The Seer (Chapter 05) Poem by Kim Barney

I worried about Charlie. To me
it didn't seem like he was all
that happy. You'd think that
with his ability to see things

in the future, he'd be the
happiest person in the world,
but that was not the case.
It seemed just the opposite.

I guess there were things that
he knew that he wished he
didn't know. What a weight there
must have been on his shoulders!

I know I would have been happy
to always know what questions
the teacher was going to put
on tomorrow's big test!

If Charlie knew (and I'm sure he did)
he always made sure he missed
a question or two so that the teacher
would not suspect him of cheating.

He always scored high enough to get
an A, but never one hundred percent.
I never asked Charlie for help, but
he wouldn't have given it anyway.

My cousin Jim got kicked off the
school bus one day for throwing
a snowball at the driver. He forgot
the driver had a rear-view mirror

and could see him throwing it.
Jim was faced with the prospect
of walking about three miles to town
and I was worried about him

because he had a problem with
one of his feet, but Charlie whispered
to me Don't worry, he's going to get a ride.
Sure enough, a few minutes later,

Jim came by in a car with Bob and Leon
and a couple of others, all of them
grinning and waving. They
beat the school bus to town.

Of course I didn't tell anyone
what Charlie had whispered to me.
Up to this point I was the only one
who knew what Charlie could do.

to be continued...