Have you ever seen things just vanish into thin air?

When I was a teen, one or two of my neighbors and I were talking on my front porch. An unfamiliar van drove down our street. Moments later, we asked each other, what happened to that van? Our street dead-ends, and no one saw the van leave! Yet, it was in no one’s driveway, nor was it parked anywhere on the street. It just disappeared.

Of course, there is probably a logical explanation. Maybe we just weren’t paying enough attention to have noticed that it drove away. Or, maybe it parked in someone’s garage. But, of course, talk turned to black holes and portals and such at the end of the street, where the van may have just driven off into another dimension. Perhaps it was returning to its home dimension.

Maybe it was something in the water. Years earlier, a neighbor claimed (and later denied) that she saw a unicorn in her backyard. Now, recently we’ve seen deer and it’s possible deer were strolling through yards back then as well, but a unicorn? And, it wasn’t one of those things where the person admitted later that she was just pulling the kids’ legs or something. No, it was denied in its entirety. Never happened. Okay…

Perhaps I played some small role in creating that type of environment. I recall one time where we were sitting by the ditch between my and my neighbor’s yards. He and I were talking, and, in whispers, he starts talking about so-and-so’s daughter. One of those “No one is supposed to know…” things. And, before saying anything, he’s kind of prodding me to see if I know, although it was probably more of a case of trying to build up the secret he was holding so it could be like he was in the know and might let me in on it.

Now, back then, there were only two things I could think of that would be considered something you would need to speak of in whispers. So-and-so’s daughter was either doing drugs or she was pregnant. I had a 50/50 shot.

“She’s pregnant,” I said.

Incredulous, my neighbor replied, “How did you know!?”

“I’m psychic,” I answered.

My “psychic powers” were further solidified when I convinced one of the older kids, who was naturally more skeptical, of the truth of my power. He was shooting free throws and, before he would take a shot, I would announce whether or not he would make it. I think my accuracy was about 80%.

What he didn’t catch on to was that I waited until he was about to release the ball before making my call. Of course, he didn’t catch on as I was putting on the appearance I was straining to see the future. A nice delaying tactic that allowed me to see the position of his hands before (and sometimes right at the start) of his throw, and it was that little hint by which I could tell whether or not the shot would be going in.

Then, there was my ability to hide in plain sight.

One day, I was avoiding my next door neighbor. I don’t remember why, but I just didn’t want to play with him that day. So, when he came by my yard, I climbed up the peach tree to hide. He never learned to climb trees and, consequently, never expected people to be hiding in the trees.

While he’s going through my backyard looking for me, I realize that my mom might get worried that something happened to me. So, as she’s looking out the window and my neighbor’s searching the backyard, I’m shaking the tree so that my mom would see me. She did. He didn’t.

We used to have a Douglas Fir pine tree in the front yard too. There were times that I would climb up the tree and sit up there. The branches grow in nice layers, like an artificial Christmas tree, so you have a relatively flat space where you can sit. I think I’d either read or listen to music. Anyway, it wasn’t a good place to hide, as there were a lot of openings where you could be seen. It was pretty much wide open. Still, I’d watch as my neighbors came over and rang to doorbell to look for me. All the while, I’m watching them from above.

On another occasion, we were playing Bloody Murder. For those not familiar with the game, you have one person go hide. Everyone else goes to the base and counts. Then, you go out looking for the person. When you see him (or her), you scream “Bloody murder!” and everyone runs back to base. Anyone he tags has to go hide with him the next time out. This goes on until the last person is tagged, at which point the game starts over with that person hiding.

As you might have guessed, this is a game best played toward the end of the day, after the sun has set and before it gets too dark that your parents start calling you home.

It’s also a good time of the day to take a walk in the summertime, since it tends to be the coolest part of the day.

One time, we were playing and there were a number people out walking that evening too. It was my turn to hide. I did at first, but after they started looking for me, I went for a walk. There I was, right in the open, walking down the street as they all wandered about looking for me.

They never saw me, until, of course, it was too late when I had positioned myself near the base, allowing me to pick many of them off before they could get on base.

So, maybe, just maybe, I had some small role in creating an environment where vans might appear to vanish at the end of the street.

Then again, maybe not. Could that portal have followed me to work? The thing that got me thinking about all this is that, right before sitting down and writing this post, I saw a car going through the parking lot at work. During normal circumstances, I would see the car drive past the window and then past the door. Bear in mind there is a wall between the window and the door, so I see the car going past the window, then nothing as it is behind the wall, and then the car again as it goes past the door.

A white car went past the window, but I never saw it go past the door. It didn’t stop. It didn’t backup.

It just disappeared.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 4th, 2008 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Reflection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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