Invisible Touch

Invisible Touch

Chapter 18 ~ The Blues

It was very exciting, but the hard work had only begun. Dr. Snow's Classroom Assistants Committee had the approval to go ahead with the "Ambassadors in Education" project. Now it was time to make it happen. It would start slowly, as a pilot program during the spring semester. The program would be evaluated at the end of the school year, and if it was working as well as everyone was hoping, the summer would be spent preparing to roll out the full program in the fall semester of the coming school year. It was an aggressive schedule, everyone realized, but there was no reason it couldn't be achieved.

One issue that was still being discussed was the grade level at which the "Educational Ambassadors" should be placed. Ideally there would be assistants at every grade level, and once the full program were in place, that would be their goal. The pilot program needed to succeed if it was to be implemented more broadly, and it would be easy to choose a soft target like the first grade, in which the children would readily accept an assistant in the classroom who was just like their grandparents. In fact, a majority of the volunteer assistants themselves had said that a high school level placement would be a more rewarding challenge.

After only brief debate, the committee decided to aim for the middle. Sixth or seventh grade was an awkward year of transition for many children, depending on the way the schools were set up. In this district, that scary jump from elementary school to middle school occurred at grade six.

There were fifty sixth grade classrooms in the city and a handful more volunteers who had chosen that grade level as their first choice for a placement. It wouldn't always be this easy to match volunteers with classrooms, Dr. Snow knew, but she would accept lucky breaks wherever she could get them.

It was an unseasonably warm day in January when the first meeting of sixth grade Ambassadors and sixth grade teachers was held. Everyone had their assignments and would begin reporting on the first school day in February. And with that the program was under way.

Ernie had a small problem. He felt he ought to begin hiring staff for the Appleton Charitable Trust. There were meetings with the school district and the Classroom Assistants Committee that Ernie was attending by phone, and this was working well so far, but he was concerned that in the long term, it would be good to have someone there in the room. It couldn't be him, he knew. And there were other school districts already showing interest and curiosity in what was happening with this pilot program. If an expansion of the program meant having to attend more meetings, Ernie would make sure there was someone there to represent Mrs. Appleton's mission.

It had been no secret that Ernie Maxwell was a one man operation. The Classroom Assistants Committee thought it admirable that he had not wanted to throw money around until he had something tangible to put his organization's weight behind. Ernie asked Dr. Snow if she knew anyone who might be looking for this type of work.

"It's funny you should ask," she told him over the phone. "One of our volunteers is a gentleman who isn't quite ready to retire, but he was laid off from his job a few years ago and hasn't been able to find anything since then."

"What did he used to do?" Ernie asked.

"He was in advertising," she told him. "He basically ran the office and managed a few of the accounts. When his company was bought by a larger firm, they consolidated the offices and half of his job was gone. He saw that as 'handwriting on the wall' and sure enough, his accounts were assigned to a..."

Dr. Snow wasn't sure how she wanted to put it.

"To a younger associate," she finally said.

"Was it a case of..." Ernie began.

"I don't want to jump to any conclusions about this," she said. "And Mr. Bequith didn't really feel he could prove anything. The man was younger but there were other associates his same age who were kept on. It's a pretty delicate issue."

"Yes," Ernie agreed. "Yes, it is."

"Well, I don't mean to put you in the middle of this, but if you wouldn't mind asking Mr... Bequith, did you say his name was?"

"Yes -- Jim Bequith," Dr. Snow confirmed. "I'd be happy to speak with him."

Ernie and Dr. Snow discussed the salary and benefits of the position, which was quite helpful to Ernie, who had never hired anyone before.

"And Ernie," she said, "this is kind of a tough situation all around -- there are so many unemployed and underemployed near retirees. We've seen so many of them volunteering. And you certainly don't have to hire them all, but when you are looking for additional staff, I hope you will consider them. I know I didn't need to say all that, because I can tell you are a fair minded person."

"Of course," Ernie said. "Our office should be just as diverse as the programs we work on."

"I'm glad to hear that," she said.

Jim Bequith e-mailed his resume later that day. There were no dates on it, Ernie noticed. A college graduation date of 1972 would be a dead giveaway that he was now around sixty years old. He was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't. A younger job applicant could get away with including a graduation date, thus revealing his or her age. If he or she was younger, there wasn't going to be any discrimination, was there?

