The Boy Who Knew Everything (11 page)

Mr. Kaiser didn't dare share the thoughts that ran through his mind. After all, the government knew that the dam was old and crumbling. Hadn't their local paper printed a story just the week before about the dire engineering reports? The same reports that the government, even the president himself, consistently refuted and denied.

Mr. Kaiser wondered silently if perhaps the government was purposely slow. And maybe not just slow—maybe they wouldn't come at all.

It was when the children stopped complaining that Mr. Kaiser got scared. They were so young and didn't have the strength for this. He didn't allow himself to consider that they might not last too much longer.

On the morning of the fourth day all hope was gone. When Mrs. Kaiser tried to wake Timmy it took a long time to rouse him and then he'd only moaned and gone right back to sleep. She exchanged a long look with Mr. Kaiser—they both knew what was coming next. Even though the attic was like an oven they moved the family close together, in case there might be some small gesture or comfort they could give to the children or each other. Katy reached out and held her father's hand and Mrs. Kaiser gently stroked Timmy's hair.

*   *   *

Mr. Kaiser was the only one who was awake to hear a small set of footsteps on the roof of the house. Next he heard a clunk that was followed by the crash of wood. As though he was dreaming, he watched as a hole was punched into his roof. Wood splintered and shattered around them but didn't touch them.

Moments later a young girl flew—but how could that be? He squinted his eyes to refocus and yet still the girl was flying.…
Flying?

She flew through the hole in the roof into the attic and across to where the Kaiser family was huddled. Her long brown hair was caught up in a braid and she wore a pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt that said
SECOND STAR TO THE RIGHT AND STRAIGHT ON TIL MORNING
. A smattering of freckles dotted her nose and cheeks. When her feet touched down she crouched next to Mr. Kaiser, and he was able to see that she was as ordinary as any girl he might have seen walking up and down Main Street. Ordinary, that is, except for her blue eyes. Her eyes were made from the sky and held a depth and understanding that was almost impossible for such a young girl to have. She was ordinary and at the same time utterly extraordinary.

“Me and my friends are here to help you,” the girl said.

Mr. Kaiser nodded. He had no words.

She called out and another child suddenly jumped down through the hole in the roof and onto the attic floor. She was a big girl, perhaps fourteen years old, and she lumbered toward them. Mr. Kaiser could feel the already feeble house shaking under her weight. She nodded to him and without a word picked up the two children with a disarming gentleness. Holding Katy and Timmy in one arm, she picked up Mrs. Kaiser in the other and made her way back to the hole in the roof, where she handed them up to waiting arms. Their combined weight was well over 250 pounds, but this girl handled them as though they were feathers.

With a small amount of help, Mr. Kaiser was able to follow behind, and once he was hoisted up onto the roof what met his eyes was alarming and seemingly impossible. There were no relief workers, no medical personnel, or police officers of any kind. There were three boats and each boat held two or three kids. They were moving from house to house. At one house that leaned at a particularly precarious angle, a dark girl shrank down to the size of a Barbie doll so that she could fit through a chimney and save trapped parrots. One kid, a scrawny boy with black hair, looked at a house and knew if someone was inside as though he had X-ray vision. A delicate Asian girl (in a spotless white silk dress, no less) was telekinetically moving debris out of the way. The big girl who had lifted his family was busting up roofs or cars or anything else that prevented them from getting to the wounded and waiting. And the flying girl was moving above it all, landing on houses, hovering between boats, rising out of sight and then back again.

And yet they were ordinary kids. Take them and stick them in any classroom and you wouldn't give them a second glance.

When the boats were full they returned to two large black transport trucks. Like the boats, the trucks were large and unmarked.

According to need, each survivor was led to the first transport truck in turn. When Mr. Kaiser was finally invited forward he was not surprised to find the truck equipped with an array of medical equipment and devices. What he was surprised to find was that not a single needle or swab was used. When he was sitting on the examining table, a boy, slight, thin, and very pale, approached him.

“P-p-p-please don't m-m-move,” said the boy.

