Medusa and The Magician
Medusa the former Gorgon stood outside a casino in Monte Carlo.
She once again decided to try her luck.
The past couple of nights had not been lucky for her.
But one more night and she would return to Paris.
Most of the money from her husband’s patent for an invisible earthworm (said to attract highly myopic fish) had been lost at the casino tables.
But she would try one more night.
As she entered the casino, she encountered a magician she had watched perform in her hotel lounge last night.
A most amazing man.
Said to have been descended from a magician who was the talk of Vienna in the dying days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire a century ago.
When the last Emperor abdicated at the insistence of a sub-point to be found in footnotes at the bottom of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points, the magician in his last show had shouted “God save the Emperor!” and had then vanished in a puff of smoke never to be seen again.
This man (claiming to be a descendant of that famous magician) had appeared out of nowhere last year at a concert of Peter, Paul and Mary musical impersonators singing a rendition of Puff The Magic Dragon.
The man had suddenly appeared in a puff of smoke wearing a dragon costume.
The man stepped out of the dragon costume and announced to the world that he was Honahlee the Illusionist.
He had been mesmerizing audiences ever since.
“Hello, Honahlee,” Medusa smiled at him, “I wish you could help me pick winning numbers at the roulette table.”
The magician bowed and smiled back.
“Here is a ticket for a free drink inside,” he handed her a piece of paper.
He then vanished into the night.
Medusa went up to the roulette table and handed the ticket to a nearby waiter.
She stood and debated what numbers she should play.
“Your drink, Madame,” the waiter handed the former gorgon what looked to be a glass of orange juice, “a Harvey Wallbanger.”
Medusa took a sip of the concoction which turned out to be quite good.
So she had another sip.
And another.
And then another.
She suddenly looked next to her right and standing next to her was a 6 foot 8 tall white bunny rabbit with big pink floppety ears and a big pink flopppety tail wearing a bow tie, white shirt and black tuxedo.
“The name’s Tallbanger,” the bunny rabbit smiled, “Harvey Tallbanger.”
“Well, Harvey,” Medusa purred like a cat, “what numbers should I play?”
“Bet it all on 16 red,” the bunny rabbit answered before vanishing into the night.
Medusa did so.
She won.
And she broke the bank of Monte Carlo.
As she exited the casino with her winnings, she noticed Honahlee the Illusionist trying to fit a giant top hat into an orange coloured horse drawn carriage which would be pulled by six white horses.
Honahlee smiled at her and tipped the small top hat on the top of his own head in her direction, “If you’re going to pull an extra big rabbit out of a hat, you’re going to need an extra big hat.”
-A vampire novel chapter
written by Christopher
Friday May 10th
2019.
