Free Renewal 7 - When the Student Is Ready by Jf Perkins

looks like everyone else has slowed down.”
    “That’s it. What does it mean?” Terry asked.
    “I’ll get to that. As people joined us, I found deeper ways to build my reputation. I live alone. I never took a wife. In fact, you’ll never see me with a woman. I speak in very short sentences in front of people to make myself more mysterious. I always stepped up first when there was killing to be done, so here I am, a lonely old man with a deadly legend. It’s not worth it, Terry.”
    “Why are you telling me this?”
    “I’m telling you because I’m going to tell you everything I know about controlling your special gift, and I don’t want you to let it ruin your life.”
    “Then why teach me anything at all?”
    “You are a resource. We don’t waste anything around here, and wasting your talents would be a loss to the community. It looks like we’re going to need every resource we can get. I’m being honest with you. Bill would love nothing more than to turn you into him, so he can feel comfortable with retiring. I’d love nothing more than to turn you into me, so that I can stop being the community death machine. The truth is, if we survive the summer, you may need to be a better version of both of us.”
    “No pressure, huh?” Terry said, and drank about half his beer.
    Kirk laughed and said, “No, because you are already everything you need to be. All you lack is the belief.”
    “What? How do you know?” Terry’s voice was climbing higher with his alarm.
    “Listen, you already know that Dusty’s main job is to keep an eye on Manchester, right?”
    “Yeah, I picked that up somewhere along the way” Terry replied, settling down just a bit.
    “Well the most important part of his job, short of raising the alarm, is watching for kids who show promise. In your case, he knew you were a good student and a good communicator just by talking to some friends of his. He knew you were strong and fit from watching you come and go during the summer work season. But the thing that threw it over the top was when he saw you get into a fight with that bully, Joe Slidell, and his cronies, out behind the grain elevator.”
    “Ah, those jerks. They were on me for months,” Terry said with a note of disgust.
    “Yep, you tried to ignore them. Then you tried to deal with them, which just makes bullies more obnoxious. Finally, one of those boys waited until you were in a corner, and threw a rock at you.”
    “Yeah. He hit me in the head.”
    “Right. You couldn’t get away, since the rest of the pack was waiting to block the only exit... What did you do?”
    “I remember thinking I’d had enough. I got pissed off. I remember the beginning of the fight, hitting Joe, and the end of the fight. Everything in the middle was a blur. I can’t remember it.”
    “Dusty saw it. He said you were going through them like a tornado. He couldn’t see much of what you did either. He just saw guys falling and you moving too fast to track. Then it was over, and you took off before you got in trouble. I’d bet no one messed with you after that.”
    “No, come to think of it. Joe tried to be my best friend after the fight. He still invites me to his family’s house for Christmas.” Terry said.
    “Well, Dusty came out and gave us a report. You remember, not long after that, he approached you and told you about the Reclamation Engineers?” Kirk asked.
    “Yeah, I do. You know, I’m halfway between flattered and angry right now.” Terry said, taking another chug of his beer.
    “I understand. You’re sort of happy that we liked what we saw, and pissed off at having your life manipulated by total strangers.”
    “Something like that...” Terry agreed.
    “Was it worth it?”
    Terry thought through another drink of beer and replied, “Yeah, it was.”
    “Excellent, my boy. Let’s get started.”
     
    Chapter 7 – 9
    We took everything that wasn’t bolted down. Arturo worked on getting the tractor started while the rest