“Yeah, I said cult, not cloak,” said
Ralph.
Millicent laughed. They were parked up on Green Mountain watching the sun go down. She needed some info from the man himself. No fudging for Millicent. She had a solitary question posed by a reader. This woman had heard of “cloaking” and she wanted to know if it was a real thing, or just an excuse for an unsuccessful attempt at a meeting.
“It was just a fad,” said Ralph. “At first anyhow. It was the kids. Not kidding!”
“I was under the impression, Ralph, that you people had always been able to do that one,two,three trick. I mean, I’ve seen Twigg do it!” said Millicent.
“He’s pretty sharp, ol’ Twigg, huh?” said Ralph. “But for all of time until this fad came down the forest trail, we just were real quick and super good at the old slope off and vanish bit.”
“Alright. I’m listening,” said Millicent. She wrote her notes in long hand on paper. No electronics. Once she had tried to take her notes on a laptop. It seemed to go alright, but then it didn’t. Nothing was there when she got ready to write it up. She had shrugged and just figured that Ralph gave off some kind of cancelling signal.
“It really is a left coast story, Millie. There was a guy named something that would sound like “Olaf” to you. He was a native of the Olympic Range over on the peninsula. He was probably some kind of mutation. Or he was just gifted. Also, he was born to lead.
“What kind of mutation are you talking about?” asked Millicent.
“It was just about the time in human history when you characters started messing with electronic everything. Cell towers, phones, computers, wifi! There had been radio and TV in the air, but that was before Olaf’s time. Anyhow, he was born with the ability to see and hear those signals. He perceived other signal too, long-long waves from way up there, Millie!
“That was a mutation?” She picked up her pen and waited.
“Yup. He was the first,” said Ralph.
“To him, it was like air. It was just his world. As he grew up he found that he could manipulate these signals. But most of all, no one could have caught him in a photo. He simply could see where cameras and recorders were.
“Olaf was a thinker. He thought about invisibility for a couple of years while he was a teenager. That was his gift to all of us when he figured it out. Then he found that he could teach his method to anyone who could achieve a certain state of mind and just say one,two,three and then the reverse to get back into the visible range,” said Ralph.
“Help me here, Ralph, I don’t see how we get from seeing electronic signals to going invisible,” said Millicent.
“Oh, I guess they’re not tightly related, but seeing those signals got him to thinking about vision and what could be done,” said Ralph. “He figured out that by hitting just the right state mentally that he could kind of bend the light rays, which revealed himself, back on themselves somehow. He negated their effect on the watcher’s eyes. That’s about as well as I can tell you. It’s not a hard trick, once you know it can be done, and humming a certain little tune can help you train yourself. Heck, I know of a human girl who did it, at least a few times,” said Ralph, thinking of Marge, Twigg’s friend. He had to smile, remembering the conversation in which he had suggested that she just try it.
“I remember Marge,” said Millicent. “Wonder if I could do it?” She laughed at the idea.
“But, my main point about it being a cult or a fad is that Olaf didn’t keep it to himself. He started in his own clan, teaching the children and older kids how to hum the tune, learn the mindset, and then say the one,two,three and vanish!
“It was a super local trip on the Olympic Peninsula, but the teaching spread. It went by means of the young, like any fad, eastward into the rest of the state, then it spread down the west coast, into Oregon, and then California. It was a thing!
“Local boy made good! Olaf was a trendsetter, almost a guru, if you can hang with a Squatch guru!” grinned Ralph.
“But, you must have been doing it before you ever heard of Olaf and the Cult of Invisibility!” insisted Millicent, feeling slightly kidded.
Ralph winked. He sat silently for a few seconds, and a bit of her sense of his friendly familiarity dropped away. He seemed remote and feral suddenly. It didn’t last long, but it made a lasting impression on her.
He laughed then, and said, “The kids have to do their thing. That was the beginning. The cult spread all over the country, and now Boogers everywhere know how to vanish! In other countries too!
“You know, Millie, I’ve been around for a long, very long time. I find that I am like an interface, a transition, if you want, between my father’s otherness and all these kids trying it out for the first time. May the Maker bless and keep them,” murmured Ralph slowly.
“I believe you and I trust you,” said Millicent. She folded up her notebook then. The sun had gone down, and she needed to get Ralph back to Ramona. She started the Escalade up and headed for that wide spot on Highway 20.
She was already thinking about how she would write up an answer for the woman who had asked her the question about cloaking.
