A Southern California teen had a strange experience. Listening to a short, fully developed 'cowboy' playing a harmonica, and watching the mesmerized crowd dropping cash into his bucket.
The following account was forwarded to me by my friends & colleagues Kyle & Cam at Expanded Perspectives:
"I'm sharing this story because it is so strange and I can't stop thinking about it. I just turned fifty-nine last month and my adult son asked me what I wanted as a gift knowing I have everything I could need. I said how about a harmonica; I used to have one as a kid. So, he bought me one. It was late Saturday night, and I was alone in my breezeway on a hot Texas night when I decided to give the harmonica a try. After about ten minutes something amazing happened to me. I had a massive flashback from forty-five years ago. The memory was immediately followed by an uncontrollable wave of hair-tingling joy. This memory was from back in the late 1970s when I was around thirteen years old living in Southern California. This is my story.
I was the youngest of three wild teenage boys. Back then my brothers only really tolerated my company for my coveted three-dollar-a-week allowance that I lived for. This was back in the days when gas was .63 cents a gallon. So, with a tank full of gas, we could cruise all around the outlying cities for adventure. A dollar got me into the backseat hanging out with the older cool kids.
It was a typical summer day, and we rode out to Burbank via San Fernando Road, which we knew as “The Old Road” and we ended up stopping at a place called The Golden Mall. They were looking for girls, I was just young and getting into innocent teenage trouble. This mall was an outdoor type of mall with fountains and an odd mix of businesses. There was a wig shop and even a Pep Boys and a hardware store. You could tell the mall was in decline as even the fountains were rundown with dirty water.
I witnessed something there that’s been somehow locked away in my mind. While walking past what was a sort of unemployment office, I heard this amazing harmonica music down the courtyard. So, I mindlessly walked over to where it was coming from. Several adults were crowding around listening to the performance in front of this Tailor shop. I was only around four foot five and small for my age so I easily moved in front of the adults allowing me to see the action.
This harmonica music was unlike anything I had ever heard before. It sounded totally impossible to my ears. He created train sounds and animal calls all mixed with melodies that sounded like two harmonicas playing in unison. But what completely stunned me was when I saw the musician. He was dressed in fine western clothing including a pearl buttoned shirt, spurred boots, and a tan cowboy hat. This cowboy musician was only three feet tall! His cowboy outfit was proportionate to his size in every detail I could not take my eyes off him. Everything about him was impeccable. He was not a boy nor was he a dwarf. He was a miniature full-grown man in his late fifties at the least.
Off to his side was a chair holding a tin bucket full of cash. As I stood there absorbed in his performance, I noticed every person within earshot was walking over, dropping cash in his bucket, and the “Tiny Cowboy” would look up to them, and they would just walk on. Over and over and over the people cued up to tip.
My first thought as a child was, I needed to learn how to play the harmonica so I could make some money. The next thing I remember I was staring down into the bucket and dropping all my money. When I looked up, his eyes locked directly onto mine. I remember thinking that’s all I had, as I heard the clang of my coins, and he smiled and winked at me. His eyes were a glacier blue, and he had the most beautiful smiling face I had ever seen in my life. That’s where the memory ends. The rest of the day is blank, no memory of leaving, driving home, nothing. However, now I can’t stop seeing his face and smiling at his memory.
After writing this down I called my brother and he remembered riding around that day, but he doesn’t remember anything. In all my life I can’t recall ever seeing a street performer making money like that. I’m starting to suspect that it was no ordinary encounter after hearing about other people's encounters with strange street performers. The amazing music, the never-ending tips rolling in, uncontrollably giving away all my money, and the hypnotizing wink from 45 years ago. I think I was charmed by a Fae.
I suspect this sort of encounter happens more often than we realize. I’d love to hear from anyone else who may have witnessed this event, but I know that’s a slim chance under the circumstances." SJ
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