We would
go to the Salt Lake area
A yearly
visit to see the family
There were
cousins in Sandy
And Butch
and Leon lived close by
Butch
with her short hair and kind eyes
Leon with
his assortment of jumpsuits
And ever present cigar
Then to my
mom’s cousin’s family
Chris and
Don and their kids
Then off
to visit dad’s Aunt Merle
Way over
in the foothills
Up in the
older parts of Salt Lake
With the
family visited
The attractions
called to me
For years
it was Trolley Square
Where they
pulled the taffy
On the big
swirling arms
I could
watch that for hours
As long as
I got some at the end
What I really
looked forward to was the zoo
The Hogle
Zoo was always a treat
Everything
was close
The giraffes
were at petting distance
There were
big cats
Polar bears
and great apes
Everything
that there should be
Plus
just one more thing
That one
more thing was what mattered
It was the
real reason I came to the zoo
The best
reason to come to Utah
The point
of being a child
It was the
magic machine
The one I
beg and pleaded to use
The
coolest invention of all time
It was a
machine that made figures
Replicas of
different animals
Right
there in front of my eyes
Upon inserting
the proper coinage
The metal
plates would close together
And the
motors would hum a mysterious song
As underneath
the clear plastic viewing bubble
Machinations
of wonder took place
Until moments
later
When all
the noises ceased
A final
gasp would be released
As the
shiny silver prison
Bifurcated
in revelation
Exposing to
all the world
A newly
crafted piece of wonder
A hollow
yellow plastic giraffe
Or
a lion in green or blue
Or perhaps a red gorilla
Lovingly
displayed
For a beautiful
instant
Then a thin
spring loaded spatula
Would violently
slide forward
Separating
the toy’s umbilical
Disconnecting
it indifferently
From its
cozy metallic womb
Shoving it
off the pedestal
Down into
the dark of the retrieval bin
Where I could
greedily grasp it
A new wonder
of manufacturing
Smoldering
in my grubby little mitts
A slight
burning smell exuding
Bathing me
in the soothing aroma
Of
hot plastic and chemicals
The intoxicating
scent of pure joy
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