Weather Influencer
WEATHER INFLUENCER – May 8, 2024 – Florence, South Carolina, USA
“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” – Mark Twain (maybe)
           When Rebecca Teeples began experimenting with mind control, she never imagined it would lead to weather control. All she wanted was a little relief from insomnia and anxiety. She discovered breathing and meditation exercises while web surfing and searched a little deeper to find countless narrated tutorials and breathing sessions. Rebecca’s mind and body caught on easily. After two days of following virtual instructors, she could reach a relaxed state in only two deep breaths.
“Breathe in peace,” Rebecca thought to herself as she slowly inhaled to entirely fill her lungs. “Breathe out fear,” she thought, letting the air escape just as slowly. As long as she repeated the words and concentrated on her breathing, she remained unusually calm. With her eyes closed, she could reach the meditative state even in a noisy, crowded room. She returned to full consciousness, stress free and refreshed.
Amazed by how effectively self-hypnosis reduced anxiety in her mind, Rebecca tried it on other parts of her body. She removed a lingering pain in her foot by repeating “relief” in her mind as she breathed in and “pain” as she breathed out. She focused her thoughts on her foot, and with each breath, the pain decreased. She did the same thing with a sunburn and then meditated to have sweet dreams while she slept. Her dreams of travel, food, and music grew so delicious, she could hardly wait to go to bed.
When the sun shone and the temperature was warm, Rebecca fell into the habit of meditating in her backyard garden for at least fifteen minutes each day. She noticed that her vegetables grew faster and thicker than any she had planted in the past. She wondered if her meditation sessions had anything to do with it and whether she had the power to connect her mind with the world around her. If so, could she control more than her own body?
Sitting next to her vegetable plants, Rebecca had her first wild idea about weather control. Her backyard was to host a birthday party for her nephew the next day and the forecast called for drizzle. A rained-out birthday party was not the end of the world for a child and his friends, but what if Rebecca concentrated on blue skies instead?
The next morning, Rebecca sat outside and breathed in “sunshine” and breathed out “rain”. Focusing was unusually difficult, as if she was battling an unseen natural force. She felt exhausted by the time the party started, but the clouds overhead parted and a beam of sunshine enveloped her neighborhood. As her nephew and friends played freeze-tag and duck-duck-goose, a rainbow arched across the sky.
“It’s a miracle we didn’t get wet,” Rebecca’s sister remarked. “What a perfect party.”
Rebecca let herself excitedly believe she had actual power. She had discovered a secret energy and changed what had previously been unchangeable. She eagerly repeated her weather meditation whenever she was part of an outdoor event and found that she could indeed affect temperatures and precipitation. She thought of it as influence rather than control. She could not turn back massive storms or atmospheric rivers, but she could redirect groups of clouds and push the temperature toward something more pleasant. And Rebecca had to admit it did not work 100% of the time. It mostly worked. It worked enough for her meditation exercise to be worthwhile.
After two months of convincing experiments, Rebecca itched to share her secret with someone. She realized that claiming power over nature, even when watering the claim down to mere “influence”, subjected her to ridicule and psychiatric evaluation. It was not something you advertised lightly, even to family members. Rebecca could already hear the laughter from her brother as he called her a witch doctor and asked to see her rain dance. But she had to tell someone and decided it would be her best friend, Alison. Rebecca had been her friend’s closest confidante when Alison went through a divorce. If anyone owed Rebecca the benefit of her doubts, it was Alison.
As they ate dinner together in their favorite local restaurant, Rebecca looked around to make sure no one was listening and then blurted out to Alison, “I need to tell you something. I can control the weather.”
“Excuse me?” replied Alison, thinking she must have misheard.
“It’s more like influence the weather. Through meditation. I’ve done it lots of times. Does that sound crazy?”
“I guess I’ve heard crazier things.”
“Then you believe me?”
“I believe everything else you say, so why not this? But it would be nice to see some proof.”
Rebecca recounted the events she affected over the last two months, urging Alison to remember how nice the weather was at particular concerts and trips to a lake.
Alison nodded her head but looked unconvinced. “I guess I’d still want to see it live. I mean, know beforehand that you were influencing.”
