Chapter 17: Places, Everyone!

21 September 1974, Minneapolis just after midnight

THE HOUSE WAS RESTLESS. Mark was waiting outside the theater stage door with the van when Paul, Wayne, and Lil came out after the show. After dropping them at the house, he promised to be back at eight-thirty to drive everyone to breakfast.

Paul rushed inside and was shown directly to Serepte. She smiled at him sorrowfully and held out her arms. He fell to the bed and embraced her.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t get to your show tonight. Tomorrow will be better.”

“Oh, sweetheart, the show is not important. How are you feeling?”

“Tired. And sad. Paul, I tried ... I tried to heal them all, but there were so many! Meaghan had to hold the pipes as I played, and it hurt so much. And ... I couldn’t ... She died, Paul! I couldn’t save her. The little girl in the car. She died just as I touched her and I felt her world come to an end.” Serepte wept in her lover’s arms as she recalled the events of the day. Paul stroked her long auburn locks and began to softly sing to her.

Soon, Serepte slept peacefully.

It was becoming commonplace for Paul to awaken with the naked Goddess in his arms. Commonplace, perhaps, but no less amazing to him. He might never get used to her reddish locks and pale skin against his swarthy shoulder, but he would spend his life trying.

She slowly opened her emerald eyes to see him gazing at her. They drifted closed again and she pressed her smile against his chest. “Magic,” she breathed.

“Any luck with discovering what was taken?” Wayne asked when the couple finally emerged from Serepte’s bedroom. He pulled Paul aside while everyone was waiting for the taxi van.

“Yes and no,” Paul said. He held a notebook out to Wayne. “There’s a page missing. I only have a dim recollection of what is on it. As you can see from the previous and following pages, I was working on various patterns for a new cloth to cover my table. Here at The Showbox, the audience looks up at me on a raised platform. No one can see the surface of the table. Some of the theaters I’m scheduled for this fall have raked auditoriums, so people will look down at me and be able to see the top. I have several adjustments I need to make to the show in order to not have tricks exposed.”

“Hmm. So, you think this was just another design?”

“I know there was something special about it. I liked it a lot, but I can’t remember the design. Every time I think I have it in mind, it shifts around and things aren’t where I expect them to be,” Paul said.

“Would you mind stepping into my room with me?” Wayne asked. “Serepte, can you let go of Paul long enough for me to have a private conversation?”

“Aw. Are we keeping secrets?” she asked with a devilish gleam in her eye.

“I’ll tell you all about it,” Paul promised.

“There might be some things I don’t want to know about,” she laughed. “Go. See what my mentor and protector has to offer you.”

Paul followed Wayne into a bizarre room. It had a bed, to be sure, but the room also had a small workbench, a drafting table, and drawings posted on all the walls. He stopped just inside the door and surveyed the room.

“I know, it’s a shock. Judith only comes in here to drag me back to her room. Still, it works for me,” Wayne said.

“It has to be difficult to find space to make things,” Paul nodded. He noticed only one side of the bed had been slept on, as the other side was covered with small objects and drawings.

“I’m a props master,” Wayne said. “Most of the time I have a workshop for my jobs, but we just moved here in the spring and the only shop I have belongs to the university opera. I’ve been making furniture and hand props for Manon that opens next week.”

“Don’t you have to be there for setup?”

“I checked with the tech director early this morning and I won’t be able to have clear access until tomorrow afternoon. He has to paint and decorate some of the set before I can get in with the props. Which brings me to another point. I’m not just a props master, Paul, I’m a toolmaker.”

“What? Like hammers and saws?”

“No. Like wands, cups, pentacles, knives. It has to do with imbuing power in an object while it is made.”

“How do you do that?”

“I have no idea. I didn’t even know about it until I was told I did it. It’s how I was introduced to the circle at Carles Castlerigg. But sometimes, I make something without knowing exactly why. Take this talisman, for example.” Wayne held up a disk that looked like a slightly oversized silver dollar. He handed it to Paul, who looked at it carefully.

“This is beautiful. All of this is engraved?”

“Yes, though I confess that I finally broke down and bought an electric engraver. Up until a year or so ago, I did everything with hand tools.”

“What are these symbols? They seem familiar, but I can’t place them.”

“Serepte’s father left behind a number of papers. His research into music and language. I honestly don’t understand all the meanings, but they called to me. It’s like a mandala—a wheel of fortune. You step on and never know when or where you will step off again,” Wayne said.

