The Magician

"And then she fell in love with you?"

"No, that day I found out she was already in love with me. I hadn't a clue. She had followed my career, worked with other magicians to get the experience, joined the same theatrical agency and grabbed the job opportunity when it arose. She had always wondered why I used a succession of unregistered assistants and now she knew. Enough about Mavis. I'm feeling good for the first time in ages, as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. So, would you like to bring the family here, it would only be for the day though, unless I bring plenty of coffee to keep awake."

"I'm sure we would love to come," Ty said, "but what about spreading your secret, my wife Jennifer-Clare I've known and trusted all by life but Jess and Mickey are babies, they're bound to talk. People would eventually find this place and prevent you from keeping it."

"It doesn't matter, I'm not going to be around forever, and this place is safe from being spoiled all the while I'm alive. I own the whole island, have controlling interests in all the major businesses and this bay is fenced off and the perimeter patrolled by security."

"You own a whole island?"

"Yes, the whole kit and caboodle, all mine, the deeds in a safety deposit box at my bank in London.

"Phew! How much money did this cost?" Ty asked.

"Millions, no, hundreds of millions. I should never have done it, and Mavis would never have allowed me to do it. But she had just died of cancer, despite my every effort to ease her suffering, and I returned to the island after many months, well several years of absence, to get away from the misery at home. Here I found the owners had torn my simple driftwood cabin down and had already built the first hotel. I should never have done it but I bought the island lock stock and barrel."

"How?"

"I set up an offer with the owners, negotiated for months and gave them every genuine penny I owned as a gesture of good faith. I set up several Swiss bank accounts with physical money that disappeared once it was mixed in with the rest. I also set up online accounts with massive numbers, monies dragged in from other banks, particularly ones with lax controls, which the island owners checked out. Magically they got guarantees that I was a multi-billionaire, all smoke and mirrors. I made an offer that the owners, who were still developing the resort in my favourite bay, and stretched financially, couldn't refuse, and we signed all the contracts and exchanged all the deeds. I had to stay awake for almost a week to keep the magic going. Then I slept for another week. When I woke up a week later in my darkened house in England, the world's economy was down the toilet and no-one laid the blame at my door. No, they fingered the banks that had suffered worst and they had put the blame on brokers who had made bad decisions making loans to borrowers who defaulted, everybody pointed the finger at everyone else but really, nobody knew the real reason that caused the banking collapse."

"Really? You caused the banking collapse of 2008?"

"I guess so. But hey, this is worth it right? This is my sanctuary for a couple of hours two or three mornings a week where I can relax until I drop off to sleep and wake up back to my modest house."

"Have you ever conjured up er, Mavis, is it?"

"No, son, I made her a promise, although until she brought it up in her last few days, I had never even thought of it. When you are a magician, and have been for years and abused it for as long as I had, magic simply loses its spell and what is real is what counts. Boy, Mavis was real all right. Sure, I thought that could resurrect her for the day but next morning she'd be gone again and all I would do is renew my grief. A least I have her filling my dreams," Moses laughed, "And Mave was always my dream girl."

"Moses, all I can say is 'thank you', for showing me this wonderful world of yours. Showing me that magic really exists, somehow. I don't understand any of it, I can see how you couldn't help using it for your own ends, especially as you had no 'user guide' with it."

"Not sure if it would have done me much good, I'm sort one of those dive-in-and-try-it sort of blokes anyway. Mave was always having to get an expert in to put right my half-started, half-finished projects at home." Moses smiled at memories long past and the light of the day around them was fading fast. "We have to go back soon, Ty, I'm getting sleepy."

"What happens to me if you fall sleep while we're still here?"

"We both simply go home, if I think of it while conscious, say 'home' for both of us, I only need to gesture and away we go. If I drop off to sleep, I either go to my bed if I'm lying down like now, or if I'm sitting I'll wake in my favourite armchair in my living room. When Mavis was with me she would wake up in the bed or sitting in her chair or on the sofa, always somewhere safe, so it could almost be waking from a dream."

"Except for the suntan."

