The Gifted (2 page)

There was something odd in the way he looked,
but I couldn't put my finger on it.

I put on the gray slippers and went into the
bathroom to relieve myself. Coming out again I took a look at the
room, then walked to the door and found it locked. “That's weird,”
I said aloud. With nothing else to do I went over to the window to
see where I was. Clearly I was on the second floor. There was grass
a story below and a bird that flew from behind the building, across
a lawn, over to some trees in the distance. I felt the glass and it
was cold even though it was still fall and sunny. Staring outside,
thinking about my parents, soon I saw another bird fly over to that
same set of trees.

I wondered what was going on at school. I
must have missed some school by now. I remembered the hole blown
through the wall. That must have made it more interesting for a
while. How would they repair it? Would all the students try to
ignore this gaping hole right across from Mr. Hoang’s class? I
could almost picture the men working and kids walking past a
smoking hole the size of a minivan. I wished I was there because it
was familiar and safe. Another bird flew by, again from behind the
building, over to that same place in that same faraway tree.

I snapped out of it. That was impossible!
Each time it looked exactly the same. How could it fly from behind
the hospital again and again? I watched for a couple more minutes
and saw it again. What was going on here?

At that moment the squat man re-entered the
room. “Yeah, I see you like the view. Don't look too carefully
though or you might get a shock.”

“I already have,” I said. “Where are we?”

“Well, as Dorothy would say, ‘We're not in
Kansas anymore, Toto.’”

“If you want to know more, come with me.” He
walked out the door and I followed.

He led me down a long, and I mean long,
hallway. It stretched beyond my vision and curved to the right. At
first the walls were smooth and white like the room I had just
left, but then they change into square tiles, still white. I could
hear the clip-clap of his polished black shoes which echoed down
the hallway. I was actually getting tired and my mind began
drifting off when I saw the hallway end in a rock wall ahead of us.
How could that be? I thought we were on the second or third floor.
I could feel the floor slant downward slightly as if we were
plunging into the earth.

He must have guessed at my confusion because
he said, “Don't worry. I can see you’re trying to make sense of it.
You’ll put it all together soon enough. At least the important
parts.”

He took the remaining steps up to the rock
and didn’t even slow down, walking right into it. “Probably should
close your eyes the first time.”

“Huh?” I said trying to follow him, putting
my arms out in front of me to keep from hitting my face on the
rock. As I did this, I hit. . .nothing. My hands were inside the
rock and I felt nothing.

“Come on,” he said. “You'll get used to
it.”

We kept moving forward, but I couldn’t see
anything except the rock that seemed to surround me. His voice near
said, “The lab monkeys enjoy this show. A waste of time and money
if you ask me. Now you should put out your hands here for the wall
you can’t see.” I had never put them down. My fingertips collided
with a smooth surface.

There were beeping noises like someone was
dialing a cell phone and then in the middle of the rock I saw a
door slide open. Suddenly in front of me was a spacious room with a
few kids and a couple of adults who sat or stood around a long
rectangular table. It was some kind of conference room. I stepped
inside behind my guide and recognized the man who had carried me on
his shoulder. He had a bandage on the side of his head, but it was
a small one and when I came in he smiled.

“It’s you!” I said.

“Yes,” said my rescuer. “I just wanted to see
you before I left. I’m glad things worked out for you.”

“Thanks,” I said. Without another word he
shook my hand and walked out the door. I guess he had other things
to do.

Turning to face the group, I saw a thin,
young, black man sitting across the table. When he looked my way,
he smiled.

“Doctor Denay, I'll leave him in your hands,”
said the man who had walked me there.

“Yes, General Garcia. Thank you,” he said,
adjusting his glasses.

The door closed as the general left and I sat
down. “Hey, what's your name?” said a boy in a green Hawaiian shirt
who shook my hand. Before I could open my mouth a girl about my
height with long brown hair said, “What happened to your head? Are
you okay?“

I got ready to speak, but then the doctor
said, “Yes, well, I dare say you can all feel it, so let’s get to
it.”

