Magic Mansion (46 page)

Kevin joined the other players with a patch taped over his eye and a diagnosis of a scratched cornea. Iain stood him on one side of John, Ricardo on the other, and Jia on the end, then answered a call on one of his cell phones that left him whispering furiously with his hand cupped over his mouth so none of the contestants could see. John sighed.

“Medic told me you was the one who got me pulled out of the stunt,” Kevin said.

And now, on top of everything else, John would have the privilege of being blamed for Kevin’s forfeit of the contest, too. “That’s right.”

“That was some fucked-up shit,” Kevin said quietly. Not as if he was upset with John, either. “I’ll bet it cost you some time, having to worry ’bout me.” He jammed his hands in his pockets. “Thanks.”

As John absorbed the unexpected gratitude, he spied Marlene striding across the lawn with Monty in tow, and he steeled himself.
 

The time had finally come.

Chapter 40

THE WINNER IS

Two stationary cameras, a jib, and a swarm of handhelds surrounded them. Marlene, for once, joined them from her trailer for the taping as she directed a couple of techs to set up…were those confetti canons? John stared dumbly. The end was in sight. It was really happening.

Once everyone was in place and Iain gave the go-ahead, Monty turned his inscrutable smile onto the contestants, and said, “Welcome back to Magic Mansion. We’ve gone through the tapes and consulted with our judges, and we’re ready to announce the quarter million dollar winner. But first…let’s check in with Kevin Kazan. Kevin, you were injured during the final challenge, and you ended up forfeiting. What was going through your mind?”

Kevin cocked his head and considered his reply, and when he answered, his voice was more thoughtful than John had ever heard it. “Funny, you always ask dat, Monty. And sometimes, I just don’t know. I was in the zone, dig? I was pumped up. Ready to show everyone Kevin Kazan gonna smoke the competition and take the prize. But then…everything went red. Alls I knew was the pain. Yeah, I’m disappointed I didn’t even finish the challenge. But they say my eye’s gonna be okay, and after what I thought I was gonna hear them say….” He seemed a bit choked up, but he shrugged it off. “I’m gonna be okay.”

“And we’re glad to hear it. How about you, Professor Topaz? You finished less than one second after Ricardo the Magnificent—and that was after you’d been restrained by none other than escape artist extraordinaire Ken Barron. So close, and yet so far. What do you think of your decision to go with Ken rather than one of the other magicians?”

Actually, it had been his concern for Kevin that had cost him, and not Ken Barron’s restraints, though John supposed the compassion angle wouldn’t sound quite as thrilling to the audience. “There is never any shame in losing to the best,” he said gravely. “I’m proud of my performance today.”

“As well you should be. You really gave Ricardo a run for his money. Ricardo, if Jia Lee was found to have violated the contest rules, you’ll be taking home a quarter million dollars and embarking on a four-month European tour. What would winning that prize mean to you?”

“It’d be awesome. I’d buy a house.” He glanced at John. “I’ve always wanted my own house, so for me, that prize money would be a start of a whole new life.”

“And Europe?”

“That’d be great too,” Ricardo said as an afterthought. Not particularly convincingly, either. John suppressed a smile.

“Jia Lee, you took the final challenge into your own hands. Rather than waiting for a key to fall, you set to work picking the locks. What was your strategy?”

Jia leaned forward and looked down the line at her three opponents. “It took me a lot longer to get out of those gravity boots than it took Ricardo. Curling myself up like that…it hurt. It took me several tries. A lot of these challenges were made with men in mind. I’m not saying that to sound bitter. It’s just a fact. Stronger muscles, longer legs. That’s the playing field we’ve been competing on. But the thing is, who can jump the highest or run the fastest…that’s not what magic’s about. Not by a long shot. Magic is about knowing how to think on your feet. To use your hands. To make something complicated look easy. Whatever the judges say, I know—and all the viewers know—that if we judge the final challenge by those standards, then without a doubt, I am the winner.”

“The judges have the final word on that. Jia Lee, Ricardo the Magnificent, please come forward.”

Ricardo gave John’s hand a squeeze as he stepped out of line. John did smile at that, though it was probably camouflaged by his mustache.

“After reviewing the rules, the judges have reached their final decision. The winner of Magic Mansion, the grand prize of a quarter-million dollars and a European tour is…” Monty opened a gold foil envelope and removed a card. “The last female contestant standing, Jia Lee!”