He reminded Mr. Kaiser of his Timmy. He was maybe six years old and uncomfortable in his own skin. It made Mr. Kaiser yearn for his own son.

The boy then began to rub his hands together until they glowed. The light they gave off was like a klieg light; it hurt to look at it directly and Mr. Kaiser squinted and looked away, glancing back as much as he could. As the light grew the boy began to blow into his hands and the light changed from bright white to red. Softly the boy stepped forward and placed his hands on Mr. Kaiser and the light leapt off his hands and into his belly.

Mr. Kaiser jumped, not because the light hurt but because it felt so good. Every muscle that was knotted, every cut and bruise, every part of him that was sore or hurt released the pain and anguish of the last four days in an instant and was replaced with a warm feeling of contentment and health. Mr. Kaiser sighed deeply as the healing took hold.

Before he could thank the small boy, he scuttled away like a scared fish and Mr. Kaiser let himself out. He found his family laughing and eating under a tent as though the last four days had never happened.

In another few hours, all who could be helped were safe. Mr. Kaiser watched the recovery efforts with a keen eye. His training and his experience as a police officer made him appreciate as few could what an extraordinary effort this was in terms of the way the entire operation was run.
But how?
he thought over and over again. It would have taken any other workers days or weeks to accomplish what he counted as ten kids did in a few hours. It was nothing short of a miracle.

“Mr. Kaiser?” The flying girl was at his side, surprising him from his thoughts.

“Yes?”

“Are you the same Mr. Kaiser who is chief of police?”

“I am.”

“Well, that's just grand. You think you'd be able to come with me for a moment, sir?” The girl was polite but not formal.

Mr. Kaiser got to his feet and followed the girl to the second transport truck. He had yet to see anyone enter or leave that particular truck. As they walked he could hear the girl mumbling multiplication tables under her breath.

The girl flew up the steps and opened the door. Mr. Kaiser used the stairs and arrived not long behind her.

Inside the trailer it was dark but for the glow of computer lights.

“Conrad?” she said.

“Right with you,” came the reply.

Mr. Kaiser let his eyes adjust and finally caught a glimpse of the missing link of the entire operation: the piece of the puzzle he had been looking for—the central command. It consisted of a single boy: Conrad, as the girl had called him. He was a serious-looking kid with blond hair. He looked like he'd sprouted up recently, like he wasn't used to being so lanky but was growing into himself just fine.

Conrad was standing in the middle of the room. Surrounding him were three-dimensional images, which he manipulated with his hands like an orchestra conductor. Before his face was a 3-D house; it looked like the Jenkins house on Avon Street. Conrad turned the image of the Jenkins's house this way and that. On his left were files containing faces and information on families. As he touched the house and turned it with one hand, he opened files with the other that instantly responded to his touch, turning into images of people next to which were their stats: age, height, medical conditions, etc. Over his shoulder were more files with weather stats, satellite images, and topographical information.

Like all the other kids, Conrad had a small silver device the size of a toothpick coming from his right ear.

“Smitty, check that last house in the fourth quadrant. I'm showing movement,” Conrad said. With quick motions Conrad closed down and organized the images into a row and turned his attention to his guest.

“Chief Kaiser, thank you for joining me. My name is Conrad.” Conrad extended his hand and Mr. Kaiser took it.

“Will Kaiser.” They shook briefly and Mr. Kaiser took note of the fact that the boy's hand felt small in his but there was strength in it all the same.

“Please, walk with me.” Conrad indicated the door and allowed Mr. Kaiser first passage.

Outside, the sun was starting to set and Mr. Kaiser saw that the boats had been packed away and pretty much everything else had too.

A blur of movement stopped abruptly in front of them and it took Mr. Kaiser a moment to realize that the movement was actually created by a girl. She was rather thin and scruffy looking with dark hair that fell over her face.

“Piper, we need your help with those parrots,” the scruffy girl said. “Smitty wanted to look at them but Kimber said no and they got into a fight. The parrots got away and now we can't find 'em. And there's a lady over there who's upset about her parrots being missing.”

