THAT DAY

My synthesizer is worn out--keys and switches dying. I can't complain--it lasted 20 years, the best instrument I ever had. I tried out a replacement keyboard--a newer Casio. But it had tinny speakers that lacked the wide range of sounds I need (in our band, I fake sax, bass clarinet, a beeping satellite, bass guitar, gut-bucket piano, Andean pan-pipes, singing Barbies...

So I exchange it at Guitar Center for a "portable" Yamaha with better sound. But is it really portable? I wrestle it into the car, but it's so heavy I can't carry it up my stairs. Have to push and slide the box, like a fridge delivery... Tired and bruised now. Ow.

But that wasn't the HARD job for the day. That came next: rent increases. We all have to pay more to keep our shared house going--taxes, insurance and especially utilities shot up this year. I sweat bullets, but calculate amounts I think are fair and tell all my housemates but one. To my surprise, they all accept it.

THAT NIGHT

Silky, my spirit wife, is leading me to see the Wizard. She's not a black cat or mare, but human for a change. Well, mostly. A lanky teenage girl with long black hair--and tail. Her aura's smart but no-nonsense.

She guides me up winding hill-streets. Mansions; a rich suburb. We head for the biggest, crassest mansion--as a landmark, not to visit. The home we want is the small one next door, back from the street. Odd rocks and trees form almost Japanese gardens. A wizard's lair. Nice. I could live here.

Silky says "The rule is, the Wizard will help you if you don't set foot on the steps up to the door, yet reach it and knock."

I climb on the copper stair railing, and sidle up. Silky does a headstand, then walks on her hands right up the steps. Dang. I couldn't do that. But she likes to be direct.

Silky says "Knock." I do. The door creaks open. Guess we passed.

A mild-looking guy--the Wizard? "No, no, I'm just his nephew." Turns out the wizard's whole family lives here.

He lets us in. No, through, not in. Not a house inside. A whole populated landscape. Looks like Eden. Two unicorns amble by. A magical Eden.

We only earned the right to pass the portal and seek the wizard in his home... world.

Level up!

NOTES IN THE MORNING

• Contortions around the steps: lugging that monster keyboard up. It's wrong for me--can't play gigs with this! Take it back. Try again. Get it right.
• Make it through the portal, but it's just an initial step: calculating our budget and coaxing my housemates into rent increases.
• Silky's with me: usually she's impatient with business, wants more fun in my life, but she's with me on this quest. Though often upside down.
• Progress, but it's just an entry to a whole world: business. Plenty more challenges: get off the grid! We need more solar panels, a battery and heat pump!
• ACTION: Want magic? Do what's needed! Hard, slow, and you may look weird to others, but... do it anyway.

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