John Rite: Magician

John Rite - Magician

Robin R. Davis

Copyright 2012 Robin R. Davis

Smashwords Edition

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Chapter 1: Shark

Mom! Mom!

John Rite came crashing through the back door of his home

What is it Johnny?

Out of breath, John blurted out, I won, Mom! I won the 100 yard dash.

John’s mom was busy doing the laundry and said distractedly, That's great Johnny.

More earnestly now, Mom. You don't seem excited. I tell you, I won! I won! I have never won anything like that before. Ever! It felt so great. It was like a power came over me that I have never experienced before. The coach was so impressed he told me he wants me to join the track team next week. Isn't that great?

Unexcitedly she said, Yes, Johnny. The power was probably just an extra shot of adrenalin that helped you win that race. It may not happen again.

Mom. Why are you saying that? Of course it will come again. I know I can do it again with practice. I'll work my guts out to do it again and again.

Yes, Johnny.

Mom, I am going over to Sam's house to tell him. At least he will be excited.

OK, Johnny, go over to Sam's house. However, he may not be as excited as you think. Didn't he try out for the track team? Wasn't he rejected?

Yeah mom, but he is my best friend. He'll be excited for me.

John Rite was an average looking young man. He was attending Huntington Beach High School in Huntington Beach, California. This was his last year at High School. He was not a great athlete or at least he had not been one until now. He was not popular. He was not a Class President or any class officer. He was a better than average student. He understood that for him, success in life would come through education and going to college. Although he was not the highest academically, he made sure that he was good enough that he could get into a University. His goal was to get into Brigham Young University.

He was not muscular and of average height, 5 feet 10 inches. He was not overweight. His hair was brown and parted on the left side. He didn’t have any distinguishing features like dimples or scars. He was dressed in cut off blue jeans and a tee shirt. He had just run the 100 yard dash and so at the moment he was all sweaty. But that did not bother him now. He was going over to the house of his best friend, Sam.

John had a hobby that he loved – magic. Ever since he was a young boy, he was intrigued by magicians and magic. He read all the books he could get his hands on about magic. He even took magic lessons. One day he went to a magic show. At the magic show he went back stage to meet the magician. The magician was impressed by the amount of magic John knew. Then he made this great offer.

John, I can see that you are interested in magic. I am getting old and I would like to pass along what I know about magic to someone. Would you be interested?

Would I? Of course I would. What should I do?

Come be my assistant at my magic shows and help me do magic tricks. I will show you how they are done.

That was the beginning of a tremendous learning time for John. After a while, John had learned enough that he could do small magic shows on his own. John was now ready for the big time. He was going to do a magic show in the school gym. He had pestered the school principal, Mr. Jensen, so much that the principal gave the OK just to get John off his back

Sam Jackson was different than John. Sam had short wiry blond hair and was muscular. He was also popular at school. He was an exceptional student. With his grades he would be able to go to any university he wanted. His goal was to go to Harvard or Cornell.

Sam was also popular with the girls. He had several girl friends. Sam didn’t strike John as being handsome. Why Sam intrigued girls was a mystery to John. Sam was fun to be around though.

Sam had a sister, Becky. Becky was a blond haired, blue eyed girl. Her eyes sparkled when she laughed. She was a petite 5 feet 6 inches. John liked to think he might have a chance with her some day, but he didn’t let that be known to Sam.

Over at his friend’s house, John exclaimed, Sam! Sam! Guess what? I won the 100 yard dash today and the coach was so impressed that he told me to join the track team next week.

"Yeah, Johnny. So what? What's the big deal? Now, if you were going to be the quarterback of the football team, that would be a great thing. But who knows about a star 100 yard dash track man? Huh?

Sam. I thought you would be excited for me. Come on. We are best friends, aren't we?

Yeah, sure.

OK. Sam. Let's go surfing.

Great! Where should we go today?

