Josh and Tyler were childhood bestfriends, who, through elementary, middle, and high school, managed to exist in perfect harmony with each other. They avoided conflict across countless friend groups, various relationships, and major life changes. In fact, their bond was so unbreakable that not even the post-graduation severance typically found at the tail-end of adolescence could tear the two apart. The brighter of the two, Josh, even refused to commit to college because it would mean leaving Tyler alone in their hometown. Instead, they got jobs at the grocery store together. Thirteen years later, they are still there. But, hey, this gig isn’t so bad; sometimes–just sometimes–they get to stock the produce together.
During one particularly draining shift, Josh was on cashier duty. He scanned items absentmindedly into the carts of chaotic customers.
“Okay, Miss, with the coupons added your order comes to ninety-five-dollars even,” Josh says.
The woman digs through her handbag and retrieves five $20 bills. She furrows her brow slightly.
“You got change for a $20, hun?”
“Uh, yeah, lemme see,” Josh goes to turn the key in his register drawer, which he had freshly stocked with crisp oppressors that same morning, but a large hand grips Josh’s smaller hand, stopping him from turning the key.
“What seems to be the problem here?” Tyler chimes in, looking back-and-forth to Josh and the woman with an investigative demeanor.
“Oh, this isn’t an issue for a manager to handle,” the lady says. Then, she lets out a small chuckle. “I was just asking this boy if he had change for a $20”
Little does she know that this particular intruder, one Tyler Jenkins, in no way possesses any semblance of authority whatsoever. Before coming to play manager, the scruffy gentleman was upfront sweeping up some shattered pickle jars an elderly man dropped on his way out of the store. It was midsweep that he caught the gaze of his love once more. And in Josh’s line! Stricken by her beauty from the moment he saw her in the deli section, Tyler decided that this very moment was the opportune time to shoot his shot.
“I was just asking this boy if he had change for a $20.”
` “I put some in my register this mo-”
“Well, yeah, lemme see,” Tyler fishes through his pockets with exceptional quickness, patting his pockets like beavers pat their dams. He rips his wallet out and pulls a crusty $20 from one of the folds. “Well, I mean, most of my money is in company shares anyways. I don’t trust paper money these days,” he laughs.
A jolly man with dry skin and sleepy eyes laughs at Tyler’s braggadocio; then he clears his throat and begins to speak:
“‘Scuse me, friends, but I believe I can be of assistance,” he says, gesturing towards the $20 in Tyler’s hand. The elder emanates a captivating aura; Josh becomes fixated on his essence.
“Give him the money, Tyler!” Josh yells, with a nudge to his friend’s shoulder. “He seems trustworthy.” Josh nudges Tyler again, and they share a moment of eye contact before Tyler hands the $20 over.
The man smiles as the dollar bill hits his hand. In a jolt, he extends it up in the air as if Jackson were a torch.
“Now,” he flicks his arm in a crescent shape and contorts his body in a spiral, “observe what wonders magic can accomplish!”
The man crumbles the bill up in his hand. Bringing his arm down, he slides his hands together in an array of complex patterns. As he twirls the bill around, he wags his head and giggles to himself like a drunken fighter. The woman is visibly uncomfortable. The other customers behind this new-age wizard became grossly annoyed and began diverting into the other lines. But of course, the man could not hear their insults due to the nature of his performance.
CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!
The old man closes his hands together thunderously and, with a smirk, opens his palms to reveal four shiny $5 bills. Josh couldn’t believe his eyes.
“4 $5s!” He looks at the woman and Tyler. Then back to the old man, “That’s change for a $20!”
A warm chuckle erupts from this wonderful magician. As he hands the woman her change, he leans into Josh and tells him, “you know, you’re a pretty smart feller!”
Thanks to this elder, the woman was free from the confines of the grocery line. The man came next, and stood looking directly at Josh and Tyler. Then, with a large grin, he spoke.
“Think not too fondly of my tricks, fellows; for there exists a special magic within all of us!” He gives the boys a double thumbs-up, turns from the register, and waddles towards the door. Purchasing nothing, but inspiring many. Especially the two young dreamers he had just shown the power of magic to. The pair stood silent until Josh broke through with an invigorated revelation,
“I should see about college, man,” he says.
“I should see about that woman,” Tyler determines, having not heard what Josh had said.
And so the two gentlemen parted with separate goals, but similar tenacities.
Josh attempted to apply for colleges when he got home that same night. But, needing a high school transcript, he reached an impasse. The high school he went to had closed down years ago. And the only paper copy in his possession was partially torn in order to fashion a makeshift joint when he was really pressed to burn one years ago.
As for Tyler, he managed to woo that woman by exhibiting an olympic-level grocery loading performance in the parking lot. She instructed him to leave space for two in the back, much to Tyler’s delight. In the backseat, resting on boxes of cereal and protein powder, Tyler took out his emergency condom and ripped the wrapper open feverishly. Inside the packaging, he found nothing but air.
Now, isn’t that magical?