CHAPTER 29-3
1296 Words
That evening Mara had to admit it was nice sitting around talking and eating like normal people, even if it was with a healer and a woman who read people’s souls. All in all, the Proctors actually seemed like normal people, more normal than a lot of the New Age crowd her mother brought home at times. After dinner they gathered around the fireplace in the living room.
“Denton, can you explain to me how your ability works? Do you consider it a spiritual gift from a higher power?” Diana asked.
He shook his head. “No, nothing so high and mighty as that. It’s purely a biochemical process that is natural for people from my . . . what do you call it?”
“Realm,” Mara chimed in.
“Right, it’s how we take care of each other in my realm. It’s as natural as eating or sleeping to us. It amazes me that people here ever formed families or communities at all. This healing ability was the basis of those institutions developing in my world.”
Melanie Proctor patted him on the knee. “People come together for many things other than healing—to share food, companionship, protection. Healing may have been a catalyst for people in your realm, but it wasn’t the only one.”
“I suppose that’s true, but it definitely provides a lot of opportunities for people to bond much more closely. People here seem to be detached from each other.”
Melanie turned to Diana and said, “You see, his real motivation isn’t to make people feel better. He wants them to be closer to each other.”
“That may be challenging if you are the only one who can heal people,” Mara said. “I can see how people might be grateful and feel closer to you, but I don’t see how they will feel closer to each other.”
Denton shook his head. “No, I don’t think you understand. Once I heal someone, the enzymes in my body pass to them. The healed person becomes a healer.”
Mara slowly turned to look at her mother, who smiled and said, “Isn’t that wonderful?”
“Are you telling people that you are infecting them with this ability? Warning them?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t really see the need. You have to remember that they are usually sick or injured when I first meet them. I don’t want to cause them undue stress by forcing them to make a decision about whether or not they want to be a healer.”
“So you’re making the decision for them?” Mara’s face reddened as she tried to keep her voice at a normal level. “That’s completely not your call to make. It is not your place to force this on people.”
“Mara, I’m not forcing them to heal people. They are getting the ability as a side effect, if you will, of my helping them. What they choose to do with it is completely up to them. Some of them may never realize they have the ability and go on with their lives none the wiser. Some may choose to heal and others may not. The only alternative is not to help people, not to heal them, and, for me, that would be unnatural and unethical.”
The tension left Mara’s face. “From your perspective, that makes sense. I didn’t mean to imply you were doing something nefarious, though that’s how it sounded. It’s just I’ve been dealing with this realm-crossing stuff for a few weeks now, and it never seems to work out the way you think it will.”
Melanie leaned over and patted Mara’s knee. “Don’t you worry about it, dear. No offense taken at all. I was telling Denton on the way over here what a strong sense of right and wrong you have. He understands. Don’t you, honey?”
He nodded. “Absolutely. We all want to do the right thing.”
Mara turned to Melanie. “Please tell me that your ability to read people doesn’t pass to others. I don’t think I could deal with having that bouncing around in my head.”
“Of course not, dear. My ability is unique to me. It is very uncommon even for people from my realm.”
Sam, who was sitting on the hearth next to the armchair in which Mara sat, leaned over and pretended to whisper, “Could we wrap up the inquisition of the Proctors sometime soon? Mrs. Proctor said she would read my insides, and I’m kinda getting antsy.”
Melanie patted the couch next to her, opposite from where her husband sat. “Why don’t you come over here, honey, and we’ll take a peek at those insides, assuming it’s okay with your mother.”
“By all means. What young man couldn’t benefit from an examination of his soul.” Diana smiled. “Mr. Ping tells me it is rather revelatory.”
As Sam walked over, Melanie glanced across the room to Mara. “What did you think of the experience, Mara?”
“I found it a little disconcerting, but, to be fair, I would have to say that I am still assimilating the experience. I’m not sure how to interpret a lot of the information.”
“You don’t need to overanalyze the session, but let it inform you when the time is right,” Melanie said and then scooted to face Sam. She placed her hands on his cheeks holding his face like a mother checking for smudges. “You don’t seem the least bit nervous about doing this.”
“Naw, I think it’s kind of cool. It’s like going to a fortune-teller,” he said.
“Well, I don’t tell fortunes. The information from the readings comes from your psyche. Some people think of it as their subconscious. You see, at a deeper level, you have senses that your conscious mind is not aware of. You are gathering and assessing reams of information that you aren’t even aware of. I tap into this information and share it with you.”
“Okay, go for it.” Sam closed his eyes and relaxed into her hands.
Melanie closed her eyes and breathed deeply for a few minutes.
When she slowly opened them again, Sam’s eyelids slid up as well as if they were synchronized with hers. She said, “Where do I belong?” Not in her voice, but in Sam’s.
The boy’s eyes widened, and he responded, “Here. I belong here, with my mom and sister. This is where I live.”
Melanie responded, “No, in this place, I am dead, buried, long forgotten.”
Diana leaned forward from the other armchair across the room, beginning to reach for her son.
Denton raised a hand, shook his head and mouthed the word don’t. He held out a flattened hand and lowered it in the air, as if commanding calm.
Diana widened her eyes in frustration but sat back with a worried frown.
Sam said, “Not anymore. This is my world, my life, my family.”
“Where do I belong?” Melanie said, mocking Sam with his own voice.
“Shut up! Nothing is going to take me away from here. This is where I belong.”
“They are ashamed of me.”
Sam didn’t respond.
“One day they will change their minds, and they will send me away, back to the place with filth and disease and starvation and darkness.”
Sam trembled and a tear rolled down his cheek.
“And you will never see them again.”
Sam leaned back, tried to pull away from the eyes that stared back at him, from the voice that he could never escape.
“And you’re father will never accept you.”
Sam blinked away the water that pooled above his lids, gritted his teeth, causing a muscle to protrude along his jaw line and a vein to bulge along his neck. “You can’t say that! I won’t let you. This is my home and my family and I will not let anyone take them away.”
Melanie’s head lolled forward, lying on her chest.
Confused, Sam sat still, looking at the top of her head, wondering if he should pull away from the hands that continued to hold his face. Just as he was about to, Melanie raised her head. She had a broad smile on her face.
In her own voice, she said, “A jelly bean will break your heart.”
Sam sniffled a little and said, “What? That makes no sense. You said I’ll never see my family again, that my father will never accept me and now you’re talking about jelly beans.”
“Those are your words, your doubts. Not mine.”
“So my father will accept me?”
“Not before you know what it is to be one.”
“One what? A jelly bean?” Sam’s face reddened in frustration.
Melanie smiled and said, “No, a father.”
She slowly closed her eyes and dropped her hands from Sam’s cheeks.
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