was why Mom had never found out. Dad wanted his daughter to have something, and had taken out a separate life insurance policy, listing her as beneficiary. She inherited 15,000 dollars upon his death. Both Mom and I were stunned with this development. Dad had had an affair!
That summer Mom seemed to regain her color, and looked better. We went into the city a few times to see movies, and made one extended trip to see a play, in Chicago. One of the things Mom did while I was home, was to make me co-owner of the farm. We owned it free and clear. She said she would be damned if she would let the state steal money from me, by giving me what I should own anyway.
The way things were set up, an account paid the taxes automatically, every year. Previously, Dad had put enough in the account to make sure that the interest earned was more than enough to pay the taxes. I was surprised at how much was in there. Mom said that if I left it alone, the taxes would always be paid.
I looked in the machine shed, and looked over the tractor and harvester. They were still in good working order. The farmer we rented our land to, used them every year. He kept them in good shape. Mom also rented them out during harvest. The tractor was used several times a year by various farmers, to augment their own needs.
Mom asked me if I intended to farm the place when I graduated. To tell the truth, I had not given it much thought. The farm had been in our family for almost a hundred years, and there was no way I was going to let it go. It was a real piece of family history. The rental arrangement we had was working well enough for now, though.
The annual town picnic was held in July. We had gone every year since I could remember, and I had fond memories of those picnics. It was at these picnics that local politicians would meet and greet people. It was this picnic, that got me interested in my state representative. I caught him in an outright conspiracy!
I had accidentally overheard a bit of conversation between him and our mayor. What I heard shocked me and angered me. Apparently the state representative's brother had acted as attorney for a man accused of murder.
The mayor had arranged for a crucial piece of evidence to disappear! I was stunned. I waited until they had left. Then I went to the area where they had been, which was filling with people.
It was in a tent. I had been outside. They had not seen or heard me, which was why they felt free to talk. The mayor was asking where his 'quid pro quo' was. I went inside the tent and did my thing, going back in time.
The mayor, our police chief, and at least one other officer were all involved in this. I heard enough to get me into my 'investigative mode'. I asked Mom about local politics, and how it interconnected. She lectured me for a good while.
Since Mom was feeling better, I decided to gain access to city hall after hours. This meant getting a job as janitor. Well, I was very qualified in that type of job. I applied, and got a part time job, leaving one of the regular men free to take his vacation.
In that two weeks I learned a lot about politics and politicians. They said one thing, and practiced another. Don't get me wrong. I actually did discover several councilman who were as honest as the day is long. I did discover a whole list of illegal activities practiced by the mayor and two council members, though.
After my two weeks were up, I was released with a promise that I would be back if they needed me. Not everyone in city hall was corrupt. There were a lot of good people working for the benefit of all. I had made several good contacts. I wasn't there long enough to make friends, but there were several there that I thought were good people.
After that, I got out Dad's old typewriter. I wrote up what I had found out, along with where proof could be found for almost everything I was stating in my accusation. I listed everything, and then told the paper they could check my credentials with the police department at my college's city. I signed it, The Psychic.
I mailed it off to a big paper in the next big town. I made sure I didn't mail it from here. I know I left no finger prints on the paper or the envelope, and I moistened a sponge to wet the sticky flap, sealing everything inside.
Just before I left for my second year of college, the story broke. I had given up on them by this time. Apparently they had done a bit of investigation on my alias, first. Having discovered that the person known as The Psychic was for real, they started digging. After confirming a lot of what I had put into my letter, they had turned it over to state and federal investigators.
The first few weeks of the new college year were hectic, as usual. Levy and John looked me up almost as soon as I received my new dorm assignment. I had been moved to Rollings Hall. I was now in the same wing with John and Levy. Levy had been busy during the summer break with formulas, and he thought he had something.
John was also there, and not only helping with the formulas. He had come up with ideas for further testing. All in all they had plotted a lot of work for me, but I didn't mind. John pushed me and pushed me.
By late October, I could go back as far as 1899! He had an idea that the more I practiced and pushed, the further back I should be able to see! He was right. I delighted in my newfound range. I itched to get back home and watch history happen.
In November, I was able to push back to 1895. I still got headaches each time I went back further. Levy and John thought it was connected with some mechanism in my mind. Each time I stretched it, it gave me a headache.
Levy came up with an interesting hypothesis concerning my ability. He was of the opinion that since every living thing gave off energy, I was able to tap into that energy and read it. What I was reading, was the energy left in places by the people causing the events I saw and witnessed. It translated into me seeing and hearing what had happened in a given area at a given time. This resulted in headaches, since I was using a part of my brain in a way it was not normally used.
It sounded plausible to me. I asked why it didn't give me headaches to go back a week or year. He answered that I had already gathered the strength to go that far. He asked if I noticed any pain when I went back as far as a year or five or even fifty. I answered no, which excited him and me!
