C -Telling Time by Thyme

Memory was a slick thing for Thyme. People imprinted and natural
occurrences, not events or occasions. Sometime after the storm, Thyme
heard her parents talking intently about an upcoming "alignment" She
was supposed to be napping in her room, but the door was open, the
walls thin.

"Then we can't go, Sharon. There's no one to keep her."

"We wouldn't leave her anyway."

"You wouldn't. I think we both need the break. And the alignment is
perfect." There was actually hope in him. "We'll hitch to the festival,
sleep under the planets together, be part of the alignment itself.
They'll bring us back into universal harmony. It'll be just like
before."

"Before? Is that how you mark time now, before and after? You wanted
her, Frank, more than I did. Now she's some human sundial."

"I didn't mean that."

"Oh, yes, yes you . . ."

"I DID NOT!" Her father's voice shook the walls, and her stomach. There
was silence for a breathe or two, then a much quieter, "She's our
daughter and I love her. I do. But you know what happens to people,
even to us. We need to get away." Something shifted inside him, turned
smooth, oily. "Don't you remember the last time we slept out, that
eclipse. And we both enjoyed ourselves."

Suddenly, it was secretive, insular, wrapping around her parents, but
leaving her outside. It wasn't his voice. It was inside him, his most
desperate desire.

"I remember, Frank. That was the night Thyme joined us. You said the
eclipse would make a child strong, powerful. And she is. She's
remarkable, Frank. Our daughter is . . . "

"They don't know what she is, and neither do we, Sharon. I've been
through everything I can find on psychic talents, and it's not in a
single one. Oh, you'll find empaths, but that's not what she does." He
signed, and Thyme imagined his body collapsing inward as he did. "Maybe
the eclipse wasn't a good idea."

"You mean she wasn't. Well, you're wrong." Her mother sounded as if she
were puttering out some nasty medicine. "She's gifted. And I'm not
leaving her behind. Besides, maybe the alignment would help her, give
her some inner harmony. I don't think she's felt much of that."

"Then you will go?" The hope was back.

"If we take her with us, I'll go."