Welcome the Winter Sky--2016

Hello All:

It's the end of November and the weather is getting colder and colder (depending where it is that you live). This includes the days growing shorter. If you've gone outside in the late afternoon in recent days--about 5:00PM--then you'll agree that it's definitely twilight. And maybe you've had a chance to look up at the sky to take notice of the wintery, celestial sights.

The Literary World of Tom Raimbault traditionally offers the annual blog post, Welcome the Winter Sky. It's featured every year on Thanksgiving and aims to be your guide in what to expect to see in the sky.
Welcome the Winter Sky--2016

Step outside around five o'clock this afternoon--twilight for this time of year. On Thanksgiving night, 2016, the Moon will be a waning crescent which means that it will be long below the western horizon. For those wishing to see all that the sky has to offer, this is a good thing as the Moon will not be drowning out all the celestial objects with it's light. You'll have to wake up around 4:30 on Friday morning to see it rising in the east which might be convenient for all you devoted Black Friday shoppers.

But back to five o'clock on Thanksgiving night: If you are a big fan of Saturn, then you need to hurry up and take a look before it's gone below the western horizon. Throughout early to mid December, Saturn will not be visible to Earth. But rest assured, it will return to visibility by around the New Year. Look in the eastern horizon just before Dawn.

Perhaps the most outstanding object to be seen at twilight this month will be Venus. It will certainly deliver its expectations of being the "brightest star". On Thanksgiving night it will be located near the constellation, Sagittarius.

Look a short distance east from Venus and Sagittarius; you will see the red planet, Mars, in the constellation, Capricorn. It shouldn't be too difficult to spot. Just look for the familiar red star. A good telescope will sometimes reveal the features of Mars.



When finished viewing Mars, look further east to the constellation, Aquarius. There you will find the planet Neptune. You might need a little help locating which star is actually Neptune. Why not

download a handy app to your phone that allows you to point at a location in the sky to discern what you are seeing? Guaranteed, you will be able to find Neptune.
Excited to see Neptune? Well you be even more excited to find and view Uranus. On Thanksgiving night, it will be located in the constellation, Pisces. Simply point your handy smart phone app just a short distance east from Aquarius. There you will be able to locate

Uranus. Pisces will also include the dwarf planet, Pluto. But this will be an extreme challenge to find in a telescope or binoculars due to its size.

If you are waking up extra early on Friday morning--as in predawn--you will have a chance to see the king of planets, Jupiter. And as an extra treat, Jupiter will be joining the waning crescent Moon in the predawn eastern horizon. With a modest pair of binoculars, it will be easy to spot four of its orbiting moons.

There's not much information pertaining to the whereabouts of theoretical planet, Nibiru. Reports are suggesting, however, that the planet's nearness to Earth is causing tsunamis and earthquakes. I certainly hope all will be well on Thanksgiving night and throughout the holidays.

There is still time to left to see the Summer Triangle!

If you get outside around 9:00 pm, you will find yourself in the very center of the autumn and winter sky with the famous Summer Triangle in the west and the winter objects in the east. The Summer Triangle is a beautiful right triangle in the sky that is formed by the stars  Altair, Deneb, and Vega. You can think of the Summer Triangle as an "unofficial" constellation as the bright stars belong to the individual constellations of Aquila, Cygnus, and Lyra. But how nice of these borrowed stars to be joined in a right triangle whose hypotenuse is formed by the vertices of  Altair and Deneb. Be sure to bid this beautiful, celestial summer shape goodbye as the sky will soon be dominated by the objects of winter.
In the east, the first thing you will probably notice are 3 bright stars with a patch of light underneath them.
As most people are aware, these belong to the constellation Orion as the belt. Take a look through your binoculars at this patch and you will be amazed. This is the Orion nebula, or what some people call it: the stellar nursery. At this moment millions of stars are being created and migrating their way out of this nursery. Our sun came from the Orion nebula.
Unfortunately you will not be able to see the intense red color as seen in the photograph. You will see however a hazy cloud surrounded by stars.

