The Madrona Heroes Register: Echoes of the Past (12 page)

Jay took a deep breath, “Binny. We’re
both sorry about before. We know you needed our attention and you
didn’t get it as soon as you should have. But you can’t always be
the center of attention. Sometimes other people are having
important conversations. And if you need our attention, sometimes,
to accommodate the other people in your life you need to have just
a little more patience.”

“
You think I’m
lying
to get your
attention?”

“
Honey, nobody said you’re
lying.” Then trying to soften the mood with humor Julie added,
“Let’s call it ‘creative passive aggressiveness’.”

After hearing this, Binny
closed her eyes and clenched her fists as she tried to collect
herself. After a moment Binny opened her eyes and responded as
slowly and angrily as her father had a moment ago. “Fine. I
am
trying to get your
attention. I’m trying to get you to focus on your
children
. But feel free
to ignore what’s going on in your own FAMILY!” Binny made a
dramatic exit through the swinging door. She stomped up the steps
to the sounds of her parents calling after her again for shoving
the door too quickly.

Binny was annoyed at how self-involved
her parents seemed to be these days, but she had to admit that if
someone came to her to tell her that her sister could turn herself
invisible, she might be a little skeptical. OK. She’d be a lot
skeptical. At least Binny had thought to change her pants before
confronting her parents. Binny comforted herself by thinking that
it could have been even worse.

How was Binny going to get
her parents to understand the broader circumstances and the
dangerous man without them believing that her sister could make
herself disappear? She had hardly believed it until she saw it with
her own eyes. That was it! She’d get them to see it with
their
own
eyes.

§

The door opened inward as Binny
sauntered into Cassie’s room. Cassie appeared to sock something
under her pillow as soon as she realized Binny was there. Binny
almost never came into Cassie’s room except when she was angry.
Binny assumed Cassie was hiding some ill-gotten candy.

“
Don’t worry, I won’t tell
on you.” Binny reassured her sister.

“
Tell on me about what?”
Cassie stole a quick glance at the pillow – she had moved her body
between the pillow and her sister.

“
Whatever it is you just
hid under your pillow.” Everyone but Cassie thought Cassie was
terribly unsubtle at subterfuge. But she was only seven and bound
to improve. Binny thought to herself with a smirk, “She’ll be
really good at sneaking candy once she gets a handle on that whole
invisibility trick.” The look on her face made Cassie
uncomfortable.

“
I don’t know what you’re
talking about.” Cassie responded, stone-faced.

“
OK. Whatever.” Cassie’s
shoulders relaxed – a little. “I need your help.”

Cassie perked up at the request.
Whatever resentments she had towards her big sister, she was still
excited at the prospect of being included in her plans. “What can I
do?”

“
I want you to show Mom
and Dad your trick.”

Cassie’s excitement faded a little
when she realized what she was being asked. “Why?”

“
Don’t you think they’ll
be impressed? I know I was.”

Cassie made a sound indicating she was
thinking it over.

“
Why do I have to
show
them. Can’t we just
tell them?”

“
I tried. They didn’t
believe me. Sometimes people have to see something with their own
eyes to believe it.” Binny started to worry that Cassie was not
going to go along and added speaking quickly, “
I
can’t turn myself
invisible.
Zach
can’t do it.
You’re
the special one.”

This line of reasoning
seemed to click with Cassie. “Yeah. I
am
special!” But then, frowning,
“But I couldn’t just do it before when you asked. I think it just
happens.”

“
I know. You know what I
think? I think it happens when you need to hide.” Binny added,
answering her own question.

Cassie looked puzzled. Binny
continued. “How about if I yell at you in front of Mom and Dad so
you get scared and disappear.”

Cassie backed up a step,
not liking the sound of this at all. Binny immediately reassured
her that it would be
pretend
yelling. They’d be putting on a play of sorts for
their parents and Cassie would be the
star
. Binny’s proposal was starting
to sound fun to Cassie.

§

When Binny reappeared in the kitchen
with Cassie in tow, the swinging door had been propped open again
and her parents were putting away the dishes.

“
Ah Binny, I see you’ve
brought Invisible Girl.” Jay said in a mock serious
voice.

“
Normally I’d insist that
her name would be Invisible
Woman
” Julie added getting in on the
teasing of Binny. “But since Cassie is just seven we’ll stick with
Invisible Girl – for now.”

Binny rolled her eyes but willed
herself to ignore her parents teasing. “Cassie’s been taking my
stuff.”

Now it was Binny’s parents’ turn to
roll their eyes. In their frustration they didn’t notice the
unsubtle wink Cassie gave Binny indicating that she was in on the
ruse. Cassie followed it with, “No I didn’t.” Her acting wasn’t
particularly noteworthy, but Jay and Julie assumed that a standard
bout of bickering about to break out.

“
What didn’t you do?” Zach
interrupted, entering the room and offering his opinion with a
smirk.

Binny gave him a look intended to keep
him quiet and continued. “She keeps sneaking into my room and
taking stuff. She took the mirror and left it outside. Promised she
wouldn’t do it again and then did it anyway. I found it on her
again. I’m sick of this.”

“
I’m sick of you!” Cassie
responded, raising her voice but having trouble stifling the
giggles.

“
That was pretty funny.”
Zach added.

Now Binny was getting genuinely
frustrated. What she’d intended to be a carefully orchestrated
effort was getting away from her.

“
Yes. That was funny.”
Julie agreed. Binny flashed her an angry look. Julie hastened to
add, “But Zach, please stop adding on, and Cassie, is it true that
you’re sneaking into Binny’s room and taking her stuff?”

