The Most Dangerous Device in the World (Book)

Chapter 15 - Two Pairs Beats Four of a Kind

2012-06-12T01:05:01+00:00

The four of them piled into Molly and Tom put his seat belt on.

“This is my Molly” explained Tom.

“Ok, I gathered that. So why does it smell like french fries in here.” said Kathy.

“Yeah, that’s because I converted her to run on bio-diesel. I pick up the used cooking oil from Benny’s Hamburgers for free.” said Tom.

“That’s cool! I wish I knew how to do that kind of stuff!” said Kathy.

“It’s not that hard, really. And it’s cheap.” said Tom “Everyone buckle up. Tom liked it that Kathy was impressed with his skills. Maybe she would be more impressed when she saw the device.

All sorts of thoughts were going through his head. What if he could just show them the garage for a few minutes then tell them he needed to go. Then after he dropped Alice and John off, he could mention to Kathy he wanted to talk with her privately?

No, that would be rude. And besides, that would show Kathy he was only interested in getting into her pants. And although that was definitely on his mind, he wanted more than that.

He found himself thinking hard about excuses to get rid of Alice and John when quickly and without warning he heard the voice:

Everything happens for a reason

The voice was starting to become a nuisance. What right did it have to interrupt his thinking? And besides, how could it possibly know what was going to happen in the future? And surely it couldn’t know what was best for him in his love life!

He put Molly in gear and the four of them headed towards the garage. As usual, Tom slowed down in front of the police station downtown and the local cop, Stan waved hello to him. He waved the obligatory hello back and continued towards the city limits.

John and Alice were in the back seat and Kathy was in the passenger seat in front. Alice waited until they were almost out of town and lit up yet another strong smelling doobie.

Tom looked in the rear view mirror and frowned “I would prefer you not smoke in my car.”

“Why? How can you even smell it? It smells so strong of french fries in here, I’m startin’ to get hungry!” said Alice.

“Me too!” said John.

She reluctantly put it out and stuffed the remainder into her pants pocket.

Not only did Tom NOT want to take them along, but now they were stinking up his car with pot. The LAST thing he needed was to get pulled over with pot in the car.

He tried to bury his anger towards the two pot smokers in the back by changing the subject. But it didn’t seem to do much good. He wanted those two freeloaders out of his car now and not later.

He decided maybe a story would help pass the time it took to drive to the garage.

Tom explained how he had learned how to work on cars from his father and the process he went through to convert Molly to run on bio-diesel.

Kathy, Alice, and John listened attentively. To them, it was nothing short of amazing that something like that could be done, much less by someone they knew. There were the usual questions about how much it cost, and how long it took. Tom was patient and explained everything to them as if they were school children learning about the ABC’s for the first time.

They had left the city limits but were still a few miles from the garage. Hardly any cars were on the road and the sky was completely clear. The fields they passed by on the way were lined with tall ripe corn stalks ready to be harvested which made for a surreal ride down the road as they whooshed by.

He had finished explaining the bio-diesel conversion process to them and unexpectedly Kathy asked the dreaded question.

“So how does somebody get from converting old cars to building this secret device you’re building?”

Tom tried to think of something to avoid the inevitable but couldn’t think of anything.

“Oh, it’s something that just came to me.” said Tom.

What a lame excuse! One would think if he was so worried about sharing that information he would have already thought of a better one. But for some unknown reason, He never thought about it when it wasn’t needed.

He was just about to invent a lie for Kathy when he heard the voice:

There are no secrets

He certainly didn’t feel like sharing what was going on in his mind with the three new friends in the car, so he tried to ignore it.

He was running through possible lies in his mind when the voice began repeating over and over, getting louder each time.

There are no secrets
There are no secrets
There are no secrets

It was now so loud, it was all he could hear. The sound in his mind was deafening.

THERE ARE NO SECRETS!

That was it! He could take no more. He slammed on the brakes throwing everyone forward. Alice screamed, John slammed his hands on the back of Kathy’s seat and Kathy’s eyes opened wide in shock.

Tom screamed at the top of his lungs.

“SHUT UP!!!”

He turned the ignition off and John yelled “What the fuck is going on?”

“What happened?” said Alice.

Tom leaned his face on top of his hands that were gripping the steering wheel and ignored everyone in the car who were now waiting for him to explain why he had stopped the car so suddenly.

The four of them sat in stillness for a few seconds - all eyes were on Tom.

Kathy was first to speak reaching over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder, “What’s wrong, Tom?”

“I’m think I’m going crazy.” said Tom.

Alice laughed “Ha! You don’t know what crazy is. I know what crazy is. Try living in the Kate house and I’ll show you crazy. Everybody’s yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs. I live with a bunch of crazies and I know what crazy is. And you’re not crazy. Besides, it’s not like you’re hearing voices in your heard or anything.”

Tom looked up at Alice through the rear view mirror as if she had just spoken blasphemy.

“What?” said Alice.

Tom slowly turned his head towards Kathy almost embarrassed and whispered “Yes, I’m hearing a voice. I don’t have a clue who or what it is, but for whatever reason, it started out telling me how to build this stupid device. And if that’s not weird enough, now it’s saying crazy shit.”

“What kind of crazy shit?” asked Kathy.

“Well, just now it was repeating over and over ‘There are no secrets’” said Tom.

“Well, their aren’t any!” said Alice.

Tom glared at Alice and yelled, “Shut up, Alice! Don’t go New Age on me! This is serious!”

“Well, okay Mr Potato head.” said Alice.

“Why was it saying that?” asked Kathy.

“I have no freakin idea! But I WAS afraid to tell you where I got the idea from. And as soon as I thought about NOT telling you, it started saying that phrase over and over.” said Tom.

“Sounds to me like you need to not hold anything back from us.” said Kathy.

“Yeah? Well that’s easy for you to say!” said Tom.

John was staring out his window off into the distance as if he had no interest in their conversation at all. He had a dreamy look on his face like he was deep in thought.

Alice leaned up towards Tom and whispered in his ear, “It’s ok, I hear voices all the time.”

Tom snapped. He threw up his hands and yelled loudly “BUT YOU’RE A DOPE SMOKING, CRAZY NEW AGE, FUCKING IDIOT!”

The interior of the car turned eerily quiet. No one said anything. Tom knew he shouldn’t have said it as soon as the words flew out of his mouth.

Kathy took a deep breath and leaned her head on the passenger window frame and said nothing. She appeared to be looking out the window as if she were a million miles away.

Tom was worried he had blown it. It looked to him as if Kathy was ready to write him off as crazy. He felt John was embarrassed to be there, and Alice was too stoned to respond.

The four of them sat in the car for a few moments saying nothing. Tom could hear the cicadas calling their mates, but other than that, there was no sound. No one else in the car was moving or making a sound. It was as if time had stopped.

How awful! You only get one chance to make a first impression. And he had really screwed this one up big time.

Tom heard a rustling in the back seat and looked up in the rear view mirror in time to see Alice lean her head back on the seat and close her eyes. She took several deep breaths and after a few seconds appeared to be sleeping.

He looked at Kathy and she appeared to be sleeping also. What was going on?

He reached over and pushed on her shoulder - she didn’t respond. Then he turned around and looked at John who was still staring out the window as if he was deep in thought. Alice appeared to be in some sort of deep meditation.

After a few seconds, Alice opened her eyes and spoke in a soft low voice very much unlike her normal high pitched whiney tone:

“It’s ok, Tom. You can trust us. We are here to help you.”

Tom glanced in the rear view mirror and thought he saw something glowing around Alice’s head. He rubbed his eyes, turned around and looked directly at her, but nothing was there.

“What did you say?” said Tom.

Alice opened her eyes, then looked directly at Tom as if he had startled her and spoke in her normal squeaky high pitched voice “I didn’t say anything.”

“I didn’t hear anything.” said Kathy who was now rummaging around her purse looking for a stick of gum as if nothing strange had happened.

Tom was shocked. It was as if his screaming and acting out had never happened.

Tom said “You didn’t say ‘It’s ok, Tom. You can trust us. We are here to help you’?”

“Nope! But I AM wondering why we stopped on the side of the road.” said Alice.

“Yeah, Tom. Why did we stop here?” said Kathy “Want some gum?”

John blurted out “I’m hungry. Let’s go to Benny’s and get a burger!”

Tom looked over at Kathy, then back at John, and finally through the rear view mirror at Alice. None of them had a clue he had just yelled aloud.

“What the hell just happened?” yelled Tom.

“Oh, I remember! You stopped the car for that deer that ran out in front of us.” said Alice “That was some pretty quick reflexes!”

Tom was flabbergasted. There was no deer! What happened to them?

He threw Molly in gear and spun the tires.

“What? No food?” said John.

“You wanna see this thing or not?” shouted Tom.

“Oh, yeah.” said John “Let’s see it, THEN let’s eat!”

“Sounds good to me!” said Alice.

Kathy was chewing on her gum as if there was no tomorrow - blowing bubbles and popping them. “Yup, let’s see this thing.”

Chapter 14 - A Room Full of Idiots

2012-06-12T01:04:01+00:00

Alice leaned over to Frank and blew smoke in his face.

“Geez, girl. You tryin’ to kills me?” said Frank as he woozily fanned the smoke away.

“Yaw, da Ganja make you feel beddo.” said Alice in a voice sounding more like an old German woman with a squeeky voice than a pot smoking Jamaican.

John was laughing uncontrollably as George turned the stereo off and flopped down in the recliner across from him sweating from head to toe.

“Man, I need to get more exercise! That dance nearly killed me!” said George.

Tom and Kathy sat down on the couch across from Alice and Frank next to the window. Tom gave Frank a glaring look but he was too drunk to notice. Kathy looked over at Tom just in time to see the glare and poked him in the side.

“Hey!” he said. “What was that for?”

“YOU know!” said Kathy.

Alice noticed the glare too… she noticed everything. Smoking pot only enhanced her awareness of everything. It was like weed removed the veil from her vision and she saw things nobody else noticed.

“What did Frank do?” asked Alice in her normal high pitched squeaky voice.

Tom ignored her.

Kathy shared with the group “I think Frank told us a little too much about what is going on with Tom tonight.”

Frank shook his head and sobered up just enough to say “Wha’?”

Tom couldn’t help himself “What do you mean telling everybody about my device?” demanded Tom.

“Huh?” is all that Frank could get out. And he let his head fall back on the back of the couch - he was out again.

Kathy calmed him “No need to get upset about it now, Tom. He’s not all hear right now anyway.”

“I don’t care! It wasn’t his secret to share!” complained Tom.

“You mean that silly thing you’re working on? What’s so secret about that?” asked Alice.

“Never mind. I don’t wanna talk about it.” said Tom.

“Well, I wanna know more about it” said George “This thing sounds really interesting!”.

John quickly sobered up. After years of smoking pot, he could dismiss it’s effects almost instantly.

“Tom, Frank tells me you’re thinking about patenting this device.” said John.

“Yes! And I already know that Frank said it wasn’t a good idea.” said Tom.

“You damn right it’s not!” said John. “If it does what Frank says it does, the only good thing that could come from patenting it is men in black showing up and renting space at the Best Western. For pete’s sake don’t EVER patent it!”

“And why not? It’s my invention. And I need the money. My Mom needs the money. Why shouldn’t I protect my invention and make money. Isn’t that what patents are for?” said Tom.

John hung his head and shook it back and forth.

Neither he nor Frank trusted the government. And neither one of them believed anything on the National Media outlets. Which is why they were conspiracy friends and Frank had invited him to the party. Frank wanted Tom to hear first hand from someone who knew there were ‘trolls’ in the patent office that patenting a free energy device was not a good idea.

In fact, the documents they had read several years earlier showed as many as two thousand free energy or ‘over-unity’ devices had applied for patents during the past seventy years. But in each and every case, the ideas were shuffled ‘under the rug’.

In most cases, the patents were simply rejected with a cursory note saying something to the effect that ‘Free Energy Devices are not patentable’ or something similar.

The patents that WERE granted were immediately classified as ‘top secret due to national security’ and then sold to some little known international corporation who sat on the idea doing nothing with them.

It was also extremely interesting and disturbing to find out that ALL of the inventors of those patents had met untimely deaths. And although the deaths appeared to be accidental or suicidal, the fact that there were NO surviving inventors of patented free energy devices was highly suspicious.

“Patents won’t help you with your device, Tom. Trust me.” explained John.

“And why not? They seem to work for millions of other inventions!” stated Tom.

“Tell you what. Do some research and let me know when you find a patent for a free energy device that’s being manufactured. If you find one, let me know. But you won’t find any. What’s more is that you won’t even find any device that has better than thirty-six percent efficiency.” explained John.

Frank was loudly snoring on the couch. Alice made fun of him by contorting her face like a pig.

George chimed in “From what I understand, this sounds like a perpetual motion machine. And those are not supposed to exist - its impossible.”

Kathy joined in “We were taught in college that you can’t get more energy out of a system than you put in. Over-unity is not possible, according to what is taught in mainstream Newtonian physics.”

She continued “But I never actually believed that to be true. If it WERE true, then why don’t electrons stop circling the nucleus of an atom? There’s no more energy being put into atoms to make them spin, yet they have been spinning for billions of years. And they’re not slowing down either!”

“I used to date a guy named Atom who didn’t know when to stop” said Alice. “He could really wear me out!”

Tom jumped in “I don’t know anything about perpetual motion machines, atoms, or free energy. But what I DO know is that when I start this device it continues to speed up. And the only way to make it stop is to stick something in there and physically stop it.”

“I can see electrons move.” said Alice.

Everyone looked at her like the village idiot had spoken.

“No! I’m serious! One time I smoked so much weed, I passed out. But while I was passed out I could still see through my eyelids. I saw electrons swirling around.” said Alice.

“You saw dingle berries.” said John.

Everyone laughed and Frank snorted as he rolled over and repositioned himself on the couch.

Alice snorted like Frank and made another funny face.

“Well if it WAS possible, I’m sure we’d have already heard about it by now.” said George.

“Not really.” said John. “It’s the most dangerous device in the world.”

“The most dangerous device in the world? I doubt it. I would think a nuclear bomb or some other weapon in mass destruction would be.” said George.

“Nope!” said John matter-of-factly.

“And why is a free energy device the most dangerous device in the world?” asked George.

“Because our economy is based on energy - oil and gas to be more specific. Imagine what would happen to our economy and the stock market if all of a sudden, the largest corporations in the world went bankrupt?” explained John.

“That sounds like a good idea to me.” said Alice.

