Unwanted Power

Bright Idea

"Do you think when you passed out, it was this? That you were... Oh, hell, I don't know: shocked for something?"

Heather had no idea. "It seems unlikely. By what? I was standing out by the apple tree. There are no power lines near it. Why we picked that spot because that stupid tree was supposed to get big!"

"True. But all this started after that... Right?" Bill persisted.

"Yes."

Cristine came to the kitchen table, sat down, and handed her mother a light bulb. "I found that at the back of the closet. Old school light bulb. Not the LED kind. Says 60 watts on the package. Can you light that up?"

"I am starting to feel like a magic trick." Heather said.

She looked at it. It was not in any way 'hungry.' It didn't want anything from her. She held the silver screw base between thumb and forefinger. Put her index finger on the gold-colored base in the center.

There was ... Something.

Heather experimentally removed and placed her fingers a few times to feel it out. This was not hunger or need or anything like that. It was more like leaning into the wind.

She pushed experimentally against that feeling and felt it give in a little. It made her feel that familiar frisson across her skin.

"It just flickered!" Cristine said excitedly.

Heather looked at her fingertip, saw nothing. Just felt the remnants of the tickle. She replaced her finger, closed her eyes, and tried again.

Through her closed eyes, she saw the flare-up and felt the 'pop' in her entire body as suddenly the thing quit pushing back and instead disappeared.

She opened her eyes to see the clear glass of the bulb blacked across the top.

Cristine was rubbing her eyes. "Ow! That was bright!" she complained.

Heather laid the bulb back in front of her daughter. Cristine picked it up and held it to look at it back-illuminated by the kitchen light.

"There's no... Filament at all! It's just gone." Cristine said, awed.

Bill looked at the bulb, then at his wife. "I think you can cancel the next doctor's appointment. We found the issue."

"Mom has ... Powers?" Cristine said.

"She has power in a very literal sense." Bill.

"No. I don't think I do." Heather contradicted. "I think it comes from the world somehow. I feel like it is flowing through me. Not FROM me. It's hard to explain."

"I can only imagine. I mean that. Only imagine, because that kind of thing does not happen every day." Bill said.

"I guess the question is... Now what? I can recharge batteries, and blow up light bulbs and program like crazy while listening to electronics chat with each other." Heather asked.

Bill showed Heather the bulb. "I think you need to calibrate that better. I am glad you didn't splatter a battery like that. Messy. I can only imagine what you would do to an LED bulb. Wherever you got that power from, it was too much." Bill spun the bulb in his fingers and said tangentially "I didn't know we even had any of these kinds of bulbs anymore."

"We don't now." Cristine said. "That one is toast. Might be some in storage out at the cabin. We don't go through them that much out there. Except for the porch light. That's already LED. I changed it last time we were there."

"I think I need to take some time off and try and figure this out." Heather more or less agreed to the conversation about her bulb vaporization.

"I like Cristine's idea. Go out to the cabin." Bill suggested. "It's peaceful. It's away from most of civilization. Cell phone signals don't even get out there.

Heather was not sure she liked that idea. "I. Well. Hmm. Not sure I want to do that. Be by myself right now? This is weird ... stuff."

"You can say 'Weird Shit' mom." Cristine gave her mom permission. "It really is."

"Thank you, dear." Heather told her offspring.

"As opposed to you going into the office and having to deal with all the electronics there?Heather: You need a filter. Maybe learn to meditate or something. Find some way to get all the noise out of your head." Bill sounded very reasonable. "Also: Not blow up light bulbs."

"Are you afraid of me?" Heather asked.

"No honey, I am worried about you. Cristine and I will come out this weekend. Go now. See if you can get a start, at least on figuring this out."

"Ok. In the morning." Heather agreed very reluctantly. They did not seem afraid of her. Maybe she is afraid of herself?