Overall, I've left this scene quite open for other origin stories and quite a distance between where Doreen shows up under that tree for Joe to save her. Her connection to those people is still unknown, as well as where Jack is all this time.
If I get back to being inspired in this area again, then I have plenty of material to work with in this world. Roger and Sue have unique talents which could form a sequel.
Metaphysically, there's not much left to answer as part of this, however. This work was done as a personal exploration into some dangling lines of thought which are touched on throughout, often several times. There are some practical applications of these to decipher, however it's unlikely that fiction is the best channel to pour these through.
The point of fiction is to render all these various authors through a single channel, in the idea that people might more easily access solutions which will help them with any goal they might have set toward their own enlightenment. And help them with their own funny things that happen.
Dreams are an interesting sub-study of our humankind condition. Through their examination, we can see that all life is not so serious as we may have thought or believed earlier. It is those points of seriousness which entertainment and effective self-help address. Certainly, when one releases contra-survival fears, emotions, feelings, and thoughts, then there is a much greater freedom to attain - and any life is filled with endless peace, which is beyond description. That last sentence is the moral to the story told here.
I thank you for reading all this, and hope it has been entertaining or at least interesting throughout. Maybe you might have learned something. Of course, that is all up to you.
Cheers.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Commentary 16
81. Back to the adventure. I liked this point that Joe is trying to solve at least two adventures at once. In both instances, we have four characters interacting with their surrounding world, which is both familiar and different at the same time. Hostile characters in each round it all out.
The phrase 'Be the Witness', is an interesting one from Levenson, who got it from older sources. But it fits that as you get to a perfect peace within yourself, you'd cease to worry about the world around you.
And this scene is over-dramatic, and over-acted. It really is more one of those Indiana Jones adventures, after all. But it's fun.
But overlong compared to other sections. I simply didn't have a good point to break it up. Things turn out well for our main characters.
82. This is where Joe now cognizes that dreams are simply created. And you see what the Prefect saw on his screens as Joe tells each of these his discovered secret.
When Roger finally accepts this, he is able to reprogram the scene around them and move directly to a backdoor - interestingly labelled 'Maintenence'.
Which leads them to the white room.
83. And the control room burns with noe one in it. The Prefect's world crashing and burning.
84. Our main characters confront the Prefect, who is adamantly holding onto his own ideas of control and revenge. So Joe says they are going to fix things, completely even-handedly, not out of any sort of reaction to conditions around him.
85. Roger and Sue wind up in the cartoon Farm and are perfectly happy. They learn the secret to showing up there, as Cat tells them. Roger's quote is interesting, "Life is a dream and dreams are dreamed by dreamers."
86. The operating room shows up, with the Prefect getting the physical attention he needs. He's out of it now.
87. It's the nurse in the recovery room who explains to the Prefect and us exactly what happened. He's got to heal and it's going to take time. But he's been having bad dreams, so in this one he is sedated so he can rest.
88. Final scene, almost. A bookstore. Our four main characters are all settled in their new lives as couples, quite happy with everything going on now. The Prefect has moved into some sort of semi-retirement, teaching programmers ethics courses as some sort of amends for all he's been doing. Roger and Sue are harvesting all that dream world data to pull out the workable truths it was built on. And they got married, maybe even by Father George. Helen and Joe are living their lives together, though it's not known what they do.
89. Joe meets himself in the library - and tells him that he's always known that this data was readily accessible. And moves into a peace beyond description, which is another New Testament allusion (peace that passes all understanding) as to becoming enlightened.
90. Helen and Joe wind up in the cartoon Farm world. Cat gives the final lesson - Life is as good as you can imagine it to be. And we leave them making out in that field, much as Dog and Cat did.
The Prequel:
I wrote this in a mad dash one day, as I was short of the 50K quota by a bit in order to have a short novel. But the plot had finished and everything had wrapped up. The pacing was good and I didn't want to have to re-write sections just to add another 8K words in there. So I left the story for a few days and came back inspired one day, then put everything else aside to write it out.
The idea is to take one of those under-developed characters and look over life from their viewpoint. Doreen seemed fascinating enough to explore, so her story bubbled to the surface. If this ever comes back again, I'll have plenty more material with each of these characters (well, probably not the Prefect - but nothing's impossible.)
Now the style is different, since we aren't jumping in and out of scenes all the way through. But it also explores a wealth of other ideas.
91. Doreen is on a flight to a remote valley in South America (we know that destination by now). And it started with her dreams...
92. The dream is being in that canyon and facing the wall of water. But she knows they started when someone sent her a piece of jewelry. A black and white stone set in a gold and platinum wire setting, similar to Joe's, only with a leather thong as a necklace. Here she trims the leather thong, but later finds it was back to it's original length. She replaces that thong with a silver chain, only to find the silver inexplicably corrodes and breaks.
93. When she returns that evening, with a few too many under her belt, she winds up in the toilet and takes it out - only its back on the thong again. It's always comfortable to wear and she decides to go to sleep. Waking in the middle of the night after having that dream, she realizes that she got dressed during the middle of the night and doesn't remember doing it. As she goes back to sleep, she then gets another version of the dream. This time, she is meditating naked in front of the figure and doesn't care when the flood hits - she is completely calm and waits there until the waters recede and the sun comes out. She seems to feel the statue is friendly toward her.
All this raises a very different scenario than our earlier section. Now you are seeing someone under the influence of this jewelry - which influences her dreams, but drives her to action. Still, a call to adventure as above. Yes, there are veiled sexual overtones to this to keep it interesting. But the heroine is still just trying to understand her environment rather than conquer it or escape its control.
94. More to these affects of the jewelry - no hangover. Here, she concludes she needs to visit the spot this came from, however, it's not going to be that easy.
95. Her life becomes devoted to getting ready for the trip and in finding what she could about the amulet.
Finally, she gets a lead about an obscure person who lived in an old lighthouse in a shrunken, back-water town.
Now this one really surprised me the way it came out. We kind of backed into this, describing the town before we get to the character - along the line of the actual researcher, instead of some fiction writer. While not in the first person, our following her is more along the lines of a modern "reality" show.
The grammar of these sentences is abrupt, like taken from notes during the conversation.
Her dreams that night were bizarre, but forecast what she is about to encounter. Again, we are dealing with dreams here, so the license to use them is broad - as this is a precursor to an entire novelella about them. Even the dream about falling returns.
Now this book she reads really doesn't show up again. It gives us a partial background of the valley she will be visiting. Were this going to be longer, I'd have had her interview Father George to find out about this, but again, the story ended too early. It does introduce an unnamed character who could have a book just on his travels through Europe and Colonial America's - but its better just to use the broad strokes here.
And the following discussion about the valley are interesting - since one argument against eternal life is overpopulation, yet the standards of living here are quite high, which is our modern equivalent of birth control.
96. I don't know if you walk a quarter mile daily. I do, just in caring for my cattle - usually 3 or 4 times that, twice a day. So when she parks her car nearly a quarter-mile from the lighthouse, you can say it's walking several end-to-end football fields to get there.
When we get to the lighthouse, it's notable that the door doesn't squeak and is completely adjusted to simply stay in the position you leave it in. As well, this is almost extreme simplicity and tidyness within. Invited to climb a long spiral staircase after already walking that distance was good reason for her to be out of breath - but as well, she's been working out, hasn't she?
Here's the interesting part - he knew she was coming. (And women seem to always blush when honestly complemented in this story.)
(A sidebar - both of their names are a play on words. And I didn't spot that Jack ends up being an old friend of Joe until I finished this, interstingly.)
He warns her to send that amulet off to another relative right away, and repeats it - which sets the stage. He's to be her mentor, but is trying to dissuade her from the adventure that waits. The series of questions he asks her are designed to push that point home - that she is being controlled by an unknown and mysterious force.
By his talk, she assumes that he has one. And here is where it gets sticky. He is trying to get rid of the very person - perhaps the only one - who can help him with his own problem. Is this reverse psychology, or humane concern?
Again, we come into the description of precisely-fitted masonry as Joe described in the hospital Garden. This is actually a tie-in to some of the South American ruins, where the temple stones are so set that a knife can't even be fit in between them centuries later.
97. And his possession of the lighthouse on top of the stone is another hereditary tale. The supernatural shows up and continues from here. First a family Bible that he can't get rid of.
An interesting point here is that he mentions inspiration as different from research. If you review the library sections in Joe's story above, you'll find some interesting connections here.
More supernatural stories, which lead to conversing with ghosts. And the dream connection is revealed.
These ideas about ghosts run differently than others - that if they tell their whole tale, then they will leave - but the idea of bribes is more familiar - such as tributes and sacrifices.
98. With all these stories and being told she is the solution to his jinx, Doreen is doubtful.
Jack tells her to go ahead and leave - but she 'knows in her heart' that she shouldn't. So when he rattles off a shopping list of what to get and where, she just buys it. Now you start seeing here that Jack is a completely efficient type of person, with no wasted motion. And when he decides something, he just does it with no question or hesitation. (See Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" or "Law of Success" about this.)
99. Getting the stuff doesn't take much space. The chocolate donuts are there because women love chocolate and men like donuts. Perfect match. Now again, we have some uncanny prescience on Jack's part. He's got a table set for two, and even cooked two steak dinners instead of one.
The home-grown salad is another touch - as well as how to properly prepare food. Most people don't live from the land any more, but we have a decent-sized garden and I love fresh vegetables from it.
And of course ghosts announce themselves with a loud thud outside the building...
100. Jack's hands are full of what? Ice cream and donuts. Doreen has to do all the heavy lifting - but that was the way it had to be all along, didn't it. Doreen doesn't trust that the amulet will keep her warm on the outside of an old lighthouse, so she nabs the jacket.
Jack is giving the ghosts a bit of a hard time, saying that they don't knock over open bottles of wine, and now don't open packages well. Sheesh.
And I don't know why Doreen is eating ice cream when she's already chilled. Evidently hungry, though. Just dug in and finished it off before the ghosts arrived.
Here's where the door element comes in - ghosts make it squeak on purpose.
101. These two are quite Victorian. So Jack's offer to have a smoke while the girls talked was straight out of the old habits of the time.
Hermione and Doreen have some very direct talking. But it was the amulet which really sold the deal. How Jack figured out what Hermione said means perhaps that he was just around the curve, listening - so he got through to Lucien earlier. Or he's more telepathic than he lets on.
102. Again, this is old school manners at work, plus a bit of coquetry on Doreen's part. Men will be men, even if they've been dead for a few centuries.
Now we still don't know how these ghosts are bound to protect that secret. But again, the presence of the amulet gives them pause.
Duke sealed the deal, but Doreen got the upper hand. Note, the two lower hands (Leroy's and Sam's) are known as "dead man's hands". Four kings would connote royalty - or even the Four Horsemen. But Doreen wins.
103. Since all the ghosts apparently agreed, the room goes dark, the amulets glow, and Doreen is simply able to pick up the buried amulet from the hole Jack started. And they are both near-duplicates.
At this point, we know there are three of these, when you add in Joe's above. However, as a prequel, this raises even more questions, since neither Doreen or Jack had the amulets in their possession when Joe interacted with them.
Doreen recruits Jack to go to South America with her, and he typically leaves the house as neat as a pin and even blows out the pilot light on the stove - as well as turning out all the lights in the lighthouse.
We don't know if he already had the duffel bag packed - given the above, it is probable that he could have. Or he might just be that efficient to pack one in a couple of minutes.
Doreen is driving, as usual.
The phrase 'Be the Witness', is an interesting one from Levenson, who got it from older sources. But it fits that as you get to a perfect peace within yourself, you'd cease to worry about the world around you.
And this scene is over-dramatic, and over-acted. It really is more one of those Indiana Jones adventures, after all. But it's fun.
But overlong compared to other sections. I simply didn't have a good point to break it up. Things turn out well for our main characters.
82. This is where Joe now cognizes that dreams are simply created. And you see what the Prefect saw on his screens as Joe tells each of these his discovered secret.
When Roger finally accepts this, he is able to reprogram the scene around them and move directly to a backdoor - interestingly labelled 'Maintenence'.
Which leads them to the white room.
83. And the control room burns with noe one in it. The Prefect's world crashing and burning.
84. Our main characters confront the Prefect, who is adamantly holding onto his own ideas of control and revenge. So Joe says they are going to fix things, completely even-handedly, not out of any sort of reaction to conditions around him.
85. Roger and Sue wind up in the cartoon Farm and are perfectly happy. They learn the secret to showing up there, as Cat tells them. Roger's quote is interesting, "Life is a dream and dreams are dreamed by dreamers."
86. The operating room shows up, with the Prefect getting the physical attention he needs. He's out of it now.
87. It's the nurse in the recovery room who explains to the Prefect and us exactly what happened. He's got to heal and it's going to take time. But he's been having bad dreams, so in this one he is sedated so he can rest.
88. Final scene, almost. A bookstore. Our four main characters are all settled in their new lives as couples, quite happy with everything going on now. The Prefect has moved into some sort of semi-retirement, teaching programmers ethics courses as some sort of amends for all he's been doing. Roger and Sue are harvesting all that dream world data to pull out the workable truths it was built on. And they got married, maybe even by Father George. Helen and Joe are living their lives together, though it's not known what they do.
89. Joe meets himself in the library - and tells him that he's always known that this data was readily accessible. And moves into a peace beyond description, which is another New Testament allusion (peace that passes all understanding) as to becoming enlightened.
90. Helen and Joe wind up in the cartoon Farm world. Cat gives the final lesson - Life is as good as you can imagine it to be. And we leave them making out in that field, much as Dog and Cat did.
The Prequel:
I wrote this in a mad dash one day, as I was short of the 50K quota by a bit in order to have a short novel. But the plot had finished and everything had wrapped up. The pacing was good and I didn't want to have to re-write sections just to add another 8K words in there. So I left the story for a few days and came back inspired one day, then put everything else aside to write it out.
The idea is to take one of those under-developed characters and look over life from their viewpoint. Doreen seemed fascinating enough to explore, so her story bubbled to the surface. If this ever comes back again, I'll have plenty more material with each of these characters (well, probably not the Prefect - but nothing's impossible.)
Now the style is different, since we aren't jumping in and out of scenes all the way through. But it also explores a wealth of other ideas.
91. Doreen is on a flight to a remote valley in South America (we know that destination by now). And it started with her dreams...
92. The dream is being in that canyon and facing the wall of water. But she knows they started when someone sent her a piece of jewelry. A black and white stone set in a gold and platinum wire setting, similar to Joe's, only with a leather thong as a necklace. Here she trims the leather thong, but later finds it was back to it's original length. She replaces that thong with a silver chain, only to find the silver inexplicably corrodes and breaks.
93. When she returns that evening, with a few too many under her belt, she winds up in the toilet and takes it out - only its back on the thong again. It's always comfortable to wear and she decides to go to sleep. Waking in the middle of the night after having that dream, she realizes that she got dressed during the middle of the night and doesn't remember doing it. As she goes back to sleep, she then gets another version of the dream. This time, she is meditating naked in front of the figure and doesn't care when the flood hits - she is completely calm and waits there until the waters recede and the sun comes out. She seems to feel the statue is friendly toward her.
All this raises a very different scenario than our earlier section. Now you are seeing someone under the influence of this jewelry - which influences her dreams, but drives her to action. Still, a call to adventure as above. Yes, there are veiled sexual overtones to this to keep it interesting. But the heroine is still just trying to understand her environment rather than conquer it or escape its control.
94. More to these affects of the jewelry - no hangover. Here, she concludes she needs to visit the spot this came from, however, it's not going to be that easy.
95. Her life becomes devoted to getting ready for the trip and in finding what she could about the amulet.
Finally, she gets a lead about an obscure person who lived in an old lighthouse in a shrunken, back-water town.