“Do you have something in mind?”
“My lawn’s looking parched. How about doing something about it?”
Rebecca pulled out her phone and checked the weather forecast. “They’re calling for high clouds tomorrow. Mostly sunny. I’ll see what I can do.”
She spent the next morning repeating “rain” as she breathed deeply and pictured Alison’s two-story house and lawn. She got a call before noon. The sound of heavy rain and thunder could be heard behind Alison’s voice. “That’s enough! Turn it off!”
“Your lawn’s better?”
“It’s going to be underwater soon.”
“You believe me now?”
“How could I not?”
When the two friends next met in person, all they talked about was how Rebecca might use her secret power. “I want to help people. Not be selfish,” Rebecca said dreamily.
“Well, sure. But what if you could also make some money? Maybe that sounds crude. But I’m thinking about a career where you could help people and use your gift.”
Rebecca admitted she liked the idea, if Alison thought it would not violate some law of nature. “Who could I work with?” she wondered.
“Farmers. Cities in deserts that need rain. Or a golf tournament.” Alison’s face suddenly lit up. “Wedding planners! An outdoor wedding is totally ruined by bad weather.”
“That’s true,” Rebecca said with a thoughtful smile.
“And I know a wedding planner. She does all the big ones around here.”
“Do you think she’d, you know, believe in me?”
Alison paused to consider the question. “She’s sweet and open-minded. I think there’s a chance.”
Alison arranged for them to meet the wedding planner, Brooke Wright, at her home. Rebecca fussed over what to wear, to look convincing. What would people expect to see from someone who controlled the weather? She pictured herself in wizard’s robes or a superhero jumpsuit. Too kooky. How about going the other way and wearing a lab coat as if she was a scientist? Rebecca settled on a long, flowing white dress. She stuck a small yellow flower in her curled hair and concluded from her reflection that she looked in touch with nature.
Brooke invited Alison and Rebecca to join her around her kitchen table. Brooke wore loose exercise clothing as if she was about to start a workout. She asked about Alison’s kids and laughed easily over a story involving them kidnapping a neighborhood dog.
“So what is this all about?” Brooke asked, ready to learn the purpose of the visit.
Alison did most of the talking as she explained Rebecca’s weather influence. She emphasized the way Rebecca flooded her lawn as proof. “We thought if anyone could use some help with the weather, it would be you. What do you think?”
Brooke smiled in an unreadable way. “You’re right about the weather. It can make all the difference in customer satisfaction. Whether you can actually do anything about it, well, I suppose I’ve seen a lot of things in my life that seem unbelievable at first. What are you proposing?”
“Rebecca can be your weather influencer. Give you an extra boost to make things go smoothly.”
Brooke turned to Rebecca. “And what do you get out of it?”
Rebecca swallowed hard. “It is a lot of work for me. If you’re happy with how things turn out, maybe there could be some compensation.”
“If you truly have some power or whatever, it could save the day. I guess I’m open to a trial run before we talk terms.”
Rebecca was called into action the very next weekend for a gigantic golf course wedding. Brooke and the bride’s family gambled that the skies would be clear and had no backup plan if they were not. The weather channels predicted thunderstorms and bouts of rain. Rebecca showed up to the golf course wearing her long white dress. Brooke hurried her to a quiet corner of the clubhouse and urged her to get busy. An hour later, a V-shaped cloud barrier formed around the golf course. The incoming storm split in two, leaving warm temperatures and blue skies inside the barrier.
“I want you at all my weddings from now on,” Brooke told Rebecca.
From that point, the percentage of satisfied customers and picturesque weddings increased in a noticeable way. Rebecca provided great peace of mind for Brooke and was paid a $1000 influencer fee for each event. Brooke passed it on to her clients as a charge for “weather management”. Most of the time it simply got overlooked among the long list of items on their bill.
The majority of Rebecca’s work in the South Carolina climate was redirecting rain showers. Sometimes storms arrived that were too powerful to move and a wedding got rained out. Rebecca felt deep disappointment and refused any payment no matter how much meditation time she spent. But most of the time it worked. Rebecca felt powerful and fulfilled as she watched happy couples and families enjoy the greatest day of their lives. She also liked the important way Brooke treated her as a secret weapon.
