The Magician... Or something somewhat resembling one.

Cover made in Canva using free elements.

Looking out into the audience, Adam was poised. He’d spent many hours rehearsing and perfecting his craft. It had been an obsession since his birthday party, and his nan had proudly presented him a magician’s kit. In the weeks that had passed since, he’d barely taken his cape off and he’d treated his top-hat as a precious treasure. The audience in front of Adam cheered as he flared out a deck of cards and revealed that his mother had pulled a Jack of Spades – it had not been her card, but she played along declaring, ‘The magic must be real!’

It was then time for the audience to ‘Oooo’ in amazement as a small coin disappeared into Adam’s hand, reappearing behind his father’s ear. All in all, Adam was not particularly magical, but he was certainly dedicated to his stagecraft and as he whipped his black wand about in front of his face, and demanded ‘Abracadabra’ his parents were proud that Adam had finally found something that interested him that wasn’t on a screen.

But at that precise moment, Adam’s face lost its composure. He summoned a further, ‘Abracadabra’ and with a slight movement of his fingers, the crowd’s imagination rose in expectation. What could possibly have been behind the bathroom curtain that was strewn across the loungeroom? What had Adam hoped to make appear? The crowd held their breath, a pretense perhaps given the absence of magic they’d witnesses, and willed for whatever was concealed to become known.

And then Adam completely lost his poise. His voice, only moments earlier resembling a radio announcer, was now transformed into a whining banshee. He leapt across his makeshift stage space and began to yell, ‘You were supposed to come out! You’ve ruined it! Why would you do this to me?’ and then the rising voices turned to a screaming howl – as, whoever was behind the curtain had snapped his magician’s wand and footsteps could be heard running up the stairs.

This was followed by the first piece of the wand hitting the carpet and making a dull thud, followed by the remaining end. What had started out a triumph for their boy, whose confidence was soaring, had now become a bitter disappointment. Yet, his parents were still left out of the trick, unaware as to which of Adam’s siblings was hiding behind that curtain. The big reveal was going to happen, with or without the intervention of their little sorcerer.

Adam’s mother went to pull back the old shower curtain, but found herself stalling to consider what on earth had made her purchase a patterned one showing a duck in a shower cap! The intensity of the moment, paired with the comical pattern, nearly had her erupting in tears – but out of duty for her son, she persisted – bringing the curtain back to reveal… no one.

The puzzled faces of the onlookers were then turned to being somewhat more startled, as the yelling from upstairs had begun, ‘You little creep! What have you done to my room?’ and then further commotion as what sounded like a bookshelf crashed to the floor – leaving a trailing cacophony of thumps and bangs and screams and shouts. Adam’s older sister, the non-compliant assistant was coming to a rising hysteria as it sounded like things were being thrown against the wall – yet from their position in the loungeroom below, neither mother nor father, nan nor pop could figure out quite who was doing the throwing and who was playing victim. Even the neighbours across the road, a nice couple who had a liking for baked goods, had stopped watching their television shows to come to the window to gawk.

With the feeling her feet were finally being released from the spot where she felt glued, Adam’s mother started racing up the stairs, just in time to see her son emerge from his sister’s bedroom. In her own panicked state, all she could muster was, ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ to which Adam replied, ‘I’m making myself disappear’ – and he ran into his room yelling, ‘Open Sesame’, making sure to lock it tightly behind him.