"Yes. Somehow, Ty, you will end up at your home and somewhere quiet tonight, even if you are awake when I am asleep. So, if you were sitting, as you are now, and Jenny has company, you will reappear in your bedroom on your bed. Don't ask me how, you don't get dropped from six foot up and cause a commotion, or in the middle of a crowd, nothing unfortunate will befall you. I assure you. Why? I don't know, it's all part of the magic, which seems to have a mind of its own but is caring and protective."

"So odd that you were playing at being a magician when you gained the power, yet have no idea where it came from."

"I suppose I'll never know, and I've lived with it long enough that I don't need to know. I have on balance enjoyed my life since I acquired the magic, it helped me to live a good life. I wasn't at all happy with my life before that. Through magic I married the girl of my dreams, what's wrong with that? For a while the magic made me a bad person, a person I grew to hate but I got over that and entertained a lot of people and had fun doing it, even if most of my magic wasn't real."

"And that magic relationship with Mavis, that sounds like it was real,"

"Yes, she was so real. I miss her so much. What about your girl, Jennifer, wasn't it?"

"Jenny-Clare. Jen was my childhood sweetheart, we grew up as neighbours, did everything together. Jenny-Clare and the girls, they are my whole world."

"Well, don't let your indulgence in card tricks ruin your marriage and family like it did my first marriage. When you get home, give them my love too and in a week or so come round early and give your girls a little taste of paradise."

"I will, Moses, sweet dreams."

CHAPTER 4

MOSES GRANT NARRATES

I slept with many a sweet dream in my head that night after meeting Ty and the few nights after. You know, I've been a miserable, lonely old bugger in my old age, since Mavis left me, twelve long years ago. I miss her so much. We had a lot of fun throughout our 46 years together but towards the end I let her down. All the magic I had at my fingertips and couldn't save her. Dying at 68 and in pain, is too soon nowadays. Sure, I could give her a day free of pain, even day after day free of pain, but the agony always came back to hurt her more. Then one day she begged me not to try any longer. We accepted that I couldn't save her life so we spent our last few days together, me trying to conceive of a time without her and she with accepting an end to the pain and utter helplessness and more worried about me getting by without her.

She always loved unicorns, so in her final hours I had a miniature flying unicorn hovering and circling over the bed. The look of wonder of her face made her more beautiful than she had been for twenty years.

I was tired after the trip to the shopping centre and meeting that earnest young man, Tyler, who reminded me somewhat of myself, in the days when I loved the simple life of performing card tricks.

When I awoke at 5am the next morning, I realised that I had gone to the shops to collect a pair of repaired boots and meeting Ty had put it out of my mind completely. I couldn't face going back for them. I still remember the old comic's routine on the ship, he never changed it from one performance to the next, 'I was passing the cobblers on the way to the theatre and remembered the shoes I put in to be repaired last week, so I dropped in to collect them ... there'll be ready next Tuesday!"

I remember Mavis, still in her little white bikini, her red hair plastered to her lovely head. I remember when she burst into my little dressing room. Usually she changed separately, sharing a much bigger room with dancers and backing singers. Oh boy, she was red-faced with anger. My Lord, she looked lovely, though. Her fists were clenched by her side as if she knew if she lifted them she'd use them to punch me left, right, left until her strength gave out. And I was quite prepared to let her give me the lumps I deserved.

Instead, she cried huge wracking sobs, so I wrapped my arms around her, kicked the dressing room door shut with my foot and just held onto her until she was all cried out.

"I could've died," she sobbed.

"No, honey," I said as steadily and soothingly as I could, "you told me you can hold your breath for three minutes and you were in there for 90 seconds top. We could've done another curtain call and you'd even have made a name for yourself, better than Gerald the Snake. Do you need a good male assistant, Magic Mavis? I fancy a change, do you fancy seeing your name up in lights?"

When she peeled away and looked at me, I had removed the small smile that holding this angel had given me and put on what I thought might be a serious or at worse neutral face.

"You bastard, you're enjoying this aren't you?"

"Absolutely, I've never held a more beautiful woman, more angry than...." I replied. "Well, actually I have ..."

Her face took on a frown.

"But," I continued, "Never anyone as angry who has meant so much to me as you."

"You mean, you like me?"

