While Ty was doing his homework, Mark watched TV, and June and Lisa sat at the kitchen table and chatted. When a commercial came on, Mark decided to call Diego. He went to his and June's bedroom, for privacy, and called Diego's cellphone.
"Hello," Diego answered.
"Hi, Diego, this is Mark. Do you have a moment to talk?"
"Sure, Mark. I'm just sitting at my desk taking care of bills. I could use a break."
"Diego," Mark said, "June and I, and the kids, are a bit concerned about how you and Maria feel after this morning's demonstration of Ty's abilities. In particular, it was obvious that Maria found it very disconcerting. I want to know if there's anything June and I might be able to do to ease your minds."
"Thank you, Mark," Diego said. "It's true that we both found it disconcerting, to say the least, and you're right, Maria didn't take it very well. She was extremely concerned. In fact, she wasn't sure she wanted any of us to have further contact with your family. We spoke at length about it. I told her that I think Ty is a very responsible and conscientious young man, and that I don't believe he would ever do anything to hurt Lisa, or us. I think she agrees, but she's still worried. She spoke to June on the phone a little after the experience, and I think that helped settle her nerves."
"That's good to hear," Mark said. "I agree with you 100%. Has Ty told you anything about our family?"
"Not really," said Diego. "When he mentions you, he seems respectful."
"I'm not sure that I should share this," Mark said, "but maybe it would help you understand Ty a bit better. As we mentioned this morning, Ty seemed to suddenly develop his abilities just a few weeks ago. I am ashamed to admit that before that happened, June and I were very poor parents to him. We adopted Ty four years ago, and somehow we never really treated him well. Because June and I weren't kind to him, Dustin wasn't either. Ty always did as he was told, but he didn't like us, and that is entirely our fault.
"When he discovered his powers, he demonstrated them to us, and not in a gentle way. I first experienced his power when I was very angry with him. He hadn't done his chores, and gave some excuse. I grew angry with him. I wouldn't listen, and was going to punish him. Now, I have anger management issues, and normally Ty doesn't ever stand up to me, but this time he did, and that enraged me so much that even June tried to step in between us. Ty froze me in place. I couldn't move a muscle, except to breathe, and move my eyes. I couldn't speak. But rather than being terrified, it just enraged me more."
Diego said, "That's utterly horrifying! I can't believe Ty could do that to you! Maybe Maria is right!"
"No, please," Mark said, "Don't jump to conclusions yet. Let me explain.
"Ty asked me to calm down, and that he wanted us to all sit down and have a conversation. He said that he would release me, and he did. I immediately charged at him, and he froze me again. He forced me to step outside with him, and against my will, I did. He let me move my head, and asked me if I could calm down and talk. This time I agreed, and we went back into the house.
"We started having the discussion that Ty wanted. He explained a little bit about his newfound power, and that he'd done something bad to Dustin with it, unintentionally, and that he wanted to fix that and apologize to Dustin. We didn't really believe him, as what he claimed was clearly impossible. Eventually June had had enough of the conversation, and she was going to slap him. He froze her, and for the first time I saw that he wasn't angry, and he wasn't gloating over his ability. He was sad!
"Dustin didn't understand what was going on, but he knew Ty was behind it. He thought Ty had hurt June. He leaped in to attack Ty. And Ty froze him, too. I wan't frozen, but I knew there was nothing I could do, other than plead with Ty to release them. Ty promised that he would, and repeated that he only wanted us to have a conversation.
"Ty let June move her head, and asked her if she could calm down and talk. She nodded. Ty asked me to catch her when he released her. After a moment she asked Ty to release Dustin. He promised that he would, but asked her to talk him down first. Dustin is a bit of a hothead, like me.
Ty let Dustin talk, while keeping him otherwise frozen. Ty and I went into the kitchen, while June talked Dustin down. I followed Ty, because I don't think I'm a calming influence on anyone, least of all Dustin. After a few minutes, June said that Dustin had calmed down. Ty and I returned to the living room, Ty unfroze Dustin, and we had the calm conversation he asked for."
"That's quite a story," said Diego, "and I wouldn't have believed it if not for the firsthand demonstrations Ty provided this morning, But I'm afraid that you're only making me agree more with my wife."
Mark said, "I'm sorry to hear that, but please let me explain further.
"Ty explained what he had done to Dustin, and apologized to Dustin, and fixed it.
"Now earlier, Ty had said something about how 'Things are going to be different around here.' Perhaps you can imagine our fear about what he might have meant by that. June and I were terrified of how our life would be, going forward, having to do everything we could possibly do to keep Ty happy, or at least keep him from getting angry with us. We had no idea what he could possibly do to us in anger!
"But, to our amazement, that wasn't what Ty wanted at all. We offered him everything we thought he could possibly want. We said that he didn't have to do chores, he could go out whenever he wanted, we would buy him a car, anything!
"As wemade these offers, instead of being pleased, he became even more sad. He said that he was sorry that we saw him as a monster. He explained what he wanted, and it shocked us!
"He said that he didn't want any of the things we had justed offered. He wanted to do his chores! But most of all, he wanted us to be a normal family. Not perfect, but normal. And he just wanted all of us to treat each other with a bit more respect and kindness. He said that he thought that would make us all happier.
"Now, none of us had been very considerate or kind before, so this was a big change for us, but we saw that Ty was sincere, and had a valid point. It was a challenge for us at first, but it surprised me how well it worked, and how little time it took to get used to a new attitude, a new way of life.
"Honestly, Ty gaining his power is the best thing that has even happened to our family. It brought us together, and as Ty said, it has made us all happier."
Diego had to think about that. "That's a great story, and I'm glad it worked out for you. But you have to think about our point of view. Ty froze you! He did that to you TWICE! And he forced you to follow him outside! What else has he done to you?"
Mark said gently, "But don't you see? After four years of living in a dysfunctional home, and being abused, Ty would have been justified in doing nearly anything to take out his anger and frustration on us, his revenge! We can't even begin to imagine what he coukd have done to us. But he didn't! He didn't hurt us at all. He did the very least harmful thing he could think of, just to get us to calm down and talk things out. He has never harmed us. He did do one bad thing to Dustin, by accident, which he fixed and apologized for. The point of my explaining all this to you is that you should NOT think of Ty as a monster, and be afraid of what he might do. He has demonstrated, time and again, that he doesn't want to hurt anyone, and that includes you, Maria, and Lisa."
Diego considered further. "I see your point. I don't think we should share this story with Maria, but thank you for sharing it with me. I'll continue trying to get Maria to calm down and accept things. For now, it's probably best that Ty not use his abilities in her sight."
"Yes," Mark said. "Ty already realized that on his own.
"Thank you for listening. And I'm sorry to burden you with our family history."
"Not at all," said Diego. "I'm glad that you shared that."
"OK. I'll see you when we bring Lisa home tonight," Mark said.
"I look forward to it. Goodbye."
"Goodbye."