Junky Genie

A Figment of Our Imagination Takes Us to a Dream Come True

The Unexpected Find

At a small swap meet somewhere back in the hills of eastern Tennessee last fall, we bought a box of assorted old chrome parts just to get one cool-looking hood ornament for the garage wall. In the bottom of the box was what looked to be an old teapot, half full of dash knobs. Upon dumping them out, we noticed that the pot might actually be silver, not chrome. We closed the lid and grabbed a rag to try wiping it off.

A Magical Encounter

After a few rubs, we thought we heard someone in the shop. Looking around and seeing no one, we rubbed some more and heard it again. It sounded like a woman’s voice saying to please open the lid. We went back to rubbing and she asked again. Without wondering what was going on, we opened the lid. The pot appeared to be full of smoke, clouding what looked to be a beautiful young woman’s face. She said, “Oh, hi there. I’m Genie, Junky Genie. I can grant you one wish on three conditions: One, this wish will take you anywhere you want, but for only three hours, and it must be decided in the next 10 seconds. Two, it must involve junk. Three, you must take me back to the next swap meet and resell me in a box of your own junk.”

The Wish Granted

Um, okay. How about going to an old junkyard full of cars, trucks and cool stuff? “Your wish is granted. Please close the lid and look into the spout. Have a nice trip.”

Exploring Vintage Tin National Park

You’re looking at what we saw and where we went. Luckily for you, we had our camera in our pocket. We have no idea exactly where we were, except for the collection of Colorado license plates we found nailed to a barn door. We were alone, and we didn’t see any “No Trespassing” signs or nasty-looking dogs. With only three hours to our wish, we got right to exploring. The place was huge, with as many treasures inside as out. After about a dozen choice finds, we remembered the camera and figured we’d better not come back without any pictures to share.

An Unexpected Encounter

Three hours fly by when you’re touring “Vintage Tin National Park.” We were down to about 10 minutes left when we came to a gate with a new modular house and a big garage beyond it. Just then this radio station portable disc jockey van pulled up and a street rodder (you could tell by the T-shirt) got out and waved us over. It turned out the whole place was his dad’s, who ran a general repair and speed shop out of it from the early ’40s to the late ’60s. Just as he was asking how we came to be in there our three hours were up, and just like that we were back in our shop. We never got a chance to ask the guy where we were or what he figured on doing with everything. So what you see is what we got.

The Mystery and the Message

We hope you enjoy the tour, and be sure to dig through every old box of junk at every swap meet you go to from now on. If you see an old chrome teapot buy the box, take it home and, in the privacy of your garage, give it a rub to try your luck.