(I know most of you don't listen to the songs I post. But, listen to this. It's near and dear to my heart and always will be.)
Today, Iz went on a field trip with kids from her after-school program. She had been excited about it all week. And, I think, despite our brilliant artistic collaborations, we both needed some time apart.
At noon, Number Two child was off for an afternoon at JumpOnIn! So, I had a quiet and leisurely afternoon planned at home. No. That didn’t happen. I had to prepare for Number One child’s field trip; that is, I had to get in the car and pick up Nate and his friend, Harry.
We were off to T&S Collectibles! It’s not Disney World; however, for Nathan and Harry it was. They were in search of Magic cards.
When Nathan was 6, he went through the Pokémon* phase. I bought cards for him, and then he traded them, lost them, and then I tragically washed his best cards, because he insisted on keeping them in the pocket of his jeans. After Pokémon, he got heavily into Legos. He briefly delved into Magic cards when he was 8. Then he dabbled in Game Cube, Playstation II, World of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons, and now he’s back to the Magic cards again!
*And, if I haven’t mentioned this before, we have a cat named after a Pokémon “move.” Barney is now the cat known as “Thunderbolt.”
When I arrived at Harry’s house (Nate slept over the night before), Nathan came out by himself. This made me wonder if Harry was still sleeping. It was 1pm, but this seems to be the sleeping schedule for these boys; they’re like vampires.
Nathan got in the car and said, “Harry’s coming.” Then he said, “I cannot be responsible for anything Harry says or does while with us.” I momentarily had the urge to burn rubber out of Harry’s driveway. But, then I thought, “We’re going to buy magic cards not weapons of mass destruction. How psycho could Harry be?!”
Once Harry was in the car, he exchanged a few words with Nathan. He then instructed me in word-for-word Mapquest speak to Route 495. Of course, I laughed if only to myself. I knew exactly how to find Route 495, but I let Harry say, “Go to the end of my street. Turn left. And we will take a left onto Route 495 in approximately 3.98 miles.”
After a 45 minute drive, we arrived at T&S Collectibles. As we walked through the parking lot, I wondered what the store would look like. But, I knew way before I wondered. It would be disorganized, cluttered, and reek of meatball subs like any good collectible place would.
If I had any doubt about my son’s character, well, I never did, but his friend, Harry, renewed my faith in mankind. Immediately upon entering, Harry approached one of the owners and said, “I bought this Magic deck from you last week. I found this Majestic Red Dragon Yugioh card in it. I don’t think you meant to include it.” The stunned storeowner said, “Wow! Yeah, that shouldn’t have been in there. This is a great card.” Harry said, “Yeah, it goes for $12-$30 online.”
Harry honestly returned a card that he could have kept. But, he didn’t. The most disappointing part of it was that the owner didn’t reward his honesty by saying, “Hey, $5 off your next purchase.”
As Nathan and Harry perused the Magic cards in the cases, I milled around the store. I loved looking at the comic books with the titles “A Very Zombie Xmas,” “Red Sonja,” “Irredeemable,” “Snake Woman,” and, go figure, even Stephen King puts his name on comic books (Dark Towers and The Stand) now. I couldn’t believe that comic books, all 10 pages of them, cost $2.99 a read!
Harry and Nathan began to look through binders of Magic cards. These binders sported the names “Onslaughter,” “Invasion,” “Conflux,” “Prophecy,” and “Nemesis.” And, there were still many more binders displayed on the shelves.
I glanced at a flyer on a bulletin board. It advertised the “Pro Tour Qualifier” in East Hartford, Connecticut. I never thought playing Magic cards was like high-stakes poker. The winner of this tournament got to go to San Juan to play. I then realized that like anything you do with a passion, it does become serious stuff.
As Nate and Harry poured through cards in binders, two more kids their age came in. At one point, one of them plunked his 13” Samsung laptop down on the counter and started it up. He said, “I want to buy some cards.” One of the owners asked, “How much?” He said, “About $20, but I have to check.” It would appear that this kid had his whole Magic card inventory catalogued on his laptop.
I still wasn’t understanding the whole magic card thing then, especially when Harry said to Nate, “I want to rebuild my goblin deck.” Whaaaat? Nathan looked at me, and before he could say anything, I said, “Take your time. Just tell me when you need my credit card.” He said, “Thanks, Mom.” (He was spending his birthday money from Aunt Julie and Uncle Jack.)
Just then, I took another look around the store. How many times could I pass by the comic books without reading one? It didn’t last too long.
As I went by Nate and Harry again, another kid about their age looked in the case. He gasped. He then said, “$80? Why did I sell that card in the off-season?” Jeez, who knew there was an off-season for Magic cards?!
After I looked at everything in the store three times, I went over to the comic books and picked up “Wonder Woman.” Hey, Lynda Carter never looked as good as she did in this comic book’s version of her. It would appear that now she works out more and wears way much less clothing than the Wonder Woman of my youth.
As I read through the pages, I thought, “Wow. I could write this stuff.” Though, I would seriously have to downsize my word count to fit it into all into those tiny bubbles. Obviously, “When I went back to the house, things were very different from the last time I had been there. The rooms were filthy, the furniture faded, and the cob web were so thick, they looked as though they were decoration rather than filth” would have to be pared down to “It’s just not the same.”
After completing the whole April issue of Wonder Woman, I knew this wasn’t my genre. Besides, at the end, I didn’t like it when I turned the last page and some green male super hero had shown up to save Wonder Woman’s day. What made it even worse was his parting lines went “…in fact, we’re going to kick this night’s ass. So let’s get on with it.” Um, yeah, that was lame and so not inspiring.
After an hour, Nathan and Harry had purchased what they needed to complete their decks. I know Nathan knew I was bored out of my mind, so he thanked me periodically. I wasn’t really bored out of my mind; it just wasn’t my cup of tea. I love being there, because I was fascinated by a world I had never known before. There was a big difference between boredom and fascination.
On the way home, Nate said to Harry, “I got a vampire card!”
Harry said, “That’s $15 online!”
Then Nate said, “Oh, I got a comet.”
Harry said, “That’s awesome. A comet is like a fireball on heroin.”
It was like they were both speaking Swahili; however, I was glad to be there. And while not speaking their language, I understood it anyway; they were happy and so was I. I had learned something new and had an appreciation for Magic cards that I didn’t previously.
As we drove home, I thought about my brother, Jack, at this age. He didn’t want to have anything to do with any of us in the family. I’m sure some kids are still like that today; however, I was lucky because, even if I didn’t “get” magic cards, at 17, Nathan still wanted me in his world. ♥
My Co-Artist Was Gone Today But I Did Not Want to Disappoint Note:
Sailing the Catboat, Winslow Homer (1875)
Medium (2010): Liam on Iz’s bed with Strawberry Shortcake dolls from McDonald’s Happy Meals with printer paper sail attached to Hello Kitty pencil
No comments:
Post a Comment