ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 24, 1997 TAG: 9704240015
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: BETH MACY
SOURCE: BETH MACY
He was 2 when he met his first love. A Fisher Price. It wasn't much on suction, but it had those little colored poppity-pop balls that went up and down when he pushed it across the carpet.
Now he's 6, and his current infatuation is a Bissell. Of the non-toy variety. Major suction torque. Purrs like a kitten - in heat.
``A Bithell,'' he says, with the slight lisp of a boy who has lost his two front teeth.
Morgan Wilburn's world can be summed up by this sweeping statement: He is positively passionate about... vacuum cleaners.
``This is sort of my favorite. It's a Bissell,'' he enthuses, as if introducing me to his best friend. ``That's B-I-S-S-E-L-L. Santa brought it. And it's adjustable, it moves.''
In Morgan's world, the word Bissell can be a noun, a verb and, in extreme cases of coolness, even an adjective. ``My Uncle Chip has the Shop Vac,'' he says. ``I loaned it to him so he could Bissell his basement.''
In Morgan's world, art projects become 20-page scrapbooks. He pulls the Wal-Mart and Sears circulars from the Sunday paper, cuts out the vacuum cleaners and pastes them into collages.
In Morgan's world, first-grade writing exercises become elaborate fantasies: In one, a cannister vacuum not only Bissells the carpet, it also washes the car, paints the walls and comes when called. ``All you have to say is, `Closet Keeper, Come Here!''' Morgan says.
Very Bissell.
An I-N-D-I-V-I-D-U-A-L
In every mother's life, there comes the moment. A preschooler I know insists on wearing black fingernail polish to school - he's 3. Another boy, a 5-year-old, desperately wanted, and finally received, an American Girls doll for Christmas.
Last week, my 3-year-old announced he was dressing himself for preschool from here on out. Picture green sweat pants and a tie-dyed T-shirt, topped with a bonus second T-shirt (teal, with a dragon), for the layered look. He accented the ensemble with a stretch belt and a pair of knee socks (they had Santas on skis, and he wore them over the top of his bunched-up sweat pants.)
Either you engage in an hour-long Battle of the Wills. Or you give in to eccentricity and go: ``Oh ... how nice.'' (It's OK to cringe, quietly, to yourself.)
It's been so long since Morgan formed his attachment to vacuum cleaners, the Wilburns can't remember when it all started - maybe with the Fisher Price.
But they decided to celebrate his uniqueness, rather than pull the plug.
Soon after, he was playing daily with the family vacuum cleaner, a 30-pound Kirby: putting the attachments on, taking them off, stacking them up, talking into the ends of the tubes, even pulling the entire upright up and down the stairs.
Later, when he asked to visit the Electrolux booth at the Salem Fair, they took him. When he began talking nonstop about Mary, his favorite clerk at Salem's Roanoke Valley Vac Outlet, they did not hesitate. ``We take him there about once a month - the way other kids go to the zoo,'' says his mother, Julie.
When the champion Bissell steam cleaner was the only thing on Morgan's Christmas list, Julie and Guy Wilburn made sure Santa got the message.
Conversely, when there's a discipline problem at home, it's not the Power Rangers or videos that take a hike - Morgan could care less about that stuff. ``It's `You're not going to be able to Bissell,''' Julie says. ``That's where you can hurt him.''
A semi-serious infraction can put the Bissell under lock and key for a day or two. A serious problem can mean the ultimate threat: the removal of all vacuum cleaners from the property.
``At our house it's not, `There are starving children in China' if you don't eat your food. It's, `There are people who don't have vacuum cleaners who could really use this if you don't...'''
Julie, a preschool teacher, concedes: ``I've never seen anything like it. He's just Morgan.
``He's always been, I don't know ... different.''
Eureka! What suction power!
Some notes on his dozen-plus collection:
The latest, an upright broom-vacuum, is a Singer. He saved up his Easter and report-card money to make the $19 purchase. ``Singer means you can take apart these three pieces,'' he says. ``It's a handy tool, especially on the stairs.''
The race-car red Swivel Stick, a Dirt Devil brand, is another favorite ``because it has two speeds - high and low.''
``This one is my favorite, a Corvette Vac by Eureka.''
Point out that he seems to have more than one favorite, and he says: ``Yes, I like every one. Very much.''
``Now, this one's a little different,'' he says, pointing to another Dirt Devil. ``This one has a hose.''
``This one's a Kenmore. It's real powerful. It can suck carpet hair up.'' Translation from Mom: ``Carpet hair means fuzz.''
Tell him you own a Hoover Futura with a Cleaning Effectiveness Amp of 11.0, and he doesn't miss a trick: ``I think that's the cannister model.''
Bingo, right on the Bissell.
An upright citizen
Ask about the toy replica Dirt Devil his mom bought him early on, and Julie quickly interjects: ``It sucks, but not to his satisfaction.''
Julie used to worry that children who don't understand Morgan's enthusiasm for all things Bissell would make fun of her son. But with a schedule that also includes swimming, gymnastics, tee-ball and piano lessons, the East Salem first-grader can easily find something else to chat about.
Morgan, who was diagnosed with diabetes at 19 months, is mature for his age. When they were handing out self-esteem, he cleaned house.
He's always the first to volunteer for the speaking role in school plays, and he has no trouble carrying on conversations with adults.
Especially his friends' mothers. ``If he came to your house, he would ask right off to see your vacuum cleaner,'' Julie says. ``And if you have any Bisselling or steam cleaning to be done, he definitely wants to do it.''
He's a very Bissell kid.
LENGTH: Long : 119 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. DON PETERSEN/THE ROANOKE TIMES. Six-year-old Morganby CNBWilburn of Salem poses amid his collection of upright, cannister,
portable and steam-vacuum cleaners. 2. Morgan Wilburn takes
housecleaning into his own hands as his mom, Julie, looks on.
color.