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Writer's pictureBro. Paul West

As I Grew The Tricks Became Magic

Continued...


It's pretty cool to look back to my early days in Magic. Yep Grandpa, you're the one that lit that spark. You screwed up my entire life, so I had to learn to make the best of it. The path that was laid out before me was interesting to say the least. Let me take you into those really early days.


My Great Grandpa and his "Friends"

Now that I knew Magic was in the world, and that there was an outlet in Riverside California at the Mission Inn called Charlie's House of Magic, I knew where my money was going to be spent for the next few years.


I visited on Saturdays. My Mom would go to the Mission Inn with a friend and shop around and have lunch or whatever Moms did with friends in the late 1950's and early 1960's. I went along for the ride and she would drop me off at Charlie's with a couple of bucks and I would hang there for an hour or so. I'd spend my cash on things like Magic Snappers, Penny to Dime, Fortune Telling Fish and anything else that Charlie would recommend to me to get me to lay the money on the counter.


I'd go home and learn from the basic instructions how they worked. I'd show them to my friends. Yes, they were fooled, but when they would ask, "How does it work?" I'd show them. Then they were disappointed and I'd go home and toss it in a shoe box, knowing that it was "Just Another Trick." I'd repeat the process over and over.


The pattern was fun, but I was always looking for that real Magic that my Grandpa showed me, but all I could find were just tricks. It was my first really disappointing thing that was happening in my life that I can remember. So the search and process continued for sometime.


Then one Saturday I was at Charlie's and while I was there, he did the impossible. He pulled out a small red ball. I'm sure my eyes bugged out and my heart stopped and then started pounding loudly. This was it. That little red ball changed to two, three and then four. They vanished. They changed from hand to hand. THIS WAS THE MAGIC THAT MY GRANDPA SHARED WITH ME. This was the "Magic" that changed my life. This was true Magic. This was not "Just Another Trick" this was what I was searching for. My dreams are going to come true. But, it was $8.00. I knew I had to get a job. I knew I had to save. So I went to work to fulfill my short lifetime dream. I found Magic.


Work I did. I was on a mission. I bugged my parents for odd jobs around the house. That seemed to work, so I expanded my territory to the neighbors. I was in the small, at the time, rural town of Norco, California, so neighbors were a ten to 20 minuet walk or bike ride. My pitch was short. I would be honest and tell my story and they would smile and give me something to do. I'd take my quarter or whatever and move on to the next one. I needed cash. Yes, it took me a few weeks to build up the money needed to buy some real Magic. But the day finally came when I had the dough and was ready to head to Charlies and buy my first "Real" piece of Magic.


My Mom knew. She loaded me up in the car with her friend and off we went to Riverside. It seemed like the longest car ride I'd ever taken. To say I was excited was an understatement. My thoughts were going wild. I was going to really own my first piece of Real Magic. Whew! I can feel the emotion as I'm recalling this. The mind is a very powerful thing. I've got to take a break to get my heart rate down.


To be continued...


Bro. Paul West

"Follow your Dreams, for your Dreams you shall become."

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