He sat across the narrow room from them as they ate their breakfast that morning.\u00a0 An attractive woman with two children: a boy of around eight years and his younger sister, a wide-eyed and happy five- or six-year-old.\u00a0 The mother was busy with her children but seemingly without the usual undertone of anxiety that he saw in so many young families these days.\u00a0 The children also did not display the more common agitated behavior of youngsters who felt they had to compete for attention.\u00a0 They showed all the enthusiasm and fearless engagement with life that he loved so much about children their ages.\u00a0 He felt especially enchanted by the girl, but he thought a person would have to be frozen solid not to feel the warmth of her smile and sparkling eyes.\u00a0 In fact, both children smiled easily, as did their mother.\u00a0 He imagined the challenges of parenthood had been met head on by her and the father and they had found the right mix for their family.\u00a0 It was a beautiful example of rightness the three presented that morning and he was thankful for being there to see it.<\/p>\n
His own son had a daughter, now in her young teens.\u00a0 He had not seen her for some time because they lived out of state, but he remembered back to when she had been the same age as the child he watched now.\u00a0 There was such a wonderful energy with children, such magic.<\/p>\n
He believed in magic.\u00a0 In fact, that was a chief part of the story he was reading that morning.\u00a0 The book before him was advertised as part of a children\u2019s series about witches, wizards, dragons, and all kinds of magical things, but he loved the whole group of books and had picked up the latest one only a few days before.\u00a0 It was his daily custom to sit at the McDonalds for an hour each morning and read before taking on the day\u2019s duties.\u00a0 Because reading was always such a pleasure for him, he thought of his morning routine as eating dessert first for his mind.\u00a0 But he\u2019d already taken his usual hour and the day, like he, wasn\u2019t getting any younger.\u00a0 He gathered the detritus of his breakfast, the strawberry jam cup and used napkins as well as the Styrofoam platter that had held his food, and took it all to the waste drop at one end of the room.\u00a0 Then he came back to the table and picked up his book to go out to his car.<\/p>\n
Passing by the young family\u2019s table, the little girl pointed to his book and asked, \u201cIs that a dragon?\u201d\u00a0 He looked at the cover of the book, which portrayed a beautifully drawn dragon on its cover and then smiled back at the girl.\u00a0 \u201cWhy, yes.\u00a0 Yes it is a dragon.\u201d\u00a0 The child spoke as clearly as any adult and was obviously accustomed to speaking with them on a somewhat equal basis.<\/p>\n
\u201cDragons aren\u2019t real, you know.\u201d\u00a0 She spoke with the conviction of a scholar on such matters and her innocent face showed she only wanted to make sure the man wasn\u2019t laboring under any delusions.\u00a0 Out of the corner of his eye he noted that her older brother was nodding in agreement and there was a slight smile of delight from the mother at her child\u2019s precociousness.\u00a0 He decided that the day\u2019s routine could withstand a bit of delay.<\/p>\n
He slowly changed his face and pretended to be shocked.\u00a0 \u201cWhy, that\u2019s preposterous, my young lady.\u00a0 Whoever told you such a thing?\u201d\u00a0 She silently pointed to her brother who had his mouth full with a breakfast sandwich at the moment, unable to do anything except nod in confirmation to the man.\u00a0 \u201cWell,\u201d he said with a dismissive gesture, \u201cobviously, your brother has been misinformed as well.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure he wouldn\u2019t tell you such a thing if he didn\u2019t believe it to be true.\u201d\u00a0 He returned his gaze to the girl and held up the book\u2019s cover so it could be seen clearly by her.\u00a0 \u201cSo, if dragons aren\u2019t real, just how do you think this book\u2019s cover got a picture of a dragon on it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not a picture,\u201d she said condescendingly, \u201cthat\u2019s a drawing.\u201d\u00a0 The mother\u2019s grin grew by another degree or two.\u00a0 He gave her a quick wink and smiled back at the little girl.<\/p>\n
