Ignis Fatuus?

Clem, a storyteller friend of my father from 65 years ago,

always used the hootygoofer gimmick word.

It decorated his rapidly-moving, creative yarns

by adding ambiguity to an imaginative storyline.

Hootygoofer is surely a classic casuistry.

That delusion distracted us kids.

It generated an image that was different for each. 

It plunged us into foolish fire uncertainty--

Will of the wisp or worse?

Creative tension among listeners made the fable evolve.

No one afterward remembered the same tale.

Each spiel, told on different days, generated contrasting hootygoofer images.

I can’t regenerate any of them. His tracks are covered.

It is about creating divergence in listening— politician stuff!

When is this a good or bad thing? Can it add to communication?

Why do I think about it? Did he know what he was doing?

Was this by Clem’s design?

I met him again after 50 years of hootygoofer memories.

He acted as if he barely remembered the word!

Was he phony and foxy--covering something?

When mom saw him she was not eager to speak to him—why?

Was he after the kids? Was he a pedophile?

A submerged personality? These thoughts were not sensed or discussed then.

I feel almost ashamed to suggest it. We never thought it until now.

Hootygoofers can masquerade or “fig leaf”.

How many are in our lives? Are they real or imagined?

Should we care? Are we too self-centered?

Too protected to appreciate creative experiences?

Above

The Will o' the Wisp and the Snake by Hermann Hendrich (1854-1931)

Public Domain: Wikimedia Commons

I love children, but I feel uneasy with all the nasty stuff which you hear about so often between kids and pedophiles. Do adults use creative stories or illusions/magic often to court children into sex? It is a shame to be suspicious of lively stories, but maybe we have to be?  I don’t know what I think of this memory yet...