Indigo by Clemens J. Setz Read Free Book Online

could see this color, of course, a second test was done: The woman was blindfolded, and the same children were presented to her again. This time the woman said that with no. 3 she felt a stabbing headache. Even though child no. 3 was not the same one she had originally identified, this experiment was somehow judged a success, at least the audience clapped enthusiastically for a long time, and a few magazines published articles on the strange bat woman.
    In early 2003, when the—as Frau Häusler-Zinnbret put it—problem had become acute, people everywhere began speaking of Indigo children, even though this name was criticized in esoteric circles.
    â€“ The Messmer study particularly bothered them, said Frau Häusler-Zinnbret. Me too, to be honest. Probably all of us, or . . . well . . .
    She put the fan down, picked up her book, and leafed through it. When she found the page she was looking for, she turned the book around and showed it to me. A diagram with various categories: self-esteem, interpersonal skills, group dynamic behavior, and so on, twenty-four items in all. And next to them an elegant bell curve, the helmet that nature wears to protect itself from anomalies.
    â€“ Yes, we were a little disappointed too. The pure steel of Scapa Flow, which remained untouched by world affairs, yeah, that didn’t appear to be the case, unfortunately. Wishful thinking. I basically knew that already at the time I wrote it, but it’s a great story and a good opening for a book, so . . . yeah, the study had a particularly negative effect on the parents’ hopes, of course.
    I began to copy the bell curve from the page into my notebook.
    â€“ Take it as a gift, okay?
    Frau Häusler-Zinnbret gave the book a slight push toward me.
    â€“ That’s really nice of you. Thank you very much.
    â€“ Pure selfishness. Otherwise you’d quote from the first edition, which really isn’t up-to-date.
    â€“ Okay, I said. So was that study to blame for the failure of the school project for affected children that had been planned in Riegersdorf?
    â€“ The tunnel project. Well, that fell through due to many factors.
    She picked up the fan again, moved her face back and forth in the gentle current of air. A wisp of hair fluttered behind her ear.
    â€“ Really? But the study appeared at around the same time, in late 2005. By that point, the building permits for the complex and the tunnel systems had already been issued, and the subsidies had been approved. Despite all that, nothing happened. Of course, you get conflicting information, but as far as I can gather, the Riegersdorf Indigo school project was called off, right?
    â€“ Yes, possibly. It’s so easy to lose track.
    My only real question thrust itself forward. It had waited long enough and wanted to be asked now. I let a moment of pre-explosive emptiness pass before I began to speak.
    â€“ One question, Frau Häusler. While I was working at the institute, some students moved away in the middle of the school year and afterward it was very difficult or impossible to—
    â€“ Yes?
    â€“ And once I saw one of the kids, a certain Max Schaufler, being picked up by a man. And he, that is, Max, he . . . well, he was dressed up as a chimney sweep. Like, with a sooty face and . . . I don’t know, I asked Dr. Rudolph, of course, but he said only that he had been relocated . And that he was no longer tolerable for the institute.
    â€“ And?
    A brief pause.
    â€“ Well, isn’t that strange? I said. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it before, it was really eerie, that getup.
    â€“ That’s often done, she gently interjected. Wearing costumes helps children deal with a difficult situation. I assume that that was a traumatic moment for the d . . . for this, what was the name? Max? Well, for the student.
    â€“ Okay, but—
    â€“ You often see it in cemeteries, at funerals. A child with makeup on. Dressed up as a cat or . .