The lights went out all over the colonel's quarters.
Colonel Cartwright gasped and stared at the mountain boy standing with
his eyes closed.
"All right, Jed," Harry said, "break it off."
"Jest a minute, Ma," Jed thought, "Harry wants me." He opened his eyes
and the lights came on.
"How did he do it?" the colonel breathed.
"He thought them out, sir," Harry said.
"He ... WHAT?" Cartwright spluttered.
"That's right, sir," Harry repeated. "He 'thought' them out. Jed, get
Ma on the line again."
Jed shut his eyes. The lights went out again.
Colonel Cartwright sagged against the door jamb. He moaned, "How long
has this one been running around loose?"
"Colonel," Harry said cautiously, "he does the same thing with radios,
telephones, cars, anything requiring electrical power. He just shuts
it off."
The post commander looked stunned.
"That's not all either, sir," Harry continued. "He can 'think' bullets
to a target."
"Come in the house," the colonel said weakly. "That's an order,
soldiers."
* * * * *
Three weeks later, Sergeants First Class Harold Fisher and Jediah
Cromwell were putting the finishing touches to their own private room.
Jed sank down onto the soft mattress on the big bed. "Glory be, Harry,
I jest can't seem to catch my breath, we've been movin' so fast 'n
doin' so much. All them there tests with them tanks and them
airyplanes in Californy and that other funny place. Ma thought it was
kinda funny I had so much time fer jest a-sittin' 'n chattin' with
her. Now we're here 'n I ain't allowed to say nothing to her."
He stole a proud glance at the new chevrons on the sleeve of his
fancy, blue dress uniform. "Gosh but Ma would be proud to hear about
all what's happened to us. I purely wish I could tell her."
Harry snapped up from the bureau drawer where he had been placing his
clothing.
"Watch it, Jed. You know what the general said. Now don't you go and
queer this deal for us just because you're getting a little homesick,"
Harry warned. "We're the only Army GI's in this outfit and this is
pretty plush. You know what the general said, 'no talking with Ma
until you get permission.' Remember?"
Jed sighed. "Oh, I remember, rightly enough. Only I shore wish they'd
let me just think 'hello' to her. I ain't never been so far from her
afore and its gonna take a heap of powerful mind-talk to get to her."
"Never you mind, now Jed," Harry said, "you'll get all the chances you
want to talk with her. Just be patient."
He turned back to his clothing. The was a knock at the door and then
it opened to admit a small, conservatively-dressed civilian. Both
sergeants jumped to their feet.
"Good morning, gentlemen," the civilian said. "I'm George Wadsworth,
first secretary at the Embassy here." He looked around the room and
smiled. "Your quarters satisfactory, men?" Both soldiers nodded
happily.
"Good," Wadsworth said. "Oh, by the way Sergeant Cromwell," he turned
to Jed, "we've just learned that our hosts plan to launch their manned
Moon rocket within the next hour or so. Isn't that interesting?"
Jed nodded vigorously.
"I though so, too," Wadsworth continued. "I should imagine that your
mother would find this quite interesting as well, don't you think,
Sergeant Cromwell?"
"'Deed she would, sir," Jed said enthusiastically.
"Quite so," Wadsworth said mildly. "Why don't you just take the rest
of the day off and tell her about it. While you're at it, you might
bring her up to date on your trip. And there's a wonderful view of the
Kremlin from this window. I'm sure she'll be interested in all this.
Just have a nice long chat. Take all day. Take two days if you like.
No hurry, you know."
He smiled and turned to leave the room. "Don't forget to tell her
about your airplane ride, too," he added and then walked to the door.
"Thank you, sir," Jed called out after him.
Jed grinned happily and lay down on the nice, soft mattress.
"Ma," he thought, concentrating harder than he ever did before, "it's
me agin."
All electrical power went off over the western dominions of the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics.
* * * * *