I/Tulpa: the Seven Year Girl

chapter 16

"Nil desperandum my dear lady. Across the desert lies the Promised Land."

Jon found himself at a football game, by request; well, more like Amber twisted his arm and he agreed. You'd probably be surprised that cheerleaders are pretty strong, but usually strong with just a smile. As he arrived, Amber was taking the lead to introduce an infield version of dancing to "My Baby Loves Love," by White Plains, which sort of mirrored the black and white youtube version of scantily clad playboy bunnies with hearts on their bums, only Amber and friends had cheer outfits. Instead of going to find his seat mid bleachers, he approached the line, framing them in a way that he owned it as if it were all for him, but he was drawn out by the coach berating one of the players, and the two of them became prominent, and the girls were pushed further afield. Knowing Jon, one should be impressed he had that magic in him. He wasn't sure at first why the frame shift came so suddenly, all pressing and in his face, but when the coach was saying something like, "How could you let him get through you!" Jon realized the subject of the harsh criticism was his homeroom classmate, Fokisi, the Tongan. He was looking at his feet and sullen. Jon was so focused on his friend he didn't even see the dead ringer for Tommy Lee Jones protecting some of the cheerleaders.

Fokisi shrugged. "I don't know, coach. He did seem to go right through me."

"Fokisi?" Jon said.

"We're busy!" the coach snapped at Jon.

"I think I can help here," Jon said.

"Every single person yelling at me from bleachers thinks they know shit, what makes you think you hold something?!" the coach snapped.

"Oh, sir, yelling at me is not cool," Jon said. "Wait wait wait. Could you say, 'aaaayyy'?"

"I am not that guy!" the coach said, pointing at him.

"Seriously, stop yelling at me. I am a magician and you will find yourself in Ruby slippers if you're not careful," Jon said. "Let me talk to him and I assure you it will turn this game."

The coach narrowed his eyes. "I feel strangely compelled to allow this. Listen to him, but if it doesn't work I will bench you and there's go your scholarship."

"But I don't even know who he is?" Fokisi said.

"He knows you," the coach said.

"And that scares me," Fokisi said.

"How old are you?!" the coach snapped.

"Coach, please, I got this," Jon said.

The coach walked away, returning to his muttering rant of arm chair coaches, lamenting being traded to this 'gawd forsaken hole' and missing spicy gator heads. He yelled for his water boy. Fokisi looked anxiously at Jon. The crowd continued to watch the girls dancing to the song. Was it looped?

"How do you know me?" Fokisi asked.

"Another life, just go with it, you'll find it gets easier in time," Jon said.

"Okay, if you say so, but everything is kind of loud here, and I really don't play football, but there aren't that many scholarships for farmers. Quite honestly, there aren't even many farms left, due to the increasing frequency of produce being grown in a lab. I just want to own some property and make things grow," Fokisi said.

"Wow, that's huge, but you're doing this to make the other thing happen, and that's called sacrifice and is reasonable," Jon said.

"You ever sacrifice anything?' Fokisi said.