The last wizard
Page 24
Gonzago sighed. “I wish you didn’t have to go.”
“I’m afraid I must.”
“You know, I don’t even know your real name.”
“It’s Puck.”
Gonzago stared at him. “Puck? You’re kidding.”
“Nope. That’s my true name.”
“Like in Shakespeare?”
“It was his idea, actually, to use my name for that character. I thought it amusing at the time, and could not think of a better one, so I used it. Will liked to feel that he was making a contribution every now and then, since his name was on the plays. And I didn’t really mind. He was a drunken Elizabethan actor who was charming company, but not terribly literate.”
Gonzago’s jaw dropped. “Aw, no! You mean to tell me it was you?”
“There are more things in Heaven and Earth, my dear Gonzo, than are dreamt of in your philosophy,” said Makepeace. “Including fairies.”
Gonzago stared down into his glass morosely and shook his head. “All these years and you never told me. How the hell am I supposed to teach that course now?”
Makepeace got up and placed his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “The same way you’ve always taught it. From the heart. The author doesn’t matter. The stories are what count.”
“Even if they’re fairy tales?” Gonzago said with a snort.
“Clap your hands if you believe. “ The reply came like an echo.
Gonzago looked up.
Makepeace was gone.
“I’ll be damned,” Gonzago said. And then everyone in the bar turned to stare at him as he started to applaud.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Simon Hawke became a full-time writer in 1978 and has over sixty novels to his credit. He received a BA in Communications from Hofstra University and an MA in, English from Western New Mexico University. He teaches writing at Pima College in Tucson, Arizona.
Hawke lives alone in a secluded Santa Fe-style home in the Sonoran desert about thirty-five miles west of Tucson, near Kitt Peak and the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation. He is a motorcyclist, and his other interests include history, metaphysics, gardening, and collecting fantasy art.