“Maybe,” said George. “but if everyone had their own free energy device, then who cares if the large energy corporations go bankrupt or the stock market crashes?”

“I certainly don’t!” agreed Tom.

John continued “If everyone all of a sudden had free unlimited energy, those large corporations that make up quite a large chunk of the stock market would be worthless.”

“I would be funny!” laughed Alice.

“You wouldn’t think so if it took a thousand dollars to buy a loaf of bread!” explained John.

“Well, this thing sounds really interesting and I’d love to see it sometime,” said George “but it’s time for me to get Frank home. I think he’s had enough party for tonight.”

George got up and wrapped Frank’s arm around his shoulder. Both of them squeezed themselves through the doorway, frilly dresses and all. George waved goodbye over his shoulder towards everybody.

Kathy thanked them for coming by and everyone else said their goodbyes.

“I wanna see it!” said Alice.

“I’d like to see it too!” said John.

Tom made up an excuse “Maybe some day you will. But until I fix the problems with it, I think it would probably be best if you didn’t see it quite yet.”

Kathy looked at Tom and frowned. “I thought you were going to show it to me tonight?”

Tom’s face turned red. He wanted to spend some time ALONE with Kathy tonight - not with another couple.

But it would have been rude to say no. “Well, Uh. I guess we could go over there.” he stammered.

“Great! I’ll drive!” said Alice.

“Like hell you will!” said John. “You can’t drive straight, much less three sheets to the wind.”

Tom said “I’ll drive. We can take Molly over there.”

“Molly?” said Kathy.

Chapter 13 - The Party

2012-06-12T01:03:21+00:00

During the next few days, Tom couldn’t let Matt stay alone in that hell hole of a home he called ‘his’. So every day he would stop by Matt’s ‘house’ and offer to take him to the garage with him.

Of course, Matt jumped at the chance and never missed a day.

Although he looked, Tom never saw his mother. Each time he stopped by, she was not there, and Matt was alone.

The daily routine at the garage usually consisted of Tom working on the magnetic rollers and Matt cleaning up the mess they made when they exploded into a thousand pieces from being forcibly stopped from spinning around the plate too fast.

Matt was happy to be part of the process and Tom appreciated his help.

Tom began to feel a genuine affection towards him. It was surprising he felt so much for someone his age when before the other night, he couldn’t stand to be around him.

Tom would always make sure Matt was not in the garage when he tested a new ‘run’ of the magnets. And Matt didn’t argue with him about going outside during this process either. He’d seen deep holes knocked in the tool cabinets and the magnets shatter beyond recognition.

Frank stopped by a few times and witnessed the destruction of the rollers. It was a huge problem and no one seemed to know how to fix it.

No matter what they did, they would always eventually have to stick something in their path to stop them. And in doing so, the roller would fly off the side of the plate and knock a hole into something.

The garage was starting to look like a war zone. Deep indentations in the tool cabinets, broken windows, and black powder splotches on the walls littered the area like grenades hitting a platoon of soldiers.

But it was a problem that would have to wait another day for a solution. Because although Tom had tried to think of an excuse not to go, the party he had promised Frank he would attend was tonight.

Thankfully, there were only going to be a handful of people there. At least that is what Frank promised. It wasn’t supposed to last a long time - he should be home by midnight at the latest.

The older home where Kathy Bonner lived was small - less than twelve hundred square feet. There were neatly trimmed bushes surrounding the front of it’s dirty white painted exterior wall with a three step concrete entrance leading up to a wooden door with small diamond windows at eye level.

Several cars were parked on both sides of the street in front of the house and Tom realized he was probably going to be one of the last ones to arrive.

He knocked on the door and to his surprise an attractive twenty-seven year old brunette opened it.

She had an oval face with a small nose presenting lips so inviting he found himself without words when she smiled and said “Hi! You must be Tom!”

Tom stood there staring at her face. What was this beautiful face doing on someone who installed cable TV? She could have been a model!

Her eyebrows were neatly trimmed, petite and gently curved. Her hair was tucked behind cute little ears that stuck out just enough to say ‘lick me’. And those eyes! What was up with those eyes!

He immediately started to fantasize about what it would be like to be intimate with her.

It had been so long. What he wouldn’t give to spend five minutes alone with her.

But he couldn’t let himself fall into this. He kept repeating to himself “Resist! Resist! Resist!”.

It wasn’t until she started to giggle that he realized she was waiting for him to respond.

Before he could make his mouth form any words to speak, she said “Come on in. We’re just having a little fun with George and Frank.”

“Uh…” was all that he could manage to push out of his mouth.

This girl was going to be difficult to resist indeed.

She grabbed his hand, continued to smile and pulled him through the threshold. Clumsily following her, they continued through the small hallway and into the living room.

Everyone was laughing and making fun of George dancing wildly in a frilly pink dress.

He donned butterfly and black rose embossed Paper Magic lace stockings proudly shooting out from under the dress’s hemline. It was a small miracle that he fit into those heels, but somehow he did.

George and Frank had decided to attend the party in full drag. Both of them sported identical girly outfits. Lipstick and rouge was sloppily smeared on their faces along with eye liner to match the color of their wigs.

They had decided since this was a private party put on especially for Kathy, they would go ‘over the top’ in making her feel welcome.

They did not disappoint.

Sitting on the couch, Frank was already bombed out of his mind, alternating between laughing hysterically while George was doing exotic dancing to the tune “We Are Family” and appearing comatose during the rare silent moments.

George was grabbing his ‘boobs’ and pushing them up while throwing his head back like a stripper longing for a dancing pole.

Alice Kate, the red haired, hippie-dressed, daughter of Kate Construction mogul William Kate (originally from Niʻihau Hawaii) was there with her pot smoking cohort John Taylor.

She had an innocent face that a Grandmother could trust, even though more than half of the cells in her body were nourished by weed instead of food.

She was smoking the most potent smelling pot as usual.

Her friend John was in the rocker next to Frank taking turns with Alice passing a joint back and forth between them. Frank was oblivious to the joint - too wasted to notice and laughing too hard at George to care.

John was a twenty-six year old computer programmer who gained semi-national fame a few years ago by hacking into top secret government and military networks for fun when he was a teenager.

It was John who found the documents that Frank read that convinced both of them that things were being withheld from the public about free energy devices.

“Would you like something to drink?” asked Kathy.

Tom looked at her with a blank stare falling victim to her eyes that seemed to melt his worries away.

“I’m surprised you’re so quiet.” she said.

He snapped out of his hypnosis and quickly came up with a response “I’m sorry, it’s been a stressful day. What did you say?”

“I said, I’m going to get a drink, do you want one?” asked Kathy.

“Oh, no thank you. I don’t drink anymore.” said Tom.

“You don’t drink any more? Or you don’t drink any less that usual?” she laughed.

He smiled “Cute. No, I don’t drink alcohol anymore.” explained Tom.

“Who said anything about alcohol? How about water then?” she smiled.

“Have any cranberry?” asked Tom.

“Sure. Coming up.” she turned around and walked towards the kitchen.

Tom followed her and his eyes naturally fell down at her shapely bottom. It was perfectly formed, round, and an inviting fit inside tight Navy Blue shorts. Her smooth muscular legs reminded him of his favorite peach ice cream.

He tried hard not to look at them, but couldn’t help himself. This girl could definitely spell trouble with regards to saying ‘no’ to.

Kathy opened the refrigerator and grabbed the juice container and with a smooth motion that resembled a basketball player going for a layup, grabbed a glass from the cabinet at the same time, twirled around and poured the liquid in under two seconds.

“Wow, that’s impressive!” exclaimed Tom.

“I like to do things like that. I find my ‘Zen’ in life when I do smooth flowing motions using a minimum of effort - kind of like dancing through life. It’s sort of my religion.” explained Kathy.

“Oh, really?” remarked Tom. “I belong to The Church of Wholly Linguistic Medicine - I just bullshit my way through everything.”

“Ha ha ha. Nice!” She smiled and took a sip of margarita out of her glass. “I like to see the perfection in everything around me and make my body flow through that perfection with as little disturbance as possible.”

“Well, you have that down.” said Tom. “If there was a dance floor, I’d ask you to dance, if I could dance.”

“Ha ha ha. No worries!” said Kathy. “So tell me about this device your working on.”

Tom snapped out of his infatuation stupor and looked at Kathy with a dumbfounded face.

How could she know about the device? Did Frank break his promise? He decided to play like he didn’t know what she was talking about.

“What device are you talking about?” he asked.

“Oh, you know. The one that Frank was raving about earlier this evening. Before you got here, he was going on and on about some secret device you are working on.” said Kathy.

Tom’s expression turned to a brow burrowed frown and the color of his face turned beet red. He was about to scream but held it back at the last moment.

He considered marching into the living room and yelling at Frank, but decided instead to pace around in the kitchen mumbling to himself.

After a few seconds of this he started cursing, ranting and raving to himself in front of Kathy.

Kathy looked at him confused and bewildered.

“That son-of-a-bitch wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about my device. I’ve got half a notion to go in there and kick his ass in front of everybody.” fumed Tom.

Sensing her peaceful ‘Zen’ had been interrupted by Tom’s anger, she grabbed his shoulder and looked him square in the eyes.

“Hey, Tom! Relax! What’s the big deal anyway? He’s just excited about it. And besides, nobody here gives a shit about stealing anything from you - your secrets are safe here.” calmed Kathy.

“I KNEW I shouldn’t have told him!” ranted Tom.

“Don’t worry. Everything’s gonna be ok. He really thinks a lot of you. He must have let it slip. Given the amount of alcohol he’s consumed tonight, I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t give us a play by play of he and George’s bedroom habits. Besides, I get a sense he’s only looking out for your best interest. I could tell from the way he described the problems you’ve been having that he’s just looking to help.” said Kathy.

“Still, he should have kept his damn mouth shut!” said Tom still reeling.

“Tell you what, why don’t you let me have a look at this device sometime and maybe I can help you with it.” said Kathy.

Tom looked at her as if she was crazy. How could she possibly help with anything. She was just a local cable TV installer - a damn good looking one for sure, but just an installer just the same.

“Uh, that’s ok. I’ll be fine” he whimpered.

Kathy continued. “I’ve got an electrical engineering degree from M.I.T and might be able to come up with something you haven’t thought of yet”.

Tom’s ears perked up and he looked at her with surprise and interest.

“What are you doing installing Cable TV with an M.I.T electrical engineering degree?” asked Tom.

“It’s a long story.” said Kathy.

“I’ve got time, try me.” said Tom.

Kathy continued “There was this guy, and it didn’t work out. And I couldn’t get a job in the city after I graduated. So I moved to this small town and took this installer job because I finally woke up to the ‘Zen’ of my life.

“What the hell does ‘that’ mean?” asked Tom.

“It means, that I was lucky enough to realize that I’d rather be happy in a small town like this one doing cable TV installations than ‘successful’ in some big city where nobody knows or gives a shit what I do.”

Tom didn’t understand. How could anyone choose being ‘happy’ over being successful and making tons of money?

“Well, you’re right about one thing.” grumped Tom “You can’t keep a secret in this small town.”

“I guess so.” laughed Kathy.

Tom noticed her eyes. They were sunken deep into her face and radiated a peace he had not noticed before. At the same time they almost seemed to invite him to know her better.

She looked back at him and noticed he was intently staring at her. She saw through his painful exterior and was intrigued by his kind heart and hungry eyes.

The two of them stood there looking into each others eyes until it became slightly awkward for Tom.

“Uh, sorry. I was just noticing how beautiful your eyes are.” admitted Tom.

“Thanks. I admit, your’s look interesting to me too!” said Kathy.

“Thanks!” said Tom.

She took another sip of margarita and changed the subject. “So tell me more about this device.”

“Uh, right… Uh, what if you come over to the garage sometime and I’ll show it to you personally.” said Tom.

“Sure! How about tonight?” she offered.

“But what about the party?” asked Tom.

“OK, after the party then.” said Kathy.

“Great!” said Tom.

Tom smiled and the two of them joined the rest of the group in the living room.

Chapter 12 - The Ride Home

2012-06-12T01:02:46+00:00

“WOW! That’s cool!” exclaimed Matt.

Tom and Frank ignored him. Both of them were in shock. Not only had they witnessed something completely out of the ordinary, but they had nearly caused a major catastrophe.

Had the flying cylinder hit one of them they would have surely died from the impact. This was no toy they were working with.

“What are we gonna do now?” asked Frank.

“I dunno. But I know we gotta get Matt home. It’s too late for him to be out.” said Tom.

“Agreed.” said Frank. “George is probably home by now too, so I should be going too.”

Tom walked over to the fuse box and motioned for Frank to take Matt and Beamer to the front door. He waited for them to get into position and then flipped the switch. Since it had already turned dark outside, he had to feel his way back to where they were waiting for him.

“Sure is dark out here.” said Matt.

“What do you expect? We’re miles from town and no one lives out here.” said Tom.

While Tom was locking the door, Matt asked “Do you think I could come back and watch you guys tomorrow?”.

“No, it’s too dangerous.” explained Tom “Come on - let’s get you home.”

“But I don’t wanna go home.” pleaded Matt.

“I don’t care. You’re going! Get your butt in the car.” scolded Tom.

Tom grabbed Matt’s bike and threw it on top of Molly fastening it with some heavy duty straps so it wouldn’t fall off while Frank gathered his belt and other things he’d taken out of his pockets earlier.

The four of them hopped in the car and headed back into town.

Matt was reaching up behind Frank and pulling his hair - then acting like it wasn’t him who did it. And Frank was pretending it didn’t happen. But Tom was in his own world - silent and ignoring all of their playfulness.

He thought about the implications of this new discovery. Could it somehow make amends for what had happened twelve years ago? Could this be the reason he was kept alive instead of dying with his father? What was the next step in this adventure?

He felt it was something really big - but had no clue how big it would become.

As they approached Frank’s car which was parked in front of Tom’s house, he stopped Molly just long enough to let him and Beamer out.

“Thanks for all of your help tonight Frank. I really appreciate what you’ve done for me today.” said Tom.

“Don’t mention it, Buddy. And don’t forget Tuesday!” reminded Frank as he shut the car door.

Tom rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “Oh, yeah…. that!” said Tom.

“We’ll see.” and he stepped on the gas and left Frank with his car.

Tom looked in his rear view mirror at Matt and told him to sit still, behave, then asked “Where do you live, exactly?”

“Oh, it’s just down the street a few blocks.” said Matt.

“OK, you gotta tell me when to turn beforehand ‘cause I don’t know where it is.” said Tom.

