Mind Games Read online

  Excerpts from "Sun Signs" by Cassidy Richards

  The Waverly Times (Aries section)

  October 8 Persist in your favorite pursuits despite obstacles that may present themselves.1 Focus on group work.2 Make new friends, but keep the old.3

  ANALYSIS (10/15):

  1. Shopping and socializing are my favorite pursuits, according to my parents. They are already expert obstacles to my doing anything fun, but I am experter at getting around them. Another thing I like to do, I guess, is sing. However, I quit the church choir a few weeks ago—and I wouldn't want to persist, no matter what this horoscope says. I am still in the choir at school, and we have auditions this Monday for the winter concert. I am planning on getting a solo (assuming God does not punish me for reading this horoscope and maybe even believing it). PREDICTION CORRECT? ½ point.

  2. Since you are reading this, you will see that I am focused on my Mad Science "group work." P REDICTION CORRECT? 1 point.

  3. Friends are very important to me. I made lots of new ones when we started middle school last year. Claire, unfortunately, did not. But that's okay. She's still my friend. In terms of making friends this year, I've only met two new people—Brandon and Marina. Brandon seems to know one sentence, which is I don't care. Marina knows a few more, but they all seem to be about food and the weather. Therefore, I'm not sensing good friendship material here. PREDICTION CORRECT? ½ point.

  October 15 Romantic prospects are encouraging.1 You will receive good news regarding a worrisome situation.2 In your busy state of life, friendships may suffer.3

  ANALYSIS (10/22):

  1. Romance? Yeah, right. My parents won't even let me date until I'm sixteen. I'm tempted to give negative points for this one. PREDICTION CORRECT? 0 points.

  2. If this counts, I did get that choir solo—not that I was so worried. I usually try to leave the freak-outs to people like my parents and Claire. So the only thing really bothering me right now is this week's prediction #3. PREDICTION CORRECT? ½ point (I guess).

  3. My friendships are doing pretty well, I have to say. Therefore, I want to believe very much that this prediction deserves: PREDICTION CORRECT? 0 points.

  And it had better not have anything to do with Claire. Also of note—October 15 was Claire's birthday (and her sister, Kathleen's). The entry for "If today is your birthday" read as follows:

  Your day begins on a high note. Brisk exercise will do wonders for your constitution. You will clear a major hurdle this week. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

  ANALYSIS:

  In choir (second period), Kathleen croaked on a high A and cried into the piano; after exercise (but not hurdles) in P.E., she threw up chocolate cake on the track; she enjoyed the clown at her party on Saturday, although she did not enjoy my being invited. (She did enjoy my arriving late due to Katie Baird's party being on the same day.) Furthermore, she neither sat nor relaxed. Except when she is petting her dog, I have never seen Kathleen relax.

  On the other hand, Claire sings alto when she sings at all (hardly ever), but she did start first period on a high note by getting a 92 on the algebra test everybody else (including me) failed; she had no bad effects from brisk exercise in P.E., and she did not enjoy the clown show so much. But she stayed relaxed even when Kathleen blew out all the candles and stole her birthday wish; I guess she's used to that (and to the spit on her cake) after all these years.

  PREDICTION CORRECT? This is too complicated to score in my opinion, but if the same horoscope is supposed to apply to Claire and Kathleen (not to mention Katie Baird), that's enough evidence to persuade me that astrology is totally inaccurate.

  October 22 Cash in on your popularity. Keep your head on your shoulders when confronted with a tricky situation. Speak your mind—you will be appreciated for it.

  ANALYSIS (10/29):

  I cashed in—we won the lottery. As for the rest of the prediction, it doesn't matter since I will not be doing any further work on this project.

  Research

  Benjamin D. Lloyd

  FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS PROJECT, I HAVE READ SIX books about parapsychology, two books about science fair projects (see Sources), and various other materials too numerous to list.

  So that you might try to understand the subject of my discussion, I am providing you with the following:

  DEFINITIONS

  Clairvoyance: Uncanny knowledge of other living things and/or events that is not gained through telepathy (see below).

  ESP (Extra-Sensory Perception): The process of accumulating knowledge that cannot be gained by the use of our five known senses (such as why this topic was chosen for our science project).

  Paranormal: Phenomena outside the realm of "normal" experience.

  Parapsychology: The (supposedly) scientific study of ESP.

  Psychokinesis (P.K.): The influence of the human mind on inanimate objects.

  Telepathy: The ability to know another person's thoughts.

  EVALUATION

  A comprehensive review of (so-called) scientific literature pertaining to these topics reveals that conclusive results have not been achieved in any previous study conducted under valid testing conditions. Demonstrated instances of ESP have not been readily reproduced under controlled observation. Ever.1 Furthermore, anecdotal evidence of supernatural occurrences thus far is totally insufficient to convince a self-respecting scientist that science cannot satisfactorily explain the world around us. Indeed, the "fortunetellers" my mother used to hire at her holiday parties routinely made such predictions as a long and happy marriage for my parents and great scientific achievements for me. While we still await the verdict on my scientific accomplishments, the assertion regarding my parents' marriage proves that ESP is certainly not an exact science—and probably not a science at all.

