CHAPTER ONE  Seeing Is Believing

From my bedroom, which I shared with my younger brother, I could see the old dead oak tree in the center of our muddy yard. By the way, my room had no windows.
So now you know my gift AND my problem.
I don’t exactly remember the very first time that I “saw” the “un-seeable” but I DO remember the very first time that my Mom caught on.
It was on that afternoon when I mentioned the trunk that Dad had stored, actually “hidden” the night before in the work shed next to the dead oak.
“Wait Roger. How could you see that? Who told you about that? You were in your room and we thought you were both asleep.”
“I’m sorry…but I saw Dad carry it in there. Looked pretty heavy too.”
“So you snuck down stairs to spy on us?”
“No…from my room.”
“Don’t lie to me Roger. I won’t hit you, although your Father will not be happy about this…AT ALL!”
“But I DID…I CAN!”
“Impossible! You’ve told some whoppers but this is…OOOHHH….WAIT ‘TIL YOUR FATHER GETS HOME! Now go to your room.”
Her face was red and wrinkly and she was as angry as I’d ever seen her.
I went upstairs.
“Boy are you in trouble!” My little brother Stevie said with a smile that ran practically to his ears!
“Do your homework, Ugly!” I utilized my seniority position as older brother to shut him up.
“Can you help me with my math?”
I just stared at him for twenty one seconds ( I counted) “Sure!” And I sat down to show him my wizardry with fractions.

Later that day around five fifteen, I looked out through my bedroom wall and saw Dad’s old Studebaker bounce to a halt.
“Dad’s Home Mom!” I yelled down the steps.
She was standing at the bottom of the stairs glaring up at me when I looked out of my
door. Her eyes were as wide as they could get with a lot of white showing and she seemed truly puzzled.
That’s when I knew she knew what I could do. I probably shouldn’t have made that subtle smile just then because that’s when she spun around and shouted toward the back door…
“You’ve got to have a serious talk with your son!”
Dad trudged through the door looking tired and smoky grey from the furnaces where he worked as a boilerman.
“Which one?” he asked and I snickered.
I shouldn’t have done that either.
Mom’s fiercest glare shot straight up the stairs at me and I serioused up quick like!
“ROGER of course! Get down here Roger NOW!!!”
Stevie poked his head out of the bedroom door and I cautioned him, as any older protective brother would do, and said, “Better get back in there if you wanna live!”
“Slam” went the door and I moseyed down the steps.
Of course Dad didn’t believe me any more than Mom had and I needed to suggest a test or two to prove my “Super Sight” to them, which I thought was a cool name for it.
Dad hid a few items outside while I stood in the corner and looked at the crack in the wall.
Then he said ”OK!” and I turned around, looked at the back solid wall, actually “through” it, and saw the rusted red gas can sitting on top of the firewood where I knew it didn’t belong.
“You might start a fire with that gas can Dad…dry wood and all!”
“Don’t get smart Roger!” Mom shook her finger and head at me.
The next time it was the trash can directly in front of the shed door.
They were convinced! But then they just sat down at our green Formica kitchen table with their heads in their hands and stared blankly.
“Can I go now?”
“No! Tell your Father what you told me about the trunk last night!”
I did. Dad looked scared, and I had never seen him like that before…EVER!
Then I got scared too. I guessed that Dad and maybe Mom also were doing, hiding, something awful and illegal and I had found them out!

CHAPTER TWO What’s In That Trunk?

I did ask my parents exactly what WAS in that trunk and they responded that it was none of my business and to go do my homework! Which I did. But I WAS puzzled that hiding the trunk secret seemed to be more important to them than my newfound amazing “Super Sight.”
My problem was that my ability to see through our house walls didn’t work outside of the house for some reason. For instance, when I went outside and tried to look inside I couldn’t. Then I got to thinking that maybe it wasn’t the best thing to be able to see through and into EVERYTHING. But I sure wanted to be able to see into that trunk!
My thirteenth birthday was coming up fast at that time and I thought maybe my parents
would let me look into the trunk as my present. But I would have to wait until they calmed down a bit.
That night at dinner my Dad said “Your birthday is this weekend and you know that your Mom and I don’t have a lot of money but we did want to celebrate your thirteenth with something you wanted AND needed. But now that you apparently don’t need what we got you, we doubt that you’ll want it now too. Let’s go out to the shed and I’ll show you what’s in the trunk!”
I was so excited but also confused, but the excitement won out!
Dad unlocked the truck, creaked open the lid and there it was! An old, used, but in good shape,… bedroom window!
“Stan down at work promised to install it in yours and Stevie’s room. Do you still want it?”
“Ah…yeah sure…and it will be good for Stevie too Dad.”
Well, to make this story less long, Stan did install my window on my birthday and it worked fine…BUT! You guessed it! I could no longer see through any of the walls in our house, which of course, I didn’t know before installation. I was very sad to lose my short lived “Super Sight” but the one thing that made me happy that very night, was that I could see the stars right through our ROOF!”
It worked great at bedtime, and I just had one request for my parents. “IF YOU GET ME A PRESENT… I DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WANT A SKYLIGHT!”