David Bateman Copyright (c) 2016

Characters

Three sister Muses represent a continuum of fortune.

Fortuna is the oldest and is more about easy, material gain. Shallow in her range, she has everything, but is all about the future, anticipation; always wanting more and living in the future, never satisfied with her present. (“In a world where what we want is only what we want until it’s ours.” Train lyric) Her strong Italian accent reflects her father Jupiter’s heritage. Smug, spoiled, inconsiderate, and careless, she inspires shallow, immediate gratification. She’s Barbie, with blonde hair and bling, including a significant charm bracelet. Vain and selfish with no sense of humor or consideration for others, she’s not unkind, just empathically impaired. Things are always perfect for her but, never having had to work for anything or experience loss, she is unappreciative of what she does have, wasteful and always looking for the better thing. (She could be a metaphor for corporate greed and waste) Blessed, but bored and unhappy in her abundance, (Think Christine Baranski or Cameron Diaz doing Patsy on Ab Fab) her power is akin to genie magic; you may get your wish but not the way you expected,… and not always for the best.

Serendipity is the middle child and brings the balance, bringing both sisters’, Calamity and Fortuna, doings into balance and positive resolve. Very present tense and easy going, she has abundant, curly red hair and a rainbow tribe persona. She wears an intricately crocheted magical shawl that her mother, Clotho, fashioned for her and it is the primary vehicle of this story. It’s a shimmering web of fractal galaxies, intersecting at crystal nodes; A delicate tinkling sound is heard when it moves. It is held together over her heart with a clasp which has an important charm dangling from it, given to her by her Uncle Hephaestus, also crucial to the story. She is about fun and trust; about trusting the future and releasing the past. She inspires new ways of looking at things; of turning calamity into good fortune. (an upward continuum trend) She’s all about releasing the past, being alive in the present, the only place one has power, and designing the future from there. It’s more like steering a boat, setting a general course, and working with the currents. But the future never really ”arrives”…it is always just now, so fill your “nows” with your best effort to live that happy future.
She is a positive force and her outcomes are always for the greater good. Very egalitarian and compassionate. (Think Amy Adams, but not so fragile.)

Calamity is the youngest sister. She is plain, stocky build, has dark, straight hair, blunt cut, and dresses in dark layers of long skirts or pants, covered up, but not Goth, and maybe a funky, crumpled hat, and is “common class”. (A contrast to Fortuna. Think Melissa McCarthy.) She has a heart of gold but, though she intends well, her influence generally has a disastrous result. Calamity is a well-intentioned soul who is just clumsy and a little self-deprecating. She knows that things will always unravel and has a Zen attitude about things therefore. Whereas Fortuna is about grasping at the future, Calamity is about reference to her past and past calamities, and letting go.
But because of her calamity she has learned grace and adaptability and dignity in the face of disaster, summoning the patient courage to endure until the storm passes, as it must. She takes all the disasters in stride. She keeps it in the moment and adapts to changes, finding true value in the simpler things. The muse/inspiration characteristic she imparts is faith and acceptance and adaptability; Strength, courage, and grace in the face of calamity; and the very important principle of letting go and valuing the more important present tense treasures such as loved ones.

Andrew is a hipster nerd Stanford graduate in his young twenties living in Silicon Valley. (His name means courage) He is intelligent but a little socially awkward and wears tight, dark, monochromatic hipster attire. Very left brain.

Faith is an attractive, aspiring artist who works as a dog walker, also in her young twenties, who lives in the Haight district. She is a kind, effusive soul who dresses colorfully in loose, flowing garb. Very right brain.

Chapter 1

The story begins with Faith.

Faith is an aspiring young artist in her twenties living in San Francisco. We find her sitting in a coffee house in the Haight/Ashbury district sipping a latte and talking to a friend. On the wall is a poster about a concert in Golden Gate Park featuring her favorite band “The Lucky Stars”.

“The Lucky Stars concert is tonight. Sure wish I could go.” She laments to her friend.

“Yeah, I know. Me too.” Tina says.

“It’s been sold out for months. Not that it matters. I’m too broke to get the tickets anyway.”

“How’s the job search going?” asks Tina

“Nothing so far. Luckily, I still have the dog walking gig for now.” she responds.

“Well hang in there. Your luck is bound to change.” Tina reassures.

“Yeah, I know. It’s scary, but I just have to believe that it’ll all work out for the best.” she says deliberately bravely.

Later that afternoon as she’s walking five dogs on leash in the park, they take off chasing a cat and when they drag her off the path in pursuit, she finds a ticket to the Lucky Stars concert lying on the ground, scheduled for later that evening. She looks around to see who may have dropped it but there is no one around. As Faith excitedly hurries home to return the dogs, we see Serendipity standing behind a tree, holding the cat, with a satisfied look on her face as she watches her leave.

We fly up over the park and out over the city for a God’s eye view, high enough to see the entire peninsula and then zoom down to a figure sitting on a bench at a Silicon Valley BART station.

Andrew, a nerdy hipster also in his young twenties, is discovered sitting on the bench, waiting for a train and talking to a friend on the phone.

“Yeah, I couldn’t believe it. I was at home this morning when the phone rang and it was a radio station saying that I had won a free ticket to the concert this evening. Yeah, the Lucky Stars, can you believe it?” There is a pause. “I don’t know HOW they got my number. No, I don’t even remember entering a contest, but…No, sorry. It was only one ticket. Yeah, I thought that was strange too. And it’s reserved seating so I guess I’ll be sitting with the other winners. Maybe my luck is changing.”

At this moment the BART train arrives and Andrew rushes to finish the call.

“Okay, okay. I gotta go! Okay, I’ll call you later. Okay,… thanks, bye.” And he rushes to catch the train.

Across town, the sun is low as Faith shuts the front door of her Victorian apartment, dressed for the concert, and hurries down the stairs headed for the park.

Andrew comes out of the BART station in San Francisco and steps onto a bus.

The scene cuts back and forth between Andrew and Faith as they are approaching the park from different directions, on an intercept course.

Once again, we fly straight up for a gods’ eye view of the two of them as they approach an intersection. Then we pull out further to see a large, older model Winnebago careening through the city, belching fumes and heading their way. We fly down through the windshield and discover Calamity at the wheel, distractedly talking on the phone to Fortuna, and leaving disaster in her wake as she drives. Fortuna has sent her on a mission to San Francisco to bring her a priceless gold nugget which Calamity had left in a bank vault in the city the last time she visited, in 1906.

“Yes, Fortuna. I know it’s been a long time. I couldn’t help it. You weren’t here when I finally got here and I had to do something with it. You don’t think I was just going to carry it around with me do you? That’s why I left it in the bank vault. I thought it would be safer. Who knew it would be buried in the rubble?”

Distracted by the phone call, Calamity is wreaking mayhem as she drives through the city. She cuts off cars, drives the wrong way on one-way streets, and shunts bicyclists and pedestrians off the road as she goes.

“I can’t help it. You remember what happened last time I was here.” She hears Fortuna laughing at the other end of the line. “It’s not funny. People were pretty upset and I was kind of afraid to come back. But I’ve got it, and I’m bringing it now. Keep your toga on.” she says impatiently. She takes her eyes off the road to hang up and wanders into the oncoming lane, causing a car to swerve and hit a trash can which starts to roll and bounce down the hill, entering an intersection causing another car to swerve and hit a pole which falls onto a power transformer, causing it to spark and explode.

We fly straight up, as though thrown by the blast, to see a blackout spreading across The City at dusk.

While the couple had been on an intercept course, we hear a crash and the traffic lights suddenly go dead, and the old Winnebago, belching smoke, roars through an intersection and cuts Andrew off just as he is about to cross the street. He leaps backward to the curb, and she barely misses him as she careens down the road causing squealing brakes and minor collisions. During this, Faith has already entered the park and they miss each other. The transformer mishap causes a citywide blackout, resulting in the concert being canceled.

Faith and Andrew arrive at the gate at different times to find that the concert has been canceled. Through a series of funny set ups, they just manage to miss each other. We see Serendipity standing to the side with a dismayed look on her face, she looks at the two walking in opposite directions and then at the sky and mutters, “Calamity!”

CHAPTER 2

A bit exasperated, Serendipity follows Faith into the darkness. The blackout has made the park dark and scary and Faith hurries along, anxious to get home. As she approaches the dark pedestrian tunnel, a dark figure appears at the other end of the tunnel and stands menacingly in her path. Then two more step out of the darkness behind him. They are wearing dark hoodies and the moonlight is behind them so they are in misty silhouette. She defiantly shouts “No!” and turns to run and slams into Serendipity. Both women shriek and clasp arms to keep from falling. Then, still clutching each other’s arms, they turn toward the tunnel and Serendipity’s clasp charm glows, unnoticed by Faith. At that moment, a car crosses the overpass and hits a large puddle, raining a deluge down on the would-be attackers.

