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spread across Kennedy’s face.
    “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “You used your gift and saved that pretty young girl.”
    “No, I…I didn’t…”
    “Pish posh, son. Let’s not lie to each other. You have a gift just as I do. I’ve admitted it to you. Can you do the same for me?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “That’s better. Now, you must have some questions for me?”
    Benjamin laid down his plastic spoon and wiped his mouth with a napkin. His stomach was in knots again. He was nervous, but curious. Benjamin wanted answers.
    “Why do I…” Benjamin started.
    Kennedy held up a gnarled hand.
    “I forgot to tell you. One of my rules is that you only get three questions per visit. I’ll hold you to it.”
    “Per visit?”
    “Would you like to use one of your questions for me to answer that?”
    Benjamin thought about it for a moment.
    “Yes.”
    “Very well. From time to time, until I die, I will visit you. You’ll never know when or where. You see, it’s in my nature to be a little mysterious. We’re all a little different. My good friend Annabelle prefers to live in trees and Unger wears… Woops. That’s just like me to go off on a tangent. Must be my old brain.” Kennedy tapped his head. “As I was saying, I’ll show up sometimes to check on you and to help you along your chosen path. During those visits I will allow three questions about your ongoing quests, your path or your gift. Don’t worry. You won’t waste one asking to use the restroom!”
    Benjamin’s mouth hung open. Chosen path? Gifts? Quests? What was this old man talking about? There were too many questions to ask. Why did he only get three? Benjamin’s brain worked to come up with a better question.
    “What are these gifts?” he asked quietly.
    Kennedy tapped his nose with his spoon. “There are those in the human race that possess certain talents. Some people might call them powers. I prefer to use the term gift. Has a better ring to it, I think. Having these talents is very rare. There are only a handful of us in the entire world, although that number seems to have increased recently. Our gifts are divided into three general categories: healing, growing, and destruction. One who is imbued with the gift of healing is able to heal and affect the physical well-being of living creatures. Some world famous doctors and healers have had this gift. Quite a serious lot if you ask me.
    “Those with the gift of growing possess the ability to manipulate the earth and our environment. For example, they can make a tiny acorn sprout into a ten-foot-tall tree or make a cloud expel rain. Extremely useful when you want to grow a garden in a pinch. Growers tend to be our gentlest souls.”
    Kennedy paused to eat another bite of rainbow sherbet. He was more serious as he began again.
    “The gift of destruction is more loosely defined. I call it destruction, others call it control and liken it to telekinesis, the power to move objects and manipulate the physical world. I, however, find that using the term ‘destruction’ properly warns us of the gift’s…side effects. You see, those who have gone astray have almost always had the gift of destruction. Very sad when that happens.”
    Benjamin’s faced turned gray.
    “I have the gift of destruction, although I use my gift for good.” He smiled. “One of the reasons I am here today is that we believed you had, as I have now seen, the same gift. I am to be your mentor of sorts. Final question?”
    Healing. Growing. Destruction! It was almost too much for Benjamin to process. He didn’t want to be one of the bad guys. It was hard enough trying to be good!
    “Why do we have these gifts? Who gave them to us?” asked Benjamin, all thoughts of chocolate fudge ice cream swept from his mind.
    “Technically that was two questions, but I’ll treat it as one, I suppose. Although I’m not sure you’ll like the answer.”
    Kennedy pursed his lips, thinking.
    “We don’t know where our gifts come