The Breatharians and the Plant.(Kevin Hughes) Sure Quincy was weird. Most super geniuses are. Or, at the very least, eccentric, and Quincy was no exception to that rule. It is just that Quincy’s genius got caught up by a fake story, became fascinated in how he might make it true and, well, the rest is History. A very sad, beautiful, misunderstood, brilliant and unforeseen History.

It started with an article about the “Breatharians”. Who are these folks, you might ask, these “Breatharians”? Well, some would call them Charlatan’s, other’s might call them New Age Guru’s, some might even call them highly advanced creatures. Most would call them what they are- fake.

Their claims are so farfetched, exaggerated, and gaudy to have left the truth dangling forgotten in some forlorn copy of the original interview. Lost in a sea of sensationalism, nonsense, and pseudohope for the: Crystal Healing Power, Alien Abduction, Alternate Reality types, where beliefs out weigh facts by a large margin.

So what do Breatharians believe? They believe that you do not need to eat any kind of food at all. Nor do you have to drink any sort of fluid. That just by learning to breath correctly, you can inhale the energy of the Earth- and by pass any necessity for gaining energy through food, digestion, and hydration.

Of course, this comes at a price. For a mere few thousand dollars for a week’s training course, you can learn to let go of your dependency on eating anything at all. You can forego thirst too. If a few thousand is to steep, you can - for a modest fee of two hundred dollars- get a DVD that explains why you should spend more to learn more about how to breathe correctly.

I mean, after all, if you don’t have to eat or drink anything, anything at all, look at the money you would save every week in just groceries, sodas, bottled water, and alcohol. All you have to do is to learn how to breathe in the Energy of the Earth. With an elementary course in breathing, you can remove the necessity of ever using the ailmentary system that evolution spent eons perfecting. You can remove the need to eliminate, eliminating the need for the whole alimentary canal. Just breathe in the energy around you- and all your biological needs will be met.

As the British used to say: “Balderdash!” As we say: “Bullshit.”

But that isn’t what Quincy said. What he said was this:

“Well that is a crock of pooh puddle. But…hmmm…is there a way to feed yourself sunlight? Since, indirectly, that is the real source of all energy on earth. Our bodies just weren’t designed to feed off of direct sunlight, so we get our nutrients and energy from secondary sources like plants, fruits, fish, and meat. I wonder…”

And that is where our story begins. Quincy reads about a snake oil claim that two people haven’t eaten in eight years- and are still functioning just fine. He knows that is pure BS, Hype, and even so egregious a claim as to leave hyperbole looking for a bigger word.

But, Quincy thought: “Is there a way to get the energy of the sun directly into our bodies?”

Making us not Breatharians, for you could never pull in radiation through the lungs- but perhaps, it is possible we could grow a symbiotic skin. One that process sunlight much like plants use photosynthesis to “feed” themselves off of pure sunlight.

Quincy turned his remarkable powers of focus, concentration, and brilliance loose. For ten years, ten very long years, Quincy very nearly forgot to eat in his quest to find a way to not eat. If it wasn’t for his housekeeper he might have starved to death the ordinary way- from lack of food- and water. She kept him eating several small meals at irregular times, and kept a steady supply of tea and fruit juices pouring down his throat.

Then, after ten years of development, Quincy was ready. He had used some truly advanced gene techniques - that would have won him the Nobel Prize - if anyone had known what he was doing. He would have won another Nobel Prize for the Chemistry he discovered along the way too. And they would have had to invent an New Nobel Prize, for his “invention” which really wasn’t so much an invention, as it was a new form of biological life- a second skin that resembled moss, but was truly flesh. Frankenstein would have been astounded, but proud.

The first man made, artificial living organism ever designed- fit over a human form like a glove, but was as far from human, as Earth is from being a Star. Once it took hold, covering your human form, replacing skin with itself; your humanity slipped away almost unnoticed. Except…by those left to see what remained behind.

Quincy - like a lot of passionate Scientists, Inventors, and Mavericks in any field, forgot the basic rule: Never use yourself as a test subject. When Quincy was ready, only an iPhone, and his housekeeper were there to witness the experiment. The iPhone recorded the horrible but beautiful result in HD for all time. The Housekeeper, well she spent all the rest of her time in life, trying to forget the images, sounds, and smells.

Her interviews and memories were a burden to her, but they paid quite handsomely for her lavish treatment(and care) in one of America’s foremost Mental Health facilities. She wasn’t crazy. But what she saw was. She couldn’t unsee it. She couldn’t forget the smell. Nor could she forget the gentle sound of wonder in Quincy’s voice, as it faded from her hearing. She cried. A lot. And often.

We have all seen what the IPhone video recorded: just nine minutes long. Those nine agonizingly long minutes of pure wonder, awe, and genius, gone astray. There is no way to turn away. When you watch those nine minutes, no mater how many times you have seen them- you watch again. And Again. And…again. Nine minutes.

Nine minutes is all it took to change Quincy into…into…into a plant. The flower of humanity. Those privileged few that have been allowed to see Quincy, as he is now, well, like the housekeeper- it is the smell that they can’t really get over.

According to her eyewitness account, and the measurements of the Scientists, Doctors, and few high ranking Public Officials who used their power and position to maneuver their way into a private audience with the Quincy Plant- the perfume that a human flower puts out is both intoxicating and beautiful. As one overwhelmed Senator said through her tears:

“If you smell a Quincy, you will look at roses and flowers with pity, for they will forever be relegated to second, third, or even honorable mention. Nothing on Earth smells like a Quincy in bloom. If rainbows, children’t laughter and the oil of innocence, all combined into an olfactory overload, it would not be as beautiful as smelling a Quincy.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: Since Quincy is still technically alive, even though not living as we know it- his Estate manages the ongoing research. Quincy has “budded” twice in twenty years. Those buds grew separate from Quincy - into roughly the shape of Quincy. Hence all of them are known as “Quincys.” Quincy may be the only one that doesn’t know, either about the buddings, or what he has become.

It isn’t hard to describe a Quincy. It is terribly difficult to experience one. Picture a statue that looks like a man covered with moss. Now touch that moss, and your hand will flinch away in a flurry of surprise, horror, and fascination. For it feels like the softest, most supple, smoothest flesh you have ever touched. A skin that Starlets and Porno Stars would kill for. But it isn’t skin. Well, to exactly anyway.

Now, add a smell that will leave your mind reeling with hints of strawberry, roses, cinnamon, raspberries, and grape wine made with cherries- and drop in just a wife of chocolate, caramel, and coffee…and you wouldn’t even be close. Once you have smelled a Quincy in bloom; all other smells seem shallow, harsh, or muted.

No one knows how to bottle that smell- yet. The flowers are part of Quincy’s skin, or whatever that moss like covering has become. The Lawyers and Ethical minded Doctors, Researchers, and Scientists are still fighting over what is, or isn’t, still Quincy.

The Housekeeper said it best: “ That thing is still Quincy. It does not know that anymore, but we do.”

Plants can’t talk, even if they are human.

It turns out that if you don’t need to grow food, find food, or hunt food; just sunlight to keep you alive- you don’t need a brain. But, boy, do you smell great.

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