Serendipity turns back to Faith and shouts, “C’mon Faith! Run!” and the two women turn to flee and run smack into Andrew who has heard their screams. All three scream.

“What’s wrong?! Are you OK?” he blurts.

Serendipity says, “Trouble!” and points to the tunnel where we see the gang rallying for a chase. Andrew steps between the women and tunnel, peering into the darkness and facing the threat. As he hesitates, trying to understand what is happening, the women start to run away. Serendipity grabs his elbow dragging him away and shouts, “Andrew, c’mon! Follow me!” and the three run into the darkness.

Serendipity lives across from the park and leads them up the stairs and they hurry into her house. The entire city is in darkness but there is enough moonlight to see her classic Victorian house with Bay windows.

“I think we lost them”, Andrew says, peeking through the curtains of the window at the side of the door, as Serendipity turns on the hall light.

“Nice place.” Faith says looking around admiringly.

“Thanks. I lucked into it.” Serendipity tosses off as she heads down the entry hall, turning on lights as she goes.

“Hey, the rest of the neighborhood is still dark. How come you have lights?” asks Andrew, peering through the curtain, still wary.

“Gee, I don’t know. Just lucky I guess.” replies Serendipity innocently as she presses into the house, changing the subject. “Tea, anyone?”

“I don’t know… maybe I should just get going.” says Andrew, warily lingering at the door.

“Nonsense. BART won’t be running anyway, what with the blackout. You’ll both be safer here for now.” replies Serendipity with finality as she turns and walks toward the back of the house.

The two look at each other, perplexed, and follow her to the kitchen.

“Do I know you?” asks Faith as they enter the kitchen. “How did you know my name?”

“Yeah, I was wondering that too.” agrees Andrew, glancing at Faith.

Serendipity turns from the stove where she has just placed the kettle to face them.

“Oh, I am sorry. Have you two met? Faith, this is Andrew. Andrew,… Faith.”

The two awkwardly shake hands, as though this was the first time they had actually looked at each other, and shyly smiling with a hint of attraction, though on the surface, they are very different personalities. Serendipity looks at each of them and smiles, looking self-satisfied. Momentarily mutually entranced, Andrew finally breaks away and turns to Serendipity and says “I’m sorry,… and who are you?”

They both turn to look at her expectantly.

“I’m Serendipity.” she replies smiling broadly, raising her arms in an open gesture of self presentation, her webbed shawl spreading and scintillating in the light with the subtle tinkling of wind chimes. The two look at each other with perplexed looks on their faces as the tea kettle begins to whistle. “Tea?” she asks, turning to the stove. Again, the two give each other blank looks.

“Please sit down.” says Serendipity as she brings the laden tray to the table in the center of the kitchen. As the two sit, Serendipity’s cat, Lucky, jumps up on the table.

“Hi, boy. Who are you?” asks Faith, scratching his head.

“That’s Lucky. Get down now.” replies Serendipity.

Faith picks him up to put him down and then turns him to her face, scrutinizing him and says, “Hey, didn’t I see this cat in the park today?”

“Um, maybe. He gets around.” Serendipity replies warily. “Sugar?” she asks as she continues to serve the tea.

“Yeah, I’m sure it was him.” says Faith looking at him, and then to him says “You sure gave me the run around today!” as she puts him on the floor.

“Oh, gee,… yeah, sorry. It’s just too bad that you didn’t get to use the ticket.” Serendipity says, then cringes at her blunder.

“How did you know about the ticket?” Faith demands, looking at her suspiciously.

“Oh,… I guess I just assumed that you were going to the concert tonight.” she offers lamely, “You know…because you were there tonight. In the park, I mean.” she looks away and trails off looking chagrined, sipping her tea and trying to hide behind the teacup.

“Yeah, I was supposed to go to the concert tonight, too.” comments Andrew.” I thought it was too good to be true.”

“What do you mean?” asks Faith.

“Well, just this morning I won a ticket to go tonight from a radio station contest.” He pulls the ticket out of his pocket, holds it up, and then sets it on the table.

“Really? Which station?” asks Faith, picking up the ticket to look at it.

“Gee, I don’t think she said.” he replies, thinking back with a perplexed look on his face, “It arrived in my mailbox, by messenger I guess.”

“This must be your lucky day!” says Serendipity, downplaying it and busying herself tidying the tray.

“What? Wait! Say that again.” he says.

“I said, this must be your lucky day.” repeats Serendipity a little timidly.

“It was you!” he exclaims.

“What?! No! Ummm… What?” she trails off, flustered, getting up and going back to the stove with the teapot and stands with her back to them, her face cringing.

“Yeah, that was you. You said, ‘This must be your lucky day!’” he insists.

During this exchange, Faith has taken her ticket out and is comparing the seat numbers.

“Look!” she says and hands the tickets to Andrew. “They’re next to each other!”

They both look at the tickets, look at each other, blinking, and then look at Serendipity. She turns and gives them a withering smile, holds up the teapot and says, “More tea?”

“Who are you?” the couple says in unison.

“I told you. My name is Serendipity.”

“How did you know my name?” demands Andrew.

“Or mine!?” agrees Faith.

Serendipity sighs in resignation and says, “Okay. I’ll be honest with you.” and settles down in her chair to explain.

CHAPTER 3

“It’s a little hard to explain. You see, you were supposed to meet each other, not me.”

“What!? What do you mean?” demands Andrew. “Who are you?” he repeats more insistently.

Serendipity hesitates, sighs in resignation, and says, “The truth is…I’m a Muse.” Her shawl sparkles slightly and we hear a crystal tinkling sound.

“A what?”

“A Muse.” she repeats. “Well, a demi-Muse actually.”

The two look at each other, mouths agape, and then back at Serendipity.

“A Muse?” he asks.

“Uh huh.”

“Like the gods of Olympus kind of Muses? asks Faith.

“Exactly.” she says.

“But Muses are mythological.” he protests.

“My parents didn’t think so.” she cracks.

“Your parents? Who were your parents?”

“My parents? Well, mother was a, um, seamstress and daddy, well, he had a sort of,…
delivery service until he got chained down by the job. I didn’t see him much after that.”

Still disbelieving, Andrew looks annoyed at her attempt at levity.

“Okay, I’m sorry. Let me explain…” she begins.

We hear the sound of tinkling crystal at the end and beginning of each flashback scene which corresponds to a rainbow sparkling crystal in her web of fate shawl as we zoom in and out of the scene. As she tells her stories, different threads and crystal points on her wrap glow like el wire and we zoom in to one of her crystals and then and fade in and out of scenes in classical Greece.

“My Mother was Clotho. One of the Fates; the one who spins the thread of life. She made me my shawl, as a matter of fact.” spreading it out for them to see. It is crocheted with intricate patterns and sparkling crystals at the intersection nodes which create spectral shifting when activated with a story, drawing us into a scene as though it was a holographic projection around us.

The creation sequence of the shawl shows a beautiful deep space starscape, pinpoints of sparkling stars drawing down into a web of glowing threads of light and then settling on Serendipity’s shoulders as her wrap.

”My father was Prometheus, one of the Titans. You’ve probably heard of him. He was a real “power to the people” kind of guy. The first, actually.” While she is telling the story as a voice-over, we see a scene of Prometheus running down the steep mountain road from Mount Olympus carrying a torch of stolen fire like an Olympic runner and furtively looking back over his shoulder. We pull out to see the road is actually a thread on her shawl, returning to the kitchen as she concludes the tale. “My parents weren’t together very long. After I was born, he got in trouble with the law for stealing and things got really ugly for him. I didn’t see him much after that. It’s a long story.” she finishes, looking wistful.

The spectacle has convinced the young couple that she is indeed what she says she is, so she continues.

“You see, I have a special ability to inspire people using lucky circumstances. Many of the world’s most important discoveries were by accident, you know. Some of those were mine. Well, mine in the sense of I was there to inspire them. Sometimes people just need a little nudge to see what they are looking at.”

“Serendipity. Doesn’t that mean “lucky”, or something?” asks Andrew. “Is that where you got your name?”

“Well, actually…” she begins, “the word came from my name, or, actually, my name came from the word. It’s kind of funny. You see, Horace Walpole was a friend of my sister Fortuna’s; a sweet man. He was the Earl of Oxford and his father was Prime Minister of England. Very well to do. Then, one day, while he was a member of Parliament, I dropped in for a visit.”

The scene changes to 1754 England and we discover Walpole and Serendipity in his opulent quarters.