By this time, I was getting annoyed. “Why
does everyone keep talking about me that way?”

The doctor cleared his throat. “Andy,” he
said, “you have lived a bit of a privileged life, haven’t you?” He
drew out his words slowly as he spoke.

“Huh?” I said. “What do you mean?” I could
feel the frustration rising in me.

He continued. “When a stranger approaches you
on the street, Andy, do they usually smile at you, or ignore
you?”

The question seemed absurd. “Well, they’d
smile. Isn’t that what people do? That’s just being polite.”

“Han?” asked the Doctor.

A thin Asian boy with glasses said in a quiet
voice, “Yes?”

“How would you answer that?”

Han adjusted his glasses, looking
uncomfortable. “Ignore me mostly,” he said, barely above a
whisper.

“Guido?” said the doctor. “How would you
respond?”

Guido put on a baseball cap, and suddenly I
noticed him. How could I have missed him? He had on that loud
Hawaiian shirt which looked fitting with his mocha skin, and he was
probably a good nine inches shorter than me. “Are you kidding doc?”
he said. “This kid’s got all the luck. Me, I get ignored every
time.”

“Yes,” said Dr. Denay. “Well, I suppose you
are a bit of an exception there. Still, Tracy? What about you?”

“I might get ignored, unless he was a cute
boy and I smiled first,” she said while twirling strands of hair
around her finger. “I guess it really just depends if I smiled
first. But mostly, if I don’t know them or anything, they just
ignore me.”

“What’s all this about?” I said.

The doctor took off his glasses and set them
on the table, “For most people, a pedestrian who passed them on the
street would not even make eye contact, walking by without a word
or a smile. When someone passes you on the street, however, I would
bet they virtually always smile. That is because of your
extraordinary gift.”

“Gift,” I was confused at this and a bit mad
at this treatment. “What do you mean by gift?”

“You see,” he said in calm smooth tones, “you
are one of the few, the very few it turns out, who have such a
gift. I would expect that you receive an unusual amount of help
from others. Even, perhaps, from strangers?”

In my mind I saw the bent over old man. Not
knowing why, I felt myself becoming angry even more. “Well, people
help people,” I said. “People are nice!”

“Not that nice,” he said. “Or that often.
Those people were not just being good Samaritans; they could hardly
help themselves, because of your gift.”

I sat quietly, trying not to explode in front
of this stranger.

“I can see this has upset you, and I'm sure
you are quite nice Andy, but not that nice. Anyone who comes within
your field would be affected and would feel compelled to offer
help, to give kindness, to do whatever they could to make you
pleased with them. It is the way you emit to those around you. It
is your gift. People
like
you, even sometimes when they
don’t want to.” He smiled.

“I'm going to give Andy a while to chew on
that,” he said. “We all know it took awhile for each of you to come
to grips with your particular gifts.” The other three nodded and
some made sounds of agreement. The doctor took off his glasses and
chewed on the earpiece, “To make Andy feel more comfortable, why
don’t the rest of you share what you have learned about your
gifts.”

Tracy jumped to her feet, “Can I go
first?”

“Yes, Tracy,” he said. “That would be
fine.”

“Well,” the exuberant girl went on, “I’m a
heat gatherer, or concentrator or something like that. I've known
about my gift for a little while now. Last year, when I got really
mad at my big sister, I set her mattress on fire. Mom thought it
was some mistake of us playing with matches or something. But I
knew what I'd done. For a while after that I was afraid to use it,
but then I started to experiment again and, well, I got into some
more trouble before I learned that I could control it. Before that,
whenever I’d lose my temper, well, watch out is all I can say! It
was a lot of fun for me, but one day a neighbor dog bit me and I
let him have it. I kind of felt sorry for it whenever I saw the
bandages on him though. Do tails grow back?”

The doctor cleared his throat. “I don’t think
so. Thank you Tracy.” She nodded, smiled, and sat down.

“Can I go next?” I heard someone say. I say I
heard it, but I didn't see anyone at first. He touched my back and
then there he was, right next to me. How was that possible?