Jim tried not to get his hopes up, but this sounded like a perfect opportunity. He didn't need a lot of money, just enough to cover his rent and food. A job with health insurance would be nice, but that was negotiable, Phoebe had told him.

Ernie was a little surprised to receive the e-mail message. But then, why shouldn't an older person feel free to use even the latest technology? And then he realized he didn't know this man's age, and he was glad that he didn't. It wasn't going to make a bit of difference one way or the other, was it?

And then it hit him -- a bolt of lightning in the shape of a light bulb, Ernie thought. He didn't even have to worry about a face to face meeting. If this man was worried about age discrimination, he would probably be happy to have a telephone interview and not reveal his age. Ernie didn't want to waste any time. He dialed Mr. Bequith's number.

"Hello?" spoke the voice at the other end of the line.

"May I speak with Jim Bequith, please?" Ernie asked.

"This is he," he answered.

"Yes, Mr. Bequith," Ernie said. "This is Ernie Maxwell calling, and..."

"Oh yes, Mr. Maxwell, you must have..."

"Please, call me Ernie. I have your resume right here and I wondered if we could set up a time to talk about the position I'm trying to fill."

"Where would you like to meet?" Jim asked.

"Well, I'll be honest with you about something right off the bat," Ernie told him. "I don't drive and I'm not good with crowds. So getting up to your neck of the woods is kind of a problem for me."

"I could certainly drive to wherever you are," Jim offered.

"Actually, I was thinking we could do this over the phone. Certainly doesn't have to be now -- I didn't call like this to catch you off guard."

Jim was surprised, and practically shocked. Nobody had ever suggested this before. They had all wanted to see him and what color his hair was and how quickly or slowly he moved about. All of a sudden he was on a timeless playing field where he could compete fairly.

"Oh, fine," Jim said gleefully. "Yes, that would be fine. And anytime, really -- now, if you like. I was just finishing up a project."

"OK, well," Ernie began. "Tell me about yourself."

They talked for an hour. Ernie was looking for somebody not just to run the office, but to be the office. He could tell from Jim's resume that he was qualified to do it. The more he talked to the man, the more confident he felt that he could do it all, from dealing with office building issues, even the technical ones, to attending the meetings on this project and others.

And they discussed salary and benefits.

"Phoebe mentioned that health care was negotiable," Jim told Ernie. "The pay that you're offering could work for me, but I would need to..."

"She told you what?" Ernie said with surprise. And then he laughed. "Oh, I get it. She wanted to leave me a little leeway. No, Jim, that's not a problem. I'm prepared to offer a health care plan, for sure. And I hope you know what kind of coverage you're looking for, because you're going to be the one picking the plan."

"Excuse me?" Jim said.

"Oh, I'm getting ahead of myself," Ernie said. "Jim, I'd like to hire you. You sound like just the person I need to be a real presence for this organization in New Hampshire."

"Well, then, if you're offering, I'm accepting!" Jim replied.

And just like that, Ernie had a staff. Jim's first assignment was to find office space. It certainly wouldn't do for his new staff to commute to Cambridge, especially where there was a lot of activity in New Hampshire. It made perfect sense, then, to locate a new office north of the border.

"Nothing too big," Ernie directed. "I don't plan to be there very often, but if there is room to grow to, say, five people, that would be good. Any bigger than that, and we could look for something bigger, and I don't see that happening for a while."

"But first things first," Ernie continued, "and you can do this out of your home, is to find a few health care plans to choose from and you and I will go over them and pick one. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great, boss," Jim teased.

Ernie laughed. This was going to work just fine.

Ernie couldn't wait to tell Kim the news. His trip back home to visit his parents, the love letter, and the kiss in the airport had changed everything. Kim and Ernie had been a couple ever since. He was playing the stay at home worker, seeing to the progress of the Ambassadors in Education project, while Kim was attending classes, meetings, study sessions. He always looked forward to her coming home and telling him about her day. He had things to tell her too, on occasion, but this was different.

"I'm a boss! I'm a boss!" he told her.

"That's great news, honey!" she said. "Tell me all about it."

"He's going to pick a health plan and he's going to find us an office in New Hampshire," Ernie told her. "It's going to be just like a real thing!"

