the magic Wok

The magic wok.

One of my favorite flea markets was the memphis drive-in. A drive-in movie theatre which we looked forward to going to any time a good movie came out. They’d always throw a clunker in with the new movie. If you stayed until both movies were shown you could watch the popular movie a second time. That was very useful when star wars movies first came out.

Every Saturday and Sunday there would be a flea market. Picture a drive-in movie’s layout. There are a series of rows with metal poles determining spots. Spots for cars during the movies are then turned into spots for ”Fleamarketeers.”

I was going to try and sell at a new flea market. The set up at this flea market was one long row of sellers set up on two sides. That one row was about a half a mile long. It was summertime so I set up on the shade side. It was getting near noon and we were losing shade so I looked around for the signal. The signal is always given by the oldest character selling at the flea market who’s doing well. When they made enough money everybody but a few made enough money and we’d all start to pack. Or I was told to watch the crowd. The old timer told me when they start walking in the middle of the row and they’re not even looking, that's a sign it’s time to pack.

I loved to go to a good garage sale right before I set up at this one long row market. I seemed to always sell my newest stuff first. I did go to a good garage sale and I’d done really well because I found a garage sale that was given by an anthropologist and I bought a lot of stuff. He had great weapons and masks from Africa, Mayan pottery, and many taxidermied animals. From the several animals I purchased and sold that day, I was left with a black boar’s head that was from a three hundred pound animal and a stuffed white iguana. I packed the boar’s head first and moved the iguana closer to the edge of my card table. A white iguana looks just like a normal iguana only its skin color is a little lighter.

While packing I see this mop of bushy brown hair peeking over my table. I see this dirty little face trying to examine my stuffed iguana. He’s trying to get as close as he can get to the table so he can determine if this lizard is alive or not. Finally he asks me.

Little boy: hey mista, how much is da wizard?

Me: I had $75 bucks on it but I'll give it to you for $65.

Little boy: i don’t know how much that is, it seems like a lot but i’ll ask my mom and dad if i can buy it.

Me: where are your parents?

Little boy: we’re set up but my dad said we didn’t do good today.

Me; ok well you go talk to them and we’ll see what kind of deal we can work out.

I didn’t think I'd ever see that little boy again. I think every kid that shows up at the flea market should be given a million dollar stipend, I know they could show their parents how to spend that money. I watched the little boy walk away and I could tell he was thinking. I watched the kid until he was almost out of sight when he bent down and picked something up. He held it with both of his hands, clasped his hands together, looked up into the sky and walked back to my table. I pretended like I was packing as the little boy approached the table again.

Little boy: hey mista, will you take a trade for your wizard?

Me: what have you got to trade?

He opened his hand and showed me a rock.

Little boy: this is a magic wok. If you hold it in your hand and make a wish, your wish will come true.

Me: really, can you show me how it works?

Little boy: [ a little miffed ] wike this!

He closed his hand around the rock, squeezed his eyes shut and moved his lips.

Little boy: see, wike dat. Just hold the wok, close your eyes and make your wish.

Me: ...and what do you want to trade for?

Little boy: the wizard!

I looked at the boy and looked at the lizard. By then a few folks that heard us talking started to gather around my tables.

Me: deal!

I handed him the lizard and he handed me the rock. He was staring at his new lizard so intently he dropped the rock while handing it to me. I looked down and the magic rock somehow disappeared amongst all the other rocks that were down there. He nervously bent down and picked the rock up very quickly before I changed my mind. I stood with my hand open and he gently placed the magic rock on my palm. I handed him the iguana and he held it up at eye level and showed the people who were standing around his awesome lizard. Some people clapped, a lot of them told him “good job.” He walked away holding his new lizard at eye level sporting a smile a mile wide.

I didn’t lose money on that deal, I reassured someone that if you believe in yourself, if you come up with something original the world will respond in kind.

Michael Reddy April 12, 2021