AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to give me feedback and left reviews...you've given me much "food for thought" with regards to Ben and Lisa!
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"Charlie, wake up," Daddy's voice said. I felt a hand on my back, rubbing it, and opened my eyes.
I rolled over and sat up, yawning.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
I shrugged, and he chuckled. "You look kinda out of it."
I reached for his hands, and pulled on them. He sat down on the edge of the bed, and I crawled into his lap and snuggled into his chest.
"Are you okay?" he asked, looking down at me.
"Just wanted a hug," I murmured.
"I can do that," he said, and put his arms around me. We sat together for a couple of minutes, and then he patted my back.
"We should go downstairs, dinner's almost ready."
I got off of his lap and followed him down to the kitchen. Missouri was at the stove, and Uncle Sam was setting the table. Grandpa John was sitting in front of a cutting board and adding sliced cucumbers to a bowl of salad.
"Did you have a good rest, sweetie?" Missouri asked.
"Yeah," I yawned. I sat down at the table and Grandpa John reached over and patted my back, smiling at me.
Missouri had made Spaghetti Bolognese, which was a type of meat sauce, with salad and thick slices of Italian bread.
"Tomorrow we'll practice you blocking more and I'll also show you how to put up a shield of sorts, all right?" Missouri looked at me, "I don't think we should start anything new tonight."
"Okay," I agreed.
Daddy's phone rang and he pulled it out and looked at it. "It's Lisa," he told us, "Hey, Lis, how's it going? Oh? Okay, hold on," he pulled the phone away from his ear and said to us, "Ben has something he wants to tell us."
He pressed a button. "Okay, you're on speakerphone," he said.
"Dean?" Ben asked, "Hey! Is Charlie there?"
"Hi Ben!" I said, "How's it going?"
"Hi Charlie!" Ben sounded excited, "I wanted to tell everyone that my team won! We had the baseball tournament yesterday and today and we won first place! Just like you said, Charlie!"
"Wow, that's great!" Daddy said. Everyone else joined in saying congratulations.
"Can you try and see me winning the lottery now so we have lots of money?" Ben asked, and everyone laughed.
"I don't think it works that way, Ben," Daddy said.
"When are you guys coming back?" Ben asked.
"In another couple of days, probably," Daddy told him, "We'll see how things are going."
"I miss you guys!" Ben said.
"I miss you too!" I said, feeling my eyes get tears in them. I hadn't thought about it but I did miss him and Lisa.
"Miss you too, buddy," Daddy said, "Let me talk to your mom, okay?" he got up from the table and left the room.
"That's Dean's son?" Missouri asked.
"Yeah, look," Uncle Sam pulled his phone out and pressed a button, then scrolled through and showed her something.
"Oh my goodness, he's Dean's mini-me!" she said, laughing.
"What?" I asked.
Uncle Sam showed me the phone. He had pulled up a photo of Ben and me at the water park, with our hair wet and slicked back. I remembered Daddy taking some pictures with his phone every once in a while.
"I didn't know he sent you photos," I said.
"He sent them to both of us," Grandpa John said, "He wanted us to see how cute you looked."
Uncle Sam scrolled through some more photos and showed them to Missouri. "Oh, that swimsuit is adorable, Charlie," she said.
I felt myself blushing. "Thanks."
Daddy came back into the room pressing buttons on his phone. "Lisa sent a photo of Ben with his trophy and medal- here it is," he showed us the photo. Ben was grinning from ear to ear, holding up a big gold trophy and a medal on a thick ribbon.
"So you saw him winning this?" Missouri asked me.
"Just that he had the trophy and medal," I said, "and I tried to keep it in but I blurted it out. He was kinda feeling bad and he got upset with me."
"Well, that's another thing we can work on, keeping the knowledge inside," she said, "I know that's half the battle, when what you've seen wants to make its way outta your mouth. Sometimes the truth just has to be told, but a lot of the time you can keep it in."
"Okay," I felt relieved, "That's what upset me the most is when it just comes out and I can't stop it and then people get upset."
"I understand, honey," she reached over and patted my hand, "Tomorrow we can work on that."
"I got a call from Bobby, he needs my help with something, so I'm going to go back to the motel after we eat," Grandpa John said.
"And how is Mr. Singer?" Missouri asked, "You tell him he better stop and see me the next time he comes through this way!"
"He's doing well, keeping busy," Grandpa John told her with a grin.
"I don't think I want to do any more work tonight, Missouri, I'm still kinda tired," I said.
"That's fine, sweetie. We got all the time in the world."
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"Hold my hand, Charlie, there's a lot of people here," Uncle Sam said, reaching for me, "This is really nice, I'm glad Missouri told us about it."
"Dad told me to get some fresh vegetables to bring to her," Daddy said.
