One of the myriad distinguishing characteristics of the Aeolani offsetting them from the normality of the rest of us is their taste for rocks.

Like everything else about them, there is no such thing as proof. Their illusive and baffling nature has pretty much assured us of that. But the snippets...the anicdotal references (albeit only a handful, but never the less consistent) point to the fact that this may indeed be true...that the Aeolani eat rocks.

If it is it would make them a cheap dinner date...unless of course, you find yourself out on the towns of New York, Miami or Los Angeles where the bedrock has, alas, been thoroughly asphalted and built over. Wait staff in those quarters probably have no recognition that actual rocks even exist in the neighborhood and will probably respond to a menu deviation request like that by sending you to the beach.

Two known accounts (and probably reputable) reiterate the observation of high-powered gunfire (by obvious idiots) resulting in a strange sounding ricochet off the aeolani targets...who of course immediately disappeared , leaving only some strange flesh-colored stone fragments on the ground and the memory of that echoing careen of a flattened and ricocheted bullet in the ears.

How can a creature, identical in every recognizable attribute and appearance to ourselves...indeed, when properly attired, be indistinguishable in a crowd, move, talk, breathe, have sex and sing...when they are actually made of stone?

You can tackle that one. I plan to leave it alone.

But there is, deep in the mountains and drained by the Crystal River, a vine covered and barely distinguishable quarry...and this piece of evidence I have actually found and with my own eyes beheld. It is a ancient excavation...an uncovering from the parchment wrapping of overburden sandstone and glacial debris..a vein of gorgeous, sensual marble. It is pristine white and glistens in any light. From place to place, light pastels rivulets of amber, black, blue and green weave through it.

Much of the abandoned quarry is chiseled and blasted in rectilinear blocks and bore hole corrugations as was customary to the technology of that long past era when stone was used for building, sculpture, commemoration and decor.

But here and there are the stunning, heart stopping marks of undeniable evidence that this has also served as the historic and even current haunt of the Aeolani.

There, in occasional grottos (I found 6 or 7) stashed in dark and cornered places are the outcroppings of marble bearing the hair-raising marks of human teeth. Not just here and there either. In those grottos are walls and buttresses myriad with the denture demarkations...as though the entire dell has been carved out of stone eaten away by the aeolani.

The sense of impossibility and time are stunning. So out of context with our experiences and capabilities are these places that you can spend an entire afternoon reasoning with yourself trying to become convinced that you are not seeing what indeed you are definitely seeing...and every time you open your eyes...there are the millions of teeth marks obviously cumulative (by evidence of overgrowth and stains) over the span of many centuries.

Still, and there are others who will posit similar claims, I have personally touched and shaken hands with at least two beings almost assuredly Aeolani (from other reports) and their feel is as warm, subtle and human as yours or mine.

Like so many other anomalies that surround these mystic beings, this one defies conventional explanation. How can you go on any further about it? There it is. All that we know. Most probably little less than we will ever know. But if we are to talk about these beings who have given our lives and futures so much hope...we cannot help but include some small bit of text regarding their bizarre taste.....

....the bizarre taste of the Aeolani for rocks.