Truth Strange As Fiction

Sometime people are calling out for something and they don't even know it themselves.

               ............Dersu Uzah

Following is Part 2 of the unedited, uncut version of Bill’s

story as told to me. This true story is about post traumatic

stress, the paranormal, dreams, amnesia, the brain.

from part 1:  I crawled through the windshield opening, staggered through the field and somehow climbed up to the highway..............................

I remember standing on the road, then I blanked. My next memory was - how I got to a bus terminal I don't know - but I remember standing in line. My next awareness I was on a bus and for some reason I got off at Elmira NY. Probably around daylight I was walking down some street inElmira, couldn't walk any farther, so sat down on a doorstep in front of a store. I blanked again. Two weeks later I woke up in a strange bed in a house. I was aware that someone was telling me I'd been there for 2 weeks. Then my memory blanked again. I became aware again and found out the man who found me in front of his store was a branch manager for a company I worked for in Syracuse.

(Bill's aside: Boy, it is all coming back to me. I'm starting to sweat.) Then I blanked again and found myself getting off a bus  back home in Williamsport PA. My next awareness was walking a country road about 6 miles out of Williamsport to my parents' house. I blanked out again after I got home. When I became aware that I was home I figured out the man who found me in Elmira and took me home must have looked in my wallet and found my ID that I worked for the same company that he did - that must be why he cared for me. Maybe he had a doctor in, I don't know. I had a lump on my back somewhere around the waist from the accident. After I became lucid I started to recover by taking long walks. Within a month I bought a little convertible and went back to work, this time in the local Williamsport branch office of my company. From time to time in the process of making a furnace sale in a customer's house, I would excuse myself and go outside and scream. No reason other than I wanted to scream. Then I go back in and resume my pitch. This happened for about a year, becoming less as time went on. I went back to the wreck site once I became normal after a couple of months. I was leery of driving around those sharp curves. The car had been hauled away.
 

About a year later I met Al again when I was in a drugstore having a cup of coffee. He was furious! He said he had over $3000. worth of tools in the trunk of his old car I'd lost in the accident.

Turns out this incident in my youth changed my life. I began to have nightmares, the same dream always - I'm in a strange town and have lost my car somewhere. Sometimes I'm being chased by angry men. I go into a house and it looks familiar.

……………………………….........................................

Barbary:

Nightmare, September, 2010:  Bill is fighting with a man on the edge of a cliff, trying to throw him off. The unknown man wins.  Bill fell out out of bed and cracked his head - resulting in a hospital stay with a concussion and brain bleed.  After a year he recovers physically except for random headaches and some cognition problems.  

January 30, 2012:  Bill continues to have nightmares, although not so often now.  In his nightmares he still looks for his lost car.  And another dream component has appeared - Bill runs for his life from enemy soldiers in WW2.

................................................................................................................................

Prompt:

Select a favorite quote (or quotes) to inspire you and find a creative way to include it in your post. Respond with poetry, prose, a memoir, nonfiction, or an essay.

This month Julie chose a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany and I knew I was in trouble. You see, I just cannot resist caramel or toffee.

There’s not a THING healthy about the candy. We don’t even use dark chocolate. Still, that wasn’t going to stop me from trying my hand at making a chewy, creamy caramel at home. Unfortunately, these sweets turned out so good, I’ll probably be using this recipe over and over again. My dentist and I are going to get very close in the months to come.

Page 77, a Francois Payard recipe. Makes about 50 caramels. *I only varied the recipe slightly. See Julie’s site for the original version.

• Vegetable cooking spray for pan, parchment and storage
• 8 oz heavy cream
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 6.5 oz semi sweet chocolate chopped
• Fleur de sel (a high quality salt in the spice section of the grocery store)

Spray a 9 x 13 cake pan with cooking spray. Line it with parchment that extends 2” up all sides. Spray the parchment with cooking spray.

Combine cream, corn syrup, sugar, and salt in a large saucepan over medium high heat. *Use a large saucepan because the mixture will bubble up and you don’t want it to bubble over onto your stove.

Stir, with a wooden spoon, until sugar dissolves. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and cook without stirring until the temperature reaches 243 F.

Immediately stir in chocolate until melted and smooth. Pour into prepared pan and level out to make smooth. Allow to sit at room temperature for one hour.

After one hour, remove the caramel from the pan by grabbing the parchment. Spray a knife with cooking spray and cut into 1” squares. Top each square with a few grains of fleur de sel and allow to sit at room temperature for 6 hours, uncovered. This allows moisture to evaporate and helps caramels retain their shape.

Store in an air tight container by lining with parchment, spray with vegetable spray and repeating to separate each layer of caramels. This will prevent them from sticking to each other. Storage time is about 2 weeks.

or…you can make little candy wrappers and give them away to your caramel loving cohorts.

These sweets taste chocolaty and creamy. The texture was just a bit too soft. Maybe I should cook the mixture a little past 243 F to get a more solid caramel?

For a first attempt at making my own caramels, I’m thrilled with the outcome. That is, until I put on 10 lbs from eating them all!

Coming up: Do something a little different with those chocolate caramels you just make. A cookie recipe. Watch for it!

Do you like caramel? Toffee? or are you simply a chocolate lover with nothing added?

I am a woman

by the lash of my tongue

and the curve of my hip

in the way that I think

and the movement of

my soft and vulnerable skin

(delicate petals against the wind)

My voice can soothe you

my wordsmithing can wake you

The way I cross my legs will remind you

I am a woman

Do not mistake my gentle heart

Understand I am ferocious

Make peace with my duality

light and dark

giving and taking

calm and intense

I am not a shadow

I will not be forgotten

No

I am a woman

A field of wakeful dreams

You will see me in the

touch of my fingertips

the licking of my lips

eyes gazing into yours

Treasure me

Embrace me

Trust me

Respect me

Know me

I seek understanding

I am a mystery

Love me for me

I am a woman

Yes, I could not believe it. Read this article on how I made this much for writing on Triond.

Are you still holding your breath?

Well, I must admit I was a bit shocked to see that my earnings for January 2012 so far are showing $291,379.64. Here is a screenshot I just took:

If you came here to learn about how to earn a fortune with writing for Triond, I must get you down to earth now.

So far, I have earned about $2 for this month.

I have no idea what is causing this bug and I do not even know whether I am the only one experiencing this, but you have to admit that this is a really cool bug. Or a really disappointing one...

I can't help myself to wonder what I could do with all this money and whether it would be enough to quit my real life job *sigh*

What's your view on this?

***

Repost of my own article on Triond.

I see
she said

but she never saw
the way her beauty

stole your sleep
as if some thief

had stolen
a precious gem

or how her perfume
as she wafted by

invaded your mind
and heart

and tore them
both apart

or how her words
haunted you

as they echoed down
the valleys

of your dreams
or how the nearly

touching of her skin
could bring you out

in imaginary boils
like one embroiled

in deadly sin
or how

when she tossed
her head of hair

in natural gesture
or how with fine fingers

turned a page of book
it made you study her

it made you deeply look
so when she said

I see
not seeing

what was hid
she never did.