Chapter Three

Mom passed out about an hour later. I still had not heard from Logan, and I was reluctant to call him. Looking at my mother, I had an idea. I wondered if I might be able to heal her. It was worth a try. Then, if the other Payton ever came back, she might find a whole new mom waiting to greet her. Hopefully, one without a drinking problem.

Logan had told me in the medieval world that when I healed him, I also fixed other minor ailments he’d suffered from. I’d also taken away his fear. We’d wondered if I might have the ability to fix emotional and/or psychological problems as well as physical. There was no hurt in trying.

So, I knelt down on the floor by the couch where mom was sprawled, and gently put my hands on her legs. She flinched a little at my touch, but didn’t wake up. I closed my eyes and concentrated, willing the electrical power to come into me. After a few moments, I concentrated harder.

Nothing happened.

I waited another minute or so, but I knew it was hopeless. I’d lost my gift.

I climbed to my feet and went out to sit on the dock by the water. It felt strange, not being able to help anyone. While the gift had been mine for only a short time, I’d owned it, mastered it, and actually come to appreciate it. It’d been a burden too, of course, causing all kinds of problems with powerful men who would have used me for their evil purposes. Perhaps I was better to be free of it. I wondered if I might have a different gift in this dimension. It was a possibility.

If there was a gift, how could I discover what it might be? I didn’t want to jump off a cliff just to see if I could fly. Maybe I could make myself invisible. I began a random series of tests. I jogged down the driveway past the cottage and spread my arms, leaping into the air, willing myself to take flight.

But I could not fly.

Then I tried staring at my hand, willing it to disappear before my eyes. Except that didn’t happen either.

I began to get frustrated. What good was a gift if you didn’t know what it was?

There had to be a gift. I began thinking about the old well we’d found in the cave. A wish—no, two wishes—had been made and come to pass. The well had to be the source of power. And too, it had seemed so darned familiar to me.

Somewhere, deep in the recesses of my mind, was a memory. I sat back down on the dock and stuck my feet in the cool water while I delved through past events of my life. Back I went, images and events flashing at lightning speed throughout the years, going further and further, deeper and deeper.

Until….

It was a late afternoon picnic. My mom and dad were there, and me too, of course. I must have been no more than three or four. We were having such a beautiful time together. Our blanket was spread out, a large overflowing picnic basket resting in the center. Dad had brought a butterfly net, and Mom and I had laughed and laughed over how silly he looked attempting to show me how to catch the elusive tiny pretty birds, as I’d called them.

We’d not wanted the afternoon to end.

As the day grew dark and a large moon began to illuminate the sky, my mother took my hand and led me to the well.

“What a beautiful day. I wish you may always remember,” she said, dropping a coin into the water.

Hence, my perfect memory.

I recalled I’d tried to snatch back the coin, wanting to make a wish myself. Although, seeing it all so clearly now, I remember I had wanted to wish for a pony.

My mom pulled me back before I tumbled into the depths of the water, my fingertips brushing the damp rough sides. She scolded me while I stood firmly, safely on the ground. I brushed the hair out of my face, getting my clammy hands on my cheeks. Mom gave me my own coin then, but after my little fright, I quite forgot about the pony. I wished for a little sister instead, though the ritual of wetting my face with the well water wasn’t carried out that time. It could be one of the deciding factors, considering I was still an only child.

A while later I checked on the slumbering form of my mother. She’d had more than an hour to nap, which should be plenty considering she’d slept all night. There were questions that needed answering; I hoped she could tell me what I wanted to know. When it looked like she may never rise, I went into the kitchen and brewed up a strong pot of coffee. Then I went over to the couch and gently shook her awake.

“Wha…? Oh, Payton. What is it?” She rubbed an arm across her brow and sat up.

“I want to talk, Mom.”

“Talk?” She pulled herself to her feet, swayed a little, and followed me reluctantly into the kitchen.

I pulled out a chair, and after she was seated, I placed a large cup of coffee before her on the table. She made a face and began to protest, but I was insistent. When she finally began to sip the potent brew, I took a seat across from her.

“I need to ask you something.” God only knew if she could even recall what she’d said and done last week, never mind years and years ago, but I had to try. When I hesitated, she grew impatient.

“Well?”

“I need you to remember something. It happened a long time ago.”

