Indigo Spring - Part Ii Poem by Joseph DeMarco

The Unscheduled Meeting
January 8th 2012

Leo (who was no longer little Leonid) normally didn't eat breakfast. He unusually also didn't eat lunch, he'd have one big meal at the end of the day and that was it. Leo was an adult. But his eating habits reminded him more of a snake than a human. Well, he was sort of an adult, he had long hair and wore a blue cap that became aqua at the edges. It had been knitted, and given to him as a gift from some mysterious Hawaiian lady. To be clear, he would never have described the cap as indigo, but for some reason he believed it held some magical power. His surf shorts had several holes in them and were faded off white.
Today however, he had decided to eat breakfast, he had woken up early (or rather couldn't sleep) , so he had gone to the ocean to surf. He had gotten to the ocean to find it was closed. Just kidding, the ocean was as flat as a lake, so now he was in a crowded café sipping coffee and picking at French toast. He really wasn't eating breakfast today either. The cafe was mobbed. It was so crowded, Leo had even had to sit with people he didn't know because there was no empty tables. They ate their meals in silence, Leo really didn't even look at any of them. He had no sooner finished his breakfast when the older man wiped his mouth and announced to everyone at the table, 'I bet you're wondering why I called you all here today.'
Everybody at the table seemed to perk up, as if some subconscious part of them wanted to exclaim, yes, yet no one said a word. The old man smiled. The idea was ludicrous of course, everyone at the table was a complete stranger to Leo including the old man who had supposedly 'called' the meeting. He hadn't been called here by this man? Had anyone? Leo didn't think so.
'We are here to discuss destiny, ' the man explained.
'Whose destiny? ' asked a blonde who had been sitting off to the side.
'Why all of OURS, ' the old man prophesied.
'Yours and mine, my very special friends, we are here for a very special reason, ' the old man continued.
'At this café or on Earth? ' the blonde questioned.
The old man smiled, his large eyes were gray like winter's day. He had gray eyes, so help me God he had gray eyes. The kind of eyes you get lost in, like an aquarium on a stormy day.
'You surely must have noticed you're different, ' the old man brought his hand up to rub his temple, as if he was under tremendous strain, 'There is nothing wrong with you. You are actually more right than the rest of them.'
'Who said there was something wrong with us? ' the blonde questioned, she seemed hostile. Her posture had entered into that position where an animal may attack, but she was not vicious.
'You are not alone.' the man seemed like he was finished at least for the moment.
'What is the meaning of this and what is this meeting you supposedly called, ' another smaller woman on the end demanded. She wore glasses and looked scientific.
'You have been called across time and space, ' the old man started in again.
'This is absurd, ' said a white-collar worker, who was perhaps Mexican or Spanish. He tossed a few dollars on the table and got up and left. No one was saying anything. The café was hot, several flies buzzed around between tables. The old man did not seem to want to command any attention, yet Leo felt as if he may burst at the seams. This was his destiny. This was a definable moment. Leo ripped the aqua blue cap off his head. He always wore it, he could not even tell you why. It was indigo. Leo wiped the sweat off his forehead and tried to relax, but he had no inkling how to convey to this man what he was talking about. It was very simple: A calling for something greater in this life, something more. Leo rubbed his eyes; he had not slept well, since well, ever. What he didn't tell anyone was that he thought he might know the reason he was afraid to fall asleep. Well it couldn't be the real reason; the idea was quite silly, something on the border of Indian Folklore and Fantasy Horror. There was no such thing as a dream catcher. The idea was preposterous, a person who could harm other people in their dreams. This wasn't Nightmare on Elm Street. Still there it was: 9,18,27,36 and all had schizophrenia, actually to be fair, several had never been diagnosed, they were just listed as nervous breakdown and put in rooms with no exits. They were just assumed left for dead but then they recovered, but every single one of them had this to say, 'They never found anything wrong me? '
This was Leo's contribution.
'You? ' the old man pointed at Leo, 'You are an indigo, no? ' Leo wasn't sure what an indigo was. Was he asking if he was gay or did that mean some weird sexual deviation? Leo didn't think so, he thought he was talking about his dream catching ability or his fear of sleeping. Which was it? Leo looked at his cap lying before him on the table, 'You never even knew the reason you wore it, did you? ' the old man with the gray eyes asked. Leo did not have to answer, you didn't need to be an indigo to read his thoughts. It was a dreaming cap. The man with the gray eyes turned to the girl with the glasses, 'And you, you are an indigo, no? ' The girl with the glasses and the blonde said at the same time, 'What pray tell is an indigo? ' and 'Indigo that's a color isn't it? '
'Yes, it is a color, ' said the old man with gray eyes, 'but it also refers to your aura which makes you different than other souls.'
The blonde gave a, 'Hmmmpf, ' but the old man ignored her. The girl with the glasses gave a rather interesting, 'Hmmm, '
'We may be the forerunners of the next civilization of mankind. The next phase in human evolution. The first thing you may or may not have noticed is those thing that apply to normal humans like eating 5 major food groups,5 senses, getting 8 hours of sleep, puberty at age 13, well these don't really apply to you.'
The four remaining people at the table all said in unison, 'What? '
The old man laughed, 'You don't function like normal human beings.'
'What does that even mean? ' asked the blonde.
'Picture subconscious like a door into the part of the brain that is unused, a part of the brain that is subject to things like telepathy, precognition and psycho-kinesis in most people that door is closed or only open in their dreams, but in indigos that door is ajar, ' said the old man with the gray eyes.
'When is a door not a door? ' Leo asked.
'When it's a jar, ' said the blonde and the girl with the glasses in unison. All three looked at each other with a shy knowing smile, like they shared an ancient secret.
The old man continued unperturbed, 'It is also believed many indigos go through a third development stage, between the ages of 27 and 36, not unlike a second puberty, a spiritual transformation so to speak. Some indigos have been known to grow 2 to 4 more inches during this period, ' the old man said it as if it was matter-of-factly.
'Bullpucky, ' said Leo still staring at his blue and aqua cap. Was his cap indigo? He felt some strange tidal pull on his belly button.
'Do you have any documentation proving these preposterous ideas you're saying? ' the girl with the glasses asked.
'It is understandable…' the old man looked at a loss for words then spit out, '…Your shock, some of you may not believe for years, but innately you already know it to be true.' The old man with the gray eyes pulled little folded slips of paper out of his pocket. On the slips were not names but characteristics of each of the attendees of this unscheduled meeting. On Leo's it said indigo cap and crooked nose.
The blonde asked suspiciously, 'Did you know we would be here.' she had a look of fear on her face, as if she suspected the old man of stalking her. Each attendee unfolded there piece of paper on Leo's it said, 'Dreamcatcher- focus on your dreams…they will teach you more than anything…Dream death is the key to your power.'