Allie hadn't been invited to many birthday parties.
Even now, she was sure she was only invited because the mother of the child who's birthday it was forced her to invite her entire class, so as not to cause a ruckus amongst those who hadn't been invited and those who had. Sitting in the backseat of her parents car, the present they'd made her bring loosely held in her lap, Allie couldn't help but feel like she'd be just as out of place here as she was at school. "When can I come home?" she asked. "You know, other kids like playing with kids their age," her mother said, turning onto a suburban street and coming to a crawl, "don't you like being around your peers?" "Not really, they're not very nice," Allie said. She was 10. This was likely the last birthday party she'd be invited to, as once kids became teenagers, their parents were a lot more lenient in who they made come to their parties and who they didn't. She figured, if nothing else, this was her final chance to eat cake and come away with a favor bag full of candy and puzzles. As the car came to a complete stop and Allie got out, she could hear the sounds of the kids in the backyard, and her eyes scanned upwards over the fence, spotting the roof of a bouncy castle behind the house. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all, she thought. "I'll be back around 4 to pick you up, okay?" her mom asked, getting out and walking around the car to Allie, leaning down and kissing her forehead, "I love you, I just want you to try and get along with the other kids, that's all. Just try, okay?" "Okay," Allie mumbled, as her mom watched her walk up to the front door. Once the door opened and the birthday girls mother had ushered her into the house, Allie turned and watched her mother drive away through the window, before following the birthday girls mom into the kitchen. "You can put the gift on that table there," she said, pointing to a table absolutely overwhelmed with boxes covered in wrapping paper and bows, adding, "would you like something to drink?" "No thank you," Allie said. "We have fruit punch, we have soda, what do you want?" the mom asked, and Allie shrugged. "Do you just have lemonade?" she asked, and the mom nodded, pulling a pitcher from the fridge and pouring her a glass, which she kindly took after thanking her and headed into the backyard with. It was an absolute madhouse out here. Just as she'd expected it to be, really. Some kids were playing with water guns, other kids were in the bounce house, and some where playing fairly standard carnival games like beanbag toss. This kids mom had really gone all out, and it made Allie somewhat annoyed that she'd never done anything this spectacular for any of her own birthdays, but she also didn't have any real friends, so who knows how fun it'd have been with just her and her parents. She loved her parents, she loved spending time with them, but still. As she strolled across the lawn, sipping her lemonade from the paper cup covered in vaguely legal off model characters from a popular IP, she couldn't help but notice that she didn't see the birthday girl anywhere. Allie sat down on the swingset in the backyard, and soon heard the creak of the other swing beside her being sat on as well. She glanced over and saw a teenager, maybe seventeen, sitting there and eating a piece of cake. She was dressed nicely, with a top hat and a cape. "This is delicious, but I can't imagine it's a good idea to give this much sugar to children," the girl said, making Allie laugh. "Why are you in a costume?" Allie asked, pointing at her top hat. "I'm the magician," the girl said, "I'm The Marvelous Marcie. It's just something I do for fun and to earn some extra money. Do you like magic?" "Magic is cool, yeah," Allie replied. Marvelous Marcie set her now empty plate on the grass, reached into her pockets and pulled out a deck of cards. She then shuffled them, grinning at Allie - who appeared enraptured - the entire time, and then held them out to her. Allie picked a card, looked at it and then slid it back into the deck, which Marvelous Marcie shuffled once again. After she was finished, she picked a card and held it up. "Is this your card?" she asked, and Allie shook her head; Marvelous Marcie glanced at the card and sighed, "Drats," she said, "What about this one?" she asked, reaching forward and taking a card from inside Allie's shirt pocket. Allie's eyes widened at the trick, making Marvelous Marcie grin. "How did you..." Allie began. "Can't tell ya, kiddo," Marvelous Marcie said, tossing her bangs from her face, "but you can learn to do it too. It won't make you the coolest kid in school or anything, by any means, but it'll at least make you the most interesting person at a party, plus you'll likely get paid to do it a lot." As