Mind Over Matter

“I’m a very practical man. Psychic phenomena, clairvoyance, telepathy and that sort of thing, don’t fit into my day-to-day life.”
    She only smiled at him, understanding. Whatever thoughts came into her head remained there. This time David did shift in his chair.
    “I decided to do this series on parapsychology mainly for its entertainment value.”
    “You don’t have to apologize.” She lifted her hand just as a large black cat leaped into her lap. Without looking at it, Clarissa stroked it from head to tail. “You see, David, someone in my position understands perfectly the doubts and the fascination people have for…such things. I’m not a radical.” As the cat curled up in her lap, she continued to pet it, looking calm and content. “I’m simply a person who’s been given a gift, and a certain responsibility.”
    “A responsibility?” He started to reach in his pocket for his cigarettes, then noticed there were no ashtrays.
    “Oh, yes.” As she spoke, Clarissa opened the drawer of the coffee table and took out a small blue dish. “You can use this,” she said in passing, then settled back again. “A young boy might receive a toolbox for his birthday. It’s a gift. He has choices to make. He can use his new tools to learn, to build, to repair. He can also use them to saw the legs off tables. He could also put the toolbox in his closet and forget about it. A great many of us do the last, because the tools are too complicated or simply too overwhelming. Have you ever had a psychic experience, David?”
    He lit a cigarette. “No.”
    “No?” There weren’t many people who would give such a definitive no. “Never a sense of déjà vu, perhaps?”
    He paused a moment, interested. “I suppose everyone’s had a sense of doing something before, being somewhere before. A feeling of mixed signals.”
    “Perhaps. Intuition, then.”
    “You consider intuition a psychic gift?”
    “Oh, yes.” Enthusiasm lit her face and made her eyes young. “Of course it depends entirely on how it’s developed, how it’schanneled, how it’s used. Most of us use only a fraction of what we have because our minds are so crowded with other things.”
    “Was it impulse that led you to Matthew Van Camp?”
    A shutter seemed to come down over her eyes. “No.”
    Again he found her puzzling. The Van Camp case was the one that had brought her prominently into the public eye. He would have thought she would have been anxious to speak of it, elaborate, yet she seemed to close down at the mention of the name. David blew out smoke and noticed that the cat was watching him with bored but steady eyes. “Clarissa, the Van Camp case is ten years old, but it’s still one of the most celebrated and controversial of your successes.”
    “That’s true. Matthew is twenty now. A very handsome young man.”
    “There are some who believe he’d be dead if Mrs. Van Camp hadn’t fought both her husband and the police to have you brought in on the kidnapping.”
    “And there are some who believe the entire thing was staged for publicity,” she said so calmly as she sipped from her cup. “Alice Van Camp’s next movie was quite a box-office success. Did you see the film? It was wonderful.”
    He wasn’t a man to be eased off-track when he’d already decided on a destination. “Clarissa, if you agree to be part of this documentary, I’d like you to talk about the Van Camp case.”
    She frowned a bit, pouted almost, as she petted her cat. “I don’t know if I can help you there, David. It was a very traumatic experience for the Van Camps, very traumatic. Bringing it all up again could be painful for them.”
    He hadn’t reached his level of success without knowing how and when to negotiate. “If the Van Camps agreed?”
    “Oh, then that’s entirely different.” While she considered, the cat stirred in her lap, then began to purr loudly. “Yes, entirelydifferent. You know, David, I admire your work. I saw your documentary on child abuse. It was gripping and very upsetting.”
    “It was meant to be.”
    “Yes, exactly.” She could have told him a great deal of the world was upsetting, but didn’t think he was ready to understand how she knew, and how she dealt with it. “What is it you’re looking for with this?”
    “A good show.” When she smiled he was sure he’d been right not to try to con her. “One that’ll make people think and question.”
    “Will you?”
    He tapped out his cigarette. “I