Half an hour later, after unpacking, getting showered and changed into fresh clothes, Jonathan stepped out of his room, walked down the stairs, crossed the hall and opened the double doors into the Great Room. It was an enormous room. The floor, like that of the hall, was polished wood and the walls were grey stone. There were several pictures on the wall of highland warriors in kilts and there were several heads of deer mounted on the walls. The room was a full three stories high with arching beams across the ceiling high above. There were tall narrow windows along the right wall of the room and across the wall at the far end. There was an enormous fireplace on the left wall with a log fire burning brightly. Arranged in front of the fire were four luxurious high backed armchairs and a low table. There were several book cases along one wall and at the far end of the room was a large polished wood dining table with three places set and two candles, unlit.
The room was illuminated by soft lighting along the walls just above head height. The effect was to make the ceiling almost disappear in the darkness above. Jonathan noticed music playing softly in the background and he recognized it as music from The Phantom of the Opera. As the fire flickered, Jonathan thought it was an appropriate selection.
Jonathan heard a click of the door and turned to see Karen entering the room. She was smiling broadly.
“Isn’t it fabulous?” she said.
“A bit overwhelming,” said Jonathan.
“Come on! You saw how friendly Mac is. Relax! If he didn’t like you he would probably have you hanging by your thumbs in the dungeons by now!”
Mac walked in from the far end of the Great Hall. “Hello guys!” he said cheerily. “I expect you could do with a drink of some sort, couldn’t you? I have beer, wine, or a very nice selection of single malt whiskies.
“I’d like a glass of white wine, please,” said Karen.
“And for you, Jonathan?” said Mac.
“I’d like to try one of your single malts, please.”
“Right! You two take a seat by the fire and I’ll bring the drinks. Ice in you whisky, Jonathan?”
“Oh no, sir! Never in a single malt!”
“Good man! Good man!” said Mac as he walked off to get the drinks.
Jonathan and Karen walked over to the chairs arranged in front of the fire and sank down into the luxurious leather.
Karen smiled at Jonathan. “Don’t worry, you’ll do great.”
Mac arrived with a wheeled serving trolley on which he had placed a bottle of Chardonnay with a wine glass and a bottle of single malt scotch with two lead crystal tumblers. He poured the drinks, handed them out and sat down next to Karen, facing Jonathan.
“Well, cheers!” he said brightly, raising his glass and taking a sip of his malt whisky.
“Cheers!” echoed Jonathan and Karen as they each took a sip of their own drinks.
“I’ve got a joint of beef roasting in the oven but we can leave that for a while we have our drinks and a chat. Does that work for everyone?”
Karen and Jonathan both nodded.
“I want to talk to you about the book, Karen, but we can do that tomorrow. I want to find out about you Jonathan. What’s your story?”
Jonathan sat a bit more upright in his chair, took a sip of his drink and started to tell his story. He told about his work for the film industry at Pinewood and his move to Hollywood. He talked about the road accident and how he had eventually moved back to England. He described Ravensgill Bridge and discussed his political views.
Mac listened intently, occasionally asking for clarification or explanation. When Jonathan finished his story, Mac said, “Wow! What a life you’ve had! I can see how you need some mental challenge in your life now. I’m exactly the same. When I retired, I had to find something to challenge my mind.”
Mac refilled their drinks and said, “Look, I need to check on dinner. Why don’t you kids relax for a few minutes while I serve up then come on over to the table? Wine with your dinner, Jonathan?”
“Yes please, Mac. I’ll have the same Chardonnay that Karen is drinking.”
“I’ll put an extra bottle and glasses on the table.”
Mac walked off to the kitchen, leaving Jonathan and Karen sitting by the fire.
“How are you feeling?” asked Karen.
“Much more relaxed,” said Jonathan. “He is quite easy to talk to.”
“When are you going to show him your tricks?” said Karen.
“Can you help me to introduce the subject over dinner?”
“Of course. What are trick are you thinking of doing?”
“How about the vanishing trick?”
