Chapter 1 - “Twenty-two?”

Felix woke up to his phone vibrating under his pillow. Pulling it out to stop the alarm, he stared at the time, trying to use some mental power he doesn't have to pretend that he didn't have to wake up. After a few minutes of laying in bed, he finally mustered the force of will to roll out of bed and start making coffee.

He grabbed his goose-neck kettle, filling it to the full line, checked that the temperature was still set at 200℉, and grabbed his container full of Ethiopian heirloom coffee beans - a personal favorite.

  His father had brought this batch back when he roasted them on Sunday. And oh boy did he do a good job. The aroma alone was otherworldly.

After the moment to appreciate the aroma, he returned the air-tight seal to the container lest the coffee beans lose their aroma too soon. Me carefully measured out 15 grams of beans onto a little saucer on his scale. After which he unceremoniously tossed them into his grinder.

He prepared a filter, switched the grinder to ON, and quickly poured the hot water pre-wetting his filter. He moved to the sink, emptying the pot of filter water. Returning just as the beans finished grinding. He turned the grinder off, grabbed the container with the now-ground coffee, and poured them into the filter.

He tared the scale, tapped the stopwatch on the scale, and began to pour… 31 grams of water. He tsked. So close to a perfect 30. He waited a second, glancing at Sophie, his sister. She had that little glow that told Felix she was in a bad mood.

He glanced down, the timer was at 42 seconds. Perfect. He waited another 3 seconds and began the slow methodical circles of a pour-over coffee. The kind you make when you want a particularly good cup of coffee.

Looking at his coffee filtering down, the scale at 251 grams, he tsked again. Off by a gram, he was so close. He spent so much mental effort to make this one perfect with such a good batch of beans. While the coffee was still brewing he started to make some instant oatmeal.

Felix turned around again after putting his food in the microwave, and looked at Sophie. Her glare told him she was angry, and so did the angry glow. What kind of stupid magic sense did he get? Everybody could tell she was angry. Her face told it. Her posture told it. The way she said “What?” said it.

All he had to say was “What happened?” before she started angrily waving her arms around to emphasize her annoyance with her friend who was angry with another friend, because the second friend didn't tell the first friend the whole story. And THEN the second friend had actually spilled food in Sophie’s car. Left it. And then started complaining about their friendship.

Still listening, Felix started putting his backpack together. When she was finished, he just asked her if there was anything he could do to help, and he would listen to the details when he got home. Afterall, today was midterms and Felix was almost done with his degree.

It hit 8 am and Alexios, their father, walked out of his bedroom. Perfectly on time. Like clockwork, he walked out his room, put on his leather jacket, and left for work.

Felix gave his sister a hug and headed out as well.

Felix

I hated this writing class. It was an extra requirement for this college, outside of the already required basic writing class, however, this current class was exponentially more difficult. The professor was ready to mark papers. You could turn any paper in as many times as you wanted, but she graded hard enough that you had to keep turning the same paper in, over and over, until she thought it was passable.

I was lamenting the last paper I had re-written last night when I checked the time again. Professor Webber walked in 15 minutes late instead of the usual 15 minutes early. Ignoring the time, she walked into the room with a happy “Good Morning Everyone!” Her tone was bubbly and excited to talk. That’s who we had come to respect as a teacher, and I suspect that she understood this very well, because her class was interesting, conversations and discussions were compelling, and even to Felix’s eyes, she always had a happy glow.

 But today, her upper body glowed with anger and frustration.

Not something I should be happy about, but  anytime I could see the glow around someone not matching their expression, I was happy. I know I shouldn’t be, but it proved to me, if nothing else, that I did have some kind of extra sense.

My writing class was the only one I had today, so when I finished it without another re-do for my paper I was elated. My best friend, Thomas, was waiting in the library.

Class finished at 11 am, Thomas and I went and got lunch. A close friend of ours was having a party Saturday night, and with it being Friday, we had to do a good chunk of our homework before we could go. So we decided to go take over my father’s coffee shop around 2 pm - which is when they close.

We had a semi-productive study session, where we worked on homework, and chatted about everything and nothing at the same time. We passed a few hours like that, and Thomas went home when I finished the last assignment I had wanted to finish. We had done our prep -work to go to the party. I follow him out, clipping my backpack’s chest strap and taking my helmet out of its cover.

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Thomas had parked his car on the other side of my bike, so that no turning cars would clip my motorcycle. He had done it once by coincidence, and I off-handedly thanked him for it, and now he makes an effort to do it anytime he can. Definitely, the best best friend I could have asked for.

The shop was about 5 minutes away from my house, so just a short trip up the hill and I was basically home. We were going out with my uncle tonight. I hadn’t heard much about my uncle’s business trip, but every time he comes back, he loves to go out to dinner with us and tell us about his trip. I was looking forward to it. Being old enough to drink legally meant I was included in the dinner now, and first-hand, the stories were even better.