  One more noteworthy thing. Claire and Kathleen Phelps, members of our investigative team, are homozygous twins.2Twin studies are mentioned several times in parapsychol ogy literature, so I felt this area warranted further investigation on my part.

  In the ongoing debate of nature versus nurture, it is thought that identical twins who were separated at birth and raised in different families can provide good evidence about which is more important—genes or upbringing.3

  I read several interesting cases about twins who had never known each other before meeting during the study, only to discover that they'd each married a woman named Anna, had a child named Sam, and liked to eat a bowl of butter pecan ice cream with pretzels while watching I Love Lucy before bed.4

  After examining the literature, I suggested to my research team that perhaps nature versus nurture would make a more interesting topic for our project. I am very interested, for example, to know whether my science aptitude comes from my inheritance of my father's astrophysicist genes or is instead a result of having Scientific Weekly read aloud to me at age four. Brandon dismissed this idea by saying that I'm destined to be a science geek either way, and who cares why? I nobly refrained from pointing out that he's destined to be a science zero either way, and who cares why? Due to a general lack of interest on the part of my fellow group members, I was forced to abandon once again a potentially fascinating topic. But I remain curious. After all, my mother, who was never a geek and in fact was once a cheerleader, got a D in high school chemistry and during her days as an aspiring magazine writer was an avid reader of such periodicals as Cosmopolitan and Glamour. Half of my genes are hers. Is this not strange?

  Of course, Claire and Kathleen have the exact same genes, and Claire is in honors classes5 while Kathleen is in special ed. One wonders where brain damage counts in nature versus nurture.

  Besides shedding light on nature versus nurture, the twin studies also highlighted several "psychic" events involving twins who were separated at birth. For example, one woman had an attack of appendicitis. Her sister was rushed to the hospital at the same time with a sharp pain in her side, but the doctors could find nothing wrong with her. At the time, neither woman knew she had a twin.


  Is this convincing proof of ESP? No. Is it semiconvincing proof of ESP? No, because ESP is not the only possible explanation of these events. For example, the second twin's pain may not have been caused by the first twin's attack of appendicitis. It may have been caused by the bad lasagna she ate the night before.6

  As I formulated a plan for the design of our experiment, I decided to approach Kathleen and Claire for any recollections of ESP-type phenomena that they might have experienced. My question was answered immediately and enthusiastically by Kathleen, who recounted an incident in kindergarten in which she was crushed because she was denied access to someone's hair for sniffing purposes.7Claire, knowing instinctively that Kathleen was upset, came hurrying from another classroom to comfort her twin. That Claire may have heard her bloodcurdling shriek did not, apparently, enter into Kathleen's consideration.8

  Kathleen also mentioned various incidents involving a pig from her family's small farm, a snake, and someone named Sunshine.9 My suggestion of an experiment to verify Kathleen's claims was vetoed, leading me to further doubt the reliability of her report. That is just as well, because such an experiment would be nightmarish. I am allergic to furry animals, I would find it difficult to obtain a live pig, and the snake is not available for testing, as it was inadvertently murdered by Kathleen.10

  Marina subsequently contributed a tale about Mr. Ennis and wine (?), which I was unable to comprehend due to her poor command of the English language and pronunciation thereof. Claire boasted of an astounding history of success at Pictionary when partnered with Ji, who had been known to guess the subject of a drawing before Claire even put her pen to paper. During this conversation, Brandon hastily exited the room for unknown reasons. Mr. Ennis followed him, and neither returned for the remainder of the class period. Therefore, I was unable to obtain their input.

  The only premonition I personally have ever had11 was that my parents would get a divorce. That had nothing to do with psychic phenomena and everything to do with life experience—ten years' worth.

  Given little material to work with from my research partners, I thus began researching experimental techniques so that we might improve upon the findings of our hapless parapsychology researchers.

  At this time, Mr. Ennis requested documentation of the progress made in our research pursuits. As none had yet occurred, he suggested we might wish to proceed in a speedier fashion.

  He then asked to see a report from each of us before the end of October.

  Since I was the only individual actually working on the project at this time, I asked Mr. Ennis whether I could pursue my Hubble investigation instead. He encouraged me to pursue any topic I wished; however, he made it clear that our group experiment must be complete before he would allow me to enter an individual project in the science fair under his sponsorship.

  As my fellow group members failed to grasp the exciting possibilities of the Hubble constant, I realized it was incumbent on me to assume a leadership role and prod them into some sort of action. In an attempt to interest them in the investigation—any investigation—I suggested the Paranormal Pursuits projects to be found throughout this document.

  As we devised ideas for our individual Paranormal Pursuits, I also enlisted help from the group in collecting materials for our legitimate parapsychology experiment. The complete list turned out to be as follows:

  MATERIALS

  1) One black pen (which will not bleed)

  2) 5" X 7" index cards (25)

  3) One shoebox

  4) One pair of dice

  5) One plastic cup

  To this, we later added:

  6) One dictionary

  7) Drawing paper

  8) Lottery tickets

  Traditional ESP testing cards (aka Zener cards) were made using the black pen and index cards. Claire, known since first grade for her neatness, made five of each of the following designs: plus, circle, box, star, and wavy lines (see cards, display table).