“Ah, my dear, you are so charming.” Horace gushes with an erudite air, ”And so lucky! The very incarnation of unexpected good fortune, much like the Three Princes of Serendip, you are so Serendip-like … so Serendipity. That’s it! Henceforth, I shall call you Serendipity, for you are my lucky day.”
Serendipity, dressed in period garb, smiles demurely, tipping her head down slightly. We hear the tinkling of crystal.

“He later used the word “serendipity”, when he was writing to Fortuna and referred to the famous Persian fable, The Three Princes of Serendip. The name just sort of stuck.”

Chapter 4

“Anyone hungry?” Serendipity asks, carrying a full plate of cookies to the table as we zoom out from the story displayed in the crystals.

Faith and Andrew each take a cookie, Andrew, still a little suspicious, examines his closely before they both nibble absently while listening to Serendipity explain about her shawl, Faith enrapt and Andrew occasionally interjecting scientific comparisons to her special abilities. At the end of her explanation, she pauses to read their faces. They seem caught up in her tales, and appear perfectly willing to believe all that she has told them, so she continues to explain the role of Muses in history. Again, we visit historic scenes in flashback form, zooming in on one of her sparkling crystals as we enter the scene.

One of the scenes is with Archimedes.

This scene opens with Serendipity and Archimedes walking down a cobblestone street in ancient Athens. Archimedes looks troubled and Serendipity is consoling him.

“Oh, Archimedes. You worry too much.” she says.

“But you don’t understand,” he protests, “the King will have my head if I don’t solve this problem with the gold content of his crown. There must be a way to solve it without ruining the crown, but I haven’t found it yet.”

They stop in front of the public bath.

“Maybe you need a break to get your mind off from things. Why don’t you go take a nice bath and relax,” she says to him coyly, twirling his hair and breathing into his ear, “and then maybe we can come up with a solution together.” her sultry voice dripping with innuendo.

His eyes focus on her, understanding the innuendo, breaks into a wide grin and eagerly enters the bath. She lingers looking at a vendor’s wares for a moment, when we hear “Eureka!” shouted from inside. A smile of satisfaction spreads across her face and we hear the tinkling of the Crystal as we zoom out of it to find Serendipity sitting at the table pouring tea.

“Wait. What? You knew Archimedes? Just how old are you?” Andrew asks.

Serendipity just smiles and says, “Well, what did you expect? I am a Muse after all.”

“So, do you use magic or something?” asks Faith, now believing Serendipity’s story. Andrew is still a little wary.

“Not exactly. The way it works with me is more by way of lucky coincidences.” she explains.

“Like with the tickets?” asks Faith.

“Well, that was a little different. I had to engineer that one myself, but usually it’s through synchronicity.”

“What’s that?” Faith asks.

“Ah, yes. Synchronicity. Carl Jung discovered that, right?” interjects Andrew, a little proud to finally have something to say.

“Well,… sort of.” Serendipity began, staring off into the distance, lost in memory. “Carl was a clever man, but not very observant sometimes.”

One of her crystals sparkles, and we zoom in on it to see a flashback of the famous Carl Jung scarab story. Jung is sitting in a chair listening to his patient on the couch describing her dream of a scarab beetle.

“I know you think that dreams hold meaning, doctor, but I can’t imagine how that can be so. Last night, for example, I had the strangest dream.” she begins, “Someone gave me a beautiful golden scarab brooch. How odd. A scarab of all things. What meaning can possibly come from that?”

Jung is seated with his back to the window when we hear a tapping sound.

Then we discover Serendipity tapping at the window, lightly at first, and then comedically more and more insistently, until, when he finally comes, she quickly places a live scarab beetle on the sill and then scrambles to hide when he opens the window.

“Do you know how hard it was to find a scarab beetle,… in those latitudes?” comments Serendipity exasperatedly, with a slight smirk on her face. “The ‘coincidence’ of the scarab triggered a breakthrough in his patient. After that, he started paying more attention to things and discovered that synchronicities are happening all the time.”

“They are built into the pattern of things.”

“The universe is offering answers and clues all the time, but, most of the time, people are just too distracted by everything to notice them. Louis Pasteur understood it. Ah, dear Louis…” Serendipity trails off, lost in thought briefly, then catches herself and continues, “I’m sorry,… where was I?”

“Distracted.” prompts Andrew.

“Oh, yes. We get distracted by routine, by strong habits, too. Your brain shuts down and you just stop seeing things as they are. Several of Louis’ discoveries were quite by accident, you know. It’s because he was paying attention that he was able to recognize what he had.”

“’Chance favors the prepared mind’, he said.”

“Sometimes you can be staring at the answer and not recognize it. Especially if it’s not the thing you were looking for. Like Silly Putty.”

“Silly Putty!?”

“Yes, when James Wright was working with silicone at GE during World War II trying to find a substitute for rubber gaskets, he accidentally came up with silly putty. It wasn’t what he was looking for, and he might have just thrown it away, but he saw it for what it was instead of what it wasn’t.”

“Sort of like ‘ When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.’?” interjects Faith.

“Exactly! It was the same thing with Robert James and the slinky. He was trying to come up with a spring to support ship’s sensitive equipment and one day…”

We zoom in on one of her crystals to see her standing next to Robert at his workbench.

“My new spring just doesn’t do the job. I wish it was good for something.”

When his head is turned away for a moment, we see Serendipity knock the spring off the workbench. He turns to see it walking down stacked boxes and down the stairs. You see the light go off in his head as Serendipity says “Whoops!”

Back in the kitchen, she says, “So you see, synchronicity only works for you if you notice it. Real genius is appreciating what you do have instead of what you didn’t get. Let go of your expectations and see things for what they are. Stay flexible.”

The two are lost in thought, overwhelmed at the mass of information.

Faith then asks, “So, if your mother was a Fate, then does that mean that there’s pre-destination? That our lives are already mapped out?”

“No. You have to choose your course. You have to decide your goal, and then watch for the synchronous clues which will show you the way. It’s all up to you.”

“See that’s how it works. You start with an intention. It’s all about intention, really. You want something and so you imagine it in your mind. You visualize it. When you do that, you are programming your request into the universe. It’s like ordering something on the menu, and then you just have to be patient until your order arrives.”

“So basically what you are doing is creating a pattern in the quantum potential field. Sort of like 3D printing!” Andrew says excitedly, pacing about, starting to get the concept, “by making a deliberate choice, you are selecting one of an infinite number of possible futures, collapsing the probability field. Like Schroedinger’s cat!” He pauses to catch his breath, considering the ramifications.

“You mean it’s sort of like prayer?” Faith adds.

The two look at each other, confused at the apparent disparity of their responses.

“Yes, you’re both right. (We hear a tinkling sound) It’s like the threads on my shawl. You select your destination, what you want” Serendipity points to one of the crystals, “and then the thread connects you to your goal.” she says, tracing a thread with her finger. “It’s just not always in a straight line, you see.”

“Wow!” exclaims Andrew, pacing, his mind clearly blown, “So, it’s like string theory! Vibrating strings of energy! It’s the multi-verse. Wow!”

“Something like…” Serendipity replies, amused at his enthusiasm.

“It’s so beautiful.” Faith remarks, admiring the magical shawl. “What happened there? Did you snag it when we were running through the park?”

“What do you mean?” asks Serendipity, looking down at her garment, trying to see what she’s talking about.

“Right there.” says Faith, pointing at a spreading gap in Serendipity’s garment.

Serendipity leaps up and rushes to a mirror hanging on the wall.

“Oh no! No no no no no.” she cries! “That can’t be!”

“It’s not so bad. Maybe we can fix it before it gets any worse.” Faith offers.

“No, you don’t understand. Something has changed! This has never happened before.”

“What do you mean?” asks Andrew, joining them at the mirror.

“Something has happened to change the timeline. I don’t know what could have caused this.” As she examines the unraveling garment, she looks into the mirror and mutters, “Calamity!”

CHAPTER 5

“It’s not such a calamity.” says Faith consolingly.

“No. Calamity is my younger sister. Well,… my half sister. She’s everything her name implies. Our mother is Clotho, one of the Fates, but her father is Poseidon. You know, the God of disasters. Let’s just say she takes after her dad.”

Faith looks confused. “You mean she tore your shawl?”

“Maybe. In a way.” Now it’s Serendipity’s turn to look confused. “The blackout! That must be it. Calamity must have caused it.”

“Well, what can we do?” asks Faith, now caught up with the situation.

“I don’t know. This has never happened before. Changing the timeline is tricky business.” laments Serendipity. She returns to the mirror to discover further deterioration of her garment to her dismay. “Oh, no!” She paces the floor while Andrew and Faith sit helplessly by, a bit overwhelmed and wondering what they have gotten themselves into.

“There must be something we can do.” says Faith, trying to be optimistic. “Isn’t there someone you can call?” Then, looking at Serendipity, she says, “Why is your clasp glowing?”