Now scan around the Orion belt. Above the belt and slightly to the left is the star Betelgeuse. You can recognize this as the star that glows with a dull red. In the opposite corner of the constellation, to the southwest is the star called Rigel. This is the brightest star in the constellation and has a mass estimated to equal 250 of our suns. The most recognizable feature of Orion is, of course, the three stars ( Mintaka, Alnilam, and Alnitak) which form the belt.

The famous Horsehead Nebula is immediately recognized by the striking resemblance of a horse's head as formed by a dark shadow. Not much further south of Orion is this famous nebula that might be a challenge to see in a telescope or binoculars  Of course the red color isn't seen from Earth. Long-exposure photography must absorb this light to reveal it--so beautiful.

Look for the recognizable, small patch of stars called the Pleiades. Sometimes beginning astronomers mistake this group of stars as the Little Dipper. It is not the Little Dipper, but it yields a spectacular view in binoculars. The Pleiades are a network of young stars which were formed together and still travel together. We know that they are young as evidenced by their blue color. One day they will change color and eventually through billions of years go in their own directions.
Looking above the eastern horizon is an unusual looking star that catches the attention of many people later in the evening. It appears to have a fluorescent glow when rising and is very bright. This is the star named Sirius and is the main star in the constellation Canis Major. Actually there is nothing out of the ordinary about Sirius. The only reason why it is so bright is because it is closer to us than many other stars. It is so bright, that star maps use it as a reference to compare large objects to. There is something interesting about Sirius. It has a small companion (invisible to Earth) that orbits with it. This star is called Sirius B and it plays a gravitational dance with the larger.

 There are so many objects to entertain us in the winter sky and we could never get to them all in one edit. If you do not go out on Thanksgiving night and look at all of this, at least venture out some time this winter and see what I am talking about.

The Thing They Called God

Hello All:
It's official! We threw out the rotting pumpkins over the weekend. Don't they look to be in a sad state on the fireplace mantel?
***
Today's featured writing is a new short story about a thing that people called God.
The Thing They Called God

God finally came one day. He finally made himself visible to the world.  At least that's how people perceived it. God had finally come as promised in all the ancient books and scriptures. Again, at least that's who people believed it was.

The thing they called God just appeared one day in the sky. It was an astronomical sized face that really wasn't much of a face. It was more of a mask that covered a face with eyes that shone with not much to be seen in them. There was a recognizable nose and mouth. But these things were only made evident in the mask that was worn over the face of the thing they called God. Being that it was astronomical in size; wherever you happened to be in the world, one would look up in the sky to see the thing that they called God.

The sun went away, the moon, stars, blue sky, clouds—anything that man had ever remembered of the sky, it was now gone to be replaced by an astronomical face that wore a mask and hovered some distance above to stare at the activities of man below. No matter where you were in the world; North America, South America, Asia, Africa, Europe; no matter what your latitude and longitude coordinates were, you would see the same thing in the sky that people in other parts of the world would see—an astronomical face that was covered in a mask. It was the thing they called God.

On that very day the entire world's population, billions of them, stopped what they were doing to come out of their houses, places of work, schools, places of worship—wherever they were—to look up in awe, wonder and fear to contemplate at what they were seeing. Every news source and media platform reported the event. All bandwidth of the Earth's media was used to report the final arrival of the thing they called God.

Initially, people were fearful, and were not sure what it meant. What was the thing they called God going to do? People waved at it, prayed to it and knelt down in hopes to earn favor. But the thing they called God wasn't the least bit responsive, didn't seem to care what people were doing. It made no effort to communicate or acknowledge humans. It just remained in the sky, staring at the people below with eyes that had no color or life. It was expressionless.

This wonder and awe of this worldwide phenomenon went on for a couple of days. Eventually people went back to their usual activities and understood that the thing they called God simply had come as promised. Perhaps this was the next stage in Earth's history. For thousands of years there was a portion of humanity that always believed in God—believed in all the things written in the ancient scriptures and texts. There was also a portion of people who did not believe in God. But now it was there, up in the sky. The existence of God was completely undebatable. It even had the ability to defy science. We know that the Earth is round and surrounded by the vast depth of space. Depending on where you are on Earth, where you look in the sky you see a different view which depends on the positioning of the Earth and your location. But now it was almost as if the entire world were flat and seeing the same thing; just the face of the thing they called God. As for atheists, they couldn't argue with what was physically present even though it defied all science and logic. But it was there. So they naturally begin to believe in the existence of God. Seeing, after all, is believing.

