Hurry Up, Houdini!

by Mary Pope Osborne

  “And now,” he said, “the Master of Escape will share with you his most thrilling and dangerous escape to date!”

  Houdini dashed offstage. The orchestra played scary-sounding music as Hank and Butch brought out a huge milk can and placed it inside the cabinet. Audience members whispered to each other as the stagehands filled the giant can with buckets of water.

  Harry then reappeared dressed in an old-fashioned black bathing suit. Bess put the three pairs of handcuffs around his wrists again. After volunteers checked the locks, Houdini climbed inside the milk can.

  Jack and Annie stood up to watch.

  Houdini lowered himself into the water until he was completely inside the can. Water splashed over the sides. Bess then closed the lid, padlocked it, and pulled the black curtain.

  While the can was out of sight, the orchestra played tick-tock, tick-tock. Jack could hardly breathe as one minute went by … two minutes … Someone in the audience cried out with alarm.

  How does Harry keep from drowning? Jack wondered anxiously. How can he undo handcuffs in such a tight space?

  Suddenly Houdini threw back the curtain. He was standing in front of the milk can, dripping wet! He had escaped again! He stepped to the side and pointed to the lid of the can—it was still locked firmly in place!

  Bess brought Harry a red robe, and the audience cheered. The orchestra played triumphant music.

  The whole time Houdini had been performing his tricks, Jack had listened carefully to everything he’d said:

  “Ladies and gentlemen, my brain is the key that sets me free!”

  “Ladies and gentlemen, my chief task is to conquer fear!”

  “Ladies and gentlemen, an old trick in a new dress is always a pleasant change!”

  Every time Houdini said something that sounded meaningful, Jack checked the Ring of Truth. He kept hoping that some secret of greatness would be revealed. But no matter what Harry said, the gold ring didn’t glow.

  After the milk can trick, the stage crew replaced the can with a steamer trunk.

  “Finally, for old times’ sake, I close with the act that first made me famous,” said Houdini.

  The drummer played a drumroll. Then Houdini shouted: “The world-famous original Metamorphosis in three seconds! For this amazing feat, I will share the spotlight with the one and only Mrs. Houdini!”

  Harry took Bess’s hand, and she curtsied for the crowd.

  “Years ago, I met this beautiful gal right here on Coney Island,” Houdini said. “I love her with all my heart. But now she must become my prisoner.”

  The audience laughed as a stagehand brought out a short, thick rope. Harry quickly tied Bess’s hands behind her back. “Dear one, I must now ask you to step into this bag.” Bess stepped into a large canvas bag, and Houdini tied the bag at the top.

  With Hank and Butch’s help, Houdini lifted Bess into the steamer trunk that had been placed inside the cabinet. Then Hank and Butch closed the trunk, wrapped it with a rope, and locked it with padlocks. After volunteers checked to see that the trunk was securely bound and locked, Houdini shouted, “Behold a miracle!”

  Remaining inside the cabinet with the trunk, Harry closed the black curtain. As the audience watched and waited, three loud claps rang out from behind the curtain.

  The curtain was thrown open. Bess stood in front of the roped and locked trunk, completely free! She quickly cut the rope around the trunk, unlocked the padlocks, untied the sack—and out jumped the Great Houdini!

  Everyone leapt to their feet, applauding and roaring, “Bravo! Bravo!”

  Jack and Annie clapped and shouted with them as the Houdinis bowed again and again.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, let me assure you that I have shown you no supernatural powers tonight!” Harry shouted. “Please know that magic is all tricks! Everything you saw tonight was illusion!”

  And Harry Houdini is the greatest Master of Illusion in the world, Jack thought.

  Jack’s only disappointment was that all during the Great Houdini show, the Ring of Truth had not glowed once. Not even the tiniest bit.

  After the curtain closed, Jack could hear the joyful crowd leaving the theater. Mr. Dewey, Mr. Wilson, Butch, and Hank rushed from the wings to congratulate the Houdinis.

  Mr. Dewey actually went down on his knees to thank them. “You have made my audience very happy!” he exclaimed. “And when my audience is happy, I am happy, too! Great show! Great show!”