Piper shook her head. “I'll take care of it. Excuse me, Mr. Kaiser.” A moment later she flew off and the scruffy girl darted away so quickly it created the illusion that she had disappeared into thin air. Both Conrad and Mr. Kaiser watched Piper flying up past the trees.

“Who the heck are you kids?” Mr. Kaiser couldn't take his eyes off Piper.

“No one.”

When Mr. Kaiser gave Conrad a look, Conrad shrugged. “No one that matters, at least. We aren't mutants, we aren't superheroes; we're just kids who happen to be able to fly or have X-ray vision or shrink. It's just who we are.”

Conrad walked and Mr. Kaiser matched his stride. They were close to the water's edge and between them and the setting sun was the landscape of the lost town. The church steeple and a few other buildings peeped up through the water, but for the most part the water was filled with floating pieces of debris.

“But how come I've never heard of you before?” Mr. Kaiser couldn't imagine how all of this could logistically take place. “How in the heck can you keep stuff like
this
secret?”

“With great difficulty. And at great cost to us. There are those who would like us to be like everyone else. In the past they went to great extremes to see to it that we conformed.” Conrad fell silent. He didn't want to go into details with Mr. Kaiser; he had more important things to discuss with him.

“Chief Kaiser, I realize this is so strange that it's hard not to ask questions, but there is more to tell and I don't have time.” Conrad took a small envelope from his pocket and handed it to the man. “In here is a cell phone. You will also find the numbers of local and national relief offices as well as the news media. I would encourage you to call them all. In addition there is an electronic file of information regarding the facts surrounding the events that led up to the breaking of the dam over your town, as well as the ways it was covered up by certain people in the government.”

Will Kaiser turned the envelope over, considering what the boy was telling him. “You're … leaving?”

“We're leaving in the next few minutes.” Conrad stopped and faced the older man. “We've helped all we can. I'm sorry that we weren't able to come sooner.”

Mr. Kaiser shook his head. “So, what? You're just going to walk off and that's it.”

“That's it.” Conrad smiled.

“And we don't even get to thank you?”

“It was our privilege to help.”

“It doesn't seem right.” The older man looked at his shoes for a moment, embarrassed.

“Well, maybe one day things will be different and we won't have to be so … mysterious and secretive.”

Conrad held out his hand one last time and Will Kaiser took it. He held on to the boy's hand with deep emotion. He didn't have a lot of words but that didn't mean he didn't have a lot of feelings.

“I'm sorry you won't remember me, Chief Kaiser. I would have liked to have known you better.”

Mr. Kaiser wasn't particularly surprised when he saw a silver cylinder the size of an asthma inhaler in the boy's hand. He could have guessed something like this was coming, so he stood still and didn't resist as the boy placed the cylinder on his wrist.

“It won't hurt,” Conrad said. “Your memories of the last few hours will be gone but you'll have everything else.”

Mr. Kaiser nodded. Looking at Conrad, Mr. Kaiser said the nicest thing he could think of—the thing he knew every boy yearned to hear. “If your father could see you now, he'd be very proud of you, son.”

Conrad stopped, startled.

“My father?” Conrad thought about his father and considered Mr. Kaiser's words. “Somehow, I think my father's reaction to this would be … let's just say, not thrilled. And the truth is, I don't have a father. I'm an orphan.”

Before Mr. Kaiser could respond Conrad pressed the cylinder to his skin. Mr. Kaiser didn't flinch when it bit into him, but soon thereafter he swayed ever so slightly and sank to his knees. Conrad guided him down and laid him gently on the ground.

Ten minutes later Mr. Kaiser woke to find a cell phone in his hand and the sun setting over what had once been the town of Shady Grove.

 

CHAPTER

16

“My fellow Americans,” President Harrington began. His hair was slicked back and his white shirt crisp against his navy jacket. Under the bright lights and the watchful eyes of a room full of staffers he addressed his message into the network cameras with practiced composure.