***

Within exactly one week from the time that the thing they called God first arrived, changes began to take place on the earth. These changes were horrible! It started with all world’s leaders; presidents, prime ministers, governors, kings, dictators, mayors of cities, police commissioners, even executives of corporations—anyone who served a leadership role for their location. They suddenly died in a horrible way.

There were two possible means of this horrible death. The first means began with a sharp headache which grew to an unbearable magnitude. The person suffering this soon death felt like his or her head were about to explode. Then, finally, when screaming from the overwhelming pain; the head would physically explode. This explosion resulted in blood and brains spraying all over the nearby surroundings.

The second means involved a feeling of overwhelming heat. The person suffering this death complained that he or she felt like they were about to burst into flames. It wasn't uncommon for them to remove articles of clothing or look for nearby water to splash on themselves. But soon, their bodies began to melt as-if they had burst into flames. It was the most God-awful thing watching a sufferer of this death screaming in horror as their face melted along with the rest of the body. The end result was a heap of blood, guts and bones that lay on the ground.

The tragic, horrible deaths were surely caused by the thing they called God. The survivors, of were terribly shocked and grief stricken. But after a day or so of the tragedy, there were people who began to speculate that perhaps it was only natural for God to destroy its leaders. The world no longer needed leaders. The world had the thing they called God to rule its people. Additionally, it was speculated that the majority—if not all—of the world's leaders were corrupted and sinister; some of them downright evil. Again, it was only natural for the thing they called God to destroy these people.

And then countless people throughout the world now had an important job to do. They had to clean up all the blood, guts and remains of the world's leaders. It couldn't have been expected of emergency services to do all of this alone. So people volunteered to help with the horrible mess. It was beginning to smell pretty bad due to decaying rotting flesh that could soon cause diseases and plague.

But they couldn’t get this done fast enough for the on the very next day, the thing they called God caused a new tragedy. This time he caused all the wealthy throughout the world to die in a similar fashion to the world’s leaders; heads exploding or body suddenly melting into the ground as if burning. There were quite a few of them, assuming you are not aware of how many wealthy people there are. Even the loved ones of those world's wealthiest people were considered equally wealthy. They were destroyed as well.

But wealth is a relative thing. Who exactly was qualified to be wealthy?

It seemed to be people who were multi-millionaires or billionaires. The thing they called God wasn't so much interested in that moment of people with high paying careers and earning six figure salaries. Sure, those people are wealthier and better off than we are. But in the second round of deaths brought on by the thing they called God, it was the multi-millionaires and billionaires who had been destroyed. I'm sure you can imagine just how much tragedy had occurred during the second wave of deaths.

The world now had additional work to do, clean up the gruesome remains of the wealthy people along with the world leaders before disease and plague spread.

Oh, but it got even worse. On the third day the thing they called God eliminated accomplished people; people who had reached a certain degree of success in their lives—not necessarily multi-millionaires or billionaires. These would have been professional athletes, well known actors and actresses, popular musicians, popular artists—anyone who spent their life chasing a dream to be a superstar. They were destroyed by the thing they called God. It was the same tragedy; heads exploding or body suddenly melting into the ground as if burning. And of course there were plenty of loved ones who grieved and mourned over the deaths of the accomplished people.

It was on the third round of deaths that people began to show some resentment towards the thing they called God. After all, just because someone chased a dream and had success didn't necessarily make them a bad person. Many of those accomplished people had donated to charities and helped those in need. They were loving people. Why did the thing they called God have to destroy them?

But just to prove a point, the thing they called God sent a warning to the world by destroying those people who were angry; those people who looked up at the sky and shook their fist at the thing they called God while questioning its reasoning. Immediately, they experienced the wrath with the usual death; heads exploding or body suddenly melting into the ground as if burning.

