Magic runs in the family, so when cousin Rupert comes to spend the summer with Damson and her mother, there are magic tricks, a little transdimensional tomfoolery, and, of course, poetic justice.
Somewhere between waking and sleeping on our journey towards the unfathomable deep, there comes a thin moment where we have one foot in the waking world and the other is in that other world where we relinquish conscious control.
Pausing here and straddled between two planets that drive one another like gears, the attentive traveler will notice a narrow door only wide enough to slide through.
This is the border of sleep, where imagination and reality are braided together, a chasm in the crust of consciousness, venting the hot pumice of imagery into the irresistible magma of narrative.
Welcome to episode 48 of Stories from the Borders of Sleep, a podcast of curious tales from from bordersofsleep.com featuring original stories by your host Seymour Jacklin.
You can check out bordersofsleep.com for more information, to leave feedback, or to buy me a coffee to support the podcast.
And you can find us on Facebook as well, where it's always lovely to meet listeners and to interact with them a little bit.
However you want to get in touch, I will always try to respond the cello soundtrack for this week's episode is by Hans Christian from the album Undefended Heart, which is available from magnitude.com so if you are ready to journey with me, then I shall begin to catch a skerry.
By Seymour Jacklin Cousin Rupert's visit was very much anticipated by Damson.
In particular, she was looking forward to having a playmate for the summer who wouldn't dismiss her as a complete oddball.
Cousin Rupert's branch of the family also had magic in their blood, and the last time they had seen each other it had been fun.
Hours of fun, sitting on the patio with a bucket and levitating water droplets while trying to mould them into shapes.
That was a few years ago.
As it turned out, anticipating his visit was perhaps the best bit.
It turned out that in the intervening years, Rupert had become something of a show off.
It was probably just a phase, but he'd developed a swagger and become preoccupied with using his powers for pranks.
While Damson's mother had been systematic in helping her to develop and use her abilities, Rupert seemed to have been left to his own unruly devices, much to the frustration of Damson and her mother.
It only took a few hours for Damson to figure out that it had probably been contrived that Cousin Rupert would spend a few weeks with them to tame him a little, teach him a little etiquette, magical manners if you will.
And this was all a conspiracy by the grown ups who were hoping that Damson's example might rub off on him for the better.
Rupert had truly orange hair and freckles.
He'd been chubbier the last time Damson had seen him, but he'd turned the corner towards manhood, become leaner, taller, and more angular, and had the beginnings of an Adam's apple showing.