Moving back    a kind of stupor to my daily life, and my nig pounding out yet anotation on tending to to a routi Oscars    of t of ared at it. I    on to t er, poured a beer, sliced a lemon, and came back to tting undisturbed.    and tie, and as far as I could tell,    lifted his hands from his lap.

        "s tter, mister? You    touc;

        "ould you give it to me on t glass move    touc?"

        " do you mean, move? ;

        " o move for you to believe?"

        "Not far." I    at all, and you ;

        o s, aarted sliding sloil it came to a    about five inco . "A magi never reveals t to trick. tom Mes."

        "; I said. "A lot of guys e in s of tricks but ts t I ever sa;

        "Ill pay for t; Mes said, putting a dollar on t;But you o;

        and pulled t of    several    same trick. Yet ouc glass of ood up to go    on the bar.

        "; I called after him.

        "oucuff," o a raincoat. "And I    to drink it, eit;

        I lifted to my nose for a smell.

        "Leaded."     ;But you kne, rig;

        S ttom.

        "Part of my study of mankind," ;and our o believe in    be seen."

        Mes became a regular at Oscars, ing in four or five times a    feent on fooling trons ricks or puzzles. Sometimes a riddle or plicated mat, adding seven, subtrag ones age and so fortil tim ed. ame involving matc of ed from ty of erious in ots t close to times bets o c    it off less t if eed to vanisarted c tles in 63 or 64,    eacime at t;Do You ant to Kno?" Like a lot of drunks, Mes became more er ed soused. Not more loquacious or morose, merely more relaxed in ities of alco a sitting, more t abe capacity for drink.

        "Its a matter of mind over matter. A crick ."

        "And ;

        "I dont ly knos a gift, really, and at time a curse. But Ill tell you, in order to drink so muco be somet."

        "So y, you old camel?" Cummings laughed.

        "todays youtenure no not for calloer of publication."

        "You ; I asked.

        "Antion ural rituals."

        Cummings interrupted: "Slo to college."

        "ition to explain tion. I icularly ied in ting and oarted a book about rural practices in tis;

        "So you drink because of some old flame, t; Oscar asked, turning tion back to its ins.

        "I    ; ;No, s tless t demands of tomorroerdays piled up like a s t."

        Oscar c;Life before life?"

        "Like reination?" Cummings asked.

        "I dont kno t, but I do kno a fes from t, events from too long ago. Put t tories t e out from deep    ury ago, talk about as if it    yesterday. Or today."

        "Under a spell?" I asked.

        "ransdent trance."

        Oscar looked suspicious. "y tricks."

        "Ive been knoo put a fe; said Mes. "told tales from too incredible to believe, but y t one is vi telling trutra;

        Cummings jumped in. "Id like to be ized."

        "Stay beer t."

        At ter t, Mes ordered Oscar to dim ts and asked Gee ao stay absolutely quiet.    o Jimmy and told o close arted speaking to ed voice, describiful places and peaceful circumstances in sucail t Im surprised    fall asleep. Mes ran a feests, cher Jimmy was under.

        "Raise yraig in front of you. Its made est steel, and no matter ry, you ot bend it."

        Cummings stuck out    arm and could not flex it; nor, for t matter, could Oscar ee or I    felt like a real iron bar. Mes ras, tarted asking questions to ;e musi, Jimmy?"

        "Louis Armstrong."

        e laug t admission. In ts of tones, but never Satchmo.

        "Good. ouc fees youll be Louis Armstrong."

        Jimmy    ion came instantaneously. ed into Armstrongs famous o time    voice. Even tion of some old t;Ill Be Glad ; and tted out a jazz bridge. Normally Cummings    able aaining till,    slipped on a slick of beer and fallen to the floor.

        Mes raced to ; to t; o t;youll    you to remember, Jimmy, t o sing out a ferong.    you remember t?"

        "U; Cummings said from rance.

        "Good, but you    remember anyt to snap my fingers, and youll wake up, ;

        A goofy grin smeared on    eac imagine    ioning,    t half-hour.

        "And you dont remember," Oscar asked, "Satc;

        Cummings began singing "; and suddenly stopped himself.

        "Mr. Jimmy Cummings, t man alive," Gee laughed.

        e all gassed Cummings over t fe;Satoil t ts of t nigion. For erered Mes for more information on    all    "to tions and memories free play." Dissatisfied o to Egypt to Freud, ists arguing over its validity. A piece from ternational Journal of ical and Experimental tled te for me: "It is tient, not t, o ore te from tucked it into my , reading ting a mantra.

        vi I could manage my oion and subscious, I finally asked Mes to ize me. As if o a fotten land, Mes could tap into my repressed life and tell me ruts, tory astical delusion. e    before: In a former life, I ra, She Genghis Khan.

        a nigole time ige of t could be dangerous if, under    be able to recall anyt o age seven. My motales of eed t I not only believed salking about me, but at times t I remembered t life. Suced memories are made of glass.

        Mes kneory,    my moters, my aborted college career. I even fessed to ess ode ale. Anytally divulged ionalized arut trumped my fear of being unmasked as a geling.

        t drunk staggered a, and Oscar closed ter and , o lock turned off all ts except for a lamp at t me. Suppose I said somet t if ried to blackmail me or teo expose me to ties? t crossed my mind: I could kill    time in years, I felt myself reverting to sometinct. But t he began, panic subsided.

        In ty bar,    across from eac a small table and listening as Mes droned on, I felt made of stone. ance above and beyond me, and rolled my as and feelings ence. Giving in to t like falling in love. Submit, let go. My limbs remendous gravity, as if being sucked out of spad time. Liged beam. A movie e self, ive and any distinct visual style t o draory, no plot, just cer aion. A face appears, speaks, and I am scared. A cold    is follo notes from t a c, a o t. At some scious level, I glimpsed a boy, ed from tia and cogether ignored.

        t t of trance o look at tion, I, too, felt curiously refres f my sticky s and tted    my temples belied t possibility. Mes seemed totally .    and drank it do of ty bar, y and fasation. I offered    smoking in the dead of m.

        "Did I say anyt; I asked at last.

        "Do you kno;

        "A smattering," I replied. "two years in ;

        "You ;

        " did I say?    did you make of it?"

        "Im not sure. s a ec;

        "I never ;

        "You cried out as if someterrible    der teufel. t?"

        "I never met t;

        "And t a fiend?"

        "Maybe."

        "Der Kobolden? You sever t;

        "None."

        "Entfü;

        "Sorry."

        "I could not tell rying to say. It    for your parents, and it    mit, mit—ts ? You ed to go ;

        "But my parents arent German."

        "ted to take you a;

        I so me.

        "ever it    for Mama and Papa and das Klavier."

        "t;

        "I never , and you said you olen aand, so I asked you again, and you said, Fifty-nine, and I said, t t be. ts only six years ago. And you said, clear as a bell, No ... 1859. "

        Mes blinked    me. I te. e stared at t saying a    tt so    ray.

        "I dont knoo say."

        "Kno; Mes asked. "I t life. I time been a German boy."

        "I find t o believe."

        ";

        "I dont believe in fairy tales."

        "ell ... ; Mes yae nearly upon us. " do you t t?"

        I kne I did not say. t ture refrigerator. Using t plate in t, settling my s by trating on simple tasks. A kind of y lig daood beer;    in front on ool, and e our scrambled eggs and drank our coffee black. At t iful, and Mess eyes tired and vat, t time .

        on    and so . An a me kno    be ing back. t oe food-bye, and good luck."

        As ur for o . " ; I asked, "in t;

        boto turn around. "You kno to ask."
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