Sympathetic Magic

Things have been slow here in Roscommon, so I decided to play the game of Auto Roulette. I didn't need a car, but the question of need isn't one of the fundamental requirements to play. Brother Mike had been talking about getting a Malibu, and that conversation planted the seed in my own brain. I walked into the car dealership and told the salesman that I wanted to test drive a Chevrolet. He looked at me for a full, silent minute and replied, "We sell Buicks here." He did find a used one in the lot so off I headed to the interstate to give it a test.

When I got back to the lot the salesman, all smiles asked, "What did you think?" Trying to be kind for what was a rather non descript trip, I replied, "Well, its not a Grand Prix". Erasing his flashing frown, he replied, "I can get that for you!"

Indeed he did, but my temptation level to buy was still pretty low for the car color was a purple, plum, burgundy, black with some brown thrown in for good measure color. The test ride tipped me over! This was a 2007 but it was still true, "We build excitement!" To escape unscathed, I had to employ the dreaded 24 hour rule. "I don't buy anything until I think about it 24 hours." This isn't actually my rule at all, but I had to come up with something quick so that I could get away without buying.

It was still raining when I got back to town, so I motored over to the hometown dealer to see what he had. Couldn't believe my luck. He had a black Grand Prix. Now I was in trouble because it was exactly what I wanted. The test drive was in the rain so it wasn't all that it might have been. This enabled me to employ the strategy of Quintus Fabius Maximus. He was the Roman general who fought the Carthaginians in the Second Punic War by delaying every battle. Another chance, for another delay, but my sales resistance was weakening. How long could I delay? As I was leaving the building my mind was racing. The last ditch effort had to be magic or I was snared. Quickly, I took two pictures of the car with my phone camera. Some of effects of sympathetic magic are contained in the Law of Similarity. The magician infers that he can produce any effect he desires merely by imitating it. Could I keep myself from buying the car by merely taking a picture of it? As a novice in this field, I am not sure how long the charm will last.