Firebird: Part III

The Firebird over revved as I took her around a corner a bit too fast and stayed on the power to keep it pointed down the road. These back roads had been paved just last year, so the trip was a good deal faster on them when heading toward Alabama than the highway. This was fortunate as I wasn't giving myself much time to make it to mom. The summer sun was just coming up over the trees as I headed South to Alabama. I was damn near triple the speed limit most times. Thank God there were no cops to stop me.



I kept the car pretty well on line thanks to the new pavement they had put down all over the back road the year before. It was a great drive to be honest: the sun off to my right, clipping through the trees. My Car popping through the gears easily as I handled her through the turns and we sped toward Alabama. The GPS was almost completely silent: on this road, it was a straight shot to the cafe. It was like my mother knew. I suppose she probably did.

The morning sun kept clipping through the trees. I checked the dashboard clock and it read 6:30. It looks like I'll make it there in time even if I keep it under the limit. I hit a couple more turns at speed, and then slowed her down to a reasonable speed to keep the cops off my tail and the townsfolk happy. I cruised her the remaining hour into Alabama.

This was the first time I was able to think about my mother. I literally couldn't remember her face. I couldn't remember what she looked like, or how she wore her hair as before she left. There were no pictures in our house of her: dad said he couldn't bare it, and  I never inherited any from him, except for one small one in his wallet, which was worn at the edges from sitting in his billfold for so long. It looked to be a picture from her senior high school picture. Didn't feel right keeping that. That picture was something between them, not something between us.

How would I recognize her? I had been spending so much of my life pretending to be this new man, that the boy I was was all but completely gone, along with his memories. I thought slowly about what she looked like when I was just a boy. Then I remembered the book:

"divining a memory is the most simple of beginning divination, and it is a great way to start your career as a diviner" 



I pulled the car to the side of the road. The GPS blinked warnings at me that I would be late if I stayed at this position for more than 3 minutes. I rummaged through my bag, looking for anything that might be a tether to my mother. I had almost nothing from my old life. I looked through everything in the back seat: looking for an old toy, a belt buckle, anything. everything I touched was absolutely something new. No memory as old as that, and no memories of mine.



I grabbed the e brake to pull myself around in the seat. I held onto it as I wished that I could remember what she looked like, closing my eyes and tilting my head up toward the rising sun.



The next thing I felt was like being pulled toward the moon by a jumbo jet through my belly button. The rush was in intoxicating, but I could still feel my butt on the seat in the Firebird, I could feel the E brake still in my hand. In fact, I couldn't let go of the e brake if I tried. It was as if the E Brake handle was the thing creating this sensation. I flew until I felt the motion around me level out, and I opened my eyes, expecting a head rush from how little sleep I had gotten the past few days. Instead I opened my eyes and saw myself looking at my mother and father. They were young: younger than I had ever seen them, even as a boy. They were kissing. Kissing in a Firebird. Parked on this road. Their long, passionate kiss finally stopped, and I stopped looking away out of respect, and I got a good look at my mother for the first time.



She was short, with tight curls in her light blonde hair. She had eyes so big and blue you wondered how they stayed in her head. She had very slight features, and was a generally small person. My father was always a large guy, and seemed to be fully twice the size of my mother in every regard. They seemed to giggle over this fact as they cuddled eachother in the car, and snuggled down in some blankets in the front seat with the seats laid back to make a bed. Did they live in the car? Did they live in MY car? The car my father helped me rebuild? Is that why he got it for me?



The side thoughts snapped me back into the car, and the pain was incredible. It was like being fired from a cannon 100 feet above the ground and landing in a car seat. I leaned out of the side door of the car and vomited from the pain. I knew I couldn't pass out right now, so I took some good deep breaths and got to my feet. I rummaged around in the trunk for a small bottle of Jack I kept around in case I got in a wreck or a fight while out on the road and I needed to take the edge off. I took a large swig of it, and slowly walked back to the driver's seat, leaning on the side of the car the whole time, and hit the road again.