"Oh! Yes, I like you, I like you ... a lot," I said. "Look, Mavis, it's way after midnight, let me walk you back to your cabin, kiss you on your cheek goodnight and we can talk about what happened over breakfast in the morning."

I put my dressing gown on her, it almost wrapped around her twice.

"You can't go back to your cabin."

"Ah, rising damp is it?"

"Very, more like dripping wet from the ceiling."

"I can dry it off."

"Really? Just like you could, you know, transport me, and all that bloody cold water, to your room?"

"Something like that. It's unpredictable, magic. I could dry it but as soon as I dropped off to sleep it might all get wet again, or by gathering up all the moisture and sending it somewhere else, like overboard, I might get away with it. Magic is tricky stuff and you have to be careful how you use it."

"It sounds like it's tricky, even for an expert. So, could you have used this magic to have seduced me into your little bed a month ago if, as you say, you liked me."

"Maybe I could've."

"That means you probably could or definitely could?"

"I wouldn't, Mavis, I could've I guess, but I wouldn't want to."

"Oh," she sounded disappointed.

"Oh, it's not that, Mavis. No, I mean you're absolutely gorgeous, but you are way, way out of my league. No, I couldn't."

"Couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't, then, was it?" she asked, brighter, placing the palms of her hands on my chest.

"No, absolutely couldn't, Mavis, using magic like that, to weaken your natural reserve or revulsion reflex, it would be date rape. Even if I could make you forget that I had my wicked way with you, I couldn't work with you, face you and have to deal with all the guilt. I like and respect you too much. No, Mavis I couldn't, simply couldn't."

"Not even if I said I loved you, had fancied you from afar for years and talked my auntie into recommending me to you—"

"Wait, my agent is your aunt?"

"Yes, I was on her books ready to drop everything at the drop of a hat, but she kept telling me you had a harem of beautiful girls willing to be your assistant for free. She assumed as no expenses came through the books, pay, fees, gifts, hotel room charges per person, not even meals for two, that they were your girlfriends. I was sooo jealous. That's why I made her book you on this cruise, thinking you might appear to have a tart in every resort in England, but you'd need me as your assistant for the Caribbean."

"You were right, I couldn't use my 'harem' on this cruise but no, Mavis, they weren't girlfriends. I conjured them up out of thin air, all those beautiful girls were illusions. That's why most of the tricks on my one-night stands were impossible, why they were sellouts and other magicians envied me, spied on me tried to find out what I did. I know they were really frustrated not able to corner any of my assistants and get the lowdown from them!"

I had to laugh about that and Mavis laughed along with me.

"But the tricks we do, well they are all—"

"Tricks. Yes, real tricks, of course they are. I couldn't have a real person here and not be thoroughly rehearsed and equipped with the best props I could get."

"And you saved my life, using magic, real magic and letting the cat out of the bag."

"Yes, Mavis, sorry about that. But it would've been —"

"Bad form to let me drown?"

"Think of the panic in the audience, trying to pull you out of that tank on stage, or the paperwork if I hadn't."

"Yes, Moses, I truly wouldn't have wanted to be in your shoes."

We laughed about it.

"So, now I know what you can do, are you worried that I might—"

"Wait, let's track back a bit, Mavis, did you say you loved me just a few minutes ago?"

Mavis slipped her arms up from my chest to cradle my face, she stretched up and kissed me gently on the lips. I was frozen. I didn't know what to do with my hands, my lips or my tongue. There was this beautiful woman, wearing a damp semi-transparent swimsuit that accentuated rather than barely covered her charms, plus my soaking wet dressing gown on top and I hadn't a clue what to do. She stopped her kiss and moved her face away far enough to focus on my face. She looked amazing, unbelievably beautiful and so young, too young, bringing back horrible memories.

"What I actually said, Moses, was that 'I loved you' but want I really mean is that I love you. I thought I loved you from afar, you were my bedroom wall pin-up, I saw as many of your theatre performances as I could afford to get to, I wheedled my auntie into getting me jobs as an assistant with as many second rate magician acts as she could manage so I could build up a repertoire of experience, until you were free and needed me."

"So you thought you loved me, what about now seeing me close up, with all my warts and all?"