“OK” said Matt.

Tom continued down his street until it dead ended. Matt motioned for him to turn left and Tom obliged.

After a few minutes of traveling down the dark street, Tom was beginning to wonder if Matt was actually leading him in the right direction. In a few moments, they would be entering into a very dangerous and run down section of town.

The only types of homes in that area were shacks and trailers. Tom looked around and saw the garbage lining the streets. He thought to him self as much as he didn’t like living with Gladys, he liked it a hell of a lot better than living in this area.

The neighborhood was a mess and clearly this was not a place he would want to live - and it was a horrible area for Matt to be living in also.

“Is this where you live?” asked Tom.

“Almost.” said Matt. Tom could see a small trailer that looked like it used to be some sort of portable camper. It was no bigger than six feet by fifteen feet and trash bags were used to cover the front side of it’s broken out front window.

There were no lights on outside and it almost appeared to be abandoned except for a dim light coming from inside shining through one of the small windows on the side of the trailer.

“This is it!” Matt said excitedly as if they’d struck gold.

“You live here?” asked Tom.

“Yup” said Matt “Wanna come in?”

Tom thought about it and was about to say no. But then he started to worry that maybe Matt wasn’t telling him the entire truth about this being his real home.

What if it was a game Matt was playing? What if Matt just wanted him to drop him off here instead of going to his real home so that he could stay out all night?

This was certainly no place to leave a ten year old alone outside this time of night. There was no telling what kind of crazy people lived in this area.

Should he let him out here and simply go home? What if someone kidnapped him? Should he insist that he be introduced to whomever was in charge of taking care of him?

Surely this was not his home! It was a desolate looking, fly infested, trashy smelling dump of a place to live. How horrible!

But then he heard the voice:

“Everything is perfect.”

Tom closed his eyes and let out a deep long sigh. This was going to be so hard to accept. How could allowing an innocent child of Matt’s age, living in this hell hole be perfect?

He didn’t know.

But he also didn’t need to know. He just needed to decide if he could trust the voice.

It was decision time.

Had the voice tried to hurt him? No, in fact, it had even help save their lives in the garage tonight. So it must at least have SOME of his best interest at heart.

Tom decided not to think any more about it.

He was simply going to trust that everything WOULD work out for the best eventually even if he didn’t think it was ‘perfect’ in this moment.

So he opened his eyes and forced a smile for Matt to see.

“Sure! I’d love to come in.”

They got out of the car and Tom unstrapped the bike from Molly’s roof top while Matt walked up to the door and opened it like it was his home - which apparently and unbelievably, it was.

Tom rolled the bike next to the side of the trailer and leaned it up against the wall, then walked up the steps to the front door.

He knocked on the door that was standing wide open for him as if he was asking permission to enter. Matt motioned for him to come in but put his index finger to his mouth as if to imply that Tom should be quiet when he entered.

Inside the small room the smell of cigarettes was so strong it was difficult to breathe. There was a middle aged woman dressed in loose fitting dirty clothes who appeared to be sleeping in a recliner chair sitting across from a TV that was on with the sound turned down.

Next to the woman was a small end table with an empty bottle of whiskey and a full ashtray sitting on it. After looking more closely, Tom could see that the woman sprawled out on the chair was apparently passed out. The smell of alcohol hit his nose and overtook the cigarette smell.

There was a couch on one side of the trailer with enough room for Matt to sleep on and a basket of clothes on the floor next to it.

“This is where I sleep.” whispered Matt pointing to the couch as if he was letting Tom in on a secret hideaway. “And over there is the kitchen.” he continued as he pointed to the other side of the trailer to a makeshift butane burner sitting on one of the counter tops.

There were dirty dishes sitting in the small sink piled so high a good stomp on the floor would have brought them crashing down.

But none of this bothered Matt in the slightest. He was smiling at Tom as if he was sharing a newly decorated mansion to his best friend for the very first time.

Which in a way, he was. It was HIS home and everything WAS perfect - to him.

Tom stood there not knowing what to say or do. Should he call Child Protective Services? Should he even let Matt know that this was an unhealthy way to live? Or should he just adopt the same attitude Matt had and agree that this was a wonderful place?

He decided there was no reason to cause Matt to be upset - so he simply agreed.

“This is a very nice place you have here, Matt. I’m glad you allowed me to come in and see how you live.” praised Tom.

Matt was beaming. He had never had a friend as important as Tom at his home before. This was a very big deal to him.

Tom looked at Matt’s mother and asked “Should we wake your Mom and let her know that you’re home?”

“Nah. She’s usually pretty grumpy when she wakes up.” explained Matt. “You wanna pop some pop-corn?”

“No, Matt. I need to get home. But thank you for the offer. Maybe some other time. I gotta go.” said Tom and he turned around and left the trailer abruptly.

He walked hurriedly to his car. His lips trembling and he could barely contain the whelp expanding under his tongue.

The car door couldn’t open fast enough for him. The keys fumbling in his hands he found it hard to focus.

Finally, after feeling the ignition switch, he managed to insert the key and Molly started.

He slammed the gear into reverse and peeled the tires as he backed out of the gravel lot

He could barely see the road. Everything was a blur. His stomach was beginning to knot up and he felt like he might throw up.

Without thinking he sped down the narrow streets past the slums and into his neighborhood.

By the time he arrived back home he was sobbing uncontrollably. He parked Molly in the driveway and laid his head on the steering wheel.

How could he have ever treated Matt so cruelly before?

Chapter 11 - The Laws of Physics

2012-06-12T01:02:10+00:00

Tom opened the door and yelled at Matt “How long have you been out here?”

“For a while” said Matt.

“I told you to go home!” said Tom.

“There’s nobody there!” said Matt and then he continued “How come you wanna keep this so secret Mr T?”

“None of your business, young man. Where is your mother?” asked Tom.

“She’s gone.” said Matt sheepishly.

“Obviously! Where is she?” demanded Tom.

“I dunno.” said Matt.

Tom was not happy he was now being relegated to being a baby sitter for a ten year old. But he could not in good conscience send him back to an empty house with no one to watch over him.

“Ok, you can stay with me and Frank until your mother comes home, but as soon as she gets back, you have to leave. Understand?” said Tom sternly.

“Yes, sir” said Matt.

“Come on, buddy. You can sit over here with me.” said Frank pointing to a counter a few feet away from the table.

“Matt, what you see here stays here, understand?” said Tom.

“Yes, sir”

Tom looked at Frank with a look that let him know he was not happy.

“He’s not gonna hurt nothin’. He’s just a kid. What’s next in this process?” asked Frank.

Tom stood there for a few seconds biting his lip. He was torn between continuing with Matt watching or shutting everything down and taking him back home.

Catching Tom completely by surprise, he heard the voice yet again:

“There are no secrets”

He froze where he stood.

“What’s the matter Mr. T?” asked Matt.

Tom didn’t answer. He stood there for a moment and then hung his head down shaking it from side to side. “Ok, I get it. There are no secrets.” he said out loud.

Frank looked at Tom curiously “Are you ok?”

Matt kept swinging his feet under the table he was sitting on.

The room was quiet for a period of time and then Matt asked a question “Why do you wanna hide something from us Mr T? We are your friends.” pleaded Matt.

Tom looked over at Matt and he saw the innocence in his eyes. There was no attack, no hiding, and complete honestly. Only a child could have expressed the clarity of that moment. And Matt had expressed it perfectly.

“You’re right, Matt. There’s no reason to hide this from friends. But there are some people who are not our friends and we can’t let them know about this, ok?”

“If you say so, Mr T.” said Matt.

Tom took a deep breath and let it out. He rubbed his hair back and explained “The next thing we need to do is make a bigger version of this cylinder so that we can find out if the smaller one we just made will go around the larger one all by itself.”

“I can help!” said Matt.

“No, you can’t! Just stay over there and out of the way” cautioned Tom.

Leaning up against the wall was a two foot diameter metal ring he had welded together earlier. It was about three inches thick.

Placing it on the table he announced “This is called the ‘plate’”.

“Doesn’t look like a plate to me.” said Matt.

Tom looked at Matt with glaring eyes that told him to shut up.

“Well, it doesn’t!” said Matt.

“Just be quiet, would ya?” asked Tom.

Tom took the Romex and wound it around the outside of the plate several times and then connected it to the black metal box. Then he took another Romex wire and did the same thing, only this time he connect it to a different set of terminals on the same black box.

“What is that thing made out of?” asked Frank.

“It’s a couple of old tire rims that I welded together and cut the middle out of. Then I painted the outside with some paint that I mixed some powder from some crushed up magnets I had left over.” said Tom.

He checked his connections then warned “You guys need to stand back while I turn this thing on.”.

Frank walked over to Matt and picked him up off the counter. He carried him to the other side of the room where they both stood.

“Here goes nothing” said Tom.

He flipped the switch on and the lights dimmed. There was a loud hum coming from the black box and smoke started rising out of it again.

After a few seconds Tom flipped that switch off.

“OK, this is going to be very loud” warned Tom.

Frank and Matt covered their ears.

Tom flipped the second switch and a very loud CRACK rang through the garage and made some of the metal tools sing tones. The plate jumped up from the table and almost hit the ceiling but then quickly came crashing back down.

Beamer started howling, but this time he headed for the back of the garage. He’d had enough of the noise.

At the same time the Romex surrounding the plate started to heat up red hot. Smoke again rose out of the black box until Tom flipped the switch off.

“We need to let this thing cool down a bit.” said Tom.

He unplugged the black box from the wall and stared at the metal plate on the table.

“Whacha thinkin’?” asked Frank.

“I’m just wondering if this is going to work.” said Tom.

“Well, if it doesn’t let’s go to Benny’s and get some Ice Cream.” exclaimed Matt.

Frank laughed and Tom looked at both of them with a stern face.

Tom turned his head for just a moment and Matt walked closer to the table. Tom saw him reach out to touch something on the table.

“DON’T TOUCH THAT!” shouted Tom.

Matt jumped back startled.

“You could have gotten killed! Stay away from that! Do you understand?” shouted Tom.

“Yes, sir” said Matt.

Pointing to the other side of the garage Tom demanded “Go over there and stand next to Beamer and do NOT touch ANYTHING!”

“Yes, sir” said Matt as he shuffled to the other side of the room. Beamer started wagging his tail and Matt begin petting his forehead.

Tom spit on his finger and reached out to touch the ‘plate’. “It should be cool enough to try out now” said Tom.

“OK, you need me to help with anything?” asked Frank.

“No, just keep an eye on Matt and make sure he doesn’t get too close.” said Tom.

Tom cleared the rest of the items off of the table leaving only the newly magnetized plate. He then grabbed the small cylinder magnet he had magnetized earlier and placed it on the side of the plate.

As soon as he let go of the roller it started rolling around the plate on it’s own.

“Cool!” explained Matt.

Frank’s eyes were as big as cue balls again.

The magnetic cylinder was not only moving around the plate on it’s own, but it was speeding up faster and faster. It continued to gain speed and as it did it made a roaring sound similar to what the wheels of a train sound like as they pass over rails.

Tom was just as shocked about all of this as Frank. He was starting to worry about what would happen if he couldn’t stop it. It kept getting louder and louder as it went faster and faster.

A few seconds later the roaring train sound changed to a whooshing sound similar to how the wind sounds during a storm. The cylinder continued to speed up faster and faster around the plate. It the small cylinder was no longer visible around the large plate. It had vanished into a blur.

Tom was mesmerized by the spinning. He starred at the contraption while feelings of amazement filled his mind. Then he heard the voice shout.

“Stop it!”

Without questioning the advice, he grabbed a screwdriver out of his toolbox and shoved the metal end of it into the path the cylinder.

A loud metal clanging sound filled the room and the impact knocked the screwdriver out of Tom’s hand. The magnetic cylinder flew across the room and embedding itself deep into one of the tool chests.

“Holy shit!” said Frank.

Matt looked as if he’d just seen a ghost and Beamer’s ears were perked up.

And Tom was in shock.

“We are definitely going to have to re-write the laws of physics.” said Tom.

Chapter 10 - The Patent

2012-06-12T01:01:24+00:00

“Stupid kids.” Tom said as he grabbed a ladder, climbed up and yanked the magnetic cylinder from the metal beam where it had stuck from the explosion.

Frank had a smile on his face and was holding back laughing out loud.

“It couldn’t hurt to have him watch what you’re doing would it?” asked Frank.

“No! You and I know about this and nobody else needs to.” exclaimed Tom.

“He’s just a kid. He can’t hurt nothing.” pleaded Frank. “Besides, what’s the big deal about keeping this thing so secret anyway?”

Tom looked at Frank in disbelief. He couldn’t believe that Frank did not know about patent laws and how important it was to protect an invention before letting people know about it.

“Frank, don’t you know about patents?” asked Tom.

“Of course, I do. But you’re not gonna patent this thing are you?” asked Frank.

Tom set the magnetic cylinder on the table. “Sure I am. If it turns out that this thing really does work, and it really does make free electricity, I’m counting on making a ton of money with it.”

Frank looked at Tom with his eyes bugging out. He swallowed slowly and his Adam’s apple started to bulge out. Then he hung his head down, shook it from side to side and took in a deep breath. He looked at Tom with a face that showed no emotion, exuded total confidence and offered only unwavering beams of knowledge.

In all of their years together, Frank had always listened to Tom without question. He rarely offered his opinion and did not argue with Tom - but this was a look Tom had not seen before.

He looked at Frank with curious eyes.

“You CANNOT patent this device.” said Frank sternly.

“You cannot even APPLY for a patent for this device.” he continued.

“And why not?” asked Tom.

“Because the moment you do, there will be a price put on your head”.

“What?” asked Tom

“A mafia ‘hit’”. said Frank.

“You’re full of shit” quipped Tom.

“No, I’m serious. You can’t patent a free energy device.” said Frank.

“Why not?”

“Because it’s the most dangerous device in the world.” said Frank.

“Geez, Frank. That’s ridiculous.” said Tom.

“No, I’m dead serious. Our entire economy is based on money, energy, stocks, and information. And if a patent for a free energy device were ever to be given, it would completely ruin our economy.” said Frank.

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.” said Tom.

“Fine. Don’t believe me. But at least consider this - we were taught in school about the law of conservation of energy; that you cannot get more energy out of a system than you put in, right?”

“Yes” agreed Tom.

“If this does what you say it does, it will prove that what they’ve been teaching in school is bullshit.” said Frank.

Tom stood there in silence. He realized that what Frank said was true. If this device actually DID work, they would have to re-write the laws of physics.