This seemed to prove what he was postulating. It worked for me, anyway. John was all for pushing me harder and harder, to give me greater range. Levy persuaded him to let me progress at a slower rate. I was thankful for that. John had me living with headaches almost constantly, for two weeks!
He was also excited, and a bit mysterious, about the time differential I seemed to experience when I did my 'quests'. Both John and Levy got very hush-hush when discussing that, and it tended to frustrate me just a bit.
All was not roses though. John came to me several times with what he thought were important cases involving missing or battered children. He kept pushing me to solve every new case that popped up in the news.
While I did solve a few, I was getting tired of John's moral accusations. I decided to do something about it. I spent a couple weeks getting my material together, then invited him to my room to watch a tape of an investigation. I got it for the criminal justice department at a different school. It took some fast talking and a favor, but I got it.
I let John into my room. I was lucky in that I did not have a room-mate to worry about.
"Ok, John. In the past few weeks, you have asked me to get involved in several cases involving kids. I am not faulting your dedication to the protection of children. It is a fine and noble calling. What I object too, is your manipulating me into resolving these cases. Do you have any idea of what I see, sometimes? Well, I want you to witness some of what I wind up getting sometimes," I said, and turned on the tape.
We watched the tape. It was a complete from the first-on-scene officers, to good clear views of the bodies, complete with autopsy footage. I watched John more than I did the movie. I wanted to see his expression. I think I was successful.
I tuned the tape off, at the conclusion. The investigating team had found the culprit, and he had been found guilty.
"Did you enjoy seeing those bodies, John?" I asked him.
"NO! Are you out of your mind? This is what I want you to help me prevent! This was a horror!" John exclaimed to me.
"So, you are saying it is ok for me to see this, time and time again, but you don't like looking at it yourself? Why do you get the choice of condemning me to see this? Also, I can't prevent something from happening. Just see who did it, remember?" I asked him gently.
He opened his mouth, and then shut it. I could see the realization dawning on his face.
"John, I have nothing but respect for the majority of our law enforcement people. I could not stand to be exposed to this for years on end as they are. How about you? Yet you want me to possibly see this, every time you get excited about a case. You would condemn me to living this," I said quietly, pointing at the tape. "One of the problems with being in law enforcement, is you become inured to seeing this. Did you see the casual way the officers took in the bodies? They are used to it, and that scares me. That people can become so used to this type of horror, scares the hell out of me. They went into this profession with their eyes open, knowing the risks of the job. While I respect them, I do not want to be like them. I don't want to see a body, and just shrug. How about you, John? Want to become callus to the dead children you want to protect?" I asked.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realize what you were going through," John finally said.
I had more to say, more frustration to vent. But I knew that would probably do more harm than good. Beating a point to death was not what I was here to do. If John actually understood my point, then I was happy.
Christmas break was looming, and I wanted to make sure all my work was finished before I flew home. I finished up most of it, anyway. Levy wished me a merry Christmas, which I thought was nice, coming from a man of a totally different religion that did not celebrate Christmas as we did. I wished him happy Hanukkah back. John was already gone by this time.
Christmas at home that year was strange, without Dad. Still, Mom and I enjoyed each other's company. I asked Mom if she would be upset if I sent a Christmas card to my half sister. I admit I was curious about her.
While she was still upset with Dad and his affair, she told me that she was my sister and that I should get to know her if I could, and if I wanted. She even gave me the address that was listed in the will!
Debra Willows. She had even sent a card back to me with a brief note. She, too, had not known who her father was. Nor had she known that she had a sibling. Her mother had told her that her biological father had died before they could get married.
We lived within a couple hours drive from each other. All that time I had a sister so close by, and never knew it! What had Dad been thinking? Still, he had been a good father to me, and a good husband to Mom in all other respects.
Christmas vacation passed all to soon. I was back at college, trying to get back into the swing of things. This happened to me after every break since I had started school. I needed a week, sometimes two to get back into studying and school habits.
In late January, Levy approached me with a totally new and exciting idea. He got started thinking about it when I had told him about my stop watch experiment. He re-did the experiment with himself controlling everything.
What he told me was he thought I might be able to employ the energy I was using, to see the past in a new way. Effectively, what he wanted me to do was try to gather and store it, then release it in a burst, willing myself psychically into the past. He wanted me to try to time travel in body!
It was an exciting thing to think about, but a fearful thing at the same time. I said that suppose it worked, how was I supposed to get back? He theorized that if I managed to use the energy to go backwards in time with my body, I should be able to use the same energy that was back there, to catapult myself back to my own time.
He thought that while it was impossible to go forward in time, it should be possible to RETURN to the time I had started from. While it was enticing to think of, I was still hesitant. Both Levy and John worked on the math, and finally showed me their conclusions. While I had taken math, the math they were doing was totally beyond me.
Edited By TeNderLoin