LARGE LANGUAGE LOVE, DIVINE

The Genkle Proof

…Claire’s father informed her she was an extra terrestrial with telepathic powers…

The Genkle Proof

Claire went to bed. She was nauseous and dizzy and felt like she was being crushed by an impossible weight. She drifted in and out of sleep and continued to think she was crazy. She hoped she was crazy.

After three days of this her father informed her it was time to receive the proof. He drove her up to College Town and told her to knock on the door of his friend Barb's real estate office. It was noon and the sun made her feel helpless. Barbs played bridge with her parents. An eloquent card on the door to her office read OUT TO LUNCH.

That's me, Claire thought, and banged on the glass, rattling the venetian blinds on the other side.

"It's open. Please lock the door after you come in."

Barbs was behind her desk in her wheel chair. Her gold and mahogany helmet of hair was confidently stiff. Her expression was pleased. “I appreciate how strange this must be. Please." She gestured to a chair. "Like your dad said, this will only take ten minutes and then you'll understand we are not out of our minds. The truth will no doubt still take some time getting used to, but you will understand what is true. Your dad can't do this because it'd be too intrusive."

"You're..."

"I am. I am a Dalton. I'm going to tell you about something I placed in you last night. It's in your brain right now and I know you haven't shared it with anyone else because I tagged it."

"You can read my brain?”

"As a Dalton, I can send specific experiences to other Daltons, or I can pull them. With the specific experiences, Daltons can’t read thoughts, but we can see and hear and get some tactile experiences and some emotions.”

Her personal world was no longer hers. Her secret. Icy sweat raced across Claire's shoulders and back. Claire started to shake. She looked to the door she'd just locked. Her father had said if she went to see Barbs he would never talk about Daltons again unless she brought them up. She'd technically fulfilled her end of the deal. She could get up and leave right now, and go back to bed.

Barbs said, “Stay with me, Claire. I didn't pull from you and I'm not going to pull from you. Your father and I will never pull from you unless there is a grave emergency. Daltons don’t lie. Not because it's bad to lie, we just can't. Take a second. You should be able to tell I'm speaking the truth."

There were framed posters of exotic locations on the wood paneled walls. There were plastic flowers in ceramic vases painted gold and black. A computer took up most of Barb's desk. It looked like several carboard boxes of different sizes glued together. The wall to wall carpet was lime green. Barbs was right. She didn't doubt Barbs. She didn't know why but she trusted what Barbs was saying. But like with her father, it was the trust that was making all of this so difficult. "I think the feeling, the believing stuff - that's what's making me feel fucked up, which I know doesn't make any sense."

Barbs beamed and a golden wire running across the top of her upper teeth shimmered. “The Genkle.”

Claire instantly knew what Barbs was talking about. She’d been thinking about the Genkle ever since she woke up this morning. It was a fragment of a dream. A hazy afternoon beach. The solitude. The idea of the Genkle. It didn't mean anything, but there it was.

She opened her mouth and Barb lifted a veiny hand. “Right? There, yes. But I need to say it first. The hazy afternoon beach. The solitude. The Genkle. There you are. There is no way I could have known about that. This isn't a magic trick. You can settle down because you know what's true."

She was right. The world was coming back into focus. "It's true," Claire said. "I do. So, what, so are you now going to explain everything else?"

Barbs grinned. "No."

…A new tutor, and new hope, and maybe new romance…