Portrait of Magic

A Picture Story from Portrait of Words

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Thomas R. Midge the III was a true magician. That is he could do real magic. He did not, however, wish for people to know this so he spent his life working the midways of little insignificant carnivals. Here he could practice his magic openly without attracting undo attention to himself. People saw it as just part of the carnival.
This summer he was working with the Surebunk Shows in Upper Michigan . They gave his tent a place right across from the big wheel.

He had a great opening act out on the midway stage. He made birds

appear and disappear at will. Then to end the outside part of his act he turned the biggest bird into a woman with a huge puff of smoke. He promised more " illusions" inside . The woman began selling tickets and he moved inside.

Once inside he did a number of standard magic tricks . He made people from the audience disappear in a cabinet and appear in a trunk on the other side of the tent.
But his favorite was the eternal mirror trick.
He had a car mirror reflect in another mirror and suddenly there seemed to be a hundred mirrors in a row but no reflection. Then all the mirrors disappeared but their reflections appeared in the other mirror. Then in a puff of smoke they all vanished.
When asked how the trick was done he would say it was a trick of lighting. But it was real magic.
He made a decent living. THe woman who collected the money was a magic construct and when he closed up at the end of the day she just vanished. Thus he only had to worry about himself.
Long ago many of his race had walked the earth but ordinary humans afraid of their power had sought them out and killed them. Only those protected as King's wizards survived.
He doubted mankind had changed so he hid in plain sight. The very best illusion of all.