Beyond belief by Roy Johansen Page A

week for Jesse. Has he been having nightmares?”
    “More than ever.”
    “Have there been any more … disturbances while he sleeps?”
    “None that I know of. But, like I told you, there have never been any shadow storms around here. They were always someplace else.”
    Nikki sat cross-legged on the floor, lifting the yellow Naboo fighter toy over her head. “I saw your videos.”
    Jesse put down the Darth Sidious action figure. “What videos?”
    “I saw you moving things around a table and bending pieces of metal. It was cool.”
    “Oh. Yeah.”
    “You sound real thrilled.”
    “People are always asking me to do stuff for ‘em. I'm surprised
you
haven't asked.”
    “My dad told me not to.”
    Jesse leaned against the bed. “Some people were yelling at me from the sidewalk yesterday. An old man who had cancer, and a lady who couldn't hear. They wanted me to help them, but I couldn't. The man started crying.”
    “Wow,” Nikki whispered.
    “Yeah.” He crossed his arms. “Your dad doesn't believe in my stuff, does he?”
    She paused. Her dad had told her not to discuss Jesse's abilities with him, but how could she not? Especially when Jesse didn't seem to mind. “My dad doesn't believe in a lot of things,” she said. “He doesn't believe in heaven.”
    “Really?”
    “I know my mom is there, but he doesn't think so.”
    “Where does he think she is?”
    “Nowhere, I guess. Except in our memories.”
    Jesse looked down. “
I
think your mama's in heaven.”
    She smiled. “Thanks.”
    *   *   *   

    Latisha wrung her hands and spoke softly to Joe. “What I hate most about this is how it's changed my boy.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “He's gotten tense. Irritable. Dr. Nelson and the others put too much pressure on him, and with everything that has happened in the past few days, it's just gotten to be too much.”
    “Has it occurred to you that maybe he feels guilty?”
    “For what happened to Dr. Nelson?”
    “No. For fooling Nelson, you, and everybody else.” She started to object, but Joe raised his hand.
“Assuming
I'm correct when I say that Jesse is using some kind of trickery, how do you think he would feel right now? This has gone from a few tricks for his family in Macon, Georgia, to a national news event. Maybe the bigger this got, the harder it was for him to see a way out without embarrassing himself, you, Nelson, and all the others. Have you thought of it that way?”
    “I've thought of it
every
way.”
    “Have you ever asked him if his powers are genuine?”
    “How else could that boy do the things he does?”
    Joe leaned closer. “Have you ever asked him?”
    “What is there to ask? He told me that he thinks about things, and they happen. And then he showed me.”
    Joe nodded. “Maybe you can tell him that it's okay if he doesn't really have these powers. He may need to hear that from you.”
    “He'll think I don't believe in him.”
    “Probably. But that might be exactly what he needs. Right now he may be afraid of disappointing you.”
    She rubbed her temples. “I just don't know what's the right thing to do.”
    “I know this has been hard on you.”
    “You have no idea. It's tearing me apart.” She bit her lip. “Yesterday, after that TV reporter went missing, Jesse was … upset. He looked at me and—I'm not used to seeing him that way, and coming right after hearing about that woman …”
    “You were frightened of him?”
    “Of course not. I could never be—” Tears welled in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks.
    “I'm sorry.”
    “I love him so much, but it's been
so hard.
I never imagined …”
    “Mama, what's wrong?”
    They turned to see Jesse and Nikki in the doorway.
    Latisha quickly wiped her eyes. “Nothing, honey.”
    “What's wrong?”
    “It's okay, honey.”
    Jesse whirled on Joe.
“You
made her cry.”
    Latisha shook her head. “No, honey.”
    Jesse glared at him and stepped closer.
“It's your
fault! You made her