Knowledge is Power?

Levi Larsen was the youngest of five assistant producers who helped a legendary Hollywood showrunner create Paranormal Love Stories, a hit reality series on Amazon Prime.

Season 1 was a total blockbuster, although not as popular as when Sex Powers of the Rich and Famous debuted on Netflix. The ratings for PLS in Season 2 were nearly as strong as the first. Last year, however, in 2020, midway through Season 3, there was a sharp drop off in viewership.

Seeing the numbers, Levi’s boss called a meeting, announcing to the entire executive staff that a new direction was needed for Season 4. A different slant. “A soft reboot,” said the Powers That Be.

Two of Levi's colleagues (competitors) pitched rebranding the show as: The Villains Among Us. Levi thought the idea was insane and he said so. Supervillains— wannabes or not— were known to kill people!

Levi opined that the premise for Paranormal Love Stories was still gold. The ratings slipped, he argued, solely because they chose the wrong people to profile in Season 3. He insisted all their production company needed to do to assure Season 4’s success was to find hotter couples with flashier powers!

And for his ‘defense of the status quo’? They unceremoniously fired him! Since he didn’t come up with any new ideas, as commanded, he was shit-canned from the most exciting job he’d ever had!

It was tragic!

He felt so stupid!

He needed a sympathetic shoulder to cry on and he had no one. He was a workaholic… and look what that got him.

In high school, back in the small town where he grew up in Utah, Levi had three especially close friends, Alfred Oglesby, Marty Smith, and Curtis Wagner. Marty died tragically a couple years ago, which was the last time Levi went back to his old stomping grounds. So it especially warmed his heart when he called Curt after his Worst Day Ever. His old friend didn’t hesitate to tell Levi to, “Come home.”

That weekend, when Levi’s flight landed in Salt Lake City, he rushed straight to an airport bar. Only after he was sufficiently intoxicated did he call for an Uber to take him to his friend's place.

Arriving after the thirty minute drive, Levi was unhappy to see Curt’s driveway was jammed with cars. Still more vehicles lined the street. Frustrated, depressed, not nearly inebriated enough, Levi had just removed his suitcases from the back of the double-parked Uber when the front door to the modest (shitty) ranch house burst open. Curt came running out, his hands in the air, shrieking, “He’s here! He’s here! HE’S HERE!”

Levi felt like both laughing and crying as Curt swooped in for a hug. “Welcome home, boo!” Squeezing tight, Curtis squealed, “It’s so good to see you!”

Levi fought back tears. “Good to see you too, baby boo.”

Curt turned to the crowd that had spilled out onto his front porch. Gesturing flamboyantly at Levi, he yelled, “All Hail the Conquering Hero!”

The clapping and hollering from the assembly drowned out the sob that escaped Levi’s throat.

He was ushered inside, where humans were packed in like Pringles; people he’d known his entire life; people he’d never seen; people he thought he’d met but couldn’t place. Everyone was drunk. Another cheer went up. He asked Curt, “Where’s the bar?”

Curt led him to the adjacent room where all the liquor was flowing from. There, Levi faced a pathetic nightmare from his past. Two 55” flat-screen TVs were displaying the calamity that was Episode 5 of Season 3 of Paranormal Love Stories, that (too weird) profile of a singing snake oil salesman who hooked up with the clairvoyant granddaughter of Gladys Knight on a midnight train to Georgia.

Levi started drinking the cheap whiskey that Curt provided and didn’t slow down until his incoherency was undeniable.

When someone clapped him on the back, he would have taken a swing at the guy if Curtis hadn’t stopped him. He remembered shouting, “You wanna catch these hands, bitch?”

A bunch of people laughed at him.

After that, time became a smear.

The next thing he would recall was being outside on the back porch of Curtis’s house. Alfred was there, their de facto leader back in high school, still one of the smartest guys that Levi knew.

“Come see me tomorrow afternoon,” said his oldest friend. “Can you remember? Or are you too drunk?”

