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Letter—that’s what they called it—is
part of that. Even if they missed it when it happened, that’s what
started the rumors flying. That’s when NIAC became the
Boogeyman.”
    “Wow, you even remember the name.”
    I flushed. Damn. “Yeah, well, it’s
just, living here where it’s been more common, I guess it’s more
interesting to me than it is to other people. Plus, I’m good with
names. I know a lot of crap.”
    “Uh huh. Yeah, I guess I can see that. So
after the…whatever Letter thing, then no more letters?”
    “Right. Supposedly the point of the State
Schools is to help kids with Talents control them—so they don’t
hurt anybody. And at first that’s mostly who they took.” Part of me
was telling myself to shut up, but I was just in it now, wanting to
be able to tell someone how wrong it all was. “But that didn’t
cover the kids who didn’t electrocute the cat, or shatter all the
windows, or start f-fires—” I took another drink so I could
swallow. “But they wanted control over all the kids. So they said
that scientists should have access to all the Talents. That’s when
they made it mandatory for parents to report their kids. But since
the ‘dangerous’ Talent kids never came back, who’s going to do
that, right? Not a lot of parents did.
    “Then, not too long after that, came the R.J.
Smith Elementary School Disaster. Allegedly there was one psychic
kid who could put thoughts in other people’s heads. You’d think he
would have made himself the most popular kid in school, but I guess
he wasn’t really bright. He had some family problems, and other
kids made fun of him because of that, so rather than change their
minds, he got back at them by screwing with their heads. Scaring
the hell out of them. Until some of them started killing in
self-defense—against whatever was in their heads—killed each other,
a teacher. It was a whole big mess.”
    “My God.”
    “Yeah. Total psycho little kid. So there’s an
example of a Talent you can’t really see, and that you wouldn’t
necessarily think of as going to go out of control. Not like
toddlers who turn the babysitter into a popsicle. But obviously
people can still be hurt by stuff like that, so the government
says, that’s it, we don’t know what the kids can do, what they will do. They’re just kids, and we need to look out for all
of them in a controlled environment. So that’s when the scare
campaign really got going and, unlike the Koernig thing, the
government was all over publicizing the Smith School Disaster. They
made it everyone’s civic duty to turn in Talents. So now it wasn’t
just parents, it was teachers, day care, neighbors, anyone who saw
a kid use a Talent should report it. Because if something awful
happens, it’s gonna be on your head.”
    “I never heard that before. But then, my
parents aren’t really into talking about national events and
politics and stuff. We hardly ever even watch the news.”
    “It was a long time ago. Like when we were
really little, I guess. I bet if you ask your parents, they’ll
remember the school thing.”
    “Yeah, maybe.” She gave me that look again,
that sort of assessing look that made me nervous. “So, you really
can talk when you get into it. It’s a different you. You’re
all…animated.”
    Yeah, great, thanks. “I should go.
Saturday’s busy sometimes. My parents might be swamped.” I pushed
my chair back.
    “Ok. Look, Joss, thanks for telling me this
stuff. I’m sorry I’m so pushy. I get that it makes you
uncomfortable.”
    “No big deal.”
    “I’m sorry for that crack earlier about
who’re you gonna tell.”
    I shrugged. “It’s true enough. Don’t worry
about it.”
    “Yeah but, I was kind of hoping that we could
be friends.”
    I opened my mouth to ask her why, but then
shut it again. That’s what she expected me to say; that was how she
was going to keep me here, talking to her. And who knows what I’d
say if I did that.
    “I should