1. randy
I wonder if who haunts you, is also haunted by you. I wonder what the difference is between who follows you and what guides you. I wonder if nature is really part of the narrative. Or if it’s just another spider, spinning its web on the path I walk. A feather on a trail is nothing more than ducks crossing over to the other side. Safely and surely, we hope.
And you know, I used to know it all. I used to be the sorcerer beholding a crystal ball. You’d come to me with your dreams and I’d interpret the unravelment. A spider spinning her web on the path you walk.
The other night, I was talking to Randy about his dreams. We were out on the porch, the meat was just about to be brought off the grill and the eating and drinking and chatter and laughter would commence and continue. No, I think he told me after all that happened. When the main plates were cleared and the women were dishing gossip in the kitchen and the men entertained themselves outside. I was still sitting in my seat when Karla told me Randy had vivid dreams, I know that for sure.
Now, I had already scratched the surface with Randy over hors d'oeuvres and small plate talk. It was just the three of us in the kitchen when Karla asked if I was still into astrology. I told her I left my books in LA to stand their ground. Plus, I had taken some time off from the language because once you know the planets it’s hard not to hear the ticking. Tock, tick, tock. The days pass by and you think you know the outer planets but then what’s really been discovered? Patrolers of generations and the nations. You’ll only feel their pulse if you’ve been sent to. Oh, but I only know that now, I thought to myself.
I tell Randy and Karla astrology is an amazing lens to learn about ancient civilizations and the history of the world. It’s been around since man discovered sky. Randy says if you’re into that stuff you gotta check out tarot. I tell him, oh I know about tarot and how fun it was to learn. How each one is an archetype - of character or story. How it makes me more informed when I get psychic readings. I tell them about the peculiar reading I got down the road. How she was selling me on heart chakra healing and how I didn’t have the heart to tell her I wasn’t resonating with her reading. I agreed with her about the heart but her intrepretation of my death card was way off. She did tell me I’d live to be 89 and have a baby girl. She was wearing a Disney sweatshirt but I think it was a scam.
Randy leads us into the matter of magic and I think, who knew Randy had depths! He tells me about how Houdini told his wife if it’s possible to come back after death as a spirit on earth, he’ll be the one to do it. But when he died, nothing appeared for the wife, no proof that it’s true. I tell Randy and Karla, that day, Houdini sold his fate. Now since he said it, his wife doesn’t get to see it. His spirit would be too much of a spectale and some awarenesses are better left in the sacred, dark. Of course, I let them come to their own conclusions about the whole ordeal.
Randy says if you like magic, you’ll love the Illusionist. A movie about a magician with Ed Norton and Jessica Biel. Set in the 1800s. Great movie. Phenomenal movie. Just really well done. Him and Karla saw it in theaters by accident years ago. They went to see another movie and the theater was so packed they decided to see the Illusionist in the next theater over instead. He said he likes it so much he’s seen it many times. He says Ed and Jessica are sensational together.
I tell him I haven’t seen it but that I love getting movie recommendations like this. A chance encounter, synchronicity. I thank him for telling me about it and ensure him I’ll watch it. That’s when we got called to the porch for supper.
I’m not sure who brought up the dreams at the end of the meal. Either Karla or I. She was sitting across the table from me and at some point I said I had been having lots of dreams. A lot of people from my past have been showing up in amicable ways. The dreams had been leaving me with a sweet feeling. Which is unusual for me because with mars in my 12th house, most nights they’re bloody. Violent dreams. But that hadn’t been the case the past few days, I had been waking up with a smile on my face. As she’s rising with her plate in hand, she announces that Randy has crazy dreams. Vivid, recurring. He even knows names.
That’s when Randy starts describing them. He says he always has 3. They’re when he’s a cop. He tells me how he was meant to be a cop. That it was something he’d always dreamt of being but once he got into the business world, he was swept away from it. He says in the first dream it’s him and his partner Anthony and Anthony saves his life. In the second dream, he’s a cop, his partner is Anthony and his wife’s name is Skylar. I tell him how I love that name and how cool it is that the dream world is allowing him access to live out his alternate timeline in his head. I tell him I think he might’ve died as a cop and if so, the two of us wouldn’t be here tonight, enjoying this fine meal together.