Mr. Walnut

"What species of creature are you, Mr. Walnut?"

"I am a poltergeist."

"Creepy. Aren't those dangerous?"

"Not always. People fear us because they think we spend all of our time making noises and moving objects through the air...as if it's just for kicks. Us poltergeists are actually quite misunderstood, Mr. Acorn."

"How so? If I were invisible, I might draw attention to myself by moving objects through the air and stuff. That sounds like fun. Besides, it would be the only way to get noticed."

"That's just the thing, Mr. Acorn, poltergeists do not wish to be noticed. We can only do our work if we are invisible. It so happens that a poltergeist has many powers, but loses them immediately once he is noticed, you see? When a poltergeist or his actions are discovered, his powers usually disappear. When that happens, people are sometimes very confused."

"But, if you prefer not to be noticed, why must you make noises and move objects through the air? Also, I've noticed you, why haven't you lost your powers?"

"We can reveal ourselves to children, of course, just not adults...sober ones, anyway. Even so, we almost never risk to disclose our presence...only when absolutely required. If we must alter things in a paranormal way, the interventions are to be discrete and unnoticed. We use the plausible to our advantage, manipulating things here and there. Witnesses waste time freaking out and coming up with crazy explanations. It totally distracts from our goals."

"Your goals?"

"People often don't understand how someone without a body can have goals. Some folks think that just because we don't eat, drink, or feel, that we don't have any noble aspirations or desires. This is a very disturbing topic in the poltergeist community. So many accidents and misfortunes are blamed on us, while good fortune is often mistook for plain luck. A poltergeist usually encourages luck and discourages misfortune. We want to help. The truth is that we want to help so much that we leave our bodies behind as a means to prevent accidents and misfortune."

"But, why not use your body if you have one? Why walk around invisible and almost helpless?"

"Sometimes invisibility makes us far less helpless, Mr. Acorn. Like right now, you are looking at me, but only notice I exist because you hear my voice. Also, you can see this candle is moving slowly across the desk. Some poltergeists want to slide this candle just a few inches over to those curtains in order to burn this house to the ground. I am not one of those poltergeists. Right now I am stopping the other kind from burning down this house."

"Oh. So, if this house burns down, it means you failed to protect it?"

"Possibly. The point is, we are invisible and cannot be held accountable either way. After the house burns, people will try to imagine what happened and who is at fault. Maybe the cat tipped the candle. Maybe someone left the stove on and there was a gas leak. The point is, a poltergeist can never be blamed for the bad, or honored for the good. If I decide to stop the other poltergeist from burning this house down, I will do it. It's as simple as that."

"Why do you choose to stop the other poltergeist? Why do you care if this house burns? We just met a moment ago. Also, how do I know you don't want to burn down the house?"

"Because I would have already if I wanted to. The truth is, I happened to be in the neighborhood and noticed this house was about to burn. So, I decided to stop it. I don't know why, Mr. Acorn...it's just what I decided I needed to do. I hope you don't ask me to tell you all of my reasons, because I don't always understand them myself. But, if I simply stood and watched the house burn, I would know I was at fault somewhat, because I know I could have prevented it. Mr. Acorn, I watched too much sadness materialize before my eyes as a physical human. I saw horrible injustice and senseless destruction. I realized it was often my body that prevented me from helping. Then I realized that not only was my body preventing me from helping, it was actually causing many of the problems. So, I stepped out of it. Now, when I see things that a poltergeist can fix, I am capable of fixing them. When I see things that a human is capable of fixing, I step back into my body, which is far more comfortable. See, poltergeists are really humans too, and would rather use their bodies, but sometimes can't."

"So, why don't you just fight the other poltergeists?"

"Ha, I wish. I said I was opposing another poltergeist directly, but that wasn't entirely true. Poltergeists are always invisible, even to one another. They have no idea what was caused by another poltergeist, or what just happened by accident. They are watching for things that only another poltergeist could do, but seldom notice one directly. In a way, opposing poltergeists are fighting often...not directly, but by undoing or altering the actions of another poltergeist. For example, I recognized that it was possibly a poltergeist that wanted to burn this house down. So, I looked for the most likely action of a poltergeist. "

"Oooh, and what is that?"

"It is the most seemingly innocent, undetectable action that is most often caused by a poltergeist. Where I nudge the candle away from the curtain, another poltergeist nudges it towards it. No one notices either way. If you had placed the candle it in the middle of the room, a poltergeist could do nothing. But, because all that was required was a tiny nudge, a poltergeist could easily burn down the house. The poltergeist always aims for the greatest effect from the smallest, unnoticeable action. A two-inch shove for a disastrous raging inferno is almost irresistible to some poltergeist breeds."

"Mr. Walnut, is that why bad things always happen to me? I mean, whenever I really want something, I mean really, really want it. Well, then I never seem to be able to get it, you know? Something always goes wrong at the last minute, or someone lets me down. Am I plagued by the bad kind of poltergeist?"

"Of course you are. We all are. But, you are perhaps underestimating the helpful poltergeists that allowed you to hope for such things in the first place. We mostly help others, or we could not bear to leave our bodies behind. Mr. Acorn, I happen to know that one particular poltergeist is always trying to help you as much as he can."

"Really?"

"Sometimes that poltergeist is helpless to change things, sometimes he is helping a lot. Now, don't tell him I said anything or even act like he exists, because you need to remember that his powers are gone once he is noticed, okay? You're getting a bit old to communicate with them. I feel rather tired actually."

"Okay."

"Now, I need to go find my body to recharge. All this talking with a human has been quite a drain. A poltergeist was not built for such a thing. Goodnight, Mr. Acorn."

"Goodnight, Mr. Walnut."