Caryntown

“Rebecca! I saw the face again, surrounded by darkness!” “Che my love, you don’t understand. These witches are more powerful than we are and they are capable of being wicked!” “Rebecca, when you say wicked, what exactly do you mean? Are they evil or cruel?” “My dear sir! Where do you get such strange assumptions?” “From you, Rebecca! You must realize that from the point of view of the average outsider, everything around here is strange and mystifying. I am attracted to mysteries but I fear the wicked.” “Let me explain. When you light a candle or a lamp, you light the wick. The wax or oil is the fuel or what we refer to as stored organic light-energy. The wick is the core of the fire or what we call our inner spirit twin. They are wicked witches in the spirit of the wick from the lamp, meaning their souls can be blindingly brilliant.” “Rebecca, I thought wicked meant evil, not brilliant.” “Don’t you arrogant outsiders ever learn anything in those high and mighty colleges that you are so proud of? These women are so highly spiritual that they can fly and make love with the invisible people in heaven.” “We of the outside world only know about witches from the Wizard of Oz.” “You are the only wizard I’ve ever met. Is Oz the village where you are from?” “No Rebecca, Oz is the village where you are from. I am from Kansas.” “Pray tell? Miss Caryn said you were from Ozone Park, New York. Isn’t Oz its abbreviation?” “I thought Ozone Park was a weird place until I came here.” “Che my love, you are a crazy wizard! You are very intelligent yet you say very stupid things.” I pulled rank on Rebecca by proclaiming, “My little lady, you are my servant and I am your master, so let me set the ground rules. First of all, nobody but Miss Caryn is allowed to call me, Che my love.” Miss Caryn and I are engaged and you must honor and respect our commitment. “Second of all, I am a Taoist priest with some knowledge of the occult, therefore I am not stupid. I am not from around here so I seem strange, but I assure you, I am not totally crazy. “Thirdly, I am a Buddhist monk immune to all spells from all witches, so take me to visit the so-called wicked witches right now!” Rebecca turned around to face me and stopped. She looked me up and down just like Our Lady does, then she walked around me like Our Lady did and in My Lady’s tone of voice, she said, “Pardon me for saying so young man, but you’re no longer a Buddhist monk, by virtue of your engagement to Miss Caryn.” Then she warned, “Beware Water Priest! Any nail that sticks out around here will surely get hammered in! You’re not in Kansas anymore and you stick out like a rusty nail!” Then Rebecca smiled and doing her imitation of me, with my left hand behind my back and my right hand in a fist, added, “Of this I know for sure!” I explained, “Rebecca, I am not the only one being tested around here. I am here to test you and all of your people!” She raised her left eyebrow exactly as Our Lady does and imitated her saying, “Oh dear!” “Yes, Rebecca. How can I decide if I want to be the governor of this estate in the future, unless I see and learn everything about this old colony now?” She humbly bowed her head addressing the dirt beneath my feet and whispered, “Yes my Lord!” Then she revealed some interesting information. “Sir Che, the first dwelling where you saw the face in the window is the home of Sara and Tara. Be careful with those two. They love men and don’t realize the extent of their own powers. “Victoria and Isadora live in the next cottage. They are not at all impressed with men and their witchcraft is not very powerful, but they have tremendous healing powers. “The small cottage is where Penelope and Pandora live. They are carefree and childlike and love both men and women and are always in trouble! Their sorcery is sometimes weak and sometimes strong, so stay away from them because the three of you will like each other too much! “Jasmine and Monica live in the big cottage. Jasmine is wiser than the rest of us but doesn’t love men or women. Her occult powers are only in the sphere of healing and she is the most compassionate when someone is suffering. Monica is the youngest of all the witches and her powers of sorcery are just starting to blossom. She loves everyone, but in a child-like way. She is very ripe, but too young to understand adult love.”