Magic in the Air

I fell in love today. With a man whose name (I think) is Barry. Barry (?) is a magician. Well, he is not just a magician; he owns his own magic shop on the main drag in my town. Now, how a magic shop stays open during a recession is a question for another time, but a few friends and I were passing by and, having always been curious about the store, we decided to wander in and spend a few minutes. As we climbed the dimly lit stairwell covered in portraits of Houdini (with eyes that followed you), hanging (plastic) chandeliers, and a wide array of handcuffs, candelabra, and other spooky “magicy” things, we found ourselves in a large, slightly dusty room with display cases all around of videos, card decks, trick gum, chattering teeth, and more top hats than in a Fred Astaire picture.

As my friends as I pointed and giggled at the various gags around the store, the magician in question invited us to his counter to watch him perform some tricks. For 30 minutes we were mesmerized by his skills as we chose cards, held collapsible wands, and had balls multiply in our hands. However, every time I looked into Barry’s (?) soft brown eyes, the most magical thing of all happened. I turned to metaphoric stone.

Unfortunately, there was an odd gentleman who ingratiated himself in our little group during the impromptu show. He had a penchant for invading personal space and generally creeping everyone out. This was obvious after knowing him for several seconds. When I joked about sawing my friend Molly in half vertically, the creepy man told me to be careful what I wished for because it could happen. Hmm, well, creepster I don’t think the chance of my friend actually being sawed in half is likely, but the comment had broken the spell, and I could almost hear the pixie dust of the magic in the air fade and fall to the ground.

We browsed a bit longer at the symbol playing monkeys, plastic banana peels, and stink bombs before leaving the store.

Gas to get to the magic store? $2.00

Trick gum? $5 a pack

Falling in love with a magician and having fantasies of being his assistant? Priceless.