He sits in his room. He's in Passover Mode. This holiday really floors him. All the 'that which was old is new... Go forth and sin no more' stuff. He feels it. But you have to remember, he once spent the season with the great RASHI who was just a hair's breath shy of prophesy. Only he's not listening to Mendelsohn's THE ELIJAH ORATORIO, his usual Passover fare. Tonight it's a song from Eric Burden and The Animals. Things from popular culture take on new meanings with him. Vampires are always creating and recreating themselves and everything around them. It's just how they are. Unlimited time does that.
Thoughts race through his mind. Jonathon ben Macabi makes plans. Tonight will be special. Tonight he will be a vessel, filled with the Spirit of The Lord. Tonight he will set people free, sending them on their own Exodus. Lives will change. Souls will change. Miracles will happen. Prince died today and Jonathon has been a disciple since the beginning. Where did you think his spiffy persona comes from? ... the trim, black leather bootkins... the snug (also black) jeans... the white shirts, wavy black hair and the tailored, leather jackets when it's cold?
Let's go crazy....
He rises, cracks the kinks out of his neck, turns off the music and leaves. Witchy-woman-housekeeper Edith jumps back (she always eavesdrops) and says - W-where you goin'?.... Out - he says and skips down the stairs.
The townhouse is quiet. Sarah is already out working with the arcane creatures at The Anti-Enchantment Bureau. It's birthing season for the Jersey Devils. Sometimes they go waa waa waa like tiny humans. Sometimes they nicker like little ponies. They're so cute. The newborn is a russet. He's a little honey. Everybody wants to hug him, but the mommy gets nervous. Adult Jersey Devils are basically human shaped, except for the horsey legs and hooves... only the hind horsey legs and hooves. Their bodies are covered in smooth, short, glossy coats, save for the necks and heads. Facial features are essentially people-style, but with slight equine tweaks... longer bone structure, large, velvety, pointy ears. The manes resemble really flattering mullets, or wider Mohawks that run all the way down to the small of the back before petering out. The tails are long and silky. Fine, kidskin-like bat wings growing out from just inside the shoulder blades stay small till puberty, at which time they quickly lengthen and expand to flight-capable size. The specimens at the bureau are not prisoners. They sign on for one to three month terms so that science can study them. After that, they return to the Jersey Pine Barrens and soar far above the trees, just skimming the moon.
We took time with our description because Jonathon wasn't doing anything really pertinent to our story. You know how he dresses? He picked up a small, velvet, drawstring sack filled with extremely high quality, brilliant cut diamonds, each weighing approximately four or five carats and worth roughly sixty five thousand dollars wholesale. Even though he's a vampire, these are not 'blood' diamonds, so don't even think it. He gets them from a very reputable dealer in Philadelphia's jewelry district in return for tiny vials of his blood (not enough to create a life-eater) that the jeweler uses to shave a few years off his wife. He slips it to her. She thinks she just has good genes. What a stupid dope.
So now he's out on the street. It's about 1:30AM. Clubs are still open. Bars are still open. People are still out and about. But he finds a rather isolated, cloudy acrylic, bus stop shelter and sits down. It can be like that. One block is all yeah, yeah, yeah and the other is like 'thar be ghosts here.' His shelter partner is a frazzled, tired thirty-ish year old, ancient people-pissed-up-diaper-changer at a nearby nursing home for about twelve dollars an hour plus all the shortbread cookies and bananas she can eat. They use them as snacks for the prisoners.... Jonathon knows all about the place. He's already 'culled' one of the owners. The other one's away celebrating and 'spring' skiing in the Canadian Rockies. He'll kill him later, if Edith's spell to get a grizzly to do it doesn't work. She says if she did it wrong, a few crazed otters might still finish the job, but who knows?
The diaper-changing woman glances over. He pretends to be reading a flier about some after hours place somebody gave him. She eyes him. Is she scared? Look, even if she is, what can she do? Her bus runs this way and she's so tired.
