Hello, Claire Voiance Speaking - 3. Finders Keepers

Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time
I feel alive
And the world, I'll turn it inside out, yeah
I'm floating around in ecstasy
So (Don't stop me now)
(Don't stop me)
'Cause I'm having a good time
Having a good time

Queen - 1978

7

Lindy and Avery began dating regularly. Lindy's parents were initially unhappy with the age difference, but after meeting Avery, they no longer felt the five years would be a problem. They both graduated from law school at the same time - Lindy just inside the top 25% of the class, whereas Avery made it into the top 10%. After graduation, they got married and she took a job with a New Jersey personal injury attorney's office. She tagged along behind Avery, who had obtained a job with the Cherry Hill, NJ, District Attorney's office, passing the bar exam on the first try. It took Lindy two attempts to pass.

Three years later, when Avery stepped up somewhat to become an ADA in Philadelphia, Lindy was three months pregnant with their first child. Finding out she was pregnant, and making a move at the same time, was stressful for her, but with Avery's help, she was able to make the transition quite well.

A month before her due date, Avery sat her down, saying they needed to talk.

"What's wrong? They're not letting you go, are they, Avery?"

Lindy hadn't gone back to work after the move. She was worried about keeping the larger house where they were now living.

"No, nothing like that. There's something I need to tell you before our child is born."

Hesitantly, "Okay."

"You'll probably think I'm crazy when you first hear this, but I can give you a number of instances in my life to help you believe."

"I'll never think you're crazy. You didn't hesitate to believe me when I told you I was able to find things. It can't be crazier than that."

Avery smirked, "You'd be wrong." He hesitated a moment to gauge her reaction. When no comment was forthcoming, he continued. "You can find things. I know a certain thing about any person."

"A certain thing?"

"I can see auras around people, the color of which tells me the manner and time of their deaths."

Lindy was speechless for a moment. Then she panicked.

"Oh my God. No. I'm going to die in childbirth, aren't I?"

"Calm down. No, you've still got a long life ahead of you. I wanted you to know in case I have a reaction to the baby's color, if it's not good."

Avery explained the colors and shades to Lindy. She was curious about the previous instances, so Avery shared all the instances of people he knew and saw their deaths, or knew how short their futures would be. He also shared that Lindy had more than fifty years left.

"That must have been traumatic, being so young for the first few items."

"It took some getting used to, for sure. But without that past, I wouldn't have gone into law and met you. So, any discomfort was retroactively forgotten."

The big day came. Lindy was in the hospital and gave birth to a baby boy. When the doctors and nurses finally left them alone with Avery, Junior, she looked at Avery, questioning.

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."

About three months later they found out he wasn't completely healthy when his aura began to take on a very light blue tint. Blue meant he would die of some disease or illness. After that, Lindy made sure all his checkups included tests for childhood diseases or any other critical illness. After a while, Avery determined junior would live until his late twenties if no cure was found.

Lindy became somewhat of a neighborhood lawyer after Avery Junior arrived. She would handle real estate transactions, wills, and the occasional divorce from their home, while Avery was climbing the legal ladder.

8

It didn't take long before Lindy needed to use her special skill again. Kids were notorious for losing or misplacing things. Avery Junior was followed by another boy, Peter, and a girl, Madeline, whom they named after Lindy's mother. By the time they had all reached four or five years old, they'd misplaced a few things that mom could always find. Fortunately for Lindy, they didn't question the fact she always knew where their missing item was.

Lindy got away with keeping her secret until Madeline, Mads for short, was fourteen, and a long-time family friend was showing signs he was getting sick again and didn't have more than a couple years to live. Madeline had been able to see their younger boy’s - Colin Martin - bones. The first time she saw them, they'd found out he had leukemia. One summer day when she was fourteen, Colin and his family were at the Noonan's visiting. Mads noticed Colin was losing weight and was concerned. She had never focused so intently on him before, and it gave her a funny feeling. That day, Mads began healing Colin of his leukemia.

A week later, during a visit with the Martins, Lindy shared that she and Avery had some psychic ability. She needed the Martins to believe Mads could help Colin. Mads wouldn't let that utterance drop once they turned in for the night. They stayed overnight at the Martin's so Mads could continue healing Colin the following day, a Sunday.

