"I'm being led to a tight knit family group in this area over here," John Edward stepped forward rather forcefully to center himself on the stage in front of the stage right site of the gallery. Kathryn held her breath as the famous television medium rubbed his hands briskly together, and stared right at her. "Somebody over here has an older male figure who was noted for his silver white hair?"
Although she was as eager as anyone in the gallery to see if a loved one would come through, Kathryn fought back the impulse to raise her hand. Her father's hair had gone gray in his thirties and had turned silver by the time he hit his late forties. A person way off to the other side responded, but John Edward shook his head. "No, I'm definitely being drawn up in here." He gestured and pointed to the section where Kathryn, a striking woman in her mid thirties, and her eighteen year old son were sitting "Who among you has the K or C name--like Karen or Cathy?"
"Mom, speak up!" Rocky grabbed her arm tightly. "He's got to be talking about you. Say something."
Prompted like that, Kathryn spoke up. "Me! Umm...Kathryn."
"Do you know the older male who died of heart failure?"
"Yes."
Do I ever.
"This person would be somebody above you--like a father, uncle, or grandfather who suddenly passed from heart attack." Although John Edward stared directly at Kathryn as he spoke, his speech provided just enough prompting for her high school senior son, Rocky, to stage whisper an excited: "He did it!" Again John kept his eyes glued to Kathryn. He gave her that look she'd seen dozens of times before from men everywhere. The sweet look that said she certainly didn't look old enough to have a grown son, and would she mind very much if a person she'd just met tried to make another baby with her. Kathryn was used to that sort of scrutiny, but her comfort level continued to sink as the famous television medium scrutinized her in a very different manner. "They're telling me this person has a B-R name like Brian or Barry."
Kathryn had difficulty finding her voice. The best she manage to do was to clear her throat. But Rocky was ecstatic. "Mom, it's got to be Grandpa!" Kathryn kept her eyes rivited on John Edward who suddenly looked puzzled.
"Wait a moment, now he's showing me a picture of Maverick."
Rocky laughed. "Grandpa's first name was Bret!" he shouted out. Obviously John Edward had made a solid connection with Rocky. But he kept his focus on Kathryn. She'd worn a soft baby blue cashmere sweater and blended cotton suit ensemble that clung to her every curve as if each of the fibres in the garments were of male gender. Needless to say her conservative outfit attracted an enormous amount of attention to Kathryn's natural feminine gifts.
"I'm definitely with you two." Smiling, once again John looked at Kathryn perching uncomfortably forward in her seat. As she brought her arms forward, her cashmere sweater softly accentuated the abundant endowment of her prominent breasts. She usually reminded the people who saw her of a plumper version of Melanie Griffith. Kathryn could tell that even though John Edward saw what other men, he also saw deeper truths. "Would this be your father?"
"Yes," Kathryn said.
All six foot-one inch, one hundred sixty pounds, single-minded and heart as hard as nails--Daddy.
"He's making a reference to another Bret. Like Bret junior."
"My son is Bret, too," Kathryn answered. She reached over and patted her son's thigh. "What I mean is, he's Bret the second."
"He's making me see Bullwinkle the Moose?"
"Oh, wow!" her son cried out. The validation of John's reading screamed out through Rocky's interjected cry."
"To keep everyone from getting confused Dad always called my Bret...," Kathryn gestured to her son. "...Rocky!" Now the rest of the studio audience broke into laughter.
"Well, that certainly clears that up." John paused. "Has your biological mother passed too?"
"Yes." Kathryn's blue eyes misted, and she bit down on her lower lip.
"Long time passed, right? I'm seeing like twenty years."
"Almost nineteen years."
"She says that she was there to meet your father when he crossed. Did the two of them have some difficulties in their marriage toward the end of her life? They're showing me a sign of reconciliation between them that probably couldn't have happened while she was alive."
Mother wouldn't have allowed any reconciliation with Dad or me while she was still alive. When she died, she was a bitter and tortured person who felt totally abandoned and cheated by the man she loved. Dad wouldn't forgive her for giving him a daughter first, and then losing her ability to bear more children. While she could never forgive the two of us for trying to give Dad a son by any means possible.
Kathryn drew in a deep breath and held it. Rocky reached up and grabbed his mother's arm, placing his long fingers around her soft fleshy bicep. He squeezed her arm tightly, possessively, until she slowly began to breath regularly again.
"What's significant about the number ten? I see that either as the tenth of the month or else October."
"Her birthday was in October," Kathryn said. "But she died on the tenth of March," Rocky added. "Just before I was born." Kathryn closed her eyes. She'd pushed that fact gently out of her consciousness a few years back. Funny how fluid memories can be, she thought. Rushing back into your life when you're least prepared to handle them like unleashed emotional spurts of sperm.
"So your mother didn't live to see your son born?"
"No," Kathryn replied. "She died less than a week before his birth."
"She's showing me an impact or trauma to the head, like a terrible blow or a gunshot wound." John skewed his head as if he were looking at something just to the left of Kathryn and her son. "She's taking responsibilty for her own death, as if she took her own life. Do you understand that?"
"Oh, yes!" Kathryn felt new tears well up in her eyes. "I understand."
"She's showing me pink roses with thorns on them. The roses are her way of expressing her love to you, and the thorns indicate to me that she was unable to communicate with her family before she passed on. Does this make sense to you?"
