I was practicing one of my routines late one night when I had an unexpected guest.
“Thought you might be out here again,” said Caleb’s voice.
“Hey,” I said, half excited, half concerned.
“Are you working out?” he asked, looking around.
“Not exactly,” I said, wiping sweat from my forehead.
“You’ve been in here every night for weeks. What are you working on?”
“You want to see?” I said with a grin.
“Well, yeah. Is it part of your gift?” he asked with impatience and intrigue.
I nodded my head, smiling.
“What is it?”
“Here, stand over here,” I said, positioning him toward the door and myself about ten feet from him, “You see that can of soda over there?”
“Yeah, I see it.”
“Watch it closely,” I said.
“Christian,” I whispered to myself, as red drenched my vision. I saw Caleb take a couple steps back closer to the door. My shadow simultaneously separated from me and shot across the room to where I had strategically placed the soda can on the counter. It knew the drill by now. I concentrated as much as possible. In a millisecond, I cast my consciousness into my shadow. Now, the purpose of this training exercise was to pick up the soda and toss it back across the room to myself. Well, I hadn’t completely mastered all the aspect of this. Once I embodied my shadow, I picked up the soda. Step one complete. I drew back and threw it. Step two complete. Step three wasn’t quite as planned. The can went flying across the room and smacked Caleb in the forehead. My physical body resumed its position next to Caleb and my shadow dissipated.
I rushed over to him, attempting not to laugh, yet truly concerned. He had fallen back and was sitting up against the wall, as a stream of blood flowed from a half circle on the right side of his forehead.
“Was that part of it?” he asked with pain in his voice.
“Oh my God, no,” I said, continuing to quell my laughter, “I’m so sorry. Let me see.”
He looked up at me with his right eye closed to prevent the blood from running into it. I placed a hand on each side of his forehead, and I got a closer look. As I glanced at Caleb and his wound, I felt something. For a moment I could not believe it was real, but it happened. Blue enveloped my surroundings, warmth and emotion consumed me. His pain began to flow into me, like a bubbly poison in my veins. It moved through me, and then left my body. I wiped the blood from his forehead as he opened his eyes wide.
“Oh my God, you did it!” he nearly shouted at me.
“I fuckin’ did it!” I shouted back at him, astonished and proud.
“Holy shit!” Caleb said. I laughed at the sound of Caleb actually verbalizing a cuss word.
“I wasn’t even sure it was still possible.”
“I never doubted it,” Caleb said with a grin and he held up his hand to high five me. I slapped his hand and he pulled me in for a hug. Thinking at one point I wouldn’t even give him the courtesy of shaking his hand, I returned the hug with only slight reluctance.
These new abilities and the fine tuning of previous abilities became more frequent. I had always heard the expression ‘expand your mind’ and was finally beginning to understand the meaning of this growth process. I was opening myself up and the miraculous was making its way in. That drive to put out good in the world was growing in me. I wanted to spread the good news and to help people.
“Danielle, where do you see yourself in the next year?” asked Joyce, sitting on the couch across from me in the living area for our weekly counseling session. I had been lying on my back during the bulk of our conversation and sat up.
“I know this is going to sound crazy, but I’ve been thinking about something,” I said, looking intently into Joyce to survey her reaction when I confessed my desire.
“Well, let’s hear it,” she said, sitting up straighter, seemingly in preparation for the answer.
“I’ve just been thinking about how important this place is, this house,” I replied, waving my hand in the air, “It’s changed my life so much, for the better, in just a few months. I can’t imagine if I had never come here what my life would have been destined to become. Then I think there’s more people out there like me.”
“This is true.”
“I was thinking that -maybe not next year but maybe someday. . . I could do what Law does and have a refuge like this for people like me.”
The expression that crossed Joyce’s face was one I had only seen once before. It was stifled admiration. She allowed a smile to drift onto her face and said, “I believe that dream is