“I’m alright,” Levi sulked, not feeling alright at all. “I can remember,” he said, not certain if he could or not.

“Molly will be at work til 5:00.” Molly was Alfred’s perfect wife. “I’ll have Curtis bring you to see me about 2:00. Okay?”

“Sure.”

“I might be able to help you, Levi. It's certainly been a golden summer so far."

“What are you talking about?”

Instead of answering, Alfred said, “This is terrible for you, isn’t it? The last thing you probably wanted was a bunch of people celebrating what you lost.”

Levi nodded, choking up.

“I’m sorry, man. You know Curtis means well.”

“I know,” said Levi.

“Come see me tomorrow.”

After that, there was a gradual thinning of the herd. He thought he remembered drinking Ouzo; he had no idea why. He absolutely loathed Ouzo. Shadow memories hinted of some Hispanic hottie who lifted his shirt to reveal six-pack abs and a bumblebee tattoo (or was that just some hunk he saw on Instagram?) Somebody said, “Your fame precedes you.” Someone else told him to, “Represent!” After that there was much puking. Then… nothingness.

He woke up the next day to the smell of bacon. After using the bathroom, he went to the kitchen, where Curtis awaited him with aspirin and hot coffee. “I love you, boo,” Levi told his host, feeling so grateful.

They ate and then Curt drove Levi to see Alfred. Thankfully, by the time they arrived at Alfred’s house out in the country, the worst of Levi’s headache had subsided.

Curt didn't linger. Once he'd dropped Levi off, Alfred smiled at him and said sharply, "Can I get you a glass of chilled well water? There will be no booze today.”

“I’m not thirsty,” said Levi. He was too eager to mince words. “You said last night you could help me.”

Alfred frowned. “I said maybe I could.”

“How?”

Al sighed. “Come on.” Instead of going inside his old farmhouse, he led Levi across the front yard, then around to the back, where a single majestic pear tree was surrounded by a wrought-iron fence.

Wistfully, Alfred told Levi, “My Wish Master legacy power manifested in 2019.” He opened the gate allowing them access to the tree.

Having seen so many paranormalities, Levi intuited what Al was about to say. “What? Does the fruit grant some kind of superpower?”

“You’re smart!” The compliment made Levi feel proud. “I can’t fully explain what my pears do,” said Alfred. He was gazing up at the tree with the kind of admiration he used to reserve for his father. “Everybody’s visions are different. But I can tell you this,” he proudly proclaimed, “my pears grant knowledge. And information is neutral, right? Don’t you think? What someone does with their knowledge— that’s where good and evil comes into play.”

Levi’s heart was pounding hard. “I’ll have visions?”

“Well… maybe ‘visions’ isn’t exactly the right word. The revelations are... difficult to describe.”

Levi found it odd and a little disturbing to see Alfred at a loss for words. He asked, “What kind of knowledge did you get?”

“That’s between me and the tree.” Alfred winked.

After hesitating only an instant, Levi shrugged and said, “I’m in. What do I need to do?”

“Just pick a pear and eat it!”

Reaching up to carefully select the best looking piece of fruit, Levi’s mouth began to water. The smell was heavenly.

The first bite was ecstasy!

He saw seven (Amazon) women eating fat slices of chocolate cake in a paranormal bar on the eastside of Cincinnati. They were a superpowered sisterhood with some sinister secret, bound together by love.

He looked down at the pear.

🌈🌈 The bitten part sprayed 🔴🟠🟡 colors 🟢🔵🟣 and 🎼🎶🎵 sang a Kesha song.

Levi took another crunch. 🍐

Outside Phoenix, a prominent gay couple named Shane and Tully were living a life of luxury. Besides their good looks and great wealth, they both had the sweet fortune to possess one of the rarest kinds of superpowers: shapeshifting. Shane could dive into their backyard pool and become a half-human/half-shark hybrid. If he went swimming in the ocean, he could metamorph into a full-fledged great white. Shane’s husband Tully liked to sneak out into the Arizona desert, where he was transformed into a raging blond bull. It made Tully furious when he always became a bovine; what he really wanted to be was a horse. He often chased wild stallions across the sunbaked landscape, kicking every tumbleweed he saw just for the hell of it.