“Yes, nice and simple. If that works maybe you can try the mind reading trick.”
“I’m relying on you to help me out here, Karen.”
“Stop worrying, you’ll be great.”
“Dinner’s ready!” Mac called over from the dining table. Jonathan and Karen walked over. Mac had placed a large piece of roast beef on the table along with bowls of roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, peas and Brussels sprouts.
They all sat down, Mac at the head of the table, Jonathan and Karen at either side.
“Why don’t you pour the wine while I carve the beef, Jonathan?”
Mac prepared three plates of beef. “Help yourselves to vegetables and gravy.”
The group each made their plates and started to eat.
“Excellent dinner,” said Karen between bites of food.
“Yes. Very good,” said Jonathan and he took a sip of his wine.
“Well, you are very welcome. I rather enjoy having company for dinner. It gives me an excuse to have fun in the kitchen!”
Conversation within the group was suspended as they enjoyed their meal. One by one, they finished eating and sipped their glasses of wine. Mac was the last to finish and he leaned back in his seat, looking very satisfied. Karen was the first to speak.
“That was great, Mac. Thank you.”
“Yes, I do rather like roast beef. Its Scottish Angus beef, you know. How were the Yorkshire puddings?”
“Better than I can do and I was born in Yorkshire!”
Mac laughed.
“Mac,” Karen continued, “One of the reasons that I wanted to introduce you to Jonathan was that he has some skills which I think may be useful to you.”
“Really? And what would those skills be?” said Mac.
“Well, would you mind a small demonstration?” said Karen.
Without waiting for Mac to respond, Jonathan focused on Mac’s eyes to give him a temporary seizure. Mac froze, looking straight ahead, expressionless. Jonathan saw that the pupils of Mac’s eyes had dilated, indicating that Mac was fully seized.
“Could you clear away the plates, please, Karen?” said Jonathan
Karen collected up the plates and the cutlery and took them out to the kitchen, then she quickly walked back to her seat.
“All set?” said Jonathan. Karen nodded.
Jonathan relaxed his concentration on Mac’s eyes, which caused the temporary seizure to end. Mac blinked and shook his head. He looked down at the table and blinked again.
“OK, what’s going on?”
Jonathan thought there was a touch of anger in Mac’s voice but he also detected the hint of a smile.
“The plates. They just disappeared. What happened? They were here and then they were gone!”
Jonathan smiled, but it was Karen who spoke. “It’s one of Jonathan’s little tricks,” she said.
“Is Jonathan some kind of magician? Is this a magic trick? I usually don’t believe in magic but that was quite impressive.”
“It’s one of those skills that I was telling you about,” said Karen.
“Well, I’m very impressed. Do you want to tell me how you did that?”
“Jonathan, do you want to explain?” said Karen.
“Shall we refresh the drinks first?” said Mac.
Mac refilled the glasses, relaxed back into his chair and said, “All right, Jonathan. Explain how yo
u did it.”
“I actually put your brain into a temporary seizure for a minute or two,” said Jonathan. “Your brain was shut down just as if you were asleep. Karen took the plates away. Then I woke you up. Simple, when you know how!”
“I have no memory of being put out like that,” said Mac.
“Have you ever had a sense of ‘déjà vu’, you are somewhere new and you have a sense of having been there before?”
“Yes, I have. It’s a weird feeling.”
“That is your brain going into a spontaneous seizure. It shuts down for about half a second. When it comes back, you have a sense that you were there before.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, you were there before, half a second ago.”
“I understand, yes. What just happened felt a bit like déjà vu. How do you do it?”
Jonathan related the story to Mac as he had related it to Karen a couple of weeks before, about the coma following the car crash and about how he started to hear the thoughts of people around him. He told how his ability to communicate with people’s minds had developed over a couple of years and he described his capability of being able to influence people’s thoughts by concentrating on their eyes. Mac sat in silence as Jonathan related his story.
“My God!” said Mac as Jonathan finished. “How many people know about this?”
