A Short Story

Old Marnie's Magic Bar

September 9, 2023

Read time: 15-20 minutes

TLDR:

Peter Rose comes home and it's not like it once was.

In between 54th and 58th Street off of Pine, there was Old Marnie’s Magic Bar.  Old Marnie’s Magic Bar shared a wall with Goose’s Winery which sold liquor to minors, and a 7-11.  Inside Old Marnie’s men’s bathroom was a trashcan that included bloody tissues, paper towel, and a used needle.  Old Marnie used to not have any of that nonsense.  It had seemed that Old Marnie’s priorities had changed in life.  Meanwhile, the paint inside Old Marnie’s needed to be redone four years ago.

Back in the day, Old Marnie’s used to attract magicians from all around.  Nowadays, Old Marnie’s Magic Bar hardly had any magic at all.  Sometimes they’d draw a crowd.  Sometimes it was the twenty-year-olds that would come through on a Monday night to drink on “Marnie’s Miller Monday.”  On Monday nights, you could get a glass of Miller Lite for a dollar.  Granted, the glass was an eight-ounce Dixie cup, but the kids showed their support.  Most of them did not know that Old Marnie’s did magic either.  Otherwise, Old Marnie’s had local bands, karaoke nights, and plain old townies who would drift in from night to night.

But sometimes, in the gray fog of winter or even during a heated lull of summer, Old Marnie’s Magic Bar hosted real, tried, and true magic. 

This Friday night, they were hosting a magic show. 

There was going to be Hickory Kahn from Hickory, Kansas.

There was going to be Sheil Mulatto from Los Angeles, California.

And last, but not least, there was going to be the headliner, Peter “The Kid” Rose, a hometown hero from the corner of 54th and Pine.  Peter’s first show was at Old Marnie’s Magic Bar.  And on Friday night, Peter had walked into Old Marnie’s Magic Bar with low energy and a few words.  When he was eighteen years old, he felt like he could rule the world.  Today, he had gone through the wringer of life, was chewed up a few times, and somehow ended up back at home.  But there was always the magic.  And tonight, he had work to do.

***

Old Marnie stuck out his hand to shake Peter’s.

“Peter!” said Old Marnie, “How are ya?”

“Good.”

They shook hands.

“My gosh, it’s been too long.”

“It’s definitely been too long.”

“How’s your mother and father?”

“Been doing well.”

Peter “The Kid” Rose’s mother and father still lived on 54th and Richardson, just a block away from Old Marnie’s. 

For Peter, it seemed like the professional well was drying up.  Don’t get it wrong, Peter “The Kid” Rose was still a name.  He could show up on your television set at 11:30 at night on Jimmy Kimmel and no one would bat an eye.  Unfortunately, Peter could not bank on going on Jimmy Kimmel every single night.  He no longer booked arenas.  He was ostensibly banned from Las Vegas because of gambling debts.  Money wasn’t coming in like it used to.  And his mother and father kept asking about it. 

“You know,” his mother said to him before the show, “we still need to pay off the car this month.”

“I know ma’,” said Peter, “you don’t have to remind me.  I have the reminder on my phone and I got the thing on auto-pay.”

“Oh, the phone.  Well, you can only trust it so much.  I don’t wanna see you going and missing a payment wrecking your credit again.”

“Ma’ that was a long time ago.”

“You do it and you won’t be able to buy a house.”

“Yup, I know.”

“Listen to your mother, son,” said his dad.

Peter did listen to his mother.  He had a house too.  It was a long way away from 54th and Richardson.  He hadn’t been there in a while.

“I’ll be alright guys I have plenty of roof and walls and all that good stuff.  Credit’s all good, life is all good.”

“Oh son, that lightbulb went out again,” said his dad.  “You wanna do something about it?”

“Do something about it?” asked Peter.  “Look, I gotta go guys.  I said I’d be there at 8.  It’s almost 8, I’m walking out the door, and cars and lightbulbs...guys, you wanna remind me about the cable bill too?”

“Oh yeah, the cable.  Channel 78.  I haven’t been seeing it lately.”

“What are you talking about, ma’?”

“I haven’t been seeing it.  I wanna see Steve Harvey and Channel 78.  It’s not working.”

“Here.”

Peter went over to the living room, grabbed the remote, flicked on the television, and tested Channel 78 himself.  There it was.  Channel 78 worked.  And Peter had to get going.

“Hey, see, look at that ma’.  Channel 78.  Working a-okay.  Steve Harvey’s face is already on there too.”

“Name something,” said Steve Harvey, “that you can call your dog, but you can’t call your boyfriend.”

