the magic fish
When —
I was a kid my parents took me to this fair. It was exciting with lights and rides all over and cotton candy and games with prizes and there was this one game where you threw a ping pong ball at little bowls with goldfish in them and if your ping pong ball went into one of the bowls you won the fish.
My dad got me some ping pong balls and I aimed for those fish bowls but each time the ping pong ball bounced off the rim proving I probably did not have a future career as a center for the Lakers. But then the guy behind the counter who looked like an adult to me but who was probably just a kid himself said, Wait, there is a magic way to do this.
You close your eyes and then you toss it.
So I closed my eyes and I tossed my last ping pong ball and when I opened my eyes it had gone right in one of those fish bowls I won a fish.
She was white with black and red splotches and real pretty and he put her in a plastic bag of water for me and I took her home and named her Scarlett.
I did not know for a long time that was not magic.
And then one day I knew really what happened was the boy behind the counter put my ping pong ball in the fish bowl while my eyes were closed.
0 Responses to the magic fish
I think it was Magic- most of the time that’s what I think kindness is.
Definitely magic. My heart did a little lurch when I realized what he did.
Well, I feel it’s both intimate and unexpected — a touching thing. Really.
You’ve got 5 great minutes out of 120 there, I think.
Regards.
M.
That’s a sweet scene. Daughter – Dad – Dude (of ping pong)
I love that story. I’m afraid to ask what happened to the fish, though.
Scarlett came home with me and lived in a nice aquarium she had a good fish life.
Nice story and could be used in so many ways to explain a whole lot of things.Cheers Max
Best story I have read this year. Magic is in the (closed) eyes of the beholder.
Thanks Archie. [The year is young — wink.]
Magic happens.
I loved this piece when I read it two days ago and I keep coming back to it.
I am so glad you are back. Yay!
I concur with the others – magic did occur. It’s just not the sort to which we are accustomed to witnessing.