Lightning strikes — dozens? hundreds? — lit up the early evening skies around San Diego on Thursday, providing an often-dramatic backdrop for folks who fished out their phones and played photographer.
The great thing about the storm was that it was relatively slow-moving and packed a powerful punch, with plenty of time to hit record and capture a bolt or two.
Nowhere, though, were the storm's effects captured to greater effect, though, than up in Encinitas at Stone Steps Beach. Mike Fake and his kids Beau, 10, and Phoebe, 6, heard the storm's start and headed over to the beach area, which is not far from its more famous cousin, Moonlight Beach.
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Now, there's a tradition in the family, says the kids' mom, Jenny Spencer, of claiming a hold on the supernatural.
"My dad always talks about, on the Irish side, my gramma's side, just that we can sometimes tell the future or know when the phone's gonna ring," Spencer said, adding with a laugh, "sometimes you can walk under a streetlight and tell it to go on and off — and it does."
Once they had made it down to the beach, Mike and the kids got out Dad's phone and he started rolling on Beau.
"He was trying to be a showoff, I'm sure," Jenny said, describing how Mike's camera captured the instant Beau pulled off his presto moment — alakazam! — and a bolt of lightning seemed to emanate from his fingers. "It's just perfect … it was amazing."
For a fifth-grader, Beau is taking his super powers in stride.
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"I'm not afraid," Beau said on Friday. "I'm just chill."
Still, Beau was surprised at the feat.
"I was just joking around," Beau said. "I didn't realize it was gonna happen right on my finger. I was amazed," adding, "that was one of the most craziest lightning storms I have ever seen. It was intense."
You and me both, Beau, you and me both.
So, is Beau the only Fake of this generation with something extra? Spencer said that Phoebe's powers are still maturing — the eight ball says it's not clear yet.
"Her powers haven't come yet," Spencer said. "She says she can call the butterflies … Phoebe is the Greek moon goddess, so we call her the moon goddess who can call the butterflies. Little does she know I have a million butterfly plants in the yard."
So maybe there's an ordinary explanation for Beau's powers too? He might just have a good publicist. After all, it wasn't so many years ago that NBC 7 caught up with Beau making like a leprechaun up in Encinitas, an annual rite for the fifth-generation San Diego Irishman making his way in America.