He tried to imitate her when he spoke again.\u00a0 \u201cI know that.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a picture nevertheless.\u00a0 Drawings are pictures from the mind.\u00a0 Obviously it\u2019s not a photograph of a dragon; dragons simply can\u2019t be photographed.\u00a0 They\u2019re magical after all.\u201d<\/p>\n
The girl seemed to deliberate on the logic of his last statement.\u00a0 Then she spoke up again, obviously delighted with having found a flaw in the man\u2019s thinking.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re just being silly.\u00a0 Magic isn\u2019t real either.\u201d\u00a0 She flashed a look of triumph at the man, satisfied that her argument was complete and without any vulnerability.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, my dear,\u201d he said, looking sad, \u201cI\u2019m so very unhappy to hear you say that.\u00a0 Your life must be very dreary indeed.\u00a0 How can you believe that when magic happens all around you all the time?\u201d<\/p>\n
She studied the man\u2019s face for a moment, looking for any hint of deception on his part.\u00a0 Not finding any, she sat back, looked at her mother, and then back at the man before making a reply.\u00a0 In a somewhat softer tone, she said, \u201cIt does?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOh yes, absolutely!\u201d\u00a0 He held the book up again.\u00a0 \u201cWhy, this very book is a wonderful magical tool.\u00a0 With it, I can travel to places I\u2019ve never been before, talk with new and wonderful people,\u201d he looked around, checking that their conversation was not being overheard, \u201cand some of those people aren\u2019t people people, you know.\u00a0 They\u2019re really elves, you know.\u201d\u00a0 He straightened back up and continued.\u00a0 \u201cI can even ride dragons!\u00a0 So don\u2019t tell me that magic isn\u2019t real.\u201d<\/p>\n
The girl was about to speak again when he purposely cut her words off.\u00a0 With an exaggerated prideful look, he looked down his nose and said, \u201cI can even do magic that I\u2019ll be you can\u2019t do!\u201d<\/p>\n
She frowned at the old man\u2019s boast and quickly replied.\u00a0 \u201cNo you can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, but I can.\u00a0 And furthermore, young lady, if you persist in believing that magic isn\u2019t real, you\u2019ll never be able to do the magic that I can do.\u201d\u00a0 He tapped the book to punctuate his words and posed importantly, looking down his nose once again at her.\u00a0 He was sure she\u2019d take his bait and he didn\u2019t have to wait long to have his belief confirmed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat magic can you do?\u201d<\/p>\n
He raised his eyebrows dramatically.\u00a0 \u201cI can read!\u201d\u00a0 He puffed out his chest for emphasis.<\/p>\n
The little girl smiled brightly and proclaimed that her mother was teaching her to read as well.\u00a0 He looked back and forth between the little girl and her mother several times until the child began to giggle at his exaggerated perplexed expression.\u00a0 Then he relaxed his posing and said in an off-hand tone, \u201cWell, I suppose that\u2019s because your mother is a great magician; she can do anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo she\u2019s not; she\u2019s my mommy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, yes, isn\u2019t that what I just said?\u00a0 That makes her the greatest magician there ever was.\u00a0 Now you\u2019re being silly.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t you know that mothers are magicians?\u201d\u00a0 The girl looked back at her mother with newfound respect.\u00a0 Then she turned back to the man and answered his question with a small shake of her little head.\u00a0 \u201cOf course they are,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cYour mother can perform the most wonderful magic of all.\u00a0 She can do magic that is more powerful than all the other magics in the world\u2026 combined.\u201d<\/p>\n
