In the Land of Cotton Candy Clouds
Haines City Florida - Lynn Norgate (43) lives a quiet life in this small town that's basically a bump in the road between Tampa and Orlando.
"Nothing big has happened here since they closed down Circus World," says Lynn referring to the now defunct theme park. We're sitting in her home at the Haines City Trailer Park. Outside the window I can hear the roar of citrus trucks as they travel from the groves to one of the many processing plants that line Highway 27. Lynn use to work at one such plant but was forced to quit 5 years ago as her eyes developed severe nystagmus as a side effect from being an albino. She now earns a meager living as an envelope stuffer. Most days you can find her sitting on the abandoned concrete square where a neighboring trailer use to be, watching the tourists go past her on the Interstate.
The concrete square behind Lynn's trailer is a prime spot for cloud busting
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"In some ways I'm lucky. I'm what they call a tyrosine positive albino which means I can go outside and not get a sunburn if I make sure and put on sunscreen. So in the morning I usually get up at 8 or so and pack the envelopes but by 2 or so I like to go outside and watch the traffic go by. In the summer you can gather up the oranges that drop off the trucks and make your own juice. When their isn't any traffic I just look up at the clouds and imagine shapes in them."
And maybe because of all the time she has spent staring up at the sky Lynn has discovered she has the ability to make clouds disappear at will.
"I call it cloudbusting. I can't do it all the time but if I've been staring up at the sky long enough sometimes I just get this feeling. Like I can feel this cotton candy all around me. I can just move my arms and start squeezing it all small and while I'm doing that the clouds just get smaller and smaller until they disappeared."
I sat with Lynn by her home for half a hour and while I did feel relaxed, I didn't see Lynn make any clouds bust.
"Like I said, sometimes I can do it and sometimes I can't," said Lynn. "It's not anything I can turn on and off like a faucet."
Luckily for me (and for all of you out their in cyberspace) Lynn's stepbrother filmed her in the process of cloudbusting earlier this year. She was happy to loan the tape to me and it's now available for you to watch.
editors note-
After viewing the film I get the feeling that Lynn's stepbrother has a home video system set up in his garage. Lynn seemed sincere enough about her ability and didn't even ask for money for the interview but I definitely think that someone is trying to pull the wool over our eyes with some real cheesy special effects.
sources
interview with Lynn Norgate, March 25th, 1998
photo by Derek Barnes
quicktime movie courtesy of Lynn Norgate and Thomas Simmons
