9
The early morning sunlight warmed the two Kents as they sat on the lowered tailgate of the old pickup truck, overlooking the farm from the slight rise at the edge of the cornfields. Jon felt his grandpa’s hand on his shoulder, a slight tremor in his grip. And yet, as the older man cleared his throat to speak, Jon heard only certainty and love and pride in his voice and from his thoughts.
“When your dad was just a little older than you, I brought him out here. We sat here and talked for a long time. He told me he’d been able to hear things he shouldn’t have for a while. I remember…” His grandpa trailed off for a minute, and Jon closed his eyes and focused for a second, reaching out with his mind.
<<…miss that boy so much. Never thought we’d have to be getting by without him. God, why didn’t we make him stay?>> Sadness and regret and guilt.
Without a second thought, Jon leaned over and wrapped his arms around his grandpa. The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop them. “It’s not your fault, Grandpa. Don’t be sad.”
And his grandpa’s arms enveloped him in a huge hug. “I know, Jon. It still hurts though.”
They stayed that way for a few minutes, and gradually, Jon felt his grandpa’s sadness replaced by curiosity. However, he deliberately didn’t listen in this time to his grandpa’s thoughts. He shouldn’t have earlier. In fact, he was pretty sure that had been the whole reason his grandpa had brought him out here—to talk about how he shouldn’t “listen in” on things he wasn’t supposed to hear.
No, he didn’t have superhearing. But the same thing applied to his mind-reading trick, didn’t it?
He lowered his head and frowned as his grandpa released him from the embrace. He still hadn’t told them. He’d had plenty of opportunity the night before, at dinner or during game night. But he hadn’t. And he wasn’t entirely sure why.
He also hadn’t told them about hearing his dad’s voice. Which…maybe was a good choice because he hadn’t heard anything but silence since the evening before. So his dad was either taking the longest nap ever, or…it hadn’t been real after all.
A tear slid down his cheek.
“Grandpa, yesterday, I…”
He looked up and met his grandfather’s gaze—intelligent gray-blue eyes hidden behind the thick lenses of his glasses. And he immediately looked away, unable to continue his sentence. Instead, he just leaned onto his grandpa again and listened quietly.
“I know this is confusing to you, Jon. I remember how tough it was for your dad. Tough and scary sometimes too. What helped him was to focus on—”
“—one thing at a time. One sound or one thought,” Jon cut in, his voice tentative.
His grandpa hesitated and then nodded. “Yes, that’s exactly it. He’d put on some music sometimes or ask your grandma to hum. He liked that tune she was humming yesterday on our way back from town. Or he’d even just tap his fingers on his desk. Anything that he could focus intently on, he said it helped him to block everything else out. And then…”
Jon felt his grandpa’s arm tighten around his shoulders now. But the silence grew around them for a few minutes, and Jon almost felt tempted to pry into his grandpa’s thoughts again to see what was bothering him. However, when he did open himself up a bit, it wasn’t his grandpa’s thoughts he heard.
<<Fifteen hours closer now, kiddo.>>The voice sounded tired, and Jon felt an aching and stiffness in his shoulder, accompanied by exhaustion and hunger and a tiny bit of fear.
<<Dad? You’re…okay, right?>> Jon jumped up from the bed of the truck, vaguely aware of his grandfather’s surprise, and he looked upwards, toward the Sun rising in the distance. He closed his eyes and reached out with his mind, finding his father almost immediately.
<<Dad?>>He felt a tiny bit of push back, and all the feelings of exhaustion and achiness disappeared as though his dad had dropped a curtain down to shield him from anything negative.
<<I am fine, kiddo. I promise. Tired, but fine. This is not…the most comfortable way to travel. But it will be worth it when I get to meet you. Just three days, kiddo. Seventy…seventy-four hours now.>>“Jon? Is everything alright?”
Jon spun back around to face his grandfather, who now stood but leaned heavily on the truck. He quickly nodded. “Yes, Grandpa. I’m sorry. I just…thought I…”
When he couldn’t come up with a suitable non-lie to tell his grandpa, he frowned and shrugged. And his grandpa just chuckled.
“Here, Jon, sit back down. And let me tell you some of the ground rules we set for your dad. I think the same will apply for you. And it’s important—very important—that you follow them. Understand?”
“Yessir,” Jon answered quickly, and he stepped back over to the truck and sat down again, a couple feet from his grandpa this time.
“So, the first rule is this: don’t eavesdrop on other people’s private conversations…”