Earth’s survivors of the first three waves of deaths learned their lesson not to question when the thing they called God killed certain people. After all, this could very well have been the apocalypse that had mentioned in many ancient texts. People who reached this conclusion turned to their religions and began practicing the things they were taught to value. Perhaps it was best not to consider one’s own selfish needs while questioning the motives of the thing they called God

By the fourth day things were quiet with the thing they called God—not that it ever said anything. But there were no waves of killings which gave the surviving population of Earth a chance to hurry and clean the blood and guts that were splattered everywhere. The dead were stacking up all over streets, houses, stores, places of business, and places of worship. Earth was a total disaster, and it was beginning to smell due to the overwhelming amount of rotting flesh. The survivors of Earth worked day and night to try to clean.

There were people who almost spoke up to the thing they called God, begging him not to cause any more waves of death. Earth needed a chance to be clean. People feared that their food and water would soon be poisoned. But they knew better. They knew that this would be considered questioning and going against the will of God.  Many survivors were going on days without sleep while cleaning up the dead. Most—if not all people—were practicing humbleness and placing their selfish perceptions aside by not questioning the reasoning of the thing they called God. It was best to demonstrate selfless acts while understating the transformation of becoming unified with the mind of God. People continued to move forward with cleaning the decaying mess that had been created by the thing they called God.

This quiet stage had gone on for about a week. By the end of this quiet stage, much of the Earth had been cleaned up. Those still alive were now exhausted, but they did their best to keep themselves together. They almost had a sense of accomplishment; feeling that they succeeded in a certain test or trial that had been issued by the thing they called God.

But the thing they called God had other plans. Around this time there was a new wave of deaths. This time the world's intelligent and educated people were eliminated; all scientists, doctors, engineers and the likes. They were all put to death like in the previous waves of deaths; heads exploding or body suddenly melting into the ground as if burning. It was another horrible mess. The loved ones were mortified and deeply saddened. Some people were feeling discouraged not to mention outraged and unable to contain their contempt. There were a few who spoke up to the thing they called God. Doctors, scientists, engineers and the likes were all good people. They had helped the world many times over. What could they have possibly done that was so wrong?

Of course the people who complained experienced the usual death. As for the wise people who remained silent; they understood why the thing the thing they called God eliminated doctors, scientists and engineers. It’s because these people would have been able to help by creating innovative ways to overcome this new ugly phase of Earth. The thing they called God didn't want educated and intelligent people to help humanity—maybe even overcome the will of the thing they called God. So they were done away with.

A couple days passed, and alas, there was another wave of deaths. What could the thing they called God want to get rid of now? All the world leaders were gone, the wealthy, highly accomplished people, and the educated people. Who could God have possibly wanted to eliminate?

It was the world's beautiful and talented people. They weren't necessary successful and accomplished. Yet they had exceptional talents or blessings. Many were artists, musicians, writers, poets; some of them were simply charismatic people who had a way of almost healing others by simply their presence. Other people were simply beautiful who made others feel good when looked at. The world's lovers were taken away as well. It seemed that this wave hit anyone who represented the beautiful facets of humanity; some of those things being qualities that religions cited to be models for people to strive for. People with divine gifts were killed by the thing they called god; heads exploding or body suddenly melting into the ground as if burning. And needless to say they had so many loved ones who would sorely miss them. All the world could do was pull themselves together and resume cleaning the bloody, decaying mess from the Earth.

After killing the people with exceptional talents and blessings, the thing they called God seemed to be done with its waves of deaths. It seemed satisfied; up there in the sky and looking down at the Earth; never moving or exhibiting facial expressions. It just watched in silence and never offered one bit of encouragement to humanity as it cleaned the bloody mess that was caused by the very thing they called God.

But killings weren’t done away with completely. It was around this time when the killings were small scale. In these times, without warning, the thing they called God would created a horrible death for just a few people. It did this in the usual manner; heads exploding or body suddenly melting into the ground as if burning. And there was no correlation; no understandable reason why that particular person or small group of people had been killed. The act was completely random. And this is when panic began to reignite among the Earth's survivors. Soon people feared that they would be next.

It wasn’t uncommon for someone to be so struck by the anticipation of being the next to die. He or she felt as though they could interpret the writing on the wall; almost know for certain that they would be next. Someone in this condition might have gone out to the street to kneel before the thing they called God to pray and beg for life to be spared. He or she promised to be obedient servant and learn to live in harmony.

