A Human Element by Donna Galanti Read Free Book Online

you?"
    "I guessed it, yes, but how did you know?" He turned to look at her as she skipped around the apple trees, swinging her lithe body from trunk to trunk.
    "Because I hear people's thoughts."
    Jim's eyes widened. He didn't know if she toyed with him or meant to be serious. She peeked behind a tree and laughed.
    "I'm serious. Oh, but that's not all. I can do other things too." Laura closed her eyes and hugged the tree next to her. The limbs shook. Jim stared, confused at first. Was it the wind? But the warm September air hung still. The branches jiggled and jumped, sending ripe apples falling down in a rain of red.
    "See? Isn't it neat? No ladder!" Laura laughed. "Now we need to gather these good ones so my mom can make applesauce. She makes the best applesauce, all chunky and cinnamony." She grabbed an empty basket at the base of a tree and filled it with the fallen apples. Jim moved forward to help her, unsure of what just happened. Where did this girl come from?
    "I don't know where I come from." Laura bent her head, searching for apples.
    "You can read minds," Jim sputtered in disbelief.
    "I told you, didn't I?" She looked up with a grin.
    Jim moved forward to help pick up apples. "But how did you make the tree move?"
    "I just think it and it happens. I don't know how it works."
    Jim nodded. He could understand that. Life had its mysteries. Like cancer. There were things you couldn't see or explain.
    "You still miss her, don't you?"
    "Every day." Jim sighed. He stood up. He had been a lucky man, one time.
    "But you're still lucky."
    "I am?" He was startled to find how easy it became to follow a conversation with her from his head.
    "Sure. You have Scooter and now me as a friend."
    Jim smiled as they finished filling the basket then each grasped a handle to walk it back to the house.
    "There!" Laura grabbed Jim's arm. She dropped her handle and apples tumbled out. "Do you see him?"
    Startled, Jim also dropped his handle and allowed the basket to fall.
    "See who?" He looked around the peaceful orchard, the afternoon sun slanted in the waning days of summer. Wasps buzzed around juicy apples rotting at their feet. He held a hand up to shield his eyes from the soft glare. Something dark moved in the trees up the hill.
    "It's him." Laura shrunk down. "The man in black. I've got to find out who he is. Come on!" She pulled at Jim's hand. He pulled her back. She let go and took off running.
    "Wait, are you sure that's a person? Maybe it's just a deer."
    Jim stumbled over apple bumps after her, when something sharp stung his neck and left hand. He slapped his neck and a third sting hit behind his ear. Stingers shot into him, over and over. Laura kept running through the orchard. He tried to call after her but he could only rasp out a whisper. His throat swelled and he couldn't catch his breath. A burning pain spread through his chest. He doubled over and fell sideways onto a tree stump. In the distance a man stepped out from behind a tree toward Laura. She was almost near him.
    "Laura." He wheezed. What could be wrong with him?
    The woods around him spun and nausea rose and fell in waves. He clutched his chest as the burning grew more intense. Jim watched, unable to get to her, as Laura stopped and faced the man in black. The man stood thirty feet or so from her. He stared at her in silence. His bulk loomed wide amongst the trees. He shimmered as if his body floated in the air.
    "Why are you watching me?" Laura's voice cut loud and clear through the woods.
    "I need to know what you are."
    She flipped her head to look back at Jim. He shook his arm in the air. She hesitated, then turned and ran back toward him. He closed his eyes.
    "Mr. B!" Jim fell off the stump and lay on the ground. When Laura reached him he felt barely conscious. His breaths came fast and shallow. He couldn't get enough air in him. She fell on her knees beside him.
    "Wasps." Jim wheezed in between breaths. She felt his hands and neck. His skin puffed up in a