They Put a Spell on Me

We were under a spell. The Nuclear Waste Management was creating a lush powerful wall of music that, combined with the long evening of food, drink, and hot humidity, was like an audible hypnotism wheel.

The Iron Horse on Friday night was full of fans of solid pop music. The Pernice Brothers were headlining and Jose Ayerve (joined by his band Nuclear Waste Management Club) was the opening act. I think they wowed the crowd.

But the Iron Horse, on this hot humid sometimes-rainy night, was full of hot and humid people and it quickly became the mouth of a dragon. Lesa and I had to leave part-way through the Pernice Brothers set (I think it was a good show, if I had known the songs, I think it would have been really wonderful) just to escape the heat. It was lulling us into a deeper hypnosis.

Outside, the tarmac had a Hollywood after-rain shine (the pavements were all wet), and we walked towards home up Main Street. When we rounded the corner by Cracker-Barrel Alley, I saw a small boy with round plastic glasses. "Look! It's Harry Potter!" I pointed.

Glancing a bit further, we noticed a bench where five little wizards and wizards-in-training sat. Of course! Beyond Words Bookstore is having its Harry Potter Book Release Party! We walked through the crowd of costumed wizarding fans, feeling like a couple of Muggles and then something happened.

A spell was cast on us. We stopped and looked back at the scene. "We need to get that book." we said like zombies. We turned around and headed back into the thick of things, possessed. We were, I think, the two last people to purchase the new Harry Potter book that night. The staff looked excited and exhausted.

We left with our new book, feeling like Harry and Hermoine leaving Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley. The newly rained-on streets were starting to cast a spooky fog over the dark road. As we walked towards the park we looked back and saw the silhouettes of pointy wizard hats in the mist. Awesome.