But the thing they called God wasn't there to negotiate with humanity. As the human knelt in the street to pray, he or she would experience the horrible death; head exploding or body suddenly melting into the ground as if burning which left a heaping mess of blood and guts on the street. It served as an example that the thing they called God was not to be reasoned or negotiated with. This is what survivors understood.

There were others who were equally fearful of being next to die but had a different solution. Since these were such ugly times for the Earth, a person in a worrisome state actually killed a family member, friend, or merely someone nearby as a sacrifice to appease the thing they called God. Maybe if he or she killed for the thing they called God, it would spare the killer’s life. One might think this would have been a bad idea because it would have resulted in punishment. But surprisingly, it seemed to have worked. It granted the wished-for effect which spared the killer's life.

So was this considered negotiating?

Not at all! It was soon realized that these killing acts only prolonged the killers' duration of life by a few days or a week. The thing they called God followed through with its intent to kill the original person whose life had simply been prolonged by offering sacrifices. For these people it came down to one question: what would you do to prolong your life for a few more days on Earth? Would you kill your fellow man?

***

Needless to say, life had become very different on the Earth. People had a new purpose and direction. Once upon a time people woke up in the morning, ate breakfast and went to work or school. But the simple acts of eating breakfast and going to work to earn money could have been considered selfish deeds. And these selfish deeds could have resulted in death by the thing they called God. At least this is what people speculated. Again, they were looking for any way to appease the thing they called God to avoid the horrible deaths. And so during this new time on Earth, people would wake up in the morning to assemble out in the streets to begin cleaning the decaying mess of those who had been killed. And they were doing it not to clean their own environment; make it healthy and beautiful for themselves. Rather they were cleaning the blood and guts to make the world beautiful for the thing they called God. People wanted to make sure that the thing they called god had no reminder of what it had done. People wanted to ensure that the world below the thing they called God remained beautiful. This is a step that many of the Earth survivors took towards being devoted servants to the thing they called God. They did not start their day by eating breakfast, grooming themselves or putting on clean clothes. The immediately went out into the street to find ways to appease the thing they called God.

Of course they did have to do selfish acts to survive. Eating was part of it. But it was done late in the evening, hidden in the houses so that the thing they called God would not have to see. Surely it knew that people were eating, but hopefully it was aware they were hiding in an attempt to be respectful, shrouding their weakness and needs for food. Nothing was ever cooked during these times. Cooking food has a nice smell which makes people happy. People knew that the thing they called God did not like happiness. Definitely they wouldn't have cooked or eaten meat. Again, meat smells wonderful when cooked and eating meat strengthens the body. Eating meat was considered terribly selfish. It was best to just open a can of peaches or find some crackers in the cupboard. If one was lucky, he or she might have received a visit from a neighbor, offering canned food or boxes of crackers or chips. But they didn't do it out of concern for one's neighbor. They did it to demonstrate selflessness, to show the thing they called God that he or she was rejecting their selfish needs and desires. Perhaps this would have spared or prolonged life on Earth.

There was a brief moment during this time when devoted servants would go out into the street in the early morning to bow down while looking up in the sky in worship to the thing they called God. They gave glory, praise and thanks for another day to be alive. But you see this practice actually elevated the spirits of the devoted servants which was forbidden. So the thing they called God immediately destroyed the person who was praying in the morning. There was no need to pray. Praying was a selfish thing to do, and demonstrated hope of seeking favor with the thing they called God. The only way to give true praise and glory to the thing they called God was to live in constant fear while rejecting one’s own selfish desires and needs. For that matter, praying was soon abolished by the remainder of Earths people. There was no point.

***

One day, there was a new wave of massive deaths that took place on Earth. The thing they called God did this to women. It was noticed that when men would work and clean up the bloody mess of those who had been killed that their spirits were lifted when women were nearby. All it took was simple conversation, receiving a smile or a momentary locking of eyes. Maybe it was simply standing in the distance and noticing how beautiful a woman is. Whatever pleasure it was that men had towards women, it was unacceptable to the thing they called god. There was to be no pleasure, happiness or lifting of spirits. For that matter, the thing they called God did away with the Earth's women.

