The Mysteries of Megan Glen

The Ring Maker: 5

Danny and I got back to the house and I immediately went to the computer and looked up Gregory McDaniel. Soon enough, I had his phone number and address. His voice message answered my call, stating that he couldn’t come to the phone right now. I decided there was nothing else I could do at the moment so I set it aside and went downstairs.

Jake was at the kitchen table, chowing away at a chocolate chip cookie. When I came in, he froze and stared at me. I tried to smile warmly, but, judging by the way he cringed further away, it didn’t work. This was getting ridiculous. Chances were we’d both be living here for at least another six months- it was time for him to get over his fear.

“Why are you so afraid of me?” I asked; exasperated.

He finally blinked and mumbled, “You can read minds.” I had to struggle to make out his words, his voice being the same volume as the fan.

“No I can’t.”

“Yes you can,” he argued, clutching his cookie closer to him. “And this is mine; you can’t have it.”

I sighed, leaning against the kitchen counter, feeling my eyebrows knot together. I would probably never understand children.  “I don’t want your cookie.”

“Why?”

I carefully thought out a response that his young mind would be able to comprehend. “There are other cookies, I don’t need yours… Why would you think I can read minds?”

“You know a lot of stuff, like everyone’s secrets. You have to read minds to know all that.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. However, I don’t read minds, I simply use my own. Have you never watched Sherlock Holmes?”

He nibbled at his treasured cookie. “What’s that?”

“Come here,” I grumbled, leading the way to the living room. He plopped onto one of the couches while I started ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’. The first episode started and I left the room after instructing him to watch it.

I hoped if he watched it he would stop acting like I was the monster in his closet.

When I came back downstairs, the credits for the first episode were rolling and- Jake was passed out on the couch. I frowned, turning off the TV. If it made him fall asleep, it probably didn’t work that well. How was I supposed to convince him I wasn’t a mind reader now?

“What was he watching?”

I turned and saw Lacey coming down the stairs, “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, why?”

“You made him watch that?” She giggled. “Megan, he’s six; he’s not going to be able to watch it. Even I can’t sit through more than two at a time.”

“I watched it when I was almost five,” I argued, glancing at the sleeping kid. This was my favorite show, how could it put him to sleep?

Lacey shrugged and said, as if it explained everything, “Well, you’re you.”

“Brilliant observation,” I muttered sarcastically in response. She ignored me and wandered out of the room so I went back upstairs. I had a half-finished lab waiting in my room.

Annoyingly, it was several days before Danny and I actually got to meet Gregory McDaniel. He didn’t pick up the phone very often and the one time he did, he said he could meet with us after things at his workplace calmed down. Despite how hard it was to contact him, he didn’t sound like he had any qualms against talking to us. So Danny drove us over to his house as soon as he got some free time.