The First Time I Was Charmed

Yesterday brought back many memories. I saw friends that I have not seen for 40 years.

We talked about games we played, other children we knew, and how life is different now.

We spoke of a family that lived behind us that was touched by the tragedy of losing a child, and how we all shared yards like they were our own.  No fences divided us and the area we played seemed endless.

We were all different ages.  My sister was probably one of the youngest at three years old, and Karen, our neighbor, was a mature woman of ten.  Roy was in high school and was totally out of our league.  He did not hang around with us, but we watched him in awe as he played his drums and got to have his own room.

Bruce was younger than Roy, but was still a much older man to me.  Playing with his younger siblings was always fun, but when he was there something exciting and new was added to our younger group.

One overcast day we were swinging on his swingset, and he got bored and started to dig for worms.  The girls kept swinging, and Bruce was telling us he was finding some big fat ones.  Then he said the terrible words, "And I found an especially juicy one for you...PENELOPE..." I froze.

I could not swing but I could not get off the swing either.  Something bad was going to happen--so I covered my eyes with my hands.  I think I was shaking a little.  I heard the others girls yelling ewwwwww!!!! and no no no!!  I was imagining a worm nightmare behind my closed eyes. Would he put the worm in my hair?  Would he throw it at me? Then I heard everyone telling me to look and open my eyes!  Open your eyes!! 

And there, about a foot from my face, was a daisy.  And about a foot behind that stood Bruce, with a simple grin on his face.  He held it there for about two more seconds, then said,

"Here."

Part of my mind remembers him saying something almost wise after that like "see, things aren't always what they seem..." but I can't say for sure.

I took the daisy and smiled non-stop for the rest of the week.  I did not fall madly in love with Bruce or even think he liked me, but something was new and different in my life.  Not everything turned out bad that I imagined would.

Today I look for the magic in everyday life.  Many times the smallest things contain the biggest wonders.  Did the daisy event with Bruce have something to do with this?  I don't know for sure, but maybe it did.

One thing I DO know is if you want to find something, you actually have to look for it.  :)

Selfish or Not? My Own Wishes

I was thinking of my New Year's resolutions and things I would like to do differently in 2012. I was thinking how I could be a better person and what I could do for others.  I was also thinking what I would wish for in 2012.

Of course I would like world peace, and an end to disease and hunger.  I wish for those things without even thinking any more.

But I found myself thinking in a new direction this New Year's eve.  I had my eyes screwed shut and I was wishing like a five year old right before blowing out the candles on a birthday cake.  I wanted stuff for ME.

I thought of a bigger house, a very sparkly pair of diamond hoop earrings, and a never-ending pass to a spa for pedicures and massages.  I want my son to do wonderfully in school, to have a peaceful relationship with my husband, to have a successful writing career, and my pets to vanish.  While we are at it, I would love someone to cook for me.

I am not a terrible person, it just felt so good to think about myself for a change.  And I let myself revel about this without feeling guilty.  It was great.        

I pondered this for a while.  I still want the bigger picture--no more war and hunger and pain, but maybe I will put my own wishes back in the picture just a little bit.  I think it is OK to conjure up some of that five year old magic for ourselves sometimes. 

What would be your three wishes?

(Please visit my new blog and help with the Eclectic Reader Challenge of 2012   http://www.penelopecrowereads.blogspot.com/ ) :) 

Mr. Kris, My Dad, and First Editions--A True Story

My short story, Henry and Greta, is a modern take on Hansel and Gretel, with a Christmas twist thrown in for Kim Koning's Holiday Hop contest. 

I wanted to write a modern fairy tale...I wanted it to be magic. 

In the story the mysterious Mr. Kris with his eight barking dogs has a book store in the Waldorf Astoria.  He has a journal from DaVinci, and the first editions of Dracula by Bram Stoker and Animal Farm by George Orwell.  Ahhhh...to have such a bookstore...

And back to real life...

The day after Christmas my doorbell rang.  I told my smiling dad to come in.  He handed me a bag.  I removed two carefully wrapped books--Dracula by Bram Stoker and Animal Farm by George Orwell.  Touched that he read my story, I thanked him.  Then he told me they were both first editions...

Really?!  Come on...
I asked him where he got them, and when.  He told me he has had them for a while, and thought I would like them...
I LOVE them.

I think the story DOES have a little magic...

Please read my story, Henry and Greta at Kim Koning's blog.

 http://dragonflyscrolls.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/holidayhop-welcomes-penelope-crowe-last-chance-to-win-some-prizesenter-now/

Thanks Dad  :)

Fairy Tale

This is Day 23 from my novella 100 Unfortunate Days. ----->

Day 23

Once there was a little girl. She went into her grandmother’s special cabinet and took out all the scarves. Some were bright pink with gold coins sewn to them, some were square and some were rectangular, one had the bright eyes of many foxes, but all were silk. She knew the scarves were magic, and she brought them outside with a basket of clothes pins. She hung the scarves on the weeping willow tree in the back yard…all around the low-hanging outside branches, and formed a beautiful house with windows and a big door that opened and closed. As she clipped the last pin to the last scarf the house filled with gold furniture, and the fox jumped off the scarf and became her pet. She could hear music in her head and could light fire with her fingertips. She looked up into the night sky and she knew how old the stars were. Her eyes were the clear green of the ocean and she did not have to blink. She knew all the languages of the world and as she lay on the ground the earth swallowed her. It held her as she slept and in the morning she left her scarf house with the fox and went in to the woods. She took her pocket knife and carved her name in a tree that grew the wood that would someday form her coffin. She cut her hand on the knife and her blood dropped on the ground. A crow flew down from the sky and landed at her feet near the blood. “Go home.” it said and flew away. She followed a trail of poisonous mushrooms deeper into the woods and fell to her knees at the sight of the moon in the distance. She closed her eyes and went home to her silk house. Her parents missed her very much and her grandmother was not even mad anymore that she played with her scarves without asking. But she did not know this, and she did not miss them. She cut the lemon tart that was her breakfast and picked raspberries from the bush next to the weeping willow tree. One day she missed her parents and she went home, but they did not know her…she was not a little girl any more.

Recipe for Love

I don't believe there is a tried-and-true path to true love, I do not believe all loves last, but I do believe we can have more than one true love in our lives.  Although I am not a magician or witch, I wish there were some type of magic we could do to make that special someone love us forever.  And there have been times when I wished a love would just end. 
Here is a Recipe for Love taken from 100 Unfortunate Days, and don't forget...be careful what you wish for...

Recipe for Love.

3 ounce of rum (can be spiced, coconut—anything—) that has been left in the moonlight for 3 nights.  If you leave it in the waxing moon, the person will notice you, if you leave it in the waning moon, the person will leave, if you leave it in a full moon the connection will last forever—whether you like it or not.

3 leaves of fresh mint

3 grains of salt

3 grains of sugar

3 ounces of club soda or seltzer

3 ice cubes

3 tiny pieces of a fresh basil leaf

Put all ingredients in a metal or glass shaker (no plastic because it will steal the energy) and shake very quickly to a slow count of 3 with your eyes closed.  Serve immediately.  Do not serve this drink to more than one person—you would pay for that mistake for the rest of your life.

I think we all believe in some form of magic...

A well-composed book is a magic carpet on which we are wafted to a world that we cannot enter in any other way. Caroline Gordon