A look of wonder came into the girl\u2019s face as she looked wide-eyed at her mother.\u00a0 \u201cWhat magic can you do, Mommy?\u201d she asked almost in a whisper.\u00a0 The woman briefly looked up at the man and said to her daughter.\u00a0 \u201cWhy don\u2019t you ask the man, Jenny?\u201d\u00a0 The girl turned back to him and asked him the same question, still in a hushed voice.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d he said softly, \u201cI\u2019m surprised you have to ask, because I can see with my own eyes that she has already begun to teach you this great and wonderful magic.\u201d\u00a0 The girl gave her mother another bewildered look and then turned to the old man again.\u00a0 \u201cThe greatest magic in the world,\u201d he continued, \u201cthe most power magic that has ever been done by any person, elf, or even dragon, is called love, Jenny.\u00a0 It is what has made you, me, your brother, even your mommy and daddy all possible.\u00a0 And mommies can do it better than anybody.\u00a0 Obviously, you can do it too.\u00a0 And by the time you are a mommy, you\u2019ll be able to do this magic just as well\u2026 maybe even better\u2026 than your mommy.\u201d\u00a0 Then he stood back up and said, \u201cThat is, of course, if you stop all this foolishness about magic not being real.\u201d<\/p>\n
She quickly wanted to set the record straight with the man.\u00a0 \u201cI love my mommy\u2026 and my daddy and Freddie,\u201d she pointed to her brother, \u201cand Grandma and Grandpa and Potty and\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Her mother broke in to explain the last name when he raised his eyebrows.\u00a0 \u201cPotty is our Potbellied pig.\u00a0 Jenny named her that when she was younger because\u2026 well.\u201d\u00a0 The youngster just kept on reciting the people and things she loved, which was an impressive list to be sure, until she had to pause before finding anyone else whom she hadn\u2019t already named.<\/p>\n
Then the old man bowed low to the little girl, to her brother and finally to her mother.\u00a0 He stood back up again to give them a smile and a tip of his hat.\u00a0 \u201cThen I shall ask the next very dragon that I see to watch over you and your family, Jenny-who-is-learning-the-greatest-magic-of-all, for you all are a great treasure indeed.\u00a0 And, as I\u2019m sure your mother can tell you, dragons always do a very good job of guarding treasures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then the old man turned and walked away, knowing that magic was alive and well in McDonalds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He sat across the narrow room from them as they ate their breakfast that morning.\u00a0 An attractive woman with two children: a boy of around eight years and his younger sister, a wide-eyed and happy five- or six-year-old.\u00a0 The mother was busy with her children but seemingly without the usual undertone of anxiety that he saw in so many young families these days.\u00a0 The children also did not display the more common agitated behavior of youngsters who felt they had to compete for attention.\u00a0 They showed all the enthusiasm and fearless engagement with life that he loved so much about children their ages.\u00a0 He felt especially enchanted by the girl, but he thought a person would have to be frozen solid not to feel the warmth of her smile and sparkling eyes.\u00a0 In fact, both children smiled easily, as did their mother.\u00a0 He imagined the challenges of parenthood had been met head on by her and the father and they had found the right mix for their family.\u00a0 It was a beautiful example of rightness the three presented that morning and he was thankful for being there to see it. His own son had a daughter, now in her young teens.\u00a0 He had not seen her for some time because they lived out of state, but he remembered back to when she had been the same age as the child he watched now.\u00a0 There was such a wonderful energy with children, such magic. He believed in magic.\u00a0 In fact, that was a chief part of the story he was reading that morning.\u00a0 The book before him was advertised as part of a children\u2019s series about witches, wizards, dragons, and all kinds of magical things, but he loved the whole group of books and had picked up the latest one only a few days before.\u00a0 It was his daily custom to sit at the McDonalds for an hour each morning and read before taking on the day\u2019s duties.\u00a0 Because reading was always such a pleasure for him, he thought of his morning routine as eating dessert first for his mind.