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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Fairy Tales & Fantasy
- Subject: Miracles / Wonders
- Published: 05/25/2019
Coincidence? I don't think so.
Born 1951, M, from Wilmington NC, United States.jpeg)
I was just like you…once. An ordinary guy. Sure I had a broken heart. You would have one too if your True Love turned out to be …well, not your True Love. I probably could have handled the break up better if she hadn’t chosen my brother as her True Love. Family reunions take place in shifts now. I don’t show up at anything that has my brother and her there. At least that is how I used to be.
I didn’t wash the pain away with pills, drugs, self-pity or a long dip in the depression pool- I simply built a cabin in the middle of nowhere. A log cabin. Every single log hauled and cut by me…by hand. When you work that hard every day so that you will have a roof over your head before winter- there isn’t a lot of time for self pity, remorse, or anger. Just work. More work. And some more work.
I guess if I had any emotion at all it was the feeling of numb. Is that an emotion? I don’t know. It was the mood I was in for the first six weeks. All that heavy lifting, sawing, and measuring seemed to have cleared my mind. By the time I got the roof on my cabin (just nine weeks after I started chopping down trees) I was all mellowed out. I had lost about 25 pounds of fat during that time. I think I may have added about fifteen pounds of pure muscle. I do know I had to go into town and buy smaller waisted pants and larger across the shoulders- shirts.
The cute girl behind the counter at the hardware store even tried to flirt with me. I ignored her. I had dealt with one woman I thought liked me- I wasn’t ready for another one. I was ready to be a hermit.
By the tenth week I found myself going for long walks. Just me, my backpack, a walking stick and no particular direction to walk. I just ambled along the meadows, or deep into the forests, or up into the lower elevations of the Mountains near my cabin. I knew I was healing inside because of two small incidents. Trivial really. But not to me.
One…I found myself whistling while I walked. For no other reason than the day was so doggone pretty.
Two: remember that girl in the Hardware Store? Well she didn’t give up on flirting with me- and one day I smiled back at her. I used the oldest line in the book, one that usually girls say. Here it is - in its entirety.
Her: “You know I like the strong silent type, like you.”
Me: “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
Her: Laughing.
I smiled.
It was a start.
*****
It was just a few days after I made that girl in the Hardware Store laugh that it happened. I call it the incident. The Press, Social Media, and people I never met call it anything from: “A miracle” to “The greatest Hoax ever perpetrated on mankind.” Some said I was “lucky.” Others said I was chosen by God. Still others said it never happened. Maybe even I would have said it had never happened.
Alas, it did happen. And it happened on camera. Remember that girl I told you about? The one behind the counter at the Hardware Store? Well, she decided to ride her horse out to my place. I wasn’t there, so she just moseyed on up the wide trail behind my place that leads to the small pond about a mile away.
I was walking back to my cabin because I sensed a thunderstorm brewing. I sure didn’t want to be caught out in one of those beasts. Out here in Montana they can get pretty scary. It isn’t only big sky country, but also big storm country. I was just whistling to myself when I came out into the wider wide open grassy part of the trail…just a few yards from where that girl from the Hardware Store sat on her horse.
She had her phone out and was filming me as I walked into the clearing. I think she just wanted proof that I smiled when I saw her. I did. A moment later I felt a thunk on the back of my head- a moment later the air around me exploded. At almost the same moment I felt an electric shock go through my body, out my feet, and felt it blow both of my shoes off. Then I was out cold.
I do remember the smile on her face turning to a look of shocked terror, but I only got a glimpse of that, and a whiff of burning meat before I was out cold. That little sixteen second clip is the single most viewed post on every form of Media. It broke twitter. It broke FACEBOOK. It broke the record for coverage on Network TV. It also broke every record for print media outlets. It damn near broke me too.
Those sixteen seconds changed my life. Forever.
*****
So what happened during those sixteen seconds? Well the Video shot by the girl from the Hardware Store shows exactly what happened, and in what order. If you haven’t seen the video (which I would find to be a miracle of its own- you know, on account of it has been seen some 47 billion times and counting!) here is what it showed:
I walk out of the edge of the forest to the clear grassy track back to my cabin. I see the girl from the Hardware Store on her horse. A big smile breaks out on my face. I start to lift my hand to wave at her. Still smiling like a loon.
