Calliope: Voice of the Writers
The Great Novel Race 2008:
Black Smoke and Distorted Mirrors
by Whitney Garrett
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Chapter 1
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The high heels clicked and clacked their way across the stage. They tapped out a rhythm that sounded like a melody to the backstage hands who rushed around getting props set up and the last minute adjustments made. The person wearing the shoes was completely oblivious to the distraction she was making for her stage crew. She herself was unaware of the music she was inadvertantly making, as she was merely walking past the closed curtain over to her full-length mirror.
“You’re on in five minutes,” her harried stage manager told her as he rushed past.
She watched as he hurried off to yell at two stage hands for dropping a box of props right before curtain call. She frowned at his negligence at not even telling her good luck on her big opening night. She shook herself of distractions and looked in the mirror. Her feminine classy black tuxedo was freshly pressed with every crease looking perfect. Her white gloves were immaculate and worn with care over her delicate, graceful hands. Every strand of her dark hair, which was worn down without adornments, was in place. The only jewelry she wore was the pair of simple black stud ear rings that caught the stage lights in a way that each ear ring seemed to hold a galaxy of stars.
Something was missing. She looked at the vanity table next to the mirror. It was a cluttered mess of seemingly random odds and ends. There were several vials of what the stage crew had assumed were perfume. Make-up products were scattered over the table without care. Several colorful scarves were carelessly flung over the vanity mirror and the back of the chair that was in front of it. The chair did not match the vanity, which was an antique cream color, but was a midnight blue with a silver cresent moon on the back. On the chair sat a black cat who seemed to cast a disdainful glance over the disarray of the vanity.
She ignored the cat and picked up the top hat that was sitting on an ornate mahogany music box in the center of the vanity table. The music box was the only thing on the vanity that seemed as if it had any care given to it. The top hat had been sitting on it as if on display.
It was this top hat that she swept up and gently placed on her head completing her ensemble. She looked long and hard into the mirror, happy with the look that it had taken her a good month to decide on. She pulled the brim of the top hat down so that all that could be seen from under it was the deep red colored lips that shimmered with gloss even in the dim lighting. Those red lips slowly curved into a satisfied, confident smile that seemed a little lop-sided. She was ready.
She glanced down at the cat, who returned her look with one that told her he was decidedly unimpressed. He was a cat, though, and she had always found that cats had a way of being hard to impress. She shook her head at him, then smiled as she walked toward her spot in front of the curtain.
“Wish me luck, Rhapsody!” she called over her shoulder, though she had a feeling he wouldn’t wish her luck any more than her manager did.
The music was reaching a climax, and she could feel it thrumming in her chest. She shook herself, getting ready for her moment. The adrenaline was making her hands shake and she formed them into fists to use up the extra energy. She took a deep breath as the announcer began to introduce her. The music reached a fever pitch as she heard her name ring out over the audience that waited for her just beyond that curtain.
“Presenting Lady Shaska!!”
The curtains were draw back and smoke from dry ice flooded the stage. She walked out onto the stage with her top hat pulled down, her head cocked forward. She strutted out into the spotlight meant just for her. She brought with her an aire of confidence and mystery. The lights shone all around her concealing the audience from her gaze. The audience that would decide her future. This was her chance.
She paused to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, and to allow herself to get past her excitement and nervousness, and focus on the task at hand. She gracefully removed her top hat and brought it in front of her in clear view for the whole audience. As she held her hand, open, above the rim of the hat, there was an explosion of confetti that came from inside the hat. Amidst the confetti something straight and long also shot out of the hat. As the crowd gasped from the bright colored confetti, Shaska caught what the crowd could now see was a classic black, white-tipped magic wand that was clearly longer than the hat itself. She always enjoyed this trick as a nice twist on pulling things out of thin air and was relieved to see that she’d pulled the right thing out.
She returned the top hat to its place on her head, and grabbed each end of the wand then pulled gently, almost imperceptively. The wand grew longer until it came up past her waist. She felt the audience watching her every move though she couldn’t see them. She could almost hear their thoughts wondering how she had managed such a trick, their minds working through many different hypotheses on how she could make a retractable wand.
She began spinning the wand, now a cane, in intricate circles around her waist, over her head, until she brought it down banging the end on the stage floor. Confetti shot up from the cane as did another cane that looked identical to the one it came out of. She heard “oooh”s from the crowd, especially the children who were enjoying the rainbow-colored confetti. She spun both canes now, continuing the graceful circles. She held them out on either side of her spinning them so fast it looked as if she were now spinning black hula hoops around her arms. As she began spinning them slower the audience saw that she actually was holding black hula hoops. She stopped spinning them and held them out on each side of her showing the audience the circles that had once been canes.
