Ring of Light

by Isobel Bird

  She’d been right. When she told the group what had happened with Ben Rowe, Sophia had nodded her head knowingly. “Remember at your initiation, when we told you that there would be a lot of challenges as you walked the path for a year and a day?” she’d asked. “Well, sometimes those challenges come in the form of people. It sounds like you’ve tripped right over one.”

  Now, passing by the rooms of the people who lived at Shady Hills, Annie thought more about that idea. She’d decided to volunteer at the nursing home for the summer because she thought it would help her face something in her life that she’d been struggling with for many years. She’d had the idea after the Midsummer ritual she and her friends had attended, at which she’d come face-to-face with her fear of death, and particularly with her unresolved sadness over the deaths of her parents when she was a little girl. Coming into a place where people were living out the ends of their lives seemed like a good way for her to start accepting that part of the cycle of nature, and she’d been proud of herself for taking that step.

  But now she appeared to be facing a new hurdle, on only her third day. She’d been hoping to ease into things gradually. But if Sophia was right, she had instead fallen headlong into things from the very first minute thanks to Ben Rowe and his stupid picture. While she felt badly about breaking the frame, Annie couldn’t help resenting the old man a little bit. She had only been trying to help. He was the one who had knocked the glass from her hands. He was the one who had screamed at her for no reason. Why should she feel sorry about anything? Ben Rowe isn’t a challenge, she thought grimly. He’s just a nasty old man. And if she had anything to say about it, she was going to stay as far away from him as she possibly could.

  “Look who’s back,” Mrs. Abercrombie said when Annie entered the nurses’ room. She was sitting at her desk, looking at something on her ever-present clipboard, and she seemed to be in a good mood.

  “Hi,” said Annie. “What’s on the schedule for today? Do you want me to start doing the beds?”

  Mrs. Abercrombie shook her head. “Not today, sweetie,” she said brightly. “Today we have an event.”

  “An event?” Annie repeated, not understanding.

  “Every so often we have someone come in to do some kind of program for the guests,” the nurse explained. “You know, school choirs that come in and sing at Christmas. People who come by and lead Bingo Night. That kind of thing.”

  Annie nodded. “I get it,” she said. “So what’s today’s event?”

  “How do you feel about magic?” asked Mrs. Abercrombie.

  “Magic?” Annie said, wondering what the woman was getting at. “What do you mean?” Was it possible, she wondered, that Mrs. Abercrombie somehow knew about her involvement with Wicca?

  “We have a magician coming in today,” explained the nurse. “He needs an assistant.”

  “Oh, that kind of magic,” Annie said.

  Mrs. Abercrombie raised one eyebrow. “Is there another kind?” she asked.

  Annie reddened. “No,” she said. “I guess not. I just didn’t know what you meant.”

  “So how about it?” said the nurse. “Do you feel like being sawed in half or pulling rabbits out of a hat, or whatever it is this guy needs?”

  “If it means I don’t have to change thirty beds, sure,” Annie answered.

  “Then come with me,” Mrs. Abercrombie said, standing up. “I’ll introduce you to the wizard.”

  Annie followed the nurse out of the office and down the hall toward the recreation room. She had no idea what she was getting herself into, but she figured it couldn’t be any worse than changing sheets. Besides, she thought, you might learn a few tricks.

  When they entered the room, Annie saw that a black curtain had been hung up at one end of it. There were several boxes sitting in front of the curtain, and a man was taking things out of them. He was short, with fiery red hair and a little goatee. When he saw Annie and Mrs. Abercrombie he gave them a big smile and waved them over.

  “Come in,” he said. “I was just starting to set up.”

  “Annie,” Mrs. Abercrombie said as they approached the man, “allow me to introduce the Amazing Rudolpho.”

  “You can call me Rudy,” the man said, shaking Annie’s hand. “Rudolpho is just my stage name.”

  Annie suppressed a smile as she greeted the magician. He was a funny character, like something out of an old-time stage show, and she liked him instantly. Even his name made her laugh to herself.

