Jorge and Maria are child magnets. Its always fun to see them walk into a square, dip their strings into the soap bucket and twirl around, making the most magical thing happen. As the square fills with bubbles of all sizes, children spontaneously appear out of thin air. Children run and try to catch the bubbles, holding them for an instant before they pop. The smallest toddlers are the most excited to see these ephemeral sprites and run after them on their unsteady legs; a sparkle of excitement is written all over their faces when they catch one and it bursts. But one is never enough and soon they are addicted, chasing bubble after bubble, giggling gleefully.
Children, maybe 5 to 7 years old soon follow; and though the little bubbles are fun; they are mesmerized by the big bubbles. Maria is so graceful as she holds her bubble sticks out and twirls, creating impossibly huge bubbles that seem to defy gravity and float up almost beyond the reach of these kids. They jump as high as they can and sometimes they do pop the bubble before it succumbs to its loss of surface tension and spontaneously snaps.
Older children are never the first to chase the bubbles; they need to be seduced by their younger friends’ childish fun before they join in. They come in packs and it is almost a competition amongst them to see who can smash the next big bubble. It’s fun, especially getting the bubble just before your friend; but they have lost the magic of the game; they no longer have that joyous, angelic expression of wonder.
Of course, Jorge and Maria enjoy charming the children, but they also hope that the parents will charm them back and give the children some money to put into their tip cup. This happens less frequently than they would like; parents are often having a coffee or a beer at a café on the square; chatting with other parents and oblivious to the squeals of delight around these bubble magicians.
Jorge and Maria’s adventure started a couple of months ago and they have been able to make their meagre travel budget stretch over the summer by couch surfing, hitching rides from city to city, and of course charming the children for pocket change. Traveling for them was like chasing bubbles; each city was bubble caught; but another bubble always seemed to appear just down the road. But just like the older children that have lost the enchantment of bubbles, Jorge and Maria’s adventure is also losing its lustre … they both are talking about going home and back to school.