Fascination: A Message from Beyond?
It would have been my mother’s 90th birthday. She had died two years before. My mother was born and raised in the Bronx , New York Bronx .”
One of her favorite songs was “Fascination.” The reason is because she and my father were invited to a very elegant party at the Pump Room, which was Chicago’s classiest restaurant in the ‘50s, and the most memorable part of the evening for her was the fact that there was a violinist stationed at the bottom of a long, winding staircase that led up to the ladies’ room, and he was playing “Fascination” when she came down. Whenever my mother heard that song after that evening, especially in her later years after my father had died, it reminded her of being with him at that lovely party at the Pump Room during a wonderful time of her life.
I left for work in my car the morning of what would have been my mother’s 90th birthday, thinking of her a lot, as I always do, but especially because it was her birthday. My car radio had not worked for many months; any time I turned it on, there was nothing but static. I had thought about having it fixed, but the car was old, and it would have cost a lot to fix or replace the radio, so I figured that I could do without it until I got a new car. I often took my battery-operated cassette player with me and listened to tapes in the car. But, not on this particular morning.
I left for work in my car the morning of what would have been my mother’s 90th birthday, thinking of her a lot, as I always do, but especially because it was her birthday. My car radio had not worked for many months; any time I turned it on, there was nothing but static. I had thought about having it fixed, but the car was old, and it would have cost a lot to fix or replace the radio, so I figured that I could do without it until I got a new car. I often took my battery-operated cassette player with me and listened to tapes in the car. But, not on this particular morning.
Just out of force of habit that morning, I turned on the radio. As usual, there was nothing but static, so I turned it off. But, about ten minutes later, I decided to give it another try, though I really don’t know why.
Lo and behold—it worked! A song was playing. There was no static. It was clear as a bell. And what was the song? “Fascination.” Well, that sort of gave me chills. (Forget the “sort of.” It did give me chills). Even more eerie was the fact that soon after the song ended, so did the radio. It stopped working again! (This time for good!)
As soon as I arrived at my office, I told my co-workers about “Fascination,” and they agreed that it was pretty strange. Very strange. Then I sat down at my desk and took a look at my day-to-day desk calendar, which advertises a different web-site each day, and the first word that caught my eye was “BRONX .” The whole thing said, “The Bronx is up and the Battery is down” (or maybe it was vice versa), advertising a restaurant guide for New York City
That was last year. This year, on my mother’s birthday, the day was almost over, and there had been no sign. Then, just before I went to bed, I sat down at my computer to check my e-mail. I am a free lance editor, and there was a letter from a man telling me that he needed someone to help him get two manuscripts ready for publication. The first one was called “Granpa and Lily”; the second, “Lily’s Walk to the moon.”
I try especially hard to be on my best behavior all day, the day of my mother’s birthday — just in case “someone” is watching me … .
By Arlene Uslander
What do YOU think? Was all this just a common coincidence, or was my mother trying to send me messages on her birthday? This story is in the book THE MYSTERY OF FATE: Common Coincidence or Divine Intervention?
