Richard took a deep breath as he stood on the stage. The spotlights were blinding, and he could barely see the audience. Today was the day he had been preparing for days.
“Hello Richard. That’s a nice costume.” A male judge spoke. “what will you be doing for us?”
Richard stuttered. But managed to speak.
“Magic, sir. I will be doing magic.”
“Magic! I love magic tricks. Alright, everyone, let’s all give Richard a round of applause.”
Despite the noise, Richard could only hear the loud beating of his heart.
With a swift hand gesture, he produced his wand from thin air. He had practiced this bit for days in front of a mirror, just like how he saw it in the videos and books. He smiled as he waved the wand.
“With nothing in my hat…” Richard’s heart stopped when he saw something fell out of his black, magician’s hat. Everyone saw it and laughed and pointed. His rabbit stood there in front of him, looked at him with its black, beady eyes, and hopped out of reach before Richard could grab it.
He was sweating buckets. He could hear the chattering in the audience.
He plastered a smile on his face.
“Uh… then… um… for my next trick, I will be using this deck of cards.” He produced a deck from his pocket, and fanned it in his palm.
Laughter erupted from everyone when his hand slipped and his deck scattered all over the stage.
Richard maintained his smile, though the corners of his mouth were quivering and shaking.
“Ooops. Let me try that again.”
Richard bent over to pick up the cards, when from the corner of his eye, he saw a white blur move close to where he was going to plant his foot down.
The rabbit! He forced his leg to step on a different area of the ground, to avoid squishing his partner animal. His left leg went this way, and his body went the other way, and the next thing he knew he had crashed on the stage floor. He heard a snap. He raised his right hand and saw his wand, broken, half of it hanged by a small piece of black, sticky material.
Laughter erupted from the audience.
Richard stood up with clenched, shaking fists. He looked for an exit and wanted to run away.
The laughter died down and then the audience applauded.
They thought it was a comedy act! Richard lowered his gaze and wiped the tears that were gathering.
He kept his smile, and bowed.
****
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