“You and Karen. The doctors who treated me in California knew a little bit about it in the early days but they put it down to mental illness. I have kept very quiet about it.”
“Probably just as well,” said Mac. “You know, if you had just told me about this I would have thought you were crazy but that practical demonstration you gave was pretty convincing. It was a clever move to do that as a surprise. Is there anything else that you can do with these mental tricks?”
“Well,” said Jonathan, “I can do three things at the moment. I can cause temporary brain shutdowns, as I just did with you. I can also get into other people’s minds and experience their memories and I can also plant thoughts and ideas in other people’s minds.”
“That’s all you can do?” said Mac and then he burst out laughing. “I can make very good use of your skills, Jonathan.”
“Do you want to see another demonstration?” said Jonathan.
“Yes, indeed!” said Mac.
“Go into the library and shut the door,” said Jonathan. Take a book off the shelf, open it at a page somewhere in the middle, and read a couple of sentences out loud, but not so loud that we can hear. Then come back and bring the book back with you, please, but don’t let me see it.”
“All right, we’ll give it a try,” said Mac and he stood up and walked towards the double doors at the end of the Great Hall. A few minutes later the doors of the Great Hall creaked open again and Mac entered, walked over to his seat at the head of the dining table, and sat down, holding the book in his lap. Jonathan focused once more into Mac’s eyes and soon he began to see Mac’s memories of the last couple of minutes.
There was a misty image of a library full of books.
Then Jonathan heard the words “The Complete Sherlock Holmes.”
After a pause, he heard “Page one hundred and sixteen.”
Out of the mist in Jonathan’s mind came an image of an open book.
The first words on the left hand page were “’We had all been summoned to appear before the magistrates…’”
Jonathan was writing it all down on a piece of paper as he kept focus on Mac’s eyes. When he had finished writing, Jonathan broke his concentration and Mac, who had been in a temporary seizure while Jonathan had been reading his memories, shook his head.
“’The Complete Sherlock Holmes’,” said Mac, holding up the book, “Page one hundred and sixteen.”
He opened the book at that page and read aloud the first sentence. “We had all been summoned to appear before the magistrates…” He picked up the piece of paper that Jonathan had placed on the table and unfolded it. A broad smile appeared on his face.
“Unbelievable! Stunning! Amazing!”
Mac stood up and extended his right hand towards Jonathan. Jonathan stood and they shook hands.
“Well done! Well done!” said Mac. “I don’t know how you do it but well done!”
Jonathan and Mac both sat down and Mac turned to Karen.
“Karen my dear, you were so right to bring Jonathan to see me. I think he and I can work together very well. Here is what I’d like to do, if it’s all right with you folks. It’s getting a bit late now and you’re probably tired from your journey so why don’t we all turn in for the night? Then tomorrow I would like to take Jonathan out for a walk and a chat.”
Mac looked at Jonathan then Karen for approval.
“Karen,” said Mac, “I’ve got at stack of papers to add to the memoirs. Perhaps if Jonathan and I went out for a couple of hours after breakfast you could review the papers and we could all meet up back here for lunch.”
“That will work for me,” said Karen.
“Sounds like a good plan,” said Jonathan.
“Right then,” said Mac, “I’ll cook breakfast for eight-thirty.”
Jonathan and Karen stood up.
“Thanks again for a wonderful evening,” said Karen.
“See you at breakfast,” said Jonathan as he and Karen walked together towards the double doors that led into the hallway. As they climbed the stairs towards their rooms, Jonathan said, “I would love to know what he’s got planned. I’ve been trying to hook into his mind but I can’t get any clear images.”
“I expect you’re tired,” said Karen, “but I think you impressed him. Aren’t you glad you came?”
“I’ll let you know after tomorrow,” said Jonathan as they parted company outside Karen’s room.
“Good night,” said Jonathan as he unlocked his door.
“Sleep well. See you at breakfast,” said Karen as she stepped inside her room and closed the door.
Chapter 12