Please take your seats, buckle up and hold on cuz my little red plane is taking off for the FUTURE. Electra’s propellers are whirling faster and faster, more like a super sonic jet than a single prop plane. WOOSH … we are whisked from 1956 to 2013 in the instant of a neon green flash.
With a screech of its smokin wheels, Electra comes to an abrupt halt in front of 1503 Grand Cypress Lane in Presto. Yup, Presto, located in the West Hills of Penn’s Woods. Indeed a magical Pittsburgh burb where I now live.
Last week I told you about Abigail, my first pen name, promising next to tell you about the second. Yea, I know, it’s been Abigail since I’ve been twelve but, unexpectedly, at the age of 64, Abigail was reborn into an important protagonist in “Sebastian’s Tale,” one of three books in the “Skunk Tales Trilogy” series. Like many writers, who never quite know what their characters will say, do, or discover, I didn’t either. Thus, five years later, before “Sebastian’s Tale” was published, I sought an author’s name that differed from Abigail, who had, by then, become one of the established main characters.
After gathering at my front door, someone blurted out, “OK, I get it, you needed a new name but why Dylan Weiss?” This is followed by a buzz from the rest of the passengers asking the same question. Sooo, I invited the crowd into my home and cryptically explained, “The answer is hidden within.”
Under ordinary circumstances, I would never have directed more than one person into my boudoir and bath, much less a whole bunch of people, some of whom I had never met, but that’s what I did and they all followed with great anticipation!
“Now that you’re here, please be patient cuz my shower stall can only accommodate one person at a time.” In single file, the passengers enter. I ask each to carefully stare at the stone wall facing them, the shower-head to their back.
Some see it right away, others take a bit longer and some never see the slanted scribbles on the wall. For those having difficulty I join each one in the shower and, using the pointer finger of my right hand, I trace the words Dylan Weiss. First a capital D followed by y, an upside down l, then an a, and finally an n to complete the first name … Dylan. Directly below the scribbled Dylan is a capital W followed by e, then i and finally a double s, the second of which is backwards. This completes the second scribble and last name, Weiss.
There it was, Dylan Weiss, my new pen name. One could say,“The hand writing was on the wall” or “It was written in stone!” In either case I was flabbergasted upon first seeing the scrawled names since they are both deeply rooted in my family forest.
Stay tuned to learn more …
Very interesting, Gail!
Thanks so much for your positive comment!
YOU’RE GREAT!
Love –
Larry & Sandy
Thanks Sandy and Larry. Just hope folks will catch on and continue to read. Tell your friends about the site too!
Hugs,
“G” AKA Dylan
That is awesome! What a great story-teller you are!
Thanks Paul. I hope others agree with you and stick with my weekly blog episodes.
Go Bucks! Please tell people about the website and blog posts.
“G” AKA Dylan
Like clouds in the sky, faces of the Green Man in forest trees, a Rorschach test . . . we project ourselves “out there” into the world and, if we are present enough to notice, undertand that world is a mirror and that we look back upon our own souls from its seemingly three dimenstional realness. What is “real” is what projects the reflection. The handwriting on the wall is a true name.
Ben, your analysis of the “Hand Writing On the Wall” is, as my Grandkids would say “Spot on,” or “You nailed it!” You REALLY get it and I think … “You rock!” Also it’s like Alice going through the looking glass. The figure/ground experience is truly magical when what really matters pops out at you just when you need it and gives you an opportunity to respond. The response to these opportune moments is what has driven me forward for the past 20 years, including the most challenging being Dave’s early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Thanks for being you and being my friend!
“G” AKA Dylan P.S. Do I have your permission to post your comment on Facebook?
Do i need to make an appointment to see your “magical” shower wall ????
HAHAHA! Only if you want to. The writing is really there and that’s a picture of the wall. Were you able to see what I saw? Some do and some don’t. It’s just wild. It was there all those years and I never noticed it before. Also, I was shampooing my hair with a product called Sebastian – of course that’s my skunk hero in “Sebastian’s Tale!”