  “I guess I’m your assistant for the day,” Annie said.

  Rudy grinned and clapped his hands. “And what a beautiful assistant you are!” he said happily. “Tell me, how do you feel about snakes?”

  When he saw the look on Annie’s face he waved a hand at her. “Just kidding,” he said. “But I might ask you to hold a dove or two if that’s okay.”

  “As long as it isn’t a reptile I’m okay with it,” Annie answered.

  “I’ve got to get back to work,” Mrs. Abercrombie said. “I’ll be back at eleven when it’s showtime.”

  After the nurse left, Rudy gestured to the boxes he had been unpacking. “Why don’t you help me set up,” he said to Annie. “I can explain what we’ll be doing as we go along.”

  He turned to a box and pulled out a wand. When he handed it to Annie it suddenly burst to life, and flowers came shooting out the end. Startled, Annie jumped back.

  “You have to be prepared for anything this morning,” Rudy said, laughing.

  He showed Annie how to retract the paper flowers back into the wand, and she placed it on the table that he had already set up. Then he took out some more items, showing her what each one did before putting it in its place on the table. There were rings that seemed to pass through one another, scarves that could be pulled out of a closed fist or even Rudy’s mouth, and the standard magician’s hat with a false bottom for hiding things in.

  “There’s nothing too tricky here,” Rudy told Annie as she surveyed the props. “I’ll just ask you to hand me things when I need them. Otherwise you can just stand there and look mysterious.”

  “Do you do a lot of these shows?” Annie asked him.

  Rudy nodded. “I mostly do birthdays for five-year-olds,” he said. “But I like to visit the older folks when I get a chance. As you probably know, it’s not exactly a barrel of laughs in a place like this.”

  “I get that impression,” said Annie, arranging a deck of cards and some handcuffs on the table.

  “But you and I get to leave at the end of the day,” Rudy commented. “They don’t.”

  Annie thought about that as she continued to unpack Rudy’s things. He was right. When she left, the unpleasant smells and the air of sadness stayed behind. But what must it be like to live with them every second of every day? No wonder people like Ben Rowe were so unpleasant. You probably would be, too, if you lived like this, she thought.

  For the next hour Rudy showed Annie the various tricks he would be performing. It was fascinating to see how they worked. Even though most of them had very simple explanations, they still appeared magical when you didn’t know how they were done. It made Annie think about real magic, the kind she and the others involved in Wicca sometimes did. That appeared easy, too, to people who didn’t really understand it. But the fact was that performing magic correctly took a lot of skill and practice. While at first she’d thought of the Amazing Rudolpho as something of a joke, now she wondered if maybe they didn’t have more in common than she’d believed.

  A little before eleven people started entering the room. Many of them walked in on their own, while others were wheeled in or helped along by nurses or friends who could move a little better than they could. They took their seats in the folding chairs that had been set up, and they looked toward the front of the room expectantly.

  Annie and Rudy were behind the black curtain, waiting. Rudy had changed into his magician’s outfit—a black suit with a cape. He had given Annie something to wear as well, a long black robe
that covered her street clothes and made her feel like she was part of a choir or something.

  “It’s showtime,” Rudy said as the last of the old people came in and settled down. “You ready?”

  Annie nodded and followed Rudy as he stepped out through the part in the curtains. The audience applauded weakly as Rudy bowed to them and announced in a dramatic voice, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the world of magic.”

  Annie looked out at the sea of faces. Some of them were clearly interested in what was going on, but others just seemed bewildered by it all. A few were even sleeping, their heads lolling to one side as they dozed in the sunlight that came in the room’s windows.

  Rudy didn’t seem at all discouraged by the lack of enthusiasm from his audience. He launched into his first trick—the floating rings—as if he were performing at the biggest circus on the planet. Annie watched as he moved the rings around, pretending to pull them through each other with great effort. When he handed them to her, she raised them up as the crowd clapped before she put them back on the table.

