MAGIC REALISM

MAGIC REALISM – HOW WRITING FICTION HAS ALLOWED ME TO SPEAK IN THE MAGIC REALITY OF THE OLD STORIES

By Rita Grimaldi

In the spring of 2014, after living in my country house for 21 years, I decided to move to town so I needed to sell my house. In April, the house was listed and I was required to be out of the house during the real estate visits.

One day, sitting in my car waiting for a real estate visit to be over, I began to invent a story. It was based on the truth of needing to sell my house. It had a fictional heroine and being fiction, my story was able to freely slide into magic realms. Here is the story.

ANNIE’S TROUBLES

Broom had a role to play. It was sold at the hardware store under the advertising slogan:

SWEEP AWAY YOUR TROUBLES, USE THE EASY BROOM

Annie stood looking at the slogan. She was thinking about her troubles. She needed to sell her house. And after that she needed to be strong enough to pack up all her stuff and move. How could Easy Broom help her to do that? But the cost was only $19.95. She decided to risk the investment.  So she bought the broom, put it into her car and began to drive home. In the car, Annie could feel Easy Broom’s presence.

“This is silly”, she thought, “Brooms don’t have a presence.”

At home, Annie stood Easy Broom in the corner of the kitchen. It was late, so after watching some TV, Annie had her bath and went to bed.

       

In the night Easy Broom awoke. It began to sweep the house. It found corners seldom seen and cleaned them. It swept between the floors. It swept above the roof and under the basement. Then near dawn, Easy Broom came into the living room. There on top of an old box, on top of an old table, it saw a wind up bird music box. As Easy Broom watched, the bird slowly began to rotate. As the bird turned, the spring in the music box wound CLICK, CLICK, CLICK. Then the bird began to turn back and to sing the song of its heart.

“Love look at the two of us,

Love look at the two of us.”

Easy Broom listened.

Easy Broom understood.

It understood that that was how Annie’s house would be sold. A buyer would sing this song about the land and the house on it. A buyer would hold this place in his or her heart.

Now it was morning and Easy Broom had done what it could. It went back to its corner.

       

Annie awoke. She went downstairs to the kitchen. She saw Easy Broom. She thought, “ Well that broom cannot sweep my troubles away. There goes $19.95.” She picked up Easy Broom and put it in the closet with the other cleaning stuff. Then she went into the living room. She sat in a chair to look out the big window at the grass and trees.

After a bit, she turned her head back into the room. Her eyes fell on the wind up bird music box. It was on top of the old box on top of the old table. She walked over to the bird and rotated it to wind its spring. The spring sounded CLICK, CLICK, CLICK. Then Annie released the bird and it began to turn back and to sing the song of its heart.

“Love look at the two of us,

Love look at the two of us.”

Annie listened.

Annie understood.

She understood that that was how her house would be sold. A buyer would sing this song about the land and the house on it. A buyer would hold this house and this land in his of her heart. “Yes such a buyer would be found”, Annie said to herself.

Then she dressed, ate her breakfast and drove to town. She had a 9AM meeting with her real estate agent. The agent had an offer for her to look at. The agent had told her that the man in the couple making the offer really liked the land.

“If not this man then some other would come along,” thought Annie.

The land was beautiful. The house was beautiful. Someone would sing about his or her bond of love with it and then part of her troubles will be swept away.

 

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Now, even though I have moved to town, I continue to write Annie stories. I have six of them now.

I want to tell them at storytelling but somehow I don’t know how to tell them. Perhaps this is because in some way they are not totally my stories. They half belong to some other place and to some other person – Annie. In the rational part of me, I realize that this is not true but still it feels true. Even so the stories give me wisdom and comfort. They are leading me someplace and at present I am content to follow them to their destination.

Nov 17, 2014