It was nearly time when I pulled up in front of the cafe we were meant to meet at. I looked at the large sign above, which was written out in pallet wood impact nailed across the brick front of the cafe:



THE CHOP SHOP



I looked through the big glass front of the cafe and just inside at the bar against the window there she sat. I saw her first and instantly knew it was her. The vision I had just a few minutes before had definitely helped. I slowly walked across the street, hands in my pockets, never taking my eyes off her. My legs still felt like I had ran a marathon, so the effort of just walking across the street made sweat well up in my face.



She caught sight of me and almost jumped out of her seat. She looked away again, after she was sure I had recognized her, and sipped her tea.



She still had that same blonde curly hair, although a bit more frizzy than what I had seen in my vision. There were smile lines across her forehead and at the corners of her eyes, indicating that she had been a laughter all her life, just like in the vision. Her eyes still seemed ungodly big for her face, but It just made her all the more expressive. It seemed as though she could have a whole conversation with you without opening her mouth. She could just use her big expressive eyes. She locked eyes with me again as I came to the sidewalk and  looked over to the front door, indicating it was safe for me to come inside and sit next to her.



I leaned heavily against the doorjamb as I stepped up into the cafe. My mother looked at me and knew I had divined something and not disconnected properly. you could instantly see the concern on her face. Concern mixed with pride, and joy, and sadness, and so many other feelings a mother must get after seeing her son, grown, alive and well after so many years. After being out and free, ready to get a coffee with her son for the first time.



I ordered a large black coffee and walked over to sit next to my mother. I got up onto the stool with a sign, and looked straight out he window, waiting for her to speak. It wasn't my first time talking to someone without needing to have it noticed. this was the most common way I got my jobs given to me. My mom must have known that.



"Johnathan, I can see you attempted to divine something recently, and apparently didn't disconnect from the vision appropriately" She said with equal parts of scolding, loving, and cold fact.



She sipped her tea from a ceramic mug "how long ago"



I sipped my coffee and enjoyed the first taste of caffeine I had since I had woken up. "about an hour ago, little less."



She looked straight at me. I didn't look back as to not raise suspicion "what are you doing."  I said, sipping my coffee again.



"Nobody recovers from a poor disconnect that quickly" she said, finally realizing what she had done and looking out the window, staying silent for a full minute before continuing " It usually takes three to five days before you can walk again."



"Well, I sure as hell feels like I should be in bed right now" I said with a cough. I sipped my coffee to relax the pain in my chest.



"This must be one of the reasons why men aren't allowed to divine...." she said trailing off "a man's strength allows them to flip in and out of visions more rapidly than women. I Imagine you could divine in real time, once you got used to the pain"



"that's a pain I don't want to ever get used to." I said looking out the window.



My mother did the same for a few minutes "I have missed you so much" She said, closing her eyes for a long time, trying to hold back the tears. "I'm so proud of what you've become Johnathan. So very proud"



She broke character after this point and looked straight at me. I could see the weakness in her face, she must have just divined the perimeter of the building to ensure we weren't being tailed. " I know that we've broken many laws, both magical and conventional to get here, but we need to. The company that we both work for has been looking for women like me to divine major political evens for personal profit. I have been able to give them just enough information to stop them from killing me, but its been very difficult. Most women can't withstand the pace at which they want us to work. They don't understand that divination takes a long time for both connection and disconnection, especially when divining someone whom you've never seen or spoken with before. Many women die from the pain of rapid disconnection, which they bring on after they get the information the receive. Sometimes by flashing a light in the room, other times with a bucket of cold water if the woman takes too long to disconnect herself.



I remembered the pain I was in from the one small vision of my mother: I couldn't imagine being forcibly removed from the vision time and again. They must have killed so many diviners....



"Johnathan, you need to help get me away from here, with the book. I'm the last one left. I've been able to keep myself alive for a year, long enough that they decided to reduce security since I was the only one left...." She sipped her tea and looked off into the distance.



"I suppose its not fair to say I'm the only diviner left alive, now there's you" She looked at me, not sure how to feel about her son being the first male diviner in ages.



"So what do we do now?" I said.



"I was hoping you could answer that" She aid with a giggle "I've made it this far, which is a good deal away from the facility I was held at. So let's get out of here and try and decide our next move.



I sipped my coffee again, looking out at the street. an old lady passed walking her dog. I thought about my mom getting old enough to do that.



"Alright, lets get out of here" I said, finishing my coffee.

" I know where we can go. "






To Be Continued