My uncle was a professional magician whom amazed us with his tricks: he once “guillotined” his mother, my grandmother, slicing the carrot under her neck without any injury to her, his unwilling victim. He regularly “cheated” at cards using specially marked decks and was undefeated when playing slapjack against his nephews and niece. It was not surprising that he took up clubs and juggling and became equally adept, even joining IJA and doing combat juggling at their festivals.
One summer he introduced me to juggling and I became adequately adept, though not at his level: 3- and 4-balls, clubs, rings, apples, wiffle ball bats. I bought gear from Dube Juggling Equipment with money saved and enjoyed practicing. But what I really desired were torches.
Acquiring torches without Mom knowing was challenging, each idea quickly eliminated as the fatal flaws presented themselves all too easily. Very, very frustrating, to say the least. And then I found the solution: COD.
When we moved into the log cabin that Mom and Steve built – rural, remote, on a hill with an mostly impassable lane – UPS learned to deliver our packages to the school office, which I would then pick up and take home. With this loophole identified, towards the end of my senior year I ordered the torches COD, paid for them when they arrived, and successfully snuck them home without Mom being any the wiser.
[For anyone questioning the concept, remember this was long, long ago: checks universally accepted, credit cards not ubiquitous, and nothing resembling e-commerce. Take my word, COD was definitely a thing.]
Unfortunately, I am not great with all secrets, and fairly soon thereafter happily told (bragged) to Mom about my new juggling equipment. She wasn’t mad, she laughed with her smile, and even allowed me to demonstrate.
[This picture taken when my wife was out of town on business, because she also was not in favor of juggling with fire.]
It’s very likely the last thing I pulled over Mom before heading to college where I no longer had to answer to her, or at least regularly. And when I returned home after my freshman year, many rules I loathed were reintroduced….which, in addition to the younger siblings, probably contributes to not having spent an overnight in the house since.
Image Credit
“Juggling Torches at the 2018 Waterloo Busker Carnival 23” by Ryan Hodnett is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Rebecca Martineau © 2015
