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A Glowing Adolescent By Mark Ewert Four years ago, San Francisco novelist Michelle Tea spent the night in a live/work space with her friend Madonna and Michelle's then girlfriend, Li'l Kim (names changed by me in the spirit of fun). The space was part of a huge warehouse that art kids had carved up into private residences by building lots of box lofts with ladders. At one of Madonna's slumber parties with her big feather bed, fluffy comforter and pillows, Li'l Kim was suffering from violent menstrual cramps. After Kim had been soothed with acupressure on the small of her back and the "murmuring of consoling things," everyone finally fell asleep. Immediately Michelle started having bad dreams. Waking up with a start, she saw a "glowing adolescent" leaning over Madonna, who was still asleep. The figure, who was now face-to-face with Madonna, had curly black hair. After a moment it turned to look at Michelle. Its lip trembled. Up to this moment, Michelle had always wanted to see ghosts, aliens, what have you, but when she actually saw this being "made of pure light" she "so did not want to see it." After Michelle did two or three double-takes, the thing finally went away. Fully freaked out by now, Michelle quickly woke up Madonna and Kim. The next few months Michelle asked everyone she met about their experiences with ghosts and questioned people in the warehouse about possible spirit-dwellers therein. The more she pondered her own encounter, the more she recalled that the ghost had looked a little like Li'l Kim. And Li'l Kim, it turned out, had been crushed out on Madonna all along. Was the glowing teen a premenstrually induced projection of forbidden desire? Obviously. Seen something unusual or even supernatural that the kids should know about? SFupernatural welcomes your story. Send leads to: SFupernatural, San Francisco Metropolitan, 1776A 18th St., San Francisco, CA 94107. Or email us at [email protected]. [ San Francisco | MetroActive Central | Archives ]