The Great Altruist (30 page)

           
James sat down on his aunt's bed and lay back on her pillow. He stared up at the ceiling which was covered with tiny fluorescent stars that glowed as the sun set. "I don't suppose you could just brainwash him or something, could you?"

       
    
"Which one?" she asked.

       
    
"How about everyone?"

       
    
"No," she giggled. "I have no such powers."

       
    
He looked over to the window and watched Genesis look at the rising moon. "I really don't know what to do anymore,” he said. “It feels like the deeper I probe, the more messed up my family gets."

       
    
She nodded sympathetically. "Perhaps some secrets
should
be kept."

       
    
"Maybe you're right," he said, feeling defeated.

       
    
"So what now?" she asked as she landed on the pillow and lied down next to him.

       
    
"I'd like to see my mother actually."

       
    
"Back home?"

       
    
"No. Right here. She should be fourteen now. I want to see her before we leave."

       
    
"Why?"

       
    
"Because I want to go home having one last pleasant memory of my parents."

           
“I understand,” she said. “Do you want to go now?”

           
Just then, his grandmother, Betty, called from downstairs. “Mary!” she cried. “It’s time to take a shower.”

           
It occurred to James that there were indeed some secrets that needed to be kept: his aunt’s body being one of them. “Sure thing,” he said to his grandmother. Then to Genesis, he whispered: “Right now, please.”

       
    
"No problem."

       
    
A few seconds later, James was no longer in a woman's body.

           
When James’s consciousness came to, he was in another strange place he had never seen before. Genesis was sound asleep on a pillow (using her powers to find someone in James's extended family always seemed to drain her). Across the room from her was a full-length mirror, which James examined carefully. He couldn't recognize the man he saw, although James was decidedly glad to be back in the body of a man even if it was one he didn’t know.

       
    
Genesis woke up and after stretching, she flew over to James and sat on his shoulder as he stared into the mirror puzzled.

       
    
"I'm assuming you don't recognize yourself?" she asked.

       
    
"Not exactly. Who am I?"

       
    
"I'm not sure. I tried to find a relative that lived close to your mother. Whoever you are lived very close to her. At least from what I could gather from the stream."

       
    
"Well, it must be someone I never met because I've never even seen a picture of this guy."

       
    
The phone rang a moment later.

       
    
"Should I answer it?" he asked.

       
    
"Just be careful what you say."

       
    
James nodded to her as he picked up the phone. "Hello?" he said in yet another unfamiliar voice.

       
    
"Hi, Robert, this is Liz," said the voice of a middle-aged woman.

       
    
Liz,
James thought, remembering a moment later that his grandmother's name was Elizabeth. "Oh, hi Liz."

       
    
"Are you still going to look after Becky today?"

       
    
"Um, sure," he agreed.

       
    
"Good. She's just leaving now. I'll pick her up this afternoon if that's okay?"

       
    
"Okay," he said as his grandmother hung up the phone. "What is my mother coming over here for?" he said to Genesis.

       
    
"You never had a babysitter?"

       
    
"Yeah, but my mother's the oldest of three. What does she need a sitter for?"

       
    
Genesis shrugged her shoulders.

       
    
"Now what?"

       
    
"Get ready to meet her, I guess."

       
    
James was scared. He was in the body of someone he never knew. He didn't know how to behave, and worse, he was worried of doing or saying something that might change the future. He had not had such an active role in the lives of his parents since the incident in the bar, which could have ended in disaster if his father was any less obtuse. "Well I never met this person. How am I supposed to act?"

       
    
"Just follow your mother's lead," she advised. "But be careful. Something here feels weird."

       
    
"What do you mean?"

       
    
Genesis never got to answer his question. A second later, there was a knock at the door. He got up to answer it while Genesis found a place to hide and ducked out of sight. He was anxious to see his mother again. And not because he didn't know what to say when he met her but because there were few pictures of her at this age - he didn't even know what she looked like.

       
    
He opened the door to reveal a stunning blond-haired girl. "Hi," was all he could say to her.

       
    
"Hi," she replied back, her voice revealing her true age. She kissed him on the cheek and walked through the door. "Do you mind if I use the bathroom?" she asked. James nodded. He watched his mother walk to the bathroom and close the door behind her.

       
    
"So how is school?" James shouted through the bathroom door, trying
to
find something to say.

       
    
His mother sighed loudly to signal her displeasure. "You're not going to ask me about that again, are you?"

       
    
"Oh, I'm sorry," he tried to cover. "I didn't know it was such a sore spot."

       
    
"I just wish you'd stop thinking of me as a little kid!" she shouted back.

       
    
Well you are only fourteen
, James thought. The bathroom door cracked opened behind him.

           
The time for the last of his family's secrets to be revealed had arrived. As James turned around to face his mother, she was standing in the doorway of the bathroom – wearing nothing but a seductive smile.

       
    
"Oh my God," James said beneath his breath.

       
    
James's mother walked toward him and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him close and pressing her body against his.

       
    
"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded.

       
    
"The same thing we always do," she answered. "Are you just going to stand there or get undressed?"

       
    
James looked over his mother's bare shoulders at Genesis and gave her a look demanding what he should do. He certainly wasn't going to listen to Genesis's advice to follow his mother's lead. Genesis understood immediately and signaled to him to get his mother out of the room so they could leave.

       
    
James had another idea. Hopefully, Genesis would understand after they were gone. He looked at his mother and pushed her away from him. "I'm going to stand here while you go back inside that bathroom and put some clothes on!" he commanded her.

       
    
"Oh, are you still mad about last time?" she asked.

       
    
"Last time? What do you mean, last time? How many times have we done this?"

       
    
"You forgot?" she yelled.

       
    
James looked at his mother in disbelief. Even worse, she showed no sign of shame over her state of undress. "Would you at least put some clothes on, Rebecca?
Please
?" he begged.

       
    
"No!" she said defiantly. "You know what I'm here for, and I'm not going anywhere until I get it!"

       
    
James was at a loss for words. If he couldn't find a way to get her out of the room so he could leave, James was going to have to do one of two things: go through with her demand or change the future. He had no idea if these events might be related to his own birth, but if they were, and his parents never married because of what he was about to change, then his life would have to be sacrificed to keep this from happening anymore. His only wish was that Genesis would understand why he was doing it.
I love you
, he thought. "Listen to me carefully, Becky: You are not getting what you want, not now, or ever again."

       
    
His mother approached him and looked him in the eyes cold. "Now you listen to me," she said softly but forcibly. "If I don't get what I'm here for, I'm telling my mother about our first time."

       
    
Oh no!
James thought. "What about the first time?" he asked. He looked her straight in the eye and desperately avoided the sight of his mother's naked body.

       
    
"Oh, I know you remember that," his mother whispered devilishly. "It was a year ago. You were watching my sisters and me while my parents were
out
-of-town. You remember that night you came to my room, don't you? And I know you remember the first time you touched me."

       
    
James froze in fear over what he heard.

       
    
"On your freedom should you be glad I liked it," his mother continued, "because it's just one word from me that separates you from prison and my real father's gun!"

       
    
"Oh God," James exclaimed to himself. "I can't do this anymore!"