Now this one really surprised me the way it came out. We kind of backed into this, describing the town before we get to the character - along the line of the actual researcher, instead of some fiction writer. While not in the first person, our following her is more along the lines of a modern "reality" show.
The grammar of these sentences is abrupt, like taken from notes during the conversation.
Her dreams that night were bizarre, but forecast what she is about to encounter. Again, we are dealing with dreams here, so the license to use them is broad - as this is a precursor to an entire novelella about them. Even the dream about falling returns.
Now this book she reads really doesn't show up again. It gives us a partial background of the valley she will be visiting. Were this going to be longer, I'd have had her interview Father George to find out about this, but again, the story ended too early. It does introduce an unnamed character who could have a book just on his travels through Europe and Colonial America's - but its better just to use the broad strokes here.
And the following discussion about the valley are interesting - since one argument against eternal life is overpopulation, yet the standards of living here are quite high, which is our modern equivalent of birth control.
96. I don't know if you walk a quarter mile daily. I do, just in caring for my cattle - usually 3 or 4 times that, twice a day. So when she parks her car nearly a quarter-mile from the lighthouse, you can say it's walking several end-to-end football fields to get there.
When we get to the lighthouse, it's notable that the door doesn't squeak and is completely adjusted to simply stay in the position you leave it in. As well, this is almost extreme simplicity and tidyness within. Invited to climb a long spiral staircase after already walking that distance was good reason for her to be out of breath - but as well, she's been working out, hasn't she?
Here's the interesting part - he knew she was coming. (And women seem to always blush when honestly complemented in this story.)
(A sidebar - both of their names are a play on words. And I didn't spot that Jack ends up being an old friend of Joe until I finished this, interstingly.)
He warns her to send that amulet off to another relative right away, and repeats it - which sets the stage. He's to be her mentor, but is trying to dissuade her from the adventure that waits. The series of questions he asks her are designed to push that point home - that she is being controlled by an unknown and mysterious force.
By his talk, she assumes that he has one. And here is where it gets sticky. He is trying to get rid of the very person - perhaps the only one - who can help him with his own problem. Is this reverse psychology, or humane concern?
Again, we come into the description of precisely-fitted masonry as Joe described in the hospital Garden. This is actually a tie-in to some of the South American ruins, where the temple stones are so set that a knife can't even be fit in between them centuries later.
97. And his possession of the lighthouse on top of the stone is another hereditary tale. The supernatural shows up and continues from here. First a family Bible that he can't get rid of.
An interesting point here is that he mentions inspiration as different from research. If you review the library sections in Joe's story above, you'll find some interesting connections here.
More supernatural stories, which lead to conversing with ghosts. And the dream connection is revealed.
These ideas about ghosts run differently than others - that if they tell their whole tale, then they will leave - but the idea of bribes is more familiar - such as tributes and sacrifices.
98. With all these stories and being told she is the solution to his jinx, Doreen is doubtful.
Jack tells her to go ahead and leave - but she 'knows in her heart' that she shouldn't. So when he rattles off a shopping list of what to get and where, she just buys it. Now you start seeing here that Jack is a completely efficient type of person, with no wasted motion. And when he decides something, he just does it with no question or hesitation. (See Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" or "Law of Success" about this.)
99. Getting the stuff doesn't take much space. The chocolate donuts are there because women love chocolate and men like donuts. Perfect match. Now again, we have some uncanny prescience on Jack's part. He's got a table set for two, and even cooked two steak dinners instead of one.
The home-grown salad is another touch - as well as how to properly prepare food. Most people don't live from the land any more, but we have a decent-sized garden and I love fresh vegetables from it.
And of course ghosts announce themselves with a loud thud outside the building...
100. Jack's hands are full of what? Ice cream and donuts. Doreen has to do all the heavy lifting - but that was the way it had to be all along, didn't it. Doreen doesn't trust that the amulet will keep her warm on the outside of an old lighthouse, so she nabs the jacket.
Jack is giving the ghosts a bit of a hard time, saying that they don't knock over open bottles of wine, and now don't open packages well. Sheesh.
And I don't know why Doreen is eating ice cream when she's already chilled. Evidently hungry, though. Just dug in and finished it off before the ghosts arrived.
Here's where the door element comes in - ghosts make it squeak on purpose.
101. These two are quite Victorian. So Jack's offer to have a smoke while the girls talked was straight out of the old habits of the time.
Hermione and Doreen have some very direct talking. But it was the amulet which really sold the deal. How Jack figured out what Hermione said means perhaps that he was just around the curve, listening - so he got through to Lucien earlier. Or he's more telepathic than he lets on.
102. Again, this is old school manners at work, plus a bit of coquetry on Doreen's part. Men will be men, even if they've been dead for a few centuries.
Now we still don't know how these ghosts are bound to protect that secret. But again, the presence of the amulet gives them pause.
Duke sealed the deal, but Doreen got the upper hand. Note, the two lower hands (Leroy's and Sam's) are known as "dead man's hands". Four kings would connote royalty - or even the Four Horsemen. But Doreen wins.
103. Since all the ghosts apparently agreed, the room goes dark, the amulets glow, and Doreen is simply able to pick up the buried amulet from the hole Jack started. And they are both near-duplicates.
At this point, we know there are three of these, when you add in Joe's above. However, as a prequel, this raises even more questions, since neither Doreen or Jack had the amulets in their possession when Joe interacted with them.
Doreen recruits Jack to go to South America with her, and he typically leaves the house as neat as a pin and even blows out the pilot light on the stove - as well as turning out all the lights in the lighthouse.
We don't know if he already had the duffel bag packed - given the above, it is probable that he could have. Or he might just be that efficient to pack one in a couple of minutes.
Doreen is driving, as usual.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Commentary 15
71. Only to wake on a desert island out of Beetlejuice. No way out, plus the witch-doctor is haunting this dream as well. So we leave him screaming...
72. Sue and Roger are now in the same hospital they created for Joe. Oops. But it's only logical to assume that the prediction Joe had made earlier that 'what they did to others would happen to them' would come true.
Here Roger finally wises up to Sue as another real human being. Of course it helps that they have only thin hospital gowns on. And their regular world is gone. This shakes them a bit, but they are still working to figure it out, like programmers are wired. Still, the stark reality of their situation brings out the human side of them, and so they prepare to make the best of it.
Helen and Joe enter, and re-introduce the Golden Rule premise again, plus the idea that we are all just Self. All as an explanation that they were going to help Roger and Sue get out, as well as use their assistance. The dream they created becomes a Multi-User Game. First a costume change, and then they're off.
73. But we have to check into the adventure dream again. Yes, this is more than a little confusing, perhaps. However, I wasn't going to just leave everything hanging - and we needed a break from that hospital.
Doreen returns while Joe waits, surprising her. As Joe defuses her, he brings her back into the Church proper, where the Father is ready with a native java, laced with goat's cream. Al is up and as charming as ever - and while everyone "knows" Doreen took off, they are all completely forgiving.
But what she was up to is exposed when the father tells them they have visitors in the canyon - apparently knowing this the entire time.
74. Joe, having a question, returns to the library to ask Campbell about the trickster archetype in his 'Hero's Journey'. Of course, Campbell gives him data about the shapeshifter as well, since that is probably what he is actually looking for. We have reference to the character of the person affecting the outcome of the dream. (And if you consider that all the archetypes have their own journey ongoing, this can get really involved...)
75. The Prefect escapes. Signs of a struggle, but the witch-doctor isn't the one who was hurt. And the sharks just continue to swim.
76. This is a classic walkthrough. Between Roger and Sue, they tell you how to play and win this game. All cut and dried.
A note: Roger's phone number is a prime.
I love this part. It is all timed exactly to win the game without having to figure it all out. That's what walkthroughs are for. When Sue explains the motivations for the characters, it gets real interesting - and tells a lot about people who think this world operates by massive conspiracies, machinated by various people in control. (Maybe it does...)
77. The Precept returns to his ruined castle. He's hurt badly, but sucks down a morphine to chill out.
Because he's talking to himself, we can follow his logic. And he sees that the worlds he's created are collapsing. The Anomaly has now told the others exactly how to get out of their dreams - or at least out from under the influence of the Prefect's coding.
However, we now are about to find out what this 'old-style Final Solution' is about. Doesn't look pretty.
78. In the Cartoon farm, Dog and Cat are keeping up with his progress by reading the Funny Papers. (Who needs a computer when you're a cartoon?) And the inside joke is that they know exactly what is going on - perhaps even influencing it, but we never know.
79. Joe returns to the library to get some more information on the Law of Attraction as it affects the universe through the Golden Rule. Again, he hits the deal that you have to give and let go of wanting in order to recieve. And that is completely counter-intuitive to how we've been taught all our lives, isn't it?
80. That counter-intuitive-ness leads him back to the kahuna. Interestingly, it's the kahuna who asks the first questions. In fact, he has to ask several before he can get a question out of Joe. The subject of Ho'oponopono is an interesting one, and well worth the research. As is the concept of Aloha.
72. Sue and Roger are now in the same hospital they created for Joe. Oops. But it's only logical to assume that the prediction Joe had made earlier that 'what they did to others would happen to them' would come true.
Here Roger finally wises up to Sue as another real human being. Of course it helps that they have only thin hospital gowns on. And their regular world is gone. This shakes them a bit, but they are still working to figure it out, like programmers are wired. Still, the stark reality of their situation brings out the human side of them, and so they prepare to make the best of it.
Helen and Joe enter, and re-introduce the Golden Rule premise again, plus the idea that we are all just Self. All as an explanation that they were going to help Roger and Sue get out, as well as use their assistance. The dream they created becomes a Multi-User Game. First a costume change, and then they're off.
73. But we have to check into the adventure dream again. Yes, this is more than a little confusing, perhaps. However, I wasn't going to just leave everything hanging - and we needed a break from that hospital.
Doreen returns while Joe waits, surprising her. As Joe defuses her, he brings her back into the Church proper, where the Father is ready with a native java, laced with goat's cream. Al is up and as charming as ever - and while everyone "knows" Doreen took off, they are all completely forgiving.
But what she was up to is exposed when the father tells them they have visitors in the canyon - apparently knowing this the entire time.
74. Joe, having a question, returns to the library to ask Campbell about the trickster archetype in his 'Hero's Journey'. Of course, Campbell gives him data about the shapeshifter as well, since that is probably what he is actually looking for. We have reference to the character of the person affecting the outcome of the dream. (And if you consider that all the archetypes have their own journey ongoing, this can get really involved...)
75. The Prefect escapes. Signs of a struggle, but the witch-doctor isn't the one who was hurt. And the sharks just continue to swim.
76. This is a classic walkthrough. Between Roger and Sue, they tell you how to play and win this game. All cut and dried.
A note: Roger's phone number is a prime.
I love this part. It is all timed exactly to win the game without having to figure it all out. That's what walkthroughs are for. When Sue explains the motivations for the characters, it gets real interesting - and tells a lot about people who think this world operates by massive conspiracies, machinated by various people in control. (Maybe it does...)
77. The Precept returns to his ruined castle. He's hurt badly, but sucks down a morphine to chill out.
Because he's talking to himself, we can follow his logic. And he sees that the worlds he's created are collapsing. The Anomaly has now told the others exactly how to get out of their dreams - or at least out from under the influence of the Prefect's coding.
However, we now are about to find out what this 'old-style Final Solution' is about. Doesn't look pretty.
78. In the Cartoon farm, Dog and Cat are keeping up with his progress by reading the Funny Papers. (Who needs a computer when you're a cartoon?) And the inside joke is that they know exactly what is going on - perhaps even influencing it, but we never know.
79. Joe returns to the library to get some more information on the Law of Attraction as it affects the universe through the Golden Rule. Again, he hits the deal that you have to give and let go of wanting in order to recieve. And that is completely counter-intuitive to how we've been taught all our lives, isn't it?
80. That counter-intuitive-ness leads him back to the kahuna. Interestingly, it's the kahuna who asks the first questions. In fact, he has to ask several before he can get a question out of Joe. The subject of Ho'oponopono is an interesting one, and well worth the research. As is the concept of Aloha.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Journey done, new one starts – Marketing the Book
Not only did I finish the book on time, it’s the right length and everything, but it’s also published through Lulu to now appear in local bookstores everywhere – as well as on Apple’s iBookstore. Meaning that you can read this book as a paperback, a PDF download, or something on your Kindle or other portable reader.
What was left after all that writing is now marketing it. And, not too surprising, this means publishing it.
There’s a lot of details to publishing, but when you’ve published a few dozen books, it gets simpler.
On this book, I published it as a paperback and then took the next step to publish it to Kindles and hand-held readers as well. Some won’t take PDF’s, so I converted it to the “epub” format – it’s own learning curve.
First, though, I had to make a cover – like this:
Now, I made a flat version first, then tweaked it in Photoshop to make it look like a real book. Go ahead – click on it. Then you can see the actual paperback where you can buy it.
If you go to my Go Thunk Yourself self-help bookstore, you will also see the eBook version. Yes, it’s cheaper to buy it for your Kindle, since no trees are harmed in it’s production. (We don’t have to pay loggers, and printers, and warehouse workers – plus, you get it immediately.)
And of course, it doesn’t stop here. Next on the lineup is to give it it’s own mini-site, which will tell you more about the book and gives you more of my inside scoop on what it took to write it. Even though I give you substantial commentary in the last of this book just to fill in some of the various cracks I left.
Once the site is up, then I start creating some articles about dream interpretation and meaning, which will hit the article directories. You see, when a person writes a novel, there is some requisite research to make it believable. So I have some work to tell you all about what was learned about dreams and how these are probably the glue which holds this universe together – if not the nuts and bolts themselves.
Since there’s still a lot of work to do, I won’t bore you with the details of marketing. But look for it hitting a lot of different online formats soon. Real soon.
Because there are a lot more items on my Life to-do list..
Commentary 14
66. Here's a short interlude. It appears that the Prefect still believes that Joe is in his actual world, and they are messing with his dreams only - that what they are doing is all in Joe's head. Slow learner.
Roger and Sue have something up their sleeves. But the Prefect was warned, wasn't he? Recall that Sue was in charge of backing up all the data, and Roger had access to the Prefect's private code base.
67. Pity not the Prefect. As I've said, he was warned. Now his world is different from the Academia he ruled. Captive of a witch-doctor in the canyon with the figure, he is now completely at effect. Yet the Prefect thinks he hasn't seen this before. So he must not believe the reports from Joe's dreams - or doesn't think they are "real".
68. Roger and Sue reveal their plan. And they have the scoop on the Prefect and how he's been hiding all the failures so he could continue to get funding and parlay that into a huge profit for himself.
Unfortunately, these two don't know how to get out of the white room they are now in.
69. Dog and Cat to the rescue. They bring them to the cartoon Farm, which Roger and Sue had only known as a "safe" subroutine before this. Now they were experiencing it in real life.
And, as is often said in this scene, life is good.
70. Meanwhile, things are more serious for the Prefect. Orange clouds, glowing statue, and a menacing witch-doctor. Now it's raining. Of course, he hears the canyon flash-flood coming and turns to run, but finds the witch-doctor trips him up with a bola as the wave crashes down on him...
Roger and Sue have something up their sleeves. But the Prefect was warned, wasn't he? Recall that Sue was in charge of backing up all the data, and Roger had access to the Prefect's private code base.
67. Pity not the Prefect. As I've said, he was warned. Now his world is different from the Academia he ruled. Captive of a witch-doctor in the canyon with the figure, he is now completely at effect. Yet the Prefect thinks he hasn't seen this before. So he must not believe the reports from Joe's dreams - or doesn't think they are "real".
