Second Sight

Darrell and Jeanmarie had been married a little over twelve years when their daughter was born. Jeanmarie gave birth in their small bedroom one late August night and the midwives attending raved about the precious little child with her daddy's bright blue eyes and her mother's golden hair. She arrived with a minimum of fuss, Jeanmarie was up and about the very next day, as proud a mother as the island had ever seen. They named her Miranda Gail and had no idea that she had been born with what was called the gift of second sight, an eerie ability to foresee the future and make predictions with uncanny accuracy. In exchange, she was also deaf and when she was five, her parents took her to Halifax to see a specialist who determined the hearing loss was irreversible but that being a bright, alert and curious child, she would have no difficulty learning sign language and would lead a relatively normal life. Though shattered by the news, Darrell and Jeanmarie gave it their all - they both learned to sign and spent hours with their child, teaching and being taught, patiently coaxing her to learn to speak and communicate. They even taught other children so that Miranda would not feel alone or isolated and after a few years, her deafness was nothing special and no one gave it much thought. She was included in island life as routinely as any child, got into the same mischief and learned the same games, made friends easily and grew into a pretty, gentle, and sweet natured little girl. She did have an amazing talent for finding things that were lost - a misplaced piece of jewelry or a pair of her mother's glasses and Jeanmarie fell into the habit of asking her daughter where a certain something was without really thinking about it - Miranda would close her eyes for a second or two and then lead her mother straight to whatever had been lost - and soon neighbors began dropping by for help with things they had lost but no one paid much mind, assuming that the child simply paid more attention than the adults and had a better memory. Until the evening that the little Russell boy didn't come home for supper, it was nothing special.

Rusty Russell had been playing with friends on the ballfield in back of the church. When dark came and he wasn't back, his mother sighed and sent his brothers out to look for him but although they looked for well over an hour they found no trace. He had been there and then was gone and as the islanders were prone to do, they gathered and organized and and put out an alarm - a missing child was not uncommon and though everyone was sure he had just wandered off and was fine, there was no sense in taking chances. They called his name, went over every inch of the ballfield and the church, went in groups in the woods, called on everyone, but Rusty was nowhere to be found. Miranda, sitting on her front steps and watching all this activity, closed her eyes and frowned then stood and tugged at her mother's arm, pointing toward the woods and urgently motioning Jeanmarie to follow her. Her mother reluctantly took her hand and let herself be guided into the woods and over the hills, through the back pastures to an abandoned farmhouse where Miranda led her to a boarded up well and an unconscious child at the bottom. Bloody and bruised from the fall, Rusty was pulled out, revived and brought home to his much relieved parents who like Jeanmarie, never thought to ask how Miranda had known about the well. Darrell, hearing the story much later that night, did wonder though and after church on Sunday he sat with Miranda in the bed of his old pickup and signed gently, Honey, how did you know where Rusty was? The little girl shrugged her shoulders and looked away. Honey, were you playing by the old well? he persisted but she only shook her head and climbed into his lap, laying her head on his shoulder. Miranda, he signed firmly, how did you know where he was? His daughter hesitated, then touched her eyes with one small hand and pointed toward the back pastures.

There were more curious events ahead - Jeanmarie was about to hang out the wash on a clear, sunny day and Miranda pointed to the sky and shook her head. By noon, the island was fogged in. Lost things continued to be found - keys, Darrell's pocket watch, a pair of work boots. Miranda predicted unexpected company, pregnancies and two miscarriages, the explosion that cost the factory foreman his leg, who would win baseball games, the very day the seal colony took up residence in one of the coves. The islanders began dropping by to seek her advice and by her teens, word of her gift had spread to the mainland and people began writing for help. Being a well brought up young woman, she always answered as best she could and always tried to help, feeling a responsibility to all who asked. When she was in her early 20's, she married Rusty Russell and spent the remainder of her life raising her own children - none born with her gift but all able to hear - and that was more than enough.