Flashback Friday--er, Saturday: Magic Pillow

Yikes. Yesterday was a very full day. Had I even remembered it was Flashback Friday, I still would not have had time to produce the quality narrative you have surely come to expect. And clearly I didn't have the forethought to write it up Thursday in preparation. I messed up, okay?! Stop criticizing me!

Aaaanyway, today's flashback takes us all the way back to early childhood. For many years, my older sister Diana and I shared a bed. Like I imagine is the case with most sisters, being in the same room could either feel like an episode of Ultimate Fighting Championship ("As real as it gets") or an episode of Barney and Friends ("I love you, you love me, we're a happy family...").

The best part of sharing a bed with my sister was that she had a Magic Pillow. Oh, how I envied it. Whenever I lost a toy, or a special stuffed animal I was snuggling with, Diana could just punch some buttons on the wall above her pillow, and when she lifted it, my lost lovey would miraculously be there. The reliability of the phenomenon was astounding.

Most often, we utilized the Magic Pillow during that time of night when we were supposed to be going to sleep, but usually kept talking and playing in bed. A typical bedtime Magic Pillow implementation sequence might go something like this:

Diana: Hey, where did your Tiger Kitty go?

Me: [gasp] Oh no! [searching the bottom of the sheets] I just had her...

Diana: Maybe my Magic Pillow can find her.

Me: Oh yes! Please find my Kitty!

Diana: [punching imaginary buttons on the wall] bee bop beep beep [lifts pillow to reveal missing stuffed kitten] Ta-da!

Me: Tiger! Hooray! That Magic Pillow is so amazing!

Diana: Yeah, I know. [smug smile]

I don't recall exactly how I discovered The Truth behind the pillow. It was probably revealed by naively pleading with Diana to ask her Magic Pillow to find a truly lost toy. So eventually, I realized that Diana was simply stealing my Tiger Kitty (etc.), hiding it under her pillow, and leading my innocent, childish self to believe that the pillow itself had magical toy-finding powers. The audacity!

So later, when I shared a bedroom with my younger brother, I became the ruler of the Magic Pillow. I passed on the proud legacy of deceit to John. Only he didn't typically sleep with a lovey, so I had to be a bit more creative. After the lights were out, I would excuse myself to go to the bathroom. While there, I'd look through the bucket of various bath toys--which, in actuality were just regular, non-water-related toys that we played with in the bathtub--and sneak back into our bedroom with a handful concealed in my jammies. Then the exchange with John would begin about as cleverly as, "Hey John...I haven't seen your White Power Ranger in a while, have you? I wonder where it went? Maybe we should try the Magic Pillow."

It's a wonder he believed the farce as long as he did based on my shameful tactics.