  Rudy worked his way through trick after trick, and Annie dutifully helped whenever he asked for her assistance. Several times Rudy asked the crowd to “give a hand for my lovely assistant,” and Annie blushed as she saw the old people take their eyes away from him for a moment to stare at her.

  After performing a trick in which he made a card disappear into thin air, Rudy turned to the audience. “And now it’s time for some crowd participation,” he said. “Can I have a volunteer?”

  When no hands went up, Annie saw Rudy scan the crowd for someone to call on. She wondered what kind of trick he was going to do. He hadn’t told her about anything that would involve someone else. But everything else had been easy enough for her to do, so she figured this would be easy, too.

  “You,” Rudy said, pointing at someone. “How about you? You look like you could help me work some magic.”

  He walked into the sea of chairs, and Annie looked to see where he was heading. Rudy went straight to the back and reached out to someone Annie couldn’t see at first because he was behind someone in a wheelchair. Then she watched, horrified, as Rudy walked back up the aisle with a muttering Ben Rowe in tow. The old man seemed to be trying to pull away from the magician, but Rudy wasn’t letting him get away.

  “Trust me,” he said as he led Ben to a spot next to Annie. “My assistant and I will take good care of you.”

  Ben didn’t even give Annie a second glance, but she found her heart racing as she stood beside him. Did he recognize her? Did he remember what had happened in his room on Tuesday? If he did, he gave no indication of it. He just stood there, awkwardly looking at his feet and mumbling something under his breath.

  Rudy picked something off the prop table and walked over to Ben. He was holding a piece of newspaper in his hands. He showed it to the crowd and then rolled it into a funnel shape.

  “I’m going to ask this handsome gentleman to hold this for me,” he said, handing the newspaper to Ben. “And then I’m going to ask my assistant to perform the magic.”

  Annie looked at Rudy, her eyes wide. She was going to perform the trick? But she didn’t know anything about magic. Not that kind, at least. What was Rudy thinking?

  “Don’t worry,” he whispered to her as he took her hand and led her to the table. “This one is foolproof. All you have to do is pour the milk into the newspaper funnel. The jug has a fake bottom to it. Just hold down the button underneath the handle and the milk will be sucked into the bottom. Not a drop will actually go into the paper.”

  He handed Annie the pitcher of milk. It was very heavy, and she held it with both hands as she walked back to where Ben Rowe was standing with the newspaper funnel in his hands.

  “Watch as my assistant makes this milk disappear into thin air,” Rudy exclaimed as Annie lifted the pitcher to show everyone that it was full. He turned and winked at her, reassuring her that she could do it.

  Annie leaned the pitcher toward the opening of the funnel. She watched as the milk flowed toward the lip of the pitcher. She was so nervous about spilling any that she could hardly think. As the milk slipped over the lip of the jug and began to fall into the funnel, she let out a sigh of relief. She hadn’t spilled it.

  Then, too late, she realized that she’d completely forgotten about the button. She’d been so anxious about spilling the milk, it had slipped her mind. Now she fumbled for the button. But even as her finger found it and pressed, she watched, helpless, as the milk filled up the bottom of the funnel. The paper bulged wetly for a moment. Then it burst, and milk poured all down the front of Ben Rowe and splashed onto his shoes.

  Annie pulled the pitcher back as the old man stared at his sopping wet clothes in confusion, the tattered remains of the funnel clutched in his hands. Annie couldn’t move. She felt Rudy come and take the pitcher from her, and she only came to her senses when she heard him say, “It looks like my lovely assistant forgot to say the magic word.”

  Ben Rowe looked up at Annie, his eyes blazing. She knew then that he did recognize her, and she wanted to die. Before he could say anything, she turned and ran from the room. She saw some of the old people turn to stare at her as she went, but she couldn’t stop.

  Once she was in the hallway she leaned against the wall and forced herself not to cry. She could hear Rudy through the doorway, somehow smoothing over the disaster she’d caused. She knew she should go back in and help him finish the show, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t face everyone, especially not Ben Rowe. It was too much.

