Chapter 11

 

Thursday

 

Of course the discussion of wallpaper and other decorating options somehow led to the plan to move the plumbing fixtures around, which inevitably led to a discussion of the Maguire family. Abby debated about saying nothing about them to Ellie for the moment, but they were going to come up sometime, and she didn’t want to look like she was hiding something from her.

They were standing in the laundry area, trying to figure out how to shoehorn a whole new room—a very small powder room—into the available space, when Abby took a deep breath and said, “I think I’ve found some more people. Like us, I mean.”

“More than just Danny? Who?” Ellie said eagerly.

“The plumbers who are going to give me an estimate for the new powder room.”

Ellie looked skeptical. “And how the heck did you get from talking about pipes to talking about psychics?”

“I didn’t exactly plan it. And it’s not like I ask any random stranger who comes to the house whether they see dead people. This was kind of an accident, but it turns out there’s an interesting story behind it all. You have much homework?”

“Nope. I did most of it in study hall. So what’s up with the plumbers?” Ellie wouldn’t be diverted.

“We were tearing apart the old powder room under the stairs to see if it could be saved, and we found a wrench somebody left behind the wall.”

“So?”

“It turned out that it once belonged to the plumber’s grandfather, years ago. And when he picked it up, he got a physical shock. I was watching when it happened, and it was real.” Abby checked her watch to see how much time they had before one or the other of her parents picked Ellie up. “Come on back to the kitchen. I’ll make some cocoa and we can talk.”

“Great.” Ellie skipped ahead of her across the hall.

When the cocoa was ready, they sat down and Abby outlined what had happened, from the arrival of Jack Maguire, to his quick retreat, through the appearance of his son Bill the next day and Bill’s reaction to the wrench, with a little help from Abby, to the return of the two of them together, and the whole sad story of Jack’s aunt Mary.

When Abby was done, Ellie said, “That is so cool! I mean, not because of what happened to Aunt Mary, but that it happened here, and they’re all connected somehow, like us. And that the wrench was just sitting here all those years, waiting. Did anything happen when you touched it?”

“No. To me it just felt like a wrench.”

“Were the guys scared?”

“Yes and no. Neither one of them was expecting anything like what happened, and I think Bill suspected that his father was making it all up, until he felt it too. But when they started talking, they realized it went back to Jack’s grandfather, and that the old man wasn’t crazy after all, like all the family thought.”

“The grandfather saw things and felt things, like us? And the other two, too?”

Abby nodded. “And like Danny. But different. You know, about Danny—I got more pictures than words when Danny and I shook hands. I suppose that makes sense, since most often I ‘see’ the people I’m related to—although I’m not about to say that Danny is related to my family. Maybe he just doesn’t have the filters that most people put up, so I can’t see what they’re thinking, but I can get at least parts of it with Danny. Anyway, I react visually. But other people may react differently. There’s so much we don’t know! It’s frustrating.”

“Yeah, kinda like algebra?” Ellie said, grinning.

“What on earth do you mean?” Abby replied, returning her smile.

“Well, you know algebra makes sense—at least, that’s what the teachers keep telling us—but you look at it on a page and it looks like spaghetti, with all these things that don’t fit together or look like somebody just made them up. Unless you ‘get’ it. I mean, some people are better at math than others, right?”

Abby was reminded again that Ellie was a smart kid. “You know, that’s an interesting way of looking at it,” Abby said slowly, “but it works. And I agree—some people have it, some don’t. Maybe math lives in a particular part of the brain, but not the same part as this thing of ours, I’m guessing, because I’m not good at math. Speaking of which, are you trying to avoid doing your math homework?”

“Maybe.” Ellie grinned again, then started digging papers out of her backpack.

Ned arrived home before either of Ellie’s parents showed up. Was she imagining things, Abby wondered, or was Ned gradually reducing his hours at work? Of course, since he owned the company, with a few strategic shareholders, he could work as much or as little as he wanted. But he had promised her that he would taper off so he could work with her on the whole psychic connection thing.

He greeted Abby with a chaste kiss and laid a quick hand on Ellie’s shoulder, careful not to touch her directly, skin to skin. “How’s everything going?”

“Okay,” Ellie told him. “Except Abby had to sort of break up a fight at school today.”

“Oh, really?” Ned said, looking at Abby.

She mouthed “later” back, and he nodded.

“Hey, guys,” Ellie said, “can we talk about giving this thing of ours a name, one that we can use all the time? I mean, calling it the Thing is kind of dumb.”

“Yes, it is, Ellie,” Abby said, “but so many of the names that have been used for psychic phenomena have negative associations—you know, people think they’re either fakes and swindlers or they think they’re just crazy. The names they use show that most people are making fun of it, I think.”

“But we have to call it something!” Ellie protested.

“Hang on a sec,” Abby said, and hurried to the dining room, where she’d left her laptop. “Let’s be systematic about this and see what synonyms we come up with. You know what a synonym is, right, Ellie?”

“Yes—it’s a different word that means the same thing.”

“Exactly.” Abby called up her search engine. After a couple of minutes she said, “Oh, my, most of these are a mouthful.”

“Like?” Ellie asked.

“Let’s see.” Abby read from the screen, “ESP, of course. Clairvoyance, intuition, intuitionism, intuitivism, precognition, presentiment, second sight, sixth sense, telepathy.”

“I see what you mean,” Ned said, smiling. “How’s your intuitionism doing today?”

“It’s asleep, I think. Here’s another site with more. Under similar words, they include abnormality, charisma and charm.”

“I kinda like second sight,” Ellie said.

“Well, it’s easy to say,” Abby replied, “but I don’t think it’s quite accurate. We’re not predicting the future, or even seeing things as they happen—we only see the past, and people from the past.”