Then he takes out the velvet sack (she watches)... He opens it, takes out two stones and puts it back. He holds them in the palm of his left hand, leans toward her and in a low voice says --- One hundred and thirty thousand dollars for the two of them..... She goes - Oh, yeah. That's wonderful. And you're gonna let me have them for what, like a hundred dollars?..... The vampire goes --- No, I'm going to let you have them for free..... Then he moves his hand so the feeble light from a nearby streetlamp makes them sparkle.... The woman asks - They real?... He nods..... And you're gonna let me have them for free, just like that?... He nods some more.... Why? - she asks.... You know The Blues Brothers? --- he says..... She goes - Yeahhh? They dressed like Hasidic diamond merchants. Does that have something to do with this?.... The vampire says (a bit impatiently) -- No, it does not. I'm on a mission from God. OK?.... She sighs and rolls her eyes. This is taking longer than he thought and Jonathon has a lot of diamonds to give away so he goes -- How about if I carefully put them down on this bench, along with a piece of paper containing the address of a diamond dealer who will buy them back at the stipulated price? Then I'll get up and walk away. It's up to you. Look, I'm getting up. I'm going...... You don't have to go -- she says..... Yes, I do --- goes the vampire. I need a cold iced tea. Now, goodbye, goodbye. Do what you want. I hope it changes your life..... And he leaves.... But he watches from the shadows.
Four minutes later, after her bus comes and she's gone, he glides back.
The stones weren't there....
He gave out four pairs of diamonds that night, worth five hundred and twenty thousand dollars.... Thankfully the other three deserving individuals were more receptive.
Afterwards, he bought himself two nice pairs of slim fit, designer jeans (black naturally) in an all-night-discount-designer-wear store and some coloring books for Little Bastid Annie (you'll learn about her next time). Not in the same store. He got them in the CVS.
Then he went home, watched Steve Harvey and joined Sarah in their specially fitted out bedroom-sleeping chamber.
He asked her about the Jersey Devils, but she was already snoring... not disgusting snoring... quiet, lady-vampire snoring, so he turned over and went to sleep.
Sure, vampires have dramatic, sensual, TV soap worthy nights sometimes...
But not every night. Look, what do you want?
This is real life....
<more next time>
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There will be no Crawleys tonight. I've had enough of that. Billy still likes it. Actually, Sarah does too. But I hate the spring time and I am Jonathon ben Macabi and I need my say. The nights grow short. The days grow warm and I grow restless. Life eaters revel in the cold. Winter is best. Hot, fresh, steaming blood contrasted against the icy, frigid, damp of a January 2AM tastes so good. It's so right... The deathlike, chill of the grave... The beefy, warmth of 'el sangre calor.' Que Bueno... Excuse me my Spanish, but it comes so natural to me.
Those new to this 'thing,' this 'blog,' may not know that I have two appellations. And just as I am known as Jonathon ben Macabi, I am also known as Tomas de Macabea. For I hail from the land of the olive tree.... a cilantro flavored realm of magic and spice. Shhhh, while I imagine it. ( a few heartbeats pass) Ahhhh, how satisfying.
It may seem strange that a native of Al Andalus shuns the warmth, but I am not a mortal and have not been for so long that those few years seem legendary to me. I confuse true memories with dreams. Look, no kingdom is entirely just. Brutalities, even subtle ones are everywhere. But the Caliphate of Cordoba was, in my time, a special place... one of the academic, scientific and commercial capitals of the world. People travelled there for every manner of opportunity, not to mention medical treatment that was sterile and effective at a time when the Franks (Arabic term for most Europeans) salved wounds with dung.
And the music... such music... What you call 'classical Spanish guitar,' was already in existence more than one thousand years ago. Do you know that I play the oud as well as the guitar? If you do not know, the oud is to the guitar, as the viola is to the violin. Come back some night and I'll serenade you.
