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3. A Uniquely Zinger Gift
The Zinger Sight, though definitely out of the ordinary, was not quite special enough to fall into the category of extraordinary because other non-Zingers had once possessed similar abilities. A long time ago these abilities had actually been quite common. But that was a very long time ago, indeed, which is a fact that is due entirely to how more and more large pieces of wilderness have been torn up to make ordinary shopping malls and parking lots.
You must understand, dear listener, that large pieces of wilderness, though not particularly useful from an ordinary businessman’s point of view, are absolutely essential if one wishes to become lost in any sort of productive fashion, which all of the Zingers, and some few non-Zingers, still did. However, what with the rise in the numbers of parking lots and shopping malls, suitable pieces of wilderness were becoming more and more difficult to find, and inevitably the number of people with abilities like the Zinger Sight was on the decline. In fact, at the time our story takes place, all the other local families who’d possessed not-so-ordinary abilities, such as the Keferan family with their Keferan Ears and the Littlemin family with their Littlemin Tongues, had lost them. And The Yard was the only suitable piece of wilderness left in the county.
According to Katlyn’s crazy cousin Mitchel, who was most certainly NOT an ordinary Zinger, The Yard was the only suitable piece of wilderness left in the country, and possibly the whole continent. But Mitchel, as the other Zingers all know, is very excitable and prone to exaggeration. In reality The Yard had one remaining, semi-local rival. This was called The Farm and was located two states and one city northeast of the Zinger estate. It harbored the last of the reclusive Titalling family who, with their Titalling Fingers, grew the best vegetables and biggest flowering bushes in the country.
What with the last surviving Keferan Ear living in the Willow Street Center for Eminent Expiration, and what with the last Littlemin Tongue having passed away three winters back, and what with the reclusive Titalling Fingers not counting because they were very unordinary and never bothered to visit anyone anyway, the Zinger Sight was in severe danger of becoming unique in the near future.
Now, uniqueness is not in itself a bad thing. It is, however, the first step on the path to being labeled extraordinary. It’s also the first step on the paths leading to being labeled endearing, eccentric, and quirky, and whenever Crazy Cousin Mitchel came to visit, he proclaimed this fact as loudly and as often as he could. This delighted the Eastern Grandparents, who loved having extraordinary inspirations for their ordinary stories. And it annoyed the Western Grandparents, who were very ordinary Zingers and preferred for things to remain ordinary. Katlyn’s mother ignored Mitchel’s outbursts because she found his crazy ways endearing, and his silly statements were good inspiration for her novels. Katlyn’s father, however, was a very busy businessman. He almost never emerged from his study when he was working, but he always unlocked his door long enough to shout for Mitchel to keep the noise down so the disembodied voices of other imprisoned businessmen wouldn’t ask embarrassing questions about what was going on in the Zingers’ household.
But I digress. (Mitchel tends to produce digressions.)
As for what the Zinger Sight actually was, nobody, not even the Zingers, could adequately describe it. This was a common problem, actually. The last surviving Keferan couldn’t explain the Keferan Ears, and the Littlemins had never been able to explain what the Littlemin Tongues were. And, according to Grandpa Jasper, the Titallings, whom no one ever asked anything anymore, had once told the second to last of the Littlemin Tongues that they weren’t sure what the Titalling Fingers were either.
All Katlyn knew about the Zinger sight was this: One day last summer, after getting lost for the fifteenth time looking for the sixteenth fountain, The Yard had suddenly looked Different. The trees, the shrubs, the bushes, the flowers… Even the grass and weeds had been Different, though she couldn’t say exactly how. And when she’d thought about it too hard she’d become confused, and The Yard had gone back to looking like it had before. This looking Different hadn’t happened again until she was hunting for the twenty-second fountain, but after that it’d started happening quite frequently. And each time it’d lasted just a little bit longer than the time before.
As far as Katlyn knew, this was definitely not an ordinary thing for a little girl to experience. So she’d asked her mother about it.
“Is something wrong with my eyes?”
Mrs. Zinger had peered intently into the pair of big blue eyes that’d appeared between her and her laptop. “Hmm. They look fine to me. Why do you think something’s wrong with them?”
Climbing onto her mother’s writing sofa, Katlyn had made the mistake of trying to explain the looking Different. Many starts and stops, several rambling, incomprehensible sentences, and three quickly aborted attempts at making new words later, she flapped her arms in frustration. “Everything looks funny! Its weird!” She flopped into her mother’s arms. “Am I turning into a freak?” The Eastern Grandparents had told her freaks saw the world differently from normal people. “Or do I just need glasses?” She much preferred the idea of wearing glasses to that of eating live insects, which is what the Western Grandparents had said freaks did.
Laughing lightly, Mrs. Zinger gave her a hug. “Neither, Katlyn, neither. No daughter of mine could ever be a freak.”
“But my eye sight!” she huffed. “It’s not normal!”
“Hush…” Her mother put a finger to Katlyn’s lips. “It’s perfectly ordinary for a young Zinger to experience this.” A calming smile spread across her face. “That Difference you’re seeing is the beginnings of the Zinger Sight.”
Katlyn shivered a bit. She liked the idea of finally having her own Zinger Sight, but she didn’t like the idea of suddenly being different from her friends. What if they didn’t want to play with her anymore? “I think it’s scary.”
Mrs. Zinger gave her a reassuring squeeze. “There’s no need to be afraid. I promise, the Zinger Sight will never harm you.”
“What about my friends? What if they think I’m strange? What if they don’t like me anymore?”
“That will never happen.” The confidence in her mother’s voice washed Katlyn’s fears away. “Your friends know about the Zinger Sight, and so do their parents. They expect you to have it, just like your father and I do. In fact, they’ll probably want to know all about it. They’ll be excited.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Truly?”
Her mother laughed. “Truly.” She tapped Katlyn on the nose and told her to go back outside. “Use your new Zinger Sight to look at anything and everything you can think of to look at. That’s what you need to do now.”
Katlyn had wanted to ask more about the looking Different, but, vexingly, her mother simply set her on the floor and straightened her hair ribbon.
“I won’t answer anymore questions until you find the thirtieth fountain. You need to discover the Sight for yourself.” And Mrs. Zinger had gone back to typing her ordinary stories about extraordinary people. All Katlyn had been able to get out of her after that was an indulgent smile and a whispered, “Look, Katlyn. Just look.”
So, having nothing better to do since her friends were vacationing at a beach house without her, (she’d been lost when they tried to invite her), Katlyn had gone back out into The Yard, and she had looked.
~~~~~
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