Finding Machu Picchu
Originally Published, Eclectica Magazine
Jan/Feb, 2014
Finding Machu Picchu
The first giant I ever met stood just four-foot eleven and weighed all of 90 pounds. At first, I wasn’t sure the woman in Apartment Ten would answer the door. But I was a persistent child and, in spite of the silence coming from inside, I kept knocking.
Finally, the door opened a crack and an ice blue eye could be seen.
“May I help you?” came the voice from inside.
I extended the colorful, crumpled catalog and passed it to the woman through the cracked door. “My school is raising money and I thought you might like to buy something.”
The woman shut the door on me, and defeated, I turned to leave. But the sound of the chain sliding in the lock and the latch releasing again made me pause. The door opened wide to reveal a tiny woman. She was wearing a blue dress with a white box collar and a single strand of pearls. Her hair, whiter than the pearls, was a short bob that revealed a pair of matching pearl earrings.
“For what,” she asked, “is your school raising money?”
I choked. The truth was, I didn’t know. The catalog, dog-eared and wrinkled, had been passed out to each student by a nice man in a sports coat and checkered shirt who promised that the top seller of candy tins and fruit cakes in the school would receive the grand prize—a bicycle in his or her choice of colors and styles. For the underperformers amongst us, rewards ranged from paltry freebies like scented candles and ready-baked pastries to subscriptions to Boys Life or Girls Life, a bevy of gender-appropriate recreational items—camping and outdoors gear for the boys, instructional cookbooks and various and sundry pink things for the girls. With the cornucopia of promised rewards available to the sellers, I imagine that no one paid attention to what the money was for.