I love Philadelphia. It has been my home for approximately three hundred and fifty years, maybe longer. People assume I came over with The Lord Protector. They assume I made the voyage with William Penn, But I did not. When I arrived, the town that rapidly grew into the city of Philadelphia was ruled by the Swedes or the Dutch... I get them confused. But I spent most of those early years with another group. I lived with the 'Indians.' ... It is said that the term 'Indians' comes from the Spanish word, 'indios,' some say it means 'in the hands of God,' for the natives were seen as innocents in need of 'true religion' and salvation. Perhaps it should have gone both ways? I value that time. I was 'windago' and a spirit-familiar to their shaman.... Like Moses among the Midianites, I was.
And now La Temporada de Pascua is upon us... The Passover Season. Friday is First Night. You'll have to excuse me, but I wax a bit spiritual this time of year...'the night God came to rescue me' and all that. I love transcendent experiences. I've always been that way... becoming a vampire only heightened that. Sometimes I sit in my room listening to recordings of old hymns and cantorials... They eavesdrop at the door. The others, I mean. I can listen for hours. Crying to Avenu Malkenu (Our Father, Our King) is a hobby of mine. Barbra Streisand has a version on You Tube. If anything can transport you to the foot of The Sapphire Throne, that can.
Now, please excuse me. It's 2:14AM as I write this. False dawn comes in three hours and fifteen minutes and what's left of the night calls to me. I love to walk the streets. I may bite a throat or two, but I will not kill tonight. There are rules about those things. I'll see young people playing vampire too. Certain old quarters of Philadelphia have a lot of that. The atmosphere just brings it out. I nod to them. They nod to me. We pass. That's it.
Then I nurse a mug of tea at some all night ham and egg joint and talk to the waitresses.
Perhaps I'll bite one of them too?
Oh, and lest I forget, Billy will still keep us up to date with Downton and the Crawleys once or twice a week. He thinks they actually exist.
Can you imagine that?
<more next time>
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The 'Hypnotist' has many clients in cities all over the world. Bolshevik leaders in Russia use him to quiet the masses. American oligarchs pay plenty. He entices the masses and almost compels them to surrender their money in return for whatever Detroit, or Hollywood, or the financial centers of cities throughout the nation tell them they want.
He conducts seminars at 'The Golden Dawn' house. Daring individuals from all strata of British society attend. Some use the information to control a recalcitrant spouse. Others cloud the minds of carriage trade jewelers while they make off with the goods.
Bates slips in one night, in the guise of a self made, Blackpool hotelier. Sir Richard's there, but he does not remember Bates. When he frequented the abbey, in pursuit of Lady Mary, they hardly crossed paths. Valets rarely consort with guests.
They listen to the speaker. He speaks of 'gem stones,'..... well known words or images dropped into printed, or spoken material that bind the mind and compel the soul. This is the first lesson, so he starts simply. Four words... he gives them four words ---- imagine, you, can and because.... Everyone likes to think they can accomplish things. We all like to feel special. Those four words help convey that.
Here's an example..... IMAGINE you CAN appear ten years younger, BECAUSE YOU CAN and Tender Touch moisturizing crème makes it happen..... Anybody remember ads like that? Madison Avenue does. We still see them. They're everywhere. Coupled with a 'trigger,' they're even more powerful, such as --- Look for the distinctive, pale pink, bottle. The very shade spells 'youth.'..... You heard the words. You 'see' the image... the bottle... the color... Sales soar.
Sir Richard writes it all down... Not the example in the paragraph up above, I (your narrator) gave you that. Their instructor, The Hypnotist, provided different examples native to the era, featuring laundry soaps and tooth powders.
After the lecture they broke for drinks and informal socializing. Sir Richard left early. Tabloid backstabbing is hard work, but Bates moved in closer, engaging their teacher in quiet conversation. He invited the man to a late breakfast meeting the next morning. That's when he made the offer.... one mark... one 'spell'... one death. The man nodded. He'd done it before. Nervous, self-conscious strivers, like Sir Richard were so driven... so tortured... so easy.
I don't know the price, or the agreed upon guarantee. We narrators aren't always privy to everything. But a bit later, the two new associates left the stately Georgian edifice, went down the white, marble steps and shared a cab. I snuck in too....
