Well, if you talk to big horses every night, I suppose it’s only logical to have a genie in  your bottle that speaks to you, perhaps even grants some wishes. Maria got me some incense (not, there is nothing in the bottle but incense) and then she got me a smoking blue bottle to put the burning incense in so the ashes fall to the bottom of the bottle and not on my desk or computer.

I put the bottle up on the windowsill next to a small quilt from Gee’s Bend, Alabama, that Maria brought back.

I was sitting at my desk when I thought I saw a face and body appear in the smoke that suddenly came out of the bottle, it was a female, slender, and she said to me, “hey, fella, do you have any wishes for today?”

I said, “look, I don’t really believe in you, I’ve always had an overactive imagination and a tendency to embellish stories, but horses come and visit me every night so perhaps you are real too. I will ask Chief Avrol Looking Horse if I ever see him again. Since you asked, there are some things I want. I’d like to finish my Hubbard Hall play, “Death Of Mapleview Farm” today, I’ve been working on it for days, I’d like to finish the next chapter of my “Talking To Animals” book, and I’d like to go to dinner with Kaci Hickox, the nurse from Maine who’s beating up all these governors.”

“Okay,” she said, “I’ll get back to you. I’ll do the best I can, no promises.” She told me to rub the bottle three times.

So here it is, mid-afternoon and I’ve finished my play and sent it off to the director of Hubbard Hall, and I finished my chapter and sent it off to Rosemary Ahern, my freelance editor. I e-mailed Kaci Hickox but have not heard anything back yet. Two out of three. Not bad. I’m liking this new mystical thread.