“So what?” asked Tom. “So what if they have to re-write the laws of physics. At one time they thought the earth was flat!”.

“That’s true. But back then, we did not have an economy that was based on energy. And back then we did not have stocks or multi-national corporations. And back then, we did not have a government in the pockets of corporations that ACTIVELY sought out devices such as this and insured they NEVER saw the light of day.” said Frank.

“Our government doesn’t do that!” asserted Tom.

“Oh, yes they do. And they have agents and trolls monitoring the patent office to look for these kinds of devices.”

“Bullshit” said Tom. “This device is gonna get me out of prison. I’m gonna be able to pay for Mom’s back operation. I’m gonna get my life back. It’s gonna make a LOT of money and I’m gonna be rich!”

“Tom. I love you like a brother. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE promise me you will not apply for a patent for this device until you come to the party on Tuesday.” pleaded Frank.

“Why? What’s gonna happen at the party?” Tom asked.

“Nothing out of the ordinary. But there’s gonna be someone there who knows about this kind of stuff and he’ll tell you the exact same thing I’m telling you. You do NOT want to patent this device!” pleaded Frank.

“Who’s that? One of your conspiracy nuts?” asked Tom.

Frank rolled his eyes.

Tom paused for a moment. “I promised you I’d come to the party, but I didn’t promise I would share this secret with anyone.”

“Fine. Don’t tell anyone anything. You ARE still coming Tuesday, right?” asked Frank.

“Yes, I’ll be there.”

“Good. When you get there, ask my friend about what you should do. You don’t have to tell him about the device. Just ask him what happens when someone tries to patent a free energy machine.” said Frank.

“You mean there are other devices that produce free energy?” asked Tom.

“Yes. They’re called ‘over-unity devices’ which means they produce more energy out than they consume in. There are at least twenty that I know of.” continued Frank “And it’s fine if you want to make one of them and use it for yourself. But you won’t find any of them with a patent. And you won’t find any of them for sale anywhere either.”

“I’d have to see one of those other devices before I’d believe they really worked.” said Tom.

“You can find videos of them on the internet” said Frank.

“You can find anything on the internet. How do you know they’re not fake?” asked Tom.

“Some of them ARE fakes.” explained Frank “But not ALL of them are fake. There are several that really do work”.

“Oh, yeah? We’ll see. Enough talk, let’s see if the magnetizer worked.” said Tom.

Tom grabbed a wide mouthed five gallon clear glass jar from the floor and set it on the table.

Frank closed his eyes and hung his head low. He didn’t know what else to say. How could he convince Tom what he was doing was extremely dangerous? It was bad enough Tom was working with lethal voltages, but now he was actively trying to build a device that could put power companies out of business. And he knew the powers that be wouldn’t stand for that.

He opened his eyes and saw two freshly opened cases of mineral oil sitting on the table.

“What in the hell could Tom possibly be using two cases of mineral oil for?” he thought to himself.

“Geez, Rat. Constipation been bothering you?” joked Frank.

Tom looked at Frank not knowing what he was talking about. Then he looked at the mineral oil.

“Ha ha ha! Oh!” said Tom. “No, that’s for this jar. It will allow me to see the magnetic fields of the cylinder I just magnetized.”

“Grab one of those cases on the floor and start opening up the mineral oil bottles so we can pour all of them into this glass jar. ” said Tom.

Frank grabbed a handful of mineral oil bottles. He opened one container after the other and emptied each into the jar. When he was finished a five gallon glass jar filled with clear mineral oil stood before them.

“How does this work?” asked Frank.

“Just watch” said Tom.

Tom grabbed some fine steel wool and started shaving it on a grinder wheel.

The metal shavings were falling onto the table and as he built up a pile of the shavings, he would wipe them into a plastic bag.

After a few minutes he had a pile of iron shavings in the bag.

“Rat, have you ever thought that maybe what you’re doing is just a little bit strange?” asked Frank.

“Oh and this is coming from the guy who believes the federal reserve is a private company that runs a ponze scheme and the government is run by corporations?” quirked Tom.

“Well it is.” said Frank.

“Yeah, right. I don’t think I have to worry about being strange as long as I’m hanging around you!” joked Tom.

“You have to admit, they control the money supply at least.” said Frank.

“Maybe, but they’re regulated by the government. I don’t think there is much to worry about.” said Tom.

“You actually TRUST the government?” asked Frank.

“Not totally, but they do provide my mother with her disability checks. And I like the idea of everybody having a chance to make their dreams come true. I like freedom.” explained Tom.

“You don’t think there’s any hanky panky going on given the fact that the people who control the money also fund political parties?” questioned Frank.

“I see where you’re going with this Franky; and no, I don’t think there is some kind of grand conspiracy run by a group of bankers that control the world’s governments.” said Tom.

“Wow! You’re more crazy than I had ever imagined!” exclaimed Frank.

“Frankly, Frank, I just don’t care about that kind of stuff. I’m more interested in seeing if this magnetizer worked.” said Tom.

“Fair enough. I’ll shut up. What’s the next step?” asked Frank.

“I’m gonna put the magnetic disc cylinder that we just magnetized into a plastic zip lock bag so it won’t get oil soaked. Then I’m gonna put an old brick upright in the bottom of the glass jar that contains the mineral oil.” said Tom.

“And then what?” asked Frank.

“Then I’m gonna take these iron shavings and stir them up in the mineral oil that is in the glass jar.” said Tom

“OK, and what will that do?” asked Frank.

“Well, after I drop the plastic bag with the magnet in it inside of the jar, we should be able to see a three dimensional representation of the magnetic lines of force that surround the magnet. And if we do, and if they’re curved - BINGO!” said Tom.

“If you say so.” said Frank.

Tom took the steel wool shavings and poured them into the glass jar and then grabbed a large stick and stirred the metal shavings in the mineral oil. Then he carefully placed an old brick upright in the bottom of the jar.

“Well, I have to admit, I’ve never seen this before and we are walking the crazy line right about now.” exclaimed Frank.

Tom ignored him and put the magnetic cylinder into a plastic baggie and tied a string around it so he could lower it into the jar.

Slowly, he lowered the magnet cylinder into the jar and set it on the brick.

Tom’s eyes opened big and wide. Just a clear as a school of fish swimming in the ocean, they could see the magnetic lines of force flowing in a curved direction around the magnet.

It appeared in a shape similar to an apple, starting outward from the top, curving around the side and then returning back into the bottom.

“Do you see it?” asked Tom.

“I sure do.” said Frank.

The magnetic lines were clearly twisted around the magnet.

“It’s gonna work!” shouted Tom!

“YAY!!!!!” Tom and Frank heard a young voice coming from outside the garage window.

They both turned around and saw Matt with his hands and face pressed against the outside window.

“Matt!!!!” yelled Tom.

Chapter 09 - I Just Wanna Help

2012-06-12T01:00:38+00:00

Tom, Frank and his dog Beamer climbed into Tom’s car Molly and headed out of town to the family’s garage. It would be dark soon and Tom wanted to get out there in time to turn the power back on while there was still light outside.

After a few minutes, they pulled into the gravel road that led to the family’s garage. Frank commented how he remembered spending lots of time there with Tom and his Dad many years ago.

Tom remembered the times they had spent together there. He didn’t want to admit it, but secretly he wanted it to be true. Was it his father who was responsible for the voice and the dreams? Could it really be him he was hearing inside his head?

He just couldn’t accept that. It was too much given what had happened to him the last twenty-four hours.

If it WAS his father, did that mean he could see and hear all of HIS thoughts?

What about his actions? Could his father see him when he had sex? Could he see him when he was in therapy? Did he listen to every detail he had shared with his therapist?

Tom could not handle that possibility at all. No! It was simply not possible for it to be his father. No way would he accept that!

Tom tried to forget the concept and hid the fact from Frank he had even considered the thought by saying “That seems like a lifetime ago.”

“Yes it does.” said Frank.

Then as if prompted and on cue, Frank blurted out something that surprised both of them “Maybe your Dad is helping you after all.”

Tom quickly turned his head towards Frank and glared at him. “Don’t go there!” Tom snapped back. “That’s not possible. Dad’s gone and there’s nothing we can do about it.”

Frank was taken back at Tom’s response. He looked away and dropped the subject.

Beamer started licking Frank’s hand.

“I’m sorry, Tommy boy. I wasn’t thinking. I just said something that I wished would be true.”

“Well, it’s not true so drop it!” fired back Tom.

Beamer began to wine. He felt the tension in the car and was ready to get out.

Molly was parked in front of the large garage door at the front of the building. The three of them climbed out of her and walked up to the entrance.

Tom pulled out the keys and unlocked the front door and they walked in the front door. There were cobwebs hanging down from the ceiling, dust everywhere and sheets covering some of the larger tools.

Frank noticed the tools and machining equipment lined up along the walls. He wanted to make a comment about them, but decided it best to keep his comments to himself.

Spotting the electrical fuse box on the far wall, Tom walked over and flipped the switch. The loud sound of a clank and the familiar buzz of florescent lights filled the garage.

Beamer barked at the noise and Frank motioned for him to be quiet.

The air conditioner kicked on and cool air started blowing within a few minutes.

Tom turned to Frank “I’ll clean this table off if you’ll get the parts out of the car.”

Frank didn’t say a word - just nodded his head. He felt as if a cold chill had entered the room.

He didn’t want to upset Tom. He knew Tom was upset about loosing his father and Frank’s only intention was to help and be as good of a friend to him as possible. So he turned around and walked out of the building to retrieve the box of parts.

Meanwhile, Tom cleared a small space on one of the tables while Beamer found a small clearing on the cement floor to lay down.

A few minutes later, Frank returned and placed the box of parts on the table.

“I think it’s best if we don’t talk about the voice any more.” said Tom.

“Ok. Whatever you say.” agreed Frank.

Tom sighed in relief. He hated conflict. One of the reason’s he and Frank had been such good friends is that they had agreed early on that when tensions were high, they both kept their mouths shut.

Frank pulled out some old service manuals and flipped through the pages and Tom began pulling parts out of the box and putting them together.

Tom was welding, sanding, soldering, and hammering which generally made lots of noise. But neither one of them exchanged a single word.

Beamer covered his ears with his paws and tried to ignore both of them enough to catch a couple of winks.

Although it was very loud in the garage, the silence was deafening to Frank. He tried to ignore the tension by keeping himself busy with dusting, sweeping, mopping, straightening, cleaning the toilet and the wash bowl, and even washing the windows. Occasionally he would glance over at Tom to see what he was doing.

It was amazing to watch Tom at work. It was as if he’d never abandoned the garage. He used the tools there like a pro who’d worked with them all his life.

He seemed to know where everything went. Instinctively working at an impressive pace, and after a short while Tom made an announcement “I think I’ve got something we can try”.

Frank looked up and took a deep breath. He walked over to the crude, make-shift looking contraption sitting on the table. There was a black metal box with it’s top cover off that was connected to the power outlet on the floor. And from that box were two sets of Romex coils wound around a stack of disc magnets.

It looked oddly like one of those Rube Goldberg machines. Frank couldn’t help but chuckle a little.

“Laugh and you’re outta here.” snapped Tom

Frank wiped the grin off of his face. He was not about to leave this far into this adventure.

Tom continued “You don’t have any ferrous metals on you, do you?”

“What’s that?” asked Frank.

“Those are metals that are affected by magnetic fields.” said Tom.

“What about my phone?”

“Probably need to take that outside.”

Frank went outside and emptied his pockets of all his loose change, wallet, credit cards and phone, and just for good measure he took off his belt. When he came back into the garage he had to hold his pants up with his hands because they were too loose to stay up on their own.

He walked over to the table where the contraption was holding his pants up with his hands which were barely covering his naked butt.

Tom busted out laughing. “Need a rope?”

“Nah, I’ll just hold ‘em up” said Frank interested only in seeing what the next step in this process was.

“Remember when you stole coach Meyer’s whistle?” asked Tom.

Frank smile. “Yup, I sure do”

“And when you blew it and we all dropped our pants in assembly?” said Tom.

They both laughed at the thought of thirty senior boys standing in their briefs during the last high school assembly.

“I ran thirty laps because of that.” said Frank.

“Not me!” said Tom.

“Yes, I know, you turkey.”

They both laughed out loud. Frank smiled from ear to ear and then bent down to take a closer look. Inside the coils of Romex were the cylinder disc magnets stacked on top of each other to form a tall roller magnet assembly. Tom asked him to stand back. Then he flipped the switch on the black box.

A loud hum filled the room and the lights in the garage dimming noticeably.

Frank looked a little worried. “Is that normal?”

“I don’t know.” said Tom hesitantly.

The lights came back on to full strength in a few seconds and Tom looked at Frank with a very serious look on his face. He pointed to the open metal box “Whatever you do, do NOT touch anything in that box!”

“Why’s that?” asked Frank.

“Because the voltages and currents in that box are now lethal - you could get killed if you touch any of the parts in there.” said Tom.

Frank’s mouth fell open and he loosened his grip on his pants letting them fall to the floor .

They both laughed out loud again at the sight of Frank standing there in his underwear.

“You doofus! Let me get you some rope.” said Tom. “Somebody sees you like that they’re gonna take a swing at that Franky bottom.”

“No they won’t! Beside, I gotta nice bottom!” laughed Frank as he wiggled it from side to side at Tom.

“Put that away!” shouted Tom.

“I’m just having a little fun!” exclaimed Frank.

Tom’s face turned serious and then he looked at Frank “Ok, are you ready? Here goes.”

Tom flipped another switch on the box and the Romex coils started turning red hot. After a few seconds, there was an extremely loud CRACK heard in the garage coming from the magnetizer box and the magnet cylinder assembly shot up out of the coil area and stuck to the metal beam that held up the ceiling. The black box started spewing out black smoke and the room started filled up with smoke.

Beamer started barking and running around the garage.

“Whoa” said Frank.

Tom started fanning the air. Both of them were nearly deaf from the sound of the explosion.

“Go open some windows!” Tom commanded.

Frank went over to one of the side windows and cranked it open. Then his eyes opened big as cue balls. “Rat, you better come over here. You’re not gonna believe this.”

Tom walked over and looked out the window and in horror saw ten year old Matt laying on the ground next to his bicycle a few feet from the window.

“Matthew!” Tom yelled at the top of his lungs.

Both of them along with Beamer rushed out the front door and around to the side where Matt was. They kneeled on either side of Matt.

Beamer started licking the young boy’s face and Matt contorted his face.