Marvelous Marcie grabbed her plate from the grass and stood up, she smiled at Allie and headed back inside the house, leaving Allie to wonder at the mysteries of magic, something that now, even as an adult, still marveled her. Most adults lose their sense of curiosity, but if Allie could be grateful for anything in her life, it was that she still was capable of enjoying things like simple card tricks. After she finished drinking her lemonade, the kids all gathered back inside to watch the birthday girl blow out her candles, open her presents, and then the lot of them headed into the living room to play board games. Allie, however, opted to instead spend this time sitting in the kitchen, watching as Marvelous Marcie helped the birthday girls mother clean things up. This was more welcoming to her, she felt. A mother and magic. The two things she loved most in life. *** "You need to get out of bed," Effie said, pulling the curtains back on the large window in Allie's penthouse bedroom, then turning to look at her; she put her hands on her hips and shook her head, "You look like hot garbage. Where's that kid you've got helping you?" "No idea...what...what time is it?" Allie asked, pushing her messy knotted hair from her face. "It is almost 3pm," Effie said. "How'd you even get in here?" "You gave me a key, remember?" Effie asked, walking to the closet and opening it, beginning to pull things out, "Christ, you really need help. I thought you were quitting drinking." "I am, I'm not drunk and I didn't drink at all last night," Allie said, "I'm just extremely tired. I haven't been sleeping well, I think it's these goddamned painkillers. Also it's weird not having someone in bed with me." "There's people you can hire to rectify that situation," Effie said, smirking, "This is Vegas, girl, get you some." Allie chuckled as she swung her legs over the side of the bed and sighed, rubbing her eyes with her palms as Effie continued to dig through her closet. "Anyway, you asked me to come get you if you ever slept past noon, so here I am. Sorry I couldn't be here sooner, I had a gig this afternoon. But you need to get dressed, something's come up. What the hell is this?" she asked, pulling out a cape from the closet and holding it up, forcing Allie to scramble across the room and take it from her. "Don't touch that!" she said, "That's very special!" "Sorry, geez," Effie said, backing away. Allie held the cape in her hands and ran its fabric against her face, her eyes shutting. She had forgotten it was in there. She thought she'd put it in the storage unit ages ago, but no, here it was, just as nice as it'd always been. Just seeing it brought back a wave of memories, and she smiled. This cape...this cape meant everything to her. *** "You don't wanna go play a game with the other kids?" Marvelous Marcie asked as she dried her hands on a small towel, looking at Allie sitting at the kitchen table. Allie shook her head and dug her hand back into the chip bowl. "I don't really like the other kids," Allie said, "I don't know, they think I'm weird." "But weird is cool, and eventually your peers will come around to realize that and regret not being your friend. Least that's what I have to tell myself, otherwise I was just a friendless loser," Marvelous Marcie said, making Allie laugh; she continued, "that's what's so great about magic. You hold all the cards, literally, as to their interest. You draw them in, you keep them there, you make them impressed and respect you. Life is all about misdirection, just like magic. You lie and you lie and you get people to believe those lies so they'll like you." "But lying is bad, isn't it?" Allie asked and Marvelous Marcie shrugged. "Sure, if it's about big things that hurt people, but not when it comes to being a person other people might be remotely interested in knowing, then it's fine," Marvelous Marcie said, unfastening the clip around her cape and pulling it off, looking at it, "everyone in the world creates a persona, someone they think will fit in better with society than who they actually are, because we're all too afraid to let others truly know us. That's all being a magician is. Putting on a face. Impressing others with the most minimal of abilities." "...can you do magic for a living?" Allie asked, "Like, as a real job?" "Sure, if you go somewhere like Vegas," Marvelous Marcie said, "But certainly not in a suburb. I'm only doing this to earn money for college. I mean, don't get me wrong, I like doing it, but it's...it's really not a viable way to make a living outside of being an over the top Vegas magician." Just then the birthday girls mother came back into the kitchen and looked at Marvelous Marcie. "You know," she said, "It's almost 3. Don't you have another show to get to?" she asked, and