The Magician's Trick

          Well, this is an early post so I can't write about event's of today much besides seizures are down but I can mention that yesterday after the blog post I played scrabble(A word game, the game Words with Friends is based on) with my father and mother. There was much strangeness. It had been many years since I last played it and since the old scrabble dictionary didn't accept the word “mook”(when I was young I learned that word from the Timon and Pumbaa cartoon if I recall correctly) when I was younger I decided that one condition was that we would use the Internet so that any word was valid and we weren't limited by that. My opening play was “zun” I went first. I didn't remember where I heard it. I looked it up after I played it. It means “any wide range of Chinese wine vessels”. Later in the game I played “nadit” thinking that was a word I had also heard somewhere before. Unlike zun, that is actually not a word. But I got away with it because neither of my parents challenged the word. I came in second place in the end. Mom got in third and Dad won. What really put Dad ahead was the word “bermed” which means: to cover or protect with a berm. A berm is a horizontal surface between the exterior slope of a rampart and the moat. (Like in a castle)

Anyway, onto the flash fiction!

The Magician's Trick

       “It's amazing to work for a magician that actually uses real magic for his tricks.” said Jennifer the beautiful assistant of Gerado the Magnificent behind the curtain. Jennifer was the most beautiful assistant that Gerado had yet.

       “Thank you.” the magician responded. And now that all the props are set up the first act of the show can begin.

       The first act was the typical “illusion”. The person goes into one box and appears in another. Now normal magicians would use trapdoors or other tricks but Gerado's wand had real magic and actually could move Jennifer from one of the boxes to the other. However he still used a bit of smoke or a little purple curtain as the audience had to think it was some sort of magic trick. He couldn't afford to have anyone knowing his secret.

      Other acts would involve copies of the beautiful assistant. People would assume it was a mirror trick but it was actually clay clones brought to life. (The act actually had the clones lifting him or various objects up.)

       An act after that would transform the assistant into a mermaid. Though the audience just assumed it was the best costume in the world and makeup artists often came to his show just to see it and ignored the other tricks. They tried to guess what paints and other materials he was using to allow her to move so freely and how he got it on her so quickly. After all he only had a few seconds of smokescreen to get it on her from their perspective. They all tried to guess his magic trick.

       One day Jennifer burst into Gerado's office, “Is there something your not telling me Gerado?”

       “Whatever do you mean?” he asked.

        “I just noticed I have a gray hair, and I'm twenty!” she yelled.

        “Many of us age early dear. I had one at twenty just like you.” he responded calmly. “And you're blaming me for this because?”

        “I feel like crap in the morning, my skin's starting to sag a little, and I'm starting to slump like my grandma when I walk! And this hasn't happened since I started working with you a year ago!” She yelled.

       “Oh, they always find out eventually.” Gerado the Magnificent sighed.

        “So, wait,” she looked at him fearfully, “I was right? You're the cause of this? And I am losing my youth?”

         “Yes, and it seems my magic is draining you more quickly than the other assistants unfortunately.” the magician frowned.

        “You've never told any of your previous assistants have you?” Jennifer's entire body started to fill with fear. It started from her heart and went through every bone and organ in her body. “So they didn't retire because you paid them so much...its because you were draining them?”

        “Yes.” the magician continued to frown. “And just like the others I cannot risk you going to the authorities. I'm sorry.”

         And with a wave of his wand she turned to dust, but not before she let out a quick shriek. The magician then left his office, he had to go hire another beautiful assistant, he had another show scheduled for next week, and he would hate to have to cancel. And hopefully this one would be more resistant to the draining effect of his magic and last longer.