  From here, we embarked on our first attempts to discern evidence of the paranormal in the world around us.

  Exhibit C: Paranormal Pursuits: Telepathy

  Claire Phelps

  IF I WERE EVER GOING TO TRY TO READ SOMEONE'S mind, I didn't think it would be my twin sister's. The person I know better than anybody is Ji. At least, I used to. But by the time we decided to do this ESP project, I was surprised that she thought we were on the same wavelength anymore—about anything.

  Now that Ji has so many new friends, I spend a lot of time wondering what she wants to do with me. When I ask her, she says I'm crazy to worry that things have changed. But her not admitting it to me—that's definitely part of the change.

  What is our friendship about to her? If I could read her mind, that's what I'd want to know.

  But I can't do it. I've tried and tried. That's when Ben pointed out to me that I've tried and tried with Ji, and who knows how long we'll be friends? With Kathleen, who's my sister for life, I've never tried.

  ***

  I am older than Kathleen by four minutes, although sometimes it seems like four years. My father held me during those four minutes, and my mother gave me a name—Claire Catherine, after her two favorite saints.

  The first thing I did in this world was to almost kill my sister (not very saintlike) by using all our oxygen when we were being born. The first thing Kathleen did was shut her mouth tight and not breathe and not cry. She has since made up for this many times over.

  Kathleen didn't get her name until the third day, when everybody was sure she was going to live. I was already home from the hospital then, and Aunt Lynn came to take care of me. Aunt Lynn says I cried the whole time. She says I couldn't bear to be separated from my sister.

  So when Ben started talking about research on twins separated at birth, I thought about Kathleen and me and all the things between us ever since the day we were born.

  I tried to understand how these twins who had never met each other in their whole lives could be closer than me and Kathleen. How could they share butter pecan ice cream across 2,000 miles when Kathleen and I can't even share a birthday cake? How could they laugh at the same jokes when I've heard Kathleen's chicken crossing the road every day since kindergarten and never laughed once? How could they feel each other's gut-wrenching pain (literally) when Kathleen's can only make me a little bit numb?

  And I thought, How come I can't read her mind when she's never out of my thoughts for one minute?

  I definitely feel that being Kathleen's twin qualifies as a paranormal experience. I might have chosen this topic for my Paranormal Pursuit, but that would take a whole book. Sorry, Mr. Ennis, but we're not getting a grade in this class.

  Ji is an only child, and she says she never feels lonely. Meanwhile, I am a twin, and sometimes I feel like the loneliest person in the world. Well, maybe not quite. Maybe that's one area where Kathleen and I are pretty equal.

  I'd never thought about trying to get inside Kathleen's head before. First of all, the idea's kind of scary. And second, why should I? I already know when Kathleen's going to need a tissue even before she starts crying; I know when she's going to need a scolding even before she does something wrong; I know when she's going to sing "On Eagle's Wings" when the rest of the congregation is singing "Amazing Grace," or hug Mr. Ennis when he's trying to teach a lesson. I know when she's going to feed my homework to the pig or let the dog chew my cleats. But I know these things from experience, not ESP. And knowing doesn't help me prevent any of them from happening. Besides, it's not the same as understanding why she has to be the center of attention—always.

  Whatever I give her—praise, time, all my Halloween candy every year—it's never what she wants; it's never enough. How could it be?

  Kathleen takes, and she takes, and, as much as I want to make up for what I took from her, how could I ever?

  Sometimes she tells people—strangers in church—that I hit her.

  Once—I hit her once when we were four. She hit me first.
Because I ate the last Special Dark out of the Hershey's Miniatures bag.

  Mom said I knew Special Dark was Kathleen's favorite. It wasn't my favorite. I should have saved it for her, I should have been more understanding, I certainly shouldn't have hit her back. I should have been a better sister.

  That day I sat in the corner and listened to Kathleen laugh and play and chase after the puppy the way she usually chased after me. I can still taste that memory—chocolate and tears that stayed bitter on the back of my tongue for a long, long time.

  Normal sisters fight, but we don't—not anymore. Now I swallow everything and let her do the crying for both of us.

  Ben gave me an article to read about twin girls. They're conjoined twins, attached at the chest. They share the same heart. They can never be apart from each other—never, as long as they live. Each of them has one leg, and if they want to walk, they have to use both their legs together. That means they always have to agree where they want to go.

  Sometimes I feel as though Kathleen and I are tied together like that, ever since our umbilical cords got tangled before we were born. And—just like then—she's trying to go one way, and I'm trying to go the other.

  Today's our birthday, and I hate thinking of one more year growing between us, pushing that big space into something even bigger.

  When Kathleen blows out all our birthday candles every year, does she understand the wish I'd make if she gave me the chance? Does she understand she's taking that away from both of us?

  I don't know. I don't have ESP.

  I'm sorry to say that my telepathy project isn't complete, Mr. Ennis. It's just starting. I have a feeling it might take another seventy years before I can give you any conclusive results. Before I can say that I understand Kathleen. I apologize for missing the deadline, but I have a feeling you understand.