Insubstantially Me

Chapter 33

"So, you can remember anything you want, just by looking at it?" David asked as we scrubbed the walls of his newly emptied bedroom.

"Pretty much." I tried to suppress the annoyance I felt from the constant line of questioning about my 'super powers'. I didn't mind at first. It was actually nice to be able to talk freely with him. And while I deeply appreciated everything he was doing for me, I was starting to feel like a side-show or the science experiment all over again. It was as if he was trying to do his own mental calculations of my abilities and figure out what I would be capable of.

"It would probably only take you a few days to master a foreign language," he mused and I wasn't sure if he was talking to me or himself.

"About three." I leaned closer to the wall, unsure of whether the discoloring I saw was dirt or a shadow. "Maybe longer if it's a dead language." I never had much interest in learning foreign languages, but I'd done it anyway. It was a requirement of my high school to take a year of either Spanish or French. I chose Spanish and was bored with the material for the year, after only a few days. I asked my teacher for the more advanced books and learned those on my own. After that I'd done French too, just for the heck of it. Then in college, I learned Italian and German for something else to do when I got bored with my other subjects. I probably could have kept going down the list in the catalog, but I was beyond bored with linguistics by then.

I glanced at David when he didn't say anything else.

"What?" I asked defensively. He was giving me that calculating, slightly surprised look again.

"Nothing." He shook his head. "Is everything like that? You just read about something and know how to do whatever it is?"

"Sometimes." I shrugged. "With some things I have to practice or ask questions. But yeah, I guess most things work like that."

"So if I told you how to build a bomb, you could just do it?"

If I hadn't been looking at him when he said it, I would have assumed it was a joke. But uncharacteristically, David seemed serious. Maybe even a little nervous. It was hard to tell since curiosity overshadowed his other emotions.

"Probably." I raised an eyebrow. "Why? Do you have plans to blow something up?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Not yet, but I'll let you know." I didn't understand why, but his smile seemed a little bit forced.

Turning back to the wall, I decided that the spot was dirt and began scrubbing. I had to reminded myself that David had a lot of information to absorb in a short amount of time. I couldn't blame him if he was curious or freaked out about some of it.

"Too bad you can't perform surgery on yourself," he said. "That would have made things easier."

"Trust me, the thought crossed my mind. But no, unfortunately I'm not quite that good."

He laughed. "Tim would be so relieved."

As would I, I thought. No matter how much of a godsend Tim seemed to be, he was still a virtual stranger to me. Trusting David was completely different. I'd had time to get to know him first, and his constant presence reassured me that he wasn't out somewhere, turning me in.

I understood that Tim was basically a good person, like his brother. But he didn't know me and I couldn't be sure that he wouldn't get it into his head that the best thing to do was to tell the police or worse. I didn't doubt that David was forefront in his mind. After all, what decent person wouldn't want to save his little brother from the fugitive who might be mentally unstable?