  “Man, he’s really lost it,” Jack said.

  Annie laughed. “Come on, I want to tell them ‘Great show,’ too,” she said.

  But as Jack and Annie started toward the Houdinis, some teenage boys rushed onstage ahead of them.

  “Sorry, boys,” said Mr. Wilson, stepping between the boys and the Houdinis. “Mr. Houdini is exhausted from his magnificent performance. You’ll have to buy a ticket and come back again!”

  “Come on, Harry, let’s get you two out of here!” Mr. Dewey said.

  As Mr. Dewey whisked Harry and Bess backstage, Jack and Annie followed them. Mr. Dewey ushered the couple into their dressing room. He hurried in after them and closed the door.

  Annie was about to knock, but Jack stopped her. “Don’t bother them yet,” he said. “Let them relax a minute first. We’ll see them when they come out.”

  “Good idea,” said Annie.

  Jack and Annie waited outside the Houdinis’ dressing room door as the crew cleared all the hooligan fans off the stage.

  They waited as Hank and Butch took away Houdini’s cabinet, his milk can, and his steamer trunk. They waited as Mrs. Crenshaw collected the bird and rabbit cages and carried them away. They waited as Mr. Wilson swept the floor and turned off the stage lights.

  “They should be relaxed by now,” said Annie.

  “No kidding,” said Jack. He tapped softly on the door. There was no answer.

  Annie knocked louder. “Bess? Harry?” she called.

  Still, no one answered. Annie tried the handle, but the door was locked.

  “They’re gone,” said Mr. Wilson, passing by Jack and Annie in the hall.

  “Gone?” said Annie.

  “Yes, both the Houdinis left a while ago,” the stage manager said.

  “Left? How?” asked Jack. He and Annie had been watching the door every minute!

  “Mr. Dewey took them through the secret exit out of the stars’ dressing room,” said Mr. Wilson. “It goes through the basement and out of the theater. Otherwise, they’d be mobbed by all the crazy fans.”

  “So they’re really gone?” said Jack.

  “They don’t call Harry the Master of Escape for nothing,” Mr. Wilson said. “You’d better change out of your costumes and get going, too. We’ll be locking up the building soon.”

  Jack and Annie walked down the hall and into their dressing room. “I can’t believe it!” Annie wailed. “We didn’t even get to tell them ‘Great show.’ ”

  “Worse than that, we didn’t get to find out a secret of greatness,” said Jack. He held up his finger with the Ring of Truth. “The ring didn’t glow all night.”

  “Well, I guess all we can do is get dressed and go look for them,” said Annie.

  Jack and Annie quickly changed out of the tuxedos and back into their street clothes. Jack grabbed his bag and put his watch in the pocket of his pants.

  “Come on, hurry!” said Annie. She and Jack rushed out the back door of the theater. They ran down the dark alley, past the row of garbage cans, and out to the street.

  Surf Avenue was still bright with lights and just as busy as before. The sidewalks were still crowded with lots of people. The old-timey cars and horses and buggies filled the cobbled street.

  “They could be anywhere,” said Jack. “They could even have gone home.”

  “Let’s try Luna Park,” said Annie.

  “Why would they go back there?” asked Jack. “Especially after getting trapped on their Trip to the Moon?”

  “I don’t know. There’s lo
ts they might want to do there,” said Annie. She gasped.

  “Ice cream!” Jack and Annie said together. At the same moment, they’d each remembered Bess saying “Ice cream always comes after the show.”

  “To the ice cream stand!” said Annie.

  “And fast!” said Jack.

  Jack and Annie took off up the street, dodging people along the way. They ran to the tall arches, where ticket sellers in chariots were still welcoming people into Luna Park.

  “Admission, ten cents each,” one said.

  Jack and Annie dumped the rest of their pennies into the ticket seller’s hands. Then they took off, dashing up the broad avenue, weaving around couples and children and barkers on stilts and unicycles.

  When they came to the ice cream stand, they found a line of people waiting to buy cones. Panting, Jack looked up and down the line.

  The two Houdinis were nowhere to be seen.

  Jack’s spirits fell. But Annie poked him. “What?” Jack said.

