Chapter 4 - Strange Things Begin To Happen

Three years after Kyle's death, Mary Jo McCabe called me one evening. She asked if Kyle had ever had a green and yellow parakeet. I wondered why she wanted to know. I told her I didn't think so, unless he had one when he was in college that I didn't know about. I told her I'd check and see. She told me he'd come to her and shown her a green and yellow parakeet. We talked a bit more, then hung up.

Since I'm an itinerant teacher, I travel from school to school throughout the day. The day following my phone conversation with Mary Jo, I had finished teaching my classes at one school and was driving to another school. I happened to drive down the street where Wendi's house was located. She's the friend who had heard Kyle's voice while at the funeral home telling her he wasn't in the casket.

I turned into Wendi's driveway. I had never been inside her house before, since I had just recently found out where she lived. She seemed surprised to see me. I was even surprised that I was there, having no idea why I had stopped. She invited me in, and I told her I could only stay a minute or two or I'd be late for my next class. I remarked how nice her house looked, and asked her if I could take a quick "peek."

We entered the den and Wendi commented, "I feel like Kyle's here." It was then I spotted a green parakeet sitting in the corner in a cage. Reminded of Mary Jo's call the previous night, I said, "Oh! You have a green parakeet!"

"Yes," Wendi said. "And there's a yellow one in the cage below."

I leaned down and couldn't believe my eyes. I told her about Mary Jo's call.

The next time I saw Mary Jo, I told her about Wendi's green and yellow parakeets. Mary Jo told me it was Kyle's way of letting me know he is aware of everything going on in my life.

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Chapter 9 - An Incredible Journey

John Edward said, "He's telling me you let a plant die in his apartment."
Kyle's apartment was attractive, well decorated and furnished mostly with the help of Pier I. He liked the masculine, darker wicker. He could never have enough plants. He had a lot of silk plants, but he preferred the live ones. He had a hanging basket, an ivy plant, hanging in the corner of his living room. I remember his calling me one time after he had neglected taking care of this plant. He had thought he might lose it, but he was all excited when he phoned me. It had grown a new leaf.
Kyle had come home for an extended stay. I was visiting family in Arkansas. I went by his apartment to check on things. All was well, even the plant hanging in the corner. But I rationalized that the plant would have a better chance if I'd move it outside on his fence by the patio. I hoped it would get the right amount of rain and light. I even remember trying out different places to hang it so his plant would stay green and healthy.

"I can't believe Mom killed my plant," is what Kyle said to Jim when they visited the apartment a few weeks later. Never again would that plant grow another leaf.

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Chapter 19 - A Sellout for John

He began walking over to the right of the stage in our direction. He said a young male who was thrown from a vehicle in April was there. His mother's birthday was in October. He thanks you for the birthday tribute you had for his birthday (cake and balloons).

"His father knows he's okay. He's telling me you are wearing a piece of jewelry related to him."

The microphone was in my face. I looked down at the frog pin that was on my blazer lapel. "I have this frog pin. Kyle liked frogs."

"No," John said. "He's telling me you have on a necklace with a number on it related to him."

The audience was stunned when I pulled out my number "42" and said, "This was his football number."

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Chapter 23 - Don't Be Surprised If He Doesn't Show Up

John Edward said, "He wants to remind you there is a birthday coming up. A birthday, next week."

This didn't make any sense. I quickly thought of family members, girlfriends, and others, but it didn't ring a bell to either Jim or me. We shook our heads no.

"Well, he wants you to know he's reminding you."

When we arrived home from New Orleans, I pulled out my small book with the special occasion dates listed in it. I was wondering whose birthday Kyle was so adamant about my remembering. No one's birthday was next week. Maybe John misunderstood this one bit of information from Kyle. So I forgot about it.

When I came home from teaching on Friday, February 13, 1998, there was a message on my answering machine. It was from Kathy.

"Today is my birthday and tomorrow is the second anniversary of Barlow's death. I've been asking Kyle to tell you. I've been telling him to remind you." These were the exact worlds on my answering machine. I even recorded them so I could save them.

When Kyle was reminding me of not forgetting a birthday the next week, he was also correct. Our reading with John was on a Thursday. The following Friday of the next week was Kathy's birthday. Unbelievable, isn't it? What would the skeptics say about this?

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Chapter 35 - Kyle Thanks Me for Letting Him Go

On April 25, 2000, I received a call from Linda. She asked me if it would be convenient for her to drop by and see me the next day, that she had something to give me.

"While I was in a Hallmark store today picking out a card for someone else, Kyle made his presence known and said he wanted to give you a gift in celebration of your letting him go to the Other Side. He wants to thank you."

Needless to say, I was on a high, wondering what Kyle was up to. I left the front door ajar so I could hear Linda when she came.

Linda was carrying a small decorated bag that I could see had tissue and a colored envelope protruding from the top. After she followed me to the kitchen table, she handed the bag to me and told me Kyle didn't want me to open it until the following day, on the 27th.

When I was able to focus on what was on the outside of the bag, I couldn't believe what I saw.

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