Like any valuable secret, Brooke’s could not stay hidden long. Rebecca got stealthy calls from other wedding planners who wanted to match Brooke’s arrangement. Before long, Rebecca was influencing a wedding every week. She often traveled 90 minutes to Columbia or Myrtle Beach and took each event seriously and personally. Some weather demanded a true battle and hours’ worth of focused meditation.
           All the work made Rebecca feel more important than ever, but she still wondered if she should be doing more with her gift. Popular stories about characters who could control the elements showed them acting heroically for millions of people, not worrying over wedding inconveniences. While Rebecca worried about her place in the world, one of her new wedding planner friends happened to mention her to a manager at the racetrack in Darlington. The manager had complained about the upcoming Goodyear 400 NASCAR race and how wet spring weather could ground the racers and disappoint 100,000 people.
“You need to talk with my friend,” the wedding planner said. “She can take care of all that for you.”
The track manager was intrigued and requested a private meeting with Rebecca. She drove twelve miles to Darlington expecting to chat only with the manager. She felt ambushed when she walked into an office to find three men, one of whom was an executive from Fox Sports named Garret Straddeck. Garret was invited because Fox would be broadcasting the race.
“Rebecca comes highly recommended from a good friend of mine,” the track manager said as an introduction. “She’s got an interesting skill I think could help us out. Go ahead and explain, Rebecca.”
The three men acted cordial but impatient as Rebecca tried to explain weather meditation. “You see, I work a lot with weddings to ensure things go smoothly. I have some influence over the weather. I started kind of small. Now I’m busy every week.”
Garret’s expression turned from impatient to bothered. “Back up. What was that you said about the weather?”
“I influence it. Mostly keep it from raining.”
Garret looked at the other two men in the room. “Is this a joke? What are we doing here?”
“My friend swears it works,” said the track manager. “Rebecca charges a fee and I figure it would be like a little insurance policy for us. How much would you charge, Rebecca?”
Rebecca was flustered but she managed to say, “For something as big as your race, it would take a lot of work. I think it would be worth about $10,000.”
Garret scoffed and looked around like the others in the room were speaking in toddler gibberish. “This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. If we wrote checks to everyone who promised to pray for sunny skies, or whatever it is she does, we’d be instantly bankrupt.” Garret looked directly at Rebecca. “I don’t have time for this. It’s insulting.”
She was not used to being handled so roughly and it awakened Rebecca’s temper. “I could make it rain. How would you like that?”
Garret stood up to leave and replied, “Go ahead. Please, cast your spell or whatever you do.”
The track manager tried to apologize, but Rebecca left Darlington emotionally scarred. She was not vengeful by nature, but she ached to hurt Garret Straddeck and wash away his race. She pictured the pain on his smug face as he realized he could only broadcast cars stuck inside the waterlogged track. That would prove she was legitimate and not a con artist. He would beg for her help at his next race and gladly pay any price.
While she imagined Garret’s suffering, she remembered the wedding of a family friend that was supposed to take place in Florence during the weekend of the race. Her hometown was only twelve miles from Darlington. She did not have the influence precision to create a downpour at the track and leave the wedding unscathed. She checked the forecast, which predicted mostly cloudy skies. If she was going to be effective, she would need to fully commit to either rain or sunshine,
Rebecca slept poorly that night. Her decision would likely decide the course for the rest of her life. Could she be satisfied in the background at regional weddings? Could she endure continual confrontation with people like Garret?
When dawn arrived, Rebecca stepped out to her vegetable garden, sat on the cool ground, and ran her fingers through the dirt. She breathed deep, repeating “mild sunshine” as she inhaled. Racing conditions at Darlington turned out to be perfect. The wedding later that day was beautiful in every way.
           During the newly married couple’s first dance, Rebecca shared a warm smile with Brooke and Alison. It felt good to be around people who believed and appreciated her. She accepted that most people in the world were like Garret and would remain skeptical no matter how many times she proved effective. Rebecca had found her peace and her place. She would never ask for more.
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