It was done in a horrible manner, not like before; heads exploding or body suddenly melting into the ground as if burning. This time women were given horrible cramps in their lower abdomens to the point of keeling over on the street. From there they would give birth to a dozen or more poisonous vipers that tore their way out through the woman's vagina. She would lay there screaming in terror while witnessing what was happening. And it was a bloody mess because the vipers were ripping their way out. Then the vipers would repeatedly bite the woman with their poison before feasting on her flesh.

Men would pass the women by on the streets and ignore them while they were being devoured for hours by the serpents. And they wouldn't dare complain of the horror. They kept their mouths shut and stayed away to avoid punishment.

Then there was another wave of deaths. This time it was the friends. There were now only men remaining on the earth who began to form friendships to help cope with the horrible events taking place. The thing they called God noticed that these friendships were uplifting and positive. This was unacceptable to the thing they called God. There were to be no good feelings shared between friends, even if it were kind words shared between people. So the thing they called God caused the friends to die; heads exploding or body suddenly melting into the ground as if burning.

All that survived was a population of Earth's people who remained in fear while distancing themselves from one another. They worked as slaves to clean up the bloody mess and remain of those who had been killed. Earth’s survivors were servants to the thing they called God; never seeking benefit—even the benefit of trying to stay alive.

There were a handful of people on Earth's population who had watched the horrible times since it all started. They actually thought to themselves, "This isn't God. God doesn't do these horrible things. This is some evil entity that has somehow found its way into our world to cause horrible things to happen to the human race.” But they wouldn't dare voice this for they knew it would result in a horrible death.

Then again, maybe that was the paradox. Maybe it was better to be one of the first people who had been killed by the thing they called God than to waste one's life trying to appease the thing they called God by transforming into empty, lifeless servants.

The End!

Mars--the ghost planet?

 Hello All:

Have a great weekend! And if you look up at Mars in the sky, realize that what you are seeing is a mirage.

Mars--the ghost planet?

In recent news Mars does not exist. Scientists have determined that the famous “red planet”, fourth from the sun, has never been in the sky. It's actually a mirage out in space, a phenomenon that scientists are still trying to understand. They hypothesize that Mars could very well be our psychological placement of an object that we think should be "there".

So what is it that we are seeing when we look up at the sky and clearly see Mars?

It’s explained that at most, we are physically seeing any number of asteroids that are within the orbit between Earth and Jupiter. Asteroids could be any number of colors as seen out in space. We simply pick the red one and assign Mars to it on any given night.

 What about successful space missions to Mars? Surely this would have to account for something.

Space missions to Mars were most likely Earth spacecrafts that landed on a large asteroid between Earth and Jupiter. Scientists previously assumed that they successfully landed on the imaginary “red planet”. They are certainly embarrassed now that they know the truth.

What about the centuries of views of Mars through the telescope?

It is said that the exciting views of the “red planet” from Earth through telescopes are nothing more than projected mirages from space. Mars has been completely fabricated in our imaginations. We expect to see it in the sky. We insist that it is there. And then our minds play tricks on us so that our eyes see it through a telescope.

This mirage phenomenon explains the reports from a hundred or more years ago of Mars having forests and the famous canals that joined different regions on the sol called "red planet". Astronomers in those days used to see things like this in their telescopes. Again, it was only a mirage, something fabricated in their imaginations. So when looking through a telescope they additionally saw the canals, the forests, and in some cases the polar caps.

Paranormal investigators have jumped the bandwagon on this recent discovery of the “red planet” being imaginary. They are saying that perhaps Mars really was a planet at one time or another between Earth and Jupiter. It might have been blown to smithereens in a prehistoric nuclear war, long before the people of Earth would have been intelligent to view and interpret such a thing.  It is simply a ghost now. At most, Mars can now be considered the "ghost planet". It doesn't exist; it's a mirage; yet it continues to haunt us in the sky as our imaginations place it there where we think it should be.

An Ambiguous Appointment

Hello All:

Today's featured writing is yet another dream that I just had to share with you. But unlike the past dreams that I have shared with you, this one did not occur in the early morning hours. Rather, it was a dream—more of a nightmare—that occurred a few hours after falling asleep. If you know anything about dreaming, REM cycles and sleep patterns; then you know that we sleep deeper in the early part of the evening. Scientists say that we have horrific nightmares at this time. The nightmares are so bad that we forget all of them by morning.

