But, inside the darkness of the cellar, things began to happen.
First was the sound of a jingling bell, just like the one he’d seen Carl place on that smelly ferret of Max’s. Was the ferret in the cellar? He moved down the stairs to the bottom. “Carl? You down here?”
When he reached the bottom, the jingling multiplied. It went from just one little bell off in the corner to dozens, hundreds of them, all around the room.
“Carl, this isn’t really funny. I know you probably think it is, but it’s not.”
The jingling intensified.
And then it stopped. Which was actually a little more terrifying.
“Carl? It’s really dark. Can you at least turn on a light?”
He instantly regretted asking that. For, just a few feet in front of his face, a glowing orb appeared. But it didn’t seem to have a source, nor did it seem to be setting on anything. Rather, it floated in the air.
Then, to his right, another appeared. And another to his left.
All around the cellar, making a ring around him, glowing orbs floated in the air.
He swallowed and backed up the steps. “Carl?” he said again, his voice more faint.
And then the music began. From under the steps came a warbling and wobbling version of “That Old Black Magic.” It slowed down and it sped up; it even went in reverse.
“Okay, whoever this is, I’m going to go tell the police,” he started.
Then, on the wall, words erupted in flames.
YIMAKH SHEMAM.
This was, of course, the final straw, and he bolted up the stairs. Right into a body.
He screamed at a pitch that was generally more appropriate for little girls than for boys.
And then the body he’d run into, which was holding a flashlight, started to laugh. She turned the flashlight to her own face and at last he realized that he had been duped by THE AMAZING MAX.
“Good job, guys,” she said and waved the flashlight around the room. With the light moving, Eric could see mirrors on the walls where he’d before seen the floating, glowing orb. And next to the mirrors, dressed all in black with black hoods over their heads, were the remaining members of the Gremlins, holding the drapes they must have pulled off the mirrors when the time came for the orb to be duplicated. Also along those walls, on a string, were dozens of the tiny little jingling bells.
Eric’s chest was tight and his breathing shallow. “Get me out of here, please.”
Carl went up and, pushing with all his might, opened the storm cellar door and let in the fresh air from outside. Eric ran up the stairs and then lay down in the grass. Max followed him and stood over his head.
“Impressed?” she asked.
“I thought you were going to scare me to death,” he said.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
He nodded.
“See,” she said. “That’s what can happen when friends work together.” She sat down next to him. “And imagine how much more we could do if we added your brains to the mix.”
He shot her a look. “Really? You mean that?”
She nodded. “You’re the brains, no arguments from me.” She grabbed a stick and poked his arm. “But I bring the magic, remember? So, when it comes to this sort of thing, you have to follow me.” She winced inwardly at the words she was about to say. “Even though I am only a girl.”
Of course, those words made the most sense to his mind. He sat up. “Okay, I guess. But when this whole thing is over, you follow me. Agreed?”
She closed her eyes and fought every instinct she had to the contrary. “Sure. When the show is over, when we’ve performed the final trick, then I take off my magician’s hat and I follow you in whatever pranking adventure you can come up with.”
He grinned. “Good, ’cause I’ve got some really crazy ones. You just wait.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“TODAY IS THE DAY!!!!”
—Max’s Diary, Tuesday, March 28, 1944
There were only four hours between the time school was dismissed on that Tuesday and the time the show was set to begin. Four hours. And, just as a mountain climber keeps track of every kilometer on their way up Mount McKinley, so Max kept track of every single event that happened during those four hours.
As soon as the final bell rang at school, and after reiterating to the Gremlins that they absolutely must be at her house and at the ready in one and a half hours, Max went home to scrub the school off her skin in a bath, eat a very early and very light dinner, make sure Houdini’s travel carrier was ready and clean (one does not have their very first large-scale magic show without their ferret), and triple-checked that her costume was in a hanging bag so she could change into THE AMAZING MAX when the time was right.
The next hour was spent waiting for the Gremlins to arrive. Lola and Carl were early, Eric was precisely on time, and Shoji, as she’d anticipated, was ten minutes late. All of them were accompanied by their available parental units and/or guardians, which meant that the audience would be larger than she’d originally thought. Three days before, this would have filled her with excitement. Now, three hours before the show, she was instead growing more and more anxious with each passing minute.
They all worked to load the equipment into the vehicles, and then they moved the Vanishing Box into Carl’s truck, which was a struggle even with all hands working together. Lola’s grandfather suggested they remove the sandbags in the base of the apparatus, but Shoji adamantly fought against such an action, as that would involve tampering with the device, and a magician does not allow his or her devices to be tampered with. Max felt a bit of pride swell up until she remembered these were Felix’s words Shoji was quoting. Still, she felt as though she’d effectively communicated her passion to her disciples, or rather, her friends, and thus allowed the pride to stay where it was.
