As much as a number of naughty thoughts Ty felt intense reluctance. The next door mom had always been so kind and caring to him. He knew that with a mere thought he could make her anything he wanted... or make her do anything he wanted. He gulped again as fresh fear overtook his young mind.
"Ty?" A sudden voice startled him out of his thoughts. Eileen had turned back from the porch and was staring at him with concern. "Are you all right, dear?"
At this, the 15 year old almost burst into tears and choked back overwhelmed emotions as he shook his head no.
Mrs. Paulson quickly skitted down the porch and grabbed Ty's hand, leading him back inside with her and patting his back. "Ohhh, honey! Come on in with me! You can tell me everything that's wrong."
* * *
Ty sat awkwardly in somebody's else house. An all together strange experience since he never really got to go anywhere new.
It was clear from the way he was sitting on the living room couch, hands folded, trying to make himself as small as he could, that he felt absolutely out of place. He kept eyeing Mrs. Paulson, who was setting down glasses and a pitcher on the table, and gulped.
She turned and saw his red blush and obvious discomfort and smiled warmly, slowly approaching him. "It's okay, honey. I know you don't get out much. It's safe here, I promise."
"Thank you, ma'am." Ty said, his blush lessening somewhat.
She shook her head and laughed gently. "No more of this ma'am business. I'm Eileen. Okay?"
"All right... Eileen." Ty said with genuine relaxation.
"Now come have some lemonade." She motioned towards the table, and Ty seated himself across from her and let her pour him some cool lemonade, complete with jingling ice cubes.
"So." Eileen said, sipping her lemonade and setting it down patiently. "I know you might not feel comfortable, but do you want to talk about anything?"
"I don't know how to say this." Ty began, taking a huge nervous gulp. He felt anxiety about to boil over. "But... today I woke up, it's my birthday..."
"Happy birthday, darling." Eileen interrupted with a forced smile, trying to make him feel better.
"And... well... c-can I show you? It's easier if I showed you."
"All right..." Eileen said, shifting in her chair and taking on the look of a concerned parent. "That's fine, Ty."
"Um... I can change things. Like... anything." Ty gulped, seeing Eileen's clear confusion, and proceeded to concentrate on her table cloth, turning it from flowery plastic blue to a flat knitted white in a blink.
"Whoa!" Eileen suddenly pushed her chair back, eyes wide, and raised her hands off the table. She looked at the table cloth, now intricately patterned by hand instead of being mass produced in a cheap factory. She looked at Ty in shock, and then comprehending astonishment. "H-How did you...?"
"Like I said. I can change things now." He gulped, growing just a little more confident. He motioned to Eileen and took a deep breath. "Things. People. Myself. Anything."
"Ty... that's..." She looked down at her table in curiosity and fingered the table cloth, rolling it between her fingers. It had gone from dollar store vinyl to soft fabric. "People?!" She realized, suddenly intrigued. "Did you say people?"
"Um. Yes." Ty blushed.
"W-What?!" Eileen's eyes went wide.
Ty just about died from embarrassment.
"No, I'm sorry!" Eileen reassured him, hands up in the air. "No, that's... that's remarkable!" The single mom sat in shock for a moment and then realization set in. "Yourself, you say?"
"Yes." Ty whispered meekly, gulping and burning bright red.
Eileen looked him over with her mouth agape from the other side of the table and then smirked wryly. "Well, yes, the... the proof is right in front of me, isn't it? I thought you had been working out to match Dustin, but you... you..." She couldn't say the right words and simply trailed off. "My goodness."
"I don't know what to do!" Ty admitted, almost starting to cry again. "I think I can do whatever I want and change whatever I want. That's... that's... it's overwhelming."
"Well, how does it work, Ty?" Eileen blinked, genuinely curious.
"I... just... think of something I want. I can see it in my head. Then I make it happen. And whatever I've got now does the rest." Ty sighed and looked at his lemonade with tired sickly eyes.
Eileen paused for a long time before responding. She kept staring at Ty and the tablecloth. "That's incredible, Ty. Have... have you tried much?"
"I accidentally shrank Dustin." Ty gulped.
Eileen's cheeks went from bronze to red and she gasped. "S-Shrank him?"
"I-It's okay!" Ty said quickly, used to defending himself. "I-I turned him back! He's okay! He doesn't even know it happened!"
"Oh my." Eileen looked down at the floor in contemplation and gulped. "I understand. That's quite a... gift, isn't it?"
At those words, Ty suddenly blinked and seemed to slump back in relief. "Huh." He muttered. "I-I guess it... I guess it is."
The two stared at each other from across the table and gave each other a silent nervous look.
"Um, well, thank you sharing that with me, Ty. I promise that I'll keep it between us. Tell me, what... what are you going to do now?"
"I don't know." Ty whispered quietly.
"W-Well..." Eileen gulped. "Perhaps... we... we could... well, maybe we could see what you can really do with this. I'm very curious."
"R-Really?" Ty blinked in surprise.
"Uh... yes." Eileen stared, eyes twinkling, excitedly leaning over the table and just about knocking over her lemonade. "I guess I am!"
"Uh... what do you want me to do?" Ty gulped, his cheeks rosy red.
"Oh, I don't know! Gosh..." Mrs. Paulson put a finger on her lips, thinking, and then suddenly pointed into the air. "I don't know! What do you want to... well, try?"