Seer
Chapter 34

Brad

Thank God it’s Friday.

This has felt like a very long week. Between trying to house train the new dog, and Jonathan moping around all week about Gabe not being at his Dad’s house, Stef and I have been pretty stressed out. Especially Stef, with finals going on, and being pregnant, and everything. And besides, Jonathan has really been a pill. I’m worried that maybe getting him a pet wasn’t the best idea, but we’re committed now.

So I’m glad that his friend will be back over here for the weekend. Hopefully that will put him in a better mood, and they can play together with the puppy, maybe help with the training.

We’re finishing dinner, and Jonathan says, “I want to go to Gabe’s house. I’m sure he’s back by now.”

Stefanie says, “It’s already getting dark, honey, you probably need to wait until tomorrow.”

Jonathan scowls, and I can tell he’s getting ready to argue, but the doorbell rings. He jumps up and runs to answer the door, with me following along behind. It’s Ron and his kids. Well, that’s a relief. I didn’t want to have to have a fight with Jonathan. Stef really doesn’t need that.

“Hey,” Ron says. “I hope it isn’t too late, but the kids really wanted to come over and see the puppy.”

“Great!” I say. “Come on in.”

The dog has chased after Jonathan to the door, and as soon as the kids get in, he rushes over to Natalie and starts trying to jump up on her. He only comes up to her knees, normally, but when he jumps he gets high enough to practically knock her over.

It doesn’t seem to bother her though. She kneels down and rubs his head, while he pants and excitedly wags his tail. She looks over to Jonathan and asks, “Have you named him yet?”

“Yeah,” Jonathan tells her, “I’ve decided to call him Socks. Because he has…”

“Little white paws!” she finishes for him. “That’s such a perfect name, Jonathan!”

He smiles at the praise, clearly pleased that she likes the name. She smiles happily back at him.

Gabe asks, “Does he know any tricks yet?”

I laugh. “We’re still working on getting him not to pee on the carpet.”

Natalie

I’m glad that we went to visit Jonathan and Socks. I think the puppy loves me as much as I love him. And Jonathan managed not to be mean the whole time we were there. It wasn’t very long, and Dad just waited and talked to Jonathan’s parents while we played with the dog.

It does bother me that Angel said that Jonathan was thinking of whether he could do something mean to me, but with all the grownups in the room he couldn’t think of a way to do it without getting caught.

I don’t know why Jonathan is thinking about mean stuff again. He seems to go back and forth, between being mean and being okay, and it’s confusing.

After getting ready for bed, I’m in my room with Angel reading. He tells me when it’s time to write a word, so I get out my notebook and write “tomorrow”. Timothy told me that I should start writing more challenging words, so I’ve been trying to avoid easy things like objects. He’s coming over here tomorrow, so I used that word to also be a message to him about our plans. Hopefully he’ll think that’s clever.

In a couple of minutes Angel says, “Timothy got your word, and your message, and told Guardian to tell you he’ll see you tomorrow.”

Michael’s

My beloved and his wife are taking their son to play at the home of his friend, the Seer. Her parents have an unusual arrangement, living in one home during the week, and another home on weekends. I believe that this is a lingering byproduct of their former separation, and that they will be changing their residential situation at some point. For now, apparently a routine has developed in which Timothy goes to play with Natalie at her father’s home on Saturdays.

When Michael returned from deployment a few days ago, I was genuinely startled to discover the changes that have occurred regarding his son. Timothy has been made aware by the Seer that he has a Guardian of his own. That alone would be astounding, but the child has managed to find a way to communicate with his Guardian. I have never seen such a thing in my existence. Furthermore, the Guardians of the Seer and others in her family have begun directly communicating with each other, and have implemented a way to do so at a much greater distance than usual. When I first discovered these changes I was flabbergasted, but have been trying to adjust to the new reality. Guardians chatting with each other, like humans!

In the meantime, my focus continues to be my own beloved, naturally. It has been disappointing to both of us that his return home has not brought with it the peace that he needs to truly rest. He and his wife are happy to be together again, and even their child has been far more receptive to his father than in the past. But Michael’s nightmares will not leave him alone. His soul is clouded, darkened by his internal struggle. Every night, he continues to awaken suddenly from horrible dreams of violence and death. He has frequently disturbed his wife by crying out as he jerks awake. It is distressing to both of them.

It has only been a few days. Perhaps with time his mind will be able to heal itself. I try to help. Constantly, I whisper to him, trying to help him find peace, find calm in the love of his family, find security in his home. It is the most I can do. And I can hope.