But sometimes we do remember one of those nightmares, particularly if waking up in the middle of the night while screaming. You'll agree that the experience is a bit traumatic. As for the others that are typically forgotten, I suppose this is nature’s way of helping us maintain our sanity.

But, again, that's not what happened to me. I immediately woke up in a horrified state while in the middle of this nightmare. Looking back, it wasn't all that bad. I wasn’t traumatized by it. By morning I was 100% fine, but I do remember all the details. Still, it made me lay in bed for a while in fear that something bad was about to happen. Maybe the nightmare was serving as an indicator. And the more I thought about it, the more the symbology could have been interpreted as any number of horrible things.

The dream actually reminded me of a couple of short stories I had written around 2009. They ended up in a very short story book that went for 99 cents at the time. It was titled, Hypnotic Intrusions. But what was "hypnotic intrusions"? What did the title mean?

Well I wasn't sure what to call the book, but I wanted to imply that the stories contained thieves and assailants who were capable hypnotizing their way into a home. Not necessary to break into a house to steal; simply ask to be let in and have the homeowner agree to do so through hypnosis. It was probably similar to the movie, Poltergeist Two, in which the ghost of insane preacher, Rev. Henry Kane, went up to the front door of the homeowner, Steven Freeling, and demanded to be let in. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, check out the You Tube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOxaZBJQdv0

Although similar to the scene in Poltergeist Two, the actual concept of hypnotic intrusions was inspired by a trend that I had noticed throughout the early to mid 2000s. It involved door to door salespeople who would stand at your front porch and smile when you opened the front door. They would warmly greet you, and act as though you were an old friend. If you happened to look out your front window to see who it was before answering the door, the salesperson would smile and wave. It would lead you to wonder who it was. And you would be quick to run over and answer the door, anticipating a visit from one of your family members or an old friend.

This technique of tricking the homeowner of opening the door and possibly letting the sales person in by simply smiling and being friendly was so effective that my wife actually invited a salesperson into the home. It didn't take long; I'd say maybe less than ten seconds.

My wife was home alone on an afternoon. (We were living in an apartment at the time.) She received a knock at the door so she opened it.

There stood a female salesperson who was so overjoyed to see my wife. "Hi!" she excitedly greeted. "How are you doing?"

Immediately, my wife believed it to be her old school friend. She actually hugged the salesperson and brought her into the apartment.

And that's when my wife realized that it wasn't her old friend. It was a salesperson with products to sell. Such a dirty trick...

So I wrote a couple of stories on this method that I call "hypnotic intrusions". The actual story book has been unpublished. It no longer exists. But one of the stories was absorbed into my storybook, Freaked out Horror in a work titled, Home Invasion. The other one can be found on my blog—a very short work—titled, Smile at the Door.

I seem to have a fascination with this people coming to the door and trying to trick themselves in. A few years ago I had a dream that I shared with you on the blog about two women who I perceived as being—perhaps—gypsies. They didn't look like gypsies, but there was just something about their mannerisms and being that reminded me of gypsies in the dream.

They actually came to the sliding back door to my backyard.

I opened the door a crack and was immediately asked if I needed new siding on my house.

I quickly answered, "Well as you can see, our house is all brick. We don't need siding."

But then they continued by offering all sorts of things ranging from college tuition savings for my kids to new windows for my home. In all cases I turned them down.

Finally, one of the women told me that they would be willing to accept anything they could give. They weren't picky; they just wanted anything—anything I could give them. But what she was really trying to say—as interpreted in the actual dream—was that she had come to suck the very life out of me; move into a place as a parasite, take what she could get, and then move once we were no longer useful. Again, she didn't say this directly, but I interpreted it this way in the dream.

I woke up shortly after that. The dream was a bit disturbing; I wondered what it meant.

***

And then there is today's featured writing. I think what I want to do this time instead of relaying the dream to you in first person narrative, I want to turn the dream over to a character and tell you the story in third person narrative. I'm sure you are all tired of hearing me relay my dreams as, "I did this... then I did that... My wife said this me... then I said that..." Sometimes stories are much more enjoyable to read in third person narrative. I'll use the old characters, Mario and Cynthia, from the short story that appears in Freaked out Horror, Home Invasion.

