Luke’s Adventure
Most of the west coast feels too new and a bit false and temporary, so
I tend to search for the past. They say the past catches up to you, I think
sometimes you can catch up to it. On this day I found the very spot that
Louis and Clark ended there journey when they found the Pacific Ocean on
the beach in what is now Seaside Oregon. I also found an old carousel that
had been dancing for over a century in the same spot. Time has not touched
it. I could loose myself in the pipe organ music that echoed from long ago.
The rest of the town was like most other beach towns. I had walked up
and down this street two or three times since my wife Melissa and I got
here on our Oregon coast adventure. I had seen three kite shops, two art
studios, a couple food courts, a fudge factory, and several knick knack
shops filled with tacky souvenirs. Melissa and I agreed we had exhausted
our exploring options and started heading back to our hotel to hit the pool
or watch a movie. As we left the carousel mall we walked right into a salty
gust of wind and wrapped our coats a little tighter. Above our heads a shop
sign swayed and shrieked violently in the gust. The sign read The Toy Box.
I had not noticed this store before. I thought it would be unlikely I
missed it because centered in the front window was a diorama of some star
wars toys in a battle.
Since I was five years old I have had a love of Star Wars. I think it
started when I went to my neighbor Mr. Green’s house with my best friend
Eric and saw it playing on the TV in his living room. Mr. Green was a fun
adult with a lot of old toys. He had a cute Toto like dog named Scruffs and
a large collection of movies that we liked to watch. Most of his movies
were westerns and in black and white, but this one was in full color and in
space. This time I was glued to the movie the moment the giant space ship
flew into the screen. I was mesmerized by the escape of the lovable droids.
I was captivated as they bickered in the desert, and how they bonded back
together like best friends do. Then Eric changed everything when he told me
that he had Star Wars toys. We did not even finish the movie. We headed
straight to Eric’s house to play with his toys.
I fell in love with the world of Star Wars that day. My mind raced
with the adventures that I could put these toys through. Eric and I played
with the droids and other characters I had not even seen yet. What I liked
best was his land speeder. It was an awesome space car that the figures
could actually sit in. I could not wait to get some Star Wars toys of my
own.
I had my first chance when my brother took me to the Fred Meyer store
near my mothers house. I was always excited to do anything with my older
brother Mark, who I only got to see on the rare occasion that I visited my
mother. He was five years older than me and had better things to do than
entertain his baby brother. On that day he invited me to ride bikes to Fred
Meyer to get a baseball for him and his friends. The only thing I was
interested in was there giant toy section.
When we finally got to the store which seemed miles away from the
house, he dropped me in the toys and continued on to sporting goods. I was
frightened to be alone in this big store because I didn’t know how I would
find him. My mom had always stayed in the toys with me even if just a few
minutes. I felt like I had taken a leap forward towards adulthood where I
might leave the house and shop for toys at my leisure. They had the usual
cage of beach balls and racks of silly putty but I was more interested in
the trucks and airplanes. So I went around to the next isle to see if they
had the foam plains that would really fly if you threw them just right.
Instead I found an entire wall of Star Wars action figures hanging in there
place.I could not believe it was real. From the top shelf to the bottom
shelf hung card after card with a plastic bubble on the front that
contained what seemed like hundreds of different characters. Immediately I
spotted my favorite droids R2 and 3PO and grabbed R2 because I couldn’t
reach 3PO. I held it and began to imagine the adventures that I could have
with him. I turned the card over and on the back were pictures of all the
available characters and I think it may have been then that I became aware
of the joy of collecting. I immediately wanted them all. The one that
really drew my attention was a blond guy with a stick coming out of his
hand. I thought that I remembered him from Mr. Green’s movie and that he
had a cool sword so I looked to see if they had one on the shelf.
I looked threw a sea of figures. I saw some very interesting ones that
I liked like a black suited figure with a cool helmet on his head, and the
they had a lot of the big foot looking guy that growled things, but they
did not have the blond sword guy. I figured I didn’t have any money anyway
and my mom was not here to try and get the money from so it was a fantasy.
