I received an email informing me that a google search for “fulchau” (an Chinese-made doll head on the end of a flashlight I bought at a bargain store for $1) yields just one hit (to a story I wrote for bOING bOING). How can this be?
Dear Mark:
My sister Susan forwarded your article to me regarding your trip to the 99 cent store in the “North Valley” and I just had to take a moment to write. As my sister is relatively new to the Internet, she takes great pleasure in typing various family names into her search engine (my name, for instance, brought up the “save Karyn” site). For whatever reason she decided to put in the word “fulchau” and yours was the only link attached to it. Oddly enough, my sister bought her first fulchau at an official 99 cent store here in Whittier, located about 20 miles east of Los Angeles. She originally bought it intending to give me just the head so I could then attach it to the antenna of my car (what I actually wanted was a real Barbie head, but couldn’t bring myself to destroy one of my beloved dolls). I’m not sure when it was that she decided that these toys were such a treasure, but she almost immediately went back and bought each and every one that they had in stock. It was the Christmas of 1993 when at my parents house she presented it to me. I have photos chronically it’s arrival, our family’s inspection of the toy and final realization of what a truly bizarre find Susan had discovered. The final photo shows us literally in tears as we realized the silly thing needed batteries although we still weren’t sure what exactly the batteries would make it do. Fulchau has made a place in our family, often showing up at white elephant exchanges, other times marking an important birthday or anniversary. Most of the fulchau (I wonder if there is a plural for the word fulchau) remain still “bagged” as we feel they are worth more with the name and directions (or should I say ORDERS) to have fun. Susan and I have often wondered if anyone else had known the joys of fulchau and are both pleased to see that not only have you discovered her, but you remember how to spell her name. God bless you and fulchau everywhere.