From: Arsmith@cris.com (him.)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: If you're a dreamer...
Date: 19 Jan 1997 19:42:16 GMT
Organization: Concentric Internet Services

Al, who has been thinking about alternate universes a lot, lately, slides
open an X-window to one and steps through into another callahans.

Despite Jezebel's fears, this is not filled with slugs, but with ordinary
callahanders, only subtly different.  Pernicious did not fight his duel,
which means that the pernicious guards were never formed up.  Many battles
of the PSW were never fought, indeed the PSW was never called by that name
here.  Speaker, possibly, is alive here.  Claudia is dating a woman she
met in her (the other woman's) senior year at harvard, who is not in
callahans.

This is a callahans in which Al never made his appearence.  Oh, he's still
around, in fact, he's up in the rafters.  Al directs his gaze up there,
sees...

A small, green, gollumish creature, huddled into the shadows.  It notices
someone noticing it and skitters away.  In this universe (which you may
have seen before) Al allowed himself to be placed on antidepressants, and
so never figured out that the power to make him and/or others happy layin
Him, Himself, instead of some measly pills.  [Note: This isn't a political
statement.  It's just that some of you have seen this universe before, and
that's what we were discussing at the time.]

Al looks up at the rafters and shouts, much to everyone there's surprise:
"GET OFF YOUR ASS!  Get the hell down here!  I *know* you, you can't stop
watching 'cause it's too nice, and you can't join in 'cause you think you
don't belong.  Well, you DO belong.  Al, *I'm what you could have been*
I'm what you could still BE, if you would come down here.  Dah, heck,
who'm I kidding."  Al turns and leaves, closing the x-window behind him.

"It had occured to me," Al explains to the bar, "that there's probably
lurkers in THIS callahans facing the same predicament.  They can't leave,
'cause seeing people being NICE to each other is so rare in this day and
age, and they can't join in, 'cause of some imagined infirmity on their
part.  The conflict might be driving them slowly insane.  It certainly is
that other Al.

"Anyway, I wanted to point out to them that *I* don't have any special
powers, none of us do.  The only difference is that we, for various
reasons, *decided to post*  or send email, or join irc callahans.  The
miracle of human contact is here, you just have to reach out for it."

Big Al.  If you're a dreamer, come in
         If you're a dreamer, a wisher, a liar
         A hope-er a lover, a magic bean buyer
         Come and warm your toes by the fire
         For we have some flax golden tales to spin
         Come in, Come in!
            -- Shel Silverstein, "An Invitation."  [Slightly paraphrased
due to poor memory, I think.]

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