One (extra)ordinary saturday

1

Magic likes to set itself up.

Like an oasis after a day of scorching heat.

Saturday.

I got four hours of sleep, waking to the news that my plans to catch up with Brooke, followed by purchasing a Mother's Day present (for mother), were smitten by the ill-timed hand of sickness. I took Brooke to the clinic instead, where I sat in the waiting room catching up on games like Draw Something and Scramble with Friends. That is until Phoney froze.

A FEW THINGS ABOUT PHONEY

1. It freezes around once a week.

2. It's six months old.

3. When it freezes, I have to pull the battery out while it's running.

4. Is this hazardous?

By the time we left, my hollow stomach and lack of immediate food were inducing moderate to severe levels of hangriness (hangriness: the impatient and grumpy attitude exhibited when one is both famished and not eating. Hungry and angry.) Brooke's stomach was also a-grumble; and in our sprawl to find somewhere both near and nectarous, we forgot that Burger Fuel had been relocated! What were we to do?

"Hmm," I said through the fine cracks of aforementioned hangriness, "we shall go to The Station," which was five minutes away. Or an hour in starving time.

Fate beat us there. That, or Brooke jinxed it when she said, "I'd laugh if they're closed!"

I wasn't laughing.

Would you laugh if the world was against you?

Back in the car again. The petrol gauge was dwindling in sync with my energy reserves. "I feel your pain, Carrie."

A FEW THINGS ABOUT CARRIE

1. She's old.

2. Her central locking lobes are damaged.

3. About half of the time, she makes deafening screeching sounds upon ignition.

4. Is this hazardous?

She took us to another Burger Fuel thanks to my unsteady steering (hangry and dizzy now). This one wasn't shut, thank God. But by the time we'd finished eating, it was time to go. Brooke had a date and I had work.

5:30pm - work complete, and still no Mother's Day gift. I was also tired.

A FACT ABOUT CAFFEINE

Its effects are temporary.

It might be worth noting that this whole time I've been greatly exaggerating my negative attitude towards these oh-so-miniscule inconveniences which seemed to be chasing me around like a swarm of angry wasps.

Having said that, at this point in my day, now driving to Te Awa in desperate search of a gift, I'd instinctively retreated to a sense of indifference. I was neither joyful nor sad, excited nor frustrated. Naturally, I expected to find nothing.

2

You don't find magic. Magic finds you.

Make sure to keep your eyes open.

Normally I'd walk up an escalator to make the trip in half time; but something was stopping me. Good thing it did, for as the moving stair gradually elevated me from car park to mall, a sign emerged from behind the barrier. The dreariness of ascent transformed into beauty, like sunlight streaming through an opening in the clouds. Except this sun was a sign with fancy white print.

THE SWEETEST LITTLE

Chocolate Shop
(The people were sweet, too).

Five minutes and one free chocolate later, I was out, finished, descending the escalator with tangible love in hand. Ironically, my neutrality was a distant valley, a stepping stone invisible from the peak of victory upon which I stood. Life was good.

And then it got better.

3

Magic can surprise you even after you've shaken its hand.

Water isn't the only thing you'll find at an oasis.

I unlocked Carrie: a worn, dirty, dusty, petrol- and warrant-depleting, often screeching, the air-con still works though, car. Of course, none of these things was on my mind. Neither was the Coke perched comfortably in the drink holder. What's this? One-hundred and sixty-five mils of bliss! How did I ever forget about you? I vocalised. It was only half empty. Scratch that. It was half full. I chugged it like its contents were Time and I was Will Salas. 

Unlike him, though, I wasn't struggling to avoid death. I was appreciating life.

That magic in a bottle. It was perfect.