The Greatest Magician

Once upon a time when life was simpler and television was not yet to have been invented there lived a young man named Alexander Rufus. He was born in an upper lower class family or perhaps in a low  lower middleclass family. The family had enough but not too much. He lived in a nice home and had plenty to eat. He had loving parents and the usual batch of annoying siblings and cousins that make up families at this level of existence. His father believed that college was important and set up a college fund for each of his children. But Alexander never ever thought of going to college for he was obsessed with magic. When he was five his parents took him to the theater to see “ Ginhio the Great” a traveling magician and from that time on Alex knew what he wanted. By he time he was seven he could do all the card tricks in “Baker’s Definitive Book of Magic with Cards”. He could make cards appear and disappear. He could turn kings into queens. He could cause cards to rise from the deck. He entertained at all family gatherings and even his grumpy grandfather , who never said anything nice, said he was good.

By the time he was nine he had read all the books on magic in the school library. He knew how to make an elephant disappear. Of course, he didn’t have an elephant or he equipment but he knew how. He began spending his entire allowance with the Johnson Smith Company. He bought almost every magic device they offered. He could produce smoke from the end of his fingertips, pull things out of a hat, make scarves change color, cause ropes to tie and untie themselves and produce a real flower out of the air. When he was twelve he won first place in a community talent contest where he billed himself as the  “Astounding Alex”. There was no question but that he was good at magic.

But he was not happy. He wanted to do real magic. He wanted a real magic wand. He didn’t want to  have to have all the devices to fool people. He wanted magic. Once he   made the mistake of telling his mother what he wanted. She sat down an explained to him there was no such thing as magic. What was called magic was and always had been just illusion. But Alex didn’t want to believe that. He wanted real magic and he needed to believe in it.

But he continued to improve his skills and at eighteen when others were off to college he became the assistant to the Great Wally, magician Extraordinary.

He got to carry props and to learn the nature of every trick the Great Wally did.

When he was twenty four the Great Wally retired and sold all of his equipment to Alexander who became “ The Great and Only Alexander” He worked small thea