Two

E.M. Schorb

The Magician

The magician opened his arms and a large yellow city bus pulled up. The bus required exact change. The magician paid for us both, dropping the coins from his palm. The magician led the way to the rear of the bus as it pulled to a stop. The rear door opened and we stepped out into a rolling blue-green sea with pearly froth sloshing about, and dolphins waiting to take us on our way. The magician lifted his arms and the dolphins began to fly, higher and higher, over the water, until the sea became a silver dollar and a dirty nickel and finally a dark penny. The magician said, “Enough of this,” and the dark penny grew into a large round dance floor with many couples dancing to a big band playing swing. The magician turned into a beautiful dark woman in a red evening gown and danced backwards on spiked, platinum heels. “No matter what I do,” the magician – or the beautiful woman – said, “You are not satisfied.”

Love and a Locksmith

I have been locked in and locked out. It is very important to be clear, so I will enumerate some of the places where I have been locked in or locked out. But first, let me say that both can be uncomfortable. Also that both can be fine. If one is locked out of a place one does not like, well, as you can see . . . and the same in reverse. A house with only one door, say. A bedroom. And that tells one some-thing about love, its on-and-off character. But to be locked out of a place one would enjoy being locked into, that is unwholesome. And to be locked into a place one would enjoy getting out of, that too is unwholesome. Jails – several jails. Misdemeanors, each and every time. No worse than jaywalking. But to be locked into a place with someone one loves, that can be heaven, even if the other party should show signs of fear – screaming and suchlike behavior. I don’t know why she should scream because we were locked in together, especially after saying that she was never afraid of being alone, or that she never felt lonely whether she was with others or truly alone – say, with me. Eventually I was locked out of the same place by the same person, a shocking aftermath to a skillful escape. And I had set her free as well, but she ducked back into the place and I found myself locked out once again. Well, I put a lock on the outside of the place, and so she was locked in and I was locked out. What we each needed was a locksmith. But she had the key to my heart, as they say, so it was I who needed the locksmith. I locked myself up in a cage right outside the door, and finally she stepped out and demanded the key to the cage, which I gladly threw to her, and which she seized from the air like a gift, as if it were a golden key, and ran away with it. A cage is another such place where one can be locked in or locked out. The chains on her ankles dragged my cage on wheels through the streets of the locked-in city.