“What?” says Serendipity, returning to the mirror. The clasp holding her shawl together is indeed glowing a gentle blue color. “Uncle Hephaestus.” she whispers.

“Who’s that?” asks Andrew.

“Uncle Hephaestus made these special charms for my sisters and me.” she replies. We zoom into the charm to see Hephaestus forging the charms and all three flying together magically onto a bracelet, which spins creating a vortex. “That’s it! They have the power to reset time when brought together, he told us. Just in case. You know, being the daughters of Fate and all.”

“Sisters? How many sisters?” Faith asks.

“Well, there’s me, and Calamity, and Fortuna.” replies Serendipity, lost in thought.

“Soooo,… what should we do?” asks Andrew after a moment.

“Well, I think we have to bring all three charms together, mounted on a single bracelet for the magic to work.”

“Where are the other two?” Faith asks.

“Well I don’t know where Calamity is, but she can’t be far. Obviously. Fortuna lives in Las Vegas.” replies Serendipity, considering things. “We should start with her. Maybe she’ll know where Calamity is.”

“What do you mean we?” asks Faith.

Serendipity turns to Faith. “Do you have a car?”

CHAPTER 6

The sunrise finds our three adventurers packed into a newish Volkswagen bug headed east across the Bay Bridge. Faith is driving, Serendipity has shotgun, and Andrew is in the back seat, leaning forward between the seats, a worried look on his face.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” he protests, “I mean, looking for trouble. Literally.”

“Did you know that the Chinese symbol for ‘danger’ is the same as the one for ‘opportunity’?” Serendipity cheerfully comments, hoping to re-direct him.

“Um, no.” he replies cautiously. “So?”

“Relax, Andrew, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” reassures Serendipity patting his arm, and then adds, as an afterthought, ”Did you know that Andrew means ‘courage’?”

“No, I didn’t.” he looks at her suspiciously. “Wait. Really?”

“Yup. But there’s nothing to worry about. Really. Calamity isn’t bad,” defends Serendipity,” she’s just, I don’t know, clumsy I guess. But she has a good heart and means well.”

“Where does she live?” asks Andrew.

“Well,… all over, really. She moves around a lot because disaster tends to follow her. The last I heard, she was living in a mobile home in Kansas, for a while anyway until an F5 tornado cluster came through. Then she went down to Louisiana, but there was a hurricane. After that she went to Hawaii… until the volcano blew, of course. I think she’s living in a Winnebago now, trying to stay one step ahead of it all.”

“Was it always that way with her?” asks Faith.

“I’m afraid so. Poor thing. Krakatoa, Pompeii, Atlantis. You name it, she’s wrecked it. The last time she was in San Francisco was in 1906. I guess you know how that went. She and Fortuna were both here then, I think. They first came out in 1847. Or was it ’48? Well, Fortuna came first, anyway. Of course this was still Mexico then.”

Through the windshield we see a billboard which says “This Exit for Gold Country” and, as we pass it, zoom in on one of Serendipity’s sparkling crystals for a flashback sequence.

We fly in to see a pine forest with a mountain stream cutting through it. Alongside it stands Sutter’s Mill and we fly right up to the porch which features a sign reading, “Sutter’s Mill and Mercantile-John Sutter proprietor”.

We find John Sutter, holding Fortuna’s hand, bent forward a bit as though to kiss it. She looks bored and he is fawning.

“My dear Mme. Fortuna,” he says with a thick Swiss German accent, “must you go so soon?”

“Yes, I’m afraid I must. I can’t wait for her any longer. I am expected in San Francisco.” she replies with her strong Italian accent.

“But you have captured my heart.” he protests, “I know you are a cultured and sophisticated Lady and I am but a hard working immigrant miller and merchant right now, but my luck will change, I am sure of it. The Mexican government has given me a large grant of land here and more and more wagon trains of settlers come through here every day. My mercantile supply business is growing, too. Why, I am expecting a large party through any day now.” He looks toward the snowy mountains and mutters, “They are awfully late though. Hope they didn’t get caught in the blizzard.”

She looks bored, withdraws her hand and says, “Thank you, Mr. Sutter, but I really must be going.” and starts down the steps of the porch, Sutter scurrying behind her.

“When she gets here, will you please tell my sister, Calamity, that I couldn’t wait any longer and will meet her in San Francisco.”

“Of course, Mme. Fortuna.” says Sutter as they approach a foot bridge crossing the stream.

She stops at the center of the bridge and turns to face him extending her hand, which he hastens to kiss.

“Thank you Mr. Sutter, I wish you the best here.” and as she makes a grand sweeping gesture with her left hand, her charm bracelet slips off her gloved hand and splashes into the stream. She looks at him coyly and Sutter hastens to retrieve it, slogging into the stream up to the knees of his pants. As he reaches into the stream for the charm bracelet, he spies a gold nugget the size of his fist. He grabs it and holds it over his head with a big grin on his face, turning to Fortuna who has a smug look on her face and nods.

A few weeks later the door opens to the mercantile store and in walks Calamity, dressed as a cowboy, (Ever heard of Calamity Jane?) dragging her feet and billowing trail dust. She takes off her cowboy hat and swats the dust off her chaps and then coughs…once. Behind her through the open doorway we can see a wagon train struggling by slowly. One of the Conestoga wagons has a sign on it which reads, “Donner Expeditions: Serving Settlers since 1847”.

She walks up to the counter where John Sutter is standing and says, “Hello. I am here to meet my sister, Fortuna.”

“You must be Calamity. I’m sorry, but she couldn’t wait. Were you with that wagon train that just came in?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Is that the Donner party?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You were so late. What happened? Was there a problem?”

She pauses. “…Uh-huh.”

Then she notices the menu sign on the wall behind him and brightens.

“What’s the Settlers Special?”

“A nice rump roast.” he responds proudly.

“Ummm…no.” she pauses, “I’ll just have the salad.”

The next day Sutter gives Calamity a leg up on her horse which becomes a comedy in clumsiness. After she is settled on her horse, he proffers a box containing the large gold nugget he found while retrieving Fortuna’s bracelet.

“I want you to give this to your sister when you see her. She has won my heart and I cannot stop thinking about her. Tell her that my business brings me all the fortune I need. Tell her that she is more precious to me than this gold I found because of her and I want her to have it as a token of my devotion.”

A number of the settlers are standing around and hearing the exchange.

“Wow! That’s a huge golden nugget!” Calamity says a little too loudly. “Did you find that here? That has to be the biggest gold nugget I have ever seen. Gee!” Holding the open box with the nugget in it, she shows it to a couple of people standing nearby. “Can you believe it? Have you ever seen such a huge nugget?” she continues, to John Sutter’s increasing dismay.

Then in a mock whisper she leans down to John and says, “I’ll bet there is a bunch of gold all around here, isn’t there?” elbowing him in the ribs. Now everyone around is in a hubbub and scurrying away. She notices Sutter’s anxious expression and shrugging her shoulders, mimes “oops” and locks her mouth shut, dropping the imaginary key into her shirt pocket. We see her riding down the trail as our POV rises to see settlers scrambling with shovels and picks.

We return to the present as Serendipity concludes the story.

“Once word got out that there was gold at Sutter’s Mill, his place was overrun with claim jumpers leading to the gold rush in 1849 . The US had “won” California from Mexico in the war the year before and the gold was enough incentive for it to become a state the next year. Needless to say Sutter’s Mexican land-grant was nullified and he lost everything. That’s Calamity for you.”

“That’s terrible!” reacts Faith, looking out the window as they pass a highway sign which reads, “Donner Pass”.

Chapter 7

“Tell me more about Fortuna.” requests Andrew. “Why does she live in Las Vegas?”

“Where else would you expect Lady Luck to live?” responds Serendipity.

“Is that who she is?!” he reacts.

“More or less. Just like her name, she’s all about fortune. Whether it’s good fortune or not depends on how you look at it. Look at Sutter. The gold fortune was his downfall. You know there can be such a thing as too much of a good thing. When things come too easily, sometimes you don’t appreciate what you have. Poor Fortuna is so spoiled that she’s never satisfied. She’s rich, she’s beautiful, and she has no end of admirers. But it’s never enough for her. She’s bored and spoiled and selfish.” And then as an aside, soto voce, she confides, “She’s kind of a bitch.”

“Was it always that way for her?” asks Faith sympathetically.

“I don’t think so. You see, she’s my older sister. Well,… half-sister really. We have the same mother, but her father was an important god in the pantheon from Italy. Really high up. It’s a little embarrassing, actually. Mama was having an affair with a married man, it turns out. Of course she didn’t know he was married at the time because he was in disguise so his wife wouldn’t find out about it. Apparently he cheated on her a lot and she had a history of getting ugly about it.”

