Voila

A world famous magician putting on a show for a small crowd has everything he stands for questioned. But yet there she is. Who is she? What do you believe...

“Here ladies and gentlemen if you’ll look in front of me you’ll notice an ordinary mason jar and six eggs. Please mam what is your name?” the animated magician asked a young lady with with a ruby red pea coat and long dark hair. “Jenny,” the young lady replied bashfully as crowd of about thirty people stood watching. “OK Jenny I want you to come up here and grab one of these eggs and crack it on the side of the table here,” the magician said softly into his headpiece. His voice carried a bit farther this time as the crowd had quieted, wondering what was to come next.

The magician looked casually at the crowd trying to project his calmness onto them. Jenny grabbed and egg and cracked it over the table sending egg yolk crashing to the floor. “OK now did I tell you which egg to grab Jenny?” the magician asked smoothly as he handed her a towel to wipe her hands. “No!” she said into his microphone. The two of them where closer then she was comfortable with but there was no other microphone to use. “So there’s no reason to think that any of these other eggs might not be eggs. Is that what you’re telling me,” he asked looking sharply into her eyes. “Yes that’s what I’m telling you,” she again replied into his microphone shyly. She began to feel a certain way the longer she stood that close to him. The magician was far from unattractive but it wasn’t that kind of feeling. The magician had proved to be evenly suave and charismatic, traits most women would want in a man, but still, the feeling she had wasn’t that kind of feeling. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but it was intriguing and she felt like she needed more.

The crowd was simmering, watching patiently, equally nervous and excited. “OK Jenny I want you to place each egg in the jar one by one. Can you do that for me?” the magician asked as he turned to the crowd and raised his arms to hype them up. Jenny shook her head yes and began placing each egg in the jar one be one as she was told. “Now all those eggs feel like normal eggs don’t they? Go ahead and shake them if you want and make sure OK,” the magician told her. She again shook her head but knew how magicians used mind games as a part of their acts so she did her best now to stay alert looking for something out of order.

After all the eggs were placed in the jar the magician picked it up way over his head to show it to the crowd. There were murmurs and whispers as everyone wondered what was to happen next. The magician placed the jar back on the table then took a large cloth from his pants pocket placing it over the jar. He looked up at the crowd with a slick yet mysterious grin waving his hand over the covered jar slowly drawing a gasp from some as the anticipation spilled over into the atmosphere.

“Voila!” the magician said as he uncovered the jar and out came hundreds of beautiful butterflies. Everyone stared in awe, clapping and screaming joyous praise to what they had just witnessed. Jenny stood still frozen in time as the butterflies swarmed around her before taking off into the sky. “Thank you…” the magician started but had forgotten the girls name. “Jenny,” she answered politely. “Thank you Jenny! You’ve been a lovely assistant,” he said leaning in to give her a hug. She again felt that same feeling, that same energy she felt before when he was close. It was a feeling like no other she had ever felt before and she was anxious to know what it was.

The magician continued to perform. Each trick seeming more and more impossible. Jenny smiled as the magician continued to sway the crowd and become one with it. She felt as if she was watching a whale conquer the ocean the way he road the vibes. Everything was going so well…

Suddenly a man in black gown pushed his way through the crowd. “This man is unholy!” he screamed getting the attention of most. As he removed his hood all the action to silence. “I say this man is unholy. Sent from the devil himself to play tricks on our minds!” the man said as everyone, including Jenny, was appalled at the mans accusations. The magician removed his microphone and approached the man calmly. “Sir. I’m not hurting anyone here. I’m just putting on a show. You don’t have to scare these nice people,” he said and began to walk back to his table. As he did he walked right in front of Jenny, giving her that feeling again for just a split second.

“I can prove you ain’t like us. You ain’t a regular man like god intended us to be. I know it and I can prove it,” the man in the black gown shouted as he stepped forward and closer to the table. The magician continued to remain calm. He had dealt with hecklers for many years on his ways to becoming on of the most famous magicians in the world. “Please sir. I just want to put on a good show for these wonderful people. Couldn’t you do this some other time? Please do us all a favor and let it go,” the magician said firmly but still as calm as he was before. He knew he still had control of the situation for now.

Jenny looked over at the magician watching him try to defuse the situation but the man in the black gown was very relentless. As the heckler continued he began to turn the crowd against the magician. Slowly but surely the entire crowd was demanding he explain how he did his tricks. “A great magician never reveals his secrets!” the magician cried out desperately. The crowd began to close in on the magician now as he began to lose his calm for the first since all this started. “Jenny!” he screamed sticking out his hand. She was startled by his voice, surprised that he would call for her in a situation like this.

Without thinking she reached out and grabbed his hand. Just then a burst of wind blew her hair wildly covering her sight for quick moment. When her hair fell she looked around and noticed everything around her was at stand still. All the angry faces were now frozen, stagnant. The birds and clouds were perfectly still. She shook her head trying to wake herself up as if she was dreaming but she soon realized she was not. “It’s magic,” the magician said to Jenny as he placed both his arms on her shoulders. “Magic is fake. This is real. I don’t understand,” Jenny continued, her heart racing, almost pounding out of her chest. “This is neither fake or real, it’s simply magic. There are a great many things we don’t understand as humans. The most common beliefs are based on things we hardly have any facts on, but we believe them. Magic is just another one of those things. Kind of like the feeling I get when I stand close to you. Don’t you feel that?” the magician asked as he looked her deeply in the eyes. “I do. But I don’t know how to explain it,” she replied curiously. “I can’t either but I know I believe in it. I’m a world famous magician who is paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a show but for some reason something told me to come here and put on a show for free. And now look what’s happening, I’m on the verge of losing it all,” the magician said sadly. Jenny looked up at him with an opened mind. The mysterious feeling began to feel comfortable to her. “But you’re a great magician I know you can fix this,” she said to him unsure if she was helping or not. “I can, but I need you. I think that’s what this is all about. I need you to get out of this. And I need need you period. That feeling I get when you’re close makes me feel, whole. You’re the one I need. I believe it. Don’t you?” the magician asked as the two of them lost themselves in each other’s person, feeling a great void being filled. “When I unstop time I need you to be with me, understand?”

UNDERSTOOD