The Loblolly Boy and the Sorcerer

by James Norcliffe

  The Sorcerer stood up and moved to the fire and stood with his back to it. He really did look like a magician this evening. He was in a black suit with a frock-jacket, a dress shirt and a black bow tie and, while he was not wearing a buttonhole, his top pocket did flourish a white silk handkerchief. All he needed was a black silk top hat.

  ‘I have discussed with the boy, Daniel,’ the Sorcerer continued, ‘the possibility of my lending my not inconspicuous talents and abilities to the task of solving his terrible dilemma, as you termed it. I know you have a considerable amount of ingenuity, dear boy, but I have a considerable quantity of art. What do you think?’

  The Gadget Man stared up at him in surprise. ‘You? Offer to help?’

  Clearly the idea seemed incomprehensible to him.

  ‘Why not? I’m always open to new and provocative ideas.’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘Because I see it as a challenge,’ said the Sorcerer easily. ‘A test if you like.’

  ‘Goodness me,’ murmured the Gadget Man.

  ‘A test you failed, of course,’ added the Sorcerer pointedly.

  The Gadget Man looked at him, comprehension dawning. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘So that’s where the wind is blowing …’

  The Sorcerer shrugged. ‘Put it that way if you like. I prefer to see it as a win-win situation. Or rather, a win-win-lose situation. The loblolly boy wins; I win,’ he smiled, ‘and you lose! Art triumphs over ingenuity. What could be more satisfying?’

  The Gadget Man glanced worriedly at the loblolly boy. ‘Don’t trust him,’ he said. ‘He’ll be up to his tricks. He can’t do anything without an unexpected rabbit in his hat.’

  ‘Don’t listen to him,’ said the Sorcerer. ‘He’s just a poor loser. He’s lost already and he knows it.’

  ‘You haven’t won yet,’ said the Gadget Man. ‘I imagine you don’t even have a picture of a nail.’

  ‘Picture of a nail?’

  ‘Plan of attack.’

  ‘Oh, yes I do,’ said the Sorcerer smiling. ‘Or rather I have an approach.’

  ‘Oh, and what’s that, dear boy?’ asked the Gadget Man.

  ‘The indirect approach,’ said the Sorcerer. ‘Always the most successful in my experience,’ and he smiled again, and picked up the Gadget Man’s telescope.

  ‘Be careful with that,’ warned the Gadget Man.

  ‘I know, I know,’ said the Sorcerer. ‘It’s dangerous.’

  As the two men were bickering, the loblolly boy had looked from one to the other almost as if he were watching a tennis match. However, when the Sorcerer mentioned the words indirect approach he became much more intent. Once again he remembered the Captain’s advice. He recalled sitting with the Captain on the small beach watching the spider crabs and their sideways racing across the windswept sand. Notice how they run sideways, the Captain had said. You must not be direct. Only the indirect approach will work.

  Now, the Sorcerer had said the same thing.

  Perhaps he did have a plan.

  ‘What should I do?’ asked the loblolly boy.

  ‘It all depends on your target,’ said the Sorcerer. ‘I don’t suppose much can be attempted before his condition is improved. I mean, the last time I saw him he was — how shall I put it? — quite barking mad!’

  ‘Oh, I think he’s okay now,’ said the loblolly boy. ‘I saw him a couple of times at the hospital. He was all strapped up unconscious on Monday, but yesterday he looked fine. In fact, I’m pretty sure he was going home.’

  ‘Oh, I’m very pleased to hear that,’ said the Gadget Man.

  ‘Excellent,’ said the Sorcerer. ‘I’m very pleased to hear that, too.’

  ‘So?’ asked the loblolly boy.

  ‘So I suggest we meet at his home tomorrow. We may as well move quickly.’

  ‘Do you know where to go?’

  ‘I’m sure you’ll tell me.’

  ‘Wonderful, wonderful,’ said the Gadget Man. ‘This almost calls for a celebration.’

  ‘What do you mean almost?’ asked the Sorcerer. ‘It does, it does. How about finding some of those marvellous cream crackers for us, dear boy, and I’ll just charge my cup of tea.’

