The Necklace
wasn’t there
to shop fer her
“we need to focus on
a grad gift”
but she didn’t hear that
nope
stood right there
unfazed
staring into a glass box
“mama, i have to have it …
please, i’ll do anything …
and i won’t ask for anything else
for my birthday
if you just get me this now, that’s all
i want … PLEASE …”
this went on
and on
the lady at the counter
smiled sweetly
and says that everything is on SALE
today only
75% off
“can’t we just look at it …”
so the lady opens the case
and takes the necklace out of the box
and hands it over
the begging gets worse
and I can feel another gray hair popping out
we start going back and forth
and hand it back to the lady
“we need to focus on
a grad gift”
finally I find something
reasonable
and go to check out
“but mama …” trails behind me
“yeah, no”
“but you don’t understand …”
“yeah, no”
“i’ll pay you back when we get home”
she feels me folding
I ask why
“what is it about that necklace”
and all of a sudden she gets real quiet
and looks around to make sure nobody’s listening
so I bend down
and she whispers in my ear …
“it’s magic. i know it. It looks exactly like the medallion
on that show where the girl wears it, and it gives her special powers
so she can talk to animals.”
when we get home, it doesn’t work on
the dog, the cat, the bird, the rabbit, the hamster, the fish, the second fish
but what was interesting about it all
was how it worked on her
when we typed in: blue abalone
her eyes got “minion”
“i knew it! i knew it! i knew it had magic power in it!”
she never did pay me back
well, actually, maybe she did
TL