The Wonders of Magic
Judy didn’t for a minute believe Penny had made up the story she had
told her. The empty box proved there had been something of value in her
mother’s pocketbook. But it was obvious the little girl was afraid to
talk about it except when she and Judy were alone.
“Why?” Judy asked herself. “What is she afraid of?”
The trees were frightening, but Penny claimed she had heard nothing but
whispers from them. Had a voice really told Muriel and Anne to run? Judy
questioned them some more, and they still insisted the voice had come
right out of that hollow tree.
“It has a mouth,” Muriel said, “and arms that it waves in the wind. It’s
alive, Judy. We’re afraid to go home for fear it will catch us.”
“That I would like to see,” declared Horace, and everybody laughed.
But Muriel really believed the magician had been there.
“He’s going to be at Wally’s house. He could make a tree talk if he
wanted to,” she insisted.
“Maybe he could trick you into thinking he could,” Horace admitted.
“Somebody is playing tricks, that’s for certain. It may be this
magician.”
“I’m afraid of him,” Anne confessed. “Wally says he will pick me to
disappear because I’m the littlest—”
“You won’t be if I join the club,” Penny spoke up. “Could I, Mommy?”
“We’ll see,” she replied. “Who is this magician?”
“We don’t know his name,” Ricky said. “Even Wally doesn’t know it. The
Dran boys will introduce him.”
“He’s going to do tricks for us if we sell enough tickets,” Muriel put
in. “I don’t want to sell them. Wally said I couldn’t keep the money—”
“Of course not. It goes into the club treasury, probably. By the way,
who is the treasurer?” Horace wanted to know.
“I was,” Muriel said with a pout, “but they’re going to have an
election, so I guess I won’t be any more.”
“Today?” asked Judy.
“Yes, but I won’t go. Wally said they’d elect all new officers—”
“Wait a minute,” Horace stopped her. “It isn’t all up to Wally. If this
is an election they’ll need your votes. I think you kids are making a
big mistake. You ought to be at that meeting. I’ll take you there if you
say the word.”
“May we go too?” asked Penny.
Paul objected before their mother could answer. “I’d rather go on to
Uncle Paul’s house this afternoon,” he said. “Is the car fixed, Mom?
Can’t we get started?”
She looked at Horace and both of them sighed.
“It’s in a garage in Roulsville,” Horace said. “I had to push it all the
way there. I’m afraid it’s pretty much of a mess. But I leave the whole
problem to you, Judy.”
“Well,” said Judy, “you want to interview the caretaker, Horace. Penny
wants to attend the election and Mrs. Riker and Paul want to visit her
uncle. Wouldn’t it be simpler if we just went to all three places and
killed two birds with one stone? Or do I mean three birds?”
“What do you say, Mrs. Riker?” Horace asked.
There wasn’t very much Mrs. Riker could say except yes, and yet she
hesitated as if she dreaded the visit and wished to put it off as long
as she could.
“Don’t let your great-uncle Paul frighten you,” she warned the children.
“Remember, he’s used to having his own way. You must do whatever he
says.”
“We will!” they chorused.
Blackberry wanted to go along. He had a favorite spot on top of the back
seat by the rear window of Peter’s car. Now he found a similar place in
Horace’s convertible, and the children scrambled in after him.
“This car needs a good washing. The rain won’t stop us,” Horace
announced cheerfully as they started off.
He seemed a little too cheerful, but Judy knew his motives. More than
ever now he wanted to get the other half of the robbery story. Nobody
had mentioned it to Mrs. Riker. Unless she had seen a paper or heard the
news on the radio, she still didn’t know that in the absence of the
uncle she was about to visit, he had been robbed of valuable art
treasures. Why hadn’t Horace told her about it, Judy wondered. Did he
think he would find out more if he kept quiet? If those men had
questioned her before the robbery it might make sense. But afterwards—
“The magician could have been one of those men who stopped here,” she
said aloud, as Horace pulled up to remove the sign from the post by the
main road. “I’d like to meet him and find out for sure.”
“You may have the opportunity very soon,” Horace said as he gave the
sign a last tug and then threw it in the rear compartment of his car.
“Be careful,” Honey warned him. “The paint isn’t dry.”
“Neither am I,” he complained as he returned to the driver’s seat.
Soon they reached the home of Wally Brown, a chubby blond boy who showed
them to the downstairs recreation room.
“The magician is here to pick the children he wants in his act. Would
you kids like to meet him?” he asked.
Honey and Mrs. Riker had remained in the car, but Penny and Paul had
come in with Judy and Horace. Their yes was so enthusiastic that Judy
held her ears. The club members were in time for the election. The first
part of the meeting, Wally explained, had been taken up with plans for
the magic show.
Soon they were all under the magician’s spell. They had been asked to
close their eyes and make a wish just before he appeared on the stage.
“Close your eyes quick,” a strange little girl whispered to Penny. “He’s
going to make our wishes come true.”
Presently the magician stood before them on a stage that was still in
the process of being constructed. He was quite an ordinary-looking man,
but there was something about his voice that seemed to give him
authority.
“Have you all made your wishes?” he asked. “Perhaps I can’t make all of
them come true, but I shall certainly do my best.”
“Make mine come true now, please, Mr. Magician, because we have to go,”
Penny pleaded.
“Open your eyes, little girl. All of you open your eyes. Did I forget to
tell you?”
Several children laughed, but Penny let out a startled and
long-drawn-out “Ooooo!” as her eyes snapped open.
The children were crowding so close, Judy couldn’t see what trick the
magician was doing. But he was not one of the men she had seen in the
car. She doubted if she had ever seen him before.
“Come on, children!” she whispered. “Your mother and Honey are waiting
in the car. We all want to get started.”
Penny backed out, unable to take her eyes away from the stage. One of
the boys had wished for a puppy, and the magician was pulling it right
out of a hat.
Penny and Paul stared at him as if he had performed a miracle instead of
a simple magic trick. Whispers of, “He’s magic all right. He can bring
anything to life,” went on between them. When they were back in the car
the children told their mother Muriel was right. Magicians could do
anything.
“That’s a house I intend to haunt,” announced Horace as they drove away.
“Maybe I can give their magic show a little publicity. There’s room down
there for quite a crowd and I certainly intend to be in it.”
“So do I,” declared Judy. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
“What about us?” asked Penny and Paul.
“We’ll see,” their mother promised.