That Weird Springtime Feeling
Chapter 2
They were escorted to a large trailer sitting at the back of the carnival, the manager’s office. The manager was a woman in her late twenties. She eyed Aaron as they entered the trailer.
“Mind telling us what the meaning of this is?” Aaron asked.
“You’re a peculiar gentleman, Mr...”
“Just call me Aaron.”
“Aaron, right. You’re a peculiar one. We’ve been watching you tonight. You have a very high percentage of winning, of knowing just how to win, or which duck to pick, almost like you could read the operator’s mind or something.” She chuckled.
He sensed what she was getting at, and decided to confirm it.”
“Heh heh, that’s silly. It’s like if I were to read your mind and see that despite $5 elephant ears and $25 ticket prices, the entertainment company you’re working for is on the verge of going under due to poor management, and there’s a lot of pressure on you and your fellow operators to turn a massive profit. Isn’t that silly, Susan?”
The woman, Susan, blinked. Confirmation! But how to approach him about it?
“You know, Aaron, when I was a little girl, how did that guy put it in that movie? I could hold conversations with my mom and dad without opening my mouth. Then I hit puberty at age 13 and that ability vanished. I stopped hearing other’s thoughts and feeling their emotions.”
“And since then you’ve been searching for someone with the same gift as you. Well congrats, you found one. Now good bye.”
The motive that drove Susan to grab her gun from her desk drawer was one of sheer desperation. The gun was some .32 POS she had bought for self defense and she would never normally have threatened him with it. But she was desperate, both desperate for money and desperate to see if being around another telepath would restore her own gift. Aaron sensed all this in her head, and sensed an opportunity...
“Okay Mr mind reader what am I thinking right now?” she asked.
“You’ve never ever shot anyone with that gun, but you will shoot me if I don’t put my gift to work for you. You want to have me as an attraction and have me use my gift to read minds. Okay, fair enough.”
“You’ll do it?”
“Yeah, sure, why not.”
“Master?“
“Don’t worry Rena. Got it all under control. Looks like we’ll be spending the night here.“
While most of the game and ride operators spent the night inside their rides or games, Aaron and Rena were afforded a pickup truck cab to sleep in. Both of them sat awake, looking out of their respective windows.
“Master, I can’t sleep.”
“Me neither.”
“Why are you helping that lady?”
“She used to be a telepath, like me, but she lost that ability. She knows I can read minds, but doesn’t know that I can also manipulate them. What she also doesn’t know is that she still has some latent telepathy, making her mind more easily influenced... Her mind is a sitting duck...”
“Just like mine.” Rena replied.
“...Yeah...” Aaron looked down, blinked a couple times, then looked over at Rena.
“Rena, are you...”
She looked at him and smiled. “I’m okay master.”
“No, you didn’t get it all. Are you okay with me?”
She looked at him and smiled. “I have to obey you, but you never ordered me to love you. That first night when you stirred up my insides, then held me afterwards, I knew I wanted to be with you regardless. When we both caught the flu on valentines day, you went out and got us some medicine even though you were sick yourself. I’ll always remember that.”
She scooted close to him and laid her head on his chest.
“You know me better then I know myself. When I’m with you, I feel so... relaxed...at peace...” she yawned, blinked a few times, then her eyes closed.
Having Rena lying against him sleeping peacefully, made Aaron feel contented. Within a few moments, sleep began to overtake him as well. His eyes began to droop and close. Soon they were both sound asleep.
The morning sunlight awoke Aaron. He looked down to see Rena’s head lying on his chest. He smiled and stroked her head.
“Wakey wakey Rena. It’s a beautiful morning.”
She made a frustrated noise and shifted a bit.
“What’s wrong honey?” he asked.
“The cat won’t fit in the toaster and I’ve tried everything!”
He smiled and shook his head. “You are so silly when you talk in your sleep. Did you know that?”
“But it worked on the Food network...” she replied.
He gently shook her head, and her eyes opened. She looked up, yawned and smiled.
“Good morning master.”
“Good morning Rena.”
