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A STUDY IN RED - THE SECRET JOURNAL OF JACK THE RIPPER

The Award Nominated Novel by Brian Porter
From
Double Dragon Publishing
A CK2S Kwips & Kritiques Recommended Read

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Jack's Fables

hosted by www.howtotellagreatstory.com

 

This piece may NOT be freely reprinted. Please contact the author [see below] for re-print rights.

 

 

I decided to go…

 

Believe me, it wasn’t easy. I’d been there for ten happy years, and it was me who pitched up in the first place. I’m now shining a little light elsewhere, and know the light I left has been re-kindled once more.

 

Who ‘owns’ us? God, our parents, ourselves? Yes, we need guidance when very young, and we are dependent, no doubt about it.

 

When the fateful days arrives, when we are let out without supervision, it’s stressful for all concerned. Will s/he come back? And does that feeling ever leave? It gets less intense, but is it ever extinguished?

 

What moves us? What keeps us coming back?

 

Since I left, I’m beginning to realise how much I’m missed, but I know if I left where I am now, the same grief would occur. And I’ve met quite a few interesting characters on my travels!

 

Quite amazing really, because I had them down as a bit dozy, and that’s being generous.

 

Have you heard about those accounts of people being given new organs, especially hearts, and from donors killed in road accidents? The person with the new heart has flashbacks, memories, tastes and smells from the donor. Still, why is it so surprising?

 

Organs, again especially the heart have neuro-transmitters, and communicate with all other organs.

 

There have been other accounts of people surviving, and being ‘normal’ with very small brains. In one case, the person had only his ‘reptilian’ brain, and was no different to anyone else.

 

Here in Britain, we have ‘The Big Issue’. It is a magazine sold by homeless people to help them develop self-respect, and ultimately get off benefits and get a job and a home. And it works.

 

Every issue contains a page dedicated to ‘missing’ people. Apparently 100,000 kids go missing every year in this country alone. How many come back?

 

Lots of people [I’ve heard it’s down to age!] lose their keys. You can get gismos for key rings that ‘call’ the missing keys via a radio signal.

 

Agencies are queuing up to put microchips in kids [they’re putting them in their clothes first, as it’s less controversial], so they can be ‘tracked.’ Of course this assumes they will go missing in the first place.

I’ve not heard much about the accounts that warn of potential cancers from being micro-chipped, but then I wouldn’t would I?

 

So, back to my wandering mates. Some have flirted with the idea of going somewhere else to live, but are often put off by the fact they might get abused. Some, especially the younger ones, let the promise of ‘adventure’ be much more attractive than any possible risk. And we’ve all done it haven’t we?

 

Others felt unwanted at home, and imagined with the prospect of a new arrival it would get worse.

 

Some turned up because they had been thrown out, or it was down to domestic disputes. Money is often at the root of things.

 

Have you heard of Angel Animals? A non-profit site for all things to do with animals, especially pets and their antics. The site owners have won a number of awards for their books and services. Well let me offer you a heart-warming story I read some time ago.

 

A Canadian from Saskatchewan called in to the Angel Animals radio show. If family members were in any kind of distress, their cat would sit or sleep on their bed.

Recently, the caller’s daughter had gone away to college, and the cat slept on her bed. The cat was very morose.

 

So the caller phoned his daughter to see if she was OK. He learned that she'd been admitted to the hospital because she was very sick with the flu. Not wanting to alarm her family, she hadn't called them. The cat had delivered the message that something was wrong.

 

Now the cat’s signal [getting on the bed] is always noticed. He [Smokey] has never been wrong about his diagnosis of a condition. When all is well, Smokey peacefully sleeps on the couch in the living room.

 

When the family pays attention to his "sixth sense," they are able to help each other through troubled times.

 

Dogs have been trained to raise the alarm if their epileptic owners go into a coma for whatever reason. There have been many, many accounts of lives being saved this way. And I also know of dogs who can detect the early signs of cancer in people.

 

My conversations with my wayward mates kept coming back to one thing for me, what are we here for?

 

In Story 28, we have the incredible tale of Jane Tomlinson, the woman diagnosed with cancer, who raised over £2 million for charity, but perhaps more importantly, inspired thousands through her efforts.

 

Remember Christopher Reeve, Superman? His vision was to have medical technology advance so that it would cure people injured like him, enabling them to walk again. He seemingly died before it happened.

 

You see we cats know. Our inspiration is, like everything we do, a bit more subtle. However, imagine a world without the legacy of Winston Churchill, Leonardo Da Vinci, Charles Dickens, and the prophet Mohammed, all cat lovers.

 

Unlike people our quest to find our purpose ended eons ago. Indeed it ended before it begun.

 

I would like you all to imagine a state of being in which you revelled in the delights this abundant world has to offer. You were joyous, but you could still function ‘normally. You could eat, sleep, pro-create, evacuate, read, play, raise kids and take on life’s challenges. You could even learn, all of you, how to compose and tell great stories.

 

Just suppose it was 2011, and you wanted to find out the purpose of life, the universe and everything At your disposal was the most powerful computer in the world. You programmed it to answer your questions.

 

With bated breath you await the answer, and then a deep voice, not dissimilar to your own, booms out:

 

“So you want to know the answer to the meaning of life, the universe, and everything?...Let me tell you a story.”

 

Everything is a potential source of inspiration. Beauty is one of the great inspirations, and whilst it may be in the eye of the beholder, some beauty appears in more eyes than others.

 

You know intuitively that Superman’s wish will be granted, it’s just that it wasn’t in this incarnation for him.

 

There is already a ‘cure’ for cancer. The trick is in living in ways, without poisons, stresses and violence that ‘cause’ it in the first place.

 

And, as the penny dropped for enough of you hundreds of years ago, it won’t be long before all beings are treated with dignity. How could you have ever imagined people are superior or inferior due to the colour of their skin? Just reflect on the energy that is used to prop up this nonsense.

 

The problem is that my keepers are missing me, big time. And at the moment, I’m unable to respond to it. ‘I’ decided to go, or did I? Who is the ‘I’ here?

 

It’s like ripples on a pond. Water is often used as a metaphor for much bigger things isn’t it? The whole area knows I’ve gone ‘missing’, because posters have been put up and leaflets put through doors.

 

There have been arguments about whether I’ve gone miles, or just around the corner. Animal psychics have been right in so far as I’m still alive, but they can’t pinpoint exactly where I am.

 

The biggest issue has been how to manifest my return. It has to go beyond faith. The formula is to command the Creator and then feel I have come back, witnessing my face coming through the cat door. It is demanding.

 

My feline friends all have the same dilemma, as do their keepers, the neighbours, the local community, and wider society.

 

When my keepers were in Samos, Greece, just before they came back home, the village of Kokkari was full of posters about a lost dog. Virtually the next day they came down. They never knew whether he was found, but could feel good energies in the area. Of course he did come back.

 

So, I reckon I’ll give it a few more days, and then re-trace my steps. My keepers have just finished watching the DVD of Neale Donald Walsch’s life, the man who wrote/channelled ‘Conversations with God.’ It had a very happy ending, but he hit rock bottom.

 

Lessons and experiences come from all sides don’t they? I’ll see you very soon.

 

Harry, November 2008.

 


Jack Stewart has been writing all his life. He has written short stories, a management book, and is currently working on his autobiography. He is, with David Miskimin, co-author of a book which can transform the lives of parents and kids-The Coaching Parent. A psychotherapist by trade, he has co-created two CD's which offer true relaxation, Purrfect Symphony and Relax With Cats. Contact him via his web site, http://www.healingthespirit.eu

 


 

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