<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Magic</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><b class=""></b><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">When I was about eight-years-old,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I would ride my bike to my </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">grandmother’s small house</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">on the corner of Fourth and G.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Once there, I was expected</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to pull weeds out of Nana’s lawn,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">which was mostly Bermuda grass.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">When I had worked all morning,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I got stung by a bee</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and Nana made a poultice</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">out of Witch Hazel and dirt.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">She said, “That’s enough for today,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Steven. Come in, and I’ll show</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">you some magic.”</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">We walked through her house</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">into the kitchen where she had set,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">on her black and white tile counter,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">a deep conical yellow bowl</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">with a long-handled wooden spoon</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">lying next to it.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">The bowl was filled with cream.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">“Now Steven, as a reward for your</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">hard work, I’m going to let you</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">use my magic spoon </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to turn this bowl of plain milk</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">into the best butter you ever tasted.”</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">She showed me how to use the spoon, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and I began beating the cream,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">waiting for the magic to happen.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">It did not happen quickly.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I told Nana my arm was</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">going to fall off.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">She said, “Not all magic happens</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">with the wave of a wand.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Keep beating.”</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Gradually, the cream began</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to thicken—the spoon and I</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">were one.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">We were turning plain milk</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">into butter!</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Nana lifted two lids off the fire</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">in her Wedgewood stove </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and placed slices</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of freshly baked bread</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">over the holes.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">When the toast was ready,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">she gave me her mother’s </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">silver knife to spread the butter.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">She then opened a jar of Point</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Reyes huckleberry jam</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">she had made that summer.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">We sat on the front porch steps</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and savored the fruits of our labor.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Pulling weeds had led to magic.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Steve Trenam</div></div></body></html>