“
No.” Cassie crossed her
arms with a look of smug satisfaction.

“
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes
you ARE!” Binny screamed. Now even Binny wasn’t sure whether she
was acting to try and get Cassie to disappear or was genuinely
upset that her sister was lying to their parents.

“
Whoa. Please stop
yelling, Binny,” said Binny’s father in a steely tone. Despite the
yelling from the fight that she’d manufactured, Cassie was nowhere
near disappearing. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying this little
drama. Maybe she’d be star some day after all.

Maybe it was Cassie’s
smile. Or maybe it was the look on her brother’s face. He hadn’t
wanted her to tell her parents, but
she
knew it was the right thing to
do. But Binny decided to shift tactics. Yelling at Cassie to get
her to turn invisible wasn’t working. It was time for a more direct
approach.

“
Cassie not only keeps
sneaking into my room and taking my stuff, but she’s even done it
when I’m sitting in my room.”

A puzzled look crept across Jay’s
face. A worried one crept across Zach’s.

“
How does she pull that
off?” Jay inquired.

“
I told you. She can turn
herself invisible.”

Silence in the Jordan kitchen. It
lasted for several long seconds. Jay and Julie exchanged looks of
concern and then Julie finally responded, “Honey, what’s
wrong?”

“
What’s wrong is that
nobody will listen to me. I told you and you didn’t believe me. So
I brought her down here to show you.”

“
OK, show us.” Jay was
willing to play along, as the thought that one of his kids had a
super power was a fun one.

Cassie scrunched up her face, and for
a moment the entire family held their breaths. For a brief instance
Jay and Julie actually wondered if maybe it wasn’t impossible. But
that didn’t last long. As the seconds passed, and Cassie remained
scrunched but clearly visible, the idea that she might actually
have a super power exited their minds as quickly as it had
appeared.

“
Ugh!” Binny uttered in
frustration. “She can’t make herself do it on purpose. It only
happens when she gets stressed out. Ask Zach, we both saw it happen
in front of the house.”

All eyes in the room turned to Zach.
He seemed to back up in his chair a little as he felt the pressing
stares. He swallowed for a moment before he answered, “I don’t know
what she’s talking about.”

“
WHAT???” Binny erupted.
Zach had just flat out lied to her parents. He didn’t want her to
tell them, so when it came time to confirm her story he had just
completely betrayed her. Binny got mad at her brother a lot, but
she didn’t think she’d ever been this angry. She was experiencing a
new level of absolute fury.

“
Binny, calm down.” Jay
insisted.

“
He’s lying! She
disappeared in front of the house. And that’s why the man with the
dog keeps walking by. He saw her disappear and now he wants to
dissect her to find out about her powers.”

“
Wait. What man?” Julie
interrupted.

“
The man with the big
dog.” Binny said.

Zach rolled his eyes. “It’s just one
of the neighbors walking his dog. He stopped to let Cassie pet the
dog. It was harmless.

“
Cassie, what happened?”
Julie addressed her youngest.

“
He’s a nice
dog.”

“
Did the man ask you to go
with him?”

“
No. He just stopped to
let me pet his dog.” And then after a pause and with a big smile,
“he’s a really nice dog.”

This had turned into a complete and
utter failure. Binny hadn’t expected Zach to stab her in the back
so completely. And what did she expect from Cassie? Cassie couldn’t
show up for dinner reliably, much less be expected to play her part
effectively in this demonstration.

One could tell Jay was lost in thought
when he seemed to be staring at some spot beyond whatever people or
things were directly in front of him. Still looking at that far
away place, Jay interjected, “Binny, were you listening to us watch
E.T. the other day? Did it give you nightmares about your
sister?”

Not only had Binny failed
to alert her parents to the very real dangers presented by her
sister’s power and the man’s interest, but now her father was
treating her like
she
was a seven-year-old!

“
Don’t be ridiculous. I’m
not a baby.”

“
Neither am I.” Cassie
chimed in.

“
Nobody was talking to
you.” Binny snapped.

Jay ignored the bickering and
continued, “Honey, why are you worried that someone wants to
dissect your sister then?”

Binny thought to tell her parents
about the conversation she and Zach had overheard at the man’s
house. But what had they really heard? Fragments of a conversation
really. And if she revealed they’d been eavesdropping, her parents
might freak out on her for snooping around the neighbors’ houses.
And besides, Zach would just deny it had happened anyway. This was
an absolute disaster.

“
I’m not.” Binny
surrendered. “I just want her to stop taking my stuff.”

Binny could see the concern on her
parents’ faces about why their daughter was making up fantastical
stories about super powers, but based on their expressions they
seemed to have resolved to address it later. Instead they focused
on things they could understand. Things like Cassie taking Binny’s
stuff. “Cassie, you wouldn’t like it if Binny snuck into your room
and touched your stuff, would you?”

“
No.” Cassie seemed to
have already moved on to some other thoughts that interested her
more than this conversation.

“
Please don’t do that
again, ok?” Julie asked Cassie.

“
OK. Can I go now?” Cassie
responded, already exiting the kitchen without waiting for a
response.

“
Thanks.” Binny offered as
if she was satisfied that the issue she had raised had been
addressed, and left the room.

Zach had sidled out of the room just
before her and was waiting for her around the corner as she headed
towards the stairs to the second floor. To the casual observer Zach
would have looked like he regretted something. Binny was too angry
to notice. “I’m…” he mouthed, almost whispering to her.

Before he could complete his sentence,
Binny raised her finger, and just said “No.”