"Yes, Eleanor? What is it?"
"Just now," Mrs. Folsom said, her voice still holding the shrill note,
"just a moment ago, on the plate over there, I'm certain ... I'm
almost certain I saw the ham sandwich!"
She added breathlessly, "And that's what I was going to say before,
Dr. Al! Right after you told us to stop visualizing I thought I saw
the sandwich on the plate! But it was only for a moment and I wasn't
sure. But now I'm sure, almost sure, that I saw it again on the plate
on the table!"
The old woman was pointing a trembling finger towards the table. Her
cheeks showed spots of hectic red. In the rows behind her, the
students looked at one another, shook their heads in resignation, some
obviously suppressing amusement. Others looked annoyed. They were all
familiar with Eleanor Folsom's tendency to produce such little
sensations during the meetings. If the evening didn't promise to bring
enough excitement, Eleanor always could be counted on to take a hand
in events.
Cavender felt less certain about it. This time, Mrs. Folsom sounded
genuinely excited. And if she actually believed she'd seen something
materialize, she might be fairly close to getting one of those little
heart attacks she kept everyone informed about.
* * * * *
Dr. Al could have had the same thought. He glanced back at the prop
table, asked gravely, "You don't see it there now, do you, Eleanor?"
Mrs. Folsom shook her head. "No. No, of course not! It disappeared
again. It was only there for a second. But I'm sure I saw it!"
"Now this is very interesting," Ormond said seriously. "Has anyone
else observed anything at all unusual during the last few minutes?"
There was a murmured chorus of dissent, but Cavender noticed that the
expressions of amusement and annoyance had vanished. Dr. Al had
changed the tune, and the students were listening intently. He turned
back to Mrs. Folsom.
"Let us consider the possibilities here, Eleanor," he said. "For one
thing, you should be congratulated in any case, because your
experience shows that your visualization was clear and true throughout
our exercise. If it hadn't been, nothing like this could have
occurred.
"But precisely what was the experience? There we are, as of this
moment, on uncertain ground. You saw something. That no one else saw
the same thing might mean simply that no one else happened to be
looking at the plate at those particular instances in time. I, for
example, certainly gave it no further attention after the exercise was
over. You _may_ then have observed a genuine materialization!"