“You think you’re so clever,” says Harris. “But if you don’t vacate the area right now, I’m calling the authorities.”
“This is a public meeting space, Una. Can I call you Una? Since you’ve gotten all up in my dirty laundry, I feel like we should be on first-name terms.”
“No, you may not call me anything,” Harris spits. “And I said you need to leave.”
“It’s not illegal for us to be here.”
“You’re causing a disruption, and you’ve put graffiti on my window.”
“And it’s being removed. Look, your window is all shiny and clean now. If anything, I’ve done you a favour.”
“This is harassment!”
Jay gives her an amused look. “Are you angry, Una? I can’t seem to tell. Your face doesn’t move all that much these days.”
The put-down about her penchant for Botox gets a laugh out of the crowd.
I think she’s finally realised she’s not going to win here, especially with all of Jay’s fans around. The man who came out with her tugs on her arm, quietly urging her to leave it alone.
“You won’t get away with this,” she fumes, and then links her arm through her companion’s before sashaying back inside.
Jay says something under his breath then, a dark expression on his face, but I can’t hear him. Once she’s gone, he continues signing for his fans. A couple of minutes into it, he pauses and scratches his head, seeking out Sarah again.
“Hey, Sarah. You know what — you never showed everyone your card to prove I got it right. I know I told you to tear it up, but can you show them the pieces?”
She rummages in the pocket of her bag where she shoved the ripped-up pieces, coming up empty.
“I…I can’t seem to find them,” she says, checking every pocket thoroughly.
Jay pulls something from his own pocket. “Wait a second, what’s this?” It’s a folded piece of paper. Jay unfolds it and smooths it out, then holds it up for everyone to see. It’s the tarot card for justice. He turns it over, and there on the back is Sarah’s signature.
“No way,” she breathes.
“Yes way.” Jay grins, handing her the card. “Is that your handwriting?”
“Yes,” she goes on, taking the card from him with a shaky hand. “How…ugh, I know you’re not going to tell me, but this is just incredible. I tore this card up. I know I did.”
Lots of kids clamour forward with questions and more things to be signed. About half an hour passes before two Garda officers show up.
“You’re going to have to move along,” one of them calls to Jay over the heads of the fans surrounding him. “We received a complaint about the noise.”
“We’re just finishing up now,” Jay replies with a charming smile before turning to the crowd. “Okay, everybody, it’s time for me to go.” He takes the backpack he’d been wearing off his shoulder and pulls out a long black sheet. “But before I do, I need you all to back up so I can show you one last trick.” They all move out of the way so there’s a space of several feet around him. He’s standing on the wall again, and the Garda officers have stopped to watch. They look more interested in seeing what Jay’s going to do than in getting him to leave.
The long sheet is actually a cape, and with an over-the-top flourish, he swings it around his body. At one point it completely covers him, and then he’s gone. The cape drops to the ground. He just disappeared into thin air.
Seventeen
Jessie pans her camera over the crowd as they all applaud Jay’s big finish. Then she shuts it off.
“Okay, how the fuck?” I say, shaking my head in confusion. I seem to be doing that a lot these days.
Jessie laughs. “Out of everything he did today, that one was probably the simplest, and yet look at them all. I think some of them actually believe he really is magic.”
“Simple?! He just made himself disappear. There’s nothing simple about that.”
“Look at where he was standing, Matilda,” says Jessie, deadpan.
“He was standing on the wall.”
She gives me a glance like I’m slow. “Yeah, so he just did a bit of fancy messing around with the cape, obscuring himself enough so that he could drop to the other side. You don’t have to be a genius to figure that out.”
I slam my palm to my forehead. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that.”
“He’s a flashy bastard. Most people are so dazed by the flash that they don’t see the trick. Come on, he’s probably waiting for us.”