“Are you OK?” asked Tom.

Matt slowly moved his arms and pushed himself up from the ground.

“Yeah.” said Matt.

Tom looked at Matt’s legs and noticed he had scraped one of his knees up pretty badly.

Matt continued “I fell off my bike.”

“Do ya think?” said Tom “What are you doing here?”

Tom looked Matt over and found no broken bones. Then after he saw that Matt was ok he yanked him upright.

“Answer my question! What are you doing here?” demanded Tom.

“I thought I heard a gun go off.” said Matt.

“That was no gun!” said Frank.

“No, I mean. What are you doing all the way out here?” asked Tom

“I dunno. I wanted to see what you guys were doing!” pleaded Matt.

“Get your butt inside and I’ll fix up your knee.” said Tom “I should bust your bottom for pulling a stunt like this.”

Tom dragged Matt by his arm into the garage and sat him on one of the chairs next to the table. Frank grabbed the first aid kit from the bathroom and hurried back to where Matt was sitting.

“It smells like smoke in here.” said Matt.

“Never mind. You’re not supposed to be here!” scolded Tom.

Matt had his head hanging down looking at the floor.

“Yes, sir.” he said. Matt knew he was wrong for riding his bike all the way out of town by himself.

“I’m sorry Mr. T” said Matt kicking one leg back and forth nervously as he looked down at the floor.

“Now, get back on your bicycle and get your butt home before it turns dark!!” yelled Tom.

“Yes, sir.” said Matt.

He stood up and saw the contraption on the table.

“Wow! What’cha makin’?” asked Matt.

Tom had no interest in sharing the secret with Matt, so he pulled the garage door open and motioned for Matt to leave. He looked at Matt with a stern face and scolded “Out!”

Matt shuffled slowly towards Tom, stopped, and begged “Can’t I just stay a little while?”

“No!” Tom yelled as he pushed Matt through the door and slammed it closed.

Chapter 08 - There Are No Secrets

2012-06-12T00:59:51+00:00

Tom put the frosted glass cover on the last light fixture in the kitchen and climbed down from the wooden step ladder.

“Thank you, son.” Gladys said as she reached for his arm and yanked him down to her level where she patted him on the butt and said “You’re a good boy.”

“Mom! I’m twenty-nine. I’m not a good boy anymore.”

“You are to me, Son” and she wheeled around and moved under the archway of the entrance to the kitchen so she could take a better look at her finished lights.

Tom walked over to the newly installed light switch and flicked it on. All of the lights came on and the kitchen was brightly lit.

“That’s what I’m talking’ about!” said Gladys.

“Thanks, Mom. OK, I’m gonna head on out to the garage and see what I can come up with” said Tom.

“Sounds good. I’ve gotta go to the store anyway.” said Gladys. “Do you need anything?”.

“No, I’m good.” said Tom.

“Told ya so!” she said.

Tom chuckled.

Gladys had a special van configured so she could drive by herself. She had learned to operate the vehicle using only her hands using the special levers that were custom installed for her. And there was a special lift in the back that allowed her to get in and out of the van easily.

She insisted on being treated as a normal person even though technically she was considered handicapped.

Tom respected her need for independence and appreciated the fact that she could get around by herself without his help. And it gave him more time to do what he wanted to do instead of hauling her around.

Gladys wheeled herself to her bedroom to get ready for her trip into town. Tom headed towards the front door when he heard the familiar sound of a car horn playing ‘Dancing Queen’.

He peered out the window to confirm it was who he thought it was. Yes, it was Frank’s special car honk.

“Shit!”

What was he going to do now? Frank would be hard to get to leave.

Tom thought of ways he could let Frank know he had things to do without letting him in on where he was going and what he was really going to do - and then the doorbell rang.

He cracked the door open slightly and saw Frank standing there with a big grin on his face.

“Rat, what you cookin’?”

“Nothin’” said Tom as he held the door open just enough for Frank to peek inside. He was not about to simply open the door and invite him in. It would be hours before Frank would leave if he did that.

Tom heard Gladys’s wheel chair roll up behind him.

“Well let the man in, Son.” She was happy to see Tom’s friend of many years come and visit.

“Hello, Ms. G.” said Frank as he pushed the door open and stepped past Tom ignoring him completely.

In right after Frank was his big brown Hound Dog, “Beamer” who rushed directly to Gladys who was holding her freshly made sugar cookies in her lap.

Frank bend down and gave Gladys a welcome hug while Tom had an expression of impatience on his face.

After giving Beamer a treat, Gladys held the tray up to Frank. “Want some cookies, sweetie?”

“No thanks Ms. G. I just came by to see Tommy boy.”

“Suit yourself. I gotta go to town anyway. They’ll be in the kitchen if you change your mind”

“How’s George?” she asked.

Gladys was not happy with Frank’s lifestyle. But Frank had been such a good friend to the family over the years, she had decided to ignore it. Instead, she would just pray for both of them.

“Oh, he’s doing fine. He’s got a new cable partner and she’s throwing a little party at her house Tuesday.”

“You don’t say!” exclaimed Gladys.

“And you’re not gonna believe this but I think I got your one and only to agree to join us” he said with a huge grin on his face.

Tom rolled his eyes and sighed loudly.

“Whatcha have to do? Bribe him?” she joked.

“Don’t ask” he said as he leaned down and gave her a big hug.

Gladys smiled then turned around and wheeled herself back into the kitchen doing a wheelie all the way there.

“Nice form, Ms. G.!” said Frank.

“Thanks! Lots of practice!” said Gladys.

“Bye, Ms .G.” said Frank.

Beamer laid down on the floor in the living room as if it was his new found home.

“It’s really not a good time, Frank.”

“Of course, it is. It’s always the perfect time. Now is all there really is!”

Tom stared at Frank. He’d heard that kind of mumbo jumbo, new age talk from Frank before and he hated it.

“Seriously, I’m busy, Frank.” said Tom.

Frank continued “Well, I’m not. Besides, George is working late and you and I never hang out anymore. I figured I’d come over and give you a hand with whatever it is you’re working on.”

Tom was about to make up a lie in order to get Frank to leave when he heard the voice.

“There are no secrets.”

What was that stupid voice doing here now? Couldn’t it just leave him alone for a while?

Tom was pissed. He didn’t have time for Frank’s twenty questions and now the voice was talking nonsense.

Without realizing he was speaking out loud Tom exclaimed “This makes no sense to me.”

Frank answered as if Tom was talking to him “It doesn’t have to make sense. I just wanna hang out, that’s all.”

Tom paused and looked away from Frank. He knew he screwed up by speaking out loud. Could he cover his tracks and make something up?

Before he could come up with an excuse for saying what he did, the voice repeated:

“There are no secrets.”

Tom took a deep breath, turned around and looked Frank square in the eye.

He stared at him for several seconds until Frank felt a little uncomfortable. Finally Frank asked “What’s the matter Tommy boy? Something bothering you?”

Tom looked down at his feet and didn’t say anything.

Just then, Gladys emerged from her bedroom ready to head to town.

“I’ll see you boy’s later.” she said and let the door slam on the back of her wheel chair.

Tom looked back up at Frank “Thanks for taking care of the parts today. I’ll catch you later for it.”

“Aw, no problem, Buddy. Anytime. You know, money ain’t real anyway.” ’ Tom laughed “Maybe not to you it’s not, but it’s very real to me!” said Tom. “I need it to eat! But maybe one day, I’ll have all of the money I could ever want.”

“Sure you will, Rat.” Frank said as he smiled and slapped Tom on his shoulder.

He looked at Frank with a very serious look and confided “Frank, I have something I want to tell you. But before I do, I need you to promise me that you will NEVER EVER share this information with anyone - not even George. Can you keep this just between us?”

“Sure, Tom. You know I can keep a secret” assured Frank.

“No, I don’t - which is why I need to make sure you know I don’t want this shared with anybody before I tell you.” said Tom.

“OK. My lips are sealed.” promised Frank. “Besides, who else am I gonna tell? My dog?”

Beamer’s head lifted up after hearing his master’s voice mention him. But then, just as quickly she put his head back down and ignored them.

“I’ve been having dreams - very vivid dreams over the last few days and now I’m starting to hear a voice.” said Tom.

“What kind of voice is it?” asked Frank.

“Well, it kind of sounds like Dad’s, but I know it can’t be him.” said Tom.

Frank looked down for a moment and then asked “Well what’s it saying?”

“Different stuff. And it happens at random times - or maybe it’s not random. I don’t know. All I know is that it’s scary and I’m afraid I might be going crazy.” said Tom in a softer voice - almost to the point of whispering.

“Have you told your Mom about it?”

“No, and I’m not gonna either. She would start nagging me to go back to the shrink or worse.” said Tom.

“I’ve known Ms. G. for a long time and I don’t think she would do anything like that.” comforted Frank.

“Maybe. But I don’t want her to know! Promise!” insisted Tom.

“OK Buddy” said Frank.

Tom turned around, walked over to the couch and sat down.

“But that’s not all. Those dreams I told you about - I saw this thing in them. It’s some sort of circular device and I’m not sure what it does. But I think I’m supposed to build it.” said Tom.

Frank walked over to the chair across from the couch and sat down.

“What do you think it does?” asked Frank.

“I don’t know. But I know there were magnets in it and it felt like the magnets were made in a special way.” explained Tom.

“What way is that?” asked Frank.

“Well, I’m not really sure, but I think it has something to do with the image I got a few days ago. I saw an image of a swirling motion similar to how water swirls down a drainpipe wrapped around the cylinder and I knew this is how the magnetic lines of force would look if I magnetized the magnets using both direct and alternating current. I think this is what the ACDC part means.” Tom said as he lifted up his shirt and showed Frank his new Tattoo.

“You had it tattooed on your chest?” laughed Frank.

“I didn’t want to ever forget it.” said Tom.

“Well, I guess you won’t now!” laughed Frank.

He got up and walked over to Tom so that he could take a closer look, then sat back down in a chair.

“I think it represents some sort of special magnetizer.” said Tom as he pulled his shirt back down. “In fact, I know it does. I seem to know some things that I didn’t know before.”

“What’s a magnetizer?” asked Frank.

“It’s a device that makes magnets”. said Tom.

“Like what we used to do in High School with a battery and a nail?” asked Frank.

“Sort of. But I believe this one is different.”

“How so?”

“I think this will make a magnet with a twisted magnetic field.”

“A what?” asked Frank puzzled.

“A magnet that has it’s poles twisted around it’s body.”

“Like two drunk, gay fishermen?” joked Frank.

Tom looked at Frank with a puzzled face. Then he busted out laughing.

“I’m serious!” exclaimed Tom.

“Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. OK, so what will twisted magnetic poles do?” asked Frank.

Tom continued, “Well, nothing by itself. But I believe if I can do that to a small cylinder magnet and also to a larger cylinder magnet, I believe I can make the smaller cylinder magnet roll around a similar magnet all by itself.”

Frank looked at Tom in surprise and disbelief - as if he had just spoken nonsense.. He made a dumbfounded face and said “No way!”

“Well, I don’t know for sure. But that’s what it feels like.”

Frank paused a moment looking at the coffee table sitting between them and looked back up at Tom. He looked at Tom as if he was in shock.

“Do you know what that means?” asked Frank.

“Well, I think so.” said Tom.

“It means you will be able to make free electricity.” said Frank.

“Maybe, but I don’t even know if it works yet.” said Tom.

“So you think you can actually make magnets like that?” asked Frank.

“I don’t know, but I’m gonna try.”

Frank stood up and slapped his hands together then rubbed them back and forth as if he was getting ready to eat.

“Hot dog!” said Frank. “Let’s do it!”

Chapter 07 - The Tattoo

2012-06-12T00:58:49+00:00

Tom walked out of the hardware store and headed across the parking lot back to Molly. He looked around to see if there was a Bugatti waiting for him. But thankfully the coast was clear.

It felt good to have someone like Frank as a friend - someone who was always there when he needed him.

But he also felt a little guilty about not telling Frank what was really going on. Because although he trusted him like the brother he never had, he didn’t trust him enough to share he was hearing a voice and seeing visions.

Frank was one of those people that didn’t keep secrets very well. And even though Tom could be very specific to him about not sharing something, Frank could blurt out a secret at the most inappropriate times.

He didn’t mean to - it was just the way he was. There were no secrets with Frank. He shared everything with everybody - including his own money as he did with Tom today.

But Tom couldn’t take a chance that Frank would do that - he had to keep this secret to himself.

Tom drove back home and as usual, slowed down when he passed the police station and entered his neighborhood.

Rows of tall, old oak trees lined the street where he and his mother lived. There was a median that separated both sides of the street and the neighbors loved to use it for walking. It was a quiet shady street with only occasional traffic and older homes on both sides.

They lived in a small Midwestern town situated a couple of miles off the interstate. So only locals traveled their small street.

He pulled into the driveway and turned the key off then noticed the hand railing on the handicap ramp. It had been knocked off it’s mounting.

“Kids!” Tom mumbled to himself.

Matt, the ten year old who lived a few blocks away loved to bring his skateboard over and slide down the handicap ramp railing. Tom figured it must have been him who did it. He had told him repeatedly not to ride the railing but Matt did not listen very well.

He was a cute kid from a single parent home and looked up to Tom. But he didn’t listen to instructions. And that was something that really got under Tom’s skin. It was one thing to allow Matt to be in his presence, it was another if he didn’t do what he was told .

So when Matt did something stupid like skating on the guard railing and knocking it down, Tom got pissed not only at the act, but also the reason for the act.

Tom had always believed that if he ever found someone special to spend the rest of his life with, they would have to agree there would be no children - ever!

They were completely illogical and immature. They were smart alecks, messy, and generally a pain in the ass. Tom could do without all of those things in his life.

He shut Molly’s engine off and walked over to the handicap ramp. Lifting the guard rail off the ground, he pressed the rail back onto on top of it’s mount and aligned the old nails so that they went back into their original holes. Then he made a mental note to come back later and fix it properly.

“Hello, Mr T” said Matt. Tom turned around saw Matt skating down the sidewalk.

“Matt, did you break this hand railing?” Tom asked.

“No sir.” said Matt.

Tom knew he was lying. So he turned back around and walked towards the front door and ended the conversation so Matt could not engage further. As far as Tom was concerned, Matt wasn’t there anymore.

He opened the front door and the smell of freshly baked sugar cookies filled his nose. The air conditioner was blowing full blast and it felt good to get out of the heat.

The small, 1200 square foot house was a single level, older home with only four rooms. And Gladys’ cooking had a way of filling the entire house with sugary baking aroma.

