The Magician Read Online Free PDF Page A

banging their hands. Even the cluster of faculty members couldn’t suppress its amusement.
    “Mr. Fredericks,” said Ed, his voice a shout so that he could be heard by the audience as well as by his victim, “could you take your tie off?”
    Mr. Fredericks started to undo the remains of his tie.
    “Let me help you,” said Ed, and his scissors flashed again perilously near the knot, snipping another segment off the neckpiece.
    Jerry Samuelson was busy scribbling.
    In the back, Lila was recovering from laughter along with the others, as on the platform Ed took the paper bag off the table and dropped into it, one at a time, the pieces of poor Mr. Fredericks’ tie. When the last piece from around Mr. Fredericks’ neck was also in the bag, Ed proceeded to blow the bag up. Then, holding the inflated bag in his left hand, he brought his right fist over sharply. The bag exploded in a loud pop, and out of it tumbled Mr. Fredericks’ necktie, all in one piece.
    Mr. Fredericks was a perfect foil. He stooped down, picked the tie off the floor, dusted it, examined it meticulously, and shook his head. It was indeed in one piece, and he couldn’t figure it out. Nor could the audience. The applause lasted for as long as it took Mr. Fredericks to turn up his collar, tie his tie carefully, and rebutton his Edwardian jacket. Ed bowed to Mr. Fredericks, and Mr. Fredericks started to step off the platform to seek refuge among his colleagues.
    “One moment, sir,” said Ed. “I wonder if you would be good enough to help me with my last experiment?”
    The audience noised its approval. Mr. Fredericks looked at the mob of faces, then at Ed, whose remorseless stare gave him no relief, and finally at the adult minority clustered at the side of the large room. He had no face-saving alternative. He had to play along. The show must go on. With him.
    On the second table, at which Ed was now officiating, stood a small-scale model of a guillotine. It was too small to take a head, but easily accommodated the apple Ed placed in the large opening beneath the blade.
    Ed watched Mr. Fredericks’ expression intently as he slammed the blade down, splitting the apple. Beneath the large opening was a smaller one, and into that Ed inserted a long carrot. Again he brought the blade down sharply, and it cut the carrot in half.
    It was then that Mr. Fredericks involuntarily stepped back, realizing what was to come next. What if Japhet slipped up, what if the blade actually… No, he avoided airplanes, he drove only when necessary, he never walked on unsanded ice, he didn’t go near open windows, why should he take the chance that some ungodly error…
    Ed led him by the arm back toward the table with the guillotine and then around behind it. He whisked a clean handkerchief out of his pocket and tied it around Mr. Fredericks’ wrist, “To soak up some of the blood,” he told the audience.
    “Are you sure you know how to do this?” Mr. Fredericks whispered, his voice percolating.
    “There is no certainty in this life,” said Ed aloud, and the students roared.
    “Would you be good enough…” he continued to Mr. Fredericks, “would you be kind enough, would you please place your arm through the large hole in the guillotine?”
    Mr. Fredericks tried desperately to remember having read about a trick like this once and how it worked.
    “Please?” asked Ed, gesturing toward Mr. Fredericks’ reluctant arm.
    Mr. Fredericks wished he could be elsewhere. He wished there weren’t so many people staring at him and laughing. “Please,” said Ed again, and guided Mr. Fredericks’ arm to, and then into, the hole.
    “One last handshake,” said Ed, and shook Mr. Fredericks’ hand on the other side of the guillotine. Then Ed placed a small wicker basket on the floor beneath Mr. Fredericks’ now clenched fist. “To catch the hand,” he said. He waited for the kids to stop laughing. Then he placed a whole carrot in the smaller hole beneath Mr.