She leans way in conspiratorially, and exaggeratedly mouths, “Jupiter”, ending with her finger over pursed lips and glancing around.

“Anyway, you’ll get to meet her when we get to Las Vegas. You’ll love her place.”

We fly up through the skylight, looking down on the diminishing bug as it speeds across the barren desert and then fly down into Las Vegas, down the strip, and up to the entrance of Jupiter’s Palace.

We enjoy several establishing shot scenes of the thrill and glamour of the casino, culminating with our trio walking up to the door of Fortuna’s penthouse and ringing the bell. Fortuna opens the door and the two sisters throw their hands up and shriek in excitement, embracing each other and exchanging European kiss greetings.

“Serendipity! Did I know you were coming?” Fortuna inquires, her voice dripping with bored sophistication and thick with her Italian accent. “And who are these people? Your traveling servants?”

“No, no. These are my friends. This is Andrew and Faith.” she replies.

“Oh, I see. Well, do come in, won’t you,” says Fortuna opening the door wide and beckoning them in.

Needless to say, the penthouse is over-the-top Neo-Roman opulence with pillars and mirrors and glass walls overlooking the glittering city. Andrew and Faith are drawn to the windows, mesmerized.

“May I offer you something? A cold beverage perhaps? Or a light supper? I can summon room service.” Fortuna offers rather unenthusiastically.

While the mortals marvel at the palace, Serendipity gets down to business.

“No, thank you Fortuna, but we have come on urgent business. Have you seen Calamity?”

“Why, yes, how did you know? She was just here. She finally brought me that… item… that… John sent me.” she says trailing off, glancing warily at the young couple standing at the window.

“That’s okay. They know everything.” Serendipity says, “Where is she now?”

Looking relieved, she responds, “I don’t know. She left just before the freak flash flood. I think she was headed east.” waving a bejeweled hand dismissively in that general direction, “Why?”

“Something awful has happened. Look!” She says pointing to her shawl. “She’s done something that’s changed the timeline. We have to fix this.”

“Calamity!” spits Fortuna exasperatedly, “What should we do?”

“I need your charm bracelet.” she explains, touching her own charm clasp. ”If we bring the charms together maybe we can see what happened and change it back. Where is it?”

“I keep it in the main vault downstairs.” Fortuna replies. “Follow me.”

The four step out of her private elevator into the noisy casino; Fortuna and Serendipity are walking together, conspiring.

“It’s been ages since we got together. We really should do it more often.” Fortuna says rather disingenuously as she surveys her realm, holding court with her subjects; the queen on parade, while Andrew and Faith trail behind.

“Yes, we really should.” Serendipity agrees.

As they walk, Fortuna is greeted by a range of characters who are naturally aligned to a woman of her charms. There are minions of unctuous Blingers, Eurotrash, Corporate Raiders, and Mafiosos, all fawning sycophants who greet her during the processional through the teeming casino.

“Let it ride.”

“Consolidated Commodities.”

“Daddy’s Dream in the third.”

“9,17, 23, 24 & 63.” …and so on.

She, of course, is regally aloof, mostly waving them off, and as she passes by, we see people in the background hitting jackpots and winning at the tables in a wave of good fortune, only noticed by Andrew and Faith.

Entering the enormous cage at the center of the casino, Fortuna leads them into another, smaller private elevator and they descend to her private vault. The place looks like a pirate’s booty room. Her wealth is not limited to cash and it’s filled with a dazzling collection of diverse, priceless treasures. In the middle of the room, sitting on a grand, round table made of white Italian marble, is a massive, ornate chest filled with assorted crown jewels and such, and we see her charm bracelet sitting next to Sutter’s gold nugget.

She hands the bracelet to Serendipity and says, “Now, I want this back.”

“Of course. Now we just have to find Calamity.”

“Good luck!” says Fortuna.

As the three are leaving the casino, Andrew spots a quarter on the ground next to a big spin machine called Jupiter’s Palace Wonders and, with an impish grin on his face, drops it into the machine. It spins around and comes up with three beds, which translates to a free night’s stay in a luxury suite in their Diamond Tower.

Serendipity!

Chapter 8

The next morning, a refreshed trio sets out from Las Vegas, heading east, crossing the Colorado River at Hoover dam, and driving south the length of the Detrital Valley to pick up Interstate 40 in Kingman, Arizona.

“How are we ever going to find her?” asks Andrew.

“Well, she’s bound to leave a trail. Let’s just keep our eyes open.” replies Serendipity.

As they drive they see various examples of Calamity’s passing and have synchronous moments; Trucks with spilled cargo, cars at the side of the road with hoods open and steam billowing from their radiators, spilled paint on the highway.

Every time they think something is a bad luck moment, it turns out to be the exact thing they needed. They overhear comments from people about her passing. They turn on the radio and hear reports of minor bizarre disasters such as crashed hot air balloons, herds of cows on the highway from a broken fence that Calamity has crashed through while distracted, freak thunderstorms that wash out bridges, etc., all of which guide them on their quest.

Serendipity is explaining synchronicity to Faith and Andrew as they travel east on I-40, when they pass two billboards. The first is from a local real estate company that says, “Gallup has the charm you’re looking for!”

Serendipity brightens and leans forward, looking through the windshield, and sees the second one,” My Sister’s Place Cafe – This Exit”.

“Quick! Take this exit!” she snaps at Andrew behind the wheel.

He makes a hasty lane change and takes the exit, pulling to a stop at the light.

“Which way?”

“There!” Serendipity exclaims, pointing to “My Sisters Place Cafe”, and they pull into the busy parking lot on one side of the building just as Calamity pulls the Winnebago out of the other side and back onto the highway, just missing seeing each other.

“Anybody hungry?” Serendipity asks, and they enter the noisy diner.

After ordering their lunch, Faith asks why Serendipity chose this particular diner, leaning in to hear the answer, cupping her hand to her ear to hear the response.

“Did you ever notice how you can pick out a specific voice in a noisy, crowded room? Out of all the noise and confusion, when you try, you can still get the information that you need to understand. Just like recognizing a familiar voice just by hearing it, like when you answer the phone. That ability to pick out a specific frequency pattern is augmented by your visual sense as you try to read their lips, and then your brain tries to make sense of it all, based on what it’s listening for. That’s a powerful ability!”

“Reading the patterns of synchronicity is a lot the same. You’re looking for a specific pattern, taking in all the clues that you see and hear. But it’s your brain that finds the meaning in it all. It’s like Rorschach’s ink blots or reading tea leaves. The answer you seek is everywhere, it just depends on the question. What you’re looking for.” Serendipity explains. “All the answers are there all the time. You just have to pick them out from all the background noise. Just like the tiniest part of a hologram contains the whole picture.”

Outside the window in the background, we see emergency vehicles go by, lights flashing and sirens screaming as Serendipity continues.

“I was looking for the pattern when I saw the billboard for this place.” she concludes.

“But we still haven’t found Calamity.” Andrew protests.

“”Yeah, but we will.” Faith interjects “Right?” she says hopefully, looking at Serendipity. “I mean, we’ve gotten this far, right?”

“But we don’t know for sure that she was even here.” he objects.

Through the window we see people on the sidewalk running and pointing in the direction of the highway and a wisp of smoke.

“At some point you just have to trust the evidence and keep going. Otherwise you’re stuck in one place. Not choosing IS a choice.” Serendipity explains, “You have to believe the picture is there. You know those posters that just look like noise, just colored dots with no discernible pattern? And everyone insists that there is a 3D picture of a panda bear, or a Hawaiian sunset or something, and you’re looking at them like, no way. And then you finally focus your eyes just right and this amazing 3D image jumps out at you? It’s a lot like that.”

While the couple try to absorb what she’s said, the waitress comes to the booth with their check.

“Which way are you folks headed?”

“East.”

“Well, you might want to take the old road. Just heard on the radio that there was a big pileup on the Interstate just east of here and it’s closed in both directions now. Apparently some fool in an old Winnebago was going the wrong way on the freeway.”

“Can we get these to go?”

Back on the road, Andrew is driving and Serendipity continues her explanation of how it all works.

“So, is Calamity the muse of bad luck?” Faith ventures.

“Not exactly. Of course, luck is all relative, as you saw with Sutter. You know how some people walk around with a black cloud over their heads, and it seems like everything bad always happens to them? While other people seem happy, regardless of what’s going on in their lives? It’s not just choosing to see the positive in things, you know, like “just think happy thoughts”, but more about how you focus your creative energy, what you resonate with. It’s not that these people are inviting problems into their lives, but that they are so focused on them, that that becomes their world. Now, Calamity just embodies the pattern for disaster. She’s simply made that way, to resonate with…well, calamity.”