68. Roger and Sue reveal their plan. And they have the scoop on the Prefect and how he's been hiding all the failures so he could continue to get funding and parlay that into a huge profit for himself.
Unfortunately, these two don't know how to get out of the white room they are now in.
69. Dog and Cat to the rescue. They bring them to the cartoon Farm, which Roger and Sue had only known as a "safe" subroutine before this. Now they were experiencing it in real life.
And, as is often said in this scene, life is good.
70. Meanwhile, things are more serious for the Prefect. Orange clouds, glowing statue, and a menacing witch-doctor. Now it's raining. Of course, he hears the canyon flash-flood coming and turns to run, but finds the witch-doctor trips him up with a bola as the wave crashes down on him...
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Commentary 13
61. The game is on - basically because by being in the adventure, Joe isn't playing ball.
Now, interestingly, there's a scene out of "Sky Captain" movie, where the hero, heroine, and sidekick all wind up side by side - nude - in the same bed, waking up from an overdose of radiation. And they wake up better than ever, much as in this story.
If you haven't guessed by now, the white rocks are one-half of those amulets. They are life-giving, so are placed in boots to help restore the leather (among other things.)
Father George asks to see Joe's amulet shortly after his re-appearance. Here we see that there are a limited number of these amulets, and each has a family caretaker lineage. And Al tells his reason for sending it to Joe.
Al also starts to give us indications about Doreen - that she might be other than what is on the surface.
Now in this section is the complete description of the two types of stones, plus some indication of their power.
As they take their trip into the village, you could see that this would be a wonderful panoramic view - a village built into cliff-sides, above fertile files in the flood plains.
That reference to the native tongue being more meaningful than Spanish has it's roots in the various books about Huna I have read - Max Freedom Long tells a story of a witch-doctor who would speak spells in an ancient language as it had more power than modern ones. Huna is a language like this - very powerful meanings built into the language, which is how the Huna itself was preserved (See Long's book about this.)
Another side-bar: mixing silt with compost and manure does actually inject life back into it, in the form of various biota. Otherwise, silt is difficult to grow crops in, as it lacks oxygen and is tightly packed.
The canyon's flash floods are explained, and other aspects of the site - that because of the gorges and rocks below, the only way in is through a narrow winding footpath, and as well that the place is a dead zone - so no over-flights or other electronics to work here (and perhaps explains Doreen's lack of camera with her, not note if an old film-based camera would actually work - most had electronic or electric shutters.)
Father George now gives Joe a warning about Doreen, which is right at the end of the chapter, naturally...
62. Now this is odd - Joe stayed in the same dream for two sequences. But the prediction about Doreen comes true.
Again, the concept of inner peace available at any time to an individual is mentioned here.
63. We start to see the Prefect's thoughts - and he really is a one-dimensional character, if anyone is. Fame, money, power, respect - this guy is full of it. All insatiable desires. (Trace back what we've seen before about desires in this book and commentary, and you'll know exactly what the rest of his life is like.)
And Joe brings the whole thing to a halt, much as he did to Joe and Sue. White screens, anyone?
64. Speaking of which, here's the white room. And the Prefect gets a taste of his own medicine - or worse: he gets the truth.
Roger and Sue explain that they are now part of the Anomaly, so the game the Prefect is playing is done. While they are here to help him sort things out, the whole premise of what he was trying to accomplish is over.
And that line about Lady Justice holding a double-edged sword is true - check it out on Wikipedia. But it is corny.
65. Now the "Flight" begins. Joe has Campbell's "Boon", but needs to get out of this situation in the hospital-dream. Enter the pretty brunette he met earlier in the Garden. She appears to be a mind-reader, telling him he can call her Helen - but we never know if that's her actual name, or just a coincidence (as if anything is a coincidence in life - but that it another line of thought...)
She's gotten herself and him a change of clothes to get out of there. And the mirror shows up again.
Now the "long route" they need to take is just another mystery. Of course they aren't just going to walk out the front door. But here again is the use of lover-interaction to enable people around them to simply assume data about them. Joe is the red-blooded male beneficiary of this, but he is again following the woman's lead, as he did with Doreen.
There might be a mutual interaction which is necessary in life between sexes, but that's just a note on looking over the story as I wrote it. (Certainly, these females aren't submissive types.)
Now, interestingly, there's a scene out of "Sky Captain" movie, where the hero, heroine, and sidekick all wind up side by side - nude - in the same bed, waking up from an overdose of radiation. And they wake up better than ever, much as in this story.
If you haven't guessed by now, the white rocks are one-half of those amulets. They are life-giving, so are placed in boots to help restore the leather (among other things.)
Father George asks to see Joe's amulet shortly after his re-appearance. Here we see that there are a limited number of these amulets, and each has a family caretaker lineage. And Al tells his reason for sending it to Joe.
Al also starts to give us indications about Doreen - that she might be other than what is on the surface.
Now in this section is the complete description of the two types of stones, plus some indication of their power.
As they take their trip into the village, you could see that this would be a wonderful panoramic view - a village built into cliff-sides, above fertile files in the flood plains.
That reference to the native tongue being more meaningful than Spanish has it's roots in the various books about Huna I have read - Max Freedom Long tells a story of a witch-doctor who would speak spells in an ancient language as it had more power than modern ones. Huna is a language like this - very powerful meanings built into the language, which is how the Huna itself was preserved (See Long's book about this.)
Another side-bar: mixing silt with compost and manure does actually inject life back into it, in the form of various biota. Otherwise, silt is difficult to grow crops in, as it lacks oxygen and is tightly packed.
The canyon's flash floods are explained, and other aspects of the site - that because of the gorges and rocks below, the only way in is through a narrow winding footpath, and as well that the place is a dead zone - so no over-flights or other electronics to work here (and perhaps explains Doreen's lack of camera with her, not note if an old film-based camera would actually work - most had electronic or electric shutters.)
Father George now gives Joe a warning about Doreen, which is right at the end of the chapter, naturally...
62. Now this is odd - Joe stayed in the same dream for two sequences. But the prediction about Doreen comes true.
Again, the concept of inner peace available at any time to an individual is mentioned here.
63. We start to see the Prefect's thoughts - and he really is a one-dimensional character, if anyone is. Fame, money, power, respect - this guy is full of it. All insatiable desires. (Trace back what we've seen before about desires in this book and commentary, and you'll know exactly what the rest of his life is like.)
And Joe brings the whole thing to a halt, much as he did to Joe and Sue. White screens, anyone?
64. Speaking of which, here's the white room. And the Prefect gets a taste of his own medicine - or worse: he gets the truth.
Roger and Sue explain that they are now part of the Anomaly, so the game the Prefect is playing is done. While they are here to help him sort things out, the whole premise of what he was trying to accomplish is over.
And that line about Lady Justice holding a double-edged sword is true - check it out on Wikipedia. But it is corny.
65. Now the "Flight" begins. Joe has Campbell's "Boon", but needs to get out of this situation in the hospital-dream. Enter the pretty brunette he met earlier in the Garden. She appears to be a mind-reader, telling him he can call her Helen - but we never know if that's her actual name, or just a coincidence (as if anything is a coincidence in life - but that it another line of thought...)
She's gotten herself and him a change of clothes to get out of there. And the mirror shows up again.
Now the "long route" they need to take is just another mystery. Of course they aren't just going to walk out the front door. But here again is the use of lover-interaction to enable people around them to simply assume data about them. Joe is the red-blooded male beneficiary of this, but he is again following the woman's lead, as he did with Doreen.
There might be a mutual interaction which is necessary in life between sexes, but that's just a note on looking over the story as I wrote it. (Certainly, these females aren't submissive types.)
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Commentary 12
56. Here's an old joke which continues to infinity, until the audience figures it out - which is usually on the 4th or 5th time you repeat it. Yes it's appropriate - the world-dreams we live are just a continuing joke. Once you realize it, then?
57. Ah, but Joe turns the tables on our Factors, Roger and Sue. He brings them into the white space to get across a couple of points. He wanted to let them know that he knows and to caution them that the Golden Rule works - and it's their choice to ignore it or not. The white room just brings this to them like an exclamation point.
58. Now we return to the adventure. Joe apparently likes this one as a story he can fit in other data he is looking at into a format that is more exciting.
We meet Father George, who is telling about what you would do with a valley of people would couldn't be controlled by any government. Truly free people. The Spanish conquerors called them fools, but the shoe might be on the other foot.
Alphonse alludes to what they are looking for is inside. And we find white rocks which might be from some ancient meteor.
I love the explanation of the Sunday School stories. It just came to me, like the rest of this story. I'm just the teller here (and editor and proofreader, and now: commentator). But it fits beautifully.
It seems that the Spanish wrecked the village by being greedy, and so just cursed the place.
When Joe shows his amulet, Father George hints at Al's involvement in this.
Unfortunately, we get only snippets of data about this area and the stones. That is the way of fiction, after all. Stay tuned...
59. Here's the Precept's grand show. As wild as this is, much of this is feasible. The main point is that people think faster than even machines can keep up. So he's broken the various areas out into subroutines and assigned real-time teams to work these over with computer assistance (of course.)
In this Sue and Roger now guess the motivation of the Prefect and why he may have placed those books in the dream for Joe to find. This would then allow him to create a massive update of the code, which is then marketable by the Corporation, which he has some sort of connection.
The final point was that they were tapping the entire resources of a supercomputer for a short while - very, very expensive, and so there were no follow-up shifts. Profit motivation and investment.
Unfortunately for the Precept, we are about to see his world undone...
60. Even Dog and Cat are concerned about this one. But his secret weapon (which we already know about from the above) is unknown to the Prefect (while he's already given Roger and Sue a broad hint). And the other is that they are taking this seriously - which wasn't really touched on above, but you can actually work it out.
57. Ah, but Joe turns the tables on our Factors, Roger and Sue. He brings them into the white space to get across a couple of points. He wanted to let them know that he knows and to caution them that the Golden Rule works - and it's their choice to ignore it or not. The white room just brings this to them like an exclamation point.
58. Now we return to the adventure. Joe apparently likes this one as a story he can fit in other data he is looking at into a format that is more exciting.
We meet Father George, who is telling about what you would do with a valley of people would couldn't be controlled by any government. Truly free people. The Spanish conquerors called them fools, but the shoe might be on the other foot.
Alphonse alludes to what they are looking for is inside. And we find white rocks which might be from some ancient meteor.
I love the explanation of the Sunday School stories. It just came to me, like the rest of this story. I'm just the teller here (and editor and proofreader, and now: commentator). But it fits beautifully.
It seems that the Spanish wrecked the village by being greedy, and so just cursed the place.
When Joe shows his amulet, Father George hints at Al's involvement in this.
Unfortunately, we get only snippets of data about this area and the stones. That is the way of fiction, after all. Stay tuned...
59. Here's the Precept's grand show. As wild as this is, much of this is feasible. The main point is that people think faster than even machines can keep up. So he's broken the various areas out into subroutines and assigned real-time teams to work these over with computer assistance (of course.)
In this Sue and Roger now guess the motivation of the Prefect and why he may have placed those books in the dream for Joe to find. This would then allow him to create a massive update of the code, which is then marketable by the Corporation, which he has some sort of connection.
The final point was that they were tapping the entire resources of a supercomputer for a short while - very, very expensive, and so there were no follow-up shifts. Profit motivation and investment.
Unfortunately for the Precept, we are about to see his world undone...
60. Even Dog and Cat are concerned about this one. But his secret weapon (which we already know about from the above) is unknown to the Prefect (while he's already given Roger and Sue a broad hint). And the other is that they are taking this seriously - which wasn't really touched on above, but you can actually work it out.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Commentary 11
51. Now we talk to Claude Bristol in the library (author of "Magic of Believing"), as well as Silva, Levenson, and even Lao Tsu. This really lays out on the table exactly how to get access to all answers a person could want or need.
The library is where I give out the "thick" data, where you can look up these authors and find this data for yourself. Of course, I paraphrase it here - but this is also the essential, core data which is the foundation for this book. There is a lot to say about how to be a success and enjoy it, but these short paragraphs boil it down to an essence - which I thought was a nice elevator-speech summation of the best of self-help classics.
We are examining these "movies" in the mind and how to handle them. Of course, Joe in this story is just dis-assembling all the efforts Roger and Sue are throwing at him.
52. Back to the Cartoon Farm. And we experience the unconditional love which pets are known for.
And if that earlier section wasn't enough, Dog now itemizes the whole set of lessons Joe needs to learn and apply to himself. This can solve all dreams and allow a person to live a constantly happy, peaceful, and free life. Joe then sums that up, "It's all just choice."
53. Now we have the white room. Just introducing this here. Time is discussed, as well as the possibility of a no-dream state.
54. Time as a joke. Here is another Huna principle, "The moment of power is Now." And we get another realization which comes from letting go of everything - that a person lives only in the Now and helps others to change their Now to something better. Again, we see Joe trying to understand the concept of Self different from separate selves. In the middle of this, he explains the Golden Rule and how it works. And Joe also brings up the point from earlier that a person is natively at peace, living in joy, and truly free - it's just our choice not to which gives us our dream-worlds.
And the point of fiction is to give us entertainment, which it seems our dream-worlds are - a way to experience and enjoy our Now... or not.
55. Crux point. Joe on a gurney going in for an operation. This is where his dream world forces him to confront his basic fear of death. But more key, in these dreams, is that he would lose his power of choice to affect his own dreams. Brain operations against your will? Oof, that's scary.
The library is where I give out the "thick" data, where you can look up these authors and find this data for yourself. Of course, I paraphrase it here - but this is also the essential, core data which is the foundation for this book. There is a lot to say about how to be a success and enjoy it, but these short paragraphs boil it down to an essence - which I thought was a nice elevator-speech summation of the best of self-help classics.
We are examining these "movies" in the mind and how to handle them. Of course, Joe in this story is just dis-assembling all the efforts Roger and Sue are throwing at him.
52. Back to the Cartoon Farm. And we experience the unconditional love which pets are known for.
And if that earlier section wasn't enough, Dog now itemizes the whole set of lessons Joe needs to learn and apply to himself. This can solve all dreams and allow a person to live a constantly happy, peaceful, and free life. Joe then sums that up, "It's all just choice."
53. Now we have the white room. Just introducing this here. Time is discussed, as well as the possibility of a no-dream state.
54. Time as a joke. Here is another Huna principle, "The moment of power is Now." And we get another realization which comes from letting go of everything - that a person lives only in the Now and helps others to change their Now to something better. Again, we see Joe trying to understand the concept of Self different from separate selves. In the middle of this, he explains the Golden Rule and how it works. And Joe also brings up the point from earlier that a person is natively at peace, living in joy, and truly free - it's just our choice not to which gives us our dream-worlds.
And the point of fiction is to give us entertainment, which it seems our dream-worlds are - a way to experience and enjoy our Now... or not.
55. Crux point. Joe on a gurney going in for an operation. This is where his dream world forces him to confront his basic fear of death. But more key, in these dreams, is that he would lose his power of choice to affect his own dreams. Brain operations against your will? Oof, that's scary.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Commentary 10
46. By asking the kahuna about what Haanel just told him, Joe finds out that he has to pick his own technique to learn how to tap into the answers he is being told constantly. And again, he's being told that he's just in a dream, by a figure in his dreams. So maybe he is already learning to listen...
The waves on the beach are a nice little allegory as well.
47. This section, if read carefully, tells you what the Prefect is all about. Sure, he's a bully, and uses threats to control others. It turns out that despite his schedule of lectures and so on, he's been keeping very close track of what Sue and Roger have been doing. This sets the stage for what our Factors figure out later. For now, he's got them boxed into a corner.