Marvelous Marcie checked her watch and gritted her teeth. "Shoot, you're right, thank you for telling me," she said, grabbing her car keys and heading out of the kitchen before turning back and putting the cape around Allie's neck, clasping it shut in front of her throat and patting her shoulders, smiling, saying, "take my cape, it just gets in the way, and remember...the best trick isn't fooling others, but fooling yourself." And with that, the Marvelous Marcie walked out of Allie's life. Allie would ask for a magic kit for her 11th birthday, and she'd get it. Marvelous Marcie had put a bug in her heart that she'd spend the rest of her life chasing, and eventually she'd succeed in ways Marvelous Marcie likely never would've expected. But that's what Allie was good at, really, if her relationship with her parents and Nick had taught her anything. Subverting expectations. *** "You ok, man?" Effie asked, sitting on the bed beside Allie, rubbing her back. "...I'm...I'm sorry, this just means a lot to me," Allie whispered, keeping the cape held close to her chest, "it was what made me want to do magic. It's very....it's very important." "I get it," Effie said, "but seriously, you need to get up. I found some clean clothes you can pick from." Effie stood up and gathered up the handful of clothes for Allie to wear, but as she turned back, she saw Allie was still sitting on the bed, looking at the cape in her lap, running her hands over it repeatedly. "Didn't you ever have, like, a person change the course of your life?" Allie asked, and Effie shrugged. "Sure, the first time I heard stand up I realize it was what I wanted to do," Effie said. "Exactly, so you get it," Allie said, "You get what it's like to have someone influence you in such a way that it completely alters the future that you'll have. That's what this cape represents to me. I wore it when my cousin and I originally performed together, but not since Tony found me. But I still keep it close, keep it around, so I'm reminded that there even when it feels like there's no magic in the world, you can make some yourself." "That's...really beautiful, honestly," Effie said, plopping the clothes down on the bed beside Allie and smiling, "I'm glad you have something that brings you such a level of comfort. Most I've got is my ex and a the first stand up Vinyl record I heard." Allie chuckled as she stood up and started to get dressed. "So why did you barge in here and wake me up to begin with? You say I have to go somewhere?" Allie asked as she pulled her blouse down over her head. "Uh, yeah," Effie said, leaning against the closet door, tapping her feet, "Actually, when they couldn't get a hold of you, the girl from the zoo called me instead. Um, we need to get out there as soon as possible, really, so if you could hurry up and get dressed that'd be great, because I don't know exactly how much time we have." "...what do you mean?" Allie asked, now eyeing Effie suspiciously. "...the tiger's been sold," Effie said. "...what?" Allie asked, feeling all the life leave her body, "my..they're selling my tiger? To who?!" "She didn't give me any other details other than the zoo is unloading a handful of animals to another person, and they're among one of them," Effie said, "Look, I don't know much, alright? So don't go hounding me for information, I only know what she told me." Allie finished getting dressed, then quickly called Nick and told him to meet her there. As the girls headed out of the penthouse and down the stairs, they ran into Zoe coming up. "Where are you going?" Zoe asked, "I was just coming upstairs to look for you." "I have an errand to run," Allie said, grabbing her arm and leading her back down the stairs with herself and Effie, adding, "and you're coming with me." *** "Did you know that some magicians work with big cats?" Allie asked her mom once, to which her mother barely acknowledged as she dug through the fridge for ingredients for dinner; Allie continued, "They use tigers and lions and all kinds of other animals but mostly big cats! Do you think I could ever work with a big cat?" "Anything's possible baby," her mother said. Allie looked at the booklet that came with her VHS tape and smiled, seeing a man and a woman - magician and assistant - working with a bengal tiger. "I'm gonna work with a big cat," Allie whispered.
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ABOUT
Allie Meers is what she dreamed of being since she was a little girl...a successful Vegas magician. The only problem now is she can't make all her problems disappear; Allie grapples with her strained relationship, crippling addictions and FBI agents on her tail, all while trying to stay at the top of her career. Archives
December 2023
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