Soaked Through
Some days, I can’t keep up with the architecture of the book. I’m sorry. I know that’s kind of the whole point of the book and all. But today is one of those days, and I fear there may be many more to follow. Dad isn’t doing well.
I woke up around four, soaking through and shaking, shaking very much in the manner Dad does.
It makes me wonder, at first, if I’m somehow psychically linked to him or able to reach him through E.S.P. or something. I think about how Mason and I were looking at the “A.I.” robot’s potentially plausible explanations for psychic abilities1, and that was one of them. Then, the behavioral scientist in me comes out, and I wonder if it’s some kind of conversion on my part, like a stress response. Anyway, I think about all that while I’m on the head, peeing. I finish up, then go back to the bedroom.
As I cross the hallway, I realize my tits are cold because my shirt is sopping wet so the night air is making the shirt like ice. I whip it off and am warmer, then climb back into bed, finding that it, too is drenched.
Right, I recall. I opened with that, didn’t I?
Then I worry my memory, too, might be failing. Like Dad’s.
This is why we have to upload it all into books, I say. Or download it. Whichever.
If you’re there, you may wake or be awake and hear what I’ve just said, and you might ask if that’s really what all this is about, in which case I’ll ask, All what’s about?
And you’ll say, Teresa’s Backbone.
And I’ll go, Oh. I don’t know. Maybe.
The smell of the sheets is unpleasant. I don’t know if that’s a side effect of medications, or if I just need to wash them. Either way, I’ll wash them. That should take care of it.
To keep reading along the Dad path, click here.
Play procedures
- If you don’t already have telepathy, you can count this chapter toward unlocking that secret.
- You may assign yourself a behavioral science score if you don’t already have one and would like to.
- Think about a time when you had a experience of connectedness to another for which there either wasn’t a rational explanation or the irrational explanation held stronger appeal. Spend a few moments remembering it in greater texture, then write it down.
Here is one transcription, but not the original, which I didn’t capture:
If telepathy were real, it would likely involve the ability to transmit thoughts or emotions from one person's mind to another without using the known senses or traditional means of communication. There are a few possible explanations that could potentially account for this phenomenon:
Brainwave synchronization: Some researchers have suggested that telepathy may be mediated by brainwave synchronization between two individuals. This could involve the transmission of brain waves, which are electromagnetic waves produced by the brain, between two people.
Quantum entanglement: Another possibility is that telepathy involves the phenomenon of quantum entanglement, in which two particles become linked and can affect each other's behavior even when separated by large distances. It is possible that the human brain might be able to harness this phenomenon in some way to transmit thoughts or emotions.
Psychic energy: Some people believe that telepathy is mediated by a form of psychic energy or force that can be transmitted from one person to another. This energy could be thought of as similar to the "life force" or "chi" in some Eastern philosophies.
Extra-sensory perception (ESP): Telepathy could also be seen as a form of extra-sensory perception (ESP), which refers to the ability to acquire information without using the known senses. ESP is often associated with psychic abilities like telekinesis and precognition, and some people believe that telepathy is simply one form of ESP.
It is important to note that there is currently no scientific evidence to support the existence of telepathy, and these explanations are purely speculative. ↩