Come back tomorrow and I'll tell you what I heard.
Meantime, remember those magic words...IMAGINE... YOU... CAN... BECAUSE.
Slip them into your tweets and blogs. You may have come across them elsewhere on line. Hypnotists have known about them for decades.
Imagine you can bend the human mind because you can.
See what happens...
Boy, ain't John Bates something?
<more next time>
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Midnight balls were a regular part of The London Season. February and March were like a dress rehearsal. Oh, those assembled for the various festivities still had fun, but things didn't heat up till May, though the Third Annual British Cinema Ball was still the place to be. Lord Robert subscribed. He bought ten ducats, enough for the entire Crawley contingent, ðplus a pleasant, little 'add on' for Tom and an extra gentleman from the club for his sister, Rosamund. Edith and Bertie, recently come back from their wedding trip, came too, indeed, she planned to feature it in her magazine. Four hundred pounds for the lot. Worth two thousand American dollars at the time. In today's money that would be roughly seven or eight times as much, so figure sixteen to eighteen thousand dollars in all. The payoff to Lucas cost plenty, but upper class families had to see and be seen.
Bates came too. Robert offered him a seat with the rest of them. He refused, but did attend as a 'supporter,' which entitled him to have drinks and savories at the bar, along with all the London strivers who paid ten pounds a person for the right to say they were there.
It was a black and white ball... no other colors.... After three years 'a tradition.' German, impressionist director, Fritz Lang showed up to tout early clips of his new science fiction film, Metropolis. Alfred Hitchcock, a successful homegrown up and comer shot footage of the event. People pretended not to notice, but still managed to pass before the lens much more than absolutely necessary. Apparently none had ever heard of editing.
Those at tables dined on a fine, seafood bisque, poached salmon with dill sauce and a supremely satisfying crème brulee. The bar crowd had their savories, small plated tidbits of the selfsame salmon and miniature fruit tarts. Food writers from three papers declared the menu a triumph.
After dinner they saw Lang's clips, along with snippets from Charlie Chaplain's latest, The Gold Rush. Following that, there was dancing. Everything moved like clockwork. At 3AM they left. You can fit a lot into three hours.
Now Bates knew Sir Richard Carlisle would be there too. Part of the reason the Crawleys attended was to make it look like they had no inkling Mary's former suitor was in any way involved in that Lucas business. Mary even passed by his table with Henry and gave him a polite, little nod.
But there was a man seated with the Carlisle party... an intriguing, though somewhat loathsome sort, one Alistair Crowley. Some thought him a distant connection of the Downton Abbey crowd, but there was no proof of that. Carlisle knew him from The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn. An 'occult' master he was, though there were those who said his 'magic' had a more sinister bent.
Bates watched from the bar. When the films ended and the dancing started, he signaled to a distinguished, older gentleman who looked rather like the American actor, Lewis Stone... cropped, white hair... even, strong features... tall, thin build. But this man was no actor, not officially anyway. He was a hypnotist, an accomplished practitioner of the suggestive arts. He was also paid by Sir Robert and they both watched as he wandered over to where the exploitive newspaper publisher (Sir Richard) stood talking to a man from The Tattler. Five minutes later he joined the conversation. God knows what he said. Brits are far more approachable after a few drinks. Look, who isn't? But he made the connection and their nemesis was now falling under the subtle control of Europe's finest hypnotist... Not a cabaret performer, but a high end consultant, brought in to do what was arguably not that far from magic.... A woman in Prague threw herself under a tram. A man in Istanbul drowned most horribly in a huge, kitchen vat of writhing, ravenous, hagfish.... Who knows what death scene Sir Richard would play? ... But play one he would.... The role was so enticing.....
Meanwhile back at the Crawley table everyone oohed and aahed over Edith's honeymoon pictures. She carried a small, stapled 'book' of glossies in her purse. That's how chemists (pharmacists in US & Canada) prepared them. Shots of the new marquis and countess in Tuscany... in Barcelona... in the Loire Valley.. in Paris and Brussels too.... Edith looked so happy. Cora beamed.