Kim giggled, "I haven't seen you this excited since, well since the school board approved the Ambassadors program."

"I am excited," he said with a smile. "And the best part about it is telling you all about it"

"Aww," she said, and blushed.

And then she told him about her day. It was mostly the same from one day to the next, but he loved hearing about it, she could tell. She loved Ernie, and she loved being a couple with him.

Reports were coming back from the teachers and volunteer assistants on a weekly basis. The Ambassadors program was a huge success. Teachers were spending more time with new lessons and answering questions. Assistants were able to help with issues that too often took the teacher away from his or her main objectives on any given day. Everyone involved was discovering a benefit that nobody had anticipated. There was now a "second opinion" in each classroom. Each teacher knew how to explain their lesson from a certain point of view. Assistants were often very adept at translating that lesson into a form more understandable by a student who didn't pick it up the first time. And with the additional feet on the ground making sure nobody was left behind, lessons were moving at their natural pace. Too often it would happen that a lesson became bogged down by questions and misunderstandings. This seemed to be a thing of the past.

By the time the school year ended, it was clear that the program should be expanded. Everyone hoped that every classroom would be covered by the program eventually. But primarily because of the sheer numbers of people involved, the committee decided to add two grades at a time. The fourth and eighth grades were chosen to provide a more equalized experience for all students over time.

Ernie hired another staff member for his New Hampshire office -- his only office outside of his home -- Tina Simpson would be involved in meetings and presentations and program planning, while Jim Bequith did those things and managed the office as well.

The Classroom Assistants Committee, with the help of Ernie's growing team, began to get ready for the next school year.

With all of the e-mail messages, electronic bulletin boards, and telephone calls, Ernie felt as if he was frequently bombarded by foggy waves of color. This type of dream hadn't bothered him for some time, as they didn't consume his consciousness the way the detailed dreams did.

But the waves of color were a constant occurrence for him, and he noticed something that troubled him. All of these visions were turning blue. Blue was a nice enough color, but whenever he had a blue dream, it meant that somebody was sad or upset about something. Could it be that there was one person that was so completely despondent about something that he was receiving visions from nobody else? Ernie considered that possibility.

But if he concentrated on these visions, he could often see a face, and the faces were always different. Sometimes it was somebody he recognized -- a member of the committee, even a member of his staff -- and sometimes it was a stranger, a face he had never seen before.

Ernie began to worry. Was something wrong with him that he was turning everyone's future into an awful pit of sorrow? Or was there something actually wrong in the future that was causing such a reaction in everybody around him?

He had to do something, he knew. Kim had just left for class. Otherwise, he might have given her a kiss -- in exchange for the opportunity to see whether her future contained the same gloom as everyone else's. The only alternative seemed obvious, but he couldn't bear the thought of it. But what else could he do? Ernie went outside and walked down the street. He was headed for the subway.

It was rush hour and there were crowds all trying to get to work at the same time. Ernie had never seen it this bad -- he had been avoiding the subway completely at this time of day. But today Ernie was walking right into it -- bumping into people in the line to buy tokens, brushing against more on the platform waiting for the train, standing shoulder to shoulder with them once inside the car.

It was excruciating. Not only was he feeling a constant spark of heat each time he touched somebody new, he just wasn't used to the sea of people all around him. This was enough, he knew, and he got off at the next stop. He emerged from the station and went into a doughnut shop nearby. He would prefer a little privacy once the dreams started arriving, so he went into the men's room and locked the door. He sat down on the floor and waited, but he didn't have to wait long.

Sure enough, it was blue, the first dream. He even remembered the person in it. He was so hesitant to bump someone on purpose that he remembered her face. And he could see her now. She was in tears. He could see that she was sitting on a couch, but he couldn't see what she was doing there or who she was talking to.

The second one came along, pushing the first aside. Blue again, and this time it was a man he did not recognize. He stood listening to something, it appeared. Staring off into space, the man, just like the woman before him, had tears in his eyes.

A third and a fourth and more. They were actually overlapping now, which had never happened before, but never before had Ernie so brazenly rushed into a crowd of people trying to sneak a glimpse into their futures all at once. Blue. Blue. Blue. Blue. And almost everyone in tears.

Ernie caught his breath after a while and thought about what he had seen. Something terrible was happening -- was going to happen, Ernie corrected himself.

