Chapter 1

The realization that he had influence on the universe came to Franklin gradually, seeping into his awareness over many days, months and years of incessant coincidences and of having his thoughts seemingly being echoed by consequential events, individually trivial and explainable, but inexplicable when totaled together.

For a long time he ignored the strange rhythm of his thoughts and ensuing hapstance, as paying attention to the seemingly innocuous echoes would only invite insanity, after all. He gradually came to accept, and eventually to embrace, the cause and effect power of his inattentive thoughts.

He found that the best results were obtained with a dreamy fugue, letting the thoughts drift across his relaxed mind, while being careful what he called. He had to let go of passion, anger, and meanness after some accidents had occurred which had left him feeling quite guilty for months, and now, with his Zen like acceptance that the quantum resonance of his thoughts had a greater affect on the world than most, he was able to "think good thoughts" and seldom interfered with the destiny of others in negative ways.

Franklin winced as he remembered a few early instances where his random thoughts had manifested in nasty ways, but luckily no one had been killed by the coincidental echoes of his day dreams. For awhile, he had been tempted to interpret the effect as premonition on his part, but had been forced to realize that he was the actual cause, and not just anticipating events if only because of the sheer improbability of the occurrences.

In a universe of infinite possibilities, any single event is not only possible, but actually likely, but just because it is possible to flip a coin and get heads twenty, fifty, or five thousand times in a row, one doesn't really expect to have it happen, especially on the second, fifth, or five hundredth session, but that is the equivalent of what Franklin experienced ever since he started noticing, that his thoughts seemed to find physical manifestation.

If he thought of cookies and milk, he was more likely than not to see the words in print within minutes. If he found himself humming a song, some phrase or word from the song would end up at his feet before he was all the way through it, and he would actually trip over it. The effect scared him somewhat, enough that he never tried to use it, or cause it, but he couldn't help but notice, and accept that it did in fact happen. He tried to live a tranquil life, free from stress or want, and to let the echoes of reality which haunted his thoughts pass unremarked, so as not to encourage it. At least, at first.

Those early events, when his darker thoughts had manifested, had kept him from exploring and trying to take control of the effect for over a decade, and had kept his mind tranquil and placid, his thoughts serene and mellow, and his wants and desires muted and unformed for a long time, until it had become a habit of being, and yet even so a stray thought would spring into awareness as a realized tangible solid echo coughed up by the universe like a hairy furball.

He thought back to High School, and his outcast status which quickly faded to invisible and unnoticed, a lesser yet preferable state. Still, he had come to the notice of a equal opportunity bully, who was that day handing out abuse at random instead of to his usual targets, and the unexpected slap to the back of his head had caused Franklin to glare at the obnoxious Jock and wish a karmic come-upance on him. Shockingly, just such had happened moments later when the Jerk had stepped on his own shoelace and stumbled as he turned away with a guffaw, face first into a suddenly opened locker which was slammed shut by the force of the impact.

Jerk-face was knocked senseless, and the owner of the locker had the good sense to decide she didn't want anything from her locker after all, and left quickly, along with everyone else in the vicinity, as the bell signaling the start of class was ringing anyway. Jerk-face came to about five minutes later, not really sure what had happened, and went to his next class with a bump on his forehead only to receive a tardy slip, and be sent to the office, where he was assigned three days detention, this not being his first nor even his tenth infraction. Luckily Jerk-face never associated his woes to the angry glare Franklin had directed at his back.

Now, a more usual manifestation would be to wonder how many hours his 500 hour lightbulb in the hall had been burning, and if it really did last for that long, and then catch himself with a mental groan. A day or so later, the bulb would expire with a bright flash, at a time when he had forgotten all about his previous mental meander until startled by the atypical response to flicking the switch, and then remembering he had forgotten to buy bulbs, again.

Because of his early negative experiences, well, negative for somebody, and guilt causing to himself, at least, Franklin tried not to yearn, desire, or want any particular event to transpire. It wasn't safe for him to daydream, not even in a positive way, because of unintended consequences. The finding of money on the ground could be as much a disaster for the one who lost it as a windfall for the finder. There was no knowing what ripple effects could occur.