Millicent was a real pro.
Millicent laughed. They were parked up on Green Mountain watching the sun go down. She needed some info from the man himself. No fudging for Millicent. She had a solitary question posed by a reader. This woman had heard of “cloaking” and she wanted to know if it was a real thing, or just an excuse for an unsuccessful attempt at a meeting.
“It was just a fad,” said Ralph. “At first anyhow. It was the kids. Not kidding!”
“I was under the impression, Ralph, that you people had always been able to do that one,two,three trick. I mean, I’ve seen Twigg do it!” said Millicent.
“He’s pretty sharp, ol’ Twigg, huh?” said Ralph. “But for all of time until this fad came down the forest trail, we just were real quick and super good at the old slope off and vanish bit.”
“Alright. I’m listening,” said Millicent. She wrote her notes in long hand on paper. No electronics. Once she had tried to take her notes on a laptop. It seemed to go alright, but then it didn’t. Nothing was there when she got ready to write it up. She had shrugged and just figured that Ralph gave off some kind of cancelling signal.
“It really is a left coast story, Millie. There was a guy named something that would sound like “Olaf” to you. He was a native of the Olympic Range over on the peninsula. He was probably some kind of mutation. Or he was just gifted. Also, he was born to lead.
“What kind of mutation are you talking about?” asked Millicent.
“It was just about the time in human history when you characters started messing with electronic everything. Cell towers, phones, computers, wifi! There had been radio and TV in the air, but that was before Olaf’s time. Anyhow, he was born with the ability to see and hear those signals. He perceived other signal too, long-long waves from way up there, Millie!
“That was a mutation?” She picked up her pen and waited.
“Yup. He was the first,” said Ralph.
“To him, it was like air. It was just his world. As he grew up he found that he could manipulate these signals. But most of all, no one could have caught him in a photo. He simply could see where cameras and recorders were.
“Olaf was a thinker. He thought about invisibility for a couple of years while he was a teenager. That was his gift to all of us when he figured it out. Then he found that he could teach his method to anyone who could achieve a certain state of mind and just say one,two,three and then the reverse to get back into the visible range,” said Ralph.
“Help me here, Ralph, I don’t see how we get from seeing electronic signals to going invisible,” said Millicent.
“Oh, I guess they’re not tightly related, but seeing those signals got him to thinking about vision and what could be done,” said Ralph. “He figured out that by hitting just the right state mentally that he could kind of bend the light rays, which revealed himself, back on themselves somehow. He negated their effect on the watcher’s eyes. That’s about as well as I can tell you. It’s not a hard trick, once you know it can be done, and humming a certain little tune can help you train yourself. Heck, I know of a human girl who did it, at least a few times,” said Ralph, thinking of Marge, Twigg’s friend. He had to smile, remembering the conversation in which he had suggested that she just try it.
“I remember Marge,” said Millicent. “Wonder if I could do it?” She laughed at the idea.
“But, my main point about it being a cult or a fad is that Olaf didn’t keep it to himself. He started in his own clan, teaching the children and older kids how to hum the tune, learn the mindset, and then say the one,two,three and vanish!
“It was a super local trip on the Olympic Peninsula, but the teaching spread. It went by means of the young, like any fad, eastward into the rest of the state, then it spread down the west coast, into Oregon, and then California. It was a thing!
“Local boy made good! Olaf was a trendsetter, almost a guru, if you can hang with a Squatch guru!” grinned Ralph.
“But, you must have been doing it before you ever heard of Olaf and the Cult of Invisibility!” insisted Millicent, feeling slightly kidded.
Ralph winked. He sat silently for a few seconds, and a bit of her sense of his friendly familiarity dropped away. He seemed remote and feral suddenly. It didn’t last long, but it made a lasting impression on her.
He laughed then, and said, “The kids have to do their thing. That was the beginning. The cult spread all over the country, and now Boogers everywhere know how to vanish! In other countries too!
“You know, Millie, I’ve been around for a long, very long time. I find that I am like an interface, a transition, if you want, between my father’s otherness and all these kids trying it out for the first time. May the Maker bless and keep them,” murmured Ralph slowly.
“I believe you and I trust you,” said Millicent. She folded up her notebook then. The sun had gone down, and she needed to get Ralph back to Ramona. She started the Escalade up and headed for that wide spot on Highway 20.
She was already thinking about how she would write up an answer for the woman who had asked her the question about cloaking.
Millicent was a real pro.
🤍
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