My experiment had yielded odd, unexpected results and I was caught off guard. Nonetheless, "the learning goes on." This is what I told myself as I sat on the table top of a local auction, immersed in the Song of the Colonel.
I was strangely reminded off what Jamie Diggs had said about the Colonel and his singing voice. This auction barn is similar to the Umbra Auction Barn where the Diggs Family plus One learned the joys of friendship, well earned rewards and the Ruebin Samich.
Such is the tale of Volume 2: SHADOW DEMON OF OZ.
Anyway, so there I sat and an elderly lady approached me. Her name was Betty and like so many at the auction, I knew her but not really. It was the same in return.
Betty always carries a chocolate-colored Chihuahua named Hershey (Go figure). He always has a different hand-knitted sweater on each week. I can see it now... A little dog-house with a little closet full of little hangers. Each holds a hand-knitted sweater and all color-coordinated with little booties in a little shoe rack underneath.
Uh... pardon me, I got off track there for a moment.
So Betty's carrying a box and no dog. "Where's Hershey?" I asked her and she told Hershey was home sick.
"You like children's books, don't you?" she inquired and set the box before me. I thanked her and accepted the box.
Betty likes hand-sewn antique quilts and anything with McCoy marked on the bottom and I know this. She knows I like anything Abraham Lincoln, Halley's Comet or OZ. As I said, at an auction, people know each other but not really.
I sat there for a while longer, facinated with the Portable Colonel above me.
What's a Portable Colonel, you may ask yourself?
For those not fluent in the venacular of the peasantry, as it were, the Colonel is the man who sells at the auction. He calls out bids on the remains of people's lives, such as they are. His voice sings out as people scramble to purchase the stuff and nonsense we all crave.
This particular Colonel sits on a raised platform with a clerk by his side. She records the winning bids as the auction commences. This platform however, was set on wheels and moved about from table to table.
As I said, he was the Portable Colonel.
After a time, I checked my 21st century pocket watch and noticed it was nearly an hour and I wasn't really interested in what was up tonight. I had looked through everything earlier before the Portable Colonel started singing and hadn't seen a thing which peeked my curiosity, let alone the box of books before me. How I missed it, I don't know.
I packed up and went out to my car and was bedazzled by the sight before me. I placed the box on the trunk lid and watched in subdued awe as the evening twilight deepened into vivid hues of orange, reds and blues. Even a hint of green, which ain't easy to see, I assure you. And not a cloud in the sky.
As I admired the view, I chose to take this time to look through the books in the gift box and saw some old American Geographical Society Program Books from the old series that I remember as a kid. Another pile revealed about a dozen issues of Children's Digest from the early 50's. I didn't remember these from my childhood but the dates of 1953-54 placed them before my time.
I leafed through the top issue and picked up the next volume as the evening sky deepened its magenta hues in preparation for the approach of night.
Looking down at my hand, I saw something which took my breath away...
To say I was dumbstruck, speechless at the irony of the moment would be an understatement.
Those who know me know that to leave me speechless is to accomplish something nearly beyond comprehension.
Often have I employed the Serendipity Effect to great success with only a rare, occassional failure. Only once in a Blue Moon does it reach back to wreck havoc on my Mojo and seek revenge.
Now was that time and I am humbled by Serendipity and the practical jokes of Princess Ozma.
I'm certain somehow she's in on this. It's her style, I can assure you.
So, for the next few postings, I wanna share some of this issue and the two(2) which followed. The artwork is intriguing and quite charming in its own 50's sort of way.
If anyone can offer insight into this particular publication, I welcome their input and analysis.
Ozfully yours:
James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma
magicianofoz
My curiosity is piqued as well.
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