Snow Globe Story

Snow Globe Story                              

Jack had a difficult childhood. His father was exacting and loud. His ma was quiet and skittish. Jack was small when his ma first noticed him raise his head and look toward the front door just before his father arrived home. She never noticed how he stilled for a second before returning to the block in his hand, the pacifier in his mouth. It was as if his body sensed molecules shifting in the room, and he adjusted himself a bit. During the difficult times, his parents didn’t see beyond the chaos. Jack, though, gradually formed an unusual level of sensory perception, growing adept at observation of both seen and unseen worlds. Difficulties did give way occasionally to bursts of spontaneous congeniality within the small family. Jack found wild happiness then.

Jack tried to fix the difficulties. He tried to be a good boy. He was obedient and a pleasing son to his father, a steady comfort to his ma. He recited his prayers every night. He memorized knock-knock jokes to tell at the dinner table. One night, he placed himself at the center of the difficulty. He joined his parents. He stood between them, but it only made things more difficult. His teenage self once asked his father about the why of the difficulties. His father thought for a moment, responded “Your mother is a good woman” confusing Jack all the more. He agreed to leave the difficulties unmentioned to friends, cousins, bus drivers, and teachers. None of his efforts made much difference. Father remained exacting and loud and Ma stayed silent and fearful. Over time, as one attempt after another failed, Jack grew disappointed with himself.

Jack’s diligence, obedience, and precise attention to detail stood him well in school. He got on well enough with classmates, thrived with the daily routine, and graduated with honors. He landed a position as an apprentice under a woman widely admired for producing superb snow globes.

Eventually, Jack’s parents died. As time went on he tried to forgive himself a little for failing to fix the difficulties of his childhood. He tried to be cheerful and polite to each person he met. He stayed busy and told himself to forget about anything confusing and frightening. Still, no matter how hard he tried, the memories huddled inside him for a long time.

After several years as an apprentice, and with the woman's blessing, Jack started his own business. He found the intricate work absorbing, forged exceptional skills, and did quite well selling his creations at holiday fairs, art in the park festivals, and weekend exhibits on the pier. People adored the enchanting worlds he depicted in the exquisite globes.

One fall day, a young girl approached Jack's booth at the local fair. The globes enthralled her. She lingered, gazing at each globe, one by one. Jack showed her how a soft cloth would remove smudges on the glass and she readily and gently cleared away any fingerprints she spotted, all the while humming softly. Contentment suffused Jack as he observed her quiet industriousness. The afternoon passed sweetly and peacefully. When the girl’s parents and brother approached, ready to leave for home, she proudly pointed out the globes she had polished. Her mother's warm laughter and hug for the child were matched by the wide smile of her father and her brother’s big eyes and thumbs up. Watching the loving exchange, Jack was struck, realizing that he had no memories of easy affection in his family. He offered the girl her favorite globe, thanked her for the lovely afternoon, and exhaled in quiet wonder at the family as they left.

A few days later, Jack woke, restless and unsettled. Though all seemed fine, throughout the day his uneasiness grew. Puzzled and distracted, he almost dropped a box of globes he was carrying from the storage section. The next day something similar occurred and the next day. His satisfaction and concentration in his work began fading and he finally sought therapeutic help. He attended weekly sessions with an analyst who listened closely to his concerns and in due course, inquired about his childhood.

Many of Jack’s recollections stirred great anguish. One memory, however, was of a make-believe friend he’d had. It was a tiny, tiny person who fit inside his jacket pocket, a little buddy who always listened to Jack's wonderings and went with him everywhere. Jack had called him his pocket pal.

Jack figured that his pocket pal had, without doubt, saved his sanity in those difficult years. This understanding stirred him deeply and almost immediately his emotional crisis dissolved. He sensed that his pocket pal had guided him to his beloved work as the snow globes depicted tiny tiny people, tiny tiny dogs, tiny tiny trees, houses, and chapels in lovely tiny scenes. 

As a result, Jack decided to modify his snow globe creations. He put together a marketing plan geared to the therapeutic childhood developmental field.

Jack’s modifications led to more and even greater success. He immersed himself in his new business model.                                                  

He designed a series of family-oriented snow globes for children such as he had been. His best-selling snow globe pictured a small boy with a woman and a man. The boy’s expression was one of wild-eyed concern and utter absorption as he stared at the man whose mouth stretched wide in a garish blackened-teeth abyss. The man waved tight fists above the woman crouching before him. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her shoulders hunched high around her ears. She had no arms. When the snow globe was turned upside down and gently shaken, instead of ethereal white flakes gently hazing the scene, blood-red shards of glitter drifted down upon all three figures. It sold like hotcakes.  

Jack ventured on. He created a globe that depicted the woman standing fiercely before the man. Another globe showed the man as a little kid running from hideous monsters. One, his favorite, held the boy rollicking and laughing with his buddies. Snow kissed their tiny faces.