Page 117 of Switch!

Trixie gets a wicked gleam in her eye. “Challenge accepted.”

The tune she plays is one of her best. I’ve heard it before, but never like this. Gary is critical as he watches her. Trixie makes very few mistakes, and even those might be classified as artistic interpretation, depending on her intent. She wins him over halfway through the song. Gary is reminded of his former ambitions. He’s already reaching for his pocket as the performance comes to an end.

“Do you accept checks?” he asks.

Trixie stares. Then she blinks. “Sure! Just make it out to Trixie Harper. Every little bit helps!”

Gary loosens the pen that was clipped to the checkbook. Then he clicks it while sizing her up.

She doesn’t look like a junky. Or an alcoholic. She can’t be more than eighteen, at the most. Even if she’s not telling the truth, at least she’s out here working for a living.His eyes move to where Patrick’s body is stretched out on the bench.Better than that lazy nigger. I’ll be glad when I’m in Vermont again, where it’s nice and white.

I’m disgusted as he starts writing the check, and downright furious when his pen moves to the amount. He wants to write it for one hundred, which Trixie and I would normally be thrilled about, but I’m not letting the racist bastard get away without paying more. I take over just as he’s writing the second zero. Then I add another, making it a thousand. I have to consult his memory to figure out how to finish writing the check, since I’ve never done that before.

I don’t feel any resistance from Gary. The difference between the two amounts means little to him. His willingness is important, because I know a check can be cancelled if he has a change of heart. To be sure he won’t, I relinquish control to him before he hands it over.

“Don’t make me regret this,” he says. “Put it to good use.”

“I will,” Trixie says, her eyes bulging when she reads the sum. “Oh wow! Thank you so much!”

“I enjoyed the trip down memory lane.”

Trixie resumes playing as he walks away. This is when I would usually make the leap back to Patrick’s body. I don’t though. Not yet. Instead I take control again and sift through Gary’s memories. I let him keep walking, all the way to the restaurant and inside. Only when I’m satisfied do I finally leave him, which is a mistake. I’m too far. The interior of the restaurant is filled with distracting lights in a variety of colors, and when I head toward darkness, I end up in another room. Next door maybe. I reorient and try again, feeling weaker by the second. When I see the plants of the park, white and pure, I rush toward them, wondering what would happen if I tried to possess a tree out of sheer desperation. I don’t need to this time. I see a horizontal line of cyan light and launch toward it.

When I sit up in Patrick’s body, Trixie is next to me, looking concerned.

“Are you okay? Where were you?”

“I’m fine,” I say while rolling my shoulders. “I just went a little farther than normal.”

“Oh. Were you in that last guy? Did you see this?”

She holds up the check and lets her jaw hang loose.

I grin in response. “I was with him, but trust me, you impressed him enough that he didn’t mind paying so much.”

“Were you in control? You don’t normally know those terms, but you could have—”

“It was all you,” I say. “You’re really talented. I’ve always known that, but to hear you play through someone who truly understands music was amazing.You’reamazing!”

“Thanks,” Trixie says sheepishly. “He seemed like a really sweet guy.”

I don’t want to sully her happiness by revealing Gary’s hateful opinions. There will be time for that later. Right now, it’s good to see her so happy. “Just tell me you have a bank account we can deposit that in.”

“I do,” Trixie says. “Let’s go to an ATM. I’m terrified I’ll lose this, or the wind will blow it away or… A tiny piece of paper shouldn’t be worth this much!”

I laugh as we rise and begin walking. “How much of what you told him was true?” I ask.

“You mean Cleveland?”

“And the scholarship, yeah.”

Trixie is quiet before answering. “All of it. Except it was almost a full scholarship. I was the next one down on the list. I shouldn’t know that, but I asked the right questions.”

And used her ability to ferret out the truth. I can only imagine how upsetting a missed opportunity like that must have been. I don’t want her to end up bitter like Gary, no matter how successful she is later in life.

“We’ll deposit that check,” I say, “but I want you to keep it. After we get Patrick back on his feet, we’ll keep doing this until we’ve earned enough for you to go to Cleveland.”

Trixie cocks an eyebrow when she glances over at me. “Don’t I get a say in this?”