Ellen gave Dr. Pendell a curious look while saying, “I’m guessing that he had studied art and that you didn’t want him to.”
Dr. Pendell was noticing that the two finches were quieter than before while saying, “At the time when he was studying art, I thought it was a waste of time. I told him that art was a hobby, and I’m happy that he had proven me wrong. And while on the subject of people proving things to me, I have to admit that the birds seem calmer after being allowed to go to you.”
Ellen glanced towards the finches while agreeing, “They do. I had even enjoyed that.”
Dr. Pendell grinned before continuing with, “Anyway, to get back on track, let’s talk more about your dad.”
“What more is there to talk about?” Ellen questioned.
“Other than you being angry at your dad for him thinking that bird omens would apply to you and your family, how is your relationship with him?”
“Better since my brother’s funeral, but still not like most father/daughter relationships.”
“Describe your relationship with your father,” Dr. Pendell requested.
Ellen took a breath before saying, “He loves me, and he would spend time with me if I would request time with him. However, I’m always on guard when I’m around him, so I try not to spend that much time around him.”
“Why are you always on guard around him?”
Ellen thought of her answer for a moment before saying, “Before I was born, my dad had worked for a crime lord in Kansas City, Missouri. Four years ago he had decided to share his life story with me. His life story had frightened me and that was when I decided that I want very little to do with him.”
“Does your dad still work for that crime lord?”
“No,” Ellen replied while shaking her head. “He went to prison over the deaths of my siblings and when he got out thirteen years later, he went straight. He works at a warehouse in Independence, Missouri.”
“Do you talk with him at all?”
“I haven’t spoken with him verbally since I had moved here to Savannah, Georgia, but we do send each other Emails. And currently, corresponding by Emails is really the only comfortable relationship I have with my dad.”
“Okay,” Dr. Pendell said while making a notation in his notes. “Getting back to your mom, what was your relationship with your mom like?”
“Good,” Ellen began. “We did a lot of activities together. Although, I believe that most of what we had done were diversions in order for her to keep her mind off of all the family members that she had lost.”
“Your siblings?” Dr. Pendell questioned.
“My siblings, her brother and parents,” Ellen replied. “The other two children that she had wanted to have after me and never did.”
“Your mom had wanted additional children?” Dr. Pendell quickly questioned.
“My mom had wanted to have a total of eight kids,” Ellen replied.
“Why did your mom want to have that many kids?” Dr. Pendell asked, curiously.
“I don’t know,” Ellen said with a shrug. “She told me that she didn’t really know; however, she had always known—even as a little girl—that she had wanted eight kids, and that her wanting to have that many kids had never changed. I’m not certain about this, but I think that the attraction that the birds and animals have for my siblings and me is accumulative. As more of us are gathered, the more birds and animals are attracted to us. So I’m guessing that my five older siblings were attracting a large number of birds at the time of the psychic’s warning. Still, my dad should’ve known better than to have listened to that psychic.”
Dr. Pendell nodded before making a notation in his notes. “Out of curiosity, how many kids do you want?”
Ellen amusingly grinned before saying, “More than one, but less than six.”
Dr. Pendell grinned before asking, “So what did your mom do for a living?”
“Before she was diagnosed with a brain tumor, she was a manager for a travel agency. She quit her job after being diagnosed.”
Dr. Pendell nodded before saying, “So tell me about your mom’s parents and brother.”
“I don’t know enough about them to tell you much.”
“Tell me what you do know about them,” Dr. Pendell urged.
“Okay,” Ellen began before taking a breath. “My grandparents are from Kansas City, Missouri like me, but when my grandpa… my mom’s dad graduated from high school, he went straight into the army. My grandma married my grandpa soon after he got out of boot camp. They lived on several army bases during my grandpa’s time in the army and the last base that they lived on before my grandpa was given his medical discharge was in Germany. My mom had just turned seventeen when they moved back to Kansas City, Missouri… from Germany. My mom had met my dad within twenty-four hours of her moving to Kansas City. Thirteen months after that, my mom’s parents and brother were killed.”
“How were they killed?”
“Auto accident,” Ellen said jadedly. “But in their case the accident had involved toxic chemicals and the authorities had to destroy the bodies involved. At least, that was what the authorities had told my mom anyway.”
“Your mom didn’t believe the police?” Dr. Pendell asked curiously.
“According to what my mom had told me, it wasn’t the police who had come to the door with the news,” Ellen began. “She couldn’t remember which branch of the authorities that the person was from, but what she did remember was that there were no reports of any major or fatal accidents that day within the city limits. My mom tried for months to learn more about the so-called accident, but she kept getting the runaround. Eventually she gave up and accepted what she was told.”
“What are your feelings about that?”
Ellen gave Dr. Pendell a curious look before saying, “Asking me about my feelings on that makes as much sense as asking me about my feelings on December 7th, 1941. In fact, my feelings would be the same. They’re both history events that took place before I was born.”
“And yet you have feelings about what had happened to your siblings,” Dr. Pendell pointed out.
“My siblings were killed seven and a half months before I was born,” Ellen began. “And my mom’s parents and brother were killed sixteen years before I was born. So my siblings being killed were less of a history event to me. Plus I saw the effects that my siblings’ deaths had on my mom.”
“Okay,” Dr. Pendell said while making a notation in his notes. As he looked up, he asked, “Was your mom’s brother an older brother or a younger brother?”
“A younger brother,” Ellen said. “He was fifteen.”
“What was his name?” Dr. Pendell questioned.
“Tucker Wiley,” Ellen said. “My mom told me that his nickname was Coyote—as in Wiley Coyote.”
Dr. Pendell grinned before asking, “What else can you tell me about your mom’s parents or brother?”
Ellen shrugged before saying, “That’s all I can think to say about them.”
“Okay. So—to change topics—how are you adjusting to a life in Savannah, Georgia?”
“I’m adjusting,” Ellen said.
“I know that you made at least three friends.”
“I made several friends since I’d moved here,” Ellen began. “In fact, making friends isn’t difficult for me. I even Email my friends in Kansas