48. Here's that "Tanslinsky Method" - which describes how most people (probably not you) make their way through life. Their thoughts are mostly on automatic and filled with catchy tunes and movies they watch. So they don't think for themselves and simply live very entertained lives. This is just the way it is, fortunately or unfortunately.
The talking out loud part is just a way to show that he's being manipulated, since it's completely out of character for Joe. The key phrase is that last sentence.
49. However, we find him quickly sorting this scene out with his kahuna. We see here one solution to the old practice of trying to "quiet the mind" in meditation. For the third or fourth time, we again find reference to just "letting it go", which is Levenson.
50. Of course, by constantly analysing his world-dreams (probably the actual Anomaly, come to think about it) he now winds up back in his adventure dream.
You can almost hear the theme music well and fade in the background. Some of this seems just too corny. But then, he's watching movies in one of his dreams, isn't he?
We meet Alphonse, who is a classic Latin. I was surprised he didn't kiss her hand - but the breakfast arrived at that point.
This section, like many of the adventure segments, is overlong, but gives us a break from some of the others. It fills in data as well. You see that this is heavily modelled on the Spielburg's Jones character.
However, you also see that Doreen continues to be a strong character on her own.
The waves on the beach are a nice little allegory as well.
47. This section, if read carefully, tells you what the Prefect is all about. Sure, he's a bully, and uses threats to control others. It turns out that despite his schedule of lectures and so on, he's been keeping very close track of what Sue and Roger have been doing. This sets the stage for what our Factors figure out later. For now, he's got them boxed into a corner.
48. Here's that "Tanslinsky Method" - which describes how most people (probably not you) make their way through life. Their thoughts are mostly on automatic and filled with catchy tunes and movies they watch. So they don't think for themselves and simply live very entertained lives. This is just the way it is, fortunately or unfortunately.
The talking out loud part is just a way to show that he's being manipulated, since it's completely out of character for Joe. The key phrase is that last sentence.
49. However, we find him quickly sorting this scene out with his kahuna. We see here one solution to the old practice of trying to "quiet the mind" in meditation. For the third or fourth time, we again find reference to just "letting it go", which is Levenson.
50. Of course, by constantly analysing his world-dreams (probably the actual Anomaly, come to think about it) he now winds up back in his adventure dream.
You can almost hear the theme music well and fade in the background. Some of this seems just too corny. But then, he's watching movies in one of his dreams, isn't he?
We meet Alphonse, who is a classic Latin. I was surprised he didn't kiss her hand - but the breakfast arrived at that point.
This section, like many of the adventure segments, is overlong, but gives us a break from some of the others. It fills in data as well. You see that this is heavily modelled on the Spielburg's Jones character.
However, you also see that Doreen continues to be a strong character on her own.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Commentary 09
41. Back in the hospital. Interesting here is that we don't know the duration of these dreams as they affect Roger and Sue's monitoring. And we don't know which one, if any, is causing blanks in their recording. I don't think I ever tied this down particularly, mainly because the pace keeps changing the dreams and accelerating the interaction, and it became moot at some point.
The interesting point is to "consider this while sleeping" phrase, which comes from Jose Silva's last works.
42. Now we're back into Joe's library. A joke about the relative importance of authors. And here you get a layout of why he had this library and realizes that he is really creating his own dreams - at least this one.
43. And so it's logical that he goes to the only place our kahuna shows up - that stretch of Hawaiian beach. And he gets a lecture similar to the Nazarene's parable about the lily of the field.
Joe reveals the underlying purpose for life (at least one of them) is to enjoy it immensely. "Look to the meaning behind the words. Find the language of self, soul, spirit." If you wanted to boil down the premise of this book, and the real boon which Joe works to take back to the world, this is it.
44 Dream within a dream. Which is itself a conundrum - or is it? This dream Joe has introduces the witch-doctor as a character (aluded to earlier) and tells a mini-origins story of the figure. Also where the amulet came from.
I attempt to discuss the powers of the statue again, but leave it with a simple allusion. (I've been tempted to write this all out, but even here, it's not appropriate. I'll leave it for a later time, or some academic to do the work.)
We may or may not be seeing Doreen as a bit of a Mata Hari here.
45. Back to the library. Haanel is explaining the secrets of the Universe (from his "Master Key System"). As the Nazarene nodded, it's to my own research point that all these self-help authors are saying the same thing in different ways. Lots of crossover points. (See my "Go Thunk Yourself" series.)
But as you study this carefully, you'll see Joe is working this all our for himself, which is exactly what this novel was suposed to do. I only hope that its not didactic, which is the reason for exploring fiction as a vehicle for this type of material. It certainly worked for Aesop.
The interesting point is to "consider this while sleeping" phrase, which comes from Jose Silva's last works.
42. Now we're back into Joe's library. A joke about the relative importance of authors. And here you get a layout of why he had this library and realizes that he is really creating his own dreams - at least this one.
43. And so it's logical that he goes to the only place our kahuna shows up - that stretch of Hawaiian beach. And he gets a lecture similar to the Nazarene's parable about the lily of the field.
Joe reveals the underlying purpose for life (at least one of them) is to enjoy it immensely. "Look to the meaning behind the words. Find the language of self, soul, spirit." If you wanted to boil down the premise of this book, and the real boon which Joe works to take back to the world, this is it.
44 Dream within a dream. Which is itself a conundrum - or is it? This dream Joe has introduces the witch-doctor as a character (aluded to earlier) and tells a mini-origins story of the figure. Also where the amulet came from.
I attempt to discuss the powers of the statue again, but leave it with a simple allusion. (I've been tempted to write this all out, but even here, it's not appropriate. I'll leave it for a later time, or some academic to do the work.)
We may or may not be seeing Doreen as a bit of a Mata Hari here.
45. Back to the library. Haanel is explaining the secrets of the Universe (from his "Master Key System"). As the Nazarene nodded, it's to my own research point that all these self-help authors are saying the same thing in different ways. Lots of crossover points. (See my "Go Thunk Yourself" series.)
But as you study this carefully, you'll see Joe is working this all our for himself, which is exactly what this novel was suposed to do. I only hope that its not didactic, which is the reason for exploring fiction as a vehicle for this type of material. It certainly worked for Aesop.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Commentary 08
36. Oops. Joe just wrecked Roger and Sue's control. Their mechanics quit working and they don't know why. So they break out an old routine used back in mainframe days - which alludes to the point that this data has been being used for a very long time, and fuels the conspiracy-theory people (or at least tweaks their collective nose.) Even had to use a real pencil...
37. Back to the adventure. And we meet a damsel in distress, much as Indiana Jones always has a female side-kick. While the adventure keeps up a fast pace, one interesting thing is that they don't exchange names here. Later, I came back to explore her in more detail with the prequel.
38. Here's an interesting point. Cat is advising Joe in the cartoon world. So oddly, he's in one of the "approved" dreams getting data which would dissolve the others.
And if you've ever watched dogs and cats, you'll see some accurate description of how they prepare to nap.
39. Roger and Sue get no results from their checklist. And confront the problem that if he stays in his dreams, then they have nothing to study, so the project will be over. You start seeing them as characters in their own plot, with a Call to Adventure of their own (per Campbell).
40. OK, now they correct their manners omission, and we find she is named Doreen. (Which means 'gift' BTW.) We find her apparent excuse is as a photographer, but she's carrying no camera with her - which may or may not be an error. Ask a pro.
37. Back to the adventure. And we meet a damsel in distress, much as Indiana Jones always has a female side-kick. While the adventure keeps up a fast pace, one interesting thing is that they don't exchange names here. Later, I came back to explore her in more detail with the prequel.
38. Here's an interesting point. Cat is advising Joe in the cartoon world. So oddly, he's in one of the "approved" dreams getting data which would dissolve the others.
And if you've ever watched dogs and cats, you'll see some accurate description of how they prepare to nap.
39. Roger and Sue get no results from their checklist. And confront the problem that if he stays in his dreams, then they have nothing to study, so the project will be over. You start seeing them as characters in their own plot, with a Call to Adventure of their own (per Campbell).
40. OK, now they correct their manners omission, and we find she is named Doreen. (Which means 'gift' BTW.) We find her apparent excuse is as a photographer, but she's carrying no camera with her - which may or may not be an error. Ask a pro.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Commentary 07
31. Cat and Dog are tuned to Joe and know his changes. Which is interesting if they are just a sub-program, isn't it? Maugh tracks are another idiocy of modern TV entertainment. I believe they are discussed in Cialdini's "Influence".
32. This point Joe makes refers to the balance of black and white effects. He's up on this figure in a state of bliss (remember he was just busy earlier extending his beingness and now winds up in this adventure dream, which Roger and Sue don't like him having). To keep awake in this dream, he has to move over to being partially on the black side as well - which has all sorts of analytical discussion we could go into at this point, particularly the symbolic and holistic approaches. Note the term "nihilistic" - it make give a clue to other activity later concerning this statue.
33. Coming full circle, he now isn't just falling and writing it all down, but actually learning to fly around like an airplane. Shades of Matrix, which only had two dreams going on at the same time.
34. Which of course shows up here as well, with the red pill / blue pill reference. But the whole concept is laid out here, the real topic of this novel we are exploring. Is reality arduous and complicated, or simple and peaceful?
35. Here we are introduced to Napoleon Hill's "Invisible Counselors" technique, from "Think and Grow Rich". And another underlying topic of this novel - that people can use Joseph Campbell's "Hero of a Thousand Faces" to analyze their own lives and those of others. Campbell took the bestselling and most popular stories of all time (myths) and boiled them down to the recurring main characters and single plot basis.
And Campbell in this section is laying it all out for him. He's created a library in his mind, with all answers to everything. The people who enter the room are some of the most significant thinkers of all time. You can see here a list of authors who influenced this novel. You may note that the unnamed kahuna doesn't show up here - nor does any author of Huna. This is also a point of the akashic records, a modern version. Tapping into the Universal (Silva, Haanel, Troward) will give you any answer you want. Creating such a room is only one technique. There are several others which are just as effetive - and all involve imagination, interestingly.
Everyone is waiting for the last chair to be filled.
32. This point Joe makes refers to the balance of black and white effects. He's up on this figure in a state of bliss (remember he was just busy earlier extending his beingness and now winds up in this adventure dream, which Roger and Sue don't like him having). To keep awake in this dream, he has to move over to being partially on the black side as well - which has all sorts of analytical discussion we could go into at this point, particularly the symbolic and holistic approaches. Note the term "nihilistic" - it make give a clue to other activity later concerning this statue.
33. Coming full circle, he now isn't just falling and writing it all down, but actually learning to fly around like an airplane. Shades of Matrix, which only had two dreams going on at the same time.
34. Which of course shows up here as well, with the red pill / blue pill reference. But the whole concept is laid out here, the real topic of this novel we are exploring. Is reality arduous and complicated, or simple and peaceful?
35. Here we are introduced to Napoleon Hill's "Invisible Counselors" technique, from "Think and Grow Rich". And another underlying topic of this novel - that people can use Joseph Campbell's "Hero of a Thousand Faces" to analyze their own lives and those of others. Campbell took the bestselling and most popular stories of all time (myths) and boiled them down to the recurring main characters and single plot basis.
And Campbell in this section is laying it all out for him. He's created a library in his mind, with all answers to everything. The people who enter the room are some of the most significant thinkers of all time. You can see here a list of authors who influenced this novel. You may note that the unnamed kahuna doesn't show up here - nor does any author of Huna. This is also a point of the akashic records, a modern version. Tapping into the Universal (Silva, Haanel, Troward) will give you any answer you want. Creating such a room is only one technique. There are several others which are just as effetive - and all involve imagination, interestingly.
Everyone is waiting for the last chair to be filled.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Commentary 06
26. But he's now brought back to the library, and the concept of daydreaming follows him. The psychology text has a crossover datum that concludes his religious textbook was right - as well as the shaman in a different dream entirely. Things were starting to add up...
27. What he's just learned about creating inner peace shows up differently on the monitors for Roger and Sue. She is saying that the EKG readings of people meditating are different. This is also some Jose Silva influence here.
28. Joe, with the apparently limited choice he has, goes back to the Garden to start soring things out. He winds up with a very Eastern idea that all is Self, which of course is the same as "There are no limits." An interesting thought here is "Weell, that should keep them going." Looks like he may have figured out the game and how closely they are monitoring him.
29. The plot is getting more complex at this point. Yes, they can see into his dreams and what he is doing, but Roger and Sue wonder what one of their texts is doing there. Because he's getting the same data they have about dreams and so could figure out the entire scene he's going through - and that is exactly what he's up to. The book was put there by the Prefect, but they won't say his name out loud because they think he's monitoring the control room. Another tangled web.
30. Now Joe starts playing with his own dream, which means he starts to change his life. Extending beingness is just one technique which can be used, but not a common one.
27. What he's just learned about creating inner peace shows up differently on the monitors for Roger and Sue. She is saying that the EKG readings of people meditating are different. This is also some Jose Silva influence here.
28. Joe, with the apparently limited choice he has, goes back to the Garden to start soring things out. He winds up with a very Eastern idea that all is Self, which of course is the same as "There are no limits." An interesting thought here is "Weell, that should keep them going." Looks like he may have figured out the game and how closely they are monitoring him.
29. The plot is getting more complex at this point. Yes, they can see into his dreams and what he is doing, but Roger and Sue wonder what one of their texts is doing there. Because he's getting the same data they have about dreams and so could figure out the entire scene he's going through - and that is exactly what he's up to. The book was put there by the Prefect, but they won't say his name out loud because they think he's monitoring the control room. Another tangled web.
30. Now Joe starts playing with his own dream, which means he starts to change his life. Extending beingness is just one technique which can be used, but not a common one.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Commentary 05
21. Unfortunately, this raised alarms for Roger and Sue, who came in from off shift to handle it. Seems they know about the adventure dreams. Looks like the cartoon dream is subprogram 0-B, by name. However the hospital sequence is just that.
22. Back in the hospital library, marveling about how the library was built.
Now, that religious traditions book is trying to tell King's version of dreams, but also combines it with Joseph Campbell's "Hero of a Thousand Faces", where people compare their lives with those of others. Other data also are sprinkled in these few paragraphs.
Shamans in Hawaiian island legends did actually enter the dreams of enemies. This was also known to the Amerindian holy men, as well as Africans and Australian aborigines. Joe now officially suspects his dreams are being tampered with.
23. Oops. Sue is suspecting. And because that text shouldn't be there. But you now see that others have been using these programs, so there is probably study and training ongoing in this university where dreams are routinely studied and influenced. We'll see how that develops.
24. Joe, though, winks back to the Hawaiian islands. We see another Huna principle, "There are no limits." Also that as one influences, they are themselved influenced. A lot is piled into this one small section to ponder.
25. He gets saved from drowning, and finds a deep peace and clarity.
22. Back in the hospital library, marveling about how the library was built.
Now, that religious traditions book is trying to tell King's version of dreams, but also combines it with Joseph Campbell's "Hero of a Thousand Faces", where people compare their lives with those of others. Other data also are sprinkled in these few paragraphs.
Shamans in Hawaiian island legends did actually enter the dreams of enemies. This was also known to the Amerindian holy men, as well as Africans and Australian aborigines. Joe now officially suspects his dreams are being tampered with.
23. Oops. Sue is suspecting. And because that text shouldn't be there. But you now see that others have been using these programs, so there is probably study and training ongoing in this university where dreams are routinely studied and influenced. We'll see how that develops.
24. Joe, though, winks back to the Hawaiian islands. We see another Huna principle, "There are no limits." Also that as one influences, they are themselved influenced. A lot is piled into this one small section to ponder.
25. He gets saved from drowning, and finds a deep peace and clarity.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Commentary 04
16. See? Joe is back into the dream world he's supposed to be in - smiling. And (somehow) undressed... Of course he muses on all this male excitement he's been having - but then gets right to work again.