"You and dad really have some psychic ability?"

"Yes. It's not important right now, although you probably won't be completely surprised when I tell you mine. Dad's is a little harder to believe, and I think we should wait before we get into that."

"Okay, I guess. I'll be curious now, you know."

"I know. But when the time is right, we'll share."

Madeline decided the time was right on the way home.

"So, what are these psychic abilities? Do I have mine because you and dad both do?"

"I suppose it's possible you've inherited a psychic gene."

"So, AJ and PC both have some abilities?" AJ and PC were her brothers' nicknames.

"If they do, they haven't become apparent yet."

Peter had gotten a hint at the summer before, but it wasn't until a little later he discovered exactly what it was. Coincidentally, it was the same day their oldest brother, Avery, visited from college and disclosed his ability, that PC finally realized exactly what he could do. Both brothers had been aware of Madeline's ability to see a leukemia inflicted child's bones since she was six and they were seven and nine. Healing was new.

"So, what can you and Dad do?"

"Like I said at the Martin's, we'll wait a bit before discussing Dad's. But I know where missing things are."

"You... Yeah, you did always seem to know where something was when me and the boys misplaced something. Just little things, or more?"

"Definitely more. There were two cases where the missing item was a young child."

"No shit? You should be famous then."

Lindy gave Mads a harsh glance, "Ahem, language. The first time I was, but it became such a hassle, I ended up changing my name."

"Really? From what?"

"I was born Elisa Davis. I changed my name to my grandmother's name, Melinda Markins. Your uncle Kevan saddled me with the nickname Lindy."

"But that's still your name - well, Noonan, but Melinda. Didn't you get famous the second time?"

"No. The second time would have been a lot more newsworthy - national even. This was a few weeks after your dad and I met in law school. He made an anonymous phone call telling the authorities where the missing girl was."

"So, you were like, a hero, but nobody else knew it."

"Yes. I suppose so."

Madeline would be sixteen and a half, AJ twenty, and Peter eighteen and in his first semester in college when their father's ability was finally disclosed the night AJ surprised them by moving things with his mind and reading their thoughts.

9

Lindy continued to locate missing items on occasion. There were even a few instances where one of their kids would call from wherever they were living at the time, asking her where something was. She was able to tell them without fail. One particularly humorous incident happened when Peter was in college.

"Hey, Ma. PC."

"Hi Peter, how are you doing?"

"Mostly fine."

"Mostly?"

"Yeah, I, um, lost my cell phone. I had to reactivate my old one to call you. Do you know where it is?"

Lindy started laughing.

"What? That's not funny."

"No, but where it is, definitely is."

"Will you let me in on the joke?"

"Have you been horseback riding lately, or visited a farm?"

"Um, yeah, a bunch of us actually went to a rodeo yesterday."

"Close enough to being on a farm. You walked around the paddock, didn't you?"

"Yeah, they gave a tour."

"Did you make or answer a phone call while you were there?"

"I... Um, yeah, I did. We were in a couple different groups and I called one of the guys to find out where we should meet."

"You didn't put your phone back in your pocket, did you?"

"My shirt pocket, yeah."

"Bend over to pick something up?"

"No - tie my sneaker."

"Well, your phone fell out."

"Great, I'll just call the place and see if someone turned it in."

"Nobody did. Apparently, sometime after you dropped it, a," she snorted, "a horse happened to walk over it."

"Crushed it?"

Trying valiantly to keep from laughing, Lindy answered, "No, it crapped on it. Your phone is still buried under a pile of horse manure."

"I guess I'm buying a new phone. Shit!"

"Shit is right."

"Funny, mom."

Epilogue

Peter paid much closer attention to where he put his phone after that, although little things occasionally went missing that, after a failed search, one of the kids would surrender and phone mom.

Lindy continued to find missing items for family and friends. Occasionally, a child would go missing or be kidnapped. Lindy and Avery kept a burner phone charged, turned off, and with its SIM card removed so they could make anonymous phone calls to the proper authorities. As indicated in 'The Black Aura,' Lindy passed away at eighty-six, followed only eighty-six days later by Avery.

The children and grandchildren would have to find things by themselves.

The End