Transcript of Rec#000434 19/08/15: I spoke with Adam Obianu, the Beekeeper for whom Adam’s Extra-Fancy Honey Shop is named, as the evening approached, He was on the roof, tending to his plants and hive, and wearing the beekeeping suit that is the only thing I have ever seen him wear. Adam is a young man, though it is easy to forget it because he is large and often looks tired. When he smiles, though, you can tell that he is essentially a child.
OCTOBER: You don’t mind me recording you?
ADAM: Not at all.
OCTOBER: Thanks. I’ll start. Now, you know I’ve spent a few years now researching paranormal events around town. You’ve seen my site.
ADAM: Indeed, it is how I first learned of you.
OCTOBER: Exactly. You also made it clear that we have different definitions of what would be considered supernatural. What did you mean by that?
ADAM: Well, take as an example: what is it that you find “supernatural” about me?
OCTOBER: For one thing, you might remember that we met when you used a swarm of bees to get my attention,
ADAM: Technically that was not a swarm. Not important. But bees, though wonderful, are not supernatural. They are an ideal definition of the natural, if anything.
OCTOBER: Right, but your control over them is certainly out of the ordinary.
ADAM: We have had this discussion. I do not control them. I work with–
OCTOBER: Fine. Fine. I’m saying hat just being able to talk to the bees at all counts as supernatural.
ADAM: Ah. But to me, this is simply a skill I learned in childhood. No more supernatural than riding a bicycle or speaking Chinese.
OCTOBER: But it isn’t a spoken language, is it? I’ve seen you in action. You talk to them in your mind or something.
ADAM: Hmm. I suppose part of it happens in the mind, yes. But I do speak to them aloud, and quite often. My friend Isaac used to mock me, actually, saying I spoke to my bees more than necessary. That never seemed like such a bad thing to me. But talking with the hive is more than that. I watch their dances. They see my gestures. I could argue all communication, even that between “ordinary” humans contains non-verbal elements that could be described as being “in the mind” by some standards.
OCTOBER: So anyone could do it? Could I learn to speak to the bees?
ADAM: If you are interested? Certainly! It would not be easy. And it would take no small amount of time. It is easier to learn while you are a child, like most languages I believe. But think, if you did this, you could call yourself paranormal, by your own standards.
OCTOBER: Right. It occurs to me that you’re giving me the same kind of “magic is just things other people don’t know” spin that Myrtle did.
ADAM: Well, given that Myrtle is to be our expert on that particular topic, I am happy to be on her wavelength. Certainly my “paranormal abilities” as a beekeeper are merely the result of what I learned from my parents and my culture. And they all learned from their ancestors likewise.
OCTOBER: And what about your Beekeeper culture anyway? What’s the deal there? They’re in Africa, right?
ADAM: Yes. My family at least, as well as the majority I believe. But not exclusively. There are Beekeepers all over the world.
OCTOBER: Okay, but not all beekeepers are “Beekeepers” right? The workers over at Farmer Joe’s Honey Farm in Buttville are not from a lineage of magic Beekeepers, right?
ADAM: I do not know them specifically, but I–
OCTOBER: That wasn’t a real example, I was just–
ADAM: Well, whatever the case, my people derive our teachings from our ancestors, as I say. I should hope that anyone who has a chance to accumulate knowledge from those who preceded them is doing so. If those in Buttville refuse to learn, then they are essentially avoiding the potential for magic on purpose.
(We are momentarily distracted by the sound of a large truck coming down the road. Adam went to the side of the roof to check it out.)
ADAM: It is not for us.
OCTOBER: I don’t suppose it would ever be possible for me to visit your people in Africa someday? To see their techniques first-hand? Maybe learn things?
ADAM: I do not expect that even I would be welcomed there at the moment, if the fight we had here last month is any indication.
OCTOBER: Right. That. I suppose that must be hard for you. They… they were your family, I take it?
ADAM: What is it that motivates your interest in the paranormal anyhow?
OCTOBER: Change of topic accepted. Let’s see… I suppose it’s no secret. When I was a little girl I saw a ghost. At least I think it was a ghost. I guess I still do.
ADAM: Someone you knew?
OCTOBER: No, actually. It… It could have been a murder victim. Janice Wasselin. You can look her up. They made a movie about it a couple years back. But this was before that. She was just considered missing and I had probably seen her on the news or whatever, but then I saw her in these dreams I had.
She kept appearing to me, in this park. The same park where we met, actually, up in Sarahill. I had the dream a couple times, probably three or four, but in my memory now it seems like dozens. Eventually I went to the park in person, in the daytime, instead of walking home after school. I found Janice’s body.
ADAM: I am sorry. That must have been hard for a child.
OCTOBER: It was. My mother helped. She wanted to punish me for not coming right home, but she saw how bothered I was. I was an anxious kid even before all this. I’ve never had another dream like that, but the fact I had was public record. I mean, the little girl who plays basically me in the movie just happens upon the body, but I’m sure police reports somewhere mention what I said about the dreams. That was how I met Virgil.
ADAM: Virgil?
OCTOBER: He was a coroner back then. When I was teenager he reached out to me. He had seen, well, a lot of weird stuff during his career and was doing some kind of investigation of his own. Unofficial. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Magic Astronaut Hypothesis…
ADAM: No.
OCTOBER: Well it supposes that there are these people who have vast paranormal power and they secretly influence society. It’s a fringe belief. Comes from a book from the ’70s that nobody really takes seriously.
Anyway, the things Virgil had seen over the years had made him wonder if there might not be a speck of truth in it, and more, if there might not be a so-called Magic Astronaut here in Port Nadine. He wanted to see if I could help him. He thought maybe I had dream powers. But I didn’t.
Still, I was interested. I started working with him on his investigations. Kind of like an intern. I learned a lot from him.
ADAM: And where is Virgil now?
OCTOBER: Gone. We had a fight. It’s not important right now. He’s out East now, I think. Anyway, I don’t know that I ever bought into the Magic Astronaut side of things, but I did hope maybe I’d find some truth about my ghost dreams. Or at least make any kind of sense of the world.
ADAM: Understandable. You know, I have heard Jason Dante express similar beliefs about powerful wrongdoers who need to be fought. He did not mention the hypothesis by that name, but it sounds similar. And in any case, he has had a long and storied life dealing with the supernatural. You would do well to do a question session with him.
OCTOBER: Myrtle said the same thing.
ADAM: But, you know, we have common ground ourselves. I may not share your mission to specifically investigate the paranormal, but I have been, since childhood, a fan of solving mysteries.
OCTOBER: I think you mentioned that when we met.
ADAM: Well, now we are a team. We will work on our mysteries together. Maybe we can make sense of the world around us.
OCTOBER: Sure.
ADAM: So, would you actually be interested in learning the secrets of my Beekeeping?
OCTOBER: I’m already intending to study under Myrtle. Couldn’t hurt to go all in, right?