  Instead, she waited until the show was over. Her trick had apparently been the last one planned, so she only had to wait while Rudy said good-bye to the crowd and they clapped one final time. Then people started coming out again. Annie ducked behind a corner and waited as they filed out. She didn’t want them to see her there. She especially didn’t want to see Ben Rowe come out with his wet clothes.

  When she was sure that the room was empty she went back in. Rudy was putting away the props from his show. Annie sheepishly walked over to him.

  “I am so sorry,” she said. “I know I ruined everything.”

  Rudy laughed. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Do you know how many times one of these props has frozen up on me? I swear sometimes they have minds of their own.”

  “It wasn’t the pitcher,” Annie said. “It was me. I just forgot because I was nervous. That man you picked from the audience and I have kind of a history.”

  Rudy cocked his head. “He seems a little old for you,” he said, feigning seriousness.

  Annie laughed in spite of her unhappiness. “Not that kind of history,” she said. “I sort of broke something that belonged to him a few days ago. I don’t think I’m his favorite person around here. After today I’m sure I’m not.”

  “He’ll forget about it,” Rudy said. “Give him a few days.”

  Annie shook her head. “I don’t think this guy forgets anything,” she said. “I think he’s just mean.”

  Rudy chuckled. “Or lonely,” he said as he took the now-infamous pitcher and put it back in the box.

  “What do you mean?” asked Annie.

  “I run into a lot of people who seem unfriendly,” Rudy said. “Five-year-old kids who refuse to enjoy their own birthday parties. Parents who try to push me around. Old men who act like they don’t need anyone. It’s easy to write them off. But what I’ve found is that often what they really want is for someone to keep trying to get in.”

  “I don’t know,” Annie said. “I don’t think old Ben wants anyone to come in.”

  “Maybe,” Rudy agreed as he sealed up the box. “But you won’t know unless you try knocking again.”

  Annie helped Rudy carry his things to his car. After saying good-bye, she stood in the parking lot thinking about what he’d said. The idea of trying to make friends with Ben Rowe made her cringe. Even if Rudy was right and Ben did want someone to try to befriend him, it sure wasn’t going to be her. She already had
two strikes against her. One more and she was out of the game.

  She looked back at the doors to Shady Hills. Somewhere inside the nursing home, Ben Rowe was probably changing his pants and thinking about what a jerk Annie was. Could she really risk another encounter with him? Did she even want to? The answer to that question was a resounding no. But maybe Sophia had been right. Maybe Ben Rowe was a challenge she had to face.

  Annie sighed. Maybe you will strike out, she thought. But maybe you’ll hit a home run instead.

  CHAPTER 6

  Cooper checked her hair one final time in the side mirror of the blue Ford Explorer parked outside the restaurant. I guess SUVs do come in handy sometimes, she thought as she played with the carefully arranged spikes sticking up from her head. She’d gotten rid of the green color she’d put in as part of her Midsummer ritual costume, and now her hair was almost jet-black. It was the only color that would cover the green completely, and while it wasn’t her favorite it would have to do either until her natural color grew back in or she could figure out what she wanted to do next. She was grateful that her hair was short and grew out quickly, so she wouldn’t have long to wait.

  She took another look at her outfit and then pushed open the door to the pizza place and walked in as if she hadn’t just spent five minutes preparing her entrance. She scanned the booths, saw T.J. sitting at a table in the back, and made her way toward him.

  “Hey,” she said casually as she slid into the seat opposite him.

  “You’re a brunette now,” T.J. commented. “Very Joan Jett.”

  Cooper snorted. “I wish I could play half as well as she can,” she said.

  “You can,” T.J. said simply as he picked up the menu in front of him and opened it.

  Cooper didn’t respond, but inside she was glowing. T.J. was the first person who had ever complimented her on her guitar playing. It was one of the things she was most proud of, and to have him notice it made her feel good. She especially liked that he didn’t make a big deal out of it. He wasn’t trying to get in good with her, like some people did. He just liked the way she played.