I would save some money up and the next time I visited my mom maybe I would
be able to get Mark to come back and I would look for it again. The thrill
of the hunt was born.
Moving on down the isle I found some of the ships available to work
with the figures like the X-Wing fighter a giant one that was round and
could hold a bunch of characters at once. I could only dream of being the
kid lucky enough to get one of those. Right next to it on the lowest shelf
I saw a character card poking out from behind the box. I grabbed it to put
it back on the shelf where it belonged and noticed it was the blond guy
with the sword, his name was Luke Skywalker.
I could not give up my prize by putting it back on the shelf. I
decided the best thing to do would be to hide it until I could come and buy
it. The only logical thing to do would be to put it behind an ugly doll in
the girls section so I hurried threw the isle and found a doll to put it
behind as quickly as I could because I did not want anyone to wonder why I
was looking at dolls. I hid it behind a cabbage patch like doll accept its
face was made of cloth and made it look a bit like a pig. Satisfied with my
choice I rushed out of the girls section and bumped right into Mark.
To me Mark was godlike. He was the cool older brother that wanted
nothing to do with me because he was onto bigger things like music, girls,
and making money with a paper rout. The only thing I wanted to be was as
cool as my big brother. When he found me in the girls isle I froze in fear
and had nothing to say. Even tho I had a legitimate reason I was afraid
that it was childish to want the toy and possibly stupid that I hid it, so
I tried to think of a lie and instead just looked shocked and guilty.
“What did you do? Are you stealing something?” he asked. I was
embarrassed as I explained that I really wanted the toy and I hid it hoping
to get it later. “Well if you want it that bad I will buy it for you.”
I could not believe what I heard. I had never thought to straight out
ask for anything in my life. My father would be an instant no and my mother
would be a maybe with a lot of work to convince her that buying it would be
in her best interest as apposed to hearing me talk about it obsessively. I
never dreamed that Mark would offer me anything. Feeling shy and
undeserving I denied wanting it that bad and thanked him anyway.
“Yes you do and I have extra money from my paper rout so I’ll get it
and maybe I can get mom to pay me back” he said. My adventures with Luke
had begun.
To this day I tend to notice anything Star Wars related even tho I
decided to sell my collection at the swap meet when I was in about 4th
grade. I even sold old Luke Skywalker who only had half of his light saber
left, and his X-Wing with the wings locked open because my little sister
played with it in a sandbox. The ones in the window looked a lot like mine
right down to the broken light saber. I thought that must be common because
it was thiner at the tip and probably easy to break.
When we entered the store was empty but alive with a Spielbergian
orchestral movie score playing. Probably from E.T. or The Goonies. A short
old guy with a Monopoly man mustache asked me if he could help me. I shyly
told him I was just looking, avoided eye contact and started to look
around.
The store was amazing. It had everything that I missed from my
childhood. They even had the McDonald's collectors glassed that I had. I
even found the grand prise, a millennium falcon. This was the big round
ship that I had dreamed of owning when I first found the toys. After my
parents divorce I did not see my mom much, but the bright side was she
tried to make up for it with elaborate gifts. One year it was a Commodore
64 computer, another year it was my first guitar. The best year it was the
millennium falcon.
The falcon was the center of my collection and the center of every
adventure I put Luke and the others through. The falcon had smuggled and
battled and transported them all around my neighborhood. From house to
house with my friends and to the vacant lots that we claimed as our own. I
picked up the toy and was surprised how small it felt. I could smell the
dust and plastic just like mine and the smell brought me to the last day I
played with my falcon when the cock pit cover broke off when my friend Dave
dropped a rock on it launched from the bottom of his G.I.Joe jet fighter.
The front glass had an S shaped crack in it and one hinge was detached,
just like this one.
