The Dali Hour

Small strange events cluster. I think they do it as a kind of maximising puzzlement exercise. Three tiny oddities ganged up on me in a 60 minute blitz last night, and left me somewhere between baffled and alarmed.

The first was the arrival of a neighbour on my doorstep. She told me that on Tuesday a woman had turned up at her door announcing that she was looking for her daughter who lived somewhere on the street. The neighbour wondered if the lady was my mother. I told her it was very unlikely but showed her a photo of Mum anyway and the neighbour said she couldn't be sure but there was a definite resemblance. Of course, Mum is meant to be at her home in Spain. I see no way for her to be wandering around in England, and don't much fancy the idea of her being out in this cold. Tried to contact Bro (whose house she knows very well and would probably guest at) no reply. It didn't make sense, and was compounded by a visit from the police less than 10 minutes afterwards.

The hour's bafflement was nothing compared to the minute's panic when I saw the officer and instantly connected him to the earlier visit. Visions of a corpse in the nearby woods filled my mind, and for less than 10 seconds I was in a very dark place. Turned out that the two visits were unconnected. The policeman had come to warn us that there had been a break-in to someone's garage, very unusual for the area, and to tell us they would be more visible on the street. Not more than fifteen, maybe 20 minutes after at the most, I received this text message from a number I don't know:

Hello Debbie! I got number from Romero's showreel (sapling is a hornbeam or beech not ash!) so hope number is still good. Did yr recent oracle give you 6of cups? Would u like a guessing game? I hope so cos I'm in a playful mood! I am Herne, I am the Huntress, at my best in a dress, I am Shiva, I am Kali, Ardhanarishvara, I am whole. Spider's Bride in a berberis hedge, psychic too am I and know your soul. Who am I? Still love you unconditionally forever XXX

So this is a pleasant message in many ways, and not too hard to divine. Putting on my riddler's hat, 6 of Cups is the far past, innocence and nostalgia, childhood, so this person sees themselves as an old friend... but I have engaged with no recent oracle. Their sapling identification is little better than mine - I say it's an ash tree, they think it's a beech, turns out it's an alder. Herne and the Huntress, Shiva and Kali so this is a friend who identifies with both masculine and feminine, two are predators, though often kindly ones, and two are destroyers as well as bringers of the conditions needed for life. Ardhanarishvara is the Lord who is half woman, so this is someone with a strong hermaphroditic quality. I can think of one very close friend who meets that description, but he has my number and wouldn't need to check the reel for it. The berberis hedge is the one in my brother's garden, and there's no memory of the friend mentioned ever visiting the place. I don't recall anybody meeting the above description who ever saw that hedge.

So here is someone trying to be playful and charming, but they don't know, perhaps, that the days got a little dark, that I am engaged, that a message from a mysterious hunting type who knows me from the place where I got attacked does not give me a winsome flutter. I appreciate the flattery and the kindly sentiment at the end, but still...the number is unknown not concealed, so no harm is meant, and I should reply gently. After all, maybe I have just forgotten how to play. Or maybe it really is a bit odd. I can't judge right now. It just crowned a truly surreal hour of my life.