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Magic Bead Wand (at the Vintage Bead Show) |
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Written by Dara Spiotto
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Monday, 08 October 2007 |
 What Got in to Me?
Well, I’ve stuck my foot in my mouth again. Crammed it down to my tonsils is more like it. Oh, why??? Why do I get on a tirade sometimes? More like, why do I have to react to people who push my buttons? I just think that sometimes when people make big deals out of small things and get on a big old soap box about it, I just gotta say my point.
I’m doing the bead shows right now. They’re so fun, actually. The store is bustling and everyone is adoring the beads. And I love to help people pick out their stuff, designing jewelry and hearing stories about what people are going to make with the beads they’re buying. Soooo… One customer happened to come in during the show with her 8 year old daughter. Much to her daughter’s disappointment, the work table was occupied by yours truly with all the vintage bead show stuff, among many other tables of t he same, all crammed into one area of the store. Her daughter’s name was Lucie-with-an-I-E. Lucie wasn’t happy that there was no place for her to work on her project. I told her Mom that we could squash the lucite into a bigger pile for a while, and she could sit with me and work on her project while I wrote up orders and chatted with customers. She agreed and we both got to work.
The Magic Wand
Lucie was making a wand. A Harry Potter wand. Lucie is a huge Harry Potter fan and decided she was going to bead herself a wand. It didn’t matter that there’s no mention of beaded wands in those books, per se. She chose her beads carefully and began stringing them on strong wire. I suggested that she make some dingle dangles off the top and bottom so they’d move and be sparklie. She loved that idea. And we chatted about the book on and off, since I’m a big HP fan, too.
Harry is Part of What?
Then a lady came up through the line of people needing their orders written up, and she struck up a conversation with Lucie. She said loudly, so that Lucie’s Mom would hear, that Harry Potter was full of the occult, and she’d never let her daughter make a magic wand. Time stopped. We all gaped at her. Where did that come from?
 So… me and my big mouth. I said, “Do you know who was FULL of the occult??” She said, “Who?” and I said, “Walt Disney.” She looked at me like I had just tried to poke her in the eye. Lucie laughed. I said, “No, really. All those witches cursing those princesses? They used magic. Cinderella’s fairy godmother? Magic. Pinnochio? Well, puppet’s don’t turn into little boys, do they? And how about Tinkerbell? She’s the devil. How did all those ugly monsters turn back into handsome princes? Magic.” The customer looked at me with a blank stare. She was thinking. I smiled at her, hoping I wasn't sounding too harsh. I asked her if she let her child watch Disney movies. She said, “Of course.” I asked why. No answer. I mean, magic is everywhere!! Has she SEEN the Amazing Mumford on Sesame Street??? I asked if her daughter believed in Santa. He does magic without a WAND, for Pete’s sake. Then I realized that I was on a tirade and I needed to stop.
“Go on.” said the lady.
I told her I thought Harry Potter was a good dose of imagination, and that as parents we teach our children what is real and what isn’t. Harry isn’t going to turn my child into a Satan worshipper. Lucie said, “You should let your daughter read Harry Potter. She’ll love it as much as I do.”
It's not my intent to nag at customers. What got into me?
The Devil Book
 So the lady bought her beads and left, and we all went back to bead bustling. There was a lot of chitty chat about the lady and I just ignored it. I had said enough. About an half hour later I heard a knock on the window behind me. I turned and it was the customer I had nagged. The other customers noticed her, too. She held up a bag from a used book store located at the end of the strip mall. “Book one,” she mouthed at me. “I’ll be next door reading,” she said through the glass. She pointed to the coffee shop. “Come back later!” I told her. At the close of business that day I was sad that the lady hadn’t come back. I really wanted to know what she thought of the book.
Show day #2, Saturday. Guess who the first person was through the door. Yes. She stayed up all night and read. And she came back to tell me that she liked the book and that she was going to read it along with her daughter. I asked her if she needed any beads to make a beaded wand, and she laughed and said no, that her daughter didn’t need that yet. I said, “I meant for you!!” She laughed and said, “Well, maybe I’ll look around.” I said, “Good! Let me take you to our magic bead section!” and I led her right over to the vintage crystal, sparkling away. |
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