But everyone around him seemed so happy right now. This was crazy, he told himself. He spoke with his staff several times a day. They had been attending meetings in towns all across southern New Hampshire, northern Massachusetts, even southern Maine. This Ambassadors program was so successful there was talk that it could become some sort of National model program. He was becoming some kind of hero, he learned.

In fact, they told him, he needed to come to the office the next day. There was to be a meeting at City Hall and an award was going to be presented. Dr. Snow had insisted that he be there, that it would be a really great honor.

"She told me to tell you that she knows you feel about this sort of thing," Tina explained, "but that it would really be worth it."

"Yeah," Ernie replied. "I spoke to her myself, and I guess there is going to be some sort of special guest from City Hall or something. She wouldn't say who."

"I think you're right about the special guest," Tina said. "A friend in the Mayor's office told me that she does have a ceremony of some kind tomorrow."

"Why all the hush hush?" Ernie asked.

"Beats me," Tina said, "but it sounds like they'd like to have all of us there."

Ernie had a really uneasy feeling about this. Was some kind of catastrophe going to take place at City Hall the next day? If so, he wished he knew of some way of preventing it. Maybe if he went to the office, he would shake hands with someone whose future might reveal the cause of the disaster and -- would there be anything then that he could do? he wondered.

Ernie told Kim everything. He always did, and he always felt much better when it was something even a little troubling. And this was a lot troubling.

"Honey, I know you want to help, but what can you do?" she asked him.

"I'm not sure. If I'm close enough to it that I can touch..." he began. "Let's say that we know Jim and Tina are going to be at City Hall for this ceremony. If I go into the office and shake their hands, I will be able to see their future, and with any luck I'll see whatever it is that's going to happen there -- I don't know, maybe it's a fire or something. Maybe I can warn somebody. Oh, I've got to do something."

He was always thinking of ways to help, whatever the situation.

"Hmm," she said. "That Superman thing again. Well, I'm coming with you," Kim told him. "It's Friday, my light day. All I have tomorrow is study group and I can skip that. Besides, you'll want to have a car handy. And for that, you have to bring me."

They were a team, after all. Whatever was going on, she wanted to help bail or go down with the ship.

"OK," he agreed. "If there's some kind of danger, I'd hate for you to be mixed up in it, but if there's a way we can stop this -- whatever it is -- we will do it together."

Kim barely slept that night, and Ernie didn't sleep at all. He thought about the dreams and visions he had been seeing. None of it made any sense. He finally shut his eyes just before the alarm clock jolted him back to reality. He hit the snooze button a few times and managed about an hour of what he would have to call sleep.

The whole drive to New Hampshire was an eerie, unreal experience. He must be crazy, he thought, to be walking into some kind of danger or crisis. Or he could be nothing, he tried to tell himself. Maybe he was just worrying for nothing.

Kim parked her car in the lot behind the office and they walked up the stairs to the third floor.

"Hey, Ernie," Jim said.

"Good to see you, Jim," he replied.

They shook hands. Ernie walked over and greeted Tina with a handshake and a pat on the back.

"How are you, Tina?" he said.

"Doing great, Ernie," she replied. "Today's an exciting day... especially for you."

"We're a team," he said modestly. "You guys have made enormous contributions since you've come on board. Whatever award we're getting, you guys deserve it just as much as I do."

"I think you deserve it a teensy bit more," Jim insisted.

"Well, maybe a teensy tiny bit," Ernie said.

"You remember my girlfriend, Kim," he said to Jim and Tina.

Kim greeted them both and shook hands.

"We were about to head down the street to City Hall," Jim told Ernie and Kim.

"We'll have to catch up with you," Ernie told them. "I'm a bit woozy... from the car ride, I think."

Ernie loosened the tie he was wearing and sat down in a nearby chair. Kim gave him the best concerned look she could manage.

"Are you going to be OK?" Tina asked.

"I'm sure I'll be fine," he told her. "You guys head on over and we'll get there as soon as we can."

Ernie could hear Jim and Tina trotting walking down the stairs as he felt that all too familiar feeling come over him. Kim noticed that he was in that trance-like dream state and stood close by.