The next split second shows a meteorite moving at 400 miles an hour, slamming into the back of my head. Followed almost instantly by a huge bolt of lightening snapping through my head, jerking me off my feet and blowing my shoes off. The meteorite impact made me cartwheel in the air, while the lightening removed most of my clothes for me. All of that took less than six seconds.
The next ten seconds are simply me regaining my feet and looking around for my shoes. The final second is when I turn to face the girl from Hardware Store- her phone still recording. She takes one look at my face- and faints. All you see on the video after that one glimpse of my face- is a bit of sky, the side of a horse, and the ground rushing up to catch her.
That glimpse of my face is an Iconic Photo seen everywhere around the world now. It hangs in Museums, Churches, and private homes. Even I have one. Why?
Because it is beautiful.
*****
Some Scientist types say it was just a coincidence that I got hit by lightening and a meteorite at the same time. Most Doctors are more honest: “You should be dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.” I agree. A rock the size of a softball going four hundred miles an hour smashes into your head - and you still have a head? Then a million volts go through your body, burning most of your clothes off and hurtling your shoes away like shrapnel, and you get up and shake yourself off and look up at the girl from the Hardware Store? Nope. You should be dead. Dead. Dead. I mean me.
But the most remarkable part isn’t that I got up (looking for my shoes - at first) it is my face. It glows. I mean glows. A very soft bright green color. My eyes look like emeralds - dark green glowing emeralds. I am no longer handsome, cute, or even rugged looking. I look…like…an…angel. A soft green glowing angel. Beautiful doesn’t do me justice. I know that is me in the Picture I keep in the cabin…but it doesn’t seem like it to me.
I think I am ordinary looking.
I am not.
*****
The next few months were a media circus of biblical proportions. I was paraded, prodded, probed, X-rayed (and that turned out to be hilarious- as I could simply make my skin transparent- which led to even more prodding and probing) and they took so many samples of my blood, urine and poo- I am surprised I still need to use the bathroom. (And no, you insanely curious people, neither my blood, my urine, nor my poo glow. And yes, my poo stinks. So there.)
It wasn’t until much later, just shortly after my first psychotic episode, that I discovered some unusual things. (Hey, give me a break. I was hit by a meteor AND fried by lightening at the same time. I think I did marvelously well to hold it together for six months.)
One: I couldn’t really read minds. I could read mood and intention though. Which is almost as good. No more fooling me. I could tell what your intentions really were with just a glance. That is why I was able to actually go to a Family Reunion. It turns out that my old girl and my brother really did love each other. It was also clear that they both loved me too- like a brother. I had to forgive them.
Now I can’t go to Family reunions because of my face and the Glow thing. So we meet in my cabin. Oh, I forgot. I didn’t tell you about that other thing. Nobody can get close to me now. All I have to do is not want you around and you can’t get closer than a mile to me. It isn’t really a force field…I don’t think. It is just that my feelings and emotions seem to carry some weight in the physical world. Do…not…make…me…mad.
Several super nosy reporters and two Leaders of Nations found that out the hard way. Nobody knows where they went. They only remember them screaming as they faded from view. I have a better grip on that power now…and basically keep you far enough away that I don’t get mad and make you disappear in a series of right angle flips from reality.
My cabin is now isolated by law. By my strange powers. And by a whole slew of Security folks who keep the media at bay. People I like and trust can visit any time. It isn’t like I am lonely. I mean the girl from the Hardware Store is always with me. I must be rubbing off on her.
I told her I loved her on the ride into town on her horse just after I got hit and struck by lightening. She giggled and said: “It’s about time you noticed.” She glowed.
Now, well maybe it is my imagination. I don’t think so. Because her eyes were brown when me met. They are emerald green now. Almost as dark as mine. And she glows too. A light green. Maybe it is just me. Or maybe it is the twins growing inside of her. Last night they told me their names:
Wally and Eva.
I knew I shouldn’t have played that movie for them when I found out the girl from the Hardware Store was pregnant with our babies. Oh, well. In just four months and three days, they will join us here in the cabin. I will put the DVD on so they can see it for real.
The girl from the Hardware Store laughs out loud. I ask her why she is laughing.
“Because Wally just told Eva that you got hit by lightening and a meteor at the same moment. Eva’s answer to him set me rolling.”
“What did Eva say?”
