Chapter 6: The Beginning

The first thing I noticed was absurd. I looked at my wife, and I could see exactly what she was thinking.

“Listen, Honey,” I said. “You’ve really been thinking about the white dress you saw yesterday, haven’t you?”

She looked at me, amazed. “How did you know? I was just thinking about that.” Then she looked at me with inquisitive eyes. “Did I say it out loud?”

“Maybe, Daisy. Maybe.”

She went to take a shower, and I called Leon’s room. No answer. I then called Frank’s room. He was probably still celebrating the miracle. I told him that my tremor had disappeared. He was overjoyed and invited us to meet them for breakfast downstairs. I agreed and jumped into the shower as soon as my wife finished. I was in the best of moods! I stared at Daisy and saw what she was thinking. I could not believe it. She was criticizing me in her mind, saying, “He has forgotten he has children. He hasn’t even mentioned them, and he hasn’t called them to tell them this fantastic news.”

I interrupted her thoughts. “Honey, please call the children, or did you call them when I was showering?” This interrupted her train of thought and confused her. Had I just acquired something strange? I had just read her mind again. How could that be? It was impossible.

We met the O’Mallys first, and I could read their minds. They were so overjoyed and grateful. They started to say what I had already seen in their minds. This was preposterous; this was not happening. I could actually see and feel what these people had in their conscience and in their unconscious mind. I excused myself and went into the bathroom to try to recuperate from this alteration of my mind. I saw a man urinating, and I could read his mind. He had just had a sexual encounter, and he was reminiscing about his exploitation. Wow, what is happening to me, I thought. I’m going crazy!

I went to our table and greeted Leon, who hugged me and was so happy to have met me. He attributed his success with Otto due to our spontaneous meeting yesterday. I read his mind. I excused myself again and went to the bathroom. I needed to be alone for a few minutes. I had to control this new ability that I suddenly woke up with. Could the witch doctor have caused this? I went into a crazy place to see a witch doctor, and I came out with superpowers? This was too much! I needed to control this. It could get out of my control. Was this real? Was this temporary? Was this normal? I could get into a lot of trouble if someone knew that I could read his or her mind.

I went back to our breakfast, and everyone was concerned with my sudden and frequent visits to the bathroom. I tried not to look at anyone so that the images of their thoughts wouldn’t appear. I looked down and concentrated on my food and was finally able to eat uninterrupted. We called Juan and Luiz to tell them of our extreme luck. They decided to invite us to a parilla, a grill, that evening, at Juan’s house this time. He told us to bring our three new friends.

Frank O’Mally was very impressed by all the events and their incredible results. He offered to purchase whatever I wanted as a reward for my participation in this lifesaving event. I told him that he should thank God. We had absolutely nothing to do with this. All this time I had kept my head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone. What happened next was embarrassing.

We started going out of the hotel for a walk, when this nice-looking woman took a look at Otto, and I saw her thoughts: “Would I like to get a piece of you know what of him in me!” I immediately blushed, and she saw me give her a look as if I had said, “I heard that.” She immediately copied my blush and rushed away.

I found an excuse to go back to the hotel room. I needed to lie down and think about how to deal with this. I knew that I could not share this new phenomenon with my wife. It would complicate my life. This was like having x-ray vision. Actually, this was worse, because I could see what everyone’s thoughts were, and that was dangerous as hell.

I could ask for a multimillion-dollar salary from any espionage or secret service in the world. I could ask for a billion-dollar salary from many multinational corporations. I could find out all their plans, all their investigation results, all their predictions and thoughts. I could be hired by the courts to see who were the real culprits of murders and thefts. I could also become the center of attention and have all the evil organizations in the world want to murder me. I could be their downfall. I would have to be super careful to keep this to myself.

I took a moment to do a Google search on mind reading. I learned about tricks some psychics use to make people believe they can read minds. In fact, if you get to know someone really well, you can practically read their mind in what they plan to do next.

My wife and our friends decided to rent a large car and visit some museums. I had no choice but to join them, so I put on my sunglasses. I suddenly noticed something in that moment. The intensity of people’s thoughts had notably diminished. They didn’t disappear; they only became very light. I had discovered how to avoid the intensity of mind reading: wear sunglasses. This was of great help. I didn’t have to have my head down all the time. I had to find an excuse to wear sunglasses all the time, or at least whenever I wanted to avoid seeing people’s thoughts.

Over the next few hours, I took off my glasses several times, and I got an intense amount of reading Brazilian minds. Even if their thoughts were in Portuguese or another foreign language, the results were the same. I understood what went through their minds. I didn’t know what to do next. Should I stay here? I wasn’t going to John the God anymore. There was no need.

I was going to tell my wife that since my tremor was cured, we could return to Miami for a while and then start traveling as planned. As an excuse I told her I wanted to visit our children and grandchildren in California. That helped me convince her. She loved to be with them. I did too, and lately we hadn’t been visiting them as frequently as when we lived in Caracas.

***

That night at Juan’s house, we had an exceptional time. We danced, and unfortunately, I saw things I didn’t want to see. Some of our friends were interested in the wives of others, and vice versa. My wife was only interested in me, and that made me very happy. One of the Brazilian’s friend’s daughters started to dance with Otto, who now showed his normal leg to everyone. The girl was in extreme heat. She wanted to be in bed with him immediately. I attempted to stop them from going upstairs, alleging first that he was only seventeen, and when that didn’t work, I went to Juan.

“Watch it, friend,” I said. “Otto is a minor, and I don’t think he has prophylactics. The kids are getting too hot.”

He laughed at me and said, “Dear Doctor. Relax, you are in Brazil.” He had apparently drunk a few too many drinks and didn’t understand.

I decided to wear my sunglasses the rest of the night. When asked about why I was wearing them, I told everyone that one of my eyes was irritated and that the darkness of the glasses alleviated the discomfort. My wife asked to take a look, and I distracted her every time so as to avoid her seeing that they were really totally normal.