NJ73

July 16 2005 (Saturday)

Music. Music and specific phrases.

That's what's doing it.

Yeah. It happened again. Almost the same thing, though.

I had some music on, listening to it while I was doing some on-line work and suddenly I had to stop and listen.

Just listen.

And the world around me faded.

I must have made some kind of noise because suddenly Johnathon was there. Behind me. I felt his hand lay on
my shoulder. I felt him gasp and his hand grasped more tightly.

The world around me...magic.

That same place. That tavern. I'm starting to remember. The concussion memory loss was greater than we
thought. But now I can see why I would not recall these things to any physician. Ever.

The tavern's name is Steggs. And the owner is a warthog/boar. He's...amazing. Huge curved "teeth?" Fangs?
What do you call those? Tusks! That's it!

He wore an apron and was standing near a large table/booth. I must have been transparent again.

Everything was moving as before. Natural speed.

Then I guess I moved. I'm not sure.

Everything turned into slow motion again. Heads turning. People suddenly standing--still in slow motion--but
you can tell from the body movement, angles, etc, that it was sudden. Of course the chairs falling backwards
might have given it away as well.

In the booth that the warthog - Stegg - stood near, wiping his hands on a towel at the top of the waist of his
apron, were several figures that I tried to focus on.

One was a great grey rat. I know him. I KNOW I know him. I can't recall his name! Not yet. Not yet. Damn
damn damn.

But he turned his head and he looked at me! Our eyes met.

My eyes lifted at another movement and my heart stopped.

Hanging on a large cross bar/beam was something...something completely alien. But not.

It, no HE was like an octopus/wolf thing. Red...bright red. Fake red looking it was SO red. He had seven, or
was it five, tentacles. I think it was five. And on top of them was a wolf like head with long floppy ears (one
with a large gold ring hanging from it!) and a crocodile like mouth. Lots of teeth.

And three eyes.

And furry.

And then he moved.

I mean, he moved.

He was NOT in slow motion. His tentacles shot out toward me as he moved from that bar across the floor like
any octopus you might have seen on TV. But this creature was not under water. The movement was
mesmerizing.

Suddenly he was there.

In front of me.

Reaching out to grab me.

There was some sudden noise I could not make out. Some distraction or something.

Everything faded with such rapidity it was...

...weird.

Gone.

Just...gone.

I could still feel Johnathon's hand on my shoulder as I looked down. There was something rolling across the
floor?

Oranges? Rolling across the floor?

I turned and saw Fleur standing there, grocery bags fallen, their contents spilled all over the floor.

Oranges still rolling.

Milk spilled.

And Fleur's face pale as she stood there staring, her mouth open but saying nothing.

As I stood up to rush to her, I could barely hear her speaking.

"I...wasn't...touching you."