Houdini and Me by Dan Gutman

Author:Dan Gutman [Gutman, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2021-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

METAMORPHOSIS

I spent a lot of time working on my math homework when I got home, but I just couldn’t focus on it. I was thinking about Houdini the whole time. He told me he was going to contact me that night, but I didn’t know when.

The more I thought about texting with Houdini, the more I thought how crazy it all was. Maybe Zeke was right. Maybe Houdini was some kind of imaginary father figure to me. Maybe I was the son he never had. Maybe I was crazy.

And then, just before ten o’clock…

Bzzzzz…bzzzzz…bzzzzz…

Yes!

I yanked open the drawer of my night table and grabbed the flip phone.

“HARRY?” it said on the screen.

It still freaked me out that he just called me “Harry.” I thought about calling Zeke and telling him to come over to my house right away. It would be great if he could witness one of my text sessions with Houdini. Then he would know I’m not making it all up. But it would be too risky to call Zeke. I’d have to go downstairs, make the call on our landline, and explain to my mother why I needed to have Zeke come over so late at night. I decided against it.

“I’m here,” I tapped on the keypad.

“REMEMBER ME?” Houdini texted.

“Of course,” I tapped. I thought of adding an exclamation mark at the end, but I didn’t want to let him know how excited I was.

“DO PEOPLE REMEMBER ME?”

That threw me. He really wanted to be remembered. It seemed important to him. And Houdini was remembered. He’s been dead for close to a hundred years, but whenever somebody walks by my house and sees the plaque by the front door, they tell me they know who he was. Even little kids know about the great Harry Houdini. He was sort of like Elvis, JFK, and Marilyn Monroe. Everybody knows who they