Gwendy’s Final Task

“I thought the part of Guyana I was concentrating on when I conducted my experiment back then was deserted. I didn’t know about Jonestown. Hardly anyone did before it hit the news worldwide. It’s not like there was any Internet to check back then. And remember, I was just a kid. This time I did my research and I’m still not sure no one will be hurt. Or killed.” Gwendy swallowed. Her throat was bone dry. “The red button is the least dangerous by far, but it’s still a loaded gun. As I found out when all those people drank the Kool-Aid back in 1978.”

“Gwendy, you don’t really believe that you—”

“Hush. No interruptions. You promised.”

Charlotte sat back, but Gwendy could still see the worry in Charl’s eyes. And the disbelief. There might be a way to fix that.

“I think you should have a piece of chocolate. That might help to open your mind a little.”

Curling her pinky, Gwendy pulled one of the levers on the side of the box. Out came a tiny chocolate animal.

“Oh, my God!” Charlotte cried, picking it up. “Is it an aardvark?”

“Not sure, but I believe it’s an anteater. No two are ever the same, which is quite a trick in itself. Go ahead, try it. I think you’ll like it.”

“I’m allergic to chocolate, Gwen. It makes me break out in hives.”

“You won’t be allergic to this. I promise.”

Charlotte lifted it to her nose for a sniff, and that sealed the deal. She popped it into her mouth. Her eyes widened. “Oh my God! It’s so good!”

“Yes. And how do I look to you?”

“How …?” Charlotte really looked. “Clear. It’s like I can see every strand of hair on your head, every pore on your cheeks … you’ve never been so clear. And lovely. You always were, but now … wow.” Charlotte gave a small giggly laugh. Not the sort of sound you expected to hear from a CIA topsider, but Gwendy wasn’t surprised.

She took Charlotte’s hands in both of hers. “What am I thinking? Want to hazard a guess?”

“How could I …” Charlotte began, then: “A pyramid. The Great Pyramid. The one in Giza.”

Gwendy let go of her friend’s hands, satisfied.

“How could I know that?” Charlotte whispered.

“It was the chocolate. But not just the chocolate. You’ve trained your mind to read other people. You could say that telepathy is part of your job. The chocolates just give you a head start. My mother ate some, and they made her feel good, but she never had any mind-reading ability.” They just cured her cancer, Gwendy thought. “It will fade, but you’ll feel good for the rest of the day. Maybe tomorrow as well.”

“Look at the water,” Charlotte whispered. “The sun fills it with stars. I never saw that before.”

Gwendy reached out and turned Charlotte’s face back to hers. “Never mind that now. Do you know what’s going on in Egypt as of this week? Probably for the rest of the spring?”

Charlotte did. Of course she did, it would have been part of her daily briefings. “A bad outbreak of coronavirus. It’s killing a lot of people and the government ordered a lockdown that will last at least until the middle of May. And they are not fucking around. Show up on the street and you’re apt to get arrested.”

“Yes,” Gwendy said. “And that big old pyramid, the oldest of the world’s Seven Wonders, is deserted. No tourists snapping pictures. No workmen. It’s as close to perfect for demonstration purposes as I can get.”

Gwendy squeezed her eyes closed and thought about the Great Pyramid of Giza, aka the Great Pyramid of Khufu, aka the Pyramid of Cheops. She hated the idea of vandalizing it, but it would be a small price to pay for convincing Charlotte.

She told her old friend what was going to happen and then pressed the red button, really putting her arm into it. Five minutes later she was back in her car, speeding north on I-95, trying to make it in time to a lunch meeting in downtown D.C.

Before leaving, Charlotte asked for another chocolate. Gwendy refused, but invited Charl to pull the lever on the other side of the box. Gwendy wasn’t sure a Morgan silver dollar would slide out—they didn’t always—but this time one did. Charlotte gasped with delight.

“Take it,” Gwendy said. “A little thank-you for listening to me and not calling for the men in the white coats.”

Later that night, when her cell phone rang, Gwendy was sitting in bed, watching CNN. It was showing drone footage of a monstrous pile of rubble where the Great Pyramid had once stood. NO EARTHQUAKE, the chyron read. SCIENTISTS MYSTIFIED. After a brief search, she found her phone tangled up in a blanket. She picked up after the third ring, knowing who it was this time on the other end despite the UNKNOWN CALLER tag in the phone’s ID window.

Charlotte Morgan didn’t bother with a hello or any other pleasantries. All she said was “Holy jumping Jesus.”

“Yes,” Gwendy said. “That about covers it.”

“I’ll get you on a space trip, Gwen, if it’s what you want. That’s a promise. It may take awhile, so hang tough. We’ll talk.”

“But not about this.”

“No. Not about this.”