It took a bit of time to drive the equipment past the guards at the gate. They inspected each and every piece, including the nooks and crannies of the Vanishing Box, much to Shoji’s dismay. Once the guards gave their seal of approval, they drove over to the rec hall and began to unload every item, carrying everything to the stage. Gil was already there, practicing his music on the piano, so he was able to offer a great deal of assistance.
Max handed a drawing of the stage layout to Eric and asked him to make sure everything was in its proper place. This had been a suggestion from Lola the day before, and at the time Max had felt it was unnecessary. Now, with butterflies multiplying inside her intestines, she was working hard enough to keep herself together and was therefore grateful to have a stage manager. Even one as obnoxious as Eric.
While the stage was being set, Mrs. Larousse and the other adults sat in the back of the hall and had a social gathering—the sort in which notes are compared, and individual concerns about the oddball group of friends their children were part of were repressed and replaced with a collective plan to co-parent these scalawags for as long as it was necessary. Max, momentarily desperately needing the security of having her mother nearby, sat behind Mrs. Larousse and spent fifteen minutes calming her nerves and her ferret, who was quite jittery after the car ride.
Finally, a little over an hour before the performance, the stage was set and Max could breathe without labor again. She handed Houdini off to Mrs. Larousse and stepped onto the stage, the place where her greatest dream would come true.
She walked around the stage and adjusted the layout to her liking. Then she turned and looked out at the room. And the butterflies returned.
She started running through the act onstage. She did this silently and without giving a clue to anyone else what her strange motions were meant to be. Thus the Gremlins onstage believed she was communicating some form of message to them all, each interpreting it in a different manner, and each reacting according to their interpretation. This led to some fairly frustrating moments, which could have caused some disastrous results, but then Felix arrived.
Now, the arrival of Felix was a bi
t of a polarizing event for the entire population of those occupying the rec hall. For Gil, of course, Felix was the opposite of a calming presence. Gil bristled as soon as he noticed the man standing at the edge of the stage. Max instantly regretted not informing Gil of Felix’s actual role in the show. Then she realized that Gil might not have been involved if he’d known, and so she un-regretted it.
Meanwhile, the other adults in the room responded with a visible curiosity as to the purpose this war prisoner served in the entire spectacle they had been watching unfold before them. They didn’t seem threatened, nor did they seem put off, but they did seem to find it odd. And in some ways, being found odd was the worst of the options for Max.
Regardless of what anyone else in the room thought, Felix stepping up onto the stage calmed Max and the Gremlins. Even though only Shoji had ever actually spoken to the man, the rest had come to a point where they felt he was a bit of the glue that was holding the show together. And so they welcomed him with metaphorical open arms. Literal open arms would have been inappropriate. After all, he was a Nazi.
Felix walked over to Max and smiled. “It has come together, yes?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Now just to get over the jitters.”
Felix glanced at the rest of the stage. “Perhaps you should get some fresh air to clear your head,” he said, a little louder than was usually acceptable in a two-person conversation.
Mrs. Larousse stood from the back of the room. “You know what, that’s actually a fantastic idea. Why don’t we all go over to the PX and get some Cokes before the show? Clear the head, loosen up the nerves, and then we’ll come back here and get you into costume.”
“We’ve only got an hour, Mom,” Max said, feeling nervous all over again.
“Plenty of time,” her mother said. And, since she’d already won the other adults over to her side, they all agreed and beckoned the children in each of their care to follow suit.
Max sighed. “Okay, yeah, that actually sounds good.”
Felix bowed. “I will stay here, of course, and look after the equipment.”
“Okay,” Max said and nodded. “Okay.”
Gil moved over and got uncomfortably close to Felix. “Well, I think I’ll stay behind too. Got to run through some scales on the old piano.”
Felix was obviously unhappy with this development, and Max did not want Felix unhappy with any of the developments regarding her show. He was her finale. She had to intervene.
She grabbed Gil’s sleeve. “No you won’t. You’re going to come with us so I can buy you a Coke and a licorice whip as a sign of my gratitude.”
Gil stared at Felix for two seconds and then let a grin grow on his face. “A Coke and a licorice whip? I don’t think I’ve done enough to deserve this.” He followed her and the rest of the group out the door, and they all went over to the PX.
Felix was right, of course. Getting away from the stage and out into the sunlight was exactly what Max needed to finally get her nerves under control and let THE AMAZING MAX wake up from her nap. They didn’t spend too much time at the PX, either—just enough to get the refreshments and tell about three jokes—and then they headed back, rejuvenated and ready for the show that was before them.
And, when they got back, she was happy to see that Felix had readjusted the stage for her, putting everything exactly where she hadn’t known she needed it.
“Max, are you ready?” Mrs. Larousse asked as she picked up the garment bag.
Max nodded. “Yes. I’m ready.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The heat from the spotlight was beginning to feel quite uncomfortable. Thankfully, there were only two tricks left to the show, so Max did not have to endure it much longer. Unfortunately, there were only two tricks left to this fantastic dream come true before Max had to return to her normal life. Given the choice, she would have rather suffered through the heat a little longer. But you can’t live in a dream forever, nor should you. Dreams have the frustrating tendency to turn themselves into nightmares.
