El Siboney

A friend from Key West, Jim Moseley, called me late Monday evening. I hadn’t talked to him for several years, but we had corresponded. Usually, I write him in response to something he has written in his iconic newsletter called SAUCER SMEAR. Unless you happen to be a UFO-naut or nut, you’ve probably never heard of it. SMEAR has a circulation of several hundred ‘non-subscribers’ as he calls us.

Jim gleefully and humorously impales know-it-alls in the UFO field, deconstructing believers and debunkers alike, and especially those who take themselves too seriously. One of his favorite targets is the Amazing Randi, who in turn, from time to time, shakes his metaphorical fist and threatens to sue and send Saucer Smear into another dimension.

Jim is old-school eccentric. No computer for him. His eight-page monthly screed is composed on an electric typewriter and sent through snail-mail. Friends and contributors send him printouts from the ‘wretched Net,’ as he calls it, allowing him to keep up on the latest. Meanwhile, he vows never to Google.

Even though I hadn’t heard his voice for a long time, I wasn’t surprised by his call. I’d written him a few weeks ago about my upcoming appearance on the History Channel’s UFO Hunters to talk about my Bermuda Triangle book. He told me I’d pulled a cool ‘Bermuda Triangle move’ by completely disappearing from the said program. Good one, Jim.

I mentioned that the next time we’re in Key West, we should meet him at a certain Cuban restaurant a couple of blocks off Truman. He asked the name of it, and I drew a blank.

After hanging up, I casually picked up a book on my desk called Synchronicity and You: Understanding the Role of Meaningful Coincidence in Your Life, which I intended to page through. First, I noticed that beneath the book was the latest edition of SMEAR, which I hadn’t looked at yet. Then, I opened the book to a marked page and was astonished to find that the marker was a business card to El Siboney, the Cuban restaurant in question, where we ate in February. So there it was: a synchronicity stuck inside a synchronicity book!
Rob