There was a small living room that entered via the front door. If you walked straight through the living room you could walk through a six foot wide arched doorway that lead to the kitchen/dining room area.

The kitchen was long and narrow and connected to the laundry room on one end and a door that exited directly to the handicap ramp on the other.

Tom’s bedroom was on the left, down the hall that connected to the living room. And at the end of the hall was Gladys’s bedroom on the left and a shared bathroom on the right.

The bathroom and laundry room connected via a sliding wall door that Gladys’s kept open most of the time.

The living room was dimly lit and Tom could hear his mother in the kitchen talking on the phone.

“He loves his tattoos” said Gladys. She had a phone receiver held next to her ear by her shoulder and was doing dishes while she was sitting in her wheel chair.

Gladys moved around in the kitchen like a racing pro - smooth fluid motion gliding from side to side completely comfortable with steel and wheels as her mode of transportation.

“Well, I would never do that to my body”, she said as she whipped around and placed a stack of dried dishes onto the counter opposite the sink.

The kitchen was old and cluttered. There were magazines strewn on top of the kitchen table and you could barely see the refrigerator door hidden behind magnets holding clippings of news articles about Don’s cars.

And of course, the obligatory Jesus statue was sitting on the highest spot in the kitchen - the cabinets.

She swung back around to grab some drinking glasses from the sink.

“I just don’t understand why he thinks he needs tattoos to be reminded of anything - his body should be sacred.”

Tom worried she might be talking about his new tattoo. He listened closely to what she was saying.

Suddenly, he heard the loud sound of glass crashing on the floor.

He rushed from the living room into the kitchen where he saw his mother looking at the broken glasses on the floor.

“I gotta call you back.” and she hung up the phone.

Gladys rarely dropped things, but today she make up for lost time. Tom grabbed the dust pan and broom and started sweeping up the broken pieces.

“You’ve gotta be more careful, Mom.” I’m not always going to be here to help you with this stuff ya know!”.

She looked at Tom with a smirk on her face.

“What do you mean? You’re 32 years younger than me and I don’t see you going anywhere but in and out of this house!”

Gladys smiled at him hoping he would get a chuckle out of the joke.

But Tom looked at her and didn’t laugh. It wasn’t funny to him.

He dumped the glass pieces from the dust pan into the waste basket and put the broom back in it’s place then started to walk back into the living room.

His mind wondered if she was talking about him when she was on the phone. “Who were you talking to on the phone?” he asked.

“Oh, I was just talking with Mildred Henkins. Her son got a new tattoo on his arm and she says it looks horrible.”

Tom sighed in relief. She was NOT talking about HIS new tattoo. He walked over, bent down and kissed her on the forehead.

“Be careful, Mom” he said.

Gladys saw Tommy’s bandaged hand and asked “What happened to you?”

“Nothing. I just had an accident at the hardware store. I’m fine.” said Tommy then continued “I brought some parts and I’d like to put them together in the garage if that’s ok with you.” he said.

The family’s garage had gone unused for years. Gladys was surprised but happy Tom was going to put it to good use again.

“Sure! You know your father would have wanted you to work there anyway. What are you gonna build?” asked Gladys.

“Not sure. But I’ll let you know when I figure it out.” said Tom. He really didn’t want to let his mother know any more than that. He was looking to end the conversation as quickly as possible “I gotta get the kitchen stuff out of the car. It’s too hot to leave it out there too long”.

She wasn’t going to give up.

“How you gonna build something if you don’t know what it is?” she asked.

Tom thought for a moment and spoke what he though would be the end of the subject “I just listen.”

“Listen to what?” she asked.

Tom didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t say he was hearing a voice so he quickly made something up.

“The silence.”

“How can you hear anything that’s silent?”

“Never mind, Mom. I just dream, OK? I can dream can’t I?”

Gladys knew he was a dreamer. But she also knew he was hiding something. She decided not to push it. She thought for a moment and then offered some motherly advice.

“You should think about quitting that dinky garage work you’re doing downtown and start doing what your father did. He made a good living with that you know.”

“Mom!” Tom whines. “I don’t really care about restoring old cars. And besides, that’s not what I’m supposed to do.”

“How do you know what you’re supposed to do?” asked Gladys.

“Never mind, Mom. I’m just gonna do some work in the garage for a while, ok?”

“I guess so. Do you want me to fix some supper tonight?”

“Probably. I got the parts to fix the kitchen and I thought I’d do that now.”

“Yippee!” Gladys made a quick turn, then let out a quick “Watch this”.

Then she swung away from him and did a ‘wheelie’ on the back wheels of her wheelchair while she made a silly face and stuck her tongue out at him.

Tommy looked at her and rolled his eyes. After a few seconds the two of them busted out laughing. Tom couldn’t resist Gladys’ silliness.

It was good to see Tom laugh again. She stopped and did an about face and smiled at her son who was standing near the doorway. She reached up and grabbed her son’s t-shirt and pulled him towards her.

“I love you, son.” she whispered to him.

“I know. Love you too, ma”.

“About that project - You workin’ on something for your sweetie?” she asked.

“No, Ma. I don’t have a girlfriend.” said Tom.

Would she ever stop asking twenty questions? He knew he couldn’t keep the secret very long from her, she was relentless about asking over and over until she understood everything.

Tom decided to let her think he was doing some car repair work.

“I’m just gonna do some work in the garage. I might work late so don’t worry about me if I don’t come home before you go to bed. Who knows! I might even make some extra money for us. And if I do, we might be able to get that operation Doc was telling us about.”

She let go of his shirt and leaned back in her wheel chair. Her face showed an serious expression of concern.

“If you say so, sweetie pie, but don’t be doing something like this on my account. I’m doing just fine with what I’ve got.”

“It’s time you get on with your life and do whatever it is you’re gonna do.” she said.

Then suddenly and without warning, she reached up and abruptly lifted Tommy’s shirt. To Tommy’s horror, she saw the new tattoo under his T-shirt.

“Is that another tattoo?” asked Gladys.

Tommy looked away. There was no way to deny it, so he acted as if it was something meaningless.

“Yeah. What do ya think?”

Gladys pulled herself in to take a closer look.

“Let me see that. It looks sort of like an ACDC logo. I didn’t know you liked that group!”

She grabbed his arm, pulled him even closer to her face to get a better look at his chest. Tommy bend down to let her get a better look at it.

While she was looking at it and without Tom noticing, she reached under her apron with her other arm and eased out a washrag she had hidden in her pocket.

Quickly, she slapped the wet rag on the new tattoo and rubbed back and forth as hard as she could which caused Tommy to scream.

“Ow! What did you do THAT for?”

“That’s what I think of those things.” She turned around and wheeled herself back towards the back of the kitchen.

“Geez, Mom. That hurt!”

“I don’t care. If God meant for you to have one of those, he would have made you look like that way in the first place.”

“There is no God. And besides, it’s not your body. It’s mine!”

“God will strike you down for that!” she yelled.

“He hasn’t yet.” Tommy mumbled under his breath.

“What did you say?”

“Nothin’” said Tommy.

She paused for a moment, looked up at the Jesus statue and shook her head.

“Don’t worry, Ma. Everything is gonna be ok. Promise.”

“I hope you’re right.” said Gladys.

“Me too.” said Tom. “I’m gonna get started on the lights now, if that’s ok with you.”

“Thank God.” she said.

“You’re welcome.” said Tom

Chapter 06 - Frank Robinson

2012-06-12T00:57:49+00:00

As Tom walked through the doorway of the hardware store he felt the wind of the strong fan blowing down upon him as he entered.

Placed there to keep the cool air inside and the hot air outside, he felt as if the previous fiasco was washed from his body as he passed through.

The smell of freshly cut wood filled his lungs and reminded him of the times he and his Dad built shelves together in his garage. Those were memories Tom had tried hard to keep out of his mind.

He grabbed a shopping cart and turned down the isle closest to him. Without thinking too much about what he was doing, Tom grabbed items off the shelves and placed them in his cart. The sole criteria for choosing them was if they looked interesting to him. There was no thinking or deciding - just grab and go.

The cart was beginning to fill up fast with metal boxes, screws, switches, batteries, copper pipe, PVC pipe, magnets, transformers, and various other odds and ends. He wasn’t paying much attention to what the item’s prices were.

When the cart was almost completely full, he looked down at some of the prices and began to panic. Would he have enough money to pay for this stuff? What was he doing? He had never bought things like this before - He had always had plan and a budget to work with before now.

He decided not to worry about it at that moment and instead keep going.

Without warning, he heard a loud yell that echoed throughout the entire store and startled all of the the customers around him.

“Rat!”

Everyone heard it - Tom’s nickname. It was short for Rattan, his last name. Only his closest friends called him that.

Tom turned around to see Frank with a big smile and orange apron around his waist walking towards him.

Frank has been Tom’s best friend since grade school. He was a slightly overweight dark haired man who’s smiles came easy for him.

Although he was flamingly gay, he didn’t act like it in public - mainly because he was the manager of the largest hardware store in town and the locals did not appreciate that kind of sexual persuasion He had a heart of gold and unfortunately a huge crush on Tom.

His lover, George Kaplin understood the attraction Frank had for Tom, but was mature enough to not be intimidated by it. He also knew Tom was absolutely, totally, and forever straight so it made it easier for him to trust Frank with Tom together. .

The customers around them realized the loud shout Frank had released was nothing to worry about and went about their shopping as usual.

Since conversations between Tom and Frank were rarely started with pleasantries, they usually started their conversations as if no time had elapsed since their last visit.

“Did you hear they printed two trillion more dollars this week?” said Frank completely excited and smiling like a school boy who had just heard the class’s latest rumor and couldn’t wait to spread the news.

“No, and you know I really don’t care.” quipped Tom. Frank’s conspiracy theories irritated Ton. He preferred to get his news from official news channels instead of reading Internet gossip

“You should! Don’t you know every time they print money without assets to back it up the money you have becomes worth less?”

Frank knew quite a bit about the Federal Reserve, UFO’s, aliens, and all sorts of trivia but Tom was not interested in that kind of stuff.

But since Frank was his best friend, he forced himself to listen to his crazy ideas sometimes.

Frank was someone Tom had been able to count on throughout his entire life. He had always been there to help out when he or Gladys needed anything. He was there when his father passed and had become almost like family to both Tom and his mother over the years.

“Yes, I already know that Frank, and you know I don’t care about that kind of stuff. Can you tell me where the Romex is? I gotta fix mom’s kitchen lights.”

Frank looked at Tom’s bleeding hand and then stopped walking. He folded his arms and locked his knees with feet spread apart then looked straight at Tom with a glaring stare.

“What happened to you?”

“Nothin’. Don’t ask”

Tom knew Frank wouldn’t give up until he knew what happened, so he paused a minute and then relented.

“Some asshole sucker-punched me.”

“What did you do?” asked Frank.

“Kicked him in the balls.”

Frank busted out laughing and slapped Tom on the back. “Let me get you something for your hand.”

“OK.” said Tom.

Frank motioned for Tom to follow him and they walked to his desk where he grabbed a first aid kit from the drawer.

With a big smile on his face, he bowed down and moved his arm in a slow sweeping motion as if to say Tom’s wish was his command.

“You’re hand, sire?” said Frank in an English accented voice.

“Cut the shit.” said Tom.

Frank let out a big laugh and then grabbed Tom’s hand and cleaned it with alcohol. Then he put on triple-antibiotic cream and placed a bandage over the cut pulling it tight to make a butterfly patch.

“There you go! Good as new!” said Frank.

Tom let out a quick “Thanks” and quickly turned his head towards the rest of the store. He was hoping Frank would get the hint that his services were no longer necessary and leave. He had no intention of letting Frank in on what he was doing there.

Frank stepped in front of Tom, looked straight into his eyes and spoke directly to him “Besides getting in fights with assholes, what are you working on?”

Tom knew Frank was not gonna give up asking twenty questions. And Frank knew Tom was not in the habit of coming in his hardware store and buying these kinds of items.

Tom acted as if he wasn’t paying attention to Frank. “Do what?”

“I said, what are you working on?” asked Frank.

“I’m helping mom fix the lights in her kitchen.” said Tom.

Frank reached down into the shopping cart and rummaged through some of the items. He started adding up the totals in his head.

“And for that, you need all THIS stuff?” asked Frank. “What the hell you gonna use magnets and power supplies for?”.

“Nothin’. I’ve got this idea I’m working on.” said Tom.

“What is that?” asks Frank.

“It’s just an idea that came to me.”

Frank leaned over to Tom and looked around to make sure no one was near them.

“Come on, Rat! You can tell Franky, can’t you?”

“Maybe later. Hey, you think I can get a discount on this stuff?” asks Tom.

Frank stepped back and shook his head.

“What did I just tell you? Those federals are printing money faster than horny rabbits and now you don’t have enough money to pay for this crap.” Frank said with a smirk.

“I got money, I’m just looking to save a little, that’s all.” said Tom.

“Tell you what. If you come to the party next Tuesday, I’ll loan you the money for the parts today.”

“Really? What party?” asked Tom.

“A few of us are getting together over at this new girl’s house. She just moved here and wants to get to know some of the locals. It’ll be good for you.”

“Uh, I don’t know. I’m not much for parties.” said Tom.

“Suit yourself. It looks like you’ve got about $600 worth of stuff here.”.

Tom was shocked. He had no idea he had grabbed so many items. There was no way he could pay that much for them today.

Tom stared at the shopping cart and then back at Frank. “What time is the party?” asked Tom.

“Seven O’clock at Kathy Bonner’s house.”

“Who’s Kathy Bonner?”

“Oh, she’s George’s new cable installer partner. She’s only been here for few weeks so she’s throwing a little party to meet people her own age. I think she’s from out east somewhere. But she doesn’t act stuck up or anything. You’ll like her. Very smart and a real good looker.” said Frank.

“How is George? asked Tom.

“Oh, he’s great! He likes his new partner. She’s apparently really good at what she does. And you know George - he’s very dependable. And he’s good for me.” admitted Frank.

Then Frank turned his serious face on.

“So what do you say? Gonna make it to the party?”

Frank tried hard to keep Tom out of his depression. And this party was the perfect thing for him to get his mind off of what happened twelve years ago.

Tom bit his lip and looked back down at the shopping cart. There was no way he could afford the amount of stuff he had put in his shopping cart. But he also knew he needed it. So he turned towards Frank and relented.

“Ok. Send me a text with the address and I’ll be there.”