The bleary-eyed nurse shift is a bit off. They usually change far before the patients wake up and start getting around.
We do see here that there is an unnatural efficiency to this place, as well as being constantly monitored. Convenience for the patient, but obviously knowing everything he's doing.
Now in the library, we see the sensual aspects returning - sheer comfort. Also, a tweak of Amazon's nose by name. Interesting here is that even as readers, we are getting to see that Joe is trying to figure out what is going on with dreams. So they may have him back in dreamland, but do they really?
17. Joe has Roger convinced. And Sue tells us where she found tactile stimulation was good in a dream. Just in time for shift change. Here's a hint that they might do more than just wonking people's dreams all day.
18. Of course, Joe is back with his kahuna mentor again. Asking about dreams. This is again from one of King's books, although he mentions there are a lot of books on dreams. But the first to tell me that people dream when awake - all the time.
19. Uh-oh - Joe's just fallen back to Adventureland.
And we are introduced to the Buddha-like figure sitting in the canyon. Alabaster and Onyx side by side. Doesn't happen in nature that I know of. Joe figures it might have been a meteorite, but this is just a guess. Mainly because it's surrounded by sandstone, but that wouldn't necessarily make it so.
There is a whole interesting point here that I never got back to. I really wanted to, even in the Prequel, but it didn't happen. You have to study what the different sides of the statue tend to do, what effects they have. This will wind up being motivation for all sorts of things later.
Unfortunately, this section also introduces us to the flash floods which rip through this canyon with frequency. Probably protects the figure somehow. But a true cliff-hanger this time...
20. And I don't really know why he wound up in cartoon land, except that he was overdue. And a great contrast to nearly being drowned. They're playing "guess the cloud", an endless lazy afternoon game. After a nice conversation, they head on down the hill to the barnyard and Joe is cherishing all the great times from his childhood.
The bleary-eyed nurse shift is a bit off. They usually change far before the patients wake up and start getting around.
We do see here that there is an unnatural efficiency to this place, as well as being constantly monitored. Convenience for the patient, but obviously knowing everything he's doing.
Now in the library, we see the sensual aspects returning - sheer comfort. Also, a tweak of Amazon's nose by name. Interesting here is that even as readers, we are getting to see that Joe is trying to figure out what is going on with dreams. So they may have him back in dreamland, but do they really?
17. Joe has Roger convinced. And Sue tells us where she found tactile stimulation was good in a dream. Just in time for shift change. Here's a hint that they might do more than just wonking people's dreams all day.
18. Of course, Joe is back with his kahuna mentor again. Asking about dreams. This is again from one of King's books, although he mentions there are a lot of books on dreams. But the first to tell me that people dream when awake - all the time.
19. Uh-oh - Joe's just fallen back to Adventureland.
And we are introduced to the Buddha-like figure sitting in the canyon. Alabaster and Onyx side by side. Doesn't happen in nature that I know of. Joe figures it might have been a meteorite, but this is just a guess. Mainly because it's surrounded by sandstone, but that wouldn't necessarily make it so.
There is a whole interesting point here that I never got back to. I really wanted to, even in the Prequel, but it didn't happen. You have to study what the different sides of the statue tend to do, what effects they have. This will wind up being motivation for all sorts of things later.
Unfortunately, this section also introduces us to the flash floods which rip through this canyon with frequency. Probably protects the figure somehow. But a true cliff-hanger this time...
20. And I don't really know why he wound up in cartoon land, except that he was overdue. And a great contrast to nearly being drowned. They're playing "guess the cloud", an endless lazy afternoon game. After a nice conversation, they head on down the hill to the barnyard and Joe is cherishing all the great times from his childhood.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Commentary 03
11. ...Joe's being plagued by Sex. Pamela, as a character, makes her one and only appearance here. I don't know why. She's a good gal and would do well in any number of scenes. But it just wasn't in the cards. A supporting actress award, perhaps. The more enteresting point is that Joe is captivated by only her smile as she leaves.
12. Now, a radical shift happens. I had been thinking for some time that the pace was too slow, too mundane. So we had this abrupt shift happen (as dreams sometimes do to us all) where Joe is now a jungle-treading explorer, ala' Indiana Jones or someone. Vines, bluffs, rivers, mosquitoes - and just as he concludes there is nothing to be found, he drops into a bottomless hole... And breaks his fall like a tomb raider. Of course, this is where he gets practical and diverts from either Jones or Jolie movies - but he's still hanging by one hand, but probably that he's got his feet under him somehow. Unclear. But he got a light and sensibly clips it on to himself.
The last thing here is not a cliff-hanger, but calming himself. Effect still there, though - what's next?
13. And winds up on an Hawaiian beach with his kahuna mentor. While this kahuna is always irreverent, he still is there to point a way out. This is probably the anomoly, as Huna has been to my own thinking as I discovered it. It continually punches holes in most all conventional wisdom about self help and enlightenment. This section actually tells about the 4 ways of analysis, which I've not seen anywhere except in one of Serge King's books. (And I've read a LOT of self-help books, as you'l see shortly.)
14. Here's where Sue and Roger really get into manipulating Joe's dreams. They pull out a wicked dream which every red-blooded male has, just to get him back under their control.
15. We don't know really who this mystery woman is who invades Joe's room that night. And did you notice that somehow, he's back in his room and asleep? Even now, I don't know who this woman was supposed to be. It could have been the Entertainment Director, or one of the nurses, or even the un-named woman he met outside the garden. She is trained in massage, and also strong. Again, it could have been almost any of the women so far in this novel. But, unlike Joe, I don't lose sleep over it.
12. Now, a radical shift happens. I had been thinking for some time that the pace was too slow, too mundane. So we had this abrupt shift happen (as dreams sometimes do to us all) where Joe is now a jungle-treading explorer, ala' Indiana Jones or someone. Vines, bluffs, rivers, mosquitoes - and just as he concludes there is nothing to be found, he drops into a bottomless hole... And breaks his fall like a tomb raider. Of course, this is where he gets practical and diverts from either Jones or Jolie movies - but he's still hanging by one hand, but probably that he's got his feet under him somehow. Unclear. But he got a light and sensibly clips it on to himself.
The last thing here is not a cliff-hanger, but calming himself. Effect still there, though - what's next?
13. And winds up on an Hawaiian beach with his kahuna mentor. While this kahuna is always irreverent, he still is there to point a way out. This is probably the anomoly, as Huna has been to my own thinking as I discovered it. It continually punches holes in most all conventional wisdom about self help and enlightenment. This section actually tells about the 4 ways of analysis, which I've not seen anywhere except in one of Serge King's books. (And I've read a LOT of self-help books, as you'l see shortly.)
14. Here's where Sue and Roger really get into manipulating Joe's dreams. They pull out a wicked dream which every red-blooded male has, just to get him back under their control.
15. We don't know really who this mystery woman is who invades Joe's room that night. And did you notice that somehow, he's back in his room and asleep? Even now, I don't know who this woman was supposed to be. It could have been the Entertainment Director, or one of the nurses, or even the un-named woman he met outside the garden. She is trained in massage, and also strong. Again, it could have been almost any of the women so far in this novel. But, unlike Joe, I don't lose sleep over it.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Commentary 09
41. Back in the hospital. Interesting here is that we don't know the duration of these dreams as they affect Roger and Sue's monitoring. And we don't know which one, if any, is causing blanks in their recording. I don't think I ever tied this down particularly, mainly because the pace keeps changing the dreams and accelerating the interaction, and it became moot at some point.
The interesting point is to "consider this while sleeping" phrase, which comes from Jose Silva's last works.
42. Now we're back into Joe's library. A joke about the relative importance of authors. And here you get a layout of why he had this library and realizes that he is really creating his own dreams - at least this one.
43. And so it's logical that he goes to the only place our kahuna shows up - that stretch of Hawaiian beach. And he gets a lecture similar to the Nazarene's parable about the lily of the field.
Joe reveals the underlying purpose for life (at least one of them) is to enjoy it immensely. "Look to the meaning behind the words. Find the language of self, soul, spirit." If you wanted to boil down the premise of this book, and the real boon which Joe works to take back to the world, this is it.
44 Dream within a dream. Which is itself a conundrum - or is it? This dream Joe has introduces the witch-doctor as a character (aluded to earlier) and tells a mini-origins story of the figure. Also where the amulet came from.
I attempt to discuss the powers of the statue again, but leave it with a simple allusion. (I've been tempted to write this all out, but even here, it's not appropriate. I'll leave it for a later time, or some academic to do the work.)
We may or may not be seeing Doreen as a bit of a Mata Hari here.
45. Back to the library. Haanel is explaining the secrets of the Universe (from his "Master Key System"). As the Nazarene nodded, it's to my own research point that all these self-help authors are saying the same thing in different ways. Lots of crossover points. (See my "Go Thunk Yourself" series.)
But as you study this carefully, you'll see Joe is working this all our for himself, which is exactly what this novel was suposed to do. I only hope that its not didactic, which is the reason for exploring fiction as a vehicle for this type of material. It certainly worked for Aesop.
The interesting point is to "consider this while sleeping" phrase, which comes from Jose Silva's last works.
42. Now we're back into Joe's library. A joke about the relative importance of authors. And here you get a layout of why he had this library and realizes that he is really creating his own dreams - at least this one.
43. And so it's logical that he goes to the only place our kahuna shows up - that stretch of Hawaiian beach. And he gets a lecture similar to the Nazarene's parable about the lily of the field.
Joe reveals the underlying purpose for life (at least one of them) is to enjoy it immensely. "Look to the meaning behind the words. Find the language of self, soul, spirit." If you wanted to boil down the premise of this book, and the real boon which Joe works to take back to the world, this is it.
44 Dream within a dream. Which is itself a conundrum - or is it? This dream Joe has introduces the witch-doctor as a character (aluded to earlier) and tells a mini-origins story of the figure. Also where the amulet came from.
I attempt to discuss the powers of the statue again, but leave it with a simple allusion. (I've been tempted to write this all out, but even here, it's not appropriate. I'll leave it for a later time, or some academic to do the work.)
We may or may not be seeing Doreen as a bit of a Mata Hari here.
45. Back to the library. Haanel is explaining the secrets of the Universe (from his "Master Key System"). As the Nazarene nodded, it's to my own research point that all these self-help authors are saying the same thing in different ways. Lots of crossover points. (See my "Go Thunk Yourself" series.)
But as you study this carefully, you'll see Joe is working this all our for himself, which is exactly what this novel was suposed to do. I only hope that its not didactic, which is the reason for exploring fiction as a vehicle for this type of material. It certainly worked for Aesop.
Commentary 02
6. Enter the over-bearing Precept. This is the only main character to never get a name. Because he's a real ass the whole time, but you've probably figured this out by now.
When Factor 2 mentions playing "Hobbe" with the algorithms, this is really a play on words. Hob in the original meaning is the Devil. Hobbe was one of these academic economists who was more ivory tower than real life. (IMHO.) But look him up and you'll see how he fits into this discussion of dreams we are having. To my recollection he was very much stuck in the Mathusian fiction of constant lack on this planet, and also very much cause-and-effect in trying to figure things out from a purely physical reasoning.
Of course, what we are doing here is to explore the meta-physical reasoning for things, so...
Oh, and now the Prefect is saying how busy he is with all his other work to help them out or even supervise them much. Vanity, thy name is professor.
And to distiguish him from the students we learn their names. Sue (Factor 2) doesn't like him leaning over them. Of course he's overbearing, but this is too much when he actually is.
7. Still in the hospital at this point. Joe meats another well-shaped nurse. Even the matrons at the desk weren't in bad shape - so this isn't your normal hospital (at least not the ones I've been in.)
But what's really key here is the introduction of this un-named person who nearly crowns him with the glass door. (Serves him right, for being distracted.) And while you'll see a very male aspect to all this, you'll get more hints about why shortly...
The plants and trees in the garden are native to Missouri, but are also Eastern Woodland, which stretches almost to the East Coast and several states up and south along the Alleghenies. By the flowers, you can also place what time of year this is. Joe's attention to detail also shows that he's a bit critical of the place as entirely man-made, even overboard for a hospital there to heal physical injuries.
8. OK - here's the fun part. This is a completely cartoon world with a cartoon Dog and Cat, who just have this conversation to set the scene. Originally, their language was going to be all Pogo-esque, but I relented later.
Read carefully, you see that these two are onto the whole scene. The "they" being talked about is unclear at this point.
9. Rosie and Charlene are nurses who also have too much time on their hands to keep their minds busy. This is really one of the few times we see the actual hospital staff having characters much beyond their assigned duties. Perhaps the only one, really. The idea of changing shifts is a bit of forewarning - however, I didn't really know myself what was about to happen at this point. Stories mostly write themselves, don't you know...
10. Our Factors start showing some life in this section. Roger doesn't appreciate Sue, but you also see the division of labor starting to show. While he has the heavy code-lifting, she is in charge of the more senstive, personal aspects. Again, I didn't plan this out, it just happened. And Sue's final gesture leads into...
When Factor 2 mentions playing "Hobbe" with the algorithms, this is really a play on words. Hob in the original meaning is the Devil. Hobbe was one of these academic economists who was more ivory tower than real life. (IMHO.) But look him up and you'll see how he fits into this discussion of dreams we are having. To my recollection he was very much stuck in the Mathusian fiction of constant lack on this planet, and also very much cause-and-effect in trying to figure things out from a purely physical reasoning.
Of course, what we are doing here is to explore the meta-physical reasoning for things, so...
Oh, and now the Prefect is saying how busy he is with all his other work to help them out or even supervise them much. Vanity, thy name is professor.
And to distiguish him from the students we learn their names. Sue (Factor 2) doesn't like him leaning over them. Of course he's overbearing, but this is too much when he actually is.
7. Still in the hospital at this point. Joe meats another well-shaped nurse. Even the matrons at the desk weren't in bad shape - so this isn't your normal hospital (at least not the ones I've been in.)
But what's really key here is the introduction of this un-named person who nearly crowns him with the glass door. (Serves him right, for being distracted.) And while you'll see a very male aspect to all this, you'll get more hints about why shortly...
The plants and trees in the garden are native to Missouri, but are also Eastern Woodland, which stretches almost to the East Coast and several states up and south along the Alleghenies. By the flowers, you can also place what time of year this is. Joe's attention to detail also shows that he's a bit critical of the place as entirely man-made, even overboard for a hospital there to heal physical injuries.
8. OK - here's the fun part. This is a completely cartoon world with a cartoon Dog and Cat, who just have this conversation to set the scene. Originally, their language was going to be all Pogo-esque, but I relented later.
Read carefully, you see that these two are onto the whole scene. The "they" being talked about is unclear at this point.
9. Rosie and Charlene are nurses who also have too much time on their hands to keep their minds busy. This is really one of the few times we see the actual hospital staff having characters much beyond their assigned duties. Perhaps the only one, really. The idea of changing shifts is a bit of forewarning - however, I didn't really know myself what was about to happen at this point. Stories mostly write themselves, don't you know...
10. Our Factors start showing some life in this section. Roger doesn't appreciate Sue, but you also see the division of labor starting to show. While he has the heavy code-lifting, she is in charge of the more senstive, personal aspects. Again, I didn't plan this out, it just happened. And Sue's final gesture leads into...
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Commentary 01
There was always more to write in these stories, but either it wasn't appropriate to the story line or would slow down the pace. When you create a world (or several) there are always tons of details. And being the author, you have complete control (mostly) about what happens. Of course, the closer you follow your intuition, and the more you have read of others' styles, the better your communication and story will wind up.