“She said: “Wow, what a coincidence.”
I laughed too.
Coincidence? I don't think so.(Kevin Hughes)
I was just like you…once. An ordinary guy. Sure I had a broken heart. You would have one too if your True Love turned out to be …well, not your True Love. I probably could have handled the break up better if she hadn’t chosen my brother as her True Love. Family reunions take place in shifts now. I don’t show up at anything that has my brother and her there. At least that is how I used to be.
I didn’t wash the pain away with pills, drugs, self-pity or a long dip in the depression pool- I simply built a cabin in the middle of nowhere. A log cabin. Every single log hauled and cut by me…by hand. When you work that hard every day so that you will have a roof over your head before winter- there isn’t a lot of time for self pity, remorse, or anger. Just work. More work. And some more work.
I guess if I had any emotion at all it was the feeling of numb. Is that an emotion? I don’t know. It was the mood I was in for the first six weeks. All that heavy lifting, sawing, and measuring seemed to have cleared my mind. By the time I got the roof on my cabin (just nine weeks after I started chopping down trees) I was all mellowed out. I had lost about 25 pounds of fat during that time. I think I may have added about fifteen pounds of pure muscle. I do know I had to go into town and buy smaller waisted pants and larger across the shoulders- shirts.
The cute girl behind the counter at the hardware store even tried to flirt with me. I ignored her. I had dealt with one woman I thought liked me- I wasn’t ready for another one. I was ready to be a hermit.
By the tenth week I found myself going for long walks. Just me, my backpack, a walking stick and no particular direction to walk. I just ambled along the meadows, or deep into the forests, or up into the lower elevations of the Mountains near my cabin. I knew I was healing inside because of two small incidents. Trivial really. But not to me.
One…I found myself whistling while I walked. For no other reason than the day was so doggone pretty.
Two: remember that girl in the Hardware Store? Well she didn’t give up on flirting with me- and one day I smiled back at her. I used the oldest line in the book, one that usually girls say. Here it is - in its entirety.
Her: “You know I like the strong silent type, like you.”
Me: “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
Her: Laughing.
I smiled.
It was a start.
*****
It was just a few days after I made that girl in the Hardware Store laugh that it happened. I call it the incident. The Press, Social Media, and people I never met call it anything from: “A miracle” to “The greatest Hoax ever perpetrated on mankind.” Some said I was “lucky.” Others said I was chosen by God. Still others said it never happened. Maybe even I would have said it had never happened.
Alas, it did happen. And it happened on camera. Remember that girl I told you about? The one behind the counter at the Hardware Store? Well, she decided to ride her horse out to my place. I wasn’t there, so she just moseyed on up the wide trail behind my place that leads to the small pond about a mile away.
I was walking back to my cabin because I sensed a thunderstorm brewing. I sure didn’t want to be caught out in one of those beasts. Out here in Montana they can get pretty scary. It isn’t only big sky country, but also big storm country. I was just whistling to myself when I came out into the wider wide open grassy part of the trail…just a few yards from where that girl from the Hardware Store sat on her horse.
She had her phone out and was filming me as I walked into the clearing. I think she just wanted proof that I smiled when I saw her. I did. A moment later I felt a thunk on the back of my head- a moment later the air around me exploded. At almost the same moment I felt an electric shock go through my body, out my feet, and felt it blow both of my shoes off. Then I was out cold.
I do remember the smile on her face turning to a look of shocked terror, but I only got a glimpse of that, and a whiff of burning meat before I was out cold. That little sixteen second clip is the single most viewed post on every form of Media. It broke twitter. It broke FACEBOOK. It broke the record for coverage on Network TV. It also broke every record for print media outlets. It damn near broke me too.
Those sixteen seconds changed my life. Forever.
*****
So what happened during those sixteen seconds? Well the Video shot by the girl from the Hardware Store shows exactly what happened, and in what order. If you haven’t seen the video (which I would find to be a miracle of its own- you know, on account of it has been seen some 47 billion times and counting!) here is what it showed:
I walk out of the edge of the forest to the clear grassy track back to my cabin. I see the girl from the Hardware Store on her horse. A big smile breaks out on my face. I start to lift my hand to wave at her. Still smiling like a loon.