“Good. Go ahead and take the stuff and I’ll cover you for it.” said Frank.

Tom looked at Frank and smiled. “Thanks Franky. You’re the best!”

“Don’t mention it. See you Tuesday!”

“OK”.

Tom wheeled the shopping cart towards the exit. Frank motioned to the checker at the door to let him pass. He walked fairly quickly so he could get out of the store before Frank remembered he had not shared with him what the secret was.

Chapter 05 - The Parking Lot

2012-06-12T00:56:50+00:00

The drive back into town seemed more peaceful than he ever remembered it being before.

The air seemed fresher, the heat more bearable, the sun brighter, and the sky clearer. Everything seemed to be more in focus when he looked at it. It was as if a misty cloud that had been covering his eyes had been removed and his vision restored to near perfect clarity.

There were people walking up and down the sidewalks of the downtown streets going about their business with no idea what was going on around them. Tom laughed at how ridiculous it was that people could be so blinded.

It became funny to look at them as they walked so close to each other completely oblivious to the people around them. What were they thinking that was so important as to not even notice the ones they were walking next to?

He took his time driving to through town and stared straight ahead - but through his peripheral vision he could see as clear as if he were looking directly at them. It was a strange sensation for sure.

Even in high school he had not remembered ever seeing out of the corner of his eyes so clearly. It was going to take some time getting used to this new vision.

After a few minutes, he turned into the local hardware store parking lot and drove Molly slowly past several filled parking spaces. He looked ahead and spotted the perfect parking place. Someone was just pulling out. And it was right in front of the store. What luck!

As he pulled into the spot, he noticed a sports car parked next to him in a handicap space.

There was no handicap sticker on the car.

“Jerks” he said under his breath.

Clearly they parked there because they didn’t care or had enough money for a ticket and it didn’t matter to them.

That’s when he noticed what KIND of car it was.

“Holy Shit!” he said out loud. “That’s a Bugatti Veyron!”

Whoever was driving it must have had money oozing out of their ears because the starting price for one of those cars is around $1.5 million.

What the hell were they doing at a hardware store?

Tom took the keys out of his car and slammed the door quickly being careful not to hold on to his car door too long as it would have burned his fingers.

Knowing cars as he did, he could not pass the Bugatti without taking time to look it over. It was truly a beautiful car and an engineering marvel. Tom walked around the vehicle admiring the curves and features.

The custom license plate read “Jeremy”

Glancing up he noticed a white labrador retriever in the front seat of the Bugatti. The windows were rolled up and the engine was turned off. The dog was pacing from side to side panting and breathing heavily.

“What an idiot!” he thought to himself.

It was 110+ degrees outside and must have been 130+ degrees inside of that vehicle. If someone didn’t get the dog out of the car soon, he would surely die from heat stroke.

Tom looked around for the car owner but didn’t see anyone.

He considered simply walking away. And he was about to, but out of nowhere he heard the voice again:

“The dog will die if nothing is done.”

Was this the way his life would be from now on? Would it be a constant dialog between him and this stupid voice talking inside his head?

Tom thought to himself. The voice was probably right. The dog WOULD die if someone didn’t do something about it.

He took his keys out of his pocket and unlocked his trunk. Hot air hit him in the face as he lifted the trunk door to look for his tire tool

There it was - hot as hell. He could barely hold onto it without burning his hands.

He grabbed the tire tool with an old oil rag and walked to the passenger’s side of the Bugatti, looked around one last time for the owner - nobody around. So he reared back and swung as hard as he could to brake the side glass window.

It didn’t break! He swung and swung again several times before it finally cracked.

Swinging one last time, glass shattered inside and outside the vehicle. He had to be careful he didn’t step on any of the pieces as it was strewn everywhere. Flip-flops don’t protect the feet very well from glass.

The dog was startled but clearly happy some cooler air was coming in. He was panting heavily.

Tom continued to chip out the rest of the glass and offered a hand to the animal to help him out. But the dog obediently sat in the front seat waiting for his ‘owner’ to return.

“Suit yourself pup.” he said and turned around and walked towards the back of his car.

All of this physical activity had soaked Tom’s T-shirt with sweat and now all he wanted to do was get inside the store where it was air conditioned.

He heard someone yelling but they sounded like they were too far away to be yelling at him, so he threw his tire tool into his trunk and shut it.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed his shoulder, swung him around and punched him in the face - sending him spinning towards the pavement.

His hands hit ground and burned as he broke his fall on the parking lot cutting them on several pieces of broken glass.

A well dressed man about the same age as Tom standing just behind him was yelling and cursing although Tom could not understand what he was saying. It was as if he was speaking some kind of foreign language - just all gibberish.

Dazed and dizzy, Tom wondered if this was the car owner.

He pushed himself up from the hot pavement and pretended to still be dazed but decided to swing his fist at the man who quickly ducked Tom’s punch.

Tom hated fighting - and he was no good at it. He would rather do anything than deal with conflicts.

But now he was in a fight with someone who clearly knew how to defend himself. He was in way over his head this time.

What was he going to do next?

Then he heard the voice:

“Feet!”

There was no time to question the voice.

Midway through Tom’s second fist swing he pulled his punch back and instead quickly kicked the man in the crotch.

The man clutched his stomach and bent over towards the hot pavement. Tom took both of his hands and clasped them together. With his full weight and all of his strength, he pounded his fists on the back of the guy’s neck sending him flat on the ground.

Tom looked around to see if anyone had seen them - There was no one around.

Good! He’d just hurry away and get inside the store before anyone noticed what had happened.

He took off walking briskly and didn’t look back or slow down. He listen for any footsteps behind him. Thankfully, there were none.

Maybe that voice was good for something after all.

After he reached the store entrance, he turned around to see if anyone had followed him. He saw no one.

Tom heard a car door slam shut. He looked up to see the Bugatti screech it’s tires and leave the parking lot.

There was a tingling in his right hand. He lifted it up and saw blood dripping from his palm.

Maybe his friend Frank had some bandages he could borrow in the hardware store.

Chapter 04 - Take a Ride

2012-06-12T00:55:56+00:00

The smell of french fries permeated the interior of his car - the result of him converting her to run on bio-diesel several years ago. He did this to save money as he could pick up old cooking oil from Benny’s Hamburgers for free.

‘Molly’, Tom’s nickname for his 1980 Mercedes-Benz 300CD Turbo Diesel, was anything but pretty. Painted a faded, splotchy kind of purple, she was built like a tank but she was very dependable.

Tom jumped in and flicked the fuel converter switch on. He couldn’t start her fast enough. He fumbled for the keys and jammed them into the ignition. He had to get out of there - and fast!.

He slammed into first gear and Molly squealed as he stomped her gas pedal to the floor. What was he gonna do if he was going crazy? Could he simply ignored what had happened? Would it go away? Why was this happening to him? What if it never went away and he had to listen to a voice for the rest of his life?

He rolled the windows down. There was no air conditioning in the car and the humidity was so thick it felt like it was choking him. Things were closing in around him. He sped up and headed out of town.

Molly couldn’t go fast enough for Tom. He kept the pedal pinned to the floor and the engine whined past 6500 RPM.

Trees were flying past on both sides.

He continued to accelerate for a few seconds then looked down at the speedometer - it read 110 MPH. Shit! He did NOT need another ticket. He let off the foot pedal and eased her back to a legal speed.

His breathing slowed a bit and the air coming in from the windows cooled the interior just enough to be bearable.

“OK, I’m better now.” he told himself.

Driving had the effect of calming Tom down. There was something about getting in a car and driving that soothed worries out of his mind.

He drove past Benny’s Hamburgers and slowed down in front of the local police station where he had spent at least two nights when he used to drink and get into trouble. Stan, the local cop waved to him as he passed.

He made it all the way out of town and didn’t think about where he was driving - he just drove. But after a several minutes he found himself turning down the gravel road that led to his father’s garage.

He hadn’t been down this road in years.

Tom pulled the car up to the gate and unlocked it - then drove the car to the front of the garage and parked.

It looked beat up and run down. No one had worked in it since he gave up on working there several years ago.

The sign above the garage door read the same as it did twelve years ago - “Rattan Restoration

He got out of the car and walked around the building. The grass had grown tall around the property. There were bushes as high as people growing on the side of the walls.

The windows had been boarded up and the big garage door had a couple of two by six pieces of lumber nailed across it to prevent anyone from entering.

It was a large piece of property - several acres, very quiet, and very peaceful. No one was around for miles. That’s the way his father had wanted it. A quiet place where he could rebuild cars and not be bothered by the sounds of city traffic or passers by.

Tom remembered his father telling him how he acquired the property. It was purchased with money he had made from the sale of one of the exotic cars he had rebuilt. He had made enough money to not only buy the land but build the garage building and fill it full of all the tools necessary to rebuild cars.

This included CNC machines, welding machines, lifts, air compressors, portable generators, battery supplies, and of course rows and rows of cabinets with every kind of tool a mechanic would ever want.

What would Don think if he knew that his son had chosen to work in town at some dinky garage when he had a complete paradise of a garage out here?

Tom walked back to the car and leaned on the front hood and stared at the garage door. He stared at it for several minutes - time seemed to stop.

His mind went blank. It was so quiet and easy to do here. There was a gentle breeze blowing and it felt cool on his face.

“I miss him.” Tom thought to himself.

He felt something building up under his chin - like a lump in his throat but only it was much bigger. His stomach began to twist. His palms began sweating. His felt blood rushing to his face. It felt like he was going to throw up.

He let out a long, hard, loud scream. He screamed as if someone had stabbed him with a knife. The pain was unbearable.

Then he cried.

It was a painful cry with tears flowing from his eyes like a leaking faucet. Slowly at first, then more and more until he saw nothing but blurry colors.

He wept as he bent over from the pain in his stomach and the aching in his heart. He held nothing back and pushed no pain away. The pressure intensified to a point where it felt like he might explode.

He felt everything.

It was a cry mixed with screams and tears. All his buried emotions flooded his perception until he was nothing but pain - and nothing but misery. There was nothing else.

He cried over and over until he couldn’t cry anymore. There were no more tears to be cried. There was nothing else to feel.

He was numb.

Tom stood there motionless for a few minutes. The breeze was still blowing on his face and the stillness was deafening.

Then he realized he had won - he was still there. Even after pain and misery had done their very best to destroy him - and he offered no resistance to them, they had lost. He had survived.

Peace became his friend that day. And he accepted everything as it was without wanting anything to change.

“I will do as you ask.” he said out loud.

Tom made up his mind to build whatever it was that was in the dreams. No matter what problems he may experience along the way, he was determined to finish it.

That was it - he had made the commitment.

He took a slow, long, deep breath and then exhaled completely. Turning around, he opened the car door and started the diesel.

It was time to find the materials.

Chapter 03 - Shifting Consiousness

2012-06-12T00:55:04+00:00

Gladys heard her son yell and maneuvered her wheel chair just outside his closed bedroom door. She knocked twice and waited.

She knew better than to simply barge in to his room. She had made that mistake before and found her son butt naked. Not that she cared about that, she’d seen him naked plenty of times. But she did not want to make him feel uncomfortable. She respected his privacy - she knew he was there for her.

She also knew he wasn’t happy living there.

Many times, she suggested that he move out and get his own place. But he would have none of that. He kept insisting that she needed him and he really didn’t want to live anywhere else.

Often she would wheel herself around the house with silly expressions on her face in an attempt to lighten the mood. Tom would force a smile back at her but she knew he was just being polite.

Tom was not right. He needed help.

She sat patiently at the door until he was ready to open it from the inside.

After a few minutes, Tom cracked the door open looking down at his feet - avoiding eye contact with Gladys. “What Ma” he mumbled.

“I heard you yelling. Is everything ok?” she asked.

“I just had a bad dream, that’s all.”

“If you keep making noises like that, I’m gonna think you sneaked some pretty girl in there” she joked.

Tom smiled. He knew she didn’t care if he brought someone over. In fact, she encouraged it. Nothing would please her more than to see him more socially active.

“Sure, Ma. I’ll put a pillow over her head next time” he said.

She smiled.

“OK, honey. If I hear any more noises like that, I’m just gonna assume you got lucky”.

“Goodnight Ma”

“Goodnight Son. I love you”

“Love you too!”

He started to close the door but she put her hand out and stopped it from closing.

“Hey, can you do the lights in the kitchen tomorrow?” she asked.

“Sure, Mom. I’ll do it - promise.”

Tom closed the door and walked to his bed and sat down.

The voice in the dream sounded so real! Could it really have been his father’s?

“There was no way!” He thought.

He had seen the mangled body. He was at the funeral. He had helped his mother with the paperwork.

His father was dead! There could be no doubt about that.

Was he going crazy now?

And what was that thing in his dreams anyway? It looked so real! It was almost as if he could reach out and touch it.

But not being able to move any part of his body was something he desperately wanted to avoid at all costs. There was no way he would allow himself to experience that again!

He laid on his back and pulled the covers up. After the frightful experience he was ready for some good sleep. But now all he could think about was being restricted.

It was impossible to relax. The covers felt as if they were binding him to the bed. It was becoming difficult to breath. He knew this feeling well having felt it many times before - he was starting to panic.

“This is non-sense” he said throwing the covers off. He sat upright in bed.

He could not avoid sleeping forever. What could he do to avoid having that dream again?

Then he remembered a technique his hypnotherapist had used on him years earlier. Would it work now? It had been so long! He had to try.

He decided to attempt to hypnotize himself! Although he had never done it by himself before he felt sure he could do it.

Raising his eyes towards the ceiling as far as he could raise them, and while his eyes were still raised, he closed his eyelids. Then he held them in that position for as long as he could and then relaxed his eyes keeping his eyelids shut and released all tension in the rest of his body.

Just as he had done many times before with his hypnotherapist he went immediately into deep trance.

He told himself he would have the most restful sleep he’d ever had. And when he woke up he would be completely rested and totally relaxed.

It was not long afterwards, he drifted off to sleep.

In what seemed like no time, the night was over. There were no dreams and no visions. Tom wondered if he had actually gone to sleep.

He reached out of the covers and lifted the shades just slightly and saw daylight. Yes, it was daytime.

It was one of the most restful night’s sleep he could remember and it had gone by very fast!

Something was different, however. He awoke with no thoughts of the accident.

And he felt calm - even peaceful.

Everything was quiet in his room. He noticed sounds he had not noticed before - the ticking of the clock, the birds singing outside, the whisper of the fan circling above him.

There was a strange sense of self assuredness abiding within him and not a trace of fear or remorse was in his mind.