Blue, of course, Ernie could see that in Jim's dream. He was sitting on the couch, fighting back tears, and watching something on TV, but Ernie couldn't see what show he was watching. This wasn't some kind of... Tina's dream came next and hers was blue, too. She was crying, too, and tears were streaming down her face. Again, she was watching TV, he could see, but he couldn't quite make out what was going on. And then it was over.

Television, that was new, but part of both dreams. Something sad was on. Something must have happened, was going to happen, and it had to be something big to affect so many people so profoundly.

Kim and Ernie could both hear applause from down the street. There was a crowd in front of City Hall, they could see from the window, but they couldn't see what was happening there.

Suddenly Ernie's cell phone rang. He recognized the caller ID as Dr. Snow's own cell phone.

"Hello," he said.

"Ernie, it's Phoebe Snow. Where are you?"

"I'm here in the office," he told her. "I'm not feeling all that great."

"Same thing as before?" she asked cryptically.

"Yes," he told her, truthfully for once.

"Well you stay put. The big surprise is that we've been given the President's Award for Excellence in Education. Me, you and your team, the whole committee, the volunteers and teachers, everybody. We're going to wrap up here and bring the citation down there to you, OK?"

"OK," he told her. "I'll be here."

About fifteen minutes later, Ernie could hear the sound of people outside and suddenly footsteps coming up the stairway. Two uniformed state police officers came through the door.

"Mr. Maxwell," one of them said.

"Yes, that's me," he replied.

"Congratulations," the officer said.

The two officers just stood by the doorway, one of them holding the door open. The governor must be here, Ernie thought. There were more footsteps coming up. Dr. Snow entered the office with a man in a suit carrying a small black case.

"Hello, Dr. Snow," Ernie said.

"Hello, Ernie," she replied. "Pardon this silly procedure, but they insist that we have to do this."

The man in the suit took out a handheld wand metal detector and waved it over Kim and then over Ernie. He instinctively removed his house keys and change from his pocket and placed them on a desk.

"Thank you, sir," the man said.

"Phoebe, what on Earth is..." Ernie began to say.

The man in the suit put away his wand and mumbled something into his sleeve.

A woman entered the room. Kim and Ernie recognized her immediately.

Dr. Snow spoke officially, "Mrs. Jackson, may I present Ernie Maxwell and his friend, Kim Wilson. Ernie and Kim, this is Rose Jackson, the First Lady of the United States."

Mrs. Jackson shook hands with Kim first, and then with Ernie.

"Pleased to meet you, ma'am," Kim said.

"This is quite an honor, ma'am. It's nice to meet you," Ernie said.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Wilson, the First Lady said. "You, sir, are a tough man to find, Mr. Maxwell."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I wasn't feeling quite well," Ernie apologized.

So this was what all the secrecy was about, but what about...

Mrs. Jackson continued, "When I heard that the Secretary of Education had nominated your program for this Award for Excellence, and that the President had concurred, I wanted to come and present the citation myself. It is such a thrill to see a young person like yourself doing so much to bring all ages of people together."

"The thanks go to a dear friend of mine, who passed away... must be seven years ago now," Ernie told her.

"Mrs. Appleton has been recognized for her hand in this program, I assure you. But you have brought all of the players together, I've been told, and for that you have the gratitude of myself and the President," the First Lady said.

She shook Ernie's hand again.

"Thank you, ma'am. I am very honored by your words and really just by your presence here," Ernie told her.

"Now if you will excuse me," she said to everyone, "I hate to rush off like this, but they do keep me on a pretty tight leash. The only good thing about today's schedule, is that I get to have dinner with my husband tonight. Again, thank you so much, Mr. Maxwell."

The office, once full of people and cameras, quickly emptied. Doors slammed and out the window, Kim and Ernie could see the First Lady's motorcade drive off.

"Wow, Ernie!" Kim said. "Can you believe this?"

"No, and don't pinch me yet," Ernie said. "There's just something I don't understand, Kim..."

Ernie was still standing when the trance came over him. Kim helped him to the chair he had been sitting in earlier.

It was the First Lady, Ernie saw in his dream. And this was a blue dream, just like all of the others he had seen lately. He saw her standing, but couldn't see who was standing beside her. She, too, had tears in her eyes, and she wiped them away with a handkerchief. She was dressed in black, Ernie saw. But she wasn't watching TV like the others. Ernie could see it more clearly now. Rose Jackson, the First Lady of the United States, was attending a funeral.

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