“Magic!” he says, jumping into the air. The pubgoers applaud. He bows and rejoins our table.
“Can you do another?” McMillian asks
I bite my tongue. Sam is so in his element right now. He’ll perform as many tricks as his friend will let him. Removing his trusty deck of cards and a handkerchief from his pocket, he places them into an empty wineglass.
“Now you see the ace of spades...” He drapes the cloth over the glass. McMillian and I watch it closely. “Now... you don’t.” The ace has been replaced with the eight of diamonds.
“Can you levitate the cards?” I half joke.
Wordlessly, he removes the deck of cards from the glass.Holding it in his hands, I watch in amazement as the top card begins to float and suspend itself an inch above its counterparts.
“Okay, that’s pretty cool.”
Sam waves me off. “These are child’s play.”
“You have a trick that’s harder?”
“I do, but it’ll cost you.”
“Name your price,” McMillian and I say at the same time.
He glances at the bar. “An order of chips.”
“Done. I’ll be right back.” McMillian jumps to his feet and rushes off.
When we’re alone, I ask, “How did you really levitate?”
“That trick’s an optical illusion. All I had to do was balance on my toes on one foot.”
I palm my forehead. “And the glass and cards?”
“A simple twist of the cup when it was hidden under the handkerchief. One side of the deck was the ace, the other side the eight of diamonds.”
“You’re too good, Sam.”
“Wait until you see my grand finale.” He flashes a cocky grin. “It’s one I’ve been practicing for a few weeks.”
“Does this by any chance require a magician’s assistant?” I bat my eyelashes.
“It can.” He winks. “Have you figured out the magic words?”
“Yes. Open sesame,” I guess. Those are the only words that I think I haven’t guessed.
Sam’s smile is as wide as the Grand Canyon. “I love hearing you say them. Do you know why they’re magic?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“They’re magic because every time you say them, I get to kiss you.”
He plants a kiss as soft as a cottontail rabbit on my forehead just as McMillian rejoins us.
“Oy, you got two orders of chips?” Sam says.
“Uh-huh. One for me and one for you two. I figured you wouldn’t mind sharing.”
“We don’t.” I elbow Sam.
“Are you two ready to see my final trick?” We nod and help ourselves to the fries. “For this next bit, I’ll need a napkin and a dinner roll.” Sam takes them in his hand and somehow manages to levitate the roll, making it disappear right before our eyes. “As you can see, the roll has been transformed into . . .” He crumples the napkin, and out of his hand he pulls a long silk scarf. “This.”
