THE MAGICIAN’S DILEMMA

You and Oliver were playing in the kitchen

And Dad got mad

“YOU TWO

ARE TOO

LOUD!”

So you hid in his study

And found the Box

Bright and shiny

Its siren’s call

Beckoning

Oliver was nervous

You reassured him

With your impression of a pufferfish

“BLOOP BLOOP”

He really likes that one

Anticipation

As you pulled the heavy panels open

Revealed the wooden interior

Dark and foreboding

Musty

And Oliver fearlessly entered

Pursing his lips

Flapping his flippers

And bubbling for piscine effect

The magic words made Oliver giggle

You knew them by heart

Just like you’d seen Dad do a million times

You completed the incantation

With a theatrical flourish

Waving your hands across the closed container

Raising them toward the sky

With mystic specificity

Then tapping the box’s lid to complete the ceremony

The box creaked with Oliver’s movement

And then

Silence

You opened the box

To find it empty again

And no sign of your friend

Maybe the trick needs to be completed?

Maybe you need more magic words to bring him back?

Or maybe Oliver’s tricking you

Maybe he’s laughing at you