“I gotta go guys,” said Peter.  He headed to the door with keys in his hand.  On his way out he said, “Love ya!”

His parents said, “Love you too!”

And the television said, “A little wiener, Steve!”

***

Each time that Peter “The Kid” Rose goes on stage he does something a little different.  Sometimes, he switches out his Flying Turtle trick for the Hidden Sandwich trick.  Sometimes, he brings something new nobody has ever seen before.  Sometimes, he’ll just rely on old card tricks and pull rabbits out of hats just to make people happy with the classics.  But always, Peter “The Kid” Rose finishes his act with a Disappearing act.

It goes like this.  Peter is ready to wrap up the show.  He says he has one last trick.  The spotlight concentrates on him.  He has the audience count to three. 

One! 

Two!

Three!

He snaps his fingers.  There is a flash of smoke.  And he’s gone.  The spotlight ricochets to the back of the audience.  It shines on Peter.  Peter stands in the smoke, takes in the applause, smiles, and takes a bow.  But the stunt is not over.  Once again, he snaps his fingers.  The spotlight ricochets back to the stage and Peter is on stage taking a bow once again.  This time around after the Disappearing act, the curtain fell and Old Marnie came up on stage.  Old Marnie grabbed the mic with Peter in the background and said, “Thank you all for coming out!”

At the end of the show that night, Peter drank black decaf coffee.  He is an alcoholic and finds that coffee does well for his taste buds when he’s surrounded by boozers. 

By this time, people had scurried out of Old Marnie’s and it was just the closing crew, Old Marnie, and the magicians.  They were jolly.  Old Marnie had gotten into the habit of telling old stories about when the magic bar used to really shine.  He talked about a time when Peter was eighteen years old.  He talked about how this “kid from the neighborhood” was a real showman and going to be a star someday.

“A star, huh?” said Peter.

“Yes, a star, Peter,” said Marnie, “I knew it, I knew it the second you got off stage the first time.  Oh, you could just tell.  The confidence, the precision, the timing, oh he was good.  And the unexpected!  Oh, he'd have you leaning one way and he'd cut you in another, my gosh.  He was a natural.  I saw him open for Greg Holloway back in the day and I couldn’t believe it.  I thought to myself, honestly, God as my witness, I said to myself, ‘Gee, I hope Greg’s not too mad at the kid.’  Greg was a wild guy back in the day and I swear to you, if I didn’t pay him an extra twenty bucks, he might’ve punched you in the face for showing him up.”

“Showing him up?” asked Sheil.

“Yeah, Greg was a tight one back then,” said Peter,

“Ah, yeah!” said Old Marnie.   “Greg had that big ego.  He was a bit on edge all the time back in the day.  When he headlined, he wanted to headline, if you know what I mean.  But I knew, hey, you spot the guy an extra few bucks, he goes and blows it on whatever, gambling, women, ya know, I know you give him a little extra sauce on top and it calmed him down cause he felt like he had a little bit of extra rope to get him through the week.”

“Greg was a wild one.”

“God rest his soul.”

“Cheers to that.”

Old Marnie, Peter, Hickory, and Sheil clinked glasses.

“You guys want another drink?”

“Yeah.”

“Sure.”

“I’m good.  I’ve got my coffee.”

“You’re drinking coffee?”

“I don’t drink anymore,” said Peter, “not since the incident.”

“Wait,” said Hickory, “what incident?”

Peter sipped his coffee and looked at them out of the corner of his eye.  He rested his coffee on the table, turned his head, and said, “It’s a joke.”

***

Peter, Sheil, Hickory, Old Marnie, and all the closing crew finished up the night together.  It was around 2am when the crew said good night to one another.  Peter walked the block toward home, settled into his parent’s house, made himself some food, and flipped on the television.  He had a habit of staying up.  Years of late-night shows kept him up late at night.  He ate dinner.  There was leftover chicken and green beans in the fridge.  He found some ice cream in the freezer and had some dessert. 

Pretty soon, it was 5am and he could hear his mother waking up.  She walked into the living room and said, “Good morning, Peter.”

“Good morning, ma’.”

She went over to the coffee pot, put a filter in, then the grounds, and started the coffee.

“You want coffee, Peter?”

“No I'm good.  Thanks, ma’.”

Peter’s mother came into the living room while the coffee pot stirred, clanged, and brewed.  The coffee began to sizzle out and into the pot.

“You know,” Peter’s mother said while pointing at the television, “Channel 78 hasn’t been working.”

“Really?”

“Yes.  I haven't been able to watch Steve Harvey.”

“Here,” Peter said as he got up from the chair and toward the cable box, “let me check.”  He flicked the cable box, grabbed the remote, changed it to Channel 78, and voila, there was Steve Harvey.  “I think I fixed it for ya, ma’.”

