Saved and SAINTified (15 page)

“Nuttin’.”

“Nothing isn’t the right answer. You stay right there in the kitchen,” he said sternly.

“I gotta go potty, Daddy!”

To go piss on some more private thoughts, no doubt...

S
aint sighed. “Okay, but as soon as you’re finished, you go into the kitchen and sit down or come back out here, okay?”

Dakarai nodded and disappeared inside the house. S
aint closed the door behind him.

“Okay? So, we can do that if your father says it is fine. In the meantime, let me get a word with him and then you and I can shoot a few hoops, deal?”
Lawrence said as he stood from the lawn chair and stretched.

“Deal!”
Lawrence reached down and gave Hassani a high-five.

“Daddy! Can I have some lemonade? Mommy said I could have some before she left.”

“Yes, and pour Dakarai some in his cup, please. I want you two right in the kitchen where I can see you, do you understand?”

“Yeeeessssss!” Hassani slid the heavy patio door open and ran inside.

Both men watched as he raced toward the refrigerator, calling out to his brother on the way.

S
aint stood in front of Lawrence. Both men didn’t blink for quite some time.

“Uh, S
aint. I think you’re going to want to sit down for this.” Lawrence sat back slowly and ran his fingers through his feathered hair. He closed his eyes and exhaled.

“Just lay it on me.” S
aint sat next to him, looking down at the concrete covered space between his spread apart, Nike sandals covered feet.

“What you have here is very special
.” Lawrence pointed to the house. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. Your sons ... wow! I’m so blown away.”

“
Lawrence!”

“Okay, okay
.” He held up his hands and smiled faintly. “I’ll get right to it, you’ll just have to excuse me, this is just … amazing!” He patted his thighs. “Alright. Let me just give it to you straight. Both boys have your gifts, to varying degrees.”

“I already know that.”

“I understand, but this means more, I mean the acceleration we’re seeing here, too. I seriously think they are in training, Saint. I can tell something inside of them is preparing them for something major, so I do want to let you know that it isn’t just a theory at this point. I have no idea what, man, I just know that whatever is going on, they are being spiritually trained. Hence, the early gift onset. Um, Hassani still won’t be in full power until somewhere around age thirty-five, you know the drill, so that’s the good news, and Dakarai isn’t as strong as Hassani, but he is … um … well…”

“Just spit it out, please!” S
aint glared at him, unable to control his anxiety. “These are my sons we’re talking about and you’re sitting there making things worse by draggin’ the shit out, being in awe!” Saint gripped the armrests of the lawn chair like a vise.

“He’s a deaf mute!”

Saint’s eyebrows furrowed. “What? No he isn’t. He can speak and hear just fine!”

“No, no, not in the traditional sense
.” Lawrence rolled his eyes. “I’m just so excited I guess I’m not explaining myself well. Saint, a deaf mute, in
our world
, if you will, is exceptionally rare … and it’s a good thing.”

“Well, what does it mean?” S
aint set his glass down next to him.

“It means he is telepathic, but that no one can block him. Ever. No matter how strong the block is, no one’s thoughts are protected unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Unless they
made him. Deaf mutes can only be blocked by their biological parents. I remember you telling me a long time ago that Xenia had learned how to block you.”

“Yeah, but I can get around it now
. I wasn’t thinking clearly then and  ...  well, she had the upper hand.” Saint dismissed it, not wanting to get into the details surrounding the private, domestic circumstance.

“Right, well, you better let her know that Dakarai can do it, too or he will read her thoughts any chance he gets
… like to find out where Christmas gifts are hidden.” Lawrence chuckled nervously as he rubbed his palms against his blue jeans. “He tried to figure out why I was here as soon as I stepped out onto your patio.”

“Well, he tried
to read me just a second ago, too, and I blocked him. I could feel the pull, as though I was wrestling with a grown ass man. He has
never
tried to do that with me. It’s like he knows that I know now.”

“
Yes. He was born with it. The one thing on your side though, Saint, is that he is still so young, his age of comprehension is still at a three-year-old’s. So if you think of something complex, he still won’t understand.” Lawrence shook his head. “It’s astounding to see the differences between the two. For instance, Hassani doesn’t even have this developed yet, the mind reading aspect—it will come later but it still won’t be as strong as Dakarai’s. This is your youngest son’s calling card, Saint. It’s his specialty. He may never be able to move objects, like Hassani. Actually, I know he won’t be able to. If that was in him to develop, I believe I would have sensed the foundation for it, but nothing was there. Dakarai is more like
me
, he is limited, but what he can do is phenomenal.”

“Give me as much detail as you can, please.” S
aint rubbed his temple for a horrible headache was pounding inside of his skull.

“He will never levitate or create and change the natural elements, but this one gift he has, boy
, it is a real doozy. But the awesome thing about it is, whoever he is trying to read, he will learn when he gets older how to block the other person’s signal so that they won’t feel him trying to do it and even if they
do
know, they can’t stop him if he keeps pushing—if he’s persistent. He is only going to get stronger and stronger. The only reason you picked up on it is because…”

“I’m his father…”

“Yes, hence we call it a deaf mute, hear no evil, speak no evil, but see everything. My calling card is my ability to block—that is why I was able to stop him—but as he matures and learns how to hone it, no one is safe. It’s pretty intense. He is very quiet; he is always in stealth mode. He is halfway in before your average Angel Child bystander would even know what he was up to. It may sound complicated, but it isn’t actually.”