Let's go to the Cliffs

The Cliffs! We go there every time. I'm getting tired of the Cliffs.

But Sam. It's the closest and the easiest to get to. Come on.

OK. But I heard there are sharks.

What? When? I think the only beaches that have sharks are on the East Coast, like in Florida.

Don't you remember last year? There was a surfer that got his leg bit off and part of his board too. And that was at Huntington Public Beach.

I don't remember that. Come on Sam. Let's go.

OK.

The Cliffs are in Huntington Beach, California. There is not much of a beach there. Just after Highway 101, there is a drop-off of about 10 to 15 feet. Then there is the short stretch of beach. On the way to the cliffs there are oil rigs that pump oil. They are called Hobby Horses because that is what they look like. Some of them aren’t working. There are steps that lead down the cliffs to the beach.

Sam! Aren't these waves great? They are bigger than I have ever seen them.

Yeah Johnny. Let's get at 'em.

The last one in is a turkey.

I'll bet I get the biggest wave.

Well, I'll get the longest ride.

You're all talk Sam. Watch out Sam. You're going to pearl.

Watch out yourself. WOW! That is a big one coming in. I'll just duck under it.

Kak! Awk! I got a mouthful on that one.

I am sure glad we got out here. I didn't think we would ever get out.

OK. Here comes a big one. Hey Johnny, isn't that a fin I see over there?

What? Where? Oh, Sam. You have sharks on the brain. I am going to get that wave. It's coming right at us.

Whee! I am on the wave now. Maybe I can hang five. I'll just inch up to the nose and …What the...?

Crunch. The surfboard took a jarring leap as if it had hit a huge boulder, but there was no boulder in sight.

My board. What happened? Then John noticed the fin. It's a shark. What'll I do? I'll jump off.

I can see it coming for me. Here it is.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee. There was a soul piercing sound that rent the air. It was not like any sound John had ever heard.

ahhaiiee! My ears! What was that awful piercing sound? Where is the shark? Sam! Sam! Can you hear me?

Sam was within earshot. Yes. What's the matter?

There is a shark. Get out! Get out! You should have seen it. It took a big bite out of my board. Look! Look! See the big chunk taken out of my board?

Why didn't it take a bite out of you?

I don't know. There was this piercing sound that seemed to go right through me and then the shark was gone.

Let's go home Johnny.

I'm with you Sam.

John’s house was in Huntington Beach. It had four bedrooms and three bathrooms. It was on a hill so that it had a beautiful view of the beach. There was a pool in the back yard which had a Jacuzzi. John and Sam spent a lot of time in the pool during the summer. The pool was a little different than other pools. It looked like it was in an oasis. There were palm trees all around. There was a little island in the middle of the pool that had trees in it and a gazebo. Inside of the gazebo there was a picnic table with four chairs around it. The family spent many evenings having dinner in the gazebo. To get food to the table, there was a little floating platform that they used to ferry the food across the water.

The pool had a pile of boulders at one end. The boulders were not like some of the ugly boulders you see in pools. These boulders actually looked interesting. They had flecks of silver and gold scattered throughout. The sun would catch the silver and gold which would cast out little flashes of different colored lights.

There was a small ribbon of water that splashed through the rocks on a slippery trough that made a great slide.

All this was possible because John’s father was the president of a bank in Huntington Beach. He was influential. Many of his clients were wealthy restaurant owners, car dealership owners and business owners. They all drove around in Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Porches. Of course to keep up with them, John’s father owned a Ferrari.

Hi, June! How ya doin’? James gave her a peck on the cheek.

James, we have a problem. I think it is happening.

What? So soon? I was hoping it would be later... like never.

James, what are we going to do? What do we tell Johnny?

What happened? Why do you think the time has come?

Today at school he took first in the 100 yard dash.

What's so bad about that?

He said he has never felt that way before. He felt so strong.

What did you tell him?

"I told him that it was probably due to an