  Annie pointed at the terrace.

  Jack looked up. Harry and Bess were sitting on a bench side by side, holding ice cream cones. Their big hats hid their faces.

  Jack laughed. “Now I get it! They wear those hats so fans won’t recognize them,” he said.

  “Well, they can’t fool us,” said Annie. “C’mon.”

  Annie and Jack headed over to the bench. When they were close, Annie put her finger to her lips. Jack understood what she meant. Without greeting Harry or Bess, Jack and Annie sat down next to them.

  “Great ice cream, huh?” said Annie.

  “Great,” said Bess, not looking up.

  “Would you call it the greatest in the world?” asked Jack.

  Tilting her head, Bess peeked out from under the brim of her hat. She laughed loudly. “Hey, Harry! Look!” she exclaimed. “It’s our little friends!”

  Harry raised his hat, then laughed too. “The crazy kiddos!” he said. “So what’s the story? What the heck were you two doing up on that stage tonight?”

  “We just love to perform,” said Annie with a giggle.

  “We just love to make fools of ourselves,” said Jack.

  “Making a fool of yourself is a brave thing to do,” Harry said, smiling.

  “That’s what Aristotle once told us,” said Annie, “more or less.”

  Jack glanced at the Ring of Truth. It wasn’t glowing.

  “Mr. Houdini!” someone said. A man stood in front of the bench. He started to clap.

  “Oh, dear,” murmured Bess.

  “You were unbelievable tonight!” the man said. “I never saw anything like what you did!”

  Other people turned to look. They recognized Harry, too, and began gathering in front of the bench, telling him how great he was. Harry finished his ice cream cone. Then he stood up and started shaking hands with his admirers.

  Bess shook her head and sighed. “He’s always nice to people,” she said to Jack and Annie. “No matter how tired he is.”

  Harry’s fans kept asking questions: “How do you do it?” “How did you escape from those handcuffs?” “How’d you get out of that milk can?”

  “First of all, let me assure you again that I have no supernatural powers,” said Harry. “It’s all illusion. These skills just happen to come easily to me. Always have. I remember when I was a kid …”

  Jack looked at the Ring of Truth. Nothing.

  “That’s not the real story,” Bess said quietly to Jack and Annie, her eyes twinkling.

  “What is the real story?” Annie asked her.

  “Harry’s always worked very, very hard,” she said. “He’s worked all his life. When he was a little boy, he sold newspapers and flowers. He performed in a neighborhood children’s circus. A few years later, he hopped trains and tried to get work in Milwaukee, Kansas City, New York. He practiced coin tricks and card tricks for hours every day. He read every book he could find on magic. He practiced and practiced and practiced. Those skills did not come naturally to him. They came from hard work and more practice than most people could endure.”

  Jack thought about how he and Annie had only done their magic tricks once, with the help of the magic mist. No wonder they’d failed so spectacularly the second time.

  “So his secret is hard work?” said Annie.

  “You’ve got it, kiddo,” said Bess. “But that’s not such a big secret, is it? Anyone would have to work hard to be truly great at something.”

  “Yeah, they would,” said Jack.

  “Oh, wow,” Annie whispered to Jack. She pointed at his hand.

  Jack looked down and smiled. The Ring of Truth was finally glowing.

  Annie grinned at Jack. “Done!” she whispered.

  “Done!” Jack agreed. “Now we can leave.”

  “Harry and I have to go, too,” said Bess. “I want to get him out of here before he attracts the wrong types.”

  “Hooligans and crazy fans?” asked Annie.

  “You got it,” said Bess. “Harry!” she called. “Time’s up!”

  Harry excused himself from the crowd of people and walked back to the bench. “Thanks, sweetheart,” he said. “I couldn’t escape.” He winked at Bess, then looked at Jack and Annie. “They think I do truly magical things. But it’s not true. It’s all just entertainment. It’s all tricks.”

  “Harry’s never seen anyone do a trick he couldn’t do himself,” said Bess.

  “That’s a fact,” said Harry. “Nothing. Ever.”

  “Amazing,” said Annie.