We were at an open- air farmer's market in the little town near where Missouri lived. There were stalls upon stalls of all kinds of fresh vegetables and fruit, stalls with baked goods and jars of home-made jellies and preserves. There were stalls with herbs and flowers for sale, and one stall had a big freezer with different kinds of meat for sale like venison and bison.
"Bison? What's that?" I pointed.
"Similar to buffalo, it's supposed to be a lot less fatty," Uncle Sam explained,
"What's venison?" I asked.
"Deer," Daddy said.
"You mean like Bambi?" I was horrified.
"More like Bambi's parents," Daddy told me.
I stared up at him, hoping he was joking. I was never eating venison, ever!
"Hey, look at this," Uncle Sam said.
We stopped at a stall with lots of different types of lettuce. Uncle Sam began to talk to the woman behind the table. He dropped my hand and said, "Stay right here, Charlie."
Daddy had drifted over to look at the next stall.
I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and looked around.
I saw the tall man again- the man I had seen on the playground, with dark hair, and he was wearing the same tan rain coat. He was standing across the aisle, two stalls away. The people walking past him didn't even seem to notice him. How could he be at the park near our hotel, near Lisa's, and also be here, in this farmer's market, which was a few states away? It must not be the same person. It couldn't be. I turned and started to walk across the stall towards him, wanting to look at him up close.
Three teenagers wearing roller blades whizzed down the aisle, laughing and shrieking loudly and flailing their arms.
"Charlie, come here and try this lettuce, it tastes sweet," Uncle Sam called to me.
I turned and walked over next to him, and then looked back across the aisle. The man in the raincoat was gone. I figured it couldn't have been the same guy.
"Try this, it's called butter lettuce," Uncle Sam gave me part of a leaf.
I chewed it slowly. "It's...okay," I said.
Daddy ambled over to us.
Uncle Sam offered him some. "Dean? Want to try it?"
Daddy made a face. "You know me, Sam, don't do rabbit food."
Uncle Sam bought a couple different kinds of lettuce, and Daddy bought some peaches and apples as well as a bag of ears of corn. "Maybe I can convince her to make me some pies," he said with a grin.
"Come on in, y'all," Missouri said. Her house smelled like warm bread and also like something cooking. My stomach growled.
"I've got a pot roast goin' in the slow cooker, and I made some fresh bread this morning," she told us, "Sam, did your Daddy get ahold of you?"
"No ma'am," Sam said.
"He's over at the library, said he could use a hand. There's a spot in town where the cell service drops out, you were probably there when he tried to call you."
Uncle Sam pulled his phone out of his pocket and walked out of the room to call Grandpa John.
"I'll slice y'all up a piece of bread and then we can get started, Charlie, how's that?" Missouri asked.
"Okay," I agreed.
"Go wash your hands," Daddy said, "You were touching all those vegetables with dirt on them."
"Yes, Daddy," I said, and I went to the bathroom.
"Miss Lettie needs to have her seams tak'n in agin," I said, "She's lost more weight. An' she needs more coughin' cloths, she's usin' 'em up faster now."
I saw a thin woman, with her hair up in a big bun, and she wore a long fancy dress with puffy sleeves. Her face was very pale and she had dark circles under her eyes. She coughed hard, holding a handkerchief to her mouth, and when she took it away, there was bright red blood on the cloth and on her lips. I sewed the end of a row of tiny stitches on a handkerchief and snipped the thread with little scissors.
I saw a little girl standing on a wooden box in front of me, fidgeting, and I was kneeling down next to her, hemming her dress, feeling the pins in my mouth as I spoke to her, "Hol' still, chil', this'll get done quicker if you jus' be still." I held the scissors in my hand as I pushed the needle through the fabric.
Then I saw an African-American man laying face down on a bed, and he had cuts on his back that were streaming with blood, and I saw my hands stitching up a cut and snipping the ends with the little scissors.
"Big Luke got in 'nother fight," I said, "They gonna kill him one 'a these days."
I heard a tune in my head, a woman humming a melody, and I hummed it with her, and then I heard the words, and they came out of my mouth, "Now the river ends between two hills...Follow the drinking gourd... There's another river on the other side...Follow the drink-"
"CHILD!" Missouri's voice was loud. She had ahold of my wrists, and she pried the scissors out of my hands. Daddy and Uncle Sam and Missouri were all standing in front of me, looking at me.
We were in the small upstairs bedroom I had slept in yesterday. Before I had gone back downstairs I had noticed some objects on the windowsill- a small pair of scissors, a pin cushion shaped like a tomato, and a coiled measuring tape.
My head was swimming from everything that I had just seen. I couldn't process it all. I felt pressure inside my head, like there was a balloon inside my skull blowing up bigger than my head, and I put my hand up to my forehead and moaned.
"Charlie?" I heard Daddy say, "What's wrong? Charlie? Why does she look like that?"