The pear was more than half eaten.

🌈🌈 It 🍐 chittered 💫 and 🤣 chortled 💥 and 👀 warbled 💨 and ⚡🎇 sparked. ✨⚡🎇⚡⚡

The next bite fed him the story of a scared man who followed a mysterious green light from one great romance to another. When he lost a loved one to the dreaded purple flu, he contemplated doing something terrible, but was then saved by a preposterous panoply of prancing marigolds.

The pear was nearly gone—just a couple more precious swallows.

✨🌼⚡🌈 The core 🍐 purred with satisfaction. 💤💤💤💤⚡🌈🌈🌈🌈

Inside a monochrome barn in Indiana, a talking spider was laying eggs in plain cardboard boxes, that were then wrapped in cheap brown paper to be given as gifts. Barely fifteen miles away from that black-and-white drama was a frozen pond that never thawed, not even on the hottest summer days, a metaphysical ‘hot’-spot dating back to the Civil War.

“Is it over?” Alfred was sweating. “Can you hear me?”

Levi nodded.

“That was fast! Usually the trances last a lot longer! Are you okay?”

Levi nodded again.

Alfred nodded too. “Most people believe the forbidden Fruit of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden was an apple. Some say it was a pomegranate. Or a fig. I am of the opinion it was a pear.” Levi still couldn’t speak. Alfred seemed worried. “The experience was beneficial, wasn’t it?”

Like a _lightning flash through his mind, Levi realized a totally different approach for PLS #4! His heart fluttered. “It’s so obvious!”

“I’ll bet,” said Alfred, looking relieved.

Some of the eastside Amazons were lesbians. Shark Dude and Raging Bull were a married gay couple. The guy chasing green lights was bisexual. Levi suspected a still-living person was inside that perpetually frozen pond in Indiana, someone who was definitely an outcast, and probably also queer. The barn with its talking spider and plain brown boxes— that scene didn’t exactly fit the theme he had in mind, but maybe he could save that knowledge for Season 5. That still left him with four dynamite stories! “A soft reboot,” he said. “Instead of Paranormal Love Stories, we call it…” He gestured expansively. “Paranormal Pride 🌈 Stories!”

Alfred agreed, “That’s brilliant!”

Bitterly, Levi bad-mouthed their competition, “We’ll still focus on romance, not booty! We’re not Sex Powers of the Rich and Famous, for fuck’s sake!” He almost spat. “But we can make Season 4 more LGBTQ-friendly! I freakin love this!" Levi felt triumphant! "Why didn’t I ever think of this before?”

Alfred had an answer for him. “Probably because you weren’t ready for it before now.”

“O.M.G.! Thank you so much! This is exactly what I needed!”

“You’re welcome!”

Later, before celebrating his symbolic rebirth with his dearest friends, Levi booked a flight back to L.A.. Even if he couldn’t get his old job back, he now felt like he had options! He had contacts at both PNN and Logo TV!

Totally reenergized imaging the superpowered love stories he intended to tell, Levi Larsen was ready once again to conquer the world.

⚡⚡_______THE END_________⚡⚡

☝ All 9 prompts for the Golden Summer series used in one super-pear-powered punch!

⚡😁👍

Knowledge is Power? is the third vignette set in this universe. Each of the stories in this series stands alone, with different characters in each, and can be read in any order.

Part one is Death by Chocolate? 👇

The second chapter in my 'Whenever They Need It Most' series is Green is my Love? 👇

And here is a kind of prequel explaining more about this wish-fulfilled reality. 👇

SUBSCRIBE for more forthcoming chapters.

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Thank you kindly for your support!

_____________Bolt ⚡