I once had a co-worker at the juvenile facility from India. I’ll call him ‘Roger’. Our boss, a mephistophelian woman on a stunningly dark tour de force through our county, had brought Roger over from the prison system. He was every bit as devious and diabolical as she was.
It was obvious to 100% of the employees within a very short period after her arrival, that the new boss was bad news. She was dictatorial, ill-tempered, paranoid, and mean. People that I spoke to were unanimous in opinion about this.
But, there was something more sinister to her. Only two other people ever dared talk about this with me, one of them telling me that the hair stood up on the back of his neck anytime he got near her; the other one observed and explained that she always uncannily knew exactly how to exploit each individuals particular weakness in order to shame, embarrass, and humiliate them. There was something more indeed.
But, back to our friend from South Asia. He was bad news too. Several of us had to attend a week-long out of town training, and I found myself rooming with him for that trip.
Roger informed me that due to his alleged Hinduism, he did rise very early- like 3:30 am early- for his “prayers and meditations”. ‘Schemes and manipulations’ I remember thinking when he said it. He advised that he would do this in the bathroom so as not to disturb me. Ok. How loud could “prayer and meditation” be I wondered?
The first night we had driven up, had a late meeting, and a late supper before unpacking. If Roger had gotten up early, I slept through it. But, the second morning, I was awakened. I looked at the clock that said 3:50 and then realized I had been woke by Roger in the bathroom. The door was almost, but not quite shut, and intermittently, he would break out into those ‘oooms’- you know, those long tones you hear the yoga/meditation people hum to center or focus or something. After hearing a couple of these I thought ‘good Lord!’ and pulled the blankets over my head. “The things people get up early to do” I annoyingly thought, before drifting back off.
The next morning, however, was different. Very different.
When the oooms woke me, as I glanced around, I had an uneasy feeling. I was wide awake, and had that hair standing up on the back of the neck feeling. I stared at the bathroom door. It was open wider than the previous morning. I closed my eyes, but then found myself staring at the door crack again.
Roger had started a new cadence that sounded like ooom with Gregorian chant. For some reason, I could not resist the urge to go peek.
I stepped carefully over to the door. As I slowly leaned sideways to peek in, I could see Roger sitting nearly naked on a rug, his back to me, with slightly bent arms outstretched to each side, palms up. It was a strange sight. It got stranger.
And then, I saw it. A little blue man, with a turban and thin black beard- just like in the friggin cartoons- sitting cross-legged, floating in the air right in front of him! I immediately was afraid he would see me, but he was staring intently at Roger. As I suppressed the urge to yelp or slam the bathroom door, I slowly backed away, grabbed my shorts and shoes, and fled the hotel room.
I stood out by the dumpster and tried to process the fact that Babu was in the loo at the Holiday Inn Express in Huntsville, Texas. What the heck?
I wondered if Babu had seen me as I returned to the room after a bit. Roger was back in the room, and asked where I had gone? “A little walk” I replied. He was staring at me intently as I answered.
I do believe, that somehow, Roger and Babu knew that I knew. That evening, Roger announced that he was going to drive home to ‘take care of some business’. He would be back for tomorrow’s morning meetings. That left one more morning, and he carefully gauged my reaction that evening when he announced he would forego his routine the last day, to sleep in.
(Or Babu told him “we gotta stop meeting like this with your nosey roommate around.”)
They always say that mythological creatures and fairy tale monsters, like witches and vampires, have their roots in real entities from the past.
I don’t know about werewolves or leprechauns- but genie has my vote.
If you find a magic lamp, rub it at your own risk.
Bondo- the real deal 