  No sooner had the Gadget Man left the room though, the Sorcerer, who was still idly stroking the telescope, murmured, ‘Now you see it; now you don’t!’

  The loblolly boy’s eyes widened as the telescope immediately vanished right before his eyes. One moment it was there; the next moment it had gone.

  The Sorcerer winked at him and whispered, ‘And of course, I need hardly add, dear little loblolly boy, you saw nothing … nothing at all.’

  2

  The Sorcerer clearly meant moving quickly indeed. He’d named a very early time the next morning. The loblolly boy presumed this was in order to ensure that Benjy would be home.

  Accordingly, the next morning the loblolly boy flew across the suburbs to the house occupied by his father, Janice and the boy now named Benjy who had stolen his life. He’d flown at a particularly high altitude so that he wouldn’t be so noticeable. As he descended he felt the braking rush of the wind in his feathers. It should have been a thrill, but the wonder of flying had long since palled. All his being now yearned to shuck off the loblolly boy and become human; more particularly to become again the human he had once been.

  Down below, sitting in a bus shelter not far from the house, was the Sorcerer. The loblolly boy had wondered whether he’d be as elegantly and flamboyantly dressed as usual, but the Sorcerer had opted to be relatively inconspicuous. He was dressed in a discreet grey business suit and carried a large overnight bag. From the way the bag sagged in at the sides it was empty. But for his rather over-long silver hair, the Sorcerer could have been a country lawyer.

  ‘Well done, little loblolly boy,’ he said as the loblolly boy landed before him. ‘I do like punctuality in a loblolly boy. In fact, I like punctuality in anybody.’

  ‘It was easy,’ said the loblolly boy. ‘I didn’t have much else on today. What’s the plan?’

  ‘Ideally, we should wait until your father and your stepmother …’

  ‘Janice.’

  ‘Of course, your father and Janice go to work leaving our target …’

  ‘Benjy.’

  ‘… yes, Benjy, alone in the house. At that point I will approach and knock on the door and persuade him to look through …’

  At that point, the Sorcerer withdrew the telescope he had stolen from the Gadget Man’s apartment.

  ‘… this.’

  The loblolly boy stared at the telescope. The Gadget Man had made the telescope so that it looked somewhat old-fashioned with its polished cylinders of brass. He remembered the Sorcerer’s little disappearing trick with the telescope at the Gadget Man’s apartment. He had thought at that time the Sorcerer was just playing a teasing trick on the Gadget Man.

  He remembered, too, that both the Captain and the Gadget Man became somewhat nervous any time he’d expressed any interest in it. Now the Sorcerer had stolen it.

  ‘Is that your plan? The telescope?’

  The Sorcerer nodded, smiling.

  ‘Is that all?’

  ‘Is that not enough?’

  ‘So what will that do?’

  ‘As I understand it, this telescope is very dangerous. Those who look through it are given a glimpse of their destiny, of what they will ultimately be.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So Benjy will look through the telescope and be transformed into something …’

  ‘Else?’

  ‘Yes, something else. The something he is destined to be.’

  The loblolly boy stared at the Sorcerer, feeling a welling disappointment. He had hoped for more, for something better. This plan seemed just another re-run of the Gadget Man’s, except that at least the Gadget Man knew that Benjy would be transformed into a dog. This plan meant that Benjy could be transformed into anything: a maddened gorilla, or an enraged rhinoceros.

  In any event, already the Sorcerer was
cheating. The telescope was the Gadget Man’s invention. Even in the unlikely event that this plan worked, it could only work because of the Gadget Man’s ingenuity. It would have nothing to do with the Sorcerer’s art.

  However, the loblolly boy expressed none of this. Instead he asked, ‘Where do I come in?’

  The Sorcerer looked at him in surprise.

  ‘Why, to effect the Exchange, of course. As soon as we have transformed this Benjy into a more agreeable form, then you must be on hand to Exchange.’

  The loblolly boy nodded. However, his optimism had all but vanished. The old fears resurfaced. If Benjy were to be transformed into something else it would hardly be agreeable. It would most likely be intensely disagreeable: a rat, a viper, a mosquito.

  As he was trying to deal with these depressing thoughts, a car passed by and he saw it was his father’s Toyota with his father at the wheel.