\u00a0 But he\u2019d already taken his usual hour and the day, like he, wasn\u2019t getting any younger.\u00a0 He gathered the detritus of his breakfast, the strawberry jam cup and used napkins as well as the Styrofoam platter that had held his food, and took it all to the waste drop at one end of the room.\u00a0 Then he came back to the table and picked up his book to go out to his car. Passing by the young family\u2019s table, the little girl pointed to his book and asked, \u201cIs that a dragon?\u201d\u00a0 He looked at the cover of the book, which portrayed a beautifully drawn dragon on its cover and then smiled back at the girl.\u00a0 \u201cWhy, yes.\u00a0 Yes it is a dragon.\u201d\u00a0 The child spoke as clearly as any adult and was obviously accustomed to speaking with them on a somewhat equal basis. \u201cDragons aren\u2019t real, you know.\u201d\u00a0 She spoke with the conviction of a scholar on such matters and her innocent face showed she only wanted to make sure the man wasn\u2019t laboring under any delusions.\u00a0 Out of the corner of his eye he noted that her older brother was nodding in agreement and there was a slight smile of delight from the mother at her child\u2019s precociousness.\u00a0 He decided that the day\u2019s routine could withstand a bit of delay. He slowly changed his face and pretended to be shocked.\u00a0 \u201cWhy, that\u2019s preposterous, my young lady.\u00a0 Whoever told you such a thing?\u201d\u00a0 She silently pointed to her brother who had his mouth full with a breakfast sandwich at the moment, unable to do anything except nod in confirmation to the man.\u00a0 \u201cWell,\u201d he said with a dismissive gesture, \u201cobviously, your brother has been misinformed as well.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure he wouldn\u2019t tell you such a thing if he didn\u2019t believe it to be true.\u201d\u00a0 He returned his gaze to the girl and held up the book\u2019s cover so it could be seen clearly by her.\u00a0 \u201cSo, if dragons aren\u2019t real, just how do you think this book\u2019s cover got a picture of a dragon on it?\u201d \u201cThat\u2019s not a picture,\u201d she said condescendingly, \u201cthat\u2019s a drawing.\u201d\u00a0 The mother\u2019s grin grew by another degree or two.\u00a0 He gave her a quick wink and smiled back at the little girl. He tried to imitate her when he spoke again.\u00a0 \u201cI know that.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a picture nevertheless.\u00a0 Drawings are pictures from the mind.\u00a0 Obviously it\u2019s not a photograph of a dragon; dragons simply can\u2019t be photographed.\u00a0 They\u2019re magical after all.\u201d The girl seemed to deliberate on the logic of his last statement.\u00a0 Then she spoke up again, obviously delighted with having found a flaw in the man\u2019s thinking.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re just being silly.\u00a0 Magic isn\u2019t real either.\u201d\u00a0 She flashed a look of triumph at the man, satisfied that her argument was complete and without any vulnerability. \u201cOh, my dear,\u201d he said, looking sad, \u201cI\u2019m so very unhappy to hear you say that.\u00a0 Your life must be very dreary indeed.\u00a0 How can you believe that when magic happens all around you all the time?\u201d She studied the man\u2019s face for a moment, looking for any hint of deception on his part.\u00a0 Not finding any, she sat back, looked at her mother, and then back at the man before making a reply.\u00a0 In a somewhat softer tone, she said, \u201cIt does?\u201d \u201cOh yes, absolutely!\u201d\u00a0 He held the book up again.\u00a0 \u201cWhy, this very book is a wonderful magical tool.\u00a0 With it, I can travel to places I\u2019ve never been before, talk with new and wonderful people,\u201d he looked around, checking that their conversation was not being overheard, \u201cand some of those people aren\u2019t people people, you know.\u00a0 They\u2019re really elves, you know.\u201d\u00a0 He straightened back up and continued.\u00a0 \u201cI can even ride dragons!\u00a0 So don\u2019t tell me that magic isn\u2019t real.\u201d The girl was about to speak again when he purposely cut her words off.\u00a0 With an exaggerated prideful look, he looked down his nose and said, \u201cI can even do magic that I\u2019ll be you can\u2019t do!