“You said it is rare,
how
rare?”

“S
aint, we are talking like one Angel Child in every million in the entire world. And, no deaf-mute, from my knowledge, has
ever
been born from parents that weren’t
both
Angel Children. The fact that you had one with Xenia is, well, remarkable.”

S
aint felt a cool sensation overtake him. He looked at his arm and took note of the raised goosebumps.

“
Lawrence, are either of my children in harm’s way because of this?” Saint tried desperately to mask the sense of sorrow and remorse that was welling within. He wrung his hands in apprehension. “That’s the million dollar question.”

He’d never once thought that having children would bring him this sort of worry. He felt to blame—that his gift now ran in his children’s veins and wired them to be people that no one would ever understand.

“No. Actually, it is like armor, Saint. Please, just trust the process. This is never a mistake.”

“But the
y’re so young…” Saint looked away at the pool, his voice trailing as he watched the blue water ripple from the light wind. The sky, cobalt and placid, calmed his nerves a tad, but not completely. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”

“To you, it wasn’t
—but this is their lot. They inherited some of
you
, and now it is growing in its own way inside of them. You have no control over this. Look, obviously I don’t have children yet.” Lawrence folded his hands across his chest as he looked at Saint sympathetically. “But I can say to you with complete sincerity that this is
not
a curse.”

“I know for me it isn’t.  I don’t see it that way anymore but
man, I just don’t want my kids to suffer, and...” Saint tried to wipe the distressed expression off his face. The emotional wrestling match continued. “...I can’t even talk. I’m at a loss for words right now.”

“I know you struggled with it all of your life, but what you have here is pure gold and spiritually,”
Lawrence smiled, “it’s a beautiful thing.”

“But if they are developing so soon and preparing for something important, that means my family is in some sort of danger
. I can’t have that, man.” His brows furrowed and a wave of anger rushed through him.

“Maybe, maybe not
, but something significant is going to take place in my humble opinion, and the best thing you can do, Saint, is go with the flow. Follow your instincts. Do not make any sudden changes just because you have this information. It is important that you follow your status quo. The only difference is that now you know.”

“Tell me something
. Why didn’t I pick up on this though? I mean, hell, I’m their father!”

“S
aint, you knew…”

“No I didn’t. I’m telling you that I honestly didn’t!” S
aint sat up straighter, his face distorted with rage and guilt as the emotional rollercoaster took him for another low dip.

“You’ve been working so much
, Saint,” Lawrence sighed and leaned back in his lawn chair, “that you haven’t been recording your dreams anymore.”

S
aint paused. A look of astonishment washed over his face.

“How do you know about that?”

“Man, you just flashed it! As soon as you asked me why you didn’t know, your spirit answered. It’s the dreams. You’ve been talking to me behind the scenes this entire conversation.”

S
aint fell back in his seat, exasperated. He’d been so distracted by his sentiments during the conversation that he wasn’t blocking, concentrating or paying attention to much of anything.

“So, the dreams were all true?”

“They weren’t dreams … you
really
saw what you thought you dreamt.”

S
aint shook his head. The sound of birds chirping broke up the monotony and death of the seconds that passed after Lawrence’s assertion.

“So
, when I walked into Hassani’s room a few weeks ago and saw him levitating, that wasn’t a dream?”

“Well, sorta. From what I saw, you were viewing him from your bed. You wanted to make sure he was fast asleep so in your dream, you went to his room
telepathically versus getting up.”

“Shit! This too?” S
aint stood and began to pace. He shoved his hands in his black pants pockets. “Does he know? Does he know he can levitate?”

“Now
that,
I’m not certain of, but I’m leaning toward ‘no’. Usually, it takes a while for the person to realize they are doing it and it takes even longer to have any control over it. For most of us, it just happens. We wake up, and there we are in the air above our beds, coming out of the R.E.M state.” Lawrence looked into Saint’s eyes. “He probably won’t know until he is a teenager, unless you tell him or someone else does.”

“You know,” S
aint rubbed the side of his mouth with his thumb, “this could change everything. I was excited, and then ... I just don’t know anymore.”

“What are you rambling about?”
Lawrence smiled, obivously trying to smooth the conversation over.

“
Xenia and I are thinking of having another baby.”

“Oh
, that’s great, Saint!”

“Well, I don’t know if it is,
Lawrence. What if she or he … damn it…”
“Saint, come on. You can’t second guess this. What will be, will be,” Lawrence said reassuringly.  “You of all people should know this. Your next child may be just like Hassani, maybe even Dakarai, even though the chances of that are pretty slim. They could be somewhere in between or have no power at all—be just common, ordinary, like Xenia and Donna. Any of those possibilities could happen and you shouldn’t worry about that. Just enjoy your family.”

S
aint felt a sense of calmness move into his system, warming him deep within. He slumped back down into his seat. Lawrence had talked him off the edge. Though he was still slightly confused, he was grateful to have the man’s insight and caring heart so close by. In some regards, Saint still felt like a novice himself—but he was learning, learning fast.

He took the final watered down gulp of his tea and shot his buddy a sideways glance paired with a slight smirk
. “Well, it is what it is, right?”

“Yes
, indeed.” Lawrence smiled back at him. “That’s
your
motto, but I’m stickin’ to it.”

“Very well. So
, my sons are developing fast and are extraordinary. I can handle that.” He sighed. “Their father is dope. What did I expect?” He chuckled, causing Lawrence to shake his head.