“I understand. It’s like that when I do my little juggling dances on stage.”

“I’d like you to take this.”

“What? Why?”

“It just seems that you might need it sometime. Please, just stick it in a pocket and forget about it.”

Mark arrived at the duplex promptly at eight-thirty and all eight ran out to pile into the van.

“You look fresh and lively this morning!” Mark said.

“It’s a good day to be alive,” Wayne affirmed. “A good day for all the family.”

“Where to, Paul?” Judith asked. “You said you were taking us all to breakfast, but where?”

“I read a review of The Original Pancake House. Can you get us there, Mark? I have an address.” There were squeals of delight amongst the women and Mark pulled away from the curb. Wayne rode shotgun while Paul, Serepte, and Judith occupied the second row. The other four women fit snugly in the last row of seats. “This is a little tight for all of us, isn’t it?”

“We’re only going a few miles,” Meaghan said. “We can survive. Besides, I like being sandwiched between Elizabeth and Lissa. Lil just keeps them pressed close to me.”

“That’s me. Just a bookend,” Lil laughed.

“I was thinking about a longer trip,” Paul said. “I’ve got three weeks after I close the show tonight and then my agent has me scheduled for a California Coast tour. I’m not very enthused about it, but it would be a lot better if we ... Geez, listen to me. You all have lives. It’s not like you’d want to travel with me. I was just thinking about how big a vehicle I’d need if I stopped traveling by train.”

“Paul? You’d take me with you?” Serepte asked. Her voice sounded tiny in the noisy van.

“In a heartbeat.” The two shifted around and kissed, Judith squeezing to her right as far as possible to give them room. “Then, of course, I realized that you are in school. Wayne is in school. Lissa has a show. I don’t even know what everyone else does. But I know I couldn’t just spirit you away without everyone else.”

“How long is the California tour?” Wayne asked.

“Three months,” Paul said. “The Portland date is firm, but Ricky wants to book me for a weekend in Seattle or Tacoma. Might be a one-night engagement mid-week and then a quick trip south to Portland. The trip is planned along the route of the Coast Starlight train. There is a new indoor theater at Ashland, Oregon, where the Shakespeare Festival is, and they are booking performances during the off-season. I just hope I can get a full house once. The theater seats 600. Then on to Sacramento, Oakland, and LA. Those are the big stops. There’s a side trip for a week-long engagement in Reno and Ricky is trying to book me for New Year’s in Vegas. That would be after Los Angeles and would be the end of my season until March. He thinks he can book me for longer in Vegas if I do well there. I don’t know. There are a couple of big-name magicians already working in Vegas.”

“You’d take me with you?” Serepte repeated.

“Serepte, I never want to be parted from you. Ever.”

“I’ll watch for you,” Mark said as he pulled up in front of the door. “There is a parking space over there where I can see the door.” It had begun to rain—a typical September weekend for Minneapolis.

“What do you mean, ‘watch’? Mark, you are part of the entourage now. Come in for breakfast,” Paul said.

“I’m just the driver.”

“No one is just anything. You have shown friendship repeatedly this past week, Mark. Join us as my friend,” Paul insisted.

Mark was a little hesitant to join the group of under-thirty-year-olds, but eventually was caught up in the merriment as they filled a table and ordered food. He carefully watched Serepte and Paul, silently thanking the gods for what he saw. Soon. He could feel it in his bones and in his heart. Soon it would all be over.

Mark dropped Paul, Wayne, and Lil at The Showbox before taking the other five women home.

“Can we get a ticket for Mark to come to the show tonight?” Paul asked Wayne.

“Not to worry,” Mark interrupted. “I bought my ticket as soon as they went on sale. I will bring everyone back tonight in plenty of time to get their seats.”

Serepte kissed Paul one more time and then the van took off.

“Be safe,” Paul whispered.

“So, what is the set-up for this afternoon?” Wayne asked.

“Two acts. Lots of intimate interaction. So, I’ll be walking into the audience a lot. First act is all parlor tricks. Second act, is a vanishing act. Rabbit and bird, including a flight around the theater.”

“I’ve got two motorized ellipsoids I’ve been dying to try out,” Wayne said. “I can’t control the tightness of the beam while in use, but I can set them narrow before the start. That way, I can follow you with overhead lighting and not have the followspot in people’s eyes as much.”

“Let’s rehearse.”

21 September 1974, The Showbox, Minneapolis