A loud pop sounded, and big mylar confetti filled the air. Sunlight glinted off the metallic surface, dancing in John’s field of vision, sparkling like waves at the beach. He swayed, knees suddenly weak, as Jia and Ricardo embraced. It sounded strange, mostly like rustling and murmuring, but the show’s theme music added in post-production would cover that. From a crowd of engineers and assistants and stylists, four more costumed figures emerged to congratulate the winner, Sue and Ken, Chip, and even Faye. Someone prodded John in the arm. Kevin Kazan, offering his hand. A real handshake, even. Respectful, without fancy fist bumps or posturing. Had his near-accident changed him dramatically for the better? Unlikely. But maybe that grain of sand would nudge him in the trajectory of becoming, someday, a decent person. As he released the handshake, John felt the tingle of Kevin’s True magic again, less startling now—and then turned back toward the costumed mob of magicians beneath the rain of confetti, where he caught Ricardo’s eye.

Ricardo had confetti on his shoulders. He was smiling broadly. He didn’t look disappointed at all.

John smiled at him in return, thinking that would be that. But then Ricardo shouldered his way out of the congratulatory throng of magicians, and came toward John instead. John spread his arms for a hug. Ricardo not only fell into the embrace…he stood on tiptoe, and claimed a kiss.

John held Ricardo tightly, as all around them, sparkling confetti drifted on the breeze. True magic prodded at John, alluring and sly, suggesting that the time was perfect to echo their first meeting. With a mere flick of the wrist, he could transform a swirl of confetti into a rabble of glittering butterflies, if only for a moment. But John resisted the urge. Cameras were rolling, after all. And with the shot being impossible to redo without picking confetti out of the grass until the daylight was spent, the editors would be in enough of a tizzy figuring out how to work around that kiss.

C
LOSING
C
REDITS

CHIP CHALLENGE is pulling belly laughs from his fringed sleeve at the Comedy Store with his long-running hit show
The King of Magic.

FABIAN SWAN can be spied on the set of the upcoming feature film, Cold Illusion, as a special consultant.

KEN BARRON is planning a daring underwater escape at the Del Ray Lagoon, pending zoning issues.

AMAZING FAYE waxes eloquent in her new column in Entertainment Weekly.

MURIEL BROOM is touring each of the continental 48 states in a camper with her partner and their dog, Ralph. She reports that Wyoming is very large.

BEV AUSTIN was awarded a lifetime achievement award in education by Fresno County.

SUE WOZNIAK is dazzling audiences down under as “Star-Spangled Sue” at the Athenaeum Theatre in Melbourne.

KEVIN KAZAN will storm the stage in this summer’s Vans Warped Tour. He has fully recovered from his injury.

PROFESSOR TOPAZ is taking a sabbatical from performing to pen his memoirs. He plans a highly-anticipated return to the stage next spring.

RICARDO THE MAGNIFICENT wows the crowds at Magicopolis every other Friday. His juggling workshops sell out months in advance.

JIA LEE has embarked on her European tour, bringing the magic of Asia to delighted audiences worldwide with her award-winning act, Scarlet Dragon.

CHARITY YOUNG AND OSCAR could not be reached for comment at the time of this show’s airing.

All stunts were performed in the presence of trained coordinators and emergency personnel. Do not attempt to re-create these stunts at home. Portions of this program not affecting the outcome, such as the event chronology and contestant comments/reactions may have been edited. Winning and elimination decisions were made by the judges in consultation with producers. Some elimination decisions were discussed with the network.

Chapter 41

WALK OF FAME

When most people think of ceremonies and red carpets and awards, men in their sharp suits and women in satiny gowns, they usually imagine these events taking place at night. Not so, the unveiling of a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. Ricardo was impressed by the rigorous and precise preparation. The speeches would begin promptly at 11:30 a.m. Stars were expected to arrive between 10:45 and 11:00. And the ceremony ran with clockwork precision, friends and family in one area, press in another, fans in another still, orchestrated by a sharp female producer who could have been separated at birth from Marlene Perez.