  ‘One down, two to go,’ he remarked.

  The Sorcerer said, ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘That was Dad,’ the loblolly boy said. ‘That means there’s only Janice and Benjy home right now.’

  3

  There is much truth in the old saying that the best laid plans often turn belly up. The Sorcerer’s plan depended on Benjy’s being left in the house alone after the loblolly boy’s father and Janice had left for work.

  However, there was no further movement after the Toyota left the drive. Janice’s little red Mazda sports car stayed resolutely where it had been parked the night before. There was no sign of Janice’s leaving for work at all.

  On the other hand, not long after the loblolly boy’s father drove past the bus shelter, Benjy came pedalling furiously past on a mountain bike. Both the Sorcerer and the loblolly boy stood up in disappointment as he sped past them, noticing neither in his haste.

  ‘What’ll we do?’ asked the loblolly boy. ‘Shall I follow him?’

  ‘No,’ said the Sorcerer crossly. ‘It’s already too late.’

  Once again, the loblolly boy felt that sense of deflation. He’d hoped for so much and here, yet again, was another anti-climax.

  ‘A slight rearrangement of the plan,’ said the Sorcerer. ‘The woman Janice is still in the house, right?’

  ‘As far as I know,’ said the loblolly boy. ‘Her car’s in the drive, anyway. And we haven’t seen her come out.’

  ‘It would be useful if she weren’t around,’ mused the Sorcerer. He looked at the loblolly boy, ‘She can’t see you, can she?’

  The loblolly boy gave a wry grin. ‘Of course not, Janice would be just about the most insensitive person on the planet.’

  ‘Excellent,’ said the Sorcerer. ‘In that case, take the telescope and place it somewhere near her. Then report back to me with whatever happens. Do you understand?’

  The loblolly boy nodded. ‘I understand, but what is placing the telescope near Janice going to achieve?’

  The Sorcerer smiled grimly. ‘There are some things human beings just can’t resist,’ he said. ‘Testing whether the “Wet Paint” sign is true, squeezing the chocolate to find out whether it has a soft or a hard centre, and looking through a telescope that just happens to be lying around.’

  ‘But Janice wouldn’t have ever seen this telescope before. Won’t she wonder where it suddenly came from?’

  ‘And that,’ said the Sorcerer with a wolfish smile, ‘will make it all the more intriguing.’

  4

  Clutching the telescope, the loblolly boy ran down the street trusting nobody would be around to see the remarkable sight of a brass telescope floating unaided though the air one and a half metres above the ground.

  With a sigh of relief he reached the safety of his father’s house and hurried up the drive. He tried the front door but it was locked. On his way to the rear of the house he glanced in through several windows, but could not see Janice anywhere.

  Perhaps she wasn’t home after all. Perhaps they had been fooled by the sight of her car in the drive.

  It didn’t really matter, anyway. There was no real need to have Janice look through the telescope at all. He suspected it was just a nasty whim of the Sorcerer who had a new toy and wanted to play with it. All the same, the loblolly boy needed to make sure. He didn’t want to risk anything by not cooperating with the Sorcerer, however nasty his motives.

  And then he discovered that Janice was at home after all. When he looked into the back yard he saw her, still in her red velveteen dressing gown and fluffy pink slippers. She was at the clothesline pegging something there. The back door was open.

  The loblolly boy hurried down the concrete path and inside before Janice turned and saw the hovering telescope. He made his way quickly to the kitchen.

  On the breakfast bar was a half-finished mug of strong black coffee, and a packet of aspirin. He suspected Janice was staying home because of a headache. An empty bottle on the bench beside the sink suggested the cause of the headache.

  Quickly, the loblolly boy glanced around the kitchen for the best place to leave the telescope.

  Too near the mug of coffee wouldn’t do. That would suggest an intruder and might unduly alarm Janice. It needed to be somewhere where she would see it, but not some place she had already checked out that morning. He decided the dining room next door would be better. Janice would have passed through it on the way to the kitchen, but if she were a little woozy, she probably wouldn’t have been taking much notice.