She slapped each hula hoop on the stage producing more confetti. The hoops sprang back on themselves and she was holding the canes once again. The crowd clapped, and she began twirling the canes again as if she were in a drill team. She executed an intricate flip of the canes, leaning forward as if to bow and lanching the canes into the air over her head where they arched gracefully, crossing each other. However, instead of coming back down as the crowd was expecting, a puff of smoke was released as the canes met in midair, and something else entirely fell down to meet the waiting arms of the young magician. The crowd cheered as the sleek black cat fell into her arms. She cuddled Rhapsody to her and made him, much to his chagrin, wave to the crowd.
She inhaled the applause she received as if she was taking a breath after almost drowning. She smiled widely, and her eyes sparkled with more than the stage lights. So far, so good. Her magic had yet to fail her and she hoped it would remain that way. She put the cat down and let it run backstage.
“I’m glad you enjoyed the introduction. You’ll have to excuse Rhapsody; he’s shy and likes to get offstage as fast as possible,” she addressed the audience for the first time, “For my next act I’d like an audience volunteer.”
She waited as one of her assistants pulled a man out of his seat and brought him onstage. He smiled nervously as Shaska. She smiled reassuringly back at him and accepted the microphone one of her assistants handed her.
“What is your name, sir? And where are you from?” she asked, the usual routine.
“Um, Bert Chester. I’m from Apple Ridge, Illinois,” he answered, looking nervously out at the audience.
“Well, Bert from Illinois,” she said with a charming smile, putting him more at ease, “I’m going to make you disappear!”
Any ease her smile had given him drained from his face. A nervous laugh escaped his lips, as her assistants guided him to a big box that had been wheeled out onto the stage. The box was colorful with many archaic symbols covering it. It had big sliding door on each of its four sides, and it was big enough to hold an elephant. It looked incredibly daunting to Bert, who had a hard time not backing away from it.
Shaska opened the sliding door that was facing the audience, sending Bert into the dark box with these encouraging words, “Say good-bye to the audience, Bert. Do you have any last words for your family just in case this goes badly? You do have a will don’t you?”
The crowd’s last view of Bert was his shocked face as the door slid closed. As the assistants began turning the box, Shaska concentrated, waving her arms elaborately for show. Smoke began seeping out of the edges of the box, as the assistants began spinning it slower.
“Latrop nepo! Treb esufnoc! Rood kard ni edih!” Shaska shouted, snapping her fingers.
The assistants stopped spinning the box and back away from it. Shaska walked to the sliding door, opened it and showed the crowd the empty box. She stepped in and walked around opening the other sliding doors to show that there were no hidden rooms to hide Bert in. The crowd clapped at the sight of the completely empty box. Shaska smiled, pleased that the magic went right.
“Now, what kind of magic would it be if I didn’t bring Bert back?” Shaska asked the audience. Her assistants closed the other three doors on the box, while Shaska herself closed the front door. She whispered to the wood of the box, “Please, let this work!” she rubbed her hands against one of the symbols like she would a lucky rabbit’s foot.
The assistants spun the box again, slowing again as Shaska yelled out, “Latrop rood kard nepo!” She concentrated hard on Bert, but as she finished the words she began thinking of the ways the trick could go wrong; and so it did.
Shaska took a deep breath and opened the sliding door, flashing the spectators a winning smile. The smile turned due south when she heard a roar as the sliding door opened. She turned her head to see a majestic bengal tiger strut out of the box. She quickly counted to five in her head to keep from screaming in frustration. Her magic wand appeared in her hand, extending into cane-length. She herded the tiger back into the cage being grateful that he had been fed recently. Once the tiger was back in the box, Shaska quickly shut the door.
Turning to the audience with a sheepish look on her face, trying to cover up her mistake, “Well, while Bert’s wife might think he’s a tiger, I don’t think that was him.”
The audience laughed and clapped thinking the tiger had always been part of the program. Shaska announced that she would try again and her assistants who looked confused, caught on and began spinning the box again. Shaska said the words over the box again, hoping that her elephant wouldn’t come walking out next. She opened the door, and two white blurs flew out before she had even opened it all the way. She groaned as she watched the doves fly over the crowd, heralded by the sounds of awe and amazement emmanating from the crowd.
While the audience was distracted by the doves who were thankfully trained to do a sequence of elaborate flying manuevers, Shaska climbed into the box and felt around. The inside of the box was also covered in symbols, though these could not be seen in the darkness of the box, and if anyone saw them from show to show would notice that they changed slightly upon each trick that she used the box for.
“Just great!” she muttered sarcastically after looking at a group of symbols that would look like meaningless doodling to anyone else, but spoke some sort of bad news to her, “He’s not here!”