“Sorry, I had to do that, ‘cause you wouldn't
have noticed me otherwise,” he said.

“All right, Guido, go ahead,” said the
doctor.

“Yeah, so I am not a quiet person really,” he
said. “I should be hard to miss, but I always noticed in school I
had a hard time making friends.”

“A hard time?” said Dr. Denay.

“Okay, I didn't have any,” he said. “It was
like I wasn't there. No one ever paid any attention to me. I mean,
one time at home, just to be silly, I came downstairs for breakfast
and my mom was in the kitchen and my dad was at the table and I sat
down like I usually do, except I was only wearing my underwear.
They never even said anything. Not even when I opened the door to
go to school. Just before I walked out, I pretended I had forgotten
something and I went upstairs to put on some pants and a
shirt.”

“Guido,” said the doctor, “has the gift of
unobtrusiveness.”

“The what?” I said.

“Like Un-noticeability,” said Guido. “And
there’s no doubt about that, I'm a clothing optional kind of guy. I
could probably tap-dance naked on a table while you all ate dinner
and you wouldn't even know I was there.”

“Gross!” said Tracy again. “You’re
weird.”

“Let's not call him weird, Tracy,” said the
doctor. “Setting fire to things at will is not entirely normal, is
it?”

“I guess not,” she said.

“Han, why don't you go next,” said the
doctor.

The kid behind me said in a low, quiet tone,
“Hi, I'm Han.”

“Yeah, Han, so what's your gift?” said Guido
clearly curious.

Han adjusted his glasses and without even
looking up, said, “I like to make Origami.”

“That's not anything special,” said Tracy.
“Anyone can fold paper.”

“What Han is referring to,” said the doctor,
“is that when he makes something out of paper, he can infuse
energies into that paper, that to all observers might look like. .
.how do I say this?”

“They come to life,” said Han looking up
now.

“Wow,” said Tracy. “Wow, that is
so
cool!”

Dr. Denay motioned to us with his hands,
“These gifts you have are so exceedingly rare that you are the
first to be found in the U.S. In fact, your existence has only been
documented within the last few weeks. We’re assembling a list of
kids, which right now is very short.”

The doctor pushed his glasses up on his nose.
“I am here to help you begin the adjustment to your remarkable
abilities, although my services are mostly for this introduction.
If, however, you would like to talk further, I will be on the base.
You may have noticed the high security getting in here. That is for
you. Who knows what would happen if others got ahold of you
kids.”

“For now, you will remain here. Each of you
were in danger of being kidnapped and two of you were rescued, so
you will not be able to go back home for awhile. They are still
after you. Anyway, just know that in this place, you are safe.”

“You mean we have to sleep here?” said Guido.
“What about our parents?”

At the mention of the word parents, Tracy
jerked back in her seat as though she had been hit with
something.

Dr. Denay didn’t seem to notice “They should
be safe, since your kidnappers were only after you.”

Tracy jumped to her feet, “Safe! Safe? You
call that safe?” She banged her fists on the table, her hair flung
over her eyes, and she ran out of the room. When I looked at where
her fists hit the table, I could see a wet smear shining on the
surface.

Dr. Denay paused for a few seconds like a
boxer between rounds. He took three deep breaths and looked tired
as he stared down at the table, contemplating something.

His gaze came back to us. “It’s getting kind
of late and I’m sure you’re tired. You each have rooms to the left
down the hallway; through the door marked with a ‘D.’ Have a good
night’s sleep.”

We stood and began to leave. As we reached
the door, Dr. Denay said, “As I said, I will be available if you
need me, but tomorrow they have you scheduled to begin
training.”

I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I was too
tired to ask. After what happened with Tracy, I no longer felt
angry. Whatever she was keeping inside, it was much stronger than
what I felt.

Han, Guido and I walked down the hallway to
our rooms. At first we walked quietly because of all that had
happened with Tracy. Then Guido, even though I didn’t notice him,
said, “I wonder what happened to her?”