• Frank Tappa was a tall, broad-shouldered man, but managed to fit in the cramped bus. His green eyes spotted an open seat and began to move to it, but looked behind him and saw a pregnant woman walking up behind him with her husband behind her, holding a sleeping toddler. Frank smiled at both of them and moved to let them by. The woman smiled at him gratefully and the man shook his hand. Frank was surprised by his exuberant thanks, but he merely grinned and said, “You’re welcome,” calmly. The man walked back and stood next to his wife, who smiled at him and looked at her extra weight. Frank held on tight to the handles above his head as the bus began to move, running a hand through his short, brown hair. He wouldn’t be able to concentrate while standing on a moving bus, so he just looked out the window for now. He was both reluctant and eager to thumb through the local minds today.

    Frank, as a child, was hearing voices. All the time, it never ceased. Sometimes it was loud, other times it was quiet. Often, it depended on the mood of the room. Frank figured out at eight years that he was reading minds. He heard things from his parents he’d never hear them say out loud. He also discovered he could rifle through the memories of any person he liked. It was harder though, the person would suddenly remember the moment Frank was inspecting and then they would suddenly have a headache from all the dusty memories being brushed.

    Frank was able to take in a wealth of information and decipher it in moments. He had learned about nearly every subject known to man by the time he was fourteen. He didn’t know why his mind was so gifted, but he knew it was an amazing gift. Now, Frank was 27 and was a wealthy man as an agent for an important CEO and an occasional contributor to magazines, often with insightful advice for people. He was also well known. Magazines and local newspapers would continually watch his every move and wonder how he had managed to create such a thriving business. They had far-fetched ideas that he used tarot cards and other spiritual devices to discover what was to come.

    Then Frank corrected himself; only five articles accused him of being a gypsy. The other ones took it from a business standpoint, hailing him as a business prodigy and god. Frank sometimes reveled in this, them not knowing and he with the ability to know what their faintest memory was. He’d heard about politics and the craft that was business from that time he first discovered the voices.

    But he had also been rushed into a birds-and-bees talk. He’d said too much after hearing some jokes from school, both spoken and thought. His father was shocked to hear his son saying dirty things at the age of nine. Frank was scolded and reprimanded and then given the serious talk about women and why men were attracted to them. Frank was frightened of women for a time.

    Once he reached his teens, though, he began to leave that behind. He made friends as if by pointing and choosing. He knew what each person thought and was able to make the finest jokes. Or at least the ones the people he scanned wanted to hear. He was also an empathetic friend, feeling people’s pain and helping them. School was also a breeze. He could read the mind of the teacher and check the answers to each and every test, quiz, and homework paper. For projects, he probed the mind of the teachers, looking for what the teacher was hoping to see and obliging their dreams.

    Unfortunately, Frank would always be tired by the end of a day, though, and he rarely stayed awake past nine o’clock. His parents became worried he had an energy problem, as he would always wake up poorly. His dreams were always fraught with everyone else’s dreams, tiring him even as he slept. He was able to deter his parents from sending him to a doctor, fortunately. He didn’t want something to lead to another and quite possibly lead to a brain scan. He was sure his brain was always working twice as much as an everyday human’s. It could even be three times as much, but Frank wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to find out either, not now, at least. No one knew about this mind reading. When he was fifteen, he decided he’d had enough of the voices. Over the course of two months, he tuned out the incessant brain waves flying about and ordered everything he heard, choosing only what seemed interesting at that moment.

    A bump jostled the bus. Frank awoke from his glazed dreams. He chuckled to himself for letting down his guard. He was always afraid of someone else being able to read his mind. He doubted this, though.

    With his ability, he could have had almost any job he wanted, but being an agent seemed to fit best. He picked up an interesting thought passing by and focused on it. “Man, I hate that guy!” was the emotion being projected. Frank narrowed the thought down to the bus driver, who was now changing the radio station. Jazz music filled in the background noise of the bus. Frank felt a bit of a calming sensation from almost everyone present, except for a select few who either had great distaste for jazz, or were wearing headphones and completely oblivious.

    Frank also picked up on another oblivious mind, but more so than the rest. He began to focus more on that signal and located its origin. An elderly man with a hearing aid was looking out the window at the passing New York buildings. Frank began to filter through his thoughts, finding he loved just staring at things and studying them. The man’s contemplative personality had helped him loads at his old job as a construction site surveyor. He noticed fine detail and could memorize the topography of the places he had worked. He had recently been let go because of an accident involving dynamite. Frank examined the man’s mind a moment more before breaking the connection and focusing on when he was supposed to get off.

    He saw the bus stop thirty seconds before the bus arrived there, just as his eyes got fully focused. Frank prepared to get off, making sure he had his briefcase. Before the bus doors opened, he adjusted his overcoat and made ready to enter the cold New York winter.

    The doors opened and Frank was met by cold air. He stepped off quickly and took a few breaths, attempting to get used to the cold air. He was still a little light headed from perusing just two minds. Albeit, he had been jumping from mind to mind all day as he worked.

    Suddenly, Frank detected panic behind him. He turned and caught the pregnant woman as she slipped on the wet sidewalk. Her husband was there in an instant, holding tight to his half-awake child, thanking Frank again as he steadied her. “Man, you moved so fast, it’s almost like you knew it was going to happen,” the man said. Frank smiled at him “I always try to be ready on wet days. Please be careful, miss. Enjoy the rest of your day,” he patted the woman’s shoulder. She smiled at him and put her arm through her husband’s as he started walking away.

    Frank then had a thought. He hadn’t read the minds of developing children that often. He walked to the bus stop bench and sat, searching for the child’s mind. But he couldn’t find it. He kept trying and trying, but it seemed to be nonexistent. Then he picked up a blip. He quickly jumped to it mentally and found the child. Immediately, he felt his head wracked by a headache. He held onto the connection as long as he could until the pain broke the link. Frank fell back onto the bench and breathed heavily, grateful it was empty.

    What had happened?

    Frank looked at the couple rounding the corner. The child’s mind was strong. Maybe it had Frank’s ability! A wild thought, but it seemed logical. He had caused headaches in the minds of people who were bothering him, but never to the degree he had just experienced. Then again, Frank had never pushed his ability to its limits, fearing he might injure himself. Frank thought a moment more before standing and walking to his apartment.