Mary and Henry danced a bit. Tom and his date did too. Even Robert and Cora took the floor. Rosamund didn't much care for her escort, so she joined a party of friends at a nearby table while he slipped into a card game in the gentlemen's lounge.
An enjoyable evening for all....
The next night, Sir Richard 'took the needle' (heroin) for the fist time...
Eight hours later he took it again....
<more next time>
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Just a short interim post about a TV show idea... THE UNITED STARS OF AMERICA...title actually STARS OF AMERICA, detailing a time when a terraformed Mars (the place we read about in EL RANCHO TEXACO) a tinkered with Moon... a few asteroids and perhaps the Jovian moon, Europa have all been absorbed by What used to be THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA....
Anthem - Oh beautiful For spacious skies And amber waves of grain Oh sun kissed planets majesty Upon the solar plain America, America God shed His grace on thee And crown thy good With brotherhood As far as Man can see...
The Senate is hereditary.
Unbelievably long space 'trains' knit the worlds together. Each named for a classic train, such as The City of New Orleans... The City of Philadelphia... The City of Los Angeles.. (ok, ok, I know you get it by now...)
Citizens of each world can be identified by their height. Low gravity worlds produce taller people (on average). High gravity worlds breed shorter people.
Probes tentatively observe nearby star systems, discovering a world with a civilization roughly equal to Renaissance Europe and a humanoid, though vaguely vulpine populace.
Not all of Earth has been annexed. An equally strong China, ruled by an Emperor, controls vast swaths of Asia, Most of Australia, Siberia and parts of Africa, plus outposts on the dwarf planet Ceres in the asteroid belt and huge, man made 'hollow worlds' positioned strategically throughout the solar system..
All of this makes for a very complicated polity, indeed.
We follow three families... One on Earth (with grandparents who live on the Moon).... One on Mars and another on Europa (which is rich in fairly intelligent animal life of its own).. Each has a member who is in some way pivotal to the future of humanity....(thus the STARS OF AMERICA has another meaning)
Oh, yeah, by the way, the Imperial Chinese refer to their hollow, globular, 'metallic' worlds as 'Silver Bells,' for each can resonate with an entirely different tone.
And American military space vehicles fall into four primary classes... archangels... clippers... flatboats and Conestogas.
In the course of the show, the first of the vulpine aliens begin arriving in our solar system.... and, uh, that's it... for now... until my brain spits out some new stuff.
<more Downton Abbey new narrative next time>
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The house was quiet. Henry and Tom were off in the midlands talking to materials suppliers. Count Cosimo di Lorenzi was already enroute and would reach London in approximately one week. The artist's renderings were done. Their first car, the B.T. Dragon, progressed nicely. Henry could already feel his hands 'round the dark, polished, walnut wheel.
Robert and Cora slept upstairs. The room was dark, but low voices discussing an international crisis escaped from a small wireless with one, big, pale yellow eye.... Almost everyone else slumbered too. All was snug... windows and doors locked up tight.
But whispery voices broke the silence in a small, main floor, morning room right off the kitchen. Lady Mary sat in a chintz covered chair, opposite John Bates. The space was dim, lit only by the glowing embers in a small, marble fronted fireplace. She hugged an accent pillow and said - He's a mean, vindictive, evil person. You know that. This won't stop him. My God, he knows every newspaperman in London and you know how they are. People hang themselves over tabloid scandals. We got off this time, but there has to be a way to shut him up for good. If not for us, than for the next generation. Family, staff, friends... and sometimes the second two overlap, Bates you know how it is? ... We're all fair game. At least to him we are. He must have been sick at all the opportunities he had to pass up. But he signed an agreement... Had to bide his time and wait... Set it up to look like someone else did it....
And he dredged up the oldest scandal of all. Probably had a connection in The War Office. That's what I think - said Bates.
