Magic trick

 

When we were in Duluth on vacation I was awash in holiday cash. We like to be rich on vacation and be able to buy ourselves presents and wallow on sheets made of butterfly wings and gaze out over astonishing vistas full of water. It gives texture to the slightly less exotic rest of the year.

So when we were in a kitchen store, in our hotel complex, where they carried pretty water bottles that alleged to keep my water cold (or warm) for 18 hours I decided to buy one even though it was 35 dollars. It was blue, with flowers and various weeds on it. Like I said, it's pretty. It is sitting here by my left hand as I write. It holds about 2/3's of a quart of water.

I put cold water in it about nine hours ago.

Before we move on to the next detail about this water I would like to say that I don't have much experience with what was known back in the old days as a thermos. I might have used a couple back in elementary school, and some liquid or soup sent along for my lunch may have been kept warm by it, but I was surely not impressed because I am not particularly fond of warm foods. I was less likely to think "Wow, this thermos has amazingly kept my food warm!" than I was to think "This thermos is broken because it has kept my food warm!"

So what I want to say is that I put cold water in my blue water bottle nine hours ago.

It is still cold.

It

Is

Still

Cold!

I've been doing this for a few weeks now, putting cold water in a bottle that, for all intents and purposes, and despite any conditions, keeps it cold forever.

And every single time I open my blue bottle and take a sip I am amazed all over again.