Avery Junior, Mentalist Extraordinaire - 1. White to Blue

Don't wish it away
Don't look at it like it's forever
Between you and me, I could honestly say
That things can only get better

Elton John - 1983

1

It was a cold December morning, one week before Christmas, when Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Avery Noonan got the phone call he'd been on pins and needles waiting for. His wife, Lindy, had gone into labor. Their first child was about to arrive. His career delayed both marriage and parenthood, but at thirty-five, he wasn't yet too old to start a family. He'd been anxious about the birth ever since Lindy found out she was pregnant. He dreaded the possibility of looking at his son or daughter for the first time and seeing any other color aura than a pale yellow.

You see, Avery saw auras around people. The older they got, the darker the auras appeared. Yellow turned to brown and indicated dying of natural causes. Green and red, although festive for the season, would be very unwelcome sights. Green meant accidental death, something Avery had yet been able to prevent. Red meant a violent death. Again, he'd had no luck in preventing that either. Blue meant sickness or disease of some sort. Also something Avery felt he couldn't prevent, however, he'd really had no cause to try. They all turned black at the moment of death. Although he didn't think he was especially superstitious, Avery's home was decorated in only white lights for the season. He decided it couldn't hurt to not tempt fate and display an unwanted color. The best laid plans and all that, notwithstanding.

Avery arrived at home, picked up Lindy, and carried the overnight bag while supporting her. Falling down on unseen ice would be another unwanted occurrence. After arriving at Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania, otherwise known as CHOP, they were led to the maternity ward where the waiting began. At least the waiting in a new environment. Early that evening, a baby boy was born. Avery Junior arrived at 7:18 PM on December 18th, 2030. He arrived with a white aura. Needless to say, Dad and Lindy were perplexed. Apparently, the waiting for a color to be known would continue.

Once they were alone, Avery commented, "He's white."

"You expected maybe a Negro baby, Avery?"

"You're funny. No, his aura, it's white."

"What does that mean?"

"I haven't the foggiest. But I've never seen a newborn before, maybe everybody starts out that way."

"Well, then, we just have to act like normal parents and hope he'll continue to be healthy."

And that they did, until March twentieth, when a very tiny hint of blue appeared.

2

Obviously worried, Avery knew that they'd have time to figure something out. Two weeks later, the shade of blue had barely changed, indicating the end wasn't imminent. Someone as young as Avery Junior would go through the shades of blue quite rapidly if he were fated to die very young. They'd just returned from a visit with the pediatrician, who gave Junior a clean bill of health. He was progressing as well as any three-month-old child would be expected to. Avery had pressed for additional tests, but so far, his blood work was normal and the doctor didn't recommend poking and prodding the child any more than necessary, believing Avery Junior had nothing to worry about. Of course, in the short term, that was true.

Avery watched his son's aura closely the first year of his life. Even after one year, the color couldn't even be considered baby blue, the shade was still very light. Avery determined that Junior would be safe until he was around twenty-seven or eight. He'd seen enough to have the ability to make a fairly accurate prediction. There was time to determine what disease or malady would rear its ugly head in the future.

At his annual checkups, Junior's test results were always negative for any known childhood diseases. Avery Junior, now using the moniker, AJ, complained to his parents often, like any young boy would about the extra tests. He'd consulted his siblings and friends and none of them had experienced anything like what he has had to go through. Finally, just after he turned ten, he questioned his parents about it. His brother Peter was eight, his sister Madeline was six. He'd been present at their checkups numerous times. He finally got to the point where it bothered him enough to speak up. One night, after Peter and Mads were asleep, he confronted his parents.

"Mom, Dad, if something was bothering me, you'd want to know about it, wouldn't you?"

Lindy was immediately concerned, "Does something hurt?"

"No. It's just that I've been wondering why I have to have so many tests when I go to the doctor's and PC and Mads don't."

Peter was Peter Carey, having been given one of Avery's middle names as his own. Somewhere along the line, he acquired the nickname, PC.

Lindy looked at Avery. They'd discussed the possibility of sharing Avery's special talent with the kids. They were hoping they could have waited a few more years, but AJ was an inquisitive child and they had feared this day would come sooner than they'd hoped.

