The first time it happened it was so fast no one really noticed.

I just felt, for a moment, lighter.

The next time it happened in Starbucks down Crowlsey Lane. There it lasted for a couple of minutes and had people pulling crucifxes out of their pockets or chanting hymns to the dead over me.

For a while there they put me on headline news. “Man Lights Up With Perspicuous Pun” I ended up flashing onscreen almost everywhere for a few weeks. Then something else happened and the media got bored.

The Taxman wanted to tax all my extra earnings, the neighbor’s dog peed on my shoes. My wife divorced me, thinking it would be a bright idea to get away from me for a while. At least until all the publicity dimmed. My job fired me because my quarterly reports were less than glowing.

And so it went on for weeks, months.

I was a dying star… Until McCafferty came along.