Magic underfoot

 

Over the weekend, Lisa put up a that captured my imagination. She wondered if you had a magic carpet where would you go? I answered right away.

When I was a child, a book that made an impression on me was The Phoenix and the Carpet by E. Nesbit, a sequel to Five Children and It. I was also enchanted by The Little Lame Prince by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik. (Which you can read in it's entirety here along with other favorite bedtime stories. In both books, the characters are able to hop on a magic carpet and fly off to where they want to be. That concept just dazzled me as a kid. It still does really.

In the first apartment I had, I purchased two oriental rugs. These were big money purchases for me in those days. In one room of the apartment we laid the rich red carpet out, pushed the furniture to the corners of the rooms and spent hour upon hour lounging on that carpet listening to music, balancing cups of Pepsi and passing the pipe. During that time, my house became the hangout for our group of friends. They were practically always there. Even more than I even knew. Apparently, they'd leave when I went to work and then wait a while, go back to the house to hang out with my boyfriend and then leave before I came home. I came home to a quiet house and started preparing dinner for the crowd that would inevitably arrive soon after. Our group became the Magick Karpet Posse.  We believed in the magic of our carpet.

Over the years, there was squabbling amongst us about who could use the name and when. I felt because I owned the carpet I could use the name. Another friend wanted the right to throw parties under the name and was mad if I did. Eric, ended up being the keeper of the name. He's started a record label using it.   

The carpet moved with us to another apartment a few years later. That's the last I remember of the carpet. I wonder if someone rode off on it to a faraway land.

Go tell Lisa where you'd go if you had the chance to ride away.

Comments

[lisa]

what a great story, filled with magic friendship and memories. I love it.

[joan]

What a delicious post...

I love when you travel a ways down memory lane :)

My son has a hookah rug he calls the magic carpet (good grief) but alas, I have none.

I might have to work on that!

xoxo

[susanna]

What a fun post! It cracks me up thinking that your friends would sneak back into your house after you left for work. What good memories.

And you are the first person I've met, aside from my sister, who has read that book! I recently reread Five Children and It. It really takes you back to another time and place, doesn't it?