An Ambiguous Appointment

It was a late Saturday afternoon as Mario sat in the family room, watching the ball game on TV. His wife, Cynthia, was in the kitchen, preparing dinner. Their three kids were all in their own bedrooms, doing their own things to keep themselves occupied—whatever those things might be.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Annoyed, Mario stood up. "Ughh... I wonder who this could be." He strolled over to the door and opened it a crack to see who was outside.

There on the porch stood an attractive, young woman. She was the sophisticated business-type; very professional appearing. She had long dark hair that was neatly brushed down, and glasses perhaps to indicate an intelligence or element of being intellectual. She had a briefcase in her hand.

"Yes, can I help you?" asked Mario.

The woman smiled. "I'm here. We can get started."

“Started with what? challenged Mario.

The woman laughed. “That's really funny. Seriously, we can get to business now.”

Mario suddenly didn't have a good feeling about her. "And what business would that be?"

"Well..." began the woman. "You had a certain need to produce an outcome based on your expectations that simply were not being fulfilled. I am here with the objective to show you how to fulfill those expectations. We had an appointment, don't you remember?"

Mario returned a queer look. "No I don't remember. And that's quite a vague explanation. Could you be a little more specific?"

"I'm not sure how much more specific I could be." argued the woman.

By then, Cynthia had come to the door. She was curious as to who the visitor was. "Hi, good afternoon!"

"Hi, yes, I'm here." returned the woman. "I'm here to get started, but your husband doesn't seem to understand. We can talk business and get everything taken care of for you."

Mario looked over to his wife Cynthia, "I don't know who she is, or what she is asking about. She's not being very straight forward."

“Oh Mario!” complained Cynthia. Her husband was always like this. "Just let her in." She reached her hand for the door handle to open it. But Mario grabbed the handle before she could reach it.

"No!" Mario insisted. "Not until we find out who she is or what it is that she wants." Then he looked over at the woman. "I'm going to ask you one more time; what appointment did we have with you, and what is it that you want?"

The woman reached for the inner pocket of her blazer and removed a small appointment book. "I have an appointment written down right here with Mario and Cynthia Mendez? Is this you?"

"Don't answer that question!" urged Mario to his wife. "We don't have to answer who we are."

Cynthia laughed and poked fun of her husband at that moment. "Well you sort of just did inform her of who we are by doing that. Come-on, Mario, just let her in. You know she's legit. She's got our names and she has an appointment written in her book. Just let her in. It's probably very important. Don't you remember anything about inviting her?"

"No I don't!" returned Mario. He looked back at the woman who now exhibited a disappointed and confused look on her face. But Mario could read through her. It was all an act. Aside from that, she was being so vague with her purpose for visiting. Mario had no recollection of making an appointment to discuss any failed expectations with anybody. "I’m going to have to ask you to leave." declared Mario.

"Mario!" sharply called out Cynthia.

With his hands still on the door to prevent Cynthia from opening it, Mario glared back at his wife. "Do you not understand what is happening here? This is some kind of salesperson; someone who could very well be trying trick her way into our house; maybe to case us out so they can clean us out later when we are not home."

The woman at the door was flabbergasted upon hearing this.

Cynthia was embarrassed. But she was beginning to understand her husband's point. "Mario, I know she might be dangerous. I know she could be trying to trick her way in here to case the place out. Or she could be a door-to-door salesperson who might be trying to scam us into giving her money. But we are obligated to be nice to her. We are nice people. So we need to open our door to let her in."

"No we don't!" snapped Mario. He kept a firm grip on the handle so his wife could not open it.

With that, the woman put on a performance. She pretended to cry; acting like her feelings were hurt. "Fine, if this is how it's going to be... I made a special trip out here to help you—and you invited me here—we had an appointment. And now you are not going to let me in. I guess with that, I'm just going to have to leave." She forced a fake sniffle and rubbed her eyes while walking away.

Mario shut the door. And that was the end of the strange woman with the ambiguous appointment.

The End!