"I don't see any warts, and I've been watching you closely— and believe me, every so called magician I've ever worked with other than you have had to be slapped because they tried to get into my knickers — except you. And you don't seem to have any vices at all, other than this problem with real magic that sends a drowning woman halfway across the ship and several decks down to his own cabin—"

"That was so you could still sleep in your own—"

"I know, honey, I've worked that out." She kissed me again and it was just as sweet and I couldn't help myself, I put my hands on her hips and kissed her back.

"I see a sweet man," she continued, "who works his socks off to put on a show, a genuine show, has respect for his assistant and protects her honour and her life. That's a pretty special person, someone a girl, even one with a silly crush, could fall head over heels in love with."

"And have you?"

"Yes. All that we have to agree on now is, could you truly love me?, because I don't believe you would string a girl along just to get in my panties and then hurt me along the way by dumping me at the end of the cruise, could you?"

"No, Mave, I couldn't do that."

"So, where do we go from here, honey?"

"We could date," I suggested.

"We already share breakfast, lunch and evening meals, Moses," she giggled. "And we've been out dancing most of our free nights."

"We move together so well, I love dancing with you Mave, holding you in my arms. I used to imagine us together but only in my dreams."

"As did I, pretending we shared our meals and time together not as colleagues, but friends, even as boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Tomorrow, or rather later this morning, we'lll start with breakfast together as a proper couple."

"Walk in and out of the restaurant holding hands."

"We could go on some of the excursions when we port together, buy you flowers, jewellery."

"Could we look at ... rings?"

"Mave, you're serious?"

"Deadly serious, Mo, this is the rest of my life we're talking about. You saved my life tonight, I love you and I want to be your wife. You only have to ask, I'm not prepared to wait for the next leap year."

"This is overwhelming, you are overwhelming, no, intoxicating, bewitching, engulfing me in the worship of your beauty and willingness to be ... my partner for life. I don't know what to say."

"Say only that you'll court me, woo me, be with me every hour you can spare. Get to know me, discuss with me all your ambitions and your fears. Let me inside that shell you've built around yourself. You've stopped me getting inside your defences, not just me, but everyone. Let me in, just me, just for a while and see if you like it, like me around you all the time. Come to my cabin, sleep with me, just sleep, I'm too wound up for anything else, but I want us to be a couple, now this instant, please."

And so my life was renewed on that day, nearly forty years ago. We were constantly together for forty-six years before cancer took her from me.

CHAPTER 5

HOME FOR GOOD

Moses was awake but still in bed when he heard the doorbell ring. A glance at the clock told him it was a quarter to five.

"It can only be Tyler and his family." Moses said aloud to himself.

He actually smiled. It had been a long time since he had what he would call company, other than the carers imposed on him by the social services. Moses threw on a robe and made his way down the stairs to open the front door.

There stood Ty and his family, wife and two children, the older girl standing holding Ty's hand, the other straddling his mother's hip.

"Well, good morning Ty, and good morning Jenny-Clare, it's lovely to meet you and your two lovely girls. I assume you are Jessie and Mickey's the youngest one?"

"That's right, Moses," Jenny-Clare answered, "we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for this opportunity you have given us."

"Oh please call me Mo. Right, are we all looking for a fun day out?"

"We are," Ty added, "Are you ready or do you need to get changed?"

"One moment," Moses said, clicking his fingers and instantly changing into a loud and colourful tee shirt and khaki shorts, with a pair of sandals on his feet. "Well, I'm ready, so Ty, are you doing the honours?"

"Oh, so you know the magic is in me now?"

"I felt different the morning after we got back. I tried to perform some magic but nothing happened. In fact I feel happier that I can't do it anymore. I feel safer somehow. Seeing you in the shopping centre was the best thing that has happened to me for a decade or more."

"Oh, I hope we can change that, Mo," Ty grinned, "I've been busy since that morning. Just wait until we get there."

"Can't wait."

"No need to."

A wave of Ty's hand and they were standing on the sand, Moses facing the lagoon and the bright blue sea and sky beyond.

"Oh look, Daddy," said Jessica, pointing behind Moses, "They've got the new tent up."

Moses turned around and between the shore and the tree line, there were two large tents, like marquees, one larger than the other.