Using the sections of the book (which the blog is not as yet updated to include):
1. Haven't you had falling dreams? Some say they wind up on the floor, but for me it was always that sensation of landing when I woke up. Of course, when our main character takes out a pen and paper to write down his inspiration, this is perhaps a suggestion that he is vivid-dreaming, not just being blind effect of them as so many of have been taught.
I wrote this about the sweat, as I had just gotten over a round of fever myself. And you don't want to fully wake up, so you just change your shirt and get back into the muggy bed - all in the dark - so you don't lose your sleep. Besides, for a guy, changing sheets is a chore.
2. Being in a hospital is more an occurrence for me than I need to get into. Apparently he is in a private room, or at least no one is in any bed there. We never really know, well not when we are talking about the main character.
Now we know for sure that our main guy is dissecting his dreams.
This all comes from a point I read in Serge Kahili King's "Mastering Your Hidden Self", where he describes dreams as just an alternate reality. Death in any one dream is just where you don't come back, since you are already in another dream. Lester Levenson used to make this point as well, that there was little difference between dreaming and waking, except that they were usually quite different realities.
And this is the main premise for this book. You never really find out if our main character, Joe, ever "wakes up" to "reality". But he does get a handle on what's happening and winds up winning what he wants...
3. Here we are introduced to our "Factors". Of course, I reveal their names later. We don't know if they are good or back guys at this point, only that they are having trouble with one of their subjects. We are given a hint that their Prefect has them in some sort of academic setting as grad students.
4. Here's Joe's friend Jack. Oddly, in the Prequel, Jack is a Doctor. And I didn't realize this is the way the story was written until I was finished and editing it. So that makes the Prequel actually raise more questions than it answers. Which was the point. Now, mirrors on the wall of the hospital room aren't all that common, unless in the bathroom. So this oddity again makes for luxurious surroundings Joe finds himself in. Also, a mirror at that point is a good, quick element to tell us more about this main character.
5. Just took a break here to let you in on everything that was happening, more or less. A straight talk to the audience from the main character. The original working title was "A funny thing happened on my way to enlightenment." This was because it's a funny state, and a moving target. A person can achieve it and then move out of it and back, whatever they want. This is one of the points being explored in this piece of fiction.
What Joe looks like is more or less like me, only shorter. But red hair (mine's more gray these days) and green eyes is a nice combination. Mark Twain referred to his boyhood color as auburn, which is a more handsome-sounding color than "red".
Here we introduce the kahuna-kapua, which literally means (so I'm told) the "shaman keeper of the secret". Shaman and kapua roughly mean the same thing. And he is typically mystic in this section, bringing up the first principle of Huna, "The world is what you think it is." And this has everything to do with dreams, of course.
Using the sections of the book (which the blog is not as yet updated to include):
1. Haven't you had falling dreams? Some say they wind up on the floor, but for me it was always that sensation of landing when I woke up. Of course, when our main character takes out a pen and paper to write down his inspiration, this is perhaps a suggestion that he is vivid-dreaming, not just being blind effect of them as so many of have been taught.
I wrote this about the sweat, as I had just gotten over a round of fever myself. And you don't want to fully wake up, so you just change your shirt and get back into the muggy bed - all in the dark - so you don't lose your sleep. Besides, for a guy, changing sheets is a chore.
2. Being in a hospital is more an occurrence for me than I need to get into. Apparently he is in a private room, or at least no one is in any bed there. We never really know, well not when we are talking about the main character.
Now we know for sure that our main guy is dissecting his dreams.
This all comes from a point I read in Serge Kahili King's "Mastering Your Hidden Self", where he describes dreams as just an alternate reality. Death in any one dream is just where you don't come back, since you are already in another dream. Lester Levenson used to make this point as well, that there was little difference between dreaming and waking, except that they were usually quite different realities.
And this is the main premise for this book. You never really find out if our main character, Joe, ever "wakes up" to "reality". But he does get a handle on what's happening and winds up winning what he wants...
3. Here we are introduced to our "Factors". Of course, I reveal their names later. We don't know if they are good or back guys at this point, only that they are having trouble with one of their subjects. We are given a hint that their Prefect has them in some sort of academic setting as grad students.
4. Here's Joe's friend Jack. Oddly, in the Prequel, Jack is a Doctor. And I didn't realize this is the way the story was written until I was finished and editing it. So that makes the Prequel actually raise more questions than it answers. Which was the point. Now, mirrors on the wall of the hospital room aren't all that common, unless in the bathroom. So this oddity again makes for luxurious surroundings Joe finds himself in. Also, a mirror at that point is a good, quick element to tell us more about this main character.
5. Just took a break here to let you in on everything that was happening, more or less. A straight talk to the audience from the main character. The original working title was "A funny thing happened on my way to enlightenment." This was because it's a funny state, and a moving target. A person can achieve it and then move out of it and back, whatever they want. This is one of the points being explored in this piece of fiction.
What Joe looks like is more or less like me, only shorter. But red hair (mine's more gray these days) and green eyes is a nice combination. Mark Twain referred to his boyhood color as auburn, which is a more handsome-sounding color than "red".
Here we introduce the kahuna-kapua, which literally means (so I'm told) the "shaman keeper of the secret". Shaman and kapua roughly mean the same thing. And he is typically mystic in this section, bringing up the first principle of Huna, "The world is what you think it is." And this has everything to do with dreams, of course.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Prequel
Doreen didn't know what she was doing on that flight. Sure, she had planned it, booked the ticket, packed her bags, paid with her own credit card. Mechanically. But the Why of this trip eluded her. Why did she arrange her life just to visit some remote valley in a South American country most people had never heard of. And this valley wasn't even on any map other than some uncharted forest. Not really even a tourist destination.
Yet, she had figured all this out and was going there alone. By herself. And she'd never done anything like this before.
For all she knew, this was a one way flight, since her reasoning told her that nothing existed there except indigenous natives and corporate stooges bent on exploiting them. Or maybe huge cocaine fields where drug-running, armed cartels are running rough-shod over the populace in order to get whatever it was that made the drug - oh, it's coca leaves or something like that. Like she knew.
All she knew is this is something she just had to do. No choice.
It had started with simple dreams that started coming back every night. Same one. And the more she thought about it, the worse it got.
There was this statue that was surrounded by forest. One side of it was black and the other white. It glowed and seemed to move in her dream. She sat, captivated and unable to move, waiting for it to speak and tell her the truth of all existence. In her dream the skies darkened and the rain stormed around her, but she just sat. The thunder increased until it sounded like it was right behind her - she finally tore her eyes away from the statue to see a wall of water rise way over her head.
And she always woke at that point, drenched in her own perspiration.
It was that jewelry someone had sent her. Some ancient relative who visited her East Coast parent's home once or twice when she was small. The note said that it was her time now to care for this jewelry. That if she ever felt she needed to know more about it, just to visit this valley - and then told the directions to get there.
Doreen had kept the note out of curiosity. It had been written on hand-made paper, in dialect-ridden English with what looked to be a fountain pen or maybe even a cut quill - but definitely from free ink, not a ball point or something else. The person had taken the time to create that message which seemed an anachronism of crafting in these times.
But it wasn't just one person - two people actually wrote the note. The first was a relative she had never met, who actually had been the jewelry's owner all this time. Well, it was an heirloom she had gotten from an ancient relative of hers. The second author was her great-grand-niece, who said that her aunt had told her to get this to me just before she died. Some cryptic comment about she had gotten a dream that I was the next in line. And this second author had put the note in with the package to send it to me. It was her handwriting on the label.
Of course the jewelry was incredible. A small carefully matched set of stones, one-half white and one-half black. So tightly finished that it looked as if it were a single stone. All tied together with platinum and gold wires, braided in an endless band around them. A simple leather thong went through the top of it, long enough to hang around her neck.
When Doreen put it on, she noticed that it was too long and actually hung down between her breasts. So she untied it and trimmed the leather to make it fit higher and show off it's beauty. Then she put it back in the hand-carved box it was sent in, as she didn't often "go native" when she went out dining with friends. She did like the feel of it and so picked it up one day just to see how it was made, then put it around her neck with the idea of seeing what she had that would match it.
The odd thing was that it was the same length as before.
Since she couldn't wear it like that, she took the thong out and replaced it with a silver chain about the same color as the platinum. And it hung better, showing off the beautiful setting. As she was going out that night, she decided to wear it around the house to get used to it. Since she was housecleaning, Doreen only wore some cut-off sweats, which seemed incongruous with such fine jewelry around her neck. But there was no one to see her, so it was just one of her little jokes to herself. She ran the vacuum and dusted and put things away to neaten everything up.
She was going out with the girls from work that night and cooked herself a little high-protein meal to fill her up - and hopefully absorb the alcohol these ladies liked to toss back. As she was changing, it dropped and caught in her bra. She looked down and found the silver chain was still there, just broken. The ends were severely tarnished, like they had just corroded through. But she had had that chain for years and it had never tarnished before.
So she took the chain off, thinking that the cost of repairing it might be more than it was worth. She fished out the stone jewelry and tossed it back in it's little box again. No time to find another chain for it. The girls were probably already waiting.
- - - -
When she returned to her apartment and fumbled in the door, she leaned up against the doorway and thanked God for taxi-cabs. Those girls loved their sauces and no way she would have been able to drive. Feeling lazy, she just shucked her clothes off as she made her way to the bathroom, leaving a line of clothes as she went. Too many drinks meant too many fluids - and all things had their end. She smiled at her little joke.
As she sat there naked on the toilet, she relaxed more, but kept herself from relaxing too much. It wouldn't have been the first time she woke up on the bathroom floor - probably why she kept thick, fluffy white throw-rugs in there.
Her attention went to the open box with the stone jewelry in it. Somehow it didn't seem the same. Maybe she had tossed it in too hard after the disappointment of her silver chain.
Reaching over to pick the jewelry up, she didn't remember putting the thong back on the jewelry - but there it was. Almost habitually, she put it around her neck. And there it sat, right between her breasts as before. Helluva conversation piece way down there, she thought. Only guy who would be looking there wasn't any jewelry expert and would only be interested in other things. Two other things.
The jewelry wasn't cold, though. In fact it seemed to be warm. But of course, here she was, buck-naked in her own bathroom like a queen on her throne. Anything would feel warm. She scrunched her feet through the soft shaggy carpet under her feet and reveled in the sensation.
But the dizziness seemed to have gone away. It was time for sleep to get rid of the rest of it. At least her stomach wasn't upset this time.
She rose and moved to her bed, turning out the bathroom light and making her way in the dark. As she leaned over to turn the comforter and sheets down, she noticed that the jewelry hardly moved, even on that long thong. "My boobs bounce more than you do, little fella," she said out loud. "Well that's a few too many, now I'm talking to my jewelry in the nude. Definitely time for sleep. Way too many tonight."
Dropping into bed, she was almost instantly asleep.
And somewhere in that night, she got that dream the first time.
She woke up in a cold sweat, and reached for the amulet, finding she had to unbutton the top of her night shirt to get to it.
Wait a minute.
She threw off the bedcovers and swung her feet down. Somehow in the night, she had gotten dressed in a nightshirt, boyshorts, and thick wooly socks. Now that's weird, she thought. Way too many drinks down the hatch last night.
Again, as if on cue, she felt the warmth of the amulet. As she fished it out and held it in her hand, it seemed to almost glow in the dim side lighting from her bedside table. And the world felt safe, for some reason. Which reminded her that she was missing out on a really cozy bed right now. So she dropped the amulet back where it seemed to want to stay and scootched back under the thick comforter and satin sheets, one of the few luxuries she afforded herself.
Asleep almost instantly, the dream returned.
This time, she was sitting in a lotus position in front of the statue and just considering nothing as she looked at it. She was again alone. And this time was completely naked, except for the amulet on its long thong around her neck. As she sat there, the thunder and rain was all around her, but this wasn't bothersome. She didn't even seem to be getting wet.
This time, she heard the wall of water coming, but didn't even turn to look. When it hit, it was like it flowed around and covered her, but didn't push her around, but covered more like the caress of a soft blanket. She was several feet underwater, just looking at the statue as she sat there, the clear water giving a soft focus to the statue and a light green, hazy halo around it.
Later, the water receded and the sun came out. She still sat there, still looking at the statue. She was content. And she could almost see it start to smile back at her.
- - - -
The sun was coming in her window now, through the partially open drapes.
Doreen was relaxed, fully comfortable, well slept.
She put her hand to her forehead and thought it odd that she had no hangover. Pulling the leather thong brought the amulet to view. As she held it in her hand, she started seeing that the strange occurrences were more than coincidences and had lack of explanations which ran through them.
Then she knew she had to find out about it's origins.
She had some vacation time coming, and it was always warm in South America.
However, it took far longer than she imagined to actually start her trip.
- - - -
Always there were incidental glitches which put the trip back a week or so. Her job wouldn't allow her to schedule her time off until other workers came back from theirs. So she saw that she could find out more about that amulet and the area she was going to. Might as well, it was going to be weeks.
She quit putting off her gym visits, as she knew she was going to need to be in shape. Five days a week kept her working at the gym on her way home. At night, she searched the Internet for any information she could find.
Weekends were at the local museums and looking up ethnologists, as well as antiquarians who could tell her anything about the jewelry. Most turned up blanks. She did get some leads in looking up the area's address, but few people had ever seen anything like that jewelry - and none of these actually knew anything about it's origin. Except one.
It took all Saturday to get there. He lived in an actual government-abandoned lighthouse on the coast. Well, it used to be the coast until it silted in and grew over.
The nearby town was a shadow of its former self, with more empty lots than buildings. There was a local hotel, which was more of a bed-and-breakfast, which suited Doreen just fine. Comfortable antique beds and they'd added bathrooms and modern conveniences. She'd called ahead for a reservation, so when she rolled up well after dark, she was able to check in simply. They'd even kept dinner for her and warmed it up. Since the nearest fast-food place was nearly a half-hour away on twisty, unknown roads, she wasn't inclined to go out for pizza - and the hospitality made her feel really at home. Like visiting her own aunt's home.
The owners didn't know much about this Dr. Fitzhughes. Seems he kept to himself. Bought that lighthouse for a song and spend far more fixing it up. Kept to himself, mostly. Sometimes people had seen him up on top, sitting in a deck chair for hours in the same position. Other tales of lights going on and off at odd hours of the night, as well as unusual glowing lights which seemed to move around the lighthouse in different patterns.
Of course, the lighthouse had long been rumored to be haunted, long before the doctor bought it. There were tales of suicides committed there, and ghosts of ships captains or their crew who blamed the lighthouse master for their wrecks off the coast. Some historians tried to spend the night there to study it for restoration, but left in the wee hours their first night and went straight back to New York or wherever, without even stopping by to pick up packages left for their expected three-week stay.
Little grew next to the shore side of the lighthouse, but the growth on the sea-side was abundant. And the worst repairs had to be made on the shore side as well, while the worst weather happened on the sea side, so you'd expect the wear would be there.
Finally, all the stories she could dredge out of her hosts were exhausted, as everyone was. So Doreen bid the owners good night and went up the creaking stairs to her room. It took little effort to drop into bed. The room was so small that her bed and nightstand took nearly the entire space, leaving only room for a chest at the end of the bed which her suitcase laid on.
Sleep came quickly, but stayed fitfully, interrupted with various dreams about phantoms in lighthouses who played poker around a table in its kitchen and a ghostly couple who chased themselves up and down its tall stairs. Meanwhile, she also had a vision of the mysterious doctor who sat in a deck chair at it's top, looking out to see with his feet propped on the railing and smoking a long clay pipe like a ship's captain - completely oblivious to the specters which would chase each other around the gallery where he sat.
These dreams came and went, returning much the same as before, but with more details. Soon, she knew the names of the poker players and the chasing couple. But the most disturbing part was finding that her external vision of the doctor seated on the gallery placed her several feet from the lighthouse. Once she looked down, she began falling - and wound up in bed, awake and shaking.
