Of Matches and Matchboxes

This will be our 10th year in this house. When the previous owner was giving me the lowdown on where everything is, he pointed me to a basket full of matches. He explained that whenever he went out to eat he'd pick up a book of matches from the restaurant, if available.

We are still using them. I guess he ate out a lot.

***

When I was a boy of about six I was playing with a Matchbox car with my older cousin, Denton Lee, at our grandparents' house. We were just doing as boys do, rolling it around on the hardwood floors.

It rolled under a dresser in the back bedroom, and we couldn't retrieve it, couldn't reach it to get it out.

***

When my friend Steve and I were kids, we'd have contests with our Matchbox cars. The object was to see which car could be rolled across the carpet the farthest without tipping over. Without a doubt the champion was a white one called "Pantera 8." I had a fine little collection of cars, but nothing came close. With it's wide wheelbase and heavy construction it won our contests over and over.

I went out and bought a pair of them, and after that the contests lost some of their lustre.

***

As a young man of about 21 I was in my grandfather's house one day, and I remembered the lost car.

I went into the back bedroom, knelt down and peered under the dresser.

There it was, where it had sat motionless for 15 years. I pulled it out and marveled at the shiny green Matchbox race car with the orange windshield. You'd be surprised how exciting it can be to find an artifact like that, a direct, tangible connection to a moment when you were a child. Suddenly I was back in that moment, back in that time when I had no worries, and nothing was scarier than some monster movie on a UHF channel.

At 21 I was about to undergo very grownup heartbreak, maybe a year from leaving home (man did I wait a long time!).

I still had those old Matchbox cars though, collected nicely in a little carrying case.

***

I had a new stepbrother (again) at the time, a young boy of about 10. He was a sweet young kid. He and his older brother really touched me, really felt like family.

I gave the young boy my carrying case full of Matchbox cars. He was happy to have them.

A year later things had changed, and I never saw him or the cars again.

***

Last night at the Japanese hibachi restaurant, the chef stacked onion rings, with the biggest on the bottom, the smallest on the top. It was shaped sort of like a volcano. He squirted some oil into the top, struck a match on the hibachi and lit the volcano. Flames shot up about a foot, and for several seconds. It was really kind of amazing. Everything seemed to be okay. The kids were at home with a sitter, I had the love of my life by my side, and I was watching onion-based pyrotechnics.

We were so impressed that the chef did it again.

***

My six-year-old son had some leftover Christmas money, so today we went to the toy store. He picked out several toys, and when he had only a few bucks left he decided to get a five-pack of Matchbox cars.

They're pretty cool too, really clever little designs. My daughter and I played with them for a while, and my son did too. And I couldn't help but wonder where the little green Matchbox car is, lost and found and lost again.