I have a young friend, Kai, who for some reason, believes I can fix anything that he has broken. He is five years old, the grandson of a dear friend. So when he broke his souvenir magnet and his acrylic fish, he brought them to his grandmother and asked if she could ask Auntie Jackie to fix them. Those repairs required nothing more than a bit of glue and pretty much looked like new when I was done.
But a few weeks ago, he knocked on my door and handed me the remnants of a broken snow globe. He loved the souvenir his mother had brought back for him from a business trip to Vancouver, so much so, that a vigorous shake got away from him and he dropped it, shattering the glass and the small pieces inside it. He asked me if I would fix it for him. I told him I wasn't sure there was much I could do, not only was the globe broken but the three totem poles inside the globe were also broken, missing their heads and arms and some pieces at the bottom. Added to that, there were shards of broken glass sticking up from where the globe had been affixed. I told him I would do my best. On the way out the door he gave me a hug and asked me how it was that I could fix everything. I told him that I did it with magic.
For the next couple of days, I struggled to figure out what to do with the pieces. No amount of effort was going to fix that snow globe. I turned to the internet in an effort to replace it, but try as I might, I could not find the same snow globe anywhere. So I filed down the glass shards, filled the well in the base with resin, glued what was left of the totem poles back on and then poured a resin coat on the base. There was nothing I could do about the globe. It was a bit sad but the best I could do so I returned it to Kai as repaired. His mother sent me a thank you video. He may have felt okay about the repaired piece that was returned to him, but I had told him I have magical powers and it didn't look at all magical to me. A few days after I returned it to him, I found out Jacob and Amanda were going to Vancouver. I described the snow globe to Amanda and asked her to keep an eye out for a replacement. Amanda messaged me from the Vancouver airport when they were headed home. They found and purchased a snow globe matching my description.
Last week, I asked Kai's grandmother to tell Kai that I wanted the snow globe back as I had an idea how I could fix it a little better. I didn't know if the one that was to replace it was identical or not, but I started concocting a story to explain any differences to Kai. Yesterday, I got the new snow globe. They are identical.
It may seem silly to some that I put so much effort into fixing this trinket for Kai, but it has been a very long time since anyone thought of me the way Kai does. His grandmother has been sworn to secrecy. For now, at least, Kai will believe I fixed his snow globe, as good as new. And for a while, I will get to be magic.