Even though it was still dark, she resolved not to go back to sleep again. She turned on the light and fished out one of the old books she found at one of those antiquarian shops which described the valley she was going to. Unfortunately, it seems to be more fantasy than factual reporting. The writing style was early 1800's, which made for slow going as she read the words on the browned pages. The smell of fine dust and old books put her in the mood for this sleuthing.
The tales in this book told of people who lived there for extremely long periods of time, and were perhaps immortal. That is, if they never left the valley itself. Those that left as youth lived normal lifespans, but those who were old in terms of the outer-world's time would age quickly the further they traveled from that valley. There was one report of a single person who would admit being several hundred years old and traveled the world as a guest of many different country's royal families, but always wore an amulet around his neck and dressed in very common clothing as he had in his own valley. His many stories left his hosts impressed enough to pay for his various excursions to their historical museums, as well as recommending him to their relatives in different countries.
One interesting point is that wherever he went, there was no war or hostilities. And trade increased as well as bumper crops and good weather. This legend continued to say that it was this exact reason which made him so popular in Europe. He finally left the Continent when his following became too great, for rumors of miracle healing started circulating. This forced him to leave on passage to the frontier America's by sailing ship. At this point, he simply disappeared, which the book's author attributed to the lack of sophisticated communication and publishing in Colonial America. It was speculated that he might have finally reached his end after he went to visit the savage aborigines further inland.
The next chapter covered the valley itself, which was nondescript. It told of a failed Spanish settlement which lay in ruins because the locals would only work when they wanted and could not be forced into labor. While there were many names for this area, it was commonly known as the Valley of Fools, which can be translated into many polite and less-polite meanings. The native word for this area only translated to "home" or "heart". Even the idea of a central village was new to those people, who considered all they needed for trade was a clearing and needed nothing outside from outside that valley.
Of course, this segued into some dialectical nuances the village had from other areas, which were mostly revolving around their philosophical approach to the world around them. The author hypothesized that the area's situation was so unique that it was a near paradise and so they needed nothing else. However, he tended to discount this, as historically such situations lead to overpopulation and excesses in local government which ultimately lead to its collapse. And the lack of written records before and after the Spanish tended to force trust in the verbal traditions, which were unreliable to most historians.
At this point the book became dry, the day was becoming brighter, and aroma's of breakfast were wafting up the stairs. Doreen put the book away and dressed for her trip to the lighthouse.
- - - -
Breakfast had been solitary, as no other guests were up that early, and the cook was busy with preparing for them. Doreen nearly inhaled the fresh eggs and home-made biscuits with gravy, then got on her way, quickly ducking her head in the kitchen to say thanks on her way out. Soon she was heading on the twisting shoreline roads which led to the old lighthouse.
As she rounded the final curve, she saw it sat nearly a quarter-mile in from the sea, with some large trees which had grown between it and the ocean. A small garden was placed between the trees and the stone building, which probably meant any salt spray had been mitigated so that plants could be raised that close to the ocean - other than marsh grass and others which could tolerate those conditions.
She had to park her car almost as far from the lighthouse, next to a very old freestanding garage, which held what looked like an antique car that Doreen made out through the dusty window in the side of the building.
Once up the neat, but winding and narrow path up to the lighthouse, she knocked and received no answer. Pushing, she found it opened easily, without a trace of squeak, but staying open or shut even despite the windy day. Notable in the otherwise neat and tidy ground floor was some uprooted stones and piles of dirt near the center. A table with three chairs stood over to one side, a pack of cards at it's center. Nothing else adorned the walls or floor.
"Hello? Anyone here?" Doreen called. She could smell fresh-brewed coffee and buns from the keeper's quarters.
"Up here. Come on up!" came the reply at the top of the long circular stairs spiraling upwards.
Finally, huffing and panting, she arrived at the open small doorway which revealed the wooden decking of the gallery. As she made the final steps through the doorway, a lone bearded man sitting in a deck chair puffing a long pipe removed his feet from the railing and rose to meet her, extending his hand and using the other to remove his pipe.
"Welcome. Glad you could make it. Have a seat?" He gestured to a second deck chair next to a small matching side table set between the two. A plate covered with a napkin, and an enameled pot with steaming coffee were there, along with a small pot of what looked to be jam. "Hope you like your coffee black, I didn't have arms to carry cream up here as well," said the man, who was wearing several days' growth of stubble along with a turtleneck sweater, khaki slacks, and a ball cap. "Name's Jack. Dr. Jack Fitzhughe. And yours?"
"Doreen Bonneham."
"That's a fitting name - did you know it means gift? We are all blessed with gifts, such as your beauty and youth."
She blushed slightly as she took the offered bun and mug, then thanked him as she settled into the spare seat. He sat down as well and soon they were both enjoying the view with a mug of full-bodied coffee in one hand and the other filled with a fresh bun with berry jam.
"Made out of local berries," he explained. "I studied up on local flora while trying to figure out how I could have a garden this close to the ocean. Berries grow wild around here, and lots of them if you know their season."
They both sat and looked out over the horizon as they finished their buns and sipped the hot coffee.
Finally, the doctor spoke, "And you have a question you wanted answered?" He looked off in the distance as he spoke.
Doreen took her time, considering her options - since she had so many questions, some important, others not. She fished the amulet from out of her blouse and took the thong from around her neck. "I have many questions," she said. "But they key one is about this. What can you tell me?"
The doctor turned toward her and only glanced at the amulet before looking her straight in her eyes, a piercing look. "I know you are in for the adventure of your life. Consider sending it to some distant relative as a gift, unless you want complete upheaval in everything you hold as security in your life. If not, nothing will be safe, nothing will give you control back to your own life. Even love may be fleeting from here on out." With that, he turned back to look seaward.
"Oh come on, it's just a silly piece of jewelry!" Doreen exclaimed. "I could as easily pawn or sell it and be none the worse. What you receive as a gift you can re-give."
"Then give it away immediately." The doctor didn't turn his gaze from the sea.
Doreen was silent at this and looked down at the amulet. She placed it on the table and sat back, perplexed. Finally, she spoke, "It's not that difficult, couldn't be."
The doctor turned to her, "Let me ask you a few questions then: Why are you here?"
"To find out about this amulet."
"And who sent you here?"
"No one."
"How did you find out about me?"
"I searched through antique dealers and historians."
"And who told you to search?"
"No one."
"Then if no one is telling you to change your life and spend all your free time searching up a mysterious figure who lives miles away from any big city in an old deserted lighthouse, then what is prompting you to do all this?"
"I am curious."
"About?"
"This amulet."
"And the dreams you've been having?"
"Yes, of course. Wait - how do you know about the dreams?"
"I have my own stone like that."
"You do?" Doreen's pulse quickened.
"Sure. And it gives me dreams like yours. In fact, you are in them, just as I have been showing up in yours."
"Then maybe to get rid of these dreams I should just leave it on the table and go."
The doctor smiled at her. "Go ahead. Try it. I won't lift a finger. But it won't work."
"How is that?"
"Once you are given the trust of the amulet, it bonds to you. And it may only be given to a blood-relative. Otherwise, like the proverbial bad penny, it will continue showing up in your life. The harder you try to get rid of it, the faster it returns."
Doreen gave this some thought, but shook her head.
"Denial won't get you anywhere," the doctor commented. "Let's look at it this way - when's the last time you slept without it?"
"Oh I dunno - months ago. Actually, it's been every single night since I got it, come to think of it."
"Yup, that's the way it happens."
"So where's yours?"
"Buried."
"I thought you couldn't get rid of it."
"I didn't."
"So you buried it and you still have dreams?"
"No, I didn't say I buried it. In fact, I've been trying to un-bury it."
Doreen remembered the rubble at the base of the lighthouse. "Oh, but wouldn't it be easy if it's just under the floor?"
"Well, it's taken me years to find it. That's why I have such a big garden on one side and the other side is so barren. I used every trick in the book to find where it was buried. Until just last week, I figured it was under the lighthouse itself. I've already replaced the entire floor of the keeper's quarters. But that stone is hand-laid and the masonry is precise, so it's not as easy as it looks to get it out." The doctor looked back out to see and rubbed his hands together as if remembering the work they'd been through to find his stone.
"So you have it now?"
"I will shortly. I am just waiting to be told how to undo the jinx."
"So you wait here?"
"This is where I get my best inspirations. Or not."
"What's the jinx?"
The doctor was silent for awhile, apparently wondering how much he could tell her. Finally, he blurted out, "Well, the story is a long one. It seems my family has been the hereditary caretakers of this lighthouse since it was first built. In fact, my family built it - or helped, anyway." He went on to describe how the family tales described the building and the many generations of family that lived in it. "When my uncle died, the last living occupant, I was sent the family Bible as part of the will. In it was a simple note: 'My dearest Jack, Now it's all over to you. May Lady Luck grace your remaining days as she has mine. Your Uncle Joe.'"
With that, the doctor looked out to sea again, silent.
Doreen kept her peace out of respect, even though the silence deepened to near insufferability.
Finally, Jack spoke. "As you experienced, my dreams started that night. And I would wake up after incredible dreams and the only thing I could do was to read that Bible. Not the regular verses, just the family history and stories. In fact, I'd close it up and come back to find it open. Time after time. I'd even put a heavy weight on it, but shortly I hear it thump to the floor - and it would be open to the last page I had read. And once I finished reading it, it then opened back at the beginning pages of the family history again. Spooky."
"Why didn't you just sell it in a used book store or give it away?"
"Tried that. Every store I'd go to would either suddenly be closed or not authorized to purchase it, or some other very probable excuse. I even put it in one of those deposit boxes. It showed up back at my apartment on the same table, open to the last-read page. Tried deposit boxes across town or in other suburbs - same thing. It would be there waiting for me. So I started taking what I read seriously and made inquiries."
The doctor paused, then continued. "Now it gets even weirder after that. It turns out that when the Coast Guard turned the lighthouse back over to private ownership, they couldn't sell it at any price. Until they finally were told to basically give it away - back to my family. Seems the Commandant was having bad dreams which only got worse the more he tried to ignore them. To get back his sanity, he ordered it transferred back to the family under any conditions which made it legal. So my ancestors got their home back for a dollar."
Jack poured them both some coffee and took the last bun after Doreen politely refused.
"Did your Bible tell you there was an amulet buried nearby?"
"Not in so many words. It did have an odd poem on a very worn page, written in a dialectical prose. Since I get great Internet here, I've been deciphering it as I can - and the clues are sometimes elusively cryptic until I can get inspired enough to sort them out. Just finished it the other week, just before I got that hole started."
"So why don't you finish the hole and get your amulet?"
"Well, as I said, it's jinxed."
"Oh come on... Do you believe all that? It should just be able to be dug up!" Doreen exclaimed, unable to hold herself back.
"Not that simple. For instance, it breaks shovel handles and shatters pickaxe heads. Even just sitting there. I've gone to town and came back to find all my tools in pieces. Now I've replaced or repaired them all, but they sit locked in that garage until the jinx is broken."
"So did any part of that Bible say how you could break it?"
"Not exactly. It told me to ask the ghosts."
"Ghosts?!?"
"Yea, like the ones you dreamed about last night."
That stopped Doreen cold as she just stared at him. And then she remembered what he had said earlier. "Oh, that's right, you said I was in your dreams as you were in mine."
"And you met all the local ghosts last night. It was a new moon, their favorite time to be out and about. I give up sleeping then. Just nap to catch up. Good thing I'm retired."
"But in my dream you were sleeping up here in the deck chair..."
"Dozing, maybe. But when you are constantly having to listen to Lucien and Hermione run up and down the stairs and through you while incessantly giggling and teasing each other, plus the endless raucous poker game downstairs, you really don't get much peace until the sun comes up."
"Dead relatives?"
"No, they all were shipwreck victims nearby. But they are also tied to the jinx, they tell me."
"You talk to them?"
"Well, mostly I just listen real carefully. Because if you can get a ghost to tell you the whole story, they just move on. So they've learned not to talk to humans. One of the stories in that Bible was about an ancestor who was a rather liberal-thinking pastor, and found that out. He wrote that there used to be hundreds infesting this place, but he was able to get the others to leave - except for these few, which are tightlipped to outsiders or anyone in solid form."
"So how did you find this out?"
"Gifts. The poker players like Rum, the older the better. The newlyweds - well, Lucien likes cigars and Hermione likes fresh cut flowers. That's the holder by the door - it was welded in place by some distant ancestor. Lucien gets jealous and goes to smoke his stogies on the other side while she sits there where you are and just prattles on about how pretty they are."
This made Doreen slightly uncomfortable, which the doctor noticed. He reassured her, "No, they don't come out in daylight and actually don't harm anyone. In good weather, I'll go and camp out in the garden - the sound doesn't carry as well out there. But no, in answer to your question, I can't just leave and go into town. Usually the car won't start if I'm thinking of leaving. I have to clear it with them before I can go anywhere."
Doreen was dubious about this, but was willing to play along, since everything else fit.
"Then why don't you just find out how this jinx works and get it removed?"
"Because it is going to take someone else."
"Like who?"
"Like you."
"Me?!?"
Jack just sat quietly, and looked deep into her eyes until she had to turn away.
Doreen didn't know what to think or how to act. "You honestly expect me to believe all this?"
"Actually, no."
"Then I guess I'd better leave."
"OK, nice meeting you." Jack looked out to sea again and put his feet back up on the railing of the gallery. He took out his tobacco and started to stuff his pipe.
Doreen didn't move.
And she waited as he continued to light his pipe and look out to sea again. Waited until the silence became unbearable.
"So you really meant, I don't have a choice and neither do you."
"Oh you have a choice," Jack said between puffs. He finally took the pipe out of his mouth and turned to her. "But you're right that it's not much of one, as I've found out. But you don't have to believe me. For all you know I'm crazy. But then, why did you come all the way out here just to talk to a man everyone tells you is nuts and lives in a haunted lighthouse in the booney-nowhere of the East Coast?" Jack turned back to the seascape again.
Doreen considered this. And she knew in her heart that there was some truth to what he said. She took her amulet and looked at it for a long while. Then gracefully looped its thong back over her head and dropped it down her front again. For all that time out in the weather, it was still warm against her skin as it settled back in place.
"So what's my job in getting rid of this jinx?" She sighed.
"Well, I don't know precisely. You'll have to ask the ghosts?"
"Whaaat?"
"Be back at sunset. Bring some rum. Julian likes the cheap cigars, just get the longest ones you can. And don't forget the flowers. There's a shop next to your bed and breakfast - they'll know what to give you." The doctor took his feet from the railing and tapped out his pipe on the heel of one boot. He rose at that point and said, "Well this is where you go to town for your nap. I'd offer you to stay here, but there's only one bed and the ghosts won't talk unless you bribe them. So we aren't going to find anything out unless you go to town."
Doreen didn't know if she should be miffed at this candor. "Why don't you just go?"
"Because I'm not the one who can ask them. It's you they've been waiting for. Me, they already know everything there is to know. You're fresh news. With that he turned and picked up the coffee pot and plate, along with the napkins and jam jar. He moved around Doreen and headed down the stairs. "Have a nice nap!" Jack called from the stairs.
Doreen sat there perplexed. Of course she had nothing to lose by doing what he said. But no real reason to, either. And then she thought of her dreams. It wouldn't hurt to humor him to see if that would help ease her nights.
She rose, stretched, and then made her way back downstairs and outside to her car.
It started easily, just as it was supposed to.
- - - -
She'd asked them to deliver the flowers to the old hotel just before they closed. So when she came down to the lobby, they were there, waiting. A sunflower bouquet - nice and bright for a young girl full of life at the time she died.
