Jack of No Trades

By EVELYN E. SMITH
Illustrated by CAVAT
I was psick of Psi powers, not having any. Or didn't I? Maybe they'd psee otherwise psomeday!
I walked into the dining room and collided with a floating mass of fabric, which promptly draped itself over me like a sentient shroud.
Oh, for God's sake, Kevin! my middle brother's voice came muffled through the folds. If you can't help, at least don't hinder!
I managed to struggle out of the tablecloth, even though it seemed to be trying to wrap itself around me. When Danny got excited, he lost his mental grip.
I could help, I yelled as soon as I got my head free, if anybody would let me and, what's more, I could set the table a damn sight faster by hand than you do with 'kinesis.
Just then Father appeared at the head of the table. He could as easily have walked downstairs as teleported, but I belonged to a family of exhibitionists. And Father tended to show off as if he were still a kid. Not that he looked his age—he was big and blond, like Danny and Tim and me, and could have passed for our older brother.
Boys, boys! he reproved us. Danny, you ought to be ashamed of yourself—picking on poor Kev.
Even if it hadn't been Danny's fault, he would still have been blamed.
Nobody was ever supposed to raise a voice or a hand or a thought to poor afflicted Kev, because nature had picked on me enough. And the nicer everybody was to me, the nastier I became, since only when they lost their tempers could I get—or so I believed—their true attitude toward me.
How else could I tell?