Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2020 15:09:24 -0500
From: “N.A. Booko”
Subject: Disabled Actors
Probably three weeks ago I visited a thrift shop in the area. Not the big ones, but a smaller less interesting store- Lots of junk boxes around. Nothing in order and seemingly nothing of great value. There were other customers milling about. I saw one bend over and reach into a beat- up corrugated box on the floor. “Oh,” she cried, “its only a couple of hand puppets, but they are all twisted up and you’ll never untangle those strings.” With that she walked away.
I waited until they were gone and went over to the box. I knew that puppets don’t have strings- they are operated with a hand up inside the glove-like doll. I could see these were marionettes. A whole differentthing. Marionettes are like jointed dolls, with strings attached to the head, arms and feet. It takes a clever person to hold the strings and make the figures move with life-like action.
These marionettes were really entangled with one another. You couldn’t pick up one without the other coming along. I gazed for a moment at the figures laying there in the box. They were a ” South of The Border” theme- man and woman. Handwoven sombreros, he had pink pants- she a red skirt. The faces were hand painted. Highly exaggerated features intended to be easily seen by an audience. Entangled close together, their sad silent gaze told me they longed to be free and doing what they were intended to do. I bought them.
Once home, I began the tedious job of freeing them from those captive entanglements. It seemed hopeless. Black string- it was knotted and I finally had to cut it loose at the top control wood strips. Then it was simple. One string at a time. Those colorful little people were free. Seemed even the expression on their faces changed. I re-strung both and re-attached to wooden control bars. Then I hung them up in my living room, close to one another but not close enough to become entangled again. Now, every time I pass by, it seems they are putting on a little “thank you” show for me. Even their sad facial expressions look different. In fact, happy. I know they are saying ‘thank you”-
N.A. Booko
A good deed a day keeps the spirit well oiled . . . you don’t have to pull strings to do it