She dropped her head into her hands and muttered the word “headache.” I got up and searched the cupboard and found what resembled aspirin. I put the bottle on the table and waited while she fumbled with the childproof cap. She popped a couple of pills into her mouth and swallowed them back with a big gulp of coffee. “What something are you talking about?”

“Years ago, did you and Dad and me ever take a little road trip, and perchance come across a well?

“A well? You mean like a water well?”

“More like a wishing well.”

She snorted. “You’re not going to start up with that again, are you?”

“Start up with what again?”

She nursed her coffee for a moment while staring at me with narrowed eyes. “The wishing. Always with the wishing. Yeah, you made a couple of wishes and they did come true, but then it all stopped. You know this. We even went back to the well and tried to wish again. Nothing happened though. It was just dumb luck.”

“So my wishes came true?”

“Just a few, but then the well ran dry.” She laughed at her pun, then broke into a spasm of coughing. “The whole reason we found the well in the first place was because the stupid old piece of junk car your father owned broke down…again. It overheated, so while it cooled off we had to sit around and wait. Your dad noticed the well and used it to fill up a jug he carried around for the radiator or something. That was when you nagged me to make a wish. Took the only dime I had on me. You thought it’d work better if you lowered the dime into the water with the old rope and bucket. I don’t know what you wished, but you plunked the dime down so hard into the bucket that the water splashed you. Ha! Now that I remember. The look on your face—”

“You said some of my wishes came true?” I saw her cup was empty and her eyelids were growing heavy, so I got her a refill.

“I remember saying to you if I had another dime I would wish the car worked. You wished the same thing, and a few minutes later, your dad came hurrying to get us, saying the car was fine.”

“Anything else?”

“Your dad had lost his job and we were going to lose this place. Couldn’t afford it anymore. You wished for him to get a great job, and he did….” She snapped her fingers. “Just like that. He got a call up here when we were just about to sign the papers with a realtor to sell.”

“So my wish saved the cottage?” Pretty impressive. This gift might not be so bad after all. The only thing bugging me was if the Payton in this world could make wishes come true, why did her life seem so miserable? Why hadn’t she wished for happiness?

“Mom?” I said, seeing the blank stare she had fixed on her mug. “Why do you seem so sad?” I didn’t want to come right out and ask her why she was a drunk.

“I’m not sad.” She got up and dumped the rest of her coffee down the sink. “I gotta sleep now. I’m so tired, and I have a mammoth headache.”

“But—”

She held up her hand. “Later, okay?” Not waiting for my reply, she walked out of the kitchen and headed in the direction of her bedroom, but before she reached the door, she looked back at me over her shoulder. “Don’t complain, Payton. The last wish you ever made that came true was for everybody in this family to leave each other alone.”

Her door clicked shut behind her, and I could only stare at the place she’d been standing. Why on earth would I have ever made a wish like that? Granted, I must have been very young, so I could lay the blame on a temper tantrum. Although, you’d have thought I would have corrected my error by now. Unless, the Payton from here enjoyed her own space. Who knew?

About ten minutes later I could hear soft snores coming through the door of Mom’s room. There’d be no more answers from her.

It was early evening—after I’d eaten dinner alone—when I went into my closet and pulled out my backpack. With some effort, I hefted the thing onto my back and headed down the roadway towards Logan’s place. He still hadn’t called. Looking over my shoulder at the cottage one last time, I suddenly thought of another wish. Mom said I hadn’t been able to make any come true for a long while, but perhaps my heart hadn’t been in it?

I closed my eyes and even crossed my fingers for good measure. “I wish my family to be happy from now on.” My wish was heartfelt, and I was certain it would come true. It was the best I could do for the Payton of this world…if she ever chose to return.

When I got to Logan’s street, I passed by it and instead headed for the creek. I traveled along the water’s edge to his back yard, put down my pack, and nestled myself in amongst the high weeds, ready to lay low and wait for dark. My plan was to stake out his house and make sure I didn’t miss him if he by chance decided to leave and try to come to me. From where I sat I could still see across his yard and off to the side, where the driveway was. He’d have to cut across it if he was going to my cottage, and with any luck I’d be able to head him off. If there was no sign of him I’d wait until dark, when I could break into the station house and travel down the tunnel into his basement.

As soon as we were together again, I had every intention of using my power to wish us home. Until then, I could only hope it would actually work.