4. Black Magic Woman (BMW)

"I believe you," the slim petite lady with big eyes lit up like sparklers as she sipped her Spinelli coffee at Novena Shopping Centre while I bit the packet of white sugar to open it and to pour it into my cup of tea with my good right hand. My left hand's index finger, middle finger and 4th finger of my left hand were swollen and numb and could not grip. I am typing this article sparing my left index finger which was just numb and had great difficulty flexing to type.

Out of the blue, she had phoned me to meet over coffee. Prof Foo Chee Liam of Singapore General Hospital had just got the nurse to remove my hand stitches today - the 6th day after his excellent surgery and had given me the good news that the growth affecting my median nerve was not malignant. As I was available, I was able to meet this marketing lady who drove to the hospital to drive me to have coffee. It is good to share some marketing ideas of her industry. She had stood me up one Saturday afternoon when she arranged a meeting in Emerald Hill but I don't bear grudges. Why would she call me? Some months ago, I had phoned her to meet over coffee to brainstorm about her industry but she had no time.

I will call her the Black Magic Woman (BMW). What did a seasoned marketer in her late 30s believe? Well, I mentioned about my paranormal experience with the layout of the logo of one of my clients and she did not think I was nutty. I had written about this in another article. See:
http://incrediblebuttruestories.blogspot.com/2008/05/1-helping-to-design-logo.html


"I believe you," BMW looked at me after a pause. A bit of shock had overwhelmed her. She stated: "It is black magic. My dad had his bedsheet edges stained with blood for some time. Somebody had cast black magic on him as the appearance of blood came after moving to a new home."

"What makes you think it is black magic?" I enquired. "Did he harm somebody?"

"No," she said. "He did retrench a group of (non-Chinese) earlier. They must have used black magic at him. One day, he saw a red hibiscus flower inside his drawer. He phoned up this respected writer who advised him not to touch it. Otherwise he would die. This man wrote a book called Black Magic in which this incident was recorded. This author was a planner and had an interest in the paranormal."

"So, did your dad touch the hibiscus or not?" I imagined the worst fate. Dying after touching a red flower in the drawer.

"Dad had already thrown it away. Then he contacted this writer."

"Is your dad still alive?" I asked.

"Yes," BMW said and phoned her dad for the name of the author. Dad could not recall. 5 minutes later, he phoned her and gave her the name.

Now, I presumed that the incidents were recent. BMW was in her late 30s. "Did you see the blood stained bed sheets?" I enquired. Seeing is believing for non-believers.

"No," BMW said. "The incident happened before I was born! Dad and mum do not want to talk about such matters."

"In case people think that they had gone nutty?" I had to ask. She nodded.

"If your parents don't talk, how do you know about such occurrences? When did you find out?"

"When I was 7 years old," BMW said. "My parents thought I was asleep and talked about the incident with close friends. I listened behind my bedroom doors." I was surprised. She said, "Also at another time, when I was 20 years old."

That meant the paranormal claims of her parents happened more than 40 years ago. Blood appearing from thin air just is not scientifically possible to the ordinary person although in Star Trek movies, people can dissolved and beamed in and out of Starship Enterprise. It was pure science fiction. It must be black magic. That was what BMW concluded. I don't agree but I have no rational scientific explanation for you, the reader.

This is now the age of the internet. I googled "S Danaraj" who was said to be the author of "Black Magic" book. The Singapore National Library's Lee Kong Chian Reference Library really has his book, published in c1964. The book is "Mysticism in Malaya" by A G S Danaraj. The subject is under "occultism - Malaya".

It is quite painful to type this incredible encounter with BMW since I had one hand just operated upon, but I will forget what transpired if I do not record this matter at 3.05am, Tuesday, Aug 18, 2009. My experience was not really in the realm of black magic since I was just giving advice on logo design. Still seeing droplets of blood materialising on tables, body and papers are incredible and rarely encountered by the average person.