Carnies were a modern day equivelent of Gypsy’s. The carnival that Susan ran travelled the country year round, both to keep a steady source of income coming in, and because it was the best way Susan had to search the country for telepaths. Finally she had found one, and now he was going to make her some money.
She found Aaron and Rena showering in a trailer. She managed to get a good look at Aaron’s body before he covered himself with a towel. He detected just a bit of arousal in her, and a bit of jelousy towards Rena.
“Okay, the plan is I’m going to have a booth set up for you, and you’ll be playing the role of fortune teller. You read the customer’s minds and make up some happy fortune for them.”
“How about this. How about I tell their fortune based on what I see in their heads, and I keep every dollar they pay. When I’m not working, me and Rena have free reign throughout this carnival. We come and go as we please.”
Susan blinked a couple times. ‘Okay.” she said.
“And further more, when you pack up this carnival in a week, we’re not travelling with you. We part ways.”
“Okay.” Susan said.
“Good. Now scram.”
Susan turned around and walked away. In her mind she had been the winner of their negotiations.
“Come one come all! A real life psychic fortune teller awaits you! He reads minds! He predicts your future! Only $5 a session! Your money back if you’re not convinced he’s the real deal!”
Aaron sat in the makeshift booth waiting for his first customers. Luckily the weird feeling was nice and strong this morning. He picked up their names before they came around the corner.
“Ah, a young couple. Greetings Ben and Jennifer.”
Ben and Jennifer looked at each other, then gave Aaron confused and bewildered looks.
“Yes you two, unlike most of those so called psychics, I’m for real. Would you like your fortune read, or would you like me to reveal some secrets about yourselves?”
“F-fortune please.”
“Very well. Be aware that your future is by no means set, but both Jennifer and I know that with your talent, Ben, you’ll do well majoring in computer science like you plan to. You’re flirting with becoming a doctor, but I wouldn’t recommend that for you. You’ll be deep in debt upon graduating, and doctors get paid $120k and more a year because among other things they often work several days without sleeping.”
Both Ben and Jennifer were in awe. Aaron continued.
“Jennifer, both of you are young lovers. Anyone can tell that. You like him but you’re not sure about him. Well whatever you decide, do know he does love you. He feels very lucky that he snagged you even though he’s putting on a front that he could get any girl... and you both like that My Little Pony cartoon despite it being a show for little girls, and despite both of you being 17.”
Ben and Jennifer looked at each other.
“You like MLP?”
“You like MLP?! OHMIGOD THAT’S SO CUTE! You’re a Brony!”
After they left, Aaron closed his eyes and shook his head.
“And I thought I was into some weird shit.” he said.
The next two people looked like another young romantic couple, but they were actually brother and sister.
“Ah, a brother and sister. John and Melanie. Welcome. No John, I did not just look you up on Facebook.” Aaron held up his hands to show that he had no phone, or other device capable of surfing the web.
They both nervously sat down. “I’d like to know my sister’s future.” John said.
“Very well. Be aware that her future is by no means set, but, well you found the syringe she left in the bathroom, so you know she’s using. That cat’s just been let out of the bag, but there’s more. She’s been using heroin for almost a year. She injects it in her legs so she can hide the track marks by wearing long pants.”
The brother and sister broke out in an argument about drug use. It lasted all of 10 seconds before Aaron tapped into their minds, making them stop and sit there quietly.
“This is what it boils down to, and it’s essentally what the interventionist is going to tell you in a couple weeks Melanie: You go into treatment and kick your addiction, you can have a good life. Your life won’t be perfect, but you’ll be functional. Keep shooting up, and you’re gonna end up a broken street walking junkie, and if you want a taste of that, well...”
He projected the thoughts of a woman he had once ran across, lonely, cold, desperate for another fix, aware she had an STD but willing to have sex for money anyway.
“Oh god no! No fuck it I quit!”
As the day went on and word spread, the price upped from $5 to $10, then to $15. Evening came and he had made close to $1,000.
“Oh this is great Rena! We’ll come back tomorrow and hopefully earn another grand. Who knows, by the end of the week we might have enough cash to take a cruise or something.”