Stephen's Logbook #1 Entry #6
These stories about Stephen began was when he was 10 years old, and
moving to a new part of the country to attend a special school for
gifted students. 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. He wrote 225 of them to
a friend. Please refer to them for insight into this new series of
stories. He stopped writing to his penpal, but found he still wanted to
record his life, in case he loses his memory again. So, we can now look
into selected entries in his logbook to see how he is doing.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
Stephen is 15 in this story, before the Winter break of year 6 of
special school.
Stephen's Logbook #1 Entry #6 "Robbed the Wrong Way"
NEW ENTRY
It was dark. Somebody came out of an alley, and demanded our money.
He had a knife. I felt Nigel connect, like I said he could when there
is trouble I would handle. I told the robber. "No. Why do you want our
money?" He said "Give it to me or I'll kill you!" I said "No, you won't
kill us with that." Then I said in a command voice, "Answer my
question!" He said "I'm hungry." I said "In that case, we'll buy you
some food. You have to put that thing away, first." He just stared at
me for a minute. I said impatiently, "Well?" He said "You mean it?" I
said "Yes." He put the knife away, and we went to a diner. I let him
order anything he wanted. He said "You're not going to eat?" I said "We
just did, right before we er, met you." Nigel said "I could have
something." I said to him, "Right. You're always hungry. Some day
you're going to be so fat, you won't be able to find it to jerk it
off." He grinned and said, "Maybe. That sure won't happen to YOU, even
if you didn't have Debbie." I said "Maybe, but I don't plan to get fat.
There are disadvantages, though. When she and I danced at camp, it
really got in the way. You should have seen her reaction the first time
she felt it. Her eyes went so wide, I was ready to catch her eyeballs
for her if they popped out of her head." He laughed.
The robber was looking back and forth at us in very interested
amazement, which was what I was aiming for. He said "If you're saying
what I think you're saying, just how big is it?" Nigel held his hands
far apart. The robber said "No! That's a monster." Nigel said "Sure
is." I said "I'm Stephen. My brother is Nigel. What's your name?" He
said "Tyrone." I said "How old?" He said "16." I said "Parents know you
rob people?" He said "No, and it's just my mom." I said "What would she
think about it, if she knew?" He hung his head and said, "She would be
real mad at me, and cry, too." I said "She doesn't feed you?" He said
"Oh no, she does. She's a good mother. I didn't want to go home to eat
because her boyfriend is there." I said very gently, "Tell me, why do
you want to avoid him so much, you have to threaten to kill people?" He
put his head in his hands and said, "He beats me. He has a gun, too." I
motioned to Nigel to hug him, which he did. I said "Does your mother
know?" He said "I tried to tell her, but she wouldn't believe it. She
loves him. If I did make her believe it, she would be very hurt. I
didn't know what to do, so I left." I said "When did you leave?" He
said "Last night." I said "Are you going to go back?" He said "I can't.
Not with him there."
Nigel said "Stephen. I know you. You're planning something." I said
"Always." He said "I reckoned. I don't know what can be done, that we
can do." I said "When you don't see a solution to a problem, it's
usually because you don't have enough of the right kind of information
about it. The more you learn, the more useful opportunities for
meaningful change can emerge." I asked Tyrone, "Why do you think he
beats you?" He said "I don't know." I said "I'll give you some possible
reasons, and you choose which ones fit the most. He thinks you are a
bad person. He has an anger problem. He likes beating people for fun or
sexual stimulation. He is jealous and resents the attention your mother
gives you. He is very insecure and feels that beating you can make him
feel better about himself. He has a drug or alcohol problem, and loses
control." Tyrone said "He's jealous of me. That's it. I didn't know I
knew that. You're pretty good." Nigel said proudly, "That's Stephen,
alright." I poked him. He grinned back at me.
I said to Tyrone, "Tell me about his weapons." He said "He has 2 guns
and a big switchblade." I said "What kinds of friends does he have?" He
said "The worst sort. Really bad people." I said to Nigel, "Alright.
