Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Under the old oak tree...

Yesterday afternoon I was strolling by my neighbors (well, actually I wasn't strolling, they were having a garage sale...and they are Philip's grown kids having the sale)....anyway, I walked on over and kept bringing lovely little items back to the house. Some I have hidden under the bed or on bookshelves or in the back wash house (for the time being!)

Anyway, on the late afternoon stroll with the slanting golden orb above, there was a gentleman in an orange and yellow striped hat with eyebrows that were reminiscent of Groucho Marx...black and bushy and almost down to his eyes. We got to talking as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket and with one swish turned five one dollar bills into five one hundred dollar bills!

Oh, he did not stop there, he pulled out his deck of cards and shared tricks with us. A crowd began to gather and hover over this eccentric old man. He continued the show with a piece of rope...tying it...cutting it...knotting it..and always returned to a full rope.

I felt like I was part of a traveling magic show...his wife sat serenely on an old trunk at the sale while we all just ooohhhed and ahhhhed. His voice carried down the dusty lane as he used his carny voice gathering us all into the act.

He told us his parents were in vaudeville and traveling gypsies as they took their wooden cart up and down the coast sharing their magic tricks. He began doing magic at age three. It was the most delightful afternoon...I could not stay away..dinner was uncooked and I was late for a rehearsal...but under the gold orb of life we learned more than magic.

Lou Ann

Lou Ann Homan-Saylor lives in Angola, Indiana which is nestled in the hills of Northern Indiana and spends her summers on the wind swept island of Ocracoke. You can find her gardening or writing late into the night under the light of her frayed scarlet lamp. She is a storyteller, a teacher, a writer, an actress and a collector of front porch stories.

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