"I can't believe we're almost done," Micky commented, still half-asleep as he dragged himself to his feet.
"Feel's like we just started," Davy agreed as he lifted his duffel bag and dragged it off the bus. Peter didn't say anything as he lifted his small bag and trudged off, only half awake.
The four separated for the night, free to sleep until noon the next day.
"Okay, Thomas. You're doing good with focusing and concentration. See if you can use that focus for control, ok? Try it again."
Thomas nodded. He took a deep breath and shut his eyes. His brow furrowed and he appeared to be in deep thought and concentrating as hard as possible. Sweat began to form on his forehead, dripping down his neck.
The rubber ball appeared to be motionless. It moved slightly as the wind blew it, rolling back and forth in the breeze. The bluish-green tint reminded one of the Earth on a miniature scale.
Slowly, the ball started to move a little more. It rocked back and forth a little harder. So subtle it was barely noticeable, the ball lifted into the air, inch by inch.
If someone had been watching the ball for the past five minutes, they would have noticed no change, so subtle was the movement. To the outside observer, it seemed a rather small accomplishment. But Thomas had succeeded in gaining the control and concentration he had lacked these past months.
"Good," Mr. Stevens told him. "Now, just as slowly, bring the ball to your sister."
Joanne was sitting quietly on the other side of the yard. She remembered when Thomas had first tried these exercises with her. He had improved greatly in three months.
Now, in a sign of his control, Thomas moved the ball slowly and carefully in her direction. She didn't flinch or distract him. The ball raised into the air, then sank lower towards the ground, but all the time moved slowly and in a controlled manner.
Eventually, the ball reached its destination, and Thomas relaxed. Joanne did, also.
Nicole clapped. Thomas looked up, startled, not realizing she was there.
"Very good," she told her son. "You've improved very much." Thomas grinned.
"Thanks," he replied. "I've been practicing."
"Now he can show Dad when he gets home," Joanne added.
The stone was glowing.
Mike didn't want to believe it at first, but it was obviously true. The stone had begun to glow.
At first it was barely noticeable. The shoebox hid the glow. But as the night wore on, the glowing got brighter until the whole box was glowing. So, at three AM, Mike found himself unable to sleep, and took the box into Peter's room.
He banged on the door, and Peter was, to say the least, annoyed at being awakened in the middle of the night...er...morning. It was not what he really wanted to do. He came to the door after Mike had been banging for a good five minutes. His knuckles were sore by this point, and he was not in the greatest of moods, either.
"What is it?" Peter started to say, but was stopped mid -sentence when he noticed the glowing shoebox.
It was not merely glowing red, or blue, or green, or even white. Instead this rock was glowing in a rainbow of colors, and flashing. It glowed red for a moment, then blue, then yellow, then white, and finally green. The flashing colors created a disco-ball effect, and the shoebox was almost blinding to look at.
Peter stared at Mike for a long moment before he ushered him into the room.
Back to part fifteen
On to the end (part seventeen)