What do you think our options are? Aloud in general terms." He said
"Intimidation? Transport? Counseling the mother?" I said "Which of them
would cause less problems and be most effective?" He said "Outside of
death, transport, and deadly warning to stay put." I said "Different
language. Haiti, I think. Take weapons, IDs, away, too. The key is
when. Needs to be when he is with his friends, and not the mother, so
they won't blame her. Vanishing in front of them, in a bad act, is
best. Need to get a look at him, connect and ride it, till the right
time. Willing?" He said "Yes. You already decided, didn't you." I said
"Yes, but all situations are useful for training."
Tyrone was looking back and forth at us, with his mouth hanging open
in astonishment. After we stopped, he said, "What does all that mean?"
I said "You know what it means. You can't fool us into thinking you're
stupid. We'll take him and dump him in another country with a different
language. It will be a long time before he gets back, if he ever does.
In the mean time, you will have the opportunity to tell your mother,
after she gets over him, about the beatings, so she won't take him back
again. We can do what we say we can do, and much more, without any
danger to us. Now comes the big question. Do you want us to?" He
nodded. I said "You must say out loud what you want us to do, so we
know you really mean it." He said "I want you to get him away from my
mother and me." I said "Good enough. We'll do it, but it might take a
while for the proper opportunity to happen. For this to work, you have
to go back. We need to see his face. Here's how. Nigel, or another one
of us, will connect mentally to you, and stay with you until you see
him. Then one of us will connect to him, and stay with him until the
right time happens. Then we act. Do you agree to this?" He nodded. I
raised my eyebrow at him, and he hurriedly said, "I agree to go back so
you can see him through me." I said "Good. There is one more thing.
While one of us is with you or him, we will try to prevent him from
hurting anybody. We can't directly make him do anything, but we can do
things which might interfere with what he wants to do."
"Nigel. Do you think you can handle all this on your own, or do you
think we should call in Chad to assist? It could be a long watch." He
nodded. I felt him connect to me, and then Chad. I said +Hi Chad. Nigel
will brief you on the problem, and ask for your assistance, if you
would like to give it. Then you 2 can connect to Tyrone. Disconnect
from me now.+ They did. I said to Tyrone, "You should be feeling them
connect to your mind in a few seconds. Don't be afraid. They don't see
private thoughts." Then he looked very surprised. I grinned. Nigel said
"Chad will ride him. I can't compartmentalize my mind yet. He wants me
to give all my attention to you and learn from this tonight." I said
"Good. As long as you are connected to the action when it happens, and
you do the transport. It's your mission, so you should be the one to
handle as much of it as you can." He said "Yes, boss." I poked him, and
he grinned. I said to Tyrone, "Who we are and what we do is secret. Got
it?" He said "Yes. Who would believe me, anyway?" I grinned and said,
"Better if you don't try to find out. Before you leave, you might try
to eat something." He did. Nigel and I had some ice cream. Before he
left us I told Tyrone, "Don't use that knife on anybody. Or any weapon.
We won't want our work wasted on somebody who is in jail. We like you.
We would feel really bad for you if you did something to throw your
life away." He nodded, and had a tear on his cheek when he left us.
While Nigel and I were walking to the bus stop, he said, "I love
you." I said "I know that, and you know I love you." He said "I felt I
had to say it again now, because the more I learn about you, the more I
love you, which I always think is impossible." I said "I know just what
you mean. I feel the same way about the people I love. It's funny, when
you think of it. Love is strange. Nice, though." He hugged me and said,
"I can't argue with that." I said "Let's port home. I want to do some
REAL hugging." As soon as we were alone, he ported us to our bedroom.
We stripped, and hugged very tenderly. We both sighed. He said "Right.
This is the only real hug." We went to lie on the bed, and hugged for
half an hour. It was wonderful.
END ENTRY
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Grant
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