Alanna Bennett joins us to explore what happens to you—physically and metaphysically—when you get into a fight with a magician. Subscribe to our newsletter for writing from Rachelle, Se'era, Jae, Alex, and Kelsey, plus blog recommendations and secrets!You can support Normal Gossip directly by buying merch or becoming a Friend or a Friend-of-Friend at supportnormalgossip.com.Our merch shop is run by Dan McQuade. You can also find all kinds of info about us and how to submit gossip on our Komi page: https://normalgossip.komi.io/Episode transcript here. Order Kelsey's book, You Didn’t Hear This From Me, here!Follow the show on Instagram @normalgossip, and if you have gossip, email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 26-79-GOSSIP.Normal Gossip is hosted by Rachelle Hampton (@heyydnae) and produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks (@seera_sharae) and Jae Towle Vieira (@jaetowlevieira). Alex Sujong Laughlin (@alexlaughs) is our Supervising Producer. Justin Ellis is Defector's projects editor. Show art by Tara Jacoby.Normal Gossip is a proud member of Radiotopia. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Chapter 1: Who joins Rachelle in this episode?
I don't want to be anywhere where there has to be a snake wrangler, but I can do it in small doses.
Not a professional snake wrangler.
So I don't want to be there in the desert. But a desert town with desert hippies? Delightful.
Yes. I want to be in a car. I don't want to be out in the desert. Correct. Yes. Okay. Today we have two friends of a friend. Their names are Madeline and Nicole. And they've been best friends since the sixth grade when they bonded over being the first in their grade to get braces. Traumatic experience. I get it. Yeah. They've been inseparable ever since. They call each other Nick and Mads.
Okay.
Oh!
Because two gens is all it took to get her going. Yeah. Yes. Nicole and Madeline have been traveling together since they had enough money to do so, so the idea of a two-day road trip is thrilling to them and not daunting. The road trip becomes even more thrilling the closer they get to town, which I will now be referring to as Tumbleweed Springs. Okay, perfect.
About 40 miles out, Madeline spots a billboard for something other than Jesus and personal injury lawyers. Alana, how do you feel about magic shows?
I've seen a magician perform. I've never been to like a place that just does magic shows, but I would be into it, I think. I would be scared of being called for audience participation. I would be into watching from afar.
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Chapter 2: How does Alana Bennett define gossip?
What do you think of this explanation? I don't like it. And my fight or flight has been activated. I have follow-up questions for Indigo about what the dousing portion means. What did you put in the water? Is it just vibes or is it something else that you put in the water?
Yeah. Nicole and Madeline are like, what the fuck have we gotten ourselves into? But Nicole's been wanting to see this show since she was a teen. So she kind of swallows her questions and she's like, you're right. I'm so sorry. Water does have memory. Can I just run out and put this in my car? And Indigo sort of huffs and is like, fine, but hurry up. The show is starting soon.
So Madeline's waiting in the theater for Nicole to get back. The theater is like half full. Only a few seconds have passed before Madeline hears angry whispers floating from behind the tattered velvet curtain on stage. Oh, no. She can't quite make out what the whispers are saying, but she can tell that one of the voices is definitely Indigo's and the other is definitely male.
Madeline's no psychic, but she's fairly certain that Indigo and the mysterious Steve are discussing Nicole. Okay.
Oh, no.
She's preparing to tell Nicole when she gets back, except as soon as Nicole reenters the theater, sans water bottle, Indigo and the mysterious Steve exit from behind the curtain and go to confront Nicole.
It was just an innocent mistake.
What would you expect a man named the mysterious Steve to look like?
Oh, no. I'm picturing like a wiry little rat man with a weird little mustache, long, dark hair, either in a braid or just like in a weird little ponytail. That's the vibe I'm getting.
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Chapter 3: What surprising gossip does Alana share?
It's true. Mal and Nicole breathe a sigh of relief as soon as they're past the city limits of Tumbleweed Springs. About 40 minutes out, they even relax enough to put on rumors, even though Indigo low-key had strong wannabe Stevie Nicks vibes. They're about two hours out of town when a police car appears behind them. And it just stays behind them, not passing them.
They're on an empty little two-lane highway, no buildings or houses around for miles. They left early enough that the sun is just now peeking over the horizon, so it's still a little dark. Nicole, who's driving, instinctively puts her hands at 10 and 2. Madeline turns down, go your own way. After a few miles of this, the cop car turns its lights on and signals for them to pull over.
Nicole and Madame look at each other, panic on both of their faces. They are both absolutely bricking it because they're absolutely certain that this is mysterious thieves doing.
This is insane.
They pull over and the officer approaches the car. Madeline and Nicole can't tell what the officer looks like because they're wearing like a 10-gallon hat and aviator shades. It could be a man or a woman. It could be Indigo or Steve or Matt. What do you do? Oh...
Oh, gosh. I don't know. I don't know. I think I just freeze and do whatever they tell me for the next 10 minutes. And then maybe, and then I definitely pull out my phone to record. Smart. For a thousand reasons. One, if it's this magician, great story. Also, sense of fear and danger.
So the officer approaches their car, motions for them to roll their window down. Before she can even ask for license and registration, Nicole and Madeline just break.
They're like, we're innocent. We swear. They're like, don't believe the magician.
The officer takes off her sunglasses, which is when Nicole and Madeline finally realize that this is a complete stranger. Okay. It doesn't make them feel much less panicked, though. Who knows how many allies Mysterious Steve has? The officer's like, I'm going to need both of you to step out the car.
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