| I can see the cops coming! They're a good | | | | billyclubs right behind us. A close call! |
| thousand feet away. I can clearly make out their | | | | "Hey, how'd ya know the fuzz was there?" my |
| uniforms and swinging nightsticks. How can I be | | | | buddy pressed me as we arrived safely back at |
| seeing this? | | | | our car. |
| I didn't dare mention it to my fellow underage | | | | "Uh, I just knew somehow. A guess, I guess," I |
| drinking mates lounging with me on the grassy | | | | muttered, covering for myself as best I could |
| knoll in the park. Am I making this up? Projecting | | | | under the circumstances. |
| it somehow into my vision? Forcefully, I shook | | | | "Well, a pretty good one, man. We'd be up the |
| my head back and forth in an effort to free my | | | | creek if they caught us. Thanks. You're all right. |
| mind of its strange perception. | | | | We should have you around every time we go |
| But the view of the two police officers remained | | | | drinking." |
| in my sight, as they sauntered closer and closer | | | | Ah, music to my ears. And so my young career |
| to our drinking den. In fact, to my further | | | | as a drinking guard began! |
| astonishment, I saw a much wider perspective as | | | | My friends, at sixteen, were older than I but still |
| I swiveled my gaze within the picture before me. | | | | under the legal drinking age of eighteen in New |
| I can see myself! | | | | York State. I was fifteen and considered myself |
| Frantically blinking my eyes open and shut trying | | | | really lucky to be included in this older gang at a |
| to erase this impossibility, I still found myself | | | | time of life when acceptance and belonging was |
| staring at my own physical body on the ground | | | | paramount. And to have access to liquor through |
| next to my beer buddies. The place from which I | | | | their connections was heaven for me. |
| was viewing was about forty feet in the air! As I | | | | I would do almost anything to please these guys |
| shifted my attention to look at the looker, I saw | | | | and stay tight with them. I mused to myself, My |
| an airborne body in the form of a luminous | | | | newfound super-vision is coming in real handy. If |
| shimmer, much like a ghost is portrayed in a | | | | we got busted for underage drinking, we'd all get |
| movie. Then, with the ease of a mere thought, I | | | | grounded by our parents, not to mention getting |
| discovered I could shift my point of view from | | | | in trouble with the law. I've got to keep this good |
| my physical body on the ground back to my | | | | thing going! |
| ethereal light body in the air. Using my eyes in my | | | | On that fateful night, my need for approval |
| subtle body, I surveyed the scene again from my | | | | prompted me to keep expanding this burgeoning, |
| perch in the air. | | | | new skill that I stumbled across in the line of |
| Am I making all this up? Do I want to impress my | | | | necessity and opportunity. |
| pals so much, I'm concocting an extrasensory | | | | As I played with my prowess as a night |
| perception to allow me to warn them of an | | | | watchman for the gang, I realized I was doing |
| oncoming bust? My frenetic self-questioning came | | | | more than clairvoyance, "clear seeing." Each time I |
| to an abrupt halt as I heard one of the officers | | | | playfully sent myself out to scan the scene for |
| whisper to his colleague, "Do you hear that noise? | | | | police, I was having a bona fide out-of-body |
| There are some kids in the park." | | | | experience. I didn't have a name for it then, but I |
| Whether I was conjuring my supernormal sight | | | | sure knew I was doing it! I was right on the mark |
| and hearing to court favor with my friends or | | | | every time I called a cop alert. My skill was valued |
| not, I needed to act-and quickly. "Hey, guys, don't | | | | by the friends I valued. Literally, I was flying high! |
| ask me how I know, but there are some cops | | | | Since my teenage discovery, I've continued to |
| right up the street and they're on to us. Let's | | | | explore out-of-body adventures. And I always |
| split." My three inebriated friends and I quietly | | | | laugh in admiration when I look back on how God |
| sneaked down the hill and out of the park under | | | | tricked me into developing my first natural spiritual |
| the helpful cloak of darkness. By a nanosecond, | | | | ability. |
| we successfully evaded detection as we heard | | | | (c)2004, Keith Varnum. All rights in all media |
| the policemen slashing at the bushes with their | | | | reserved. |