His grandfather had a life that Joseph didn’t know about.  He was quite respected in an esoteric community. He had written several books in his younger years and was now the head of affairs for a society called “The Order of Wisdom”.

They met monthly at a discreet location where the files and histories were archived.  The Order was a group of men, and now women as well, who all had special abilities.  They like to keep these talents quiet; for were it to be known to the public, there would be a complete loss of privacy. What they did took deep concentration.  It was not frivolous and certainly not the kind of thing mentioned in casual conversation.

What a surprise it was for both he and Belle when they were coming into the building and she openly said that light he was carrying – almost made her blind. He quickly pulled himself together and looked at her with great interest, because he knew that he was the light.

“That must have been the sun bouncing off my buckle, sorry about that. Let me help you with your parcels.”

“You are the man in apartment 3F who lives with his grandson,” she stated in a matter of fact voice.

“Yes, I am Jackson Parker, and you?”

‘Oh, my name is Belinda, I am the manager here.  Most folks call me Belle.”

“Belle, what a pretty name and from your voice I can tell you are from somewhere south of here yes?”

He watched as the color drained from her face and knew instinctively he had made her feel vulnerable.

“I used to study American dialect; most people would not be able to hear your voice the way I do. I promise I won’t tell anyone OK? “

Belle was shaken to her core, she was still seeing that light although not as bright; and she realized that this man knew her secret. What she didn’t know, was she knew his as well.

Jackson Parker invited Belle to take a walk with him sometime, on a day when Joseph was too busy.  “I could use the company.”

Belle smiled, “Sure thing Mr. Parker. That would be nice.”

She felt a little better.  After all, who was this old man going to tell about a back woods girl like herself?

“Man that light was crazy though,” she thought. “It was all around him like a night light.” She shrugged and let herself into her apartment.

***

Joseph was there after work; today was the first doctor’s appointment and he insisted on going with Jessica. She scowled when she saw him. Of course the other nurses were all a twitter he was their star attraction and none of them knew about the pregnancy.  Joe had done a lot of thinking about how to handle this delicate situation and had not come up with an answer, perhaps a visit to the OBGYN would make everything clearer for both of them. Jessica insisted on a doctor not affiliated with her work place, so Joe popped for the cost of the visit (as he would for anything they decided on); this he knew for sure, and he also could afford it a lot better than Jessica could.

The Doctor confirmed what Jessica already knew, she was now six weeks into her first trimester. He wrote the name of some vitamins to take and said to make an appointment with his nurse for next month. He congratulated the lucky couple and left the room. Jessica broke down in tears, and when Joe tried to comfort her she behaved like a cat in a corner.

“Whoa girl, this is a gift we have here, don’t be so angry.”

“Fuck you Joe, if that’s even your real fucking name.”

“What do you mean if? That is my name, why would you think otherwise?”

“Shut up asshole, I don’t even know you.”

“Nice words from the mama of my baby to be spouting; is this how you are gonna be treating our child?”

“Just get out and let me get dressed will you?’

“Yes dear, anything you want dear, I will be in the waiting room, don’t leave without me.”

While Jess got dressed, Joe went up to the billing nurse to make the next appointment.  He gave his address as the place to have all the bills sent and took care of the day’s visit with cash.

Jessica had dressed and left by a door that didn’t go through to the waiting room. After about a half an hour, the nurse confirmed what he already knew; Jessica was gone.

***

Belle had decided that she had just gone crackers.  She was pretty sure she was ready for a loony bin.  She felt both stunned and wobbly when Jackson Parker saw her. “Ms. Belle, poor girl, what’s wrong?”

“I don’t really know Mr. Parker, I just started to cry.  I think I must be crazy.”

“Now, now, Ms. Belle, you are a sensitive woman, let me get you a cup of tea and we can talk.”

Belle only hesitated for a flash, there was something about the man, and she was okay to be in his company, kind of like she felt when she was with Grace.  “Thank you Mr. Parker, that sounds just right.”

Upstairs, Belle admired, “Your apartment is beautiful and so soft; and you have so many books, you must know a lot to have so many books.”

“Thank you Belle, I like my place.  I’ve been her many years now so it has layer upon layer of belongings.  When you get my age, if you’re not careful, you will have hardly any room left to live.  As for the books, well, since getting out of the military, I developed many hobbies; and reading is one of them.”

“I love to read too. The librarian where I grew up, Mrs. Haven taught me a lot through books.  See, I didn’t go past the 6^th grade in school.”

“I understand, and some things we know we get from others’ knowledge.  Here you are; cream and sugar, or lemon?”

“Cream and sugar sounds good to me; and those cookies look good too.”

“Belle, I know what it’s like to have ‘sight’, to be born with it.  You see, I have it too.”

Belle stared, but didn’t answer.

“I don’t mean to alarm you, I just want you to know that I can teach you how to handle all the feelings those of us with ‘sight’ experience.  Would you be interested in learning what I know?”

Belle finally closed her mouth and replied, “I don’t know what to say Mr. Parker.  I, well I guess I do want to learn how to… What I need to learn is…”

“We tend to feel rather insane until we do learn how to handle it all, don’t you agree?”

“Well, yes sir that is exactly what I was feeling earlier; I started crying just after passing someone in the street.”

“I was like that too.  I thought you might need a teacher, just like I did when I was young.  I would be honored to be your instructor, if you will let me.” They make a plan to meet one day a week in the beginning.  Mr. Parker handed her a novel by a famous mystic, saying, “This will be easy to read.”

“Thank you so much, I think?”