John sipped his champagne and gazed out the limo’s window, stroking his beard. Ricardo had begged him to wear the Edwardian suit with the cutaway coat, the striped trousers and the black silk top hat. His custom made version was even hotter than the one they’d thrown together in three days for the Boardwalk Challenge. John had given the idea serious consideration, but in the end, he went with his impeccable black three-button Versace. He looked fabulous in that, too. But it didn’t reduce Ricardo to a salivating wreck in quite the same way the period costume did. John told him the ceremony was more about Rose and Glenn than it was about Professor Topaz. He didn’t want to upstage them.

Fat chance of that. Ricardo spied the cluster of Magic Mansion T-shirts from the end of the block as the limo turned the corner onto Vine. Modern audiences knew Glenn Forrest and Rose Topaz all right—but only as the aunt and uncle of Magic Mansion’s infamously gay Professor Topaz.

John and Ricardo exited the limo to the pyrotechnic dazzle of dozens of camera strobes. Ricardo took his cues from John, following his gaze, so that the two of them were more likely to be facing the same way in the same shots. It would be less likely they’d be cropped apart if neither of them was presenting the back of his head to the lens. Down the red carpet—how different it was from Magic Mansion—and into the staging area, where they waited for the ceremony to begin.

John fingered the cards in his pocket. He’d practiced his speech so that he knew it by heart—but Ricardo had talked him into bringing his notes just in case, knowing that if he had them at hand, he’d be less likely to need them.

David Copperfield, the first living magician to receive his star on the Boulevard, did the opening speech. His manner was stunningly down-to-earth for someone who owned a chain of islands in the Bahamas. He’d seen Glenn and Rose perform as a boy, and still had the utmost respect for them. When he referred to John, whom he’d only met once, he was as warm and gracious as if the two of them had been magician-pals for ages. He was handsome, too—only a few years younger than John, and he looked like he was in his forties. True magic had its perks.

Jia Lee spoke next. She’d flown in from Brussels only the night before, but you wouldn’t have known it. Her makeup, hair and cheongsam were impeccable. Women like Rose Topaz, she said, could not expect to rise above the role of magician’s assistant a mere forty years before. If only she were alive today to see how far the art had come. John surreptitiously chafed away goosebumps. In a few of his family photos, Rose did bear a striking resemblance to Jia.
 

Fabian Swan, rocking his purple tux in the friends and family section, nodded his agreement. Beside him, Amazing Faye shot Ricardo a pointed look that clearly stated, “See, it’s not easy being a woman in this business.” She should try being openly gay. That was a three-ring circus. And not the kind with trapezes and cotton candy.

Finally, it was John’s turn to speak. He stepped up to the podium and looked at its surface as if he was considering pulling out his note cards, but instead he tilted the microphone toward himself, stepped back half a pace so as to resist clinging to the furniture and thus keep full use of his expressive hands, and he began.

“If anyone is responsible for the long and unlikely journey that’s ended in Glenn and Rose receiving their star, it’s my agent, an old family friend, Dick Golding. Along with the producers of Magic Mansion, Dick spearheaded the campaign in exchange for my participation on the show. However, I wouldn’t have been in a position to appear on Magic Mansion at all if it weren’t for…Casey Cornish.”

John paused and took a breath. He’d never been a notorious weeper, not like the rest of the Magic Mansion crowd. But he did, on occasion, find himself choked up.

“Casey’s personality lit up the room. My years with him kept me young. He taught me how to love, and how to laugh. I don’t think he ever meant to teach me how strong I could be. But that turned out to be the main lesson I took away from the end of our time together.”

Ricardo blinked back a sting in his eyes. Faye was dabbing around the edge of her mascara.

“And now, of course, Ricardo the Magnificent can also take plenty of credit for us all being here today. Ricardo and I met during Magic Mansion’s auditions—and the hope that we might meet again was my true motivation for signing on to the show.”

John looked up and met Ricardo’s eyes, and smiled his sad smile. Ricardo did his best to smile back and blink away encroaching tears.
 

“I wonder sometimes,” John went on, “what Rose would have said about Casey. And about Ricardo.” John collected his thoughts for another dramatically long pause. Not because he’d forgotten the words he’d prepared—but because he was weighing whether or not to deliver the next part of his speech. He considered, and he looked at Ricardo once more…and he forged ahead. “The choices I’ve made in my life mattered to her, not as my aunt…but as my mother.”