  “Amazing, yes, but it’s also a great sadness,” said Harry, frowning. “The world’s lost its wonder for me. I would be so happy just once to see a bit of magic I could never do or never explain.”

  “Really?” said Jack.

  “Yes, but it’s not going to happen,” Harry said with a sigh. “Well, I’m ready, my love. Let’s go home.”

  “Yes, let’s,” said Bess, standing. She looked at Jack and Annie. “Which way are you two going?”

  “Just down that way,” Jack said. And then he had a great idea. He smiled at Annie. “Let’s walk them as far as the Japanese Tea Garden.”

  Annie’s eyes lit up. She seemed to know what Jack was thinking. “Good plan!” she said.

  “Sure, let’s all go together,” said Bess.

  Harry, Bess, Jack, and Annie all stepped down from the terrace and started up the broad avenue. The band was playing “After the Ball Is Over.” The crowd had thinned out. The lights were starting to dim.

  “What a fantastic park,” said Harry. “Did you try many rides? The pirate ship? Or the navy ship sailing the deep ocean? The Arctic trip?”

  “No, but we’ve done all those things before,” said Jack.

  “Did you get to experience the cyclone attraction, too?” said Bess. “The volcano? The big fire?”

  “Actually we’ve experienced all those things, too,” said Jack.

  “Really?” said Bess. “So you must have been in this park a long time?”

  “No, I was talking about real life,” Jack said matter-of-factly. “My sister and I travel in a magic tree house to different times and places and have lots of adventures.”

  Annie grinned. “Jack’s telling the truth,” she said. “We’ve been all through time.”

  Harry and Bess chuckled. “Sounds like a good act,” said Harry.

  “It does, doesn’t it?” said Bess delightedly. “Where else do you perform your act, besides Coney Island?”

  “We don’t really perform this act for anyone,” said Annie. “It’s usually a secret.”

  “But we’ll show it to you,” said Jack.

  “Lucky us,” said Bess, winking at Harry.

  “The tree house is parked in the Japanese Tea Garden,” said Annie. “You want to see it? It’ll only take a minute.”

  “Sure, why not?” said Harry.

  Bess and Harry followed Jack and Annie over to the wooden gate that led to the Japanese Tea Garden. They followed them through the gateway, up t
he pebble path, and over the small arched bridge to the cluster of trees.

  “There,” said Annie. She pointed up at one of the trees.

  “A tree house! Well, how about that?” said Harry. He sounded genuinely surprised. “I never knew that was here.”

  “That’s because it’s only been here for a few hours,” said Annie.

  “You want to watch us take off?” asked Jack.

  “Take off?” said Bess.

  “Yep, the tree house is going to take us back home to Pennsylvania now,” said Jack, “to a time more than a hundred years from today.”

  “In the future,” Annie added.

  Bess and Harry laughed. “You two might be the looniest kids in the world,” said Bess.

  “Or the best actors!” said Harry.

  “Wait and see …,” said Annie. She held out her hand. “Bye, Harry. It’s been great knowing you.”

  Harry shook Annie’s hand, and then he shook Jack’s. Bess grabbed each of them and gave them big hugs. “You two kiddos are great!” she said, giggling. “You’re just my kind of screwballs.”

  They all laughed. Then Jack and Annie climbed up the rope ladder. Inside the tree house, Annie picked up the Pennsylvania book, and she and Jack looked out the window. “Bye!” They both waved to Harry and Bess.

  The Houdinis waved back.

  “I wish we could go home,” Annie whispered as she pointed to a picture of Frog Creek.

  “Behold a miracle!” Jack shouted down to Bess and Harry. He clapped three times. One! Two! THREE!

  Then the wind started to blow.

  The tree house started to spin.

  It spun faster and faster.

  Then everything was still.

  Absolutely still.

  The Frog Creek woods were quiet and peaceful. The early-evening light filtered into the tree house. Jack and Annie were wearing their own clothes again.

  “Now that was the best escape act ever,” said Annie.

  Jack smiled. “I wanted to make Harry happy. We showed him something he’ll never be able to explain.”

  Jack looked at his watch. As always, no time had passed in Frog Creek while they’d been on their mission. “Six minutes to get home,” said Jack.