So, Franklin tried to maintain a mental balance of general positive neutrality, which was difficult at first but got easier the longer he did it. Eventually he didn't even get derailed when he heard bad news, and start wondering if he had slipped up and thought it into existence, sometimes actually causing a negative event by such pondering. Franklin never watched the news, or read the paper anymore.

A few years ago, he had caught a headline in a paper box shouting out about a high fire danger. He tried not to think about it, but just you try not thinking about orange fish, go ahead, don't think about them now- Hey, stop it, already. See what I mean? Anyway, that summer was a record for wild fires. It only stopped when he thought the only thing that would put out all the fires was a lot of rain- and then there was the fall of flooding and mud slides.

Franklin accepted all weather, and was content as much in the rain as the sun- else, there might be drought or flooding. He forgave aggressive drivers, and maintained his mellow outlook in the face of all provocation. His response to a rude encounter was a sincere smile, an apology, and good wishes which usually left the recipient feeling like a jerk, and or cheered up for the rest of their day, and often apologizing for their previous attitude.

He kept to himself, not wanting to get emotionally involved lest he unduly influenced someone's feelings, or was pulled off balance by his own. He avoided arguments with his family by not spending much time with them, and keeping conversations at a superficial level, and disengaging when anyone tried to gossip to him or badmouth another to him. Even the most self-centered oblivious person can be trained in a pavlovian fashion with consistent repetition, and Franklin tended to avoid these types anyway.

He didn't dare relax his inhibitions with drink or drugs, and didn't trust himself around those who were so uninhibited, so he tended not to attend parties on the rare occasions that societal propriety caused him to be invited, declining with a reasonable mild excuse and smiling apology.

So successful in fact was Franklin at damping and negating the effect he had on his universe, that it might not have even been an entertaining story, much as if Clark Kent never donned the red and blue spandex and performed feats, but rather only ever manifested as a mild mannered reporter. That is, until the day he met Syd.

Franklin would never forget his first meeting with the red-haired catalyst called Syd, who disturbed his equilibrium and had him affecting his world like never before, only his long years of practice avoiding negativity preventing a chain-reaction of disaster followed by catastrophe. One minute Franklin was his usual mild, friendly, neutral self, and then he was pulled off balance, to orbit forever around Syd's gravitational attraction.

Not that it was all one way, oh no. Syd was purposeful and intentional, meaning to catch the attention of the nice but mysterious Franklin, and once she did, of course, and he wanted her, there was no escape for either of them, not that they would have wanted to, or could have wanted to in Syd's case. Franklin's desire for her affected her, and made her his- good thing that is what she wanted in the first place, and was able to make him realize it.

It started like any other day, Franklin biking down to the yard, and checking out his usual cab, number 1701. A number which should be familiar to any trekkies out there, as the registry number of the U.S.S Enterprise. Being a cabbie was the perfect job for Franklin, as there was no boss over his shoulder as long as he stayed out of accidents and didn't get his photo taken by any red light cameras. His general positive attitude made for uneventful days, not to mention good tips.

Just because he was polite and friendly, not because he was affecting his fares, or so he told himself, anyway. Everyone creates self-fulfilling prophecies, it was just more pronounced in Franklin's case. Suppose you tell yourself that so-and-so is a real jerk, on not much evidence other than a bad first impression. Your reactions to them based on your negative opinion might cause them to not be too fond of you either, and as Vonnegut says in Slaughterhouse-Five, "So it goes".

When the gorgeous Red-head clambered into his cab, out of turn in the line at the air-port, Franklin returned the angry glares of the cabs ahead of him with a rueful smile and a Gaelic shrug, which seemed somehow incongruous on his dark Gipsy features. The bad manners of not taking the next cab "up" were not his, and kicking a fare out of his cab merely for breaking unwritten tradition seemed rude in and of itself, not to mention, did I mention, the said fare was gorgeous? She was, heartbreakingly so.