The next split second shows a meteorite moving at 400 miles an hour, slamming into the back of my head. Followed almost instantly by a huge bolt of lightening snapping through my head, jerking me off my feet and blowing my shoes off. The meteorite impact made me cartwheel in the air, while the lightening removed most of my clothes for me. All of that took less than six seconds.
The next ten seconds are simply me regaining my feet and looking around for my shoes. The final second is when I turn to face the girl from Hardware Store- her phone still recording. She takes one look at my face- and faints. All you see on the video after that one glimpse of my face- is a bit of sky, the side of a horse, and the ground rushing up to catch her.
That glimpse of my face is an Iconic Photo seen everywhere around the world now. It hangs in Museums, Churches, and private homes. Even I have one. Why?
Because it is beautiful.
*****
Some Scientist types say it was just a coincidence that I got hit by lightening and a meteorite at the same time. Most Doctors are more honest: “You should be dead. Dead. Dead. Dead.” I agree. A rock the size of a softball going four hundred miles an hour smashes into your head - and you still have a head? Then a million volts go through your body, burning most of your clothes off and hurtling your shoes away like shrapnel, and you get up and shake yourself off and look up at the girl from the Hardware Store? Nope. You should be dead. Dead. Dead. I mean me.
But the most remarkable part isn’t that I got up (looking for my shoes - at first) it is my face. It glows. I mean glows. A very soft bright green color. My eyes look like emeralds - dark green glowing emeralds. I am no longer handsome, cute, or even rugged looking. I look…like…an…angel. A soft green glowing angel. Beautiful doesn’t do me justice. I know that is me in the Picture I keep in the cabin…but it doesn’t seem like it to me.
I think I am ordinary looking.
I am not.
*****
The next few months were a media circus of biblical proportions. I was paraded, prodded, probed, X-rayed (and that turned out to be hilarious- as I could simply make my skin transparent- which led to even more prodding and probing) and they took so many samples of my blood, urine and poo- I am surprised I still need to use the bathroom. (And no, you insanely curious people, neither my blood, my urine, nor my poo glow. And yes, my poo stinks. So there.)
It wasn’t until much later, just shortly after my first psychotic episode, that I discovered some unusual things. (Hey, give me a break. I was hit by a meteor AND fried by lightening at the same time. I think I did marvelously well to hold it together for six months.)
One: I couldn’t really read minds. I could read mood and intention though. Which is almost as good. No more fooling me. I could tell what your intentions really were with just a glance. That is why I was able to actually go to a Family Reunion. It turns out that my old girl and my brother really did love each other. It was also clear that they both loved me too- like a brother. I had to forgive them.
Now I can’t go to Family reunions because of my face and the Glow thing. So we meet in my cabin. Oh, I forgot. I didn’t tell you about that other thing. Nobody can get close to me now. All I have to do is not want you around and you can’t get closer than a mile to me. It isn’t really a force field…I don’t think. It is just that my feelings and emotions seem to carry some weight in the physical world. Do…not…make…me…mad.
Several super nosy reporters and two Leaders of Nations found that out the hard way. Nobody knows where they went. They only remember them screaming as they faded from view. I have a better grip on that power now…and basically keep you far enough away that I don’t get mad and make you disappear in a series of right angle flips from reality.
My cabin is now isolated by law. By my strange powers. And by a whole slew of Security folks who keep the media at bay. People I like and trust can visit any time. It isn’t like I am lonely. I mean the girl from the Hardware Store is always with me. I must be rubbing off on her.
I told her I loved her on the ride into town on her horse just after I got hit and struck by lightening. She giggled and said: “It’s about time you noticed.” She glowed.
Now, well maybe it is my imagination. I don’t think so. Because her eyes were brown when me met. They are emerald green now. Almost as dark as mine. And she glows too. A light green. Maybe it is just me. Or maybe it is the twins growing inside of her. Last night they told me their names:
Wally and Eva.
I knew I shouldn’t have played that movie for them when I found out the girl from the Hardware Store was pregnant with our babies. Oh, well. In just four months and three days, they will join us here in the cabin. I will put the DVD on so they can see it for real.
The girl from the Hardware Store laughs out loud. I ask her why she is laughing.
“Because Wally just told Eva that you got hit by lightening and a meteor at the same moment. Eva’s answer to him set me rolling.”
“What did Eva say?”
“She said: “Wow, what a coincidence.”
I laughed too.
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