The Girl in the Box

2026-05-20T02:54:06Z

A young man in khakis and a brightly-colored shirt stood in the large meeting room of the library. "Hello everyone. I'm Michael, and Ms. Rose invited me to tell you about the Magic of Reading." A table with some props stood over to one side, while a table of library books was positioned behind him. "When I was about your age, a magician came to my school and performed a magic show. I was amazed, and I wanted to learn how to do it, too. Now where would you go if you wanted to learn how to do something?"

He called on several children: "Your parents!" "School!" "YouTube!"

"YouTube?!" He laughed. "Believe it or not, I was born before YouTube existed! I know, that makes me a dinosaur!" They laughed. "But no, I went to my local library!" He looked over at the librarian. "Ms. Rose, can you help me out with something? I'll pretend to be a magician, and you pretend to be a librarian." The crowd chuckled. "I went up to my librarian and asked, 'Can you help me?' And she said ..."

"Of course!" Ms. Rose replied. "How can I help?"

"Wow. You're good," Mike replied. "Have you been practicing? I told her, 'I want to learn about magic.' And she asked me what kind I was interested in."

"What kind of magic do you like?" Ms. Rose replied. "Card tricks? Coins? Stage magic?"

"Wow. If this librarian gig doesn't work out, you should get into acting! So ... so, Mrs. Librarian ... lady. I like all kinds of magic, but I especially like cards. W- would you like to see my favorite card trick?"

"Of course."

"OK." He pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket and fanned them. "Pick a card ... And show it around so they can help you remember, but don't let me see it!" He shielded his eyes, then he held out half of the deck. "OK. Put your card face-down on top of this pile and I'll see if I can find it." She did. He slapped the other half of the deck on top then froze. He turned the cards face-up, thumbed through them a bit. "Uh .... would you like to see my second favorite card trick?!"

Everybody laughed.

"No, I can get it I think." He looked at Ms. Rose. "Just concentrate real hard and I'll see if I can read your mind." He closed his eyes and scrunched up his face. "I'm seeing ... a red card."

He opened his eyes and looked at her. She shook her head no.

"What do you mean? They're all red!" He held up the backs of the cards and everyone laughed.

"OK, no. So .... I'm getting it now. Black Card ... Either a three-leafed-clover thingy or .... SPADE. It's a spade." She nodded. "OK. Concentrate just a little longer." He held out his hand toward her. "I'm not gonna touch your head, that would be weird." Suddenly he snapped 3 times. "Was that it? The 3 of Spades?" She nodded and the crowd cheered.

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[The End]

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Coming Soon to a 100-Year-Old Theatre Near You!

2026-05-19T21:58:13Z

I've written a story, and for once I really like it. I mean, it's no Shakespeare, or Danielle Steel, or Dean Koontz, but it's better than a lot of stuff I write IMHO. I plan to post it soon, but the rest of this week is kinda bonkers for me, so it may be this weekend.

For the one of you who's ever read my stuff before, this is in a new setting, with a whole new set of characters. Not Concord, not Lakeview University. This starts out in the (very real) town of Columbus, Georgia but spends the majority of the story in the fictional Kingsport, North Carolina.

(Why Kingsport? Because when I used a city-name generator, it was the one out of the 25 I liked ;)

I'm not even sure how to describe it. It's not a ghost story, not a love story. "Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles!" Well, about half of those.

Story revolves around some magicians (in my head, they're in their mid-20s or so) and it's called:

"The Girl in the Box"

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The Girl in the Box

Coming Soon to a 100-Year-Old Theatre Near You!