Avery started, "This is going to sound very strange to you, and you need to promise that nobody outside the family will know this. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Don't tell anybody what you're about to say. I promise."

Lindy continued, "That's right. Well, your father has an ability that, as far as we know, nobody else has."

"Like, dad's a superhero?"

Avery picked up the ball, "No, nothing like that. What do you see when you look at another person? Is there anything that you'd think was unusual?"

"Like x-ray vision or something?"

"Yes, anything that you wouldn't expect to be able to do."

"No, nothing like that."

"I'm different in that way. When I look at people, I see them surrounded by colors, something called an aura."

"Like, they're surrounded by a rainbow?"

"No. Everybody has their own color. It could be yellow, red, green, or blue."

"So, what color am I?"

"Your aura is blue."

"Do the colors mean anything?"

Lindy's maternal instincts kicked it, "They do. And we don't want you to be concerned, because nothing is wrong with you."

AJ's discomfort became evident, "Is blue bad?"

Avery took the reins once again, "No. None of the colors are bad in and of themselves. They simply tell me how that person might eventually die."

AJ now was afraid, "I'm going to die?"

"No, not any time soon. Everybody dies. I just have the ability, based on the color of their aura, to have a good idea when that might be."

"When is that for me?"

"It's still a long way off, honey."

"That's not what I asked, mom. When am I going to die?"

"Your aura is still a very light blue. As people get older, their aura gets darker, eventually turning to black when they are about to die."

"Okay, I guess you're not going to tell me when I'm going to die. Will you at least tell me how? Oh, no. That's why all the tests. I'm going to get sick and die. Aren't I?"

Lindy tried to calm him, "We were hoping to have this discussion when you were a little older, when maybe you might understand things more..."

AJ had had enough, "TELL ME!"

Avery was the strong one, "Yes, son. At some point you'll get sick and die. We have the doctors run the extra tests because, well, so we can find out as early as possible what will happen, and then we should be able to avoid it."

"So, like if I'm going to catch some kind of disease, it can be cured if you know early enough?"

"Exactly."

"Do you know what it is yet?"

"No. All the tests have indicated that you're healthy."

"But I won't be forever."

Again, in a calming voice, Lindy responded, "Not forever. But it's not forever for anybody."

A month later, AJ started seeing a new doctor. A child psychologist was added to his repertoire of doctors.

3

Twenty-eight months, and as many psychologist's visits later, AJ's aura was noticeably darker at twelve. As far as the psychologist knew, AJ had an unreasonable fear of dying young. Unreasonable to the doctor; perfectly reasonable to AJ, who had kept his father's ability out of any discussion. Avery felt his late twenties estimate was still accurate.

Time continued to fly by, AJ's aura still gradually getting darker. He had watched his father progress higher and higher in the legal profession. Although not interested in the law, AJ decided to work for the government after high school. The month after he turned eighteen, he confirmed his career goals with his parents. A letter he received helped solidify that decision.

"Mom, dad, it's time for me to finalize what I'm doing for the rest of my life."

Lindy, concerned as always, spoke up first, "We know you wanted to go into the military, is that still your choice?"

"Yes. With dad's connections as Pennsylvania's Attorney General, I've been accepted into the US Naval Academy in Annapolis."

Avery, ever the proud father, beamed, "That's wonderful, son. Starting your tours as an officer will open a lot more doors than would starting as a Seaman Recruit."

"Yes. I got the acceptance letter today, and couldn't wait a minute longer to tell you both."

Lindy's concern bubbled to the surface, "I know it's still a few months away, but you'll need to make sure you keep getting regular checkups."

"You don't need to worry about that, mom. I'm the one with the ticking time-bomb somewhere inside of me."

"I wish you wouldn't put it that way, dear."

"I know you hate that, but it's true. I can't help feeling like I may get cheated out of a full life. Maybe with the constant physicals at the academy, something curable will turn up as early as possible."

AJ turned out to be very prophetic in that regard. Something almost like prophecy would become a familiar friend in just a couple years.