Abnormally Suasive

[Hairog]

It would take another six months before Richard consciously uses his abilities. A new girl joined his schoolroom. Her name was Jackie Graham, and she was the most beautiful thing that Richard had ever seen. Spurred on by his hormones, he gathered up the courage to speak with her.

The conversation was awkward and led to an embarrassing situation for both of them. It seems that Richard had to learn to use his capabilities and apply them with intent for them to be effective. He went home and contemplated his failure to communicate with Miss Graham which led him to think about his interaction with Mr. Darby. He recalled entering a kind of altered state of consciousness when he became passionate about his friends’ futures.

His young mind surmised that this would possibly be the key to why he had been able to talk to Mr. Darby and persuade him to educate his playmates. He concluded that he had to be passionate about the subject of his desires in order to persuade others of his viewpoint.

He further reasons that he had to practice overcoming any nervousness that may impede his success. In other words, he had to be passionate and confident to succeed.

In the case of Miss Graham, he was certainly passionate but lacked confidence. As you may remember, it is very hard at the tender young age of 12 to garner the confidence to approach a member of the opposite sex. Intuitively Richard knew that he had to overcome his shyness to interact with Jackie Graham successfully, eventually holding her hand and possibly kissing her.

This was the Spring of 1890, and a movement of adult education had just started in upper state New York. Chautauqua assemblies, named after the movement’s location, were beginning to spread throughout America. In the late 1800s is was based on lectures by prominent speakers. Large circus tents were erected in farmers’ fields.

Hundreds of people were able to attend and hear oratories by the best communicators of the day. The subjects of these shows depended upon the popular topics of the time.

Richard saw a poster for a nearby Chautauqua and had easily talked his parents into letting him attend. The subject was Self Confidence, and Richard was not about to let the opportunity pass.

It should be noted that Richard rarely used his gift on his parents. It can be counted on one hand the times that he did. This was one of those times.

The Chautauqua was everything Richard had hoped for. Speaker after speaker related techniques, inspirational stories, and thought-provoking ideas on how to build self-confidence.

The whole atmosphere was magical. The massive tent was erected on a small lake’s shore, a beautiful breeze was blowing from the west, the sunset had been gorgeous, and the speakers were inspiring.

Richard was filled with self-confidence. Which promptly failed the next time he encountered the beautiful Miss Graham. Once again, he was the mumbling little boy when her gorgeous green eyes met his. As all of you fine readers know, this is perfectly natural, but it was perfectly devastating to a boy of 12.

Shortly thereafter, the Graham family moved to Ohio. Richard briefly thought of moving there as well, but his common sense prevailed.

Richard never did encounter Jackie Graham. It was just as well, for she had a genetic propensity towards alcoholism and drank herself to death at the age of 32, after having gained 150 pounds. It is possible that Richard could have saved her from such a fate, but once again, we will never know.

There is no evidence that even his abilities could overcome the disease of alcoholism.

 

[Deleted member 147978]

Watched and Liked.

@Hairog, your TL had caught my attention mainly due that it appears different unlike most TLs here. (TBF, that's the best explanation I can give.)

 

[Hairog]

Well, thank you Carlos. I'm going to try and get more writing done.

 

[Hairog]

Richard gradually recovered from his failure to move Jackie Graham. There would not be another female that would catch his eye for good 20 years. He dated, flirted and occasionally kissed a number of girls, but in the back of his mind he was always comparing them to Ms. Graham. To his teenage memory, Jackie was the epitome of what a young lady should be.

Meanwhile, he was still enjoying school and his friends. Near his home was a ravine. The small valley was lined by large elm trees and populated by pines maples and oaks. All of these large trees hid the activities of the children playing in the ravine, from the prying eyes of parents. From the age of seven Richard and his friends spent much of their free time in the small woods. They played out fantasies of knights and damsels in distress, soldiers in war, and acting out the adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

The book featuring Injun Joe and adventures on the Mississippi and in caves with girlfriends had captured Richard’s imagination. He easily convinced his companions to endlessly replay various adventures from the book. He went so far as to find they fence to paint and convinced the owner to let him paint it. The owner, of course, had to pay for the paint and brushes, which he gladly did after Richard talked to him.

He then replayed the scene as described in the book with his friends painting the fence. Over the course of intervening weeks, six fences were painted three of which were in fine shape and did not need to be painted. But painted they were. Finally, Richard grew tired of the activity and moved on to other scenes in the book.

A ravine was a naturally occurring geographical formation and the city of Springfield had decided that it would be a natural place to put a catch basin for runoff. Whenever it rained a fast running creek appeared, spurred on by the collected waters from the yards and streets above the ravine.

Richard and his friends loved it when it rained, for they knew the creek would provide hours of continuous play adventure. Boats were made from scrap wood, miniature rafts transported pet mice down the imaginary Mississippi River, and at one point the creek disappeared into a large concrete structure. Inside the cement cauldron, waters from other neighborhoods gathered and co-mingled in a very satisfying whirlpool. The confluence was then ejected into the waiting creek bed. The boys, much to their credit, did not subjected their rodent crew members to the churning waters of the cauldron. The mice were always rescued before the whirlpool and then carried around and placed into the calmer waters of the creek. There they continued their journey until they were once again retrieved by their owners.

As far as we know, not one of our unwilling rodent adventurers was ever harmed in the endeavors. One, in fact, named Pete seemed to enjoy his voyages immensely and eagerly jumped aboard the miniature rafts presented.

In the 1880s, surfing was not common knowledge, but from the descriptions in Richard’s diary of the little mouse standing on his hind legs and balancing himself as his vessel was tossed and turned in the miniature rapids, were darn close. The mouse very often resisted being removed from his craft by holding on with all his might.

In 1880 the local Chautauqua schedule was published, and Mr. Mark Twain was one of the featured speakers. Richard had no trouble convincing his parents to let him attend. He of course talked his way into meeting Mr. Twain and the two carried on a lively conversation for the better part of an hour.

Richard for his part, scrupulously avoided trying to influence Mr. Twain in any shape, manner or form. He was becoming more and more aware of his powers of suasion and did not want to pollute Mr. Twain’s imagination with his own.

The two carried on a correspondence that lasted until Mr. Twain passed on.