and I found out that the feelings were mutual - we Morgan looked around at the other six people. “If it’s OK, maybe I’ll tell my story. I guess it’s obvious I’m a techie geek. I like to build my own hardware - I’ m always liked tinkering with new gear. A couple years ago, I got to know this weird guy who started teaching me different ways to repair stuff. He goes by Tinker Jack.” She turned to look at the man with the ponytail. “ Last time I saw him, he told me to tell you he wants his ironwood pipe back, “Anyway, I didn’t think much about what Tinker Jack was teaching me until a year ago, when this new box -um, computer-I built started talking to me. I hooked up the speaker and words came out, starting with ‘ Hey there, girl, fix this connection so I don’t sound like a damned cartoon character.’ I thought it was a joke someone had played on me, but once I checked the thing over, it was pretty clear that the computer was actually talking to me. Then it started introducing me to the other things in my apartment. I’d always hated my microwave, and I found out that the feelings were mutual - we partedonpretty good terms at the resale shop. Everything else was pretty nice; I sort of like having them all say ‘Hi’ when I get home. I can also fix things before they break, since they can tell me when they’ve got a problem. “Things can get sort of scary sometimes when I run into big spirits outside, but at home we’re all friends. That reminds me, I don’ t know about anyone else has noticed, but the spirit of the Willamette River seems really pissed. I can’t blame it, with all the crap in it, but it seems more nasty than angry at this point. Last week I heard it muttering about drowning people - maybe we should do something.” “Me and A] are on it,” the man in the ponytail remarked. “Once we’ve done all our preparations, we’ll head down from Seattle and beat some sense into the river-you folks cancome along ifyouwant. By the way kid, I know how you feel. I’ve been talkin’ to things no one else could see for the last sixteen years - it keeps you from getting lonely, but you need to keep some perspective or you’ 11 end up forgetting to talk to the human-type people.” “Anyway, I play sax, been a jazz musician since before anyone heard of Fusion. It all started with the music. I travel a lot, and I always picked up things from where I’ve been -key chains, nice lookin’ feathers, a few shiny rocks, sometimes even junk like old playing cards folks have dropped, or half an earring. I keep all that in a box; that’ s one of the few things I always take along with me. Most of the stuff stays in the box, but sometimes I take it out and look at it to remind me of where I’ve been. I keep a few pieces sitting out to make wherever I’m stayin’ feel like home. “In LA around ‘85, I was crashing with some other music types I’d jammed with. I put out my stuff that night like I always do, and as I drifted off, I thought I could hear the things in this tiny chorus; every piece of it had this faint note. I’ d likely never have thought more about that, but one of the band members must have seen that I had a good-sized wad of cash and decided to rip me off. She snuck into my room without waking me. She was good, but when she put her hand in my rucksack, she must’ ve bumped my box. The sound in the room changed, and it woke me up. I raised all kind of hell and ended up hitting up an old friend for a place to stay. Once I got all settled again, I started thinking about just why I’d woken up. “It was like learning a new number - you’ve got to listen really close until you can make out all the different parts you’ re hearing and how it all goes together. I spent a lot of time listening, and learned that everything had its own particular sound. “The thing you’ve got to remember is that every; thing is alive. I hear lots of folks talkin’ about animism, but they don’t know what it really means. It makes sense that trees and cars and houses all have spirits, ’cause they’re big and impressive. But what about each grain of sand, each pebble, and each sparkplug in your car? They all have spirits too. That’s tougher to make stick in your head. Heck, most of us that I’ ve talked to never even thought about listening to little stuff like that. “I guess that’s what I haven’t heard anyone else talk much about. Real magic is all about the little things. Every sound is made up of lots of smaller sounds. Even tiny stuff like beads, strings, and little bits of metal have their own particular note. Put lots of notes together and you get the song of a TV, a saxophone, or even a computer. The really small stuff can’ t talk, much less carry a tune, but without it, the larger songs just aren’t complete. You’ve got to concentrate on the small stuff. Most everyone mentions all the big fancy spirits they’ve talked to. That’ s all well and good, but any damn fool can tell if a loud pop song is playing - if you want to know if its worth listening to and what it really means, then you’ve got to break it down note by note. “I do most of my own special mojo with music, make each individual note a part of what I’m wantin’ to see happen. A while back on the TV, I heard some science guy catching on to what he called the ‘butterfly effect.’ He said that one butterfly flying arounddown in Mexico could change the weather we’re having way up here. Anyone who works with spirits should have learned that lesson before they ever started jamming with them. I’m not saying that you have to ask permission of every little spirit critter before you go doin’ something, but you’ve gotta remember that the little stuff makes up everything else. The best part is that the little stuff can cable into letting go its hold on the battery stops that car be damn handy. Say you want to stop a speeding car just as fast as zappin' the whole damn thing. Less effort, from hitting someone. Talkin' the spirit of a battery same effect, works every time." for many Dreamspeakers of thz
