Moving back  a kind of stupor to my daily life, and my nig pounding out yet anotation on tending to to a routine at Oscars  of t of ared at it. I  on to t customer, poured a beer, sliced a lemon, and came back to tting undisturbed.  and tie, and as far as I could tell,  lifted his hands from his lap.

    quot;s tter, mister? You  touc;

    quot;ould you give it to me on t glass move  touc?quot;

    quot; do you mean, move? ;

    quot; o move for you to believe?quot;

    quot;Not far.quot; I  at all, and you ;

    o s, and beneatarted sliding sloil it came to a  about five inco . quot;A magician never reveals t to trick. tom McInnes.quot;

    quot;; I said. quot;A lot of guys come in s of tricks but ts t I ever sa;

    quot;Ill pay for t; McInnes said, putting a dollar on t;But you o;

    and pulled t of  several  same trick. Yet ouc glass of ood up to go  on the bar.

    quot;; I called after him.

    quot;Never toucuff,quot; o a raincoat. quot;And I  to drink it, eit;

    I lifted to my nose for a smell.

    quot;Leaded.quot;   ;But you kne, rig;

    S ttom.

    quot;Part of my study of mankind,quot; ;and our o believe in  be seen.quot;

    McInnes became a regular at Oscars, coming in four or five times a  feent on fooling trons ricks or puzzles. Sometimes a riddle or complicated mat, adding seven, subtracting ones age and so fortil tim ed. Or a game involving matc of ed from ty of erious in ots t close to times bets o c  it off less t if eed to vanisarted covering tles in 63 or 64,  eacime at t;Do You ant to Kno?quot; Like a lot of drunks, McInnes became more er ed soused. Not more loquacious or morose, merely more relaxed in ities of alco a sitting, more t about range capacity for drink.

    quot;Its a matter of mind over matter. A crick .quot;

    quot;And ;

    quot;I dont ly knos a gift, really, and at time a curse. But Ill tell you, in order to drink so muco be somet.quot;

    quot;So y, you old camel?quot; Cummings laughed.

    quot;todays youtenure no not for calloer of publication.quot;

    quot;You ; I asked.

    quot;Antion ural rituals.quot;

    Cummings interrupted: quot;Slo to college.quot;

    quot;ition to explain tion. I icularly interested in ting and once started a book about rural practices in tis;

    quot;So you drink because of some old flame, t; Oscar asked, turning tion back to its origins.

    quot;I  ; ;No, s tless t demands of tomorroerdays piled up like a s t.quot;

    Oscar c;Life before life?quot;

    quot;Like reincarnation?quot; Cummings asked.

    quot;I dont kno t, but I do kno a fes from t, events from too long ago. Put t tories t come out from deep  ury ago, talk about as if it  yesterday. Or today.quot;

    quot;Under a spell?quot; I asked.

    quot;ranscendent trance.quot;

    Oscar looked suspicious. quot;y tricks.quot;

    quot;Ive been knoo put a fe; said McInnes. quot;told tales from too incredible to believe, but y t one is convinced t telling trutrange t;

    Cummings jumped in. quot;Id like to be ized.quot;

    quot;Stay beer t.quot;

    At ter t, McInnes ordered Oscar to dim ts and asked George and me to stay absolutely quiet.  next to Jimmy and told o close arted speaking to ed voice, describing restful places and peaceful circumstances in sucail t Im surprised  fall asleep. McInnes ran a feests, cher Jimmy was under.

    quot;Raise your rigraig in front of you. Its made of trongest steel, and no matter ry, you cannot bend it.quot;

    Cummings stuck out  arm and could not flex it; nor, for t matter, could Oscar or George or I  felt like a real iron bar. McInnes ran tests, tarted asking questions to ;e musician, Jimmy?quot;

    quot;Louis Armstrong.quot;

    e laug t admission. In ts of tones, but never Satchmo.

    quot;Good. ouc fees youll be Louis Armstrong.quot;

    Jimmy  ion came instantaneously. ed into Armstrongs famous o time  voice. Even tion of some old t;Ill Be Glad ; and tted out a jazz bridge. Normally Cummings  able and ertaining till,  slipped on a slick of beer and fallen to the floor.

