****
“Mom, Dad, there is something important I need to tell you,” announced Johnny. He had been watching and listening while his Mother, with his worried father at her shoulder, had phoned the home of Mary’s friend Janet.
“It better be your sister’s location,” said Trent Williams angrily. “Your Mom has already confirmed that she’s not at Janet’s like you told us originally.”
“I knew that already,” admitted Marge Williams.
“You what?” Trent asked.
“Everyone sit down at the dining room table and calm down,” Marge Williams said. It wasn’t a request. When Marge said anything in that tone, the other members of the family obeyed. Her son and husband sat across the table from each other, and she sat between them at one end. She looked into her son’s eyes. “Johnny, it’s time for you and I to lay all of our cards out on the table face-up.”
“Mom, it’s sort of complicated,” said Johnny.
“Let me first tell what I know then,” Marge said. “That might be easier.”
“Trent, you remember how I told you long ago that I can see things other people can’t?”
“That psychic malarkey again? What has that got to do with anything?”
“Everything. Why do you think we got such a good deal on this house from Simple?”
“Simple? What did Simple have to do with it?”
“Everything. Do you remember Mystery Man?”
“My dad used to tell me about him," said Trent. "Nice fairy tale. So what?”
“And that baseball game with the dragon we saw on TV earlier today?” Marge asked.
“It was a kid, and he said he was the new Mystery Man. The whole thing was obviously faked to boost ratings. It was a computer generated hoax.”
“It wasn't," said Marge. "Did the kid remind you of anyone?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“The original Mystery Man passed on his job to his nephew George.”
Trent’s jaw dropped open. “What? What are you saying? Our Harry and George are some sort of super heroes? Even if it’s true, what does it have to do with us? And where the hell is Mary?”
Both parents turned their stares to their son.
“She’s on her way to Africa in a Government transport plane with Ellen to meet up with George and Freedom,” Johnny managed, all in one quick sentence.
“What?” thundered Trent. “No way!”
“It’s true,” said Marge.
“She’s part of the Team; she has powers like George,” added Johnny. “Mary has abilities that they knew they will need to fight the monsters.”
“No way they can do this!” growled Trent. “Mary’s our daughter. They’re going after monsters, for Christ sake! Across state lines and half way around the damn world! That's a federal crime known as kidnapping, even if the Feds did it!”
“She’s not supposed to be part of the fighting,” said Johnny. “She’s just supposed to help George and Freedom communicate with Ellen so that they coordinate with the military.”
“What? How?”
“Telepathy,” explained Marge. “It runs in my family.”
“But why Mary? It doesn’t make sense they would know anything about any powers of hers,” insisted Trent. “Hell, I didn’t even know.”
His wife got up and walked to a nearby sideboard drawer and pulled out a large fat envelope. From it she pulled dozens of photos that she sat down in front of Trent.
Trent looked through a few of them. “I remember these. These are your old pictures from when you were Mary’s age.”
“A lot of them include my best friend. See her?” She pointed to a girl that could have been her sister, they resembled each other so closely. “She and I found each other through our common interests, and our common abilities.”
“You were both psychic?” asked her husband.
“Yes, though her abilities were even greater than mine. We stayed in touch after we grew up. She encouraged me to move here, where she also planned to move someday.”
“And she knows Harry Simple?”
“She knew him very well, as they are related. She had Harry give us a great deal on buying this lot. But what I didn’t know was that our Mary would become so involved. I had thought that she would feel more comfortable with other folks that have similar psychic abilities, and I looked forward to someday living near my best friend. Joan also got married and had a son Mary’s age. A son named George.”
“George’s Mom was your best friend!” exclaimed Johnny.
“Holy smokes,” muttered Trent. “But what about Mary?”
“Mary and Harry hit it off, and that was fine with me,” said Marge. “But I didn’t know this business extended to dragons and superheroes.”
“Well it does,” said Johnny. “And other stuff too. I’m a part of the Team too. I’m watching after things here while George and Mary and their dragons are away from the house.”
“Dragons? More than one dragon?” asked Marge.
“Well, yeah,” explained Johnny. “Mary is a Chosen One, like Johnny. Johnny’s dragon is a young white male dragon named Freedom, like they said on TV. Mary’s dragon is a grown-up female black dragon named Jewel. Jewel isn't on Earth right now.”
“Chosen One? Dragons? What the hell does all that mean?” asked Trent.
“I’m only a side-kick,” Johnny explained. “I guess I didn’t get enough of Mom’s genes. But Mary’s a real super hero like George.”
“The hell she is,” said Trent. “She never got our permission to be part of whatever is going on, and neither did you. I’m getting our family out of this business and away from here.” He stood up and walked towards the front door. “I’m going to have it out with Harry Simple right now about all of this!”
“Harry is dead,” said Marge. “I’ve felt his absence for many days.”
The statement stopped Trent Williams in his tracks. “Dead?”
“It’s true Dad,” confirmed Johnny. “He died after helping save Earth from two really big bad black dragons. We’d all be dead now if it wasn’t for him and George and especially Jewel, the good dragon. And Mary and I helped too; even the dragons and elves say that we’re important. Even me Dad, even me! They need me now, the elf mage and Grog the troll do. Mary needs me! You have to let me help so that we're all safe!"
"Troll? Elf Mage?" stammered Trent.
“Let’s talk this over some more, Trent,” said Marge. “Like it or not, we’re all mixed up in this thing, especially Mary. We all need to try to understand it all. Johnny, I know that you aren't big on reading but you're going to try to learn what you can from the books in Simple's libraries.”
"But Mom!" Johnny started to complain.
"Harry Simple has been studying in that library of his for decades," said Marge. "I think he did that for practical reasons that for Mary's sake and for ours we need to figure out. And Trent, you can help."
Trent numbly returned to the table and sat down.
"Try not to worry so much," Marge told her still upset husband. "Mary wears the medallion that years ago Johnny's mother gave to me to help keep me and my family safe. Hopefully it will now help keep her safe."
The two parents nearly fell out of their chairs when a foot-tall young man wearing green tights, oversized armor, and a relatively long sword instantly appeared in the middle of their dining room table. “Mind if I join in?” he asked cheerfully.
****