“Can I help you find anything Jimmie?” said a voice from behind me. My
nerves sprung into action and I quickly looked at the old shop keeper who
began to look familiar. Nobody called me Jimmie unless they knew me from a
very young age. Usually close friends or family members.
“I’m sorry, do I know you? How do you know my name?
“Well believe it or not I used to live next door to you when you were
about four or five years old.”
“Mr. Green? I remember you. Wow, It’s great to see you! I really like
your shop!”
“I’m surprised you remember me. You and your friend were so young.”
“We loved going to your house. I remember going on walks with you. It
was fun because you called it bear hunting. I remember you gave us canes to
trip the bear if we saw one. I thought it seemed like a dubious plan but
you seemed like you knew what you were doing so we went along with it.”
“Well I didn’t. One time I thought I heard something in the bushes and
got us out of there before anything came running out to chase us. I was
just as scared as you kids and glad to have you there to protect me.”
“Where did you get these Star Wars toys? I swear some of them look
like they could be my old toys.”
“Well I believe they may be. I bought a box of them from your mom at
the swap meet. I was there looking for old toys and I was surprised to run
into your her after so many years. She said you were doing well and the box
of toys reminded me of good times and I figured they would look good in my
toy shop. I was never sure I would get this shop going but by the time I
did those toys were attracting a good price. That falcon is worth $100 even
with the broken window. I’m surprised you sold them.
“I can’t believe it! Oh my god is that my Luke Skywalker in the
window?”
“All my star wars stuff is from your box. If it’s here, it was yours.”
I could not believe my ears. I thought I must be dreaming and my knees
began to shake uncontrollably. Almost all my collection was here. Not
everything but the big things. I knew I could not afford the $100 falcon
but I could probably afford Luke.
“How much for the Luke figure? I wish I could buy it all but I can’t.
I love all this stuff.”
“I think the price on it is $30 but I’ll consider lowering my prices
for an old friend.”
“Well that sounds great. How much for Luke and the falcon together?” I
knew that I did not have the money no matter what he quoted me but my
curiosity could not be stopped.
“I’ll give it all to you for what I paid for it. $10!”
“You don’t have to do that Mr. Green! I could give you at least $50.”
“I want to give it to you“
“I can’t let you do that.”
“No, I want to. You and your friend Eric were good kids. There were a
lot of kids in that neighborhood and a lot of them used to come by my
house. I would sit in the shade of the that big ceder in my front yard and
hand out candy as they ran around the neighborhood. Ten or twelve kids a
day would run up to me and ask if they could have a butterscotch or a
peppermint, and then stay and talk about there kick the can and football
games. After my wife died I could barely afford food for my dog Scruffs
much less candy, and the kids stopped coming around. All accept you and
Eric. You gave me company while I was going threw a very hard time, after
she passed. You boys gave me something to look forward to. As your friend I
want to give you back your toys.”
“Thank you Mr. Green. I am glad to have the toys and I’m glad to see
you well.”
“I’m glad to give them.”
He boxed all of the toys up for me in a tide box that looked old
enough to be my original box. I thanked him and we said our goodbyes.
Early the next morning Malissa and I were leaving town to continue
down the coast to Canon beach. Before we left I stopped at the fudge
factory and found some butterscotch candies for Mr. Green. They were
individually wrapped in a waxy paper and sat inside a tin box. We parked
the car and walked threw the carousel mall to the boardwalk, and this time
I could not find the toy store. There was just a small hair salon where I
thought the store had been. The people working there had no idea what I was
talking about when I asked about The Toy Box. We stood in front of the
salon and stared at each other speechless. That could not have been a
dream. I laid the box of butterscotch down on the boardwalk where the store
was. I walked back to the car half expecting the box to be missing too, but
it was still in the back seat. I dug threw the box of toys until I found my
Luke figure. I got in the car and set Luke on the dashboard with his arm in
the air. The stubby light saber reached into the sky ready for battle. I
grabbed Malissa's hand, headed south, and continued Luke's adventure.