while. And it seems that somewhere along the line, the two of them met in person. Howard must have shown Avi the Blue Box, or maybe just some early prototype. Either way, that turned out to be a very bad idea, at least for Howard, because whatever your uncle believed about ghost signals and aliens, in his heart of hearts, he was a scientist. And he immediately recognized the Blue Box for what it really is: a simple Wheatstone Bridge, a device for measuring electrical resistance dressed up as a kind of lie detector for the soul. As a matter of fact, in 1969, the FDA sued the Blue Awareness for, essentially, practicing medicine without a license by claiming that they could actually cure a variety of afflictions by subjecting members to Blue Box sessions designed to cleanse their spirits of disabling thoughts and ideas. Avi was one of the scientists who provided the FDA with a brief to support their claims. But he did more than that: he actually built a Wheatstone Bridge and demonstrated that it had no healing properties whatsoever. That’s the primary reason that now, Awares have to be careful to say that they use the Box only for ‘counseling.’ ”
“And?” I said, because there was something in his voice when he mentioned Avi that made it clear to me there was an and coming. Maybe not unless I prodded him, but it was definitely there.
“Well, okay,” Jack said. “I did make you come all this way so I might as well get to the rest of it, since I feel a little responsible. Maybe a little more than that, because I pushed so hard for you to go see Ravenette. Maybe she would have just let it go, the coincidence of seeing the radioman when she tuned into you, or whatever the hell it is she does—but telling her you had a Blue Box was probably going too far. Laurie,” Jack said, leaning forward and adding a clearly discernible emphasis to his words, “these people can be vindictive. Dangerous. They are also not averse to using violence. People have been beaten up. A reporter who wrote an exposé a couple of years ago received mail tainted with anthrax. I’m telling you all this because I want you to be careful. Please.”
I had read about some of these incidents, but it was very hard to think of them as having any real relevance for me. “You’re serious?”
“I am. I just don’t like that she even mentioned the Wild Blue Yonder to you. That’s in the vicinity of saying ‘if I tell you, I’ll have to kill you.’ ”
“Okay,” I said. “So that sounds really crazy.” And then something else occurred to me—something even worse. “You aren’t implying that the Blue Awareness killed Avi, are you? Because he died of cancer. I don’t think there’s any question about that.”
“They may think they were responsible. It would fit in with Howard Gilmartin’s ideas that the body can be destroyed because the mind’s ability to defend itself against destructive forces from within and without can be severely compromised by diseased engrams. That’s how the Blue Awareness views most illnesses, both physical and mental—as manifestations of damaged engrams. Some of the Awares also think they can cause illness—maybe even kill a person—by deliberately misusing a Blue Box. You hook it up to someone you want to harm and reverse the energy flow or something like that. That’s more secret lore from the Wild Blue Yonder, though it seems Raymond—Gilmartin’s son—may have been the one who added that particular tenet to Awareness doctrine. He’s even more—well, shall we say, extreme?—than his father ever was. So do I really have to tell you that there’s no end to what true believers like that are capable of? I think we can agree that someone who’s reached the Second Level of Awareness is the definition of a true believer. I’ll take the responsibility for bringing you two together but I don’t want to be responsible for you getting hurt.”
Jack asked me if I wanted another beer and I said no
“And?” I said, because there was something in his voice when he mentioned Avi that made it clear to me there was an and coming. Maybe not unless I prodded him, but it was definitely there.
“Well, okay,” Jack said. “I did make you come all this way so I might as well get to the rest of it, since I feel a little responsible. Maybe a little more than that, because I pushed so hard for you to go see Ravenette. Maybe she would have just let it go, the coincidence of seeing the radioman when she tuned into you, or whatever the hell it is she does—but telling her you had a Blue Box was probably going too far. Laurie,” Jack said, leaning forward and adding a clearly discernible emphasis to his words, “these people can be vindictive. Dangerous. They are also not averse to using violence. People have been beaten up. A reporter who wrote an exposé a couple of years ago received mail tainted with anthrax. I’m telling you all this because I want you to be careful. Please.”
I had read about some of these incidents, but it was very hard to think of them as having any real relevance for me. “You’re serious?”
“I am. I just don’t like that she even mentioned the Wild Blue Yonder to you. That’s in the vicinity of saying ‘if I tell you, I’ll have to kill you.’ ”
“Okay,” I said. “So that sounds really crazy.” And then something else occurred to me—something even worse. “You aren’t implying that the Blue Awareness killed Avi, are you? Because he died of cancer. I don’t think there’s any question about that.”
“They may think they were responsible. It would fit in with Howard Gilmartin’s ideas that the body can be destroyed because the mind’s ability to defend itself against destructive forces from within and without can be severely compromised by diseased engrams. That’s how the Blue Awareness views most illnesses, both physical and mental—as manifestations of damaged engrams. Some of the Awares also think they can cause illness—maybe even kill a person—by deliberately misusing a Blue Box. You hook it up to someone you want to harm and reverse the energy flow or something like that. That’s more secret lore from the Wild Blue Yonder, though it seems Raymond—Gilmartin’s son—may have been the one who added that particular tenet to Awareness doctrine. He’s even more—well, shall we say, extreme?—than his father ever was. So do I really have to tell you that there’s no end to what true believers like that are capable of? I think we can agree that someone who’s reached the Second Level of Awareness is the definition of a true believer. I’ll take the responsibility for bringing you two together but I don’t want to be responsible for you getting hurt.”
Jack asked me if I wanted another beer and I said no
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