Here's another one Malcolm

“Calling the Wind”

A few days had gone by since the last time I had dropped in to see Janice and Daisy, so I figured I would drop in again this weekend. It was early in the day again when I showed up. Everything was just as before except that this morning was a bit chilly. But it was a brilliant day and it made the early springtime hard to ignore.

When I had gone into Janice and Daisy’s house, we started lamenting that it was a chilly day, but that it was so pretty it made you want to go outside. I suggested we all go sit outside on the southeast side of the house and it might be comfortable. So we gave it a try, and outside we went. We sat around in the grass, and it was nice out there, despite the chill in the air. But when a gust of wind came up it was uncomfortable.

Janice stated that when the wind wasn’t blowing it was nice, but when the wind kicked up it was cold. She said she wished she could make the wind stop blowing. I decided to have a little fun with them since Janice and Daisy were so easy to tease. I told them that we can make the wind stop blowing. All we have to do is think about the nice still air and it will happen. It was a joke of course, because I had noticed the wind would gust followed in a few moments with a short period of still air. So I told them to just think about it just as the gust started blowing. I ceremoniously went into a meditative thinking state while they watched me. Sure enough the gust died down like it had been doing all along, and the air became nice and still. Then I smiled and said, “There you go. The wind is stopped”, as if I had just accomplished something.

Janice and Daisy were wide eyed with complete belief in my theatrics. They carried on with many exclamations of marvel that, “Bryson made the wind stop!” and so on as that. They were so gullible, and I was really enjoying my prank on these two girls. As the conversation revolved around, Janice like always, wanted to zero in on me in some teasing manner. This time she was a bit serious though. She was freaked out about my prank and gave some opinion about me not having real feelings and emotions. All the while she was looking all big eyed into my face as she talked animatedly. Then she proclaimed, “Look at ole’ Bryson! He’s gone crazy! Oh my! Just look at his eyes! He’s crazy!” and on and on she went for a minute or so. I looked at her as she talked and realized that Janice was really spooked by me again. Again I was irritated by her being afraid of me. I think Janice saw the hurt in my eyes even though I tried not to show it, and she dropped the talk about me being crazy.

I thought her imagination was getting the best of her. I was a bit offended, even though I wouldn’t normally have minded the mystique of being thought of as a little crazy for ego’s sake. But Janice wasn’t joking. She was really spooked, and this irritated me. I didn’t like being a spooky guy one bit. I’m all about love, peace and harmony. But here now two visits in a row, and these girls have been seriously spooked by me just being playful.

I should have known by now that anything I did around Janice and Daisy would be heralded far and wide among all my peers. So now I was gaining a reputation, via Janice and Daisy, of being able to control the wind; though I was unaware until later that the news about me was being spread rapidly by them. But the news fell on the ears of certain persons who again were interested enough in what they heard about me, to take the matter seriously. But the interested party wasn’t Van this time. This time it was Michael.

A few days after my wind prank on Janice and Daisy, I stopped in at the market, and who drove up shortly but Michael? He was a friendly acquaintance I had known for years. But he and I had never gotten any closer than that. But today Michael had a mission, and I was involved. He was driving has custom van with its unmistakable markings, so I knew immediately who was arriving. He parked near the street out in an open area by the pay phone, got out and came around the front of his van toward where I was across the parking lot. The next thing I heard was Michael calling out to me, “Hey Bryson come over here”. Well I wondered what Michael wanted. He and I usually just passed with “Hi” and friendly eye contact.

I walk over to where Michael wanted me to come to, which was away from the others out of hearing distance for normal conversation. Michael was a bit serious acting but still in a friendly tone of mood. I had never seen Michael have a serious tone before, but I kind of liked the manliness of his manners. Michael in a sort of commanding entreaty said to me, “Let’s step across the road”. He started that direction like he just expected me to come along. Well I did follow his lead, because now he had me flat out curious as to what was on his mind, why he called me away from the others, and why he wanted to step across the road with me. So I followed him.

We got across the road and he said, “This is fine”. Then he directed me to look across the open field to the tree line on the other side. Michael asked me, “You want to see the wind?” “Sure!” I said. Michael instructed me, “Look at the tree tops. Look for the whirlwind. You’ll see it.” So I looked in that direction but wasn’t sure of what to be spotting for. Then Michael pointed to an area toward the right in the trees and said, “There it is right there”. I looked and a wind was twisting the leaves in the top of one of the trees. He said, “It’s going to move” Then as Michael pointed, he talked about the location of the whirlwind. “See it moving through the tree line? It’s moving to those trees over there.” I followed what he was telling me and saw the whipping of the leaves move from this location to that location. Michael said, “Now it’s moving up that way”. I followed his pointed finger and saw the slow migration of the whirlwind by watching the different tree leaves being whipped and twisted. Then Michael said, “It’s seen us! It’s going to come this way! It’ll be here in a few seconds! Here it comes!” As his anticipation grew, he said with quiet enthusiasm, “Now!”  Sure enough the whirlwind had seemed to leave the tree line and migrated directly across the open field, though I couldn’t really follow it as well as Michael. Just when he said “Now!” a strong gust of wind blew around us and lingered for a few seconds, and then left.

Michael faced me and said, “Now you’ve seen the wind”. He looked at me in a sort of appraisal of what I was thinking. I was thinking this was a pretty good prank and I looked back at him trying not to show any reaction. We walked back across the road and I didn’t even have any question for Michael at all. I figured it was just a prank trick that Michael must have gotten from the occult circles we obviously both knew people in. So I let the demonstration pass, with me acting unimpressed for Michael.

Michael had spoken of the wind as if it were a living entity which would interact with people who got its attention. I had heard of this kind of thing before. But what was more interesting to me was the fact that here was this young man from the sticks, drawing upon this type of idea and making a demonstration out of it. Obviously Janice had told everyone about my prank, which she still believed I had really done. And now Michael had made it a special point to show me this "seeing the wind" scenario. I was thinking that Michael must also be a part of the occult circle. Why else would he have gotten so serious about something like this, to search for me, and then have something in mind to show me concerning the wind? I think from Michael's perspective though, he just wanted to let me know I wasn't the only one who knew something was living in the wind. I never thought there really was anything alive in the wind. But obviously Michael sure talked like he thought so. Maybe that talk was just part of the gag.

By now, I was thinking a lot of people I had known were stranger and deeper than I had realized. All this seemed like confirmation of a group of subtle people. I surmised this thing was generational, and those involved had inherited it from their own people. I could be wrong though. But it seemed so because there was none of the contemporary “Hocus Pocus” nonsense going on. There were no ridiculous spells and silly crystals; none of that kind of thing. Just strange connections and quick responses to the news of the things I had been doing around Janice and Daisy. The responses and demonstrations the underground group made with me, must have had some motivation. I was just playing around with my acting and pranks, but the occult responses showed they were taking me serious. I think they may have considered me to be the proverbial “loose cannon”, and they were seeing themselves as coaching me into their ranks, rather than doing the things I was doing independently of them. Imagine that: An orthodoxy establishment of the occult! Shee Whiz!