  The loblolly boy slipped into the dining room and placed the telescope on the dining room table. It was quite prominent there, the brass softly shining on the green linen tablecloth.

  Then the loblolly boy sank into an easy chair to wait for Janice to come back into the house.

  It did not take long.

  He watched through the double doors as she came in. Her face was pained, she had frown lines on her forehead and her mouth was turned down at the corners in a sour expression. The loblolly boy remembered how awful she had made his life and for a moment almost reconsidered his project.

  Janice reached for her cup and took another drink of the black coffee, then wiping her mouth turned and approached the dining room.

  The loblolly boy glanced from her to the table, and had a sudden frightening thought, the same thought he’d had about Benjy. Given her horrible disposition and usual grumpiness, what might her destiny be?

  It could be a Bengal tiger or a rattlesnake or something equally bad tempered. There was no knowing. And if she turned into something really feral and vicious he could be putting his father in terrible danger. These thoughts were so alarming that he climbed out of the easy chair and stood on top of it. Momentarily unbalanced he suddenly leaned backwards, knocking a porcelain figurine off the little knick-knack rack on the wall behind him.

  It was probably a happy accident.

  The sudden movement and noise as the figurine fell and smashed on the floor, was enough to make Janice lift her head in a startled way and look around her.

  She first looked blankly for some seconds at the broken china on the floor, and then looking about the room, she noticed the telescope sitting on the dining room table.

  ‘That’s strange,’ she muttered. ‘Where on earth did that come from?’

  5

  The loblolly boy, his balance regained with one arm steadying himself against the wall, now leaned forward.

  Janice crossed to the table, looked curiously at the telescope for a second or two.

  ‘Benjy must have brought it home,’ she muttered. ‘Funny he didn’t mention it. What would he want a telescope for, of all things?’ Then she gave a tight little grin. ‘Probably pinched it from somewhere,’ she said. ‘Little rogue!’

  Then she reached for the telescope, and just as the Sorcerer had predicted, put it to her eye.

  Janice had time only to say, ‘How bizarre!’ before the telescope dropped from her hand and almost in the same instant she disappeared.

  The loblolly boy struggled to regain his balance, failed and tumbled to
the floor.

  He struggled to his feet, his eyes wide with amazement as he stared at the spot where Janice had been standing.

  It was not occupied by a Bengal tiger, or a rattlesnake.

  Sitting on the carpet where Janice had been moments before, was a very confused-looking and very large white rabbit.

  6

  ‘It works!’ he cried to the Sorcerer. ‘It works!’

  ‘Calm down, little man,’ said the Sorcerer. ‘Not so excitable. Calm down and tell me what happened.’

  ‘Janice has gone!’ the loblolly boy blurted. ‘Disappeared!’

  ‘Good,’ said the Sorcerer. ‘That was the plan. And?’

  ‘She’s turned into a white rabbit!’

  The Sorcerer raised his eyebrows in surprise. ‘A white rabbit, eh? That’s unexpected. I thought from the way you’d described her that she would have at least changed into a rat.’

  The loblolly boy looked at the Sorcerer in some confusion. He couldn’t remember telling him anything much about Janice.

  ‘Never mind,’ said the Sorcerer easily. ‘A white rabbit is good enough. In fact it will be very useful.’

  ‘Useful, how can it be useful?’

  ‘You’re forgetting my trade, dear boy,’ said the Sorcerer. ‘Remember, I’m a magician. I always have a need for a white rabbit. Janice will come in very useful for pulling out of hats.’

  The loblolly boy looked at him to see whether or not he was joking, but it seemed the Sorcerer was perfectly serious.

  ‘Anyway,’ said the Sorcerer. ‘We’d better go and have a look I suppose. You did secure her, didn’t you?’

  ‘Secure her?’

  ‘Ensure she couldn’t run away. She could naturally be a little disoriented right now and panic. We wouldn’t want to lose her.’

  ‘She’s shut in the dining room,’ said the loblolly boy. ‘She can’t get away.’

  ‘Good,’ said the Sorcerer, clapping his hands. ‘Let’s go, then.’

  At that point, though, he gave the loblolly boy a disapproving look. ‘I see that you haven’t brought the telescope back with you?’