Never thought I'd be bribing a ghost to get rid of my dreams, she thought. Or getting specters drunk so I could hear their sea tales with the hopes of removing a jinx. At least the rum was already in her car, along with the longest and cheapest cigars they had. While I was at it, I got box of chocolate donuts - maybe Jack would appreciate it. If not, it was going to be a long ride back home, and they’d help pass the time.
As she pulled into the spot next to the garage, the sun had set and was fading fast. She turned off her lights and car engine, then sat awhile in the quiet evening. Even as she did, the porch light went on to the lighthouse main entrance. There was smoke coming from chimney of the keeper's quarters, which gave a wood scent to the air.
Maybe Jack's cooking something, Doreen thought, realizing she had rushed out without asking about dinner. "Hope my hosts don't wait for me," she said aloud. She suffered a twinge of regret for not thinking about her manners in the rush. With that, Doreen gathered up the package with the bribes in it, plus the bouquet, and got out of the car and onto the path.
At the door, she knocked and pushed it open when there was no answer, yelling, "Jack, you home?"
A muffled reply came from the closed door to the keeper's quarters.
Doreen noted that there was a fourth chair at the table, as well as lights in the sconces. Since they were still oil-filled and not electric, the odor of burned oil was tangible. Above was dark, except for a light at the very top of the stairs.
"Hi Doreen. Let me help you with that." Jack took the grocery sack and put it on the table. "Here, bring the flowers inside. I've got a vase there which is in a duplicate to the holder at the top of the stairs. She likes her flowers fresh."
Doreen followed him in to his quarters, snagging the donuts out of the bag as she passed by.
As she entered the small main room, she noticed it had a small table which was set with a white table cloth and lit candles in addition to a simple place setting on each side.
"Hope you didn't mind. I had an idea you'd be rushing out without eating so I made a little something for us both." Jack was talking as he went into what looked like a tiny kitchen and returned with some chicken-fried steak in a mushroom and onion sauce still in the skillet. "Sorry I don't have the serving dishes out - it's so close from here to there, I stored them all way years ago. Typical bachelor arrangement - don't dirty what you don't want to clean."
He motioned Doreen to sit while he dished out two helpings of everything on their respective plates. Taking the hot skillet to the kitchen, he returned with a small pot of asparagus and a salad made of greens she wasn't familiar with. "Dig in, I'll be right back."
Jack was in a smooth endless motion as he moved efficiently, taking her jacket to hang on the hook by the door along with the box of donuts she was holding and returning with a bottle of wine and two glasses in one hand, a jigger of salad dressing in the other.
Finally he sat. Doreen was fascinated in watching him and didn't move until he quit moving.
"Thanks for the donuts. Chocolate is my favorite. We can take some up with ice cream to the gallery afterwards. Sometimes you get munchies while you're waiting and that climb is a long one, even for someone who is used to it."
Doreen commented, "This all looks great. And what's in this salad?" She found out she was ravenous and the salad was delicious.
"It's all local greens. If you know what to look for and how to raise them, you can almost have endless salad greens from native plants around here, plus I like some spinach occasionally. Oh, that asparagus is fresh picked this afternoon - but no, the steak is from a farm down the road a few miles. I do a lot, but not everything." He smiled at his own joke.
Doreen was relaxed and enjoying the food immensely. While the wine helped, it was having home-cooked, fresh-from-the-garden food that really made the difference. As well, having someone else cook was a treat - and it was amazing how simple food could taste so good. For a time, she forgot she was in a lighthouse as she was listening to Jack's humorous takes on how to raise and prepare food - a world away from nightmares, ghosts, and mysterious amulets.
They'd cleared their plates and just finished laughing at another of Jack's humorous anecdotes when they both heard a loud thud outside the building.
"Oops, our guests are here." Jack rose and collected up all the dishes in a single load to take them into the kitchen. "Cork that wine, would you? They have a nasty habit of tipping over anything that's open. Hate to waste it." With the sound of running water, he quickly covered the dishes so clean up would be easier later, he was quickly back with two plastic bowls, spoons, a small container of ice cream and the donuts.
"OK. Let's go. After you - oh, grab that bouquet,too." He gestured through the door going into the lighthouse proper.
Once through the doorway, he rattled off a series of directions as he headed up the stairs. "You're going to have to open up the rum and place the lid loosely on top. Take the cards out of the pack and leave them in the center. Then carry up the bag with the cigars and bouquet up here. Besides my hands being full, it's key that you do all these if you want them to talk to you. It's your bribes, after all." He soon was several turns up the stairs. Then he hollered back, "Oh yeah, you may want your jacket, though your amulet will probably keep you warm..."
Doreen grabbed her jacket out of the other room and tossed it over her arm, scooping up the bouquet and the bag with its cigars as she started climbing the long stairs.
By the time she had arrived, again panting and out of breath, Jack had already set out the dessert and was propped up on the gallery railing and leaning his head back against the wall. From somewhere, he produced a ball cap and was wearing it.
"Oh, there you are," his eyes twinkled as he teased me, completely enjoying this change in his routine. "Sit down and take a rest - oh, you can put that bouquet in the sconce holder while you are up. Save you a trip."
Doreen set the bouquet in the holder and then dropped into the chair with the bag holding only the cigar package and her jacket on top of that. A few deep breaths later, she asked, "OK - where do the cigars go?"
Joe replied, "Well, take them around to the other side and open the package so the ends are exposed. They don't do opening packages well for some reason. But bring the sack back, it will just confuse them, plus we can use it to put the dishes in."
Doreen lurched to her feet unceremoniously and dropped her jacket back on her chair. Leaving the bag, she took the long cheroots over around the other side and opened them, placing them in the center of the decking. That done, she looked outward and realized what a marvelous view Jack had from here. While he always looked seaward, it was just as breath-taking looking at the dimming vista and the lights coming on from nearby houses, farms, and cities. She made her way back and felt the chill start to cool her off after all these exertions.
Picking up her jacket, she shrugged into the sleeves and wrapped it around her before sitting down, more carefully this time.
Jack offered her a bowl of ice cream with a couple of chocolate donuts in it, the rest of the box available on the table. He waited until she had started eating and then worked his own over with gusto. All was silent on the lighthouse other than their eating, plus a few occasional ship horns and the evening birds.
Doreen broke this peace as she finished off her own dessert and placed the bowl back on the small table. "Well, now what?"
"Oh, it won't be long now. Almost dark enough." Jack was quiet, reflective. While he seemed to be enjoying this immensely, this was also his source of peace up here. Solitude could be addicting, Doreen thought as she looked out over the broad horizon.
Soon, the sound of voices started up below as the previously quiet door creaked open. "You know I greased and oiled that to perfection, yet they can still make it squeak. That's how I know they're here." Joe whispered to me as he quickly cleared the table and stuffed everything into the sack, which was placed on the deck out of the way.
Two people were talking loudly as the bottle was passed back and forth. A third soon joined them. Bets were exchanged and oaths as the cards were dealt and revealed.
Light laughter and giggling then shortly started as if someone were chasing the other around the outside of the lighthouse. Soon the door creaked open again and light steps were heard coming up the steps, along with whispered jokes and muffled laughter. The newlyweds had arrived.
Doreen saw Hermione first, as a gauzy shape coming through the door. Behind her was Julian, and they stopped to take a long kiss before entering the gallery. When they did, they saw both Doreen and Jack, which surprised them. Hermione was dressed in evening gown and Julian in a cutaway tuxedo – as if they were heading out for the ship’s festivities that evening.
"Jack's got himself a lover, Jules."
"I can see that, Hermie."
Jack interrupted, "Hermione, Julian, let me introduce Doreen. Doreen, this is Hermione and Julian. No, she's not a lover, she is just a visitor here on a quest."
Jules whispered something to Hermione, who seemed to blush. "Jules was just being rude, and I apologize, but loosely translated, he says that he hopes it turns into a mutually happy relationship, much like ours. Very loosely translated, but I'm afraid Julian has only one thing on his mind and that is our stateroom affairs later..."
With that they again started kissing passionately, oblivious to all their surroundings.
"Ahem." Jack interrupted after a suitable pause. Doreen thought you'd like some flowers, so she brought them just for you, Hermione."
The couple broke it off and Hermione went into various oohs and ahs about how pretty they were, and thanking Doreen profusely.
Jack, seeing that Julian didn't know how to take this, rose to his feet and said aloud, "Well, I'll leave you girls to talk. I think Jack might want to join me in the main salon for a smoke or two." Then he left to the other side. Julian followed, looking curiously after several times.
Hermione glided to Jack's seat, carrying the bouquet. Looking directly above the flowers directly into Doreen's eyes, she was point blank, "So, dear, what are you really after here?"
Doreen saw the vixen there, underneath all the girlishness, and came right to the point. "I've got a problem I hear only you can help me with."
Flattered, Hermione sat back and started adjusting the petals and stems to improve the arrangement. "You may be right. Tell me about your problem."
Doreen fished out the amulet and showed the ghostly Hermione. "This thing is giving me dreams I don't want. And it brought me here. Jack says he's got one of his own and can't get to it because only I can remove the jinx. But I don't know how. You may."
Hermione was staring at the amulet, open-mouthed as if hypnotized. She finally looked up and said with a blank look on her face, "I just may at that."
Meanwhile, the smell of Jack's pipe and Julian's cheap cigars wafted around the bend on the slight breeze.
"I'm going to have to talk to Julian about it. Please excuse me." And with that, she vanished. The flowers dropped to the table.
Jack strolled around the gallery at that point, long pipe blowing smoke as he came.
"Well?" Doreen asked. "What did Julian say?"
"Pretty much the same as you got. He vanished when I suggested that as a gentleman, he might help you with your jinx problem." He stood at the railing for a bit, then tapped out the rest of his bowl on the heel of his boot, the sparks flying off into the night. He picked up the bag at that point, along with the flowers. "Let's go down and have you meet the poker players. It's their turn."
Once on the ground floor, Jack introduced Doreen to the three players: Duke, Leroy, and Sam. They sat around the table, all in sailor garb. In the center, a pile of ghostly chips and script lay, while each player had more or less similar winnings in front of them. The bottle was now half empty.
"Hi boys, mind if a lady sits in?" Doreen purred. They all nodded assent, and Jack pushed her chair in as she sat.
Making an excuse, he stepped into his quarters and closed the door silently behind him.
Duke was dealing, and laid out five cards for everyone.
While they all were looking over their hands, Leroy was the first to speak, "So, what brings a pretty little thing like you out to deal with a blowhard like Jack?"
"Well, it wasn't Jack's fault. It was this." She leaned over very provocatively and fished out the amulet to show them - as if they couldn't see it from where they were. While she kept her card hand covered, it was obvious other things were exposed to view. "You see this little trinket gives my head bad dreams at night - and told me to come here to see dear Jack. And Jack, being a doctor and a gentleman, told me my only cure was to ask you fine men about my personal problem. Oh, I'll take one card." She placed one on the table, where Duke quickly put it to the side.
The three men looked at one another and shifted in their seats, asking for their own cards, which Duke promptly dealt.
Sam spoke next. "And what was it that we were supposed to be able to help you with - I mean, if it's not too personal?"
Doreen fluttered her eyes and paused. "Well, I supposed I can trust you men. Jack spoke highly of your honor and courage to deal with difficult issues."
At this, all men noticeably sat taller, and leaned forward, eager to be of service.
Duke entered in, "Miss, if it is anything at all we can do, just tell us and it will be done forthwith. On our honor as sailors and gentlemen."
Doreen sighed and again leaned in to expose more décolletage. "It's a problem with the jinx which sits in this very building. I can't get rid of my dreams unless I can get rid of that jinx. Can you men help me in my need?"
Sam, Leroy, and Duke looked at each other. This put them in a pickle, obviously. To help her, they had to reveal a secret they'd kept for hundreds of years. But to not help her, they'd violate their own honor code.
Duke finally spoke. "Missy, you put us in a tough spot. But we are men of honor. And this is a poker game. You have five cards there. Let's make this bet. If you win, we show you the answer you seek. If anyone of us beats your hand, then you leave here and never return. Deal?"
Doreen looked solemnly into his ghostly eyes and said, "Deal."
One by one, the men laid down their hands:
Leroy - two pair, aces and eights.
Sam - three jacks and a pair of 10’s.
Duke - four kings.
Doreen hesitated, and bowed her head slightly. Duke smiled and went to claim the chips in the center.
Then Doreen put up one hand, palm facing him. He froze, his arms on the table around the phantom chips.
Doreen laid down her cards one at a time - straight flush.
At this, the men drew back and looked nervously at each other. Suddenly, they vanished, along with the chips. All that was left were the cards and a half-empty bottle of rum.
Almost on cue, Jack re-entered the room.
"And now?" Doreen asked.
"We wait." Jack replied.
They didn't have long to wait.
Suddenly all the oil lamps were extinguishes as if blown out by a strong wind - or individually snuffed. With the door shut, and it being a new moon, the room was pitch black. Except for two glowing spots. One was hanging on the front of Doreen's blouse by its thong. The other was in the bottom of the hole Jack had been digging in the center of the lighthouse floor.
These two glows seemed to pulse greenly.
As their eyes adjusted to the dark, Doreen could see Jack gesturing her toward the hole.
As she moved forward, the two glows intensified and started showing huge shadows behind Doreen and Jack, as well as upward through the iron steps of the stairwell. The closer she moved, the brighter the light. When she and Jack were over the hole, it was so intense that Doreen covered her own amulet in order to be able to see at all.
Suddenly, she got an idea. She looked at Jack and he nodded. Slowly, she knelt in front of the hole and placed her hand in to the bottom. Scraping off the dirt, the light suddenly grew brighter. With closed eyes she put her hand around the object, which was slightly warm to the touch, and pulled it from the hole it was in.
As the light was so intense by this time, she handed it quickly to Jack, who took it. At that point, the twin glows faded and the oil lamps mysteriously re-lit, as if they had never gone out.
Jack looked at what was in his hands. It was nearly a duplicate of Doreen's, but without the leather thong. Same design and construction, yet hand-crafted much like hers, so unique in it's own right.
"Well, thanks. Good Job." Jack said after a moment. "Now it's over."
"Or now it's begun," Doreen said.
Jack waited for an explanation, but had some idea.
Doreen dusted off her slacks and hands as she stood up. "I was headed somewhere before I had to come up here to help you. And I still am. Got a spare month?"
"Well, I don't think there's anything keeping me here now. And I kinda think I'll wind up going there, regardless. So, yea, let's go."
Jack nearly spun on his heel, and with his typical efficient motions, swept up the cards and replaced them in their box, scooped up the rum bottle and capped it, then swung the door open to his quarters and entered.
Doreen could hear humming from the kitchen as Jack quickly washed and rinsed the dishes they had used for dinner and dessert. They each went into the drying rack by the sink. She could hear him blow out the pilot light on the stove, then went deeper in to his small living area to emerge in a few minutes with a stuffed nylon duffel bag.
"OK, we're ready, just a few details out in the main room. I'll meet you at your car." With that he led her to the main part of the lighthouse and through the door to the outside dropping the bag just outside the door, he turned to the stairs, taking the curving steps a couple at a time.
She walked down the path and soon saw the light at the top wink out and heard his muffled steps nearly running back down in the dark. She had opened the door to her car and could see him coming down the path, her interior car lights reflecting off him, the rest of the lighthouse structure now dark.
As she slid in to drive, he got in on the passenger side.
"We can pick up your things at the Hotel and I'll let them know to keep an eye on the place till I get back. For all they think I'm strange, they like my stories."
As the car turned around and headed down the twisting road, five ghostly figures watched silently from the lighthouse gallery, smiles on all their faces.
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