Ellen wiped the tears from her eyes while saying, “Correct.”
“How did you feel when you learned of your mother’s tumor?”
Ellen thought for a second before saying, “Blown away.”
“Can you describe your reaction to the news?” Dr. Pendell requested.
“My mom had broken the news to me at the doctor’s office and in front of the doctor,” Ellen said as tears rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away with her fingers as she continued with, “I had definitely wanted a second opinion, but my mom assured me that the current doctor was actually the third doctor who she had seen about her condition. He was a specialist, in fact.”
“There are tissues on either side of you.”
Ellen looked towards the box to the right of her, and after a short hesitation, she reached for it. After grabbing it, she took a couple of tissues from it and then set the box next to her on the couch.
As Ellen wiped the tears away with the tissues, Dr. Pendell asked, “What was your reaction when you learned that the doctor at the time was the third doctor who had examined your mom?”
“I wanted my mom to see even another doctor, but my mom explained to me that seeing another doctor would be a waste of time and money. She was dying and ten different doctors’ opinions weren’t going to change that. Once I had accepted that another doctor’s opinion would be a waste of time, I cried for a good ten minutes in my mom’s arms. The doctor just sat there and allowed it without saying a word. Finally the doctor told my mom and me that he had another patient coming in. By that time, I had pretty much cried myself out, and when we left, we went home. After we got home, we watched home movies. Three of my brothers and my sister had died before I was born and I had learned a lot about them that day.”
“Detective Delaney had told me about the tragic accident that took their lives.”
“My dad’s dad was killed in that accident too,” Ellen added.
“Okay,” Dr. Pendell said while making a notation. “What are your feelings about what had happened?”
Ellen took a breath before saying, “Cheated and pissed off.”
“According to Detective Delaney, your dad was trying to evade the law at the time of the accident that had killed your siblings and grandfather.”
“Yes,” Ellen said simply.
“What are your feelings on that?”
“Pissed off,” Ellen replied.
“Pissed off at what? The cops who were chasing your dad or…?”
“I’m pissed off at my dad,” Ellen interrupted. “He should’ve known better than to have listened to that psychic.”
“Your dad was trying to outrun the law because he was instructed to do so by a psychic?” Dr. Pendell asked in a confused tone.
Ellen shook her head before saying, “A psychic had told my dad that his kids were in mortal danger if his kids would remain in the house that they were living in at the time. My grandpa was with my dad at the time of the psychic’s warning, and when my dad and grandpa had warned my mom, my mom thought that they both had lost their minds. According to my dad, he was desperate to keep his kids safe, and so he kidnapped his kids in an attempt to do so. And as you apparently know, it had backfired on him.”
“And you believe that your dad should’ve known better than to have been taken in by a fraud?” Dr. Pendell questioned.
“Oh, the psychic wasn’t a fraud,” Ellen assured him, “and the vision that he saw was genuine…”
“I’m confused,” Dr. Pendell interrupted. “If you believe that the psychic wasn’t a fraud and his vision was genuine, then why do you believe that your dad had made a mistake by listening to him?”
Ellen glanced towards the finches before gesturing towards them and saying, “I’m the reason why your birds are so active, Dr. Pendell.” Dr. Pendell gave Ellen a curious look. “They want to come to me, but being that they are locked in a cage, they can’t.”
“You believe that those birds want out of their cage and to go to you?” Dr. Pendell questioned.
“I know for a fact that is what they want,” Ellen assured him. “Birds, animals and rodents are attracted to me, my dad and his brother… and my uncle’s kids. Before the accident, they were attracted to my grandpa, my brothers and my sister too. Anyway, the psychic’s vision was about certain types of birds that were flocking around my dad’s house, and the psychic had mistakenly taken his vision as a bad bird omen. So my dad’s… and even my grandpa’s mistake was thinking that bird omens applied to our family without considering the fact that we naturally attract birds.”
“You honestly believe that you and your family attract birds?” Dr. Pendell questioned.
“Again, it’s a fact; not a belief, and if you want proof then open the door to the birdcage and see what happens,” Ellen said before gesturing towards the exit. “Detective Delaney and Everett know that about me too, so if you don’t want to open the birdcage then go ask them.”
Dr. Pendell stared skeptically at Ellen for a short time before standing. He shot a thoughtful look towards the door before turning and walking towards the birdcage.
“Normally I wouldn’t indulge such claims, but your claim definitely has me curious,” Dr. Pendell said as he stepped up to the cage. “And it will be easy to prove or disprove.” Dr. Pendell then went to open the birdcage.
The cage door was barely wide enough for the finches to get out when the two squeezed through the small opening and flew directly to Ellen. One landed on Ellen’s right shoulder as the other landed on her right leg at the knee.
“Well I’ll be!” Dr. Pendell uttered in an impressed tone.
Ellen grinned. Her expression then turned serious before saying, “I’m pissed off at my dad because my dad should’ve known better than to believe that bird omens applied to us.”
Dr. Pendell nodded in an understanding manner before asking, “How difficult will it be to get these birds back into their cage?”
Ellen thought for a second before saying, “Let’s find out.”
Ellen cupped her hands beneath the finch that was on her leg and scooped it up. The finch responded comfortably to being picked up by Ellen, and while holding the finch in her cupped hands, Ellen stood up.
The finch that was on Ellen’s shoulder just shifted its balance over Ellen’s movements, and as Ellen walked towards the birdcage the finch continued to shift its balance.
Once Ellen stepped up to the birdcage, she gently put the finch that she had in her hands into the cage. The finch went into the cage with little protest. Ellen then went to scoop up the finch that was on her right shoulder with her left hand. As with the first finch, the second finch responded comfortably to Ellen, and had gone into Ellen’s left hand before being scooped up.
Dr. Pendell was watching Ellen’s every move and the finches’ reactions to it, and once the finches were back in their cage, with the cage door close, he said, “If I didn’t know better I would swear that you had those two birds trained.”
Ellen just shot Dr. Pendell an amused grin.
Dr. Pendell then gestured towards the couch while saying, “Anyway, we should continue.”
Ellen nodded before turning and walking back towards the couch. After reaching the couch, Ellen hesitated to sit while looking at the painting on the wall.
Dr. Pendell saw what she was looking at and shared, “My son painted that picture.”
Ellen shot