Even as she was executing the final punch of the GHOST EGG TRICK, she was calculating every detail of the previous hour and a half to see just how close reality had followed suit with her high expectations.
The music had been perfect, of course. Gil had a knack for reading a performer and making adjustments to the tempo or texture of a song to help heighten the effect on the audience. This was a plus.
Speaking of the audience, if there was any aspect of the night that she would consider a disappointment, they would be that detail. Since the show was not mandatory for the prisoners, there were many empty seats. More empty seats, in fact, than full ones. Most discouraging of all, none of the men that had been in the hut the night Max approached Felix about the finale were there. Not even Blaz, who had certainly given her the impression that he was looking forward to the event. Max decided Judy had talked him out of it.
THE AMAZING MAX tossed the egg in her hand up into the air, hit it with her magic wand, and it exploded into smoke that wafted perfectly in the light over the audience. And, for the tenth time that night, they filled her ears with applause.
She had to admit, having the Gremlins’ help was a very large part of why the show was going so very well. Eric really was quite good with the lights, Carl and Lola had their timing down perfectly when it came to causing a stir in the audience, and Shoji was the best assistant anyone could ask for. As if to prove this fact, he jumped onstage as she was thinking it and, without drawing attention to himself, moved the table out of the way and cleared the area in front of the Vanishing Box.
Because it was time for the finale.
Max stepped up to the edge of the stage and cleared her throat. This was the signal to Gil to start a very dramatic buildup of chords as she looked out over the audience.
“For my final trick,” THE AMAZING MAX said, “I need a volunteer.”
Hands popped up across the audience. Even though they were few, they were eating out of her hands, and so in this exact moment, she decided they were perfect.
“Now, wait a moment,” she continued. “I feel I must first explain what this trick will entail. As most of you are soldiers, you can probably attest to the value of knowing what you are getting into before you sign up.” This joke probably would have been better received in an audience of GIs, but it was at least appreciated by these prisoners.
“In this trick, I will do something that may not be completely approved by the men who oversee this prison camp.” She took a deep breath, and Gil dropped into a rolling minor chord. “I am going to send one of you outside of this camp’s gates and off to freedom.”
There were gasps, actual gasps, and she knew she had them. She tried to see Major Larousse’s face, but he wasn’t in the building. She assumed he was going to be late, but not this late. THE AMAZING MAX shook the disappointment out of her brain.
“Now, who will—”
“I will,” Felix said as he stepped out from his seat in the middle row.
“Ah, I suppose this opportunity is more popular than I’d anticipated,” she said, and some people laughed. Not many, but some. “I must know, sir, why I should allow you this chance at freedom over your brothers in the room.”
Felix reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope. “Because I need to mail a letter.”
This line caused more laughter to rise from the audience. Then, with a bit of prodding, Felix told the story of how he was in love, and how he had not seen his sweet love in years, and that all he wanted was to send her a letter that told her of his love.
“But there’s a post office here at camp,” MAX said.
“Yes, a post office that reads our mail before it’s sent.”
“Oh? And you have things that you’d rather those men not read?”
“I did tell you I am writing to the woman I love.”
She held up her hand. “I’m sorry, I believe I’m too young to hear any more of this.” More laughter. “But you have pricked my heart
, dear sir, so if you will join me on the stage, I will send you away so you can mail your precious letter to your precious Josephine.” She winced, realizing he hadn’t actually said the name of his love. Nobody noticed, though, so all was well.
He came onto the stage and she walked him over to the Vanishing Box. She opened the door and motioned for him to step inside. Then she closed the door behind him and had Shoji come stand next to the box.
“Now, good people, because I am so very kind, I will send this fine young man into the ether and let him land in the greatest city on earth, New York City, to mail his letter. All it will take is the magic word: Abrakadabra!” She waved her wand and then pointed it at the box. Gil did a run up the scale and landed on a majestic chord.
Shoji opened the door, and the box was empty.
The room erupted in applause.
Max bowed several times. Finally she motioned for everyone to quiet down and spied a certain someone standing against the rear wall.
“I must admit, as I look back at the major’s face, I can tell that he’s not too happy with this trick.”
The room turned to look at Major Larousse, who had just slipped in the back. He put on a scowl for their pleasure. They laughed.
“So I believe, considering it only takes a few seconds to drop an envelope into a mailbox, that I should bring our friend back to us.”
She motioned for Shoji to close up the Vanishing Box again, and then she tapped it with her magic wand.
“So, I will say the magic words. Abraka—”
POW!
The spotlight went off. As did the other lights in the room. And, through the window, they could see that the power had gone out completely everywhere.
Nervous silence filled the room. Gil stood and lit a match, which gave them enough light to see Major Larousse hurrying to speak to the guards that were standing at the door. One of them turned on his flashlight, shone it around the room, and then trained it on the group of prisoners.
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