\u201d She frowned at the old man\u2019s boast and quickly replied.\u00a0 \u201cNo you can\u2019t.\u201d \u201cAh, but I can.\u00a0 And furthermore, young lady, if you persist in believing that magic isn\u2019t real, you\u2019ll never be able to do the magic that I can do.\u201d\u00a0 He tapped the book to punctuate his words and posed importantly, looking down his nose once again at her.\u00a0 He was sure she\u2019d take his bait and he didn\u2019t have to wait long to have his belief confirmed. \u201cWhat magic can you do?\u201d He raised his eyebrows dramatically.\u00a0 \u201cI can read!\u201d\u00a0 He puffed out his chest for emphasis. The little girl smiled brightly and proclaimed that her mother was teaching her to read as well.\u00a0 He looked back and forth between the little girl and her mother several times until the child began to giggle at his exaggerated perplexed expression.\u00a0 Then he relaxed his posing and said in an off-hand tone, \u201cWell, I suppose that\u2019s because your mother is a great magician; she can do anything.\u201d \u201cNo she\u2019s not; she\u2019s my mommy.\u201d \u201cWell, yes, isn\u2019t that what I just said?\u00a0 That makes her the greatest magician there ever was.\u00a0 Now you\u2019re being silly.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t you know that mothers are magicians?\u201d\u00a0 The girl looked back at her mother with newfound respect.\u00a0 Then she turned back to the man and answered his question with a small shake of her little head.\u00a0 \u201cOf course they are,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cYour mother can perform the most wonderful magic of all.\u00a0 She can do magic that is more powerful than all the other magics in the world\u2026 combined.\u201d A look of wonder came into the girl\u2019s face as she looked wide-eyed at her mother.\u00a0 \u201cWhat magic can you do, Mommy?\u201d she asked almost in a whisper.\u00a0 The woman briefly looked up at the man and said to her daughter.\u00a0 \u201cWhy don\u2019t you ask the man, Jenny?\u201d\u00a0 The girl turned back to him and asked him the same question, still in a hushed voice. \u201cWell,\u201d he said softly, \u201cI\u2019m surprised you have to ask, because I can see with my own eyes that she has already begun to teach you this great and wonderful magic.\u201d\u00a0 The girl gave her mother another bewildered look and then turned to the old man again.\u00a0 \u201cThe greatest magic in the world,\u201d he continued, \u201cthe most power magic that has ever been done by any person, elf, or even dragon, is called love, Jenny.\u00a0 It is what has made you, me, your brother, even your mommy and daddy all possible.\u00a0 And mommies can do it better than anybody.\u00a0 Obviously, you can do it too.\u00a0 And by the time you are a mommy, you\u2019ll be able to do this magic just as well\u2026 maybe even better\u2026 than your mommy.\u201d\u00a0 Then he stood back up and said, \u201cThat is, of course, if you stop all this foolishness about magic not being real.\u201d She quickly wanted to set the record straight with the man.\u00a0 \u201cI love my mommy\u2026 and my daddy and Freddie,\u201d she pointed to her brother, \u201cand Grandma and Grandpa and Potty and\u2026\u201d Her mother broke in to explain the last name when he raised his eyebrows.\u00a0 \u201cPotty is our Potbellied pig.\u00a0 Jenny named her that when she was younger because\u2026 well.\u201d\u00a0 The youngster just kept on reciting the people and things she loved, which was an impressive list to be sure, until she had to pause before finding anyone else whom she hadn\u2019t already named. Then the old man bowed low to the little girl, to her brother and finally to her mother.\u00a0 He stood back up again to give them a smile and a tip of his hat.\u00a0 \u201cThen I shall ask the next very dragon that I see to watch over you and your family, Jenny-who-is-learning-the-greatest-magic-of-all, for you all are a great treasure indeed.\u00a0 And, as I\u2019m sure your mother can tell you, dragons always do a very good job of guarding treasures.\u201d Then the old man turned and walked away, knowing that magic was alive and well in McDonalds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1018\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}