This was a welcomed change for sure!

And that was not all - for the first time, ever, he did not want the accident to be any different from what it actually was. Instead of remorse, he felt confident the accident had a purpose.

But his mind started racing How odd! What good could possibly come out of killing your father and crippling your mother?

Clear and distinctly Tom heard:

“Everything happens for a reason”

Tom stopped breathing. He looked around the room for anyone who could be hiding under the scattered clothes or behind some of his things. There was no one.

This was not good! Now he was hearing a voice while he was awake!

Did this mean he had really lost it? Was he truly crazy now? Should he ask for help?

He couldn’t! That would mean he would have to tell someone he was hearing voices.

No! This had to be something that only he knew about - otherwise, he surely would be sent back into therapy, or worse - into some sort of asylum.

He looked at the clock on the dresser - three PM!!! That wasn’t possible! He had slept eighteen hours straight!

He jumped out of bed and almost lost his balance. The room started to turn white and his hearing started to fade - as if he was about to pass out.

He sat back down on the bed. “What is wrong with me? Something is terribly wrong!” he thought to himself.

He looked across the room at his dresser drawers and felt light headed again - everything turned white once more.

Then a brightly colored, detailed image of wires, magnetic powder, rings, plates and curved lines replaced his powdery white vision.

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes and his sight returned back to normal.

What was that! Now he was seeing things?

Maybe he was just getting sick. Maybe he was coming down with the flu or something.

He hobbled over to the mirror. He didn’t LOOK sick.

Whatever it was, he wasn’t right. No way!

He tried not to think about it. He tried to put it out of his mind and thought about the parts he would need to fix Gladys’s kitchen. But as soon as he did that, the detailed images flashed in his field of view again.

Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw something move near the chair.

He rushed over to it and lifted up the shirt that was thrown over the back to see if a mouse or bug was there - Nothing.

“Maybe he imagined it.” he thought to himself.

No! He KNEW he saw something move over there. And now it FELT like someone was watching him.

He had to get out of there - anywhere but here.

He grabbed his shirt and started putting it on as he opened the bedroom door to leave.

“Build Me”

Thundered the voice just as loud and clear as he had heard it in the dream.

He quickly put the rest of his clothes on as he hopped down the hallway half naked and yelled out to Gladys sounding calm as best he could: “I’m gonna go for a ride. I’ll be back later.”

Rushing past Gladys, he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and headed out the front door.

Gladys grabbed his shirt and pulled him back towards her. “Don’t forget my kitchen” she said holding on tight to his shirt tail.

Tom quickly turned around and let out a short “OK,” then ran out and let the front door slam shut.

Chapter 02 - The Dream

2012-06-12T00:53:49+00:00

Tom’s bedroom was small and cluttered. He still had some of his childhood car toys sitting on wooden shelves he and his father had built when he was younger.

On the shelf hanging near the window was a small plastic model of a ‘59 Ford pickup truck he had assembled himself, a baseball trophy he won when he was a sophomore in high school, and a hand painted ornately decorated glass drinking cup with various pencils kept from each semester he spend in school.

His bed was barely large enough for him - a single bed with no headboard. Clothes were scattered all over the room and at first glance you might think he was a dirty slob. But Tom kept himself clean. He just didn’t care if his room was disorganized. So clothing was thrown everywhere - on top of the stereo, the bike, the computer, the dresser drawers, and of course, the floor.

Tom glanced at the clock sitting on his dresser. Nine PM - early for Tom, but he wondered if he could force himself to sleep to find out more about that thing he’d been seeing in his dreams.

He pealed off his clothes and dropped them on the floor next to the bed. He had a trick where he could step on the heal of his shoe with one foot while he pulled the other out at the same time he took his shirt off and unzipped his pants. The entire undressing process took less than five seconds.

His body was well proportioned, and in great shape. He was an attractive twenty-nine year old man who had always been naturally fit. He assumed it came from his father’s side of the family, since Gladys was sort of small and frail - even before the accident.

Boom! He was in bed.

He looked outside and via moonlight saw the Oak tree swaying in the wind and dark clouds moving swiftly by. “Looks like a storm tonight” he thought to himself. So he reached up and pulled the shades on the window next to the bed, clapped his hands twice and all the lights went out.

The room was totally dark.

He began fantasizing like he did the other nights. He recalled something that happened earlier in the day and imagined himself as the hero to one of his attractive customers.

But this time he fell asleep almost immediately after he started fantasizing.

The images came fast and very detailed. It was as if he had stepped inside a computer generated movie - only it was more real looking.

But these were new images. What was he looking at?

He could see several four inch tall rollers running around some sort of flat cylinder. The rollers started out moving slowly, but they gradually sped up faster and faster until he could no longer see them as individual rollers. Instead, they blurred into a mesh of streaking silvery lines with a pinkish donut shaped aura beginning to glow around them.

The glow grew larger and larger and eventually totally engulfed the device then changed color to a bright blue tinted misty haze.

Tom wondered what the device was made of.

Whoosh!

Instantly his vision zoomed onto the top part of the device and he could see the device from that vantage point. He glanced down and saw there was some sort of dark powdery material underneath him - inside the larger flat cylinder.

He instinctively knew the material was magnetic.

When he looked up, the rotating rollers stopped - in mid air. And his vision vantage point moved to a point just above one of the outside rollers.

This was a strange dream indeed!

He could see the outside rollers were merely smaller versions of the larger flat cylinder. They too had some sort of dark powdery magnetic material inside. Tom counted twelve of those rollers stopped in mid air surrounding the larger disk shaped cylinder.

As soon as he finished counting them, his visual reference point was shifted back to where he could see the entire device. The rollers were once again spinning so fast they were invisible.

There was a strange misty halo surrounding the device as it ran faster and faster.

He wondered what the device did and instantly he saw streaks of what appeared to be lightning bolts shooting out from the device in all directions.

What was that he was seeing?

Those lightening bolts looked like someone simply drew them in mid air. What a strange sight! They seemed to hang motionless above the device. It appeared to him that if he chose, he could reach out and grab one of them.

He made a mental note of what he saw and then the bluish glow surrounding the device started pulsating to a sound that seemed to be coming from all around him.

The sound changed over time and eventually sort of sounded like garbled speech. It went from a low warbled sound to almost a human sounding tone.

Was it trying to say something?

The pulsations continued and after a few seconds Tom heard these words spoken very clearly:

“The key to ending poverty and social injustice lives within the functions of this device”

What?

Who was that?

What does that mean? That doesn’t make any sense!

The device was clearly some sort of spinning mechanism - but how could it have anything to do with social injustice?

Wait a minute - that voice sounded familiar. Who’s voice was that?

Tom looked around for anyone who may be lurking in the shadows. He could see no one.

Tom refocused his attention on the device and the pulsations continued.

Then he heard:

“Build me”

That voice! He knew that voice!

Tom began breathing faster. His hands began to sweat. He looked around anxiously for any sign of someone who might be close by.

He held his breath. He remembered who’s voice it was. But it wasn’t possible it could be him.

It was totally clear and unmistakeable. And he had not heard it for twelve years.

It was his father’s.

“This can’t be!” he thought to himself.

Instantly, the image of the device disappeared and he could see nothing.

Tom tried to move his head to look around. But all he saw was total darkness.

He tried to move is arms. They wouldn’t budge. He tried walking but he couldn’t feel his legs.

His heart began to beat faster and faster until all he could hear was a loud thumping in his head that terrified him.

He was now fully awake but totally unable to move He was paralyzed. When was this dream going to end?

What if this wasn’t a dream?

He tried to scream - but nothing would come out. He desperately wanted to wake up but it seemed he had no control over anything. This was a nightmare beyond his wildest imaginations. All he wanted was for this to end - and end now!

“Am I dead?” he thought to himself.

“You are not dead, but you are living as if you are.”

Suddenly, he could move again. He sat up in bed, clapped his hands twice and the lights came back on.

“What the fuck was that!” he screamed.

Chapter 01 - Tom Rattan

2012-06-12T00:01:09+00:00

Ever since the accident, Tom’s mother, Gladys, had been confined to a wheelchair.

She was unusually good natured about her disability, but Tom could hardly stand to look her in the eye because he had been the one behind the wheel that night.

It didn’t matter that there were plenty of excuses for him loosing control of the car - the rain, the darkness, his age, the deer that suddenly ran out in front of them.

What mattered was that because he had looked away - even though it was just for a moment - his father had lost his life and his mother would never walk again.

Tom would never forgive himself for that. He couldn’t. There were a thousand questions he had asked himself over and over since that day twelve years ago. But answers never came. Instead the weight of guilt pressed on his heart like a thumb caught in a vise.

The throbbing was always present - a constant companion that never slept.

He had tried everything - drugs, alcohol, sex, and even years of hypnotherapy to lift the weight. But none of them worked. Every morning he would wake up re-living the accident - killing his father and crippling his mother.

Lately, his way of dealing with the pain was to bury himself in work - doing electrical repair at a small downtown garage. That seemed to lift the weight as long as he was consumed by it.

A few years earlier, he had tried continuing the work his father had done - buying old vintage cars and restoring them. But the memory of he and his father working together tied his stomach in knots. So the family’s garage located a few miles from town decayed into an abandoned building over the years.

Tom had tried to convince his mother to sell it but she would have none of that. “Don worked too hard for that garage.” she’d say and the conversation would be over.

So Tom worked at a local garage downtown doing minor repairs for walk-in customers. It was a small shop and his boss left him alone most of the time which was what he preferred.

He was also allowed to take time off for extended periods of time whenever he wanted which was something Tom had been doing quite a bit of lately.

His boss was a friend of his Dad’s and he felt sorry for Tom - a fact that made Tom feel even more uncomfortable when he was there.

It didn’t pay much, in fact Tom and Gladys barely survived financially. She was unable to work so what Tom earned along with her disability checks was all they had to live on.

There she was - sitting in her wheelchair calmly reading a book as if there was nothing wrong. Her legs atrophied from lack of use - confined to a metal cage for the rest of her life And it was all because of him.

He couldn’t bare the thought of letting her live alone. How could he leave her in that condition? He’d rather die himself than let her suffer another day of loneliness.

It didn’t matter that she had long since forgiven Tom for the accident. In fact, she was actually a very happy person - and that made it even worse.

What was there to be happy about? Didn’t she know there was no reason to live? Didn’t she know there was no hope for either one of them?

Even though she constantly told him she would be fine and he should get on with his life, Tom just couldn’t allow any romantic relationship to interfere with what he considered to be his duty to maintain.

Besides, he believed most women his age were not capable of making the kind of commitment he had made. What would they know about a promise that could never be broken?

His past girlfriends would eventually always bring up the ‘M’ word and that was Tom’s cue to break it off. He already had a commitment - and he could never ever leave or make her suffer from loneliness any more than he already had.

So every day, when he was finished with his work downtown, he would faithfully drive home and be with his mother.

At least, that was what his body did. His mind was another story It was always a thousand miles away.

He dreamed of being free and of Gladys walking again. He dreamed of his father Don opening the front door and telling them of a great deal he had found on an old ‘66 Chevelle.

He imagined he’d turned his father down when he was asked to drive the family car for a while that night twelve years ago.

But of course it was just a dream. And he knew he would never see or hear his father ever again.

So at times like tonight, when there was nothing on TV and he couldn’t stand to look at his mother for another second, he would fantasize.

Which was much preferred over facing reality. He had invented an entire world that would ‘save’ him and Gladys from the misery they were in.

Like his latest fantasy about inventing something that would make him and Gladys enough money for her to get the operation her doctor had told them about. It was some kind of procedure that would regenerate nerve tissue and allow her to walk again.

Neither one of them could afford it and since it was an ‘elective surgery’ her insurance company certainly would not cover it - even if it did, the deductible would be out of their financial reach.

But he could at least dream about it. Fantasy came easily for Tom. It kept his mind busy with a happier place for his essence to experience life.

Of course he would be attentive to Gladys’ needs. And he would always offer to do things around the house for her - like her latest request to re-do the kitchen electrical wiring which was in pretty bad shape with exposed wires and broken switches.

But his mind always dreamed of a better place - somewhere out of prison - somewhere guilt would never find them.

His continued his fantasies during sleep too. In fact, that was how he put himself to sleep most of the time. He would imagine all sorts of things. In all of them, he was the hero, of course. And he was free - like a bird soaring above the valleys of death below.

But a few days ago, his sleeping dreams changed. He would begin his playful imagination as usual as he was going to sleep. But after falling asleep he would see an extremely detailed image.

He didn’t know what it was, but it looked sharp and clear. And somehow, he knew it was important.

He drew a pencil sketch of what he’d seen and even had a special tattoo made of it so he’d never forget it.

It looked similar to a coiled up snake wrapped around some sort of pole with the initials ACDC next to the head and tail of the snake.

Tom had this tattoo drawn on his chest just under his one and only other tattoo - the one he had specially designed of his father’s name ‘Don’ - proudly displayed inside a heart with wings.

Tom hid the new tattoo from his mother because she hated tattoos. Besides, it would only lead to more questions about where he had gotten the idea for the image in the first place. And there was no way he was going to share that information with her.

That could turn out to be just the thing she needed to bring the therapy subject up again. He was done with that. No more shrinks. He hated them!. This new secret image was something he was going to have to keep secret - from everyone!

It looked interesting, however. And he found himself thinking about it more often than not sitting at home with Gladys.

Tonight he seemed unusually intrigued by the image. His thoughts were busy imagining what it might be until without thinking, he spoke his pondering out loud “I wonder what it does?”.

“What does?” Gladys asked.

“Oh, nothing.” he said as he stood up and quickly exited the room.

“I’m going to bed early.”

Little did he know he was about to experience something few people ever dream of.

Introduction

2012-05-27T03:24:17+00:00

When I set out to write this Visionary Fiction novel, my original intent was to raise awareness to the existence of over-unity or free energy devices. It was never to make some new career for myself or accomplish some sort of quest that I had to complete before I passed on.

Instead, I found myself writing this book because it was fun for me to live in an imaginary world via the projection of my intuition through the writing of this fictional world where the reader grasps a glimpse of the vision I see potentially manifesting on this planet someday.

Granted, more than likely, this will not happen during my lifetime. And it probably will not happen within the next few hundred years. But I can see it happening eventually - when people have chosen to give up the love of power and control in favor of the choice to see others as an extension of themselves.

This book is a playful fantasy look into a fictional world where an individual listens to that 'still inner voice' and acts accordingly influencing those around him in a most unexpected way.

Chapters will be added as I finish them.