There I was, a terrified Grade 6 kid, clinging from a rope to prevent a noose around my neck from strangling me, while dangling over the stream that flows through the middle of Westmeath. To make matters worse, one of the older boys had a rifle aimed at me as he said, “Would you rather have a bullet through your heart or die from hanging after we leave you here by yourself?” I thought to myself; isn’t there a third option? There was, my mother! She had been alerted of my predicament by a girl who had noticed my fait accompli and by then she had reached the edge of the hill screaming, “Leave him alone or I’ll call the cops.” They scattered like a pack of frightened rats. Rescued at last, I still wasn’t sure which ending had been in store!
In 1897 Mark Twain included an adage comparing truth and fiction: “Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.”
One time I had an acquaintance in Ottawa that each week he drove twice from Ottawa to Montreal and back for business reasons. He claimed that he was so familiar with the trip that he usually did it without recalling most of it by letting his mind wander. He must have had highway hypnosis, also known as white line fever. He was likely in a mental state that lets a person drive great distances with no recollection of having consciously done so. It seems to be a duration of time where the conscious and subconscious minds concentrate on different things synchronously. People I talked with had experienced this strange phenomenon whey they drove their vehicle and couldn’t account for an explanation but remained mystified as to why! For instance, I know what it’s like when driving home from Ottawa after passing Arnprior, until at the turnoff at Storyland Road. Renfrew was back there somewhere like the lost city of Atlantis but missing from my radar. It is quite baffling when coming down to earth and not able to account for the lost time.
I got a chuckle once when my father compared his new driver’s license photo to the previous one taken five years before. He was wearing the same shirt in both photos. This is either very strange or a big coincidence, as he had plenty of shirts.
History just can’t be made up and is usually so much richer than fiction. It’s a matter of how the story is told. For example, George Reeves, the actor who played Superman, was wary because some fans tried to test his ‘invulnerability’. At one appearance a young fan pulled a pistol on him. Reeves convinced him to hand over the gun by telling him that, “A bystander could be hurt when the bullets bounce off of me.”
Then there was a bus supervisor in 2012, Karen Klein, who was bullied by the students on the moving bus. A Canadian man was so bothered when it made the news that he set up a fundraiser to enable her to take a vacation. In the end, $700,000 was collected. She has since retired on a never–ending holiday — who wouldn’t have done the same!
My first job in Toronto, the second time around, was after I was married and settled down. I worked as a maintenance buyer for a downtown hospital. My office was located on the second floor of what was known as the ‘power plant’ which supplied steam heating to the hospital itself. The office windows clearly gave a tunnel-like view between the two buildings like an opening to a stage from a theater’s back seat. As usual I always expected the unexpected. One day it was. A lady darted out of a hospital exit from down the lane — bare naked. Within seconds everyone saw her and wondered why, except my supervisor, a man genetically mapped to seek attention. He raced down the stairs and out the door just as the lady slipped. He chalantly placed his jacket over her but she panicked even more and got up and ran. Meanwhile, experienced medical staff in pursuit required an extra three blocks before curtailing and returning her to the hospital. The supervisor was reprimanded by Human Resources for his reckless interference with a patient requiring medical care.
Strange things happen in real life which cannot be easily explained, at least not logically, but are accepted as an oddity not needing a why or wherefore.
