The Adventures of Stevie #104
These stories were told to me by friends and other people. Some of them
are true. Some of them are only partly true. Some of them should have
been true. LOL
My first post about Stevie ("Call me Stephen!") was when he was 12 and
in summer camp and was told by another camper. This was from a time
before computers would fit on a desk and when people communicated with
friends in other countries by actual letters sent through the postal
service. When children did this those friends were called "penpals".
Carlos is Stevie's penpal in Argentina and knows English. This is a
fictional contrivance to enable Stevie to tell us his stories because
he isn't here in person. I think.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Stevie's school is for gifted children who don't fit in regular schools.
The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
Stevie is 13 in this story, in Spring of year 3 of his special school.
The Adventures of Stevie #104 "Not Picture Perfect"
Dear Carlos,
In school that morning I told Chad privately not to tell the rest of
the team members about any new tests for the charmed pictures, because
I was working on the idea in a different way. He looked disappointed. I
drew some more pictures, but charmed them in a different way. I thought
about restrictions while I was drawing them, including a special unlock
code for them, not just the subject's personalities. When I was
finished the first one, it glowed a slightly different color, than the
pictures I drew the day before. Then I drew the rest like it, including
one of me. I didn't know if mine would work, because I didn't know how
accurately I could draw myself, with my personality, as other people
saw it. Then I called in my team for more tests.
The first test was with the old pictures. Jan made a talking
connection to Chad. Then I asked her to touch the nose in the drawing,
like she was touching Chad's nose. He felt it, but wasn't surprised. I
thought that might have been one of the tests he had thought of. Then I
gave her the new restricted picture of Chad, and asked her to do the
same thing. He didn't feel it. I had succeeded with the restriction.
Then I gave her another picture of Chad which had a different but
simple code on the restriction, and told her to think a word while she
was touching his nose, after trying it first without the word. The
first time he didn't feel the touch. The second time he did. I think
Chad was annoyed I didn't let him get some credit for thinking what I
knew he had already thought of. I gave him a sheepish grin, and
signaled it was necessary. He signaled agreement.
Then I had them each contact me through my picture, in turn. It felt
very strange to be contacted. Not like it was with Victoria. They all
had different voices. Some were more clear than others. Then I asked
them to contact me without words, trying to do it without my knowing. I
didn't let on that I felt their contact, because they didn't feel it
most of the time when other people contacted them. I was very relieved
I could feel it. That meant an enemy couldn't spy on me without me
knowing it. Then I tried to make a threeway. Chan contacted Jan. Then
Rod tried to contact either of them. It didn't work. Then I asked Rod
to look at the drawing Jan was looking it, to contact Chad, and it
worked. He could talk to Jan and Chad at the same time. Then I told
them to break contact, and one person try to contact 2 people at the
same time. They could only contact one. They lost contact when they
tried to contact another at the same time. Then I tried to contact all
3 of them at the same time. I could do that, and we could all talk
together. I had one of them contact me, and then I tried to contact the
other 2 at the same time. It worked. I was the only one who could
contact more than one person at a time, with 2 or more drawings.
I said "These things could be very dangerous in the wrong hands, and
even tempting, in the right hands, so I'm putting limits on how they
can be used, when I make them. I will make up some sets of these, in
business card sizes, so we can contact each other in an emergency. We
need to have rules for how they should be used. It's not polite to spy
on each other. If that happens, I will destroy all of them. Don't think
I can't do it from a distance. If the person you contact doesn't want
the contact for any reason, and it isn't a big emergency, you have to
close the contact. We have to keep this a secret, or there could be big
trouble. If you lose any, tell me right away. There is one more thing,
which is a life and death problem. When I go up against an adept,
nobody is to contact me this way for ANY reason. It might cause my
death, and the death of the person doing the contact, or worse. Yes,
there really are worse things than death. I will make these pictures
for all the team members, and one private one of another person for
each team member, and of that team member for that person. For example,
Jan might want hers to be of Dean. Mine will be of my father. I will
have a copy of all the cards I make. I might change the rules if I get
new ideas, but these are what I have so far. Any comments or ideas? If
you want to talk to me privately about it, we can do that too."
They didn't have anything to add to what I said then, but I could see
they all wanted to offer me some suggestions or requests in private. I
said "There are different ways I could draw the pictures. They will be
of the face, in pencil, ink, or watercolor, or pastel chalk, and have
plastic lamination on them. Do you think they should have the name of
who the picture is of, on the card?" Jan said "Do we really need that?
We know who we will be contacting." Chad said "With pictures that
small, we might not be able to tell who is who in low light in an
emergency." Rod said "We might have to give a card to somebody else in
an emergency to use to call for help. A name on it could help with
that." I said "Those are good points. Do we agree to have names on
them?" They did.
I said "There is one more thing to discuss. That energy stealer I
fought, was week and stupid. I was injured accidentally. He was only a
selfish dabbler in that art. If we ever have to face a real expert, and
I think we will, because I'll be looking for them, there will be a lot
more danger. You have heard about mind reading? Well, it's not a
fantasy. Some people really can do it. I can't, but I knew somebody who
could, who is dead now. This means we have to keep secrets from people
who might have their minds read by our enemies. I convinced Dr. Knot
about that, and you know how hard that was. I would trust his
intentions with my life, but not his wide open mind to a mind reader.
It's going to hurt, when we have to keep secrets from people we love,
but it's to protect them, and US. The less our possible enemies know
about what we can do, the more advantage over them it gives us. I have
known this from the beginning, when my strange abilities started, and
held back from telling you more than you needed to know. Now you know
why. If a real adept in these arts comes to this area, what do you
think he would do first? He would scout around for other adepts who
could find out what he will be doing bad. That means he will first go
to the Temple, where my great friend and teacher is the Abbot. I can't
protect him. He will be questioned and killed. That means I can't be
his friend anymore." Then I crumbled down and cried.
They all rushed to comfort me, but they knew it was something nobody
could help with. I straightened up and dried my tears and said, "I have
to stop doing that all the time. A leader shouldn't be such a sissy."
All 3 laughed. I didn't understand why, and showed it. When she could,
Jan said, "So speaks the little boy sissy who smashed a man's nose for
disrespecting him. An armed man, in front of his own armed men. Sure, a
real sissy, who fought a vampire all by himself, who he could easily
have killed, but didn't. A real sissy who faced down the Chief of
Police, and a Cardinal, and the most powerful unelected man in the
whole country, and made them his virtual slaves. If a real sissy could
do all that, then everybody else is just a tiny little baby. There is a
lot more where that came from, but you should get the point now." She
was poking me all through that last sentence. Then Rod and Chad did
too. Then they tickled me. You know what happened then. The usual. Off
came the clothes. Hands and mouthes went to favorite places, and we all
made a noisy mess. When it was over, I filled them with all my love.
They didn't mind that at all.
Your friend,
Stephen
--
Grant
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