“Well, second sight could work,” Ellie said stubbornly. “I mean, we’re seeing them again, for a second time.”

“True,” Abby agreed. “Let’s keep that on the list of possibles.”

“What about after sight?” Ned said suddenly. “We’re seeing things and people after they happened.”

“Yes.” Abby typed the term into the search engine and laughed. “The only definition that comes up is for an odd financial instrument. It refers to a bill of exchange that must be paid within a particular number of days after the person it has been given to has received it.”

“Huh?” Ellie said.

“Exactly,” Abby replied. “I guess it’s safe to say that nobody’s going to confuse it with ESP. You want to think it over for a day or two?”

“Ellie, your mom is here to get you,” Ned interrupted.

“Oh. Yeah, let’s think about after sight,” Ellie said, stuffing her papers back into her pack. “Um, Abby, do I have to tell Mom about what happened at school?”

“Only if the school contacts her, I guess. Don’t lie. But remember that you didn’t do anything wrong. In fact, you did exactly what you should have done—you stood up for Danny, without making things worse. You done good, kid.”

“Thanks, Abby. Bye, Ned.” Ellie headed quickly for the front door, while Abby and Ned followed more slowly and stood together in the doorway, waving at Leslie.

After Leslie had pulled away and they’d shut the door, Ned said, “Why do I think I’m missing a lot of interesting stuff?”

“Because you are.”

“What happened at school? Was this when you picked Ellie up?”

“Yes. I got there early and just watched the kids come out and get on the busses or meet their parents. Ellie was not in the first wave, but she came out with Danny. And then a bunch of girls started making nasty comments. Ellie knew who they were but didn’t know them, if you know what I mean.”

“I think so. And?”

“It could have gotten ugly. Ellie was mostly protecting Danny, although he didn’t react to the other girls. Luckily the teachers or monitors or whatever they are finally noticed and came over and broke it up. And then Danny’s mother arrived.”

“What’s she like?”

“Overworked. Stressed out. Suspicious. I’m not running her down—she’s got a difficult situation, and she’s new to the town. But when we were leaving, she told Danny to shake hands with me.”

“Ah,” Ned said. “And what happened?”

“I got a lot of lights and sounds, mostly in snippets, but not exactly words. I think in a way he was testing me. Ellie says they’re communicating, sort of, but I doubt it involves touch. I can imagine the teachers would make wrong assumptions and blow it all out of proportion.”

“Unfortunately that’s true these days. Poor kid. But at least you’ve made contact with the mother. It’s a start.”

“Yes, it is, and I know more than I did, but I’m not sure what to do about it.”

“How’s Ellie taking it?”

“Surprisingly well, I think. She’s looking out for Danny, which is nice of her. I only hope it doesn’t get her in trouble.”

“Give it time. Danny’s only been at the school for a week or two, right?”

“I think so. Not long, anyway. Oh, and I have to tell you about what the Maguires told me.”

“What, you’ve talked to them again?”

“Yes, they both—father and son—came by this morning and we had a good talk, and they’re going to handle the powder room and laundry situation. They’ll give us an estimate in the next couple of days.”

“What about the psychic side?”

“Oh, I’ve got lots more to tell you about that. What about dinner?”

“Pizza or Chinese? I want to hear the rest.”

“Pizza—they deliver.”

They managed to restrain themselves to small talk until the pizza arrived, because Abby wanted to tell the whole story all at once rather than in driblets, and she wanted a chance to talk with Ned about what she’d realized from her encounters with the Maguires.

Ned listened silently until she had finished, then said, “Let me see if I’ve got this right. The first Maguire plumber did some work in this house, and his sister Mary was, for want of a better word, the help. The son of the family tried to molest her, and finally the family seemed to have believed her story and nobody ever reported anything to the authorities.”

“Unlikely they would have, at that time,” Abby pointed out.

“True. So Mary quit, after the grandfather beat up the owners’ son with the wrench, which he left behind. Somebody else came along to finish up the plumbing, didn’t notice the wrench, and closed up the wall. You and Jack found it when you were tearing out the walls, and Jack had a strong reaction to it and left fast. But then his son Bill came over to apologize for his father, and he also reacted to the wrench, but not as strongly. Then he left, but father and son came back this morning and told you that, upon reflection, they decided that Jack’s grandfather had had some sort of psychic ability, which everybody had laughed at, but now they’re wondering if maybe there was something to it. Does that cover it?”

“Pretty much. You see what this means?”

“I think so,” Ned said. “We have three generations here who share this gift, which confirms our belief that it’s hereditary among certain families.”

“And we’ve learned that it’s not just old New England families who have this trait, but who knows how many other groups,” Abby added triumphantly. “Anyway, the good news is, the Maguires will be handling our plumbing problems, so I’ll have other chances to talk with them, and maybe learn more about their family. Maybe even the ones who stayed behind in Ireland.”

“That is a plus, but don’t spread yourself too thin. What about Danny?”

“That’s a whole different problem. I’ll have to tread really carefully there. The mother, Samantha, has enough problems already, and she doesn’t need to add worrying about whether her son might be psychic as well as autistic. I’d like to see more of him, but our time together would be limited. I may try to set up a playdate with Ellie. Samantha can’t object to that, can she? I doubt Danny has made a lot of friends at school yet, but he and Ellie seem to have hit it off.”

“Ellie seems surprisingly receptive to him. Is that because she’s young, and she’s also aware of this ability?” Ned asked.

“Maybe. This is still new to all of us.” Abby looked at the clock on the wall. “Is it really that late? I’m wiped out. Can we call it a night?”

“Of course. You can follow up tomorrow.”

“That I can.”