~ Chicago, Illinois - October 2002 ~
The one thing I was not able to indulge in after I left my family was my love of cars. After the renovations of the house were complete, I worked with Rose to construct a proper garage behind the house. The new structure had three large bays. One of which contained a brand new, early release, 2003 Mercedes ML55 AMG SUV. I had wanted to get a maxed-out Volvo, but Alice insisted I get the Mercedes. It was nice, as far as SUV's go…fast…nimble…decent foul weather handling...but it was utilitarian vehicle. However, that did not stop Rose from ordering several custom upgrades for it, including a better sound system, suspension and power train upgrades, as well as some more stylish and speed worthy rims.
However the Mercedes was a trinket, a toy, compared to what sat next to it….my brand new Aston Martin Vanquish V12.
My new baby arrived yesterday, and I barely put any miles on it before Rose showed up on my doorstep demanding time to inspect and drool over it. She and I had been going over the car for the past few hours. In its stock configuration, the car could do zero-to-sixty in four and half seconds, and reach one hundred miles-per-hour in ten-seconds. Rose was sure we could improve those figures with a few, although very expensive, tweaks. Not that I had much say in the matter. It was an unwritten, immutable family law that Rose got to work her magic on all our vehicles.
"Edward, can you raise up the front of the car a bit, I want see how much flex the suspension has." Rose had been barking out similar orders for an hour. Normally Emmett assisted her in the garage, but I was not letting him anyway near my baby.
Without any effort, I grabbed the frame of the car and lifted it off the stationary jacks. Rose pushed and pulled on the front wheel suspension arm. In her mind she ran through hundreds of speed, torque, and stress calculations.
"If you want to get this thing to go over two hundred, and have any kind of handling, I'm going to need to replace the upper and lower arms with something stronger and lighter. Maybe ones that are custom milled out of magnesium alloy. I know a Formula One parts supplier that can probably do this for about twenty grand."
Before Rose could make another demand, we heard William and Josie walking down the driveway of my house. I carefully lowered the car back onto the jacks. The sight of me casually holding up the front of the car with one hand would definitely raise some suspicions. Josie did not need any more convincing that I was not normal.
As I had found out over the past few years, Josie had a superior sense of intuition and attention to detail. She deduced early on that I had some ability to anticipate what people would say. To prove it, she would try to trap me into responding to her thoughts rather than her words. She also picked up other small clues, like the lack of any cooking smells coming from my house, or that I was never sick. My family's eyes and complexion also drew her interest. Luckily, she was more curious than inclined to formulate any real theories. My family and I were oddities to her. Regardless of my quirks, as she called them, Josie considered me a kind and good-hearted man. That was enough for her.
Rose and I slid out from underneath the car as they approached.
"Hello, Edward!" Josie called out to us. "William was too shy to come over and ask to see your new car." William blushed at his wife's blunt admission, but her words were true. "So I thought I better bring him over before you catch him spying on you."
"No problem." I relied while I wiped the grease from my hands. "You remember my cousin, Rose?"
"Oh, yes!" Josie answered. "It's so good to see you again!" Her thoughts were filled with comparisons of Rose to the models and movie stars that graced the covers of magazines at the grocery store check out. William also mentally acknowledged Rose's beauty, but his thoughts were primary focused on the car. I couldn't blame him. It was sexy automobile.
"That's the one that is going to be in the new James Bond movie, right?" William asked, as he took in the lines of the car.
"It is!" Rose answered. "Although, Edward here hates that. He's worried everyone will be buying one now that it is be a Bond car." Rose was teasing me, but I did hate that my dream car was forever going to be linked with a movie character.
"Somehow I think the price will keep the soccer moms and neighborhood kids from jumping on the band wagon." William teased back.
Rose and William continued talking about the car, leaving Josie and I out of the conversation completely.
"I think we've lost them," Josie said in jest.
Almost forgetting herself, Rose lowered the car from the jacks a bit too easily and quickly, before grabbing the keys from workbench.
"I'm going to take William out for a spin. I promise to keep it under a hundred." Rose called out. Before either Josie or I could complain or stop them, William and Rose sped off.
"I hope she's serious about keeping the speed down." Josie quipped.
"I doubt it. But Rose has never been pulled over for speeding…yet." I answered while noting the differences in our two thoughts. Josie was worried for her husband and Rose's safety. I was concerned that my car would be returned in one piece. At least we both had our priorities in place.
"Since it looks like they may be a while, I do have a question for you." Josie said.
"Can you guess what it is, Edward?" Josie thought trying to snare me again. However my ability to curb my reactions was too good to fall for such an easy trap.
"No? Well you're just being no fun today, aren't you." She mentally pouted. I did allow myself to smirk, just the slightest bit, over her playful manner.
"I remember you saying you found an old Ouija board while cleaning out one of the kid's rooms. I was wondering if you still had it and if I could borrow it?" She asked. "I'm hosting my book club this month, and being October, we've been reading Practical Magic. So I thought it would be fun to have a mock séance. An old Ouija board would really add to the illusion." Josie's mind mirthfully reflected back to her grandmother, who fancied herself as a bit of witch. Josie mused over the memory of her grandmother and her claims of being able to talk to the dead. She wanted to have the same kind of fun with her book club.
I smiled at her request, as a memory of my Mother and I playing with the Ouija board came to me. At first I was scared when my mother used it. I believed she was talking to spirits, but then she showed me how she staged the whole thing.
"I do have one, and you are more than welcome to borrow it!" I happily replied. "I may even remember how to manipulate the wooden planchette to make it seem all real. Come on, let's go find it."