Timothy

When Natalie and I get up into her room the first thing we do, like always, is compare our notebooks. As I knew, she had written “tomorrow”.

“That was a neat trick, Natalie, using the word as a message. Thanks.”

She smiles. “I thought so! I’m glad you noticed.”

“I’ve been thinking that we probably don’t need to do the 8 o’clock experiment any more. I get it every time now.”

Her forehead wrinkles. “Really? Ok, I guess, if you don’t want to, but I think it’s kind of fun.”

“We can keep doing it if you don’t mind. I like the practice, and it’s nice to hear from you before bedtime. I just didn’t want to keep making you do it if it’s getting boring for you.”

“No! Let’s keep doing it. Maybe I can try more than one word? Since you’re getting so good at it, do you think you should move up to whole sentences?”

Oh! That’s a good idea. “Yes, good plan. I want to be able to really communicate with Guardian, so let’s give that a try. So, starting tonight, write a whole sentence and we’ll see how that goes.”

She smiles. I’m glad that she’s happy to keep doing it.

I hear Gabe and Jonathan out playing in the back yard. That’s the only problem with coming here to play with Natalie on Saturdays. I usually end up seeing Jonathan too. It used to be that we would mostly just ignore each other while we are here, but he’s been going out of his way at school this week to come over and say something mean to me, so I’m afraid that will happen today.

“Natalie, can I ask you a favor?”

She looks surprised. “Sure.”

“I know that Angel is telling you lately what Jonathan is thinking about, for the Jonathan Project. Will you give me some warning if he’s about to do something mean to me?”

Her smile vanishes. “Of course. I’m so sorry about what’s happening with Jonathan lately. I don’t know why he’s getting extra mean. It’s the exact opposite of what I wanted to happen.”

I don’t even ask her if she’s ready to give up yet. I know she’s not. She’s quiet for a minute, listening to Angel, I suppose.

“I had an idea about something to do today,” she says. She picks up the children’s bible. “I’ve finished reading this, and I was talking to Angel about whether any of it is true. He told me that he doesn’t know if any of the stories about the people in it really happened, but that the places it happened in really existed, and there have been some discoveries by archeologists about them. So, I think I want to see if I can find some books about it, and try to figure out more about the places where the bible stories happened.”

“Yeah, that sounds really interesting. I’d like to know more about the archeology.”

“How about we ask if my Mom or Dad can take us to the library? We could look for books there. Maybe you could find more books about the brain too.”

I always love going to the library, so this sounds like a terrific plan. “Yeah, I’d like to do that. I’m still working on the brain books I got out last time, but I’ll help you look for archeology books.”

“Great!” she says, and jumps up to head downstairs. When we get down there, her Mom is in the kitchen.

“Mom,” she says, “can we ask you a favor?”

Her Mom puts down the cloth she’s holding. “Sure,” she says.

“Timothy and I would like to go to the library. Could you drive us over there?”

Just then, Gabe and Jonathan come in from the backyard. Natalie’s Mom says, “Yes, we can go to the library, that sounds nice. Boys, would you like to come?”

Oh drat. Well, they wouldn’t care about books, would they?

But no, Jonathan immediately says, “Sure, let’s go to the library, Gabe!”

Gabe looks confused, but shrugs. “Um, okay.”

Natalie looks over at me. This isn’t what she had planned for either. But she gets a thoughtful look on her face, and I know that she is figuring out what to do.

“I have an idea, Jonathan,” she says to him in a very friendly voice. “Maybe they have some books there about training dogs. You and Gabe said you want to teach Socks some tricks, right?”

Jonathan looks surprised. “Yeah, that’s not a bad plan. I was just going to try to use their computer to play games, but I guess they have books too.” He and Gabe look at each other and start laughing. Apparently that was meant to be a joke. I don’t usually get it when people are joking, but Natalie laughs with them. I’m not sure if she really thinks it’s funny, or if it’s just part of the Jonathan Project, and she’s just trying to make him happy. Probably that.

When we are going out to the car, Natalie has even figured out what to do about where everyone should sit. “I’m the smallest, so I can sit in the middle again between Gabe and Jonathan. Timothy can have shotgun!”

She’s so nice to me. I know she did it so I didn’t have to sit in the back seat with Jonathan. I’m so lucky she’s my friend. I feel Guardian agreeing with me, while we all get in the car.

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