“Did either of you study music?” Serendipity asks, seeing the confusion on their faces as they try to grasp the principle of sympathetic resonance.

When they both nod, she continues, “If you take a tuning fork of a particular frequency, say a “C” note, and strike it, another “C” note tuning fork nearby will start to vibrate too. A different note, like a “D” or “B”, won’t. Just the same note. It’s called “sympathetic resonance”. It’s like that. Only with other kinds of energy, too.”

She pauses to see if they are following her and, then, giving them a meaningful look, quietly adds,”…Or perceiving other dimensions and realities, infinite parallel worlds, all coexisting in time/space, ever-present but invisible…to you.”

“Which way now?” Andrew asks as they slow to a stop at a “T” intersection on the country road they have taken to avoid the impasse on the Interstate.

All three look to the left, and then to the right, and then back toward town. Then the two look at Serendipity.

The rural New Mexico panorama offers no suggestion to direction.

“When you don’t know where you’re going, every road will take you there.” Serendipity quotes. Hesitating for a moment, Andrew punches the gas, turning left and the journey continues.

After awhile the narrow paved road gives way to dirt, becoming narrower and rougher as it winds between spectacular cliffs and buttes rich with color and texture, and Serendipity comments on how especially beautiful the area is.

“We would have missed all of this if we’d stayed on the highway.” she points out. “A lucky detour.”

Faith, too, is enrapt by the sculpted canyons and brilliant blue sky, but Andrew is too anxious watching the road to look as the little bug bounces down the increasingly rutted road.

Faith leans forward from the back seat and, too close to his ear, asks, “Are you still OK driving?”, startling Andrew.

“Do you want to drive? he asks, gripping the wheel even tighter, never taking his eyes off the worsening road.

“No, no. I trust you.” she reassures him, patting him on the shoulder.

Her confidence fortifies him and he relaxes a little, a slight smile crossing his lips.

“You said that Calamity resonates with calamity. Do you mean that she causes it?” Faith asks Serendipity.

“No. She just embodies that pattern.”

“We all have a distinct energy pattern and, like snowflakes, no two are alike. For all intents and purposes, that pattern IS you. Like the transporter on Star Trek which copies your pattern, then sends it as an energy beam, reconstructing the pattern at the destination. Well, you, Faith, just exhibited faith in Andrew.” At that moment, they hit a big bump in the road. “And Andrew, you are exhibiting courage right now driving down this terrible road on a crazy mission.”

“I’m not feeling very courageous right now.” he replies, still gripping the wheel, dodging rocks and ruts.

“Courage doesn’t mean not feeling fear. Courage is staying the course DESPITE the fear.”

They are both struck by the implication that their names, their lives, might be part of some larger defining pattern.

Serendipity manifests as the embodiment of lucky coincidences because she resonates most clearly with that pattern. “As above, so below.” Like fractals or holograms, the same patterns can be found from the macro to the micro, exemplified by the shawl.

“Have you ever heard of “cymatics?” Serendipity tries to clarify, “It’s the study of the shape that is manifested by sound energy. If you turn a speaker facing up, and then place a piece of cardboard over it and sprinkle a layer of salt on it, the salt will dance and move into different shapes when you play different tones. They look like sacred geometry and mandalas, not accidentally, but all created with sound energy. The same tones always make the same shapes.”

“There are many common shapes that manifest in this world. Like the spiral, or fractals where you find infinite branching, from the micro the macro; from the tiniest capillary system in a butterfly, to the mighty Mississippi River.” She gestures out the window at the magnificent mesas and arroyos, “You’ll find features like this in an anthill after a rain.”

The little party ponders the scale of the exquisite terrain when Andrew breaks the silence.

“I hate to break the mood but we’re almost out of gas.” noting the gas light on the instrument panel.

“Well, it’s too far to go back now.” Faith comments, looking through the back window, “We’d never make it. I say let’s just keep going. This road has to go somewhere, right?” she says confidently. “Besides, we have a lucky charm.” patting Serendipity’s shoulder.

Serendipity just smiles.

“I just hope we make it. There’s no cell service out here to call for help. I’d sure hate to have to walk.” worries Andrew. “Lets just hope.”

“Hope.” comments Serendipity, “Hope is so important. It gives you the courage to keep trying, even when you can’t see how things can work out. Hope keeps you moving forward.
It relates to that pattern business I was talking about. Hope creates a link to an outcome. First you create the pattern of the outcome by imagining it; what do you want? Call it the destination if you will, then you make a link to it with hope, a pathway to that outcome. It’s the creative force at work. It is the same process as creative visualization, or magic, or prayer and miracles. You quantify the desired pattern, you bring it into being by visualizing the desired outcome. Don’t just think or believe – KNOW it, BE it.”

The road suddenly gives way to pavement and, cresting a rise, they see a lone gas station sitting about a mile down the hill at an entrance to the Interstate. The trio cheers as they putter down the road and swing into the lucky oasis.

Chapter 9

Soon they are back on the highway again, this time with Faith driving.

“Will you please hand me my sunglasses? They are in a case in the glove box.” Faith asks Serendipity. She opens the box and retrieves a case with a Velcro closure. When she opens it, the Velcro makes its distinctive ripping sound and Serendipity giggles as she hands Faith her shades.

“Velcro. That was one of mine.” she says a little boastfully.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, one day I was walking through the park and ran into George de Mestral walking his dog, a wonderful Old English Sheep Dog named Bounder.”

We find ourselves in the park in 1948 and see the two walking together, talking. The dog bounds up with a ball in his mouth and Serendipity asks George, “May I?” and throws the ball deliberately into a burr patch. When the dog returns, covered in burrs, she says, “Oh, you poor dear. I’m sorry. Let me help you with those burrs.” Then, as she and George pull out the burrs, Serendipity gives George a sidelong glance and says, “My, those burrs grip so well! How do they do that?” she asks, drawing his attention to their intrinsic qualities. As he considers it, she comments, “Wouldn’t those be a good way to attach things? Much better than buttons or zippers, don’t you think?” she asks leadingly. We see the light go off in his head as we dissolve to Serendipity closing the Velcro to the glasses case and returning it to the glove compartment.

“So, are you, like, a magical being? Do you have magical powers?” Andrew musters the courage to ask.

“Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by “magical powers.” she begins, “Magic isn’t like waving a wand and saying rhymes. It’s more about manifesting a pattern, a specific desired pattern, into physical reality, in this dimension, your world. Most people don’t realize how much creative power they possess. They’re making little miracles all the time. And canceling them, too, by the way. Your expectations carry a lot of weight.”

“Magic? Depends where you are on the spectrum, I suppose. Arthur C. Clarke wrote that, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’. Magic, science, technology, spiritual laws…they aren’t so different.”

“It’s all about intention. Manifesting requires clear intention. The clearer the intention, the more specific the manifestation.”

“What did you mean about other dimensions?” she asks Serendipity.

“Well, to begin with, the word “dimension” is a little misleading. You know, like in math, that one dimension is just a point, two is a flat surface, and three is like the world you live in, and so on. But the dimensions I am talking about are, well it’s hard to describe in three dimensional visual terms but, more like a stack of paper, or an onion, where there are stacked layers. But even that doesn’t really describe it either.” She points to the radio and says,” It’s more like how the information for all the radio stations are are all present at once, but you have to tune the receiver to change to the different frequencies,” she says, demonstrating with the radio, “simultaneously tuning out all of the other frequencies.”

“That’s like your world here, and you’re like little crystal sets, tuning into this reality. But there are infinite other frequencies, realities, invisible to you, beyond the range of your “tuners”.”

“You know how some animals, take honey bees for example, can see higher light frequencies than people can, like ultraviolet? Well, inter-dimensional beings see and exist in more than one set of frequencies.”

“The gods of mythology are essentially that. They are not limited to the frequencies, the limited spectrum of your reality, but exist across the whole spectrum, and so are able to manipulate the manifestations in your specific wavelength; matter and energy, even time/space.”

The couple are overwhelmed by the scope of information and don’t know how to respond. They are seeing Serendipity and the world differently now, their conditioned perception of reality now stretched to include other worlds and their inhabitants. Up until now, the trip was so headlong and Serendipity seemed so fun and easy, they forgot she is a Muse, and now, reminded of that, they withdraw a little, looking at her with fresh awe.

Sensing their shift, Serendipity asks, rather rhetorically, “Have you ever heard of the “John Frumm” cargo cult in the South Pacific?”

We zoom into one of her crystals and see the tale as she tells it.