And then the world went gray...
My head was resting on cloth and I could feel someone stroking my hair, rhythmically, over and over. I moved my head slightly, and pain shot through my skull.
I opened my eyes and moved again, looking up. I was laying on the sofa with my head in Daddy's lap.
He looked down at me when I moved. "Oh, Charlie," he said with relief.
I started to sit up and then grabbed at my head, crying out. Every little movement made my head pound with a sharp pain.
"What is it?" Daddy asked, "What's wrong, baby?"
"Head...hurts," I whined, "When I move it."
"Sam!" Daddy called, "Tell Missouri she's awake and her head hurts!"
"Oww Daddy," I whimpered. His calling loudly was like feeling someone pound on my ears.
I closed my eyes, and heard footsteps coming into the room.
"She says her head hurts?" I heard Missouri say, "Honey, can you open your eyes and look at me?"
I opened my eyes again and winced. "Everything- everything hurts, when I open my eyes and move my head and when Daddy talked," I whispered.
Uncle Sam and Grandpa John were standing next to her.
"What does the pain feel like?" Missouri asked.
"It- like a sharp pain in the top of my head, but it's pressure inside like something's trying to pound its way out, and when I look around it's like something sharp behind my eyes."
"Sounds like a migraine," Grandpa John commented.
"Could be," Missouri glanced at him, "Some folk will get migraines with the advent of new abilities or when they get overloaded."
"Which do you think it is for her?" Uncle Sam asked.
"Well, we can't be too sure, I want to hear what she experienced. We don't know if she's always had that ability to channel in there, or if this is new."
"Channel? What's that?" I asked.
They all glanced at each other. "We'll talk about it later, child," Missouri said to me, "Are you hungry or thirsty?"
"No," I said, turning my head a little, and then wincing again.
"I'll go get the ibuprofen, I think there's some in the med kit in the car," Uncle Sam said.
"I want you to drink some water so you don't get dehydrated," Grandpa John said, "Making sure you're hydrated during a headache is important."
He and Missouri left the room, and I looked up at Daddy.
"You scared us, Charlie, one minute you went to the bathroom and the next minute you were gone, and then we went upstairs, and you were in the bedroom- and-" he looked uncomfortable.
"What?" I asked.
He shook his head. "You started to talk, like you had when you touched that glove. And then I noticed you were holding a little pair of scissors. Do you remember going upstairs?"
I shook my head, and then cried out. Everyone came into the room at the same time.
"Dean, don't you be talkin' to her about what happened yet," Missouri scolded, "Don't make her headache worse."
"Here," Uncle Sam poured out some medicine for me. I swallowed it and then took the glass of ice water that Grandpa John handed me. I drank a couple of swallows and then handed it to him.
"You want to go upstairs and rest?" Missouri asked.
I felt scared for some reason. "No, I want to stay here with Daddy," I said, and I started to cry.
"What's the matter?" Daddy asked, "Why are you crying?"
"I don't want to leave you," I said, "Ow!" I whimpered, since the crying made my head throb.
"No one's leaving anyone, I'll stay right here with you," Daddy reassured me, "Okay?"
I sniffled. "Okay."
"Close your eyes, let's see if the medicine will help you," Daddy said.
Missouri brought in a cool washcloth to cover my eyes with and block out the light. Daddy rubbed my forehead and scalp and that made me feel a little bit better. My head still hurt a lot, and any time I moved, it was like I was getting stabbed through the skull. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep, because it hurt so bad, but then I woke up in a different position.
I was sitting propped up on Grandpa John's lap, and it was mostly dark in the living room. I could hear talking and clinking of dishes coming from the kitchen.
I shifted and whimpered a little. Grandpa John looked down at me.
"Hey, darlin', how are you feeling?" he asked.
"Hurts," I mumbled.
"The same as before, or not as bad?"
I tried to sit up. "Uh, not as- not as bad."
"You want to try to eat?"
"Uhh, no," I said.
"I ate first, so that I could be in here with you while your Dad eats," he told me. He pulled out his phone and texted, and then I heard a chair scrape back.
Daddy came over to us. "Hey, baby girl, how are you?" he asked.
"Still hurts," I said.
"She said not as bad," Grandpa John reported.
Missouri came in, wiping her hands on a dish towel. "I'm gonna suggest you take her back to the motel," she said, "and call me in the morning to let me know how she is. We can't do any work with her head feelin' like this. Now, if she starts talkin' about what she experienced I want you to record it for me, all right? No relying on your memory. I'll go and pack up some food to take in case she gets hungry later."
She left the room. Daddy leaned down and picked me up off of Grandpa John's lap.
Uncle Sam drive us back to the motel while Daddy sat in the back seat with me. When we got there Uncle Sam gave me more medicine and Daddy put me right to bed. I fell asleep quickly this time.