It had been a long road trip in his sales region. He had been instructed that he had to visit each and every one of his customers that week due to the recalls. Twenty-seven customers in one week was too much, but that's why they pay him the "big bucks". Only a hundred miles left and he would be home. He was a sales rep for a home appliances company and the latest coffee maker was having some issues that should have been discovered long ago. But, now it was his problem to deal with the aftermath. This had happened before, but not to this extent. A couple of people had actually died from the malfunctioning coffee makers. What a way to go. Push the button to make the morning coffee, and the next thing you know, someone is reading your eulogy. I guess a water leak and a couple of exposed wires will do that to you.
That was his last conscious thought before the car went over the railing of the two mile long bridge over Cantarr Lake. He awoke when the car hit the water.
He came wading out of the lake three months ago. It has taken him that long to piece enough details together to figure out who he is, or was. His name is Terry Penderton which he discovered on his Driver's License. He still isn't used to the name, but he answers to it more than half the time and it's getting easier as each day passes.
For the first few nights, he tried to sleep because that's what you are supposed to do. He lay awake the entire night without feeling tired. He still hasn't slept.
Maybe it is the lack of sleep, though he doesn't feel any of the ill effects that his co-workers complain of after a bad night of sleep, but ever since the accident (that he can't remember) he is able to see and feel the water all around him. Not just see it when it rains, but see and feel the water all around him all the time.
Several days later while "drinking coffee" that was too hot, Terry found that he could cool down his coffee merely by thinking about it. Understanding that heat and molecular motion were essentially the same, all he needed to do was evaporate away some water and turn it gaseous. The heat to make it a gas would come from the liquid still in the cup. A few more trials (in the comfort of his own home away from prying eyes) would find that he could control the position and state of water molecules. Heat could be moved from one place to another by changing the state of the water.
It should be amazing for him to be able to do such things. No one else could that he had encountered. But it seemed so natural to him. He would think it and it would happen. Care would have to be taken to not use these abilities in front of others. People can be a curious and superstitious lot.
This by Mike Brooks, 2008.