A Stirring Wind

Two Steps forward, three steps back, so goes the way of the day. A false reality never fits the moment. It's like gaslighting time itself, not possible because you can't fool a distance measure, even if it's going around in circles and time does not stand still. So, the challenge of tomorrow is the same as yesterday, how to move forward? I reflected a little on that. A mystical moment is a more drawn-out thing, for the purpose of objective. Not the stalemate that is incandescent in moonlight. Thank goodness for mysticism.

The past opened up for the future to gaze into. That's how it works, y'know. If life seems to keep repeating itself and leaves one stuck, then one must figure it out or with each repetition opportunities diminish. Perhaps there is a little wishful thinking here, perhaps a little doubt. Or maybe, within the imagination, something that will be figured out. Careful steps then wishful thinking throne keepers.

The sky opened and the star came into view so I made a wish. That's how it all started, “star light star bright, I wish I may I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.” I dreamed bigger. As I did, the world grew smaller and I felt like the little prince standing on the moon looking down at earth with a shudder. Only I am a "princess." One that never lost a slipper, feet too bent to wear one, never wore a crown either and if I had one it would surely be stolen. But in true princess fashion, I know how to overlook trouble, how to smooth over any moment, rectify misdeeds, but never stifle. That's boring though. I surpassed that long ago. Who wants a princess without a throne? No one. So, strike that.

Instead, I went to the beach. There is where the other-worldly starts, where there is no one around. I read the flowers along the skyline, I read the lake, I read a troubled heart that sailed across the sand. That's where troubles always start, in someone else's mind. If you know how to read it that is. Allow me to read for a moment because really, there is nothing else to do. The best thing about imagination is it never breaks a promise. It's just you and It.

I'm supposed to be planning for the future and this is the point. There is always a distraction. Having no money is a distraction, having no means to get anywhere is an abstraction. The planning is an infinite grasp and in a moment I can lift my hand in the air and see a shining orb appear in my palm with all the possibilities. I don't even have to turn it, it turns itself. How to make that evolve outside the whole of self?

I imagine again. This time I'm a busker but I sing too loud, the entire city can hear me so why pay for sound they can get for free?

I imagine I'm a public speaker doing psychic readings but some of the faces in the crowd hate me for wearing the truth on my sleeve. Hate I don't deal with.

I imagine I am starlight but rush back down from the clouds unless an alien might want me.

I imagine all my books will sell and somehow that is satisfying. Then I am hungry. It's been 180 days of rice cakes and counting, my favourite.

If materialism is a curse spiritually, then I should be ahead of myself because it's three times in life that I've lost everything and had to start over, through no fault of my own, really. Intrinsically I know that we are not here on earth in this lifetime to advance by loss. The flip side of a curse is a blessing. So, I cross my heart and stir the winds to help me get my money back. To move forward you see, because I'm not a loser. I've worked too hard for a backpack to settle me.

*

Across the lands (on the other side of town), a banker sits back admiring his reflection in the computer screen. As he sits a stirring wind blows a blossom of leaves against the window pane. Staring at a set of mismatched numbers he readily accepts reality. He is responsible for processing what appears to be one huge theft unless he makes this right. How?

There was a casual meeting of seven bank managers over what was thought to be a glitch in the system, a set of errors, an electronic mishap. Hopefully not a hack, that would be inconceivable, if even possible. An inside job? Would it be worth proving? There had been many transfers of large sums of money among various accounts. Though that alone is not unusual these were accounts that had no extra money until deposits struck them. It had originated from one source, it was close to the same amounts and noticeable.

With a little digging it narrowed down to the obvious. A check had been endorsed by forgery and deposited, then distributed. Perhaps not an “inside job,” then. More likely, an oversight at a front desk, a big one. How did the customer obtain the check was a more interesting query. He toyed with ideas. Was that really his area to delve into? All they knew was that it could be an electronic error.

Should he take it all back and give it to the person it was intended for? Should he call the police? Or could the other managers and himself resolve this internally, since it seemed to be a mistake and all?

“What if we notify each of the customers of a technical error and an electronic correction and the subsequent retraction. They would be responsible for covering their own losses. Then we contact the woman it really belongs to, and give her the money. It's the right thing to do, it belongs to her.

Whoever gave the check originally will eventually discover the wrong placement and we could be held responsible for that. This way any risk of responsibility would be eliminated.” Nods all around the table. “Contact the IT people and legal team for the electronic justification clause.”

“Great idea.”

If the sun could stand still and shine brightest on a group of alpha males then all were basking in warmth. A feeling of goodness permeated the room. One reached for the phone.

*

My phone buzzed and as if by mystical chance, for once in my life I answered it.

Dreaming of glass slippers and imagining a prince while sprawled in the sand, I sat in shock for the briefest moment. Then like a whirlwind descending from the sky to give momentum to the future I appeared at a bank on the other side of town as if by magic. I left smiling with a skip in my step. The stars in an always indigo sky sparkled. My babies had been waiting in boarding for this last time of struggle, I had dogs to get.

Sometimes change is in the winds and wishful thinking makes manifest the correct course of action. Sometimes there are people who make things right. Our state of being relies on it.