The Power of Forgetting by A M Russell Page A

what he is.
    They are near
to me now.
    ‘Jared.’ They
both say, at almost exactly the same time.
    Karis comes
forward first and embraces me. Unlike Janey she is ladylike and
concerned.
    ‘I’ll see you
at dinner.’ She whispers; and kisses me on the cheek before
disappearing into the house.
    I go toward my
father. He seems to be hanging back.
    ‘Walk with me.’
He says.
    So we fall into
step and go down a little brick path and past some fruit bushes so
we are out of sight of the house. Leo has his hands clasped
together. I know that gesture. It is a sign that he has only
recently arrived back from his trip. He is… well different when he
is working. My mother can be around him whatever his state of mind.
But I think that Janey and I are finding it rather taxing. I want
to be like him but now I really want him to forgive me for not
making the effort of get up so often. I mean… it isn’t as if I
don’t have a car.
    ‘Forgive me
Jared….’ He is wringing his hands as if he is trying to get a grip
on something that isn’t just physical. They are all there; the
freaks and the geeks. There’s room for everyone. The delicate
balance of things, of their nature.
    ‘…. forgive me
for stepping in.’ he said.
    ‘What on earth
do you mean?’ I was unnerved by Leo being so flimsy apparently.
    ‘Take my hands
Jared Jay Arden.’ He said, and this time I see something almost
straight away. Leo is surprized.
    ‘Will you clear
your mind?’ he said to me, ‘And then let me unlock everything.’
    ‘Yes.’ I
whisper. There must be a reason why he wants to check how it is
with me so soon. I submit with total trust. Leo can do this because
he has the power over people who are very strong and very scary.
And thankfully they are mostly working for him. I’ve hardly ever
met them. But that is just the way of it.
    ‘We will stand
here.’ He said, ‘and I want you to let go completely. Let it fall
like a snow shower to the ground.’
    And then I feel
the ten patterns just crumble apart one after the other. I am
completely free floating. I can feel it inside my mind. He has his
hands on my shoulders. We stand there in the quiet part of the
garden. No one will disturb us. I try to reach out to him in my
mind. But I feel a curtain of resistance. I just let him search me
then. It is not deep. But the bond of kinship allows this to be as
caring as possible. I was certainly surprized then to find us both
sat on a bench.
    ‘What
happened?’ I asked.
    ‘You just made
your first controlled jump.’ He said.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Don’t be
alarmed… you are safe with me… you know it.’
    He folds each
pattern back into itself again. Very smoothly my mind is calmed
again. And we sit a few inches apart until those two or three
minutes have passed.
    ‘Do you want to
go anywhere?’ he asked me.
    ‘Not right now,
but tell me what did you mean?’
    ‘I wanted to
explain why I sent Davey to you,’ he said, ‘I’m sorry…’
    ‘But Davey
wanted to come.’ I said, ‘he found me and… well I couldn’t have
come back if it wasn’t for him.’
    Leo stared out
across the garden deep in thought; ‘we are safe here,’ he looked at
me again, his eyes were troubled, ‘but I think what I did brought
in the wolves.’
    I thought of
the universal tag then. It had been switched off…. but we were
drawing them out. I had been ready to let Rimmington take me. Now I
wasn’t sure why.
    ‘You don’t need
to explain what happened,’ Leo said, ‘reports came back… in a
roundabout way.’
    ‘What did you
do?’
    ‘I sent a
messenger to your friend. I had to help him. He would have gone
anyway. But he needed to believe in himself. And he needed an
insight on how to defeat Mr Alexander.’
    ‘You seem to
treat them as two different things.’ I said, ‘I’m confused.’
    ‘There is
Rimmington the man. And there is Mr Alexander the…. Well I can’t
say really….it could be one of a number of things;’ Leo lowered his
voice,