“During WWII, American servicemen landed on what is now Vanuatu Island. The natives had never seen white men or technology such as flying machines before. They would introduce themselves as “John FROM Iowa” or “John FROM Rivertown” and such. They brought the primitive islanders wonders such as chocolate and canned goods and showed them “magical” machines such as planes and radios, cigarette lighters and flashlights. After the war ended and the servicemen left, the islanders built bamboo and wood replicas of the planes and did elaborate summoning rituals, waiting for “John Frumm” and the “gods”, and their magical wonders to return.”

Back in the car, she reveals, “People from this world, your world, received the gods of mythology the same way. But even WE are part of an even bigger picture. To use an earlier metaphor, suppose your world is represented by one page in a stack of paper worlds. Then the gods are the whole book. But consider this…what about the other books in the library? …And whose library is it? Who reads those books?”

The scope of this revelation sucks the air from the tiny vehicle as they ponder in silence.

Then Faith asks timidly, “Does all this mean that it’s all planned out and part of a bigger story, that we don’t really have free will? Is the page already printed,…the book already published?”

“Is it all pre-planned? Unavoidable destinies? Serendipity ponders, “No, more like trajectories, and individual choices refine it. You make a choice and your intention sets and drives your course.”

“It’s not that we don’t have free will, but only that we manifest that with which we resonate. It’s all a continuum, of course, but there are still general “chroma” that we can identify; the purer the tone or frequency, the less differentiation of the parts, and the more archetypal the result.”

“So it all comes back to the idea of intention and choice; what do you want to be? Resonate with that.”

“Please don’t get me wrong,” Andrew wonders, “but, if you can span time and space and manifest anything with intention, why do you bother with helping out the human race? What’s in it for you?”

“Well, it gives my existence purpose. Without that, life is a meaningless exercise of emptiness. Look at Fortuna. She has everything, but is bored and unhappy. Some of the other gods were even more bored and unhappy with the eternal lifestyle and gave over to excess, sometimes cruelty, in order to feel something new, or anything. Purpose, constructive pursuits, and creating a greater sympathetic resonance with positive, generative things changes that.”

“When fields are in harmony, they augment each other, like when you align the wavelengths in light to make a laser. Harmonics makes it all work in symphony. Dissonance cancels or disrupts, and then you get mutations and cancers, or brutality and wars.”

“So, I guess it’s not completely selfless, because when I help to inspire a better world, I am helping myself, too.”

Weary from long, tedious hours of driving into the night, the travelers are grateful for brightly lit billboards promising food and lodging in Shamrock, Texas, and they pull off at the first exit, depositing them onto a dangling segment of the famous Route 66. They find a motel across from famous U-Drop Inn, built in 1936, where they decide to have dinner and Serendipity tells them the boom and bust story of Shamrock.

“In 1890 George Nickel and his wife had a dugout house near here, and the area was growing so the Postal Service persuaded him to be postmaster. The locals let him name the town, which was the largest in the region at the time. His Irish mother had always told him to look to the shamrock for luck, so that’s what he named it. Then before the post office opened, his place mysteriously burned down. Not so lucky. But the name stuck. So then in 1902 the Rockaway Railway came through, the post office reopened, and the population grew again. Boom! Then in 1926 oil was discovered, right when Route 66 opened, and the town boomed again. But the Oklahoma dust bowl in the thirties had people moving west and with the oil decline in the 40s, the town hit a decline.”

“‘Lucky’ Shamrock has had its ups and downs.” quips Faith

Serendipity nods, “But whether something is good luck or bad luck is all relative. ‘What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly’. It reminds me of the story of the Taoist Farmer.”

“There was this farmer who had only one horse, which he depended on, and one day the horse ran away. Everyone said “Oh, what bad luck!”

“Perhaps.” the farmer replied.

But then sometime later, the horse came home bringing with him two beautiful wild companion horses.

Everyone said “Oh, what good luck!”

“Perhaps.” the farmer replied.

Then the farmer’s son was thrown from one of the wild horses and broke his leg.

Everyone said, “Oh, what bad luck!”

“Perhaps.” the farmer replied.

Then war came and every able-bodied man was conscripted and sent into battle. But the farmer’s son, because he had a broken leg, didn’t have to go.

And everyone said,” Oh, what good luck!”

And the farmer replied, “Perhaps.”

Chapter 10

Early the next day they head east on I-40 and after a few hours get off for gas at Elk City, Oklahoma, a sign proclaiming it’s the “Natural Gas Capital of the World”.

Serendipity goes in for snacks, while Andrew pumps the gas, and she sees an ad for a dating service on a news rack that says “Looking for that Special Someone? Look no further!” as we see Calamity walk by in the background, arms loaded with snack food and disappears down an aisle, just as Serendipity gets the synchronous message and turns around. Seeing no one, she continues down a different aisle. We fly up to the ceiling, looking down to see the two sisters just missing each other as they browse the aisles. Calamity reaches down for something knocking over a display which knocks boxes of snack crackers over, domino style, knocking the last one off the shelf and into Serendipity’s hand, as she is reaching for it. Calamity stands up, turns around, and the two sisters spy each other through the gap.

“Serendipity!”

“Calamity!”

The two rush to embrace each other, each running the wrong way resulting in a run around until finally Serendipity just stops and waits for Calamity to come around again.

“What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you!”

“Why?” asks Calamity warily, looking suspicious and guilty.

“C’mon. Let’s go for a walk and catch up.” says Serendipity reassuringly, linking her arm as they leave the store.

The two walk to the car where Faith is still sitting behind the wheel and Andrew is finishing up filling the tank.

“These are my friends Faith and Andrew.” Serendipity introduces, “This is my sister Calamity.” The couple look at each other, grinning with elated astonishment. “She’s staying just over here. We’ll follow you over.” Serendipity tells Calamity, who heads across the street to the RV park where her Winnebago is set up.

As she goes, we have a sight gag episode in the background, analogous to the one with Fortuna. People are falling off ladders and causing Rube Goldberg disasters in the background as they pass, and then have lucky saves as Serendipity passes. Again, Andrew and Faith are the only ones who notice.

The interior of the Winnebago is in dramatic disarray, as though a tornado hit it…and one probably did. Things have tumbled out of cabinets and are stacked on the counters and dangling from knobs. A running gag is the very frequent little earthquakes which shake the Winnebago punctuating choice moments, currently attributed to the local fracking, but, in this context, Calamity’s fault. (Fault. Get it?)

“Come in, come in!” Calamity says enthusiastically, excited to have company, “I’m sorry the place is such a disaster. I don’t get much company. Can I get you anything? Water? A soda? Coffee? Are you hungry? I could make sandwiches. We could maybe order in a pizza?” she adds hopefully.

“No. Thank you anyway, dear. We already ate.” declines Serendipity graciously, the young couple shaking their heads.

“Well, sit down, sit down.” Calamity says, hastily clearing a space on the bench seat across from the dinette for Faith and Andrew, and then plops down at the table. Finding a dispenser on the table, she offers, “Hand lotion?” holding it out. Faith hesitantly holds her hand out, receiving a generous squirt. Andrew declines, waving her off. Serendipity then sits across from her at the dinette.

“Mints?” offers Calamity, proffering a basket bearing other unrelated items as well.

“No, thank you.”

Just then a minor earthquake shakes the RV briefly and everyone grabs teetering things.

“What was that? An Earthquake?” exclaims Andrew, “But this is Oklahoma! Not California.”

“Yeah. We’ve been getting them a lot lately.” says Calamity, “Well, since I’ve been coming here, anyway. They say it’s because of fracking. You know, Elk City is the “Natural Gas Capital of the World”. Did you see the Parker Drilling Rig downtown? That sucker is 180 feet high. The tallest non-working oil rig in the world! We’re proud of that.”

The three shoot knowing glances at each other and then at Calamity who misses the implication.

“Pillow?” she asks, jumping to stuff a throw pillow behind Faith’s back. “Gee, it’s good to have company.” she says, sitting back down. “How did you find me?”

“Fortuna told us you had been to see her,” Serendipity begins, “and we just followed your…our intuition.”

“Yeah, I was dropping off something. Boy, I blasted out of there just before a big thunderstorm. Gotta stay one step ahead of these things. That’s why I got my rig.” she says, patting the wall, “Makes it easier to move on. I don’t like to stay in one place for too long. Things…happen.” she trails off glumly, lost in thought. Another shaker brings her back.

“Yes. You’ve always been quite the traveler.” Serendipity intones, trying to be upbeat, and turns to the young couple. “She’s been all over the world in every conveyance you can imagine.”

“Yup.” says Calamity, brightening a bit. “Cars, trucks, ships, planes, even a blimp.” Then, reflecting, adds, “Well, just the one.” she says with downcast eyes.

