Monday, November 5, 2007

Flashes


So I get these…flashes. Call it too many years of paying attention. As a 15-16-17-year-old I told fortunes on the street, it was my self-created summer job, between selling shoes and the accessories store. And yeah, half of that, 70 percent of that, 90 percent of that is crap. It doesn’t take a genius to look at another teenage girl and say, “Your parents don’t understand you.” “Ohmigod! Becki! She’s so right!”

But every now and then, something happens.

Last year, prior to his departure, I told a friend about getting ripped off on his travels, that he would have it happen twice, once small, once large. Two months later I spent ten days strongly suggesting he put his cash into travelers’ checks, and when his hostel roommate got his PDA, phone, porn, new jeans, and 1500 euros on Day Eleven, I did not say “I told you so.” The guy was pretty slick – even took the respective chargers, leaving behind the cord for the phone that was being carried by my friend.

I’ve come bolt awake, shaking, before dawn three mornings in a row. No light coming in the windows, not hungry (still), don’t have to pee. Just – present. I see Lover’s next trip. I see his thing with Cute Girl. I see dead people, yeah, whatever.

Are they earthshaking? Maybe not. One thought would be nice to know for his trip, maybe save some frustration, but it wouldn’t kill him. But the other – I could be way off base, or it could be a huge thing forestalled by some simple precautions. Or maybe my subconscious is just trying to make trouble.

So the question becomes, where is my moral obligation? Is this – I hesitate to call it sight, it comes in words, in the form of a question phrased in the affirmative, answered, why, yes - truly something vital? Or merely my brain’s frantic, jealous attempt to connect? If I say nothing, and something happens, have I hurt someone through non-action?

- - -


In older times, and sometimes still, mad people were sedated in a “wet pack.” Nurses and orderlies used strips of linen to bind the struggling, thrashing patient to a board, then mummify them in wet sheets, stop the jerking, the running, the flailing. If you got a little better, sometimes they would let you have your arms free.

Maybe that would stop the shaking.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to be mightily impressed by the number of times when, shortly after I had been thinking about a particular person, that person called -- until it was pointed out to me just how many times I thought about a particular person and that person didn't call. I was greatly exaggerating the number of times the first thing happened, and (intentionally?) overlooking the far larger number of times the second thing happened.

Do you have good evidence that the number of accurate "flashes" you've had dwarfs the number of inaccurate ones? The answer to that question might be really important for figuring out what sort of obligation you have in this case...

Mandy said...

Good point :) I can beat the "guess what color card I'm holding game", too. And we all know about Uri Geller...

I don't get that many of them, and I don't get them about small things...The last few have been "he's in love with Cute Girl," "my friend is going to get ripped off," and "this is the last time I will see Lover." All dead on.

So yeah...

Anonymous said...

I get flashes too -- and I may not interpret them correctly. However, too many have been correct in essence. Perhaps you should ask him to be careful? I would, along with an explanation of why. Otherwise, why would God give us these flashes of the future, if not to give us a chance to change what might happen?

Anonymous said...

All dead on, or all but the last one? Maybe you should ask how much stock Lover puts in your clairvoyance. That would make it an easier choice.

I've probably been watching Heroes too much, but are these predictions of a future that can be changed? Which physical laws are obeyed by the supernatural?

Steve

Mandy said...

I don't know if it can be changed or not - maybe some things are inevitable, but my friend could have made the time to put his money into travelers' checks and didn't...

I did end up sharing the one about his trip with him. I'm worried I'll look like a jealous bitch if I say the other, though!