“Thank you, Peter.”

“Not a problem.”

“Remember,” she said, “we still need to pay off the car this month.”

“I gotcha, ma’.”

There were footsteps getting up from the other bedroom.  Peter turned his head.  “Good morning,” he said.

It was his parent’s nurse, Michelle.

“Good morning, Peter.  How are you this morning?”

“Doing well.  Ma’ started some coffee if you want some.”

“Who are you?” asked Peter’s mother.

“That’s Michelle ma’.  She’s taking care of things around the house and whatnot.  Helping out.  She’s a good lady.”

“Oh,” said Peter’s mother, “thank you.”

***

It was Saturday night at Old Marnie’s Magic Bar.  It went about the same as Friday night went.  There was a small crowd.  Hickory went up on stage and did his thing.  Shiel came on and wowed the crowd with her Bird in the Hand trick and her Upside-Down Chocolate Cake trick. 

At the beginning of the night, Old Marnie went into the green room and saw Peter all alone.  “How we doin’, kid?”

“Good.”

“That’s good, that’s good, real good, good to hear.”

“Definitely.”

Peter sat in his chair and stared at the wall.  He had a thought stuck to the front of his brain.  It was time to let it out.

“Hey Marnie.”

“Yup.”

“Think I can ask you something?”

“Sure, what is it, kid?”

“I’m thinking of sticking around a while.”

“Yup.”

“If I do shows here, you gonna let me do shows here?”

“You do shows here?”

“Yeah, I do shows here.”

“How many shows?”

“Heh,” Peter chuckled, “however many you’ll let me.”

“Well, it’s tough to say, ya know?  I’d love to say that magic shows still bring in the heavy revenue around here, but, eh, ya know, it’s a different time.”

“I gotcha.”

“We get you guys on and you do your thing.  I mean even a name like yourself.  You see the crowd out there?  It’s not exactly what it was when you started doing this.”

“I get it.”

“Hey,” Old Marnie lowered his voice.  “You need help, kid?”

“Not like that.”

    “Vegas up your ass?”

“No, no, no.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah," said Peter.  "I don’t bug them, they don’t bug me, that’s how that works.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“Okay, okay, okay.  You sure?  You don’t need help or something.”

“I don’t need help except the kind of help I’m asking for.  You got shows?  Let me know.”

“Okay,” said Marnie.  “Okay, okay, okay.  If you need help, kid, anything at all, just let me know.”

“Sounds good.”

“Hey, kid, you’re gonna do great tonight.”

***

After Sheil went off stage, Peter “The Kid” Rose made his appearance.  The audience cheered.  If they had any history with Peter before, they had seen him make the Eiffel Tower disappear, they had seen him float to the top of the Empire State Building, they had seen him turn a lion into a mouse.  They cheered one of the most famous people in the world. 

His act was great.  The people roared.  As it rolled toward its end, Peter wiped the sweat off of his brow and grabbed the microphone. 

“I wanna thank you all for coming out.  It’s been a pleasure.  We have one more trick in the book for you guys.  If you’ve been to my shows before, you’ve probably seen it before…I’m sorry to bore you with it again.”

The crowd laughed.

“This one I need your guys' help on.”

The lights dimmed.  The spotlight lasered onto Peter.

“I need to guys to count to three.  I’m gonna snap my fingers and before you know it.  Well, I won’t be standing here anymore…then, I’ll snap my fingers again and, well, you’ll see.”

“Alrighty let’s count together.”

“One!”

“Two!”

“Three!”

Peter snapped his fingers.  The smoke flared.  He disappeared. 

The spotlight raced toward the back of the room and Peter stood there.  Peter waved to the crowd.  He smiled.

The people gasped.

Peter took a bow and the people applauded. 

Peter took in the moment…he snapped his fingers again.

Peter was gone.

The spotlight darted toward the stage.

Smoke rose into the spotlight.  Peter was nowhere to be found.

The curtain drew.  The music played, suggesting the end of the show.  The crowd clapped at the Disappearing act.  People looked to the back and to the sides of Old Marnie’s Magic Bar.  Peter was gone.

Old Marnie was shaken.  He went on stage and thought he’d be standing next to Peter. He kept his cool and said, “Thank you all for coming out.  Enjoy the drinks, enjoy the company, and let’s all have a good time.” 

He worried. 

Old Marnie’s phone buzzed in his pocket.

There was a text from Peter.

Hey I had to get home.  Thanks for another good night.  If you ever have work, let me know.

Time for a Joke:

What do you call a magician who lost their magic?

Ian.