Serendipity makes a “yikes!” expression and surreptitiously mouths “The Hindenberg.” to the couple on the bench and we zoom into one of her crystals to see a singed Calamity walking out of a cloud of smoke with the Hindenberg blazing in the background, a badly exploded cigarette dangling from her mouth. She pauses, looks back, then coughs once, smoke billowing forth.

Back in the RV, Calamity looks a little guilty and states resolutely, “I gave up smoking for good that time.”

“I like ships better.” she comments. “At least they have lifeboats.”

“Oh, yes, that’s right. You were on the Titanic, weren’t you?” says Serendipity a little coyly, casting an OMG sideways look at Andrew and Faith.

“Yeah. I was friends with the chief designer, Thomas Andrews, so he got me booked on the maiden voyage with him. Too bad about the iceberg…and that he went down with the ship.” she concludes, trailing off in memory.

“But, no more North Atlantic cruises for me! Brrr. Next time it’ll be a nice, warm Italian cruise ship. My friend Francesco is the captain of the Concordia!” she says proudly. “Anybody want pretzels?” she asks, getting up to rummage in a cupboard.

“I got Molly Brown booked on that cruise. It was the best I could do on such short notice.” Serendipity says in a whispered aside to the couple.

About the time she lived in Chicago, Calamity says, “All I can say is that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow had nothing to do with it.” she confesses self-consciously, changing the subject.

Here we learn about the balancing grace to Calamity’s influence. She exhibits a humility born of endurance and acceptance. Acceptance of things you can’t change is a theme here; she embodies the Buddhist notions that human suffering is caused by attachments and letting go is the road to freedom. Keep it in the present and move on. Her people are the noble survivors of life’s traumas who stand together as a community of survivors; the homeless and disenfranchised, the impoverished and the disaster survivors, and such. While it would seem that she is causing the disasters, what she does is resonate with disaster scenarios, “coincidentally” placing her on the scene and available to support and inspire. Her musal inspiration is about acceptance and noble courage in the face of disaster, letting go, and gratitude for what we have. We find her on scene, not adding to the disaster, but bringing hope and emotional support by her empathy. Her life is rich with empathy and courage and genuine human interaction vs. Fortuna, who is selfish and vain and whose life, for all its apparent wealth and comfort, is hollow and lonely.

“I know everyone blames me for these things that happen.” laments Calamity,” But they just don’t understand. I don’t cause them. I just happen to be there when things happen, that’s all.” Calamity says defensively, “Well…mostly. But because I’m already there, I’m more like an early response team, helping out.”

“Nobody knows how hard it is to survive a disaster better than me. You need help in times like that. Nobody ever expects these things are going to happen, and when they do, they are usually not prepared. Loss is hard. Our lives are built around the things and people we know. It’s like Jenga. Pull out the wrong piece and the whole tower collapses.” Calamity mimes pulling a piece from the bottom of a Jenga tower and mimes its collapse. Then, looking at the couple with a mock serious look, mouths “Jenga!”, shaking her head and shrugging.

“Letting go and moving on is maybe the hardest thing a person can do. We get this idea that things are solid and will last forever, …but they don’t.” she says, shaking her head. “When we lose the life we recognize, it’s hard to move forward. But ya gotta. Ya just gotta.” she says with finality, punctuated by another earth tremor.

“Listen, dear,” Serendipity begins, patting her hand, “Something has happened that we need to fix. Do you still have the charm that Uncle Hephaestus gave us?”

“Sure. Always. Why?” she says, going to retrieve it, dangling from the visor.

“Something has happened to change the timeline. See!” replies Serendipity, proffering her shawl.

“Oh, no!” exclaims Calamity, “What happened?”

“Well, we’re not exactly sure. We think it has to do with a blackout in San Francisco” she replies, the three exchanging awkward looks, “That’s why we need the charm.” she says as Calamity hands it to her. “Do you remember a blackout in San Francisco when you were there?”

Suddenly getting what she is driving at, Calamity self-consciously says, “Oh, that. I’m not sure.”

“OK. Well, we really should be going. We have a timeline to fix.” says Serendipity rising from the bench in Calamity’s Winnebago.

Calamity busies herself playing hostess in comical ways and acts anxious, finding ways to stall their departure when the group rallies to go.

“Do you want me to come with you?” asks Calamity hopefully.

“NO!” all three respond simultaneously, a little too loudly.

“We should handle this ourselves. Don’t want to cause any paradoxes. Whatever it was that changed, it must have been a result of the blackout. Can you remember where you were when it happened? Do you know what caused it?” asks Serendipity hopefully.

“Well,…I was driving by the park, and I was on the phone with Fortuna, and I heard a big thump. I hear those a lot,” she says, turning to Andrew and Faith, “Must be because it’s an old rig, so I guess it’s just falling apart, but this one was extra,…um, thumpy. Then suddenly none of the street lights were working and I thought, ‘Great, no red lights’, and just blasted through.” she says proudly, gesturing with her hand, zooming forward.

“It’s been really nice to have company, again. I don’t get invited to visit much anymore.” laments Calamity, sorry to see them go.

“I’m sorry, Callie, maybe things will change.” Serendipity sympathizes and hugs her goodbye.

“Yeah. Well… at least I still have my rig,” she says, looking around the RV, which does another earthquake shake at that moment, “ and my health…” she says patting her chest, and then coughs…once. Then, struggling to be optimistic,”…and, of course,…Facebook.”

“Right.” they all chime in, nodding and awkwardly agreeing.

Chapter 11

After retrieving the charm, the trio retreat to an open field. Serendipity connects the charms to the bracelet, holds it to the sky, and invokes help from Uncle Hephaestus.

The charms begin to glow, shifting though the spectrum, and the bracelet starts to spin, slowly at first, and then floats out of Serendipity’s hand, expanding as it spins faster and faster, enlarging as it creates a vortex of colored light which envelops the trio, sucking them in, their bodies appearing to stretch like running paint as the wormhole yanks them to their destination in the past.

The wormhole opens onto a narrow street near the park in San Francisco and ejects the trio just as Calamity roars by in the Winnebago, triggering the chain of events that cause the blackout. Andrew bravely chases down the trash can in traffic and prevents the blackout.

Once the timeline is restored, suddenly there is a sucking, rushing sound, rather like the sound of an explosion in reverse and everything shimmers to a brilliant white, when abruptly it all stops and they find themselves standing at the entrance to the concert. It’s as though nothing had happened and Andrew and Faith discover they still have their tickets. They turn to Serendipity excitedly.

“We did it!” they cry in unison, looking around to make sure all had returned to normal. A quick examination of Serendipity’s shawl shows it intact.

“What do you think it was that changed? Do you think we’ll ever know?” Faith muses aloud.

“It’s hard to say for sure.” replies Serendipity. “Maybe time will tell.” she says, a little mysteriously.

Then after a pause, Andrew asks, “Now what?”

“Now you go to the concert.” says Serendipity.

The two look at each other and smile.

“I wanted to ask, what did you mean when you said we weren’t supposed to meet you, we were supposed to meet each other?” Faith asks, now holding hands with Andrew.

“Just that.” Serendipity replies. “You and Andrew were supposed to meet.”

“What? Wasn’t there an easier way than a city-wide blackout and a road trip halfway across the country?!” Andrew asks with a tone of exasperation.

“Well, technically, the blackout never happened.” Serendipity points out.

“Yes, but…”

“Sometimes it’s hard to see the big picture when you are a part of it. That’s when you just have to have the faith and courage,” she say gesturing to each, “to see your course to the end, no matter how crazy the circumstances may be, knowing that it is all for the best, regardless of how it looks from your corner of the picture.” Serendipity explains.

She looks at the couple, broadened and tempered from the adventure and standing together as a team.

“Maybe you needed the experience, the ‘chance for a prepared mind’ to be able to recognize your next move. I think it was worth the journey.”

“For example, do you two think you would have hooked up from just sitting next to each other at the concert? The universe offered you a better opportunity than I managed to come up with.”

“Hooked up?” asks Andrew vaguely defensively, looking at Faith, discovering that he is still holding her hand. Again, they seem to be seeing each other for the first time.

“But, why?” asks Faith, tearing her gaze from Andrew.

“Well… I probably shouldn’t tell you this,” confides Serendipity, looking around and lowering her voice, “but your daughter has some important things to do.”

“Our daughter?!” the two exclaim together, looking at each other incredulously and then at Serendipity.

“Yes. I shouldn’t say any more. Just be sure to name her Hope.”

The two smile at each other and then to Serendipity, hugs all around, and then the couple enters the concert. We pull back to the sky for one last God’s eye view of the city, then the continent, then the planet, then the solar system, then the constellations which sparkle and settle onto the web of Synchronicity’s shawl, and then we zoom into another crystal as the scene fades.

The End

David Bateman – (c) 2016 – All rights reserved

Contact: clouddweller@icloud.com