Allison DuBois - Don't Kiss Them Good-bye

I also wanted to make sure that this murderer was never released to kill again, and there was plenty of evidence that he would have done just that. My head felt as if it was in a vise all morning. Eventually it was three o’clock. I picked up the phone to call the prosecutor, hoping that she had gotten a verdict.

She picked up the line immediately. “We just got the call! The jury is back with their sentence! I’ve got to go; I’ll call you when it’s over. And Allison, just so you know—the jury came back at two fifty-seven P.M.”

We hung up as I watched the clock ticking. I drove to the mall to do an errand, my heart pounding and a lump in my throat the entire time.

After half an hour the phone rang. I almost jumped out of my skin.

“Hello?”

“Allison, you’re good.”

“Did we get the death penalty?”

“Yes.”

I had to know: “What did the defendant do when it was read?”

“He laughed.”

A happy ending. But I want to emphasize that I alone didn’t achieve these results. It took a lot of good police work and the right, gifted legal team to make this happen. It also took the bravery of the young children who will always remain a part of their mother.

After every case I say to myself, “This is my life.” Some people say they could never do my job even if they had the ability to. I can understand. It’s a tall order, but for some reason I can’t do anything else.

My six-year-old daughter, Ariel, came home from school one day upset because her peers weren’t able to see the apparition of a man who stood in the hall in front of her classroom at school. She described him to them and her classmates laughed at her. When she turned around, he was gone.

I found out later that Ariel’s friend Erin had leaned over and whispered, “I can see him too, Ariel.” I am so tickled that Ariel has a friend her age with the same gift, so she doesn’t feel so alienated. Ariel and Erin talk to each other about their abilities and about what I do. They know that not everyone can see the things they do, and that that’s okay. They like having their special “powers.”

I want to share some exercises I use with my girls to help prevent them from shutting down as they get older. I’ve noticed that once little psychics realize their peers think they’re weird or different, they tend to ignore or block their ability to communicate with the other side. The last thing school-age children want is to stand out and be teased by others.

When my girls are grown, they can decide for themselves whether they want to maintain a relationship with the other side. Until then, I will try to keep my kids open to the possibilities that surround them.

When I shut down as a child, it was because of confusion about what I was seeing and hearing, as well as my mom’s ambivalence, that made me afraid to disappoint her. I hope that this chapter might help parents find out whether a child has a psychic gift, as well as suggest what to do once they are certain that the child does.

Say your child comes to you and says, “Mommy, I see a woman over there.” You look over and see nothing. What should you do? You should turn to your child and say, “Really? What does she look like? What is her name? Does she want to tell us something?”

Plenty of children have imaginary friends and love to make up stories. If that’s the case with your child, you have done no harm in listening to his or her story and playing along. And if something more significant is going on, you are doing your best to reassure your child that it’s okay.

You might find that a friend or relative on the other side is hanging around your child and trying to communicate with you through him. This is a great exercise for enabling your child to become comfortable telling you details of his spiritual encounters. It also encourages your child to think about asking questions and exploring the possibility of communicating with something others may not see. You will remove the strangeness surrounding it, which is important. The first person a child looks to for comfort, approval, and learning is his parents. You set the tone for your child’s development of his gift.

Children are easier for spirits to access than adults are. Adults have issues and emotional walls built up that can make it difficult for a spirit to come through to them. Often a spirit has whispered messages or tried to be seen by a loved one, only to be dismissed.

Knowing that my children are being watched over gives me a feeling of warmth and added security. Some people might say, “I wasn’t close to Aunt Emma, so why is she with me?” The person on the other side may have died around the time you were born, or maybe she felt connected to one of your parents and now chooses to be with you. That’s all that matters. We have to realize as human beings that sometimes something bigger than us can call the shots. Feel loved and connected and try not to get bogged down in the whys, because eventually we all receive the answers to our questions.

As an exercise for my oldest daughter, I challenge her to find missing objects around the house.

My husband, Joe, was missing his electric shaver for a few days and had to use a disposable. Let’s just say I was worried about becoming a widow. I was sure that Joe was going to bleed to death after using a regular razor. We figured that our one-year-old, Marie, had toddled off with the electric shaver and left it missing in action.

I was in bed with the flu, so I called Ariel over and told her I had something to ask of her. I’ll admit that at first I was a typical mom and tried bribing her for two days with monetary gain if she would tell me where the razor was. Anyone who knows Ariel also knows that shopping is her favorite thing to do; she has a clear appreciation of money. Still, no luck; she said she didn’t know where the razor was.

After a few days, I took a different approach. One morning as Ariel stood next to my bed, I said to her, “Close your eyes and take a deep cleansing breath, and exhale so that I can hear you. Is your mind a blank canvas? Are you relaxed? Now, where is Dad’s electric shaver? What is the first thing that comes to your mind?”

“It’s in a drawer, I think, in Marie’s room.”

I went to Marie’s room and looked in her dresser; it wasn’t there, but since Ariel was seeing the razor in a drawer, I stepped three feet away from the dresser to the door of Marie’s room, and there reached for the first drawer in the hall. Bingo! Joe’s electric razor. I told Ariel that although it wasn’t actually in Marie’s room, it was very close and that was good work, especially considering the size of our two-story house.

Being close but not exact is a common experience. Sometimes a psychic or medium has a hit, just not a direct hit. Taking into consideration Ariel’s age and lack of experience, her information was impressive, and I let her know it. By positively supporting Ariel, I piqued her interest in psychic games, which is critical in preventing a child from closing her mind to her gift.

Encourage your kids to trust their first instincts and the original information received. They shouldn’t alter the information by mixing in preconceived notions. This was a great exercise; Ariel saw it as a challenging game and enjoyed it. At the same time it is strengthened her psychic capabilities, and the ability to locate objects is one of the most useful of all psychic tools. Ariel is learning to trust what she gets and to be comfortable enough with her gift to share it with me.

I tell my daughter not to shout from the rooftops about her gift, because not all people understand what they can’t see. I also tell her to appreciate and honor her talents because they are special. Encourage your kids, but don’t force it on them. If they are uncomfortable doing these exercises, then back off.