I looked over at Mom and Zoe; they were calmly listening to Trevor speak.
“But he was still my dad,” Trevor said. “I thought of something when Zoe was up here, telling that princess story. That was before I was born, so I can’t comment on it, but it made me think of this one time…I must’ve been eight or nine. Dad told me that he was going to let me in on a secret, but that I had to promise not to tell anybody. I kept asking what the secret was, but he insisted that I promise first. So I gave him my word that I wouldn’t tell a soul. That was when he told me the secret: he was telekinetic. I had to ask him what that meant, and he said it meant that he could move objects with the power of his mind. I thought about it for a minute, and then I looked up at him and told him that I knew he was lying. He insisted it was true, though, and he offered to prove it to me. He took me out to the shed in the back of the house. We weren’t supposed to go inside the shed because there were lots of sharp things in there and our mom was convinced that we’d impale ourselves or something if we went inside. But Mom wasn’t home; it was just the two of us. Sorry, Mom.”
There was some laughter from the mourners. Mom smiled.
“Dad had a punching bag in there; it was hanging from a chain that was bolted to the ceiling. So, he takes me in there and closes the door. It was a little past noon, and it was summer, so the shed was hot. The small window on the back wall was always so dirty that it let in very little sunlight, so Dad had to turn on the light in there so we weren’t standing in the dark. We’re standing in there, and I’m wondering what the hell he’s going to show me to prove that he has these powers. He tells me to keep watching the punching bag, so I do that. Dad closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and then opens his eyes again as he raises his hands so that his palms are facing out toward the punching bag. His face is all serious like he’s concentrating very hard, and I’m thinking that he’s lost his mind.