The Cocky Magician

The crowd was bustling in the auditorium, all ecstatic to see the Great Magician Larson. Quickly, the fans raced through the building and planted in their velvet covered seats. 

Backstage a tall figured man in a top hat prepared himself, for he was the Great Magician Larson. His eyes were wide and his hair was slicked back so much, it almost reached his back. When Larson heard the announcer call his name, he fixed his posture and made his way to the stage.

When he stepped on, the crowd’s once loud voices turned into a just soft breathing of the people. The only loud thing in the auditorium was the magician’s footsteps and a crying baby in the back of the room. Larson cleared his throat and strided smoothly to the center of the stage. 

“Ladies and gentleman,” He boomed, his voice echoing through the building, “Watch closely as I make a fine woman appear before your very eyes!”  The crowd were on the edge of they’re seats. They all knew that the Great Magician Larson was  truly magical, and did live up to his name. 

Moving his hands, the magician yelped- no chanted, “Abracadabra, abracado! For I will make this woman appear before you!” With a puff of smoke, you could see a woman in a long purple dress. The crowd gasped and cheered so loud that it shook the room. Some started  sobbing in awe at Larson. Fans clamored to the front, their eyes glistening. 

The Great Magician Larson smiled with pride. He was good. He knew he was good. He bragged about it all the time. He was not humble, never had been. Even when he was a child he bragged about his perfect skills. He was a very smart boy and  went through school effortlessly.  One time when he was ten, after the tests had been passed out  he laughed  to the boy sitting next to him, “You got a "D "? Unlike you, I can actually read.” So,  his attitude was, and still is nasty. When he started practicing magic tricks, his ego grew and he became less and less humble. On stage you could never see it. The only people who knew were his parents. In fact, they’ve been whispering about his imposing personality ever since he started practicing magic. 

“Should we tell him to stop?” His  mother once said to her husband.

“No,” The father replied in a serious tone, “We can’t tell him to stop following his dream when that’s all we tell him to do.”

“But, all he ever does is brag,” She paused, then said, “That’s not right.”

“I know, but this is something Larson really enjoys. He might be able to be successful in magic.”

“That’s true. So, stay away?” Larson’s father nodded and replied, “Stay away.”So, Larson ended up pursuing magic, but he did not become humble like his parents wished. Once the applause silenced in the auditorium, the magician went to his next trick. 

“Now, you may think there is only one of me,” The Great Magician Larson said, in a mysterious voice, “But, there are many of me!” 

As he said that sentence, his voice echoed and hundreds of Larson’s appeared throughout the auditorium. The audience mouths gaped open. The baby in back stopped crying. Even the flies stopped moving.  Then the audience went crazy. They laughed, cried, and screeched with joy all at the same time. One girl jumped up and down, her pigtails doing the same as her body. People reached out to touch the Larsons, and sure enough they were as solid as the Great Magician himself.  Everyone in the auditorium ran to the front, shoving others down and pushing people out of the crowd. Every single person had to shake the Great Magician’s hand. A smile ran across Larson’s face. If a hand even brushed his shoe, the person would break down into tears. 

“He’s truly magical!” One man said, smiling widely. 

“I know!” The woman next to him said, tears streaming down her face.  The magician smiled broadly. The Great Magician Larson’s tricks make adults act like little children. He had won them over. But then a clatter came from the back of the room. 

The crowd didn’t notice, they were all captured in a daze. But the Great Magician Larson did. He looked up and saw a fallen mirror on the ground. He bit his lip and shifted his eyes around nervously. Then he shook his head and continued his broad smile. 

“Now, for my next trick: I will make this woman disappear!” The same woman in the purple dress strided on the stage with a bright, large smile. With a worried smile on the magician’s face he said to the woman, “Come! And stand here please.” Larson pointed to two pieces of blue tape in an “X” shape. The woman nodded and stepped onto the piece of tape. 

As she did so, a trap door beneath the blue tape cracked open and light bled through. The woman shifted her footing, but the same trap door opened all the way and light shed across the ground. When this happened the woman’s foot got caught in the door and she fell to the floor.

This time, the crowd did see. They gasped, not in awe, but in confusion. Trying to grab the audience’s attention back, the Great Magician Larson cleared his throat and said, “Abracadabra, abracado! For I will make this woman disappear before you!” Nothing happened. There was no puff of smoke. The woman was still on the floor. The magician inhaled and said, his voice cracking, “Abracadabra, abracado! For I will make this woman disappear before you!” Still, nothing happened. Larson stood frozen on the stage, deathly afraid. The audience looked perplexed. Then the mirrors started to fall to the floor again, spreading shattered glass across the ground. 

The crowd’s expression changed. It went from perplexed to angry.

“This can’t be happening! I’m the greatest magician in the whole world!” Lanson muttered, hoping his fans didn’t hear him. But they did. His microphone picked up all of it, word for word. The crowd's teeth gritted at the famous magician’s behavior. All they usually saw from Larson was his magical essence. But now they saw who he truly was not an imposing man, but an imposter.  

They all shook their heads and some began to leave. They were all shocked and wished they could see the old Great Magician Larson, but they could not. The crowd (who were once his fans) jeered, with their eyes squinting with hate. 

“He’s a fraud!” One woman screamed, pointing at him.

“He’s been playing us this entire time!” A man yelled over the jeering of the crowd. Everyone filed out of the auditorium. The crowd that came in so happy to see the Great Magician Larson, were now happy to never see him again. 

“Turns out he doesn’t live up to his name,” A little girl muttered to her brother.

“Yeah!” The brother replied. After that night, the showcase was always empty whenever Larson was performing. But he still stayed cocky and bragged about his  skills on the streets.

“You know how you see those magicians who do the same simple trick over and over again. Well, I’m much better than that. I can actually do tricks that are magical! I know I am the most wonderful magician who ever lived,” He once said to a woman walking along the street. She peered at him oddly and said while rolling her eyes, “I know who you are. You failed as a magician and yet you still are the most conceited  man alive.” 

“I know,” He said, glaring at her. He walked away briskly telling everyone he saw about his perfect skills in magic.