Poor Lucas - said Lady Mary..... Bates sighed in agreement and added - At least he has a life now, a good life.... But how unfair that he has a family. He's found us after all these years, yet due to God awful 'rules' he can't be a part of it. - she said.
Bates clenched his jaw, remembering how Anna suffered. Then he cleared his throat and whispered - I want him 'gone' too.
What do we do about it? - said Mary.
I know some people in the city. Give me a little time - said Bates...... She nodded.
Now it was an open secret that their quarry dabbled in the occult. Sir Richard often attended lectures and seminars at a certain commodious residence on Houston Street... the 'mother house' of The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn. Those familiar with our never ending narrative might remember when our Philadelphia night-folk family visited that place... and, by the way, that place is real. Well, lately the immoral publisher (that's what they called him there) was studying hypnotism... the arts of von Mesmer... Maybe the techniques in question might be used against him? The power of suggestion is very hard to resist....
All you have to do is 'push.'
And Bates could do that with ease.
Perhaps the bastard would leap from a rooftop, or set himself ablaze?
Hypnotism can achieve that....
So can a well planned murder.....
<more next time>
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There were six of them there that day. It was cold and gray, but a snug fire kept them warm and Sprat made sure everyone had enough hot tea discretely 'flavoured' with fine Irish Whiskey. Even the dowager took part. Denker sat just behind her and whispered in her ear---- I think he comes for the cold roast beef.... Lady Violet stifled a giggle. No one paid attention. They were all busy writing. Each 'meeting' began with an activity. Tablets and pencils were passed around. Everyone was busy thinking or scribbling. 'Earliest Childhood Recollections'---- that was the topic. Isobel suggested it last time. She loved the salon and already had two copybooks jammed full of her careful script. A gentry couple, well known for their prize collies, the elderly sister of a neighboring viscount and one of the senior Penningtons (with publishing connections) rounded out the group. Some days there were more, but the early March cold kept many of their mature contemporaries home.
The dowager didn't mind. Every piece in her 'cottage' had a history. To be truthful, she didn't trust some of them. Certain people never learn their way around fine things, even if they grew up with them.... especially that Pennington gentleman. Denker said he was a blowhard, always going on about his 'connections in The City.' Isobel thought he was only trying to impress Lady Violet... an eager suitor of sorts. So she watched him over her tablet, as she wrote something down.
A few minutes later, when the clock chimed, they stopped.... Pencils down! - went the dowager. Now, who wants to go first?.... The man who raised collies told of being in Paris with his parents in either eighteen forty nine or eighteen fifty, just before legendary city planner, Baron Hausman tore down the old medieval quarters to make way for all the modern boulevards and parkways... He said it was like a lost world.... The sister of the viscount shared memories of a crossing to Bermuda during the American Civil War and told of coming back with carefully wrapped bolts of fine sea isle cotton...... Isobel, ever the introspective sort, told of warm, buttery bowls of porridge and a cairn terrier named Robbie. She remembered games of hi-ho-the derrio.... Most recalled a nation plunged into mourning when the prince-consort, Prince Albert, died in eighteen sixty one. The City of London pressured all property owners to paint any wrought iron fencing and trim black in remembrance, giving the capital the coordinated 'look' it has to this day.
The secretary Lady Violet hired to transcribe and polish these memories whispered that they should include more aristocratic details. Readers appreciated those things. But at least they were making progress and getting used to the task at hand. No reason to doubt that a book, or some sort of serialized publication would not be forthcoming.
Then the elder Pennington gentleman turned toward Lady Violet and said - What does our esteemed doyenne have to add?.... She thought for a moment and said - I, Mister Pennington, clearly remember missives from India detailing how a much loved aunt loaded the guns during the siege of Hyderabad during the Sepoy troubles. That's how old I am. Perhaps you did not know?.... Her suitor said - Perhaps I do not care?.... Denker let loose with a judgmental 'humph!' The others feigned interest in their notes, or the sounds of dinner preparations coming from the dining room.
Sometimes subtle hints are not enough...
<more next time>
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