    McInnes raced to ; to t; o t;youll  you to remember, Jimmy, t o sing out a ferong. Can you remember t?quot;

    quot;U; Cummings said from rance.

    quot;Good, but you  remember anyt to snap my fingers, and youll wake up, ;

    A goofy grin smeared on  eac imagine  ioning,  t half-hour.

    quot;And you dont remember,quot; Oscar asked, quot;Satc;

    Cummings began singing quot;; and suddenly stopped himself.

    quot;Mr. Jimmy Cummings, t man alive,quot; George laughed.

    e all gassed Cummings over t fe;Satc; noil t ts of t nigion. For erered McInnes for more information on  all  quot;to tions and memories free play.quot; Dissatisfied o to Egypt to Freud, ists arguing over its validity. A piece from ternational Journal of Clinical and Experimental tled te for me: quot;It is tient, not t, o ore te from tucked it into my , reading ting a mantra.

    Convinced t I could manage my oion and subconscious, I finally asked McInnes to ize me. As if o a forgotten land, McInnes could tap into my repressed life and tell me ruts, tory astical delusion. e  before: In a former life, I ra, She Genghis Khan.

    a nigole time ige of t could be dangerous if, under  be able to recall anyt o age seven. My motales of en repeated t I not only believed salking about me, but at times t I remembered t life. Suced memories are made of glass.

    McInnes kneory,  my moters, my aborted college career. I even confessed to ess ode ale. Anytally divulged ionalized arut trumped my fear of being unmasked as a changeling.

    t drunk staggered a, and Oscar closed ter and , o lock turned off all ts except for a lamp at t me. Suppose I said somet t if ried to blackmail me or tened to expose me to ties? t crossed my mind: I could kill  time in years, I felt myself reverting to sometinct. But t he began, panic subsided.

    In ty bar,  across from eac a small table and listening as McInnes droned on, I felt made of stone. ance above and beyond me, and rolled my actions and feelings ence. Giving in to t like falling in love. Submit, let go. My limbs remendous gravity, as if being sucked out of space and time. Liged beam. A movie e self, ive and any distinct visual style t o draory, no plot, just cer and sensation. A face appears, speaks, and I am scared. A cold  is follo notes from t a c, a o t. At some conscious level, I glimpsed a boy, ed from tia and cogether ignored.

    t t of trance o look at tion, I, too, felt curiously refres for eig my sticky s and tted  my temples belied t possibility. McInnes seemed totally .  and drank it do of ty bar, y and fascination. I offered  smoking in the dead of morning.

    quot;Did I say anyt; I asked at last.

    quot;Do you kno;

    quot;A smattering,quot; I replied. quot;two years in ;

    quot;You ;

    quot; did I say?  did you make of it?quot;

    quot;Im not sure. s a ec;

    quot;I never ;

    quot;You cried out as if someterrible  der teufel. t?quot;

    quot;I never met t;

    quot;And t a fiend?quot;

    quot;Maybe.quot;

    quot;Der Kobolden? You sever t;

    quot;None.quot;

    quot;Entfü;

    quot;Sorry.quot;

    quot;I could not tell rying to say. It  for your parents, and it  mit, mit—ts ? You ed to go ;

    quot;But my parents arent German.quot;

    quot;ted to take you a;

    I so me.

    quot;ever it  for Mama and Papa and das Klavier.quot;

    quot;t;

    quot;I never , and you said you olen aand, so I asked you again, and you said, Fifty-nine, and I said, t cant be. ts only six years ago. And you said, clear as a bell, No ... 1859. quot;

    McInnes blinked  me. I te. e stared at t saying a  tt so  ray.

    quot;I dont knoo say.quot;

    quot;Kno; McInnes asked. quot;I t life. I time been a German boy.quot;

    quot;I find t o believe.quot;

    quot;;

    quot;I dont believe in fairy tales.quot;

    quot;ell ... ; McInnes yae nearly upon us. quot; do you t t?quot;

    I kne I did not say. t ture refrigerator. Using t plate in t, settling my s by concentrating on simple tasks. A kind of y lig daood beer;  in front on ool, and e our scrambled eggs and drank our coffee black. At t iful, and McInness eyes tired and vacant, t time .

    on  and so . An a me kno  be coming back. t oo rarange for t;Good-bye, and good luck.quot;

    As urned t for o . quot; ; I asked, quot;in t;

    boto turn around. quot;You kno to ask.quot;