She climbed back out of the box as the doves did their final formation over the crowd. As the doves flew out the back door, Shaska silently fumed; now she had to get new doves. The audience’s attention was back on her now, and she hoped Bert’s family wasn’t freaking out wondering where he was and if he was lost forever.
“Well, unfortunately it seems that Bert is enjoying himself wherever he is. Perhaps we can try to bring him back at a later time during the show,” Shaska smiled nervously hoping the audience would buy it. She could feel their confusion and she feared that volunteers might be harder to come by through the rest of the show.
Her assistants, as confused as the audience but trusting that she must have just been improvising, wheeled the box away. Other assistants wheeled another box onto the stage. This box was smaller and a good deal plainer than the big box that Bert had somehow lost himself in. This box was about the size of a small closet, only having room for one or two people who would have to stand if the door was shut. Shaska, trying to appear more confident after the last act, opened the door to the box as she walked past it.
“Now, I’m going to need three volunteers this time. Three small girls who don’t mind being in a small space together. Is there a group of three girls in the audience tonight?”
Not many hands were raised but one group of girls raised their hands high, undaunted by Bert’s absense. The girls were escorted to the stage, and came to stand next to Shaska. Shaska asked the usual name and hometown question which was answered with the names Brittney, Shannon, and Becky who were all from Chicago.
“Okay, girls, I want you to all pile into the box,” Shaska said while one of her assistants helped the girls climb into the box. Shaska closed the door and turned to the crowd explaining, “I’m going to take three girls and turn them into one person!”
Shaska stared at the box and found the group of symbols she wanted and focused on them. She closed her eyes and pictured the symbols. She let out a sigh before snapping her fingers. There was a sudden clap of noise from the box, and Shaska leaned in to open the door. A girl walked out with mixed features of all three girls. She had Brittney’s blonde hair, Shannon’s prominate nose, and Becky’s trim figure. “Brittannecky” did a catwalk strut across the stage before entering the box again.
“Now, the girls shall become three again!” Shaska closed the door and again concentrated on a certain group of symbols. Feeling better about herself, she leaned in to open the door, ready to finish this act before it went wrong.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” she opened the door with a flourish and was shocked to see Bert standing there confused and blinking in the bright light. Shaska recovered quickly, “I give you Bert!”
The audience cheered. Shaska began sweating. She had Bert back, but where were the girls? Suddenly three spotlights flashed out over the auditorium. One landed on Brittney, who was standing on the railing of a balcony, another revealed Shannon to be standing on the conductor’s platform in the pit orchestra, and the third fell on Becky who was standing in the center aisle. Shaska let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. She was going to have to give the lighting guy a raise.
“Brittney, Shannon, and Becky! Give them all a hand!” Shaska shouted over the crowd’s applause. While the crowd was still distracted, Shaska wiped the sweat from her forehead, and practiced a quick deep breathing exercise to calm herself.
Shaska walked wearily backstage to the sound of the audience’s final resounding applause. She looked up to see her stage manager walking straight toward her.
“That was amazing! What a great opening night!” he said, becoming puzzled by her downcast expression, “What’s with you? I must admit you had me worried with that bit of improvisation, but thankfully Fred was unusually quick with the lighting tonight. And the tiger? Where have you been hiding that part of the act during rehersals?!”
“I know, I’m sorry I messed up, Mark,” Shaska said her shoulders slumped.
“Messed up? What are you talking about? The audience loved it! All of it! You didn’t mess up at all!”
Shaska looked at her manager utterly bewildered. What show had he been watching? Didn’t he see the tiger? Didn’t he notice when Bert hadn’t appeared when he was supposed to? However Mark wasn’t listening to her. What she saw as mistakes, he saw as genius improvisation. Shaska finally gave up explaining it to him and walked back over to her vanity table.
She removed her top hat and placed it respectfully onto the table. She looked at herself in the mirror and sighed, disappointed that her magic still wasn’t working as it should. She might have her audience and her stage manager fooled, but Shaska knew the truth. She didn’t use smoke and illusions for her magic. She didn’t use trap doors or hidden compartments.She didn’t need tricks like other magicians. She was a true magician, who truly made things disappear by sending them to another place.Tonight she had messed up and almost lost her volunteers.
She jumped as she was snapped out of her contemplation by a big black ball of fur launched itself onto the vanity table in front of her. She ran her fingers through Rhapsody’s familiar fur. It was a soothing feeling and something Rhapsody didn’t allow very often. He settled himself in front of her and looked at her with disappointment in his eyes.
“Rhapsody, don’t give me that look,” she groaned.
Rhapsody looked her square in the eyes and said, “I can’t believe you lost a man in the portal.”
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