It seemed like Dad was developing super powers only these were not the kind of powers the Warriors had in the new cartoons, not like the Talents of Galactia Nine or even like the combat skills of Zebra Head. Dad could not bend metal. He could not see through walls. His powers were smaller, less useful, less theatrical. Maybe powers was not even the right word. Since the changes Dad could generate a feeling of unease and he could make tears without seeming to cry – what good was that? – the water streaming down his face with no warning. He could also make a route through the garden so crazy that no sniper could predict it – wandering, stumbling, sometimes falling, sometimes stopping suddenly, completely without warning. Best of all he could see and hear things that were not there. Late at night James found him staring into the garden where Dad said men were standing but when J. tried to work out if it was near the bushes or right by the barbeque Dad would not Specify. When things got worse Dad was sometimes exploiting an even more powerful super power (?) that involved him talking to the dead. Long arguments he had – with Stella, and Quentin, and with his own Dad. Mum yelled down from the bedroom asked him to keep the noise down, keep it down she said but he said the volume was not his fault. The ghosts had been drinking.
