The Magician’s Assistant

JC left the Gold Coast Casino where he worked as a magician’s assistant. The headliner appreciated his ability to disappear and reappear so seamlessly and often asked him the technique. JC could not really explain his ability to resurrect, but at least the illusion kept money in his pocket. The Gold Coast was not on the Las Vegas strip, a surprise to many tourists who had tickets to the magic show only to discover the 1.5 mile hike in the desert heat was not doable for them. Taxi drivers hated these fares because the riders were so miffed, they didn’t even bother to tip the drivers.

JC sat on the bus stop bench. He had just missed the 207 bus and it would be thirty minutes until the next one arrived. December was JC’s favorite month because the desert temperatures dropped into the fifties.

An older, heavyset gentleman with white hair and beard approached, carrying a large sack. When he sat down he gave JC a look as if he recognized the younger man. “Is this the bus that goes to the Meadows Mall?” the jovial man asked.

“Yes,” said JC. “I’m riding that way too.”

“I’m a seasonal worker at the mall. I assume you are one as well.”

“No, I work at the Gold Cost. I’m headed to the Afandi Restaurant for some baba ganoush  and Kanafeh. I always get a hankering for Middle Eastern food this time of year,” JC said as he rubbed his fingers against several coins in his pocket.

“I’m Nicolas,” the man said.

“JC.”

“I thought so.”

“What?” JC asked.

The bus arrived before Nicolas could explain.

The two men rose. JC motioned for the older man to go first. Nicolas’ cheeks became rosy from the exertion of getting his bag up the steps. JC supported it from the bottom. He assumed that the contents were Nicholas’ laundry.

As the chubby fellow fumbled for his fare, JC said, “Go ahead and take a seat, Nick. I’ve got it.” He removed several coins from his pocket and inserted them into the farebox for two riders.

“That was very kind of you, Jes…uh JC.”

“The coins get heavy in my pocket.”

After a few blocks JC said to Nicolas, “Would you like to join me for lunch? I never enjoy eating alone.”

“I will, thank you.”

                                                  *****

They sat across from each other as they waited for their food. Nicholas put his head in his hands almost weeping. “I cannot believe I have been reduced to this. I remember seeing you eons ago in your cradle, right after you were born.”

“I’m only thirty-three,” JC said, confused.

Nicholas nodded. “I suppose so…but…?”

“What?”

“Nothing. I was considered a wiseman back then. Later they called me a saint. Now all I’m known for is toys and silly songs. It’s a horror—all commercialism.”

“I know what you mean. I always get a funny feeling this time of year. But it’s worse in the spring. Sometimes it gets so oppressive, I think I’m going to die.”

“That happens around April, right?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“Like I said, I was there when you were born. Let me give you a piece of advice: be careful what you wish.”

The waiter delivered their baba ganoush and Kanafeh. As they ate their meal in silence, JC couldn’t help but sense Nicholas’ inner turmoil. His meal companion took his napkin, wiped his mouth, and placed the napkin next to his plate. He hefted his body from his chair with a sigh. “I best get over to the mall,” he said.

“Suffer the little children to come unto me,” JC said.

“Suffer means something different nowadays,” Nicholas said.

“You look like the one who is suffering, my friend,” JC observed.

“I’m getting old, I lack the patience…”

“Of a saint,” JC finished.

Nicholas chuckled.

JC stood and placed several bills on the table. “Let me go in your place, St. Nick. I understand the true meaning of Christmas.”

“Don’t I know it. But you are not what the children, and their parents, are expecting. You’re hardly a right jolly old elf. You look more like a drummer in a rock and roll band.” He looked at JC and rubbed his bearded chin. “In fact, looking at you now, I’m pretty sure I was mistaken. Your parents were African or Mid-Eastern. The JC whose birth I came to witness would have dark, curly hair and much darker skin.”

“Is that so? So how did you morph from a tall gaunt dour looking man to a cherub like elf? And how about that devil Krampus? I can tell you as a magician’s assistant, people tend to see what they want to see and believe what they want to believe. It’s all just an illusion.”

“You’re a wise old soul for such a young man.”

“My father taught me well.”

Nicholas responded to that statement with a belly laugh.

“I really would like to help you out Nick. Maybe we could be a team, give those kids and their parents a real Holiday Spectacular. I do have some experience with showmanship.”

They left the restaurant and discussed their plan as they walked across the street to the mall. A few people pointed and called out to them as they crossed the parking lot toward the employee entrance. One guy ran over to them and asked if he could take a selfie with the pair. Nick told him he would have to wait in line just like everyone else. He was well aware that families had had already lined up at the Holiday display on the first floor in the middle of the mall.

JC followed Nick into the employee locker room. He helped him get into the red suit. Nicholas assumed JC was behind him as he stepped into the winter wonderland, but when he turned around, he did not see the young man.  

JC stood behind a towering Christmas tree decorated with pine cone ornaments where visitors could place their wishes. Santa’s large red thrown chairs was set up in the middle and the periphery around the display was curtains of string lights flowing from the ceiling. Blankets of white, fluffy snow surrounded sleighs filled with colorful presents, ribbons, and tinsel, which made the scene sparkle. The irony was not lost on him that amid the LED decorations, the broader purpose was to lure folks to a place where they could partake of a commercialized Christmas season.

“What a fright,” he mumbled under his beard.

There was one feature that was of a more traditional nature: a manger. The open front with the low ceiling had a straw floor with a donkey, a cow, and a reindeer each about four feet tall, made out rattan. The reindeer had a shiny red nose. But there was no Mary or Joseph or baby in a crib. JC figured that it was a compromise, a nod to the traditionalists. He decided that was where he wanted to appear.

JC did not know the layout of the mall the way he did the layout of the Gold Coast Casino. As had been revealed in a law suit against David Copperfield in 2013, most magician’s assistants slipped through a false bottom and into a passageway under the stage that led back up to a different position on the stage for the final reveal. JC doubted that the manger had a false bottom, even if there was a passageway below the first floor display. He would have to revert to his original reveal. He removed the elastic band that held his hair back in a ponytail and shook his head so that his locks flowed over his shoulders.

The mall elves stood by the ropes and waited for the cue to let the first of many children through for their photo with Santa Claus. Nick let out a robust Ho-ho-ho, followed by a coughing fit that brought him from his ornate chair to his knees. Parents pulled their children close to them in horror as Old Saint Nick writhed on the floor in front of their eyes. Before mall security could make it to the old man, a vision appeared from above. Some thought the vision was part of the show and assumed the apparition was being lowered by invisible ropes. They began to applaud. Others believed they were witnessing the second coming and fell to their knees.

JC bent down next to Nicolas and put his hands on the older man’s shoulders. The coughing ceased, and in a matter of moments the Santa Claus had collected himself and sat upright. JC helped him to his feet and guided him to the rear of the Holiday display. They walked through the manger and disappeared.

“It’s a Christmas miracle,” someone called from the crowd.

Mall security stepped inside and around the wonderland, their focus on dispersing the crowd that had more than doubled in size since the appearance of Jesus. Others went to the employees’ locker room but there was no sign of either man.

Back at the Gold Coast Casino, the headline magician asked the stage manager if he had seen his assistant.