The first thing I saw when I got back was the gorgeous coup of my uncle. It was pearly white, with tan leather seats. It had the convertible top up right now, but when it was down, it was beautiful. He had let me drive it once, and wow, I felt like a star. The feeling of rolling down streets lined with palm trees in a gorgeous convertible. I felt like the California Dream. My uncle had the freest life I have ever witnessed, and I wanted so badly to see what it would be like to live in his shoes for a day.

My dad and uncle came outside when they heard my motorcycle pull up.

“How’s it going? Got a feel for the air in your hair?” My uncle called to me from the porch.

I didn't really have to say much. I just flashed him a big smile that I couldn’t keep down. Riding my motorcycle was even more free than the convertible. It was a vehicle that I was in control of. But it was driving his car that made me finally pick up my license. Continue the family tradition in a way. My grandpa was a biker, my dad was a biker, and I hadn’t planned on being a biker, until I felt the wind in my face.

“I feel like I’m in a movie every time I hop on. Of course I have a feel for it.” I couldn’t suppress my smile. They understood exactly what I meant, and I loved it.

My dad nodding his head in understanding just informed us “Just called the Uber. Will be here in 5.”

I slid the remote for the garage door out of my jacket and pulled in. I doffed my riding gear, hurried inside and grabbed a light jacket. I already had a Hawaiian shirt on and we weren’t going anywhere fancy.

I closed the garage, heading inside, just to come out the front door behind my family. And just in time. Not even thirty seconds later, our Uber pulled up. Our ride was very short, just a mile and a half. We were headed to one of our local favorite bars. It was a fairly small bar, dark and quiet inside. The music was just loud enough to mask the other quiet conversations. But it was beautiful. A sunken bar with a massive chandelier and faux candles adorned it and the liquor shelf. They made a few dishes, but their burgers were why we came.

We had been listening to my uncle talk about how he couldn’t stand his last meeting. The company he had been talking to had started to make a bunch of demands for their agreement and no concessions. They wanted practically exclusivity of his delivery service, with no extra stops, and no other cargo so he had just told them to find someone else. He had flown out to Germany for these talks, and he wanted to make it worth his time, so he and his associates took the last three days of their trip to go skiing.

Then out of the blue, he just looked at me and asked, “So, the big twenty-two. How’s it treating you?”

The sudden question made me do a mental flip. A few strong drinks and then having to re-activate my brain to answer. 

“Not too bad, you know. Just school. A bit weird today, but still just school.” I could feel the urge to ramble, I had ended my sentence with an end of subject line, because this wasn’t my night. We were here for my uncle.

“Oooh, what  happened today?” My dad asked. He had taken some bait from my half finished thought.

“Nothing much, Professor Webber was late today. I’ve told you how she’s always happy? Well today she was smiling, but I could tell she was PISSED.” I whispered that last part, but whispered with an exclamation mark.

My uncle, always a fantastic listener, but he was weirdly interested in what I said. He wasn’t leaning back anymore, trying to catch the waitress for the bill. “How could you tell she was upset?” He asked. A little extra emphasis in that sentence than usual.

I was confused why he would ask me something like that. No one else could see someone’s glow. 

“Just a feeling,” was all I said. 

I would not be called crazy tonight. I had gone through that as a kid. Since I was six or seven years old, I hadn’t even breathed the idea in anyone’s direction.

My uncle’s faint happy glow started to get larger. It wasn’t light. It was definitely glowing brighter though. Its size was also increasing. It was mesmerizing to watch it. It went from a faint glow to being a cloud to being the twinkle of a happy star. It was still the same glow, but it was… I don’t know how to even think about it. It was just beautiful. It was a glow that radiated a profound happiness. A hopeful contentedness.

My emotions would not show if I did not want them to. I was sure of that. My uncle did nothing. And my dad just hailed the waitress instead.

My uncle waved the waitress down before she could hand the bill to my father, and he quickly placed his card down and handed it back to her. My dad just looked at him. A little indignant, but a little proud as well. I wonder what that would feel like. - Your little brother grabbing the bill from you. -  If my little brother did that, I think I would feel the same.

When my uncle got his card back, he and my dad were almost in sync, patted their thighs and gave a little sigh. “Alright.” They said, then glancing at the other, they gave quiet laughs. They were brothers alright.

My uncle looked back at me, he had a smile with eyes a little too squinty to only be thinking about his and my father’s similarities.

“Want to see a cool trick?” He asked.

“What?”

“It will be pretty cool. I can teach you afterwards if you want to know. It's pretty nifty” He was messing with me. He had a whole repertoire of sleight of hand tricks that he used to entertain me and my siblings when we were younger.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” I said. I had a nice firm grip on my phone. He wasn’t sneaking that out of my pocket again.

He gave me a wink. Turned around, and walked to the front door of the restaurant. It took him a second before he opened the door and walked out.

But he didn’t walk outside.

I walked through the door, fully ready to be spooked on the other side of the door. They were well tinted doors.

I wasn’t outside.

I was inside.

Why was I inside? 

This is my house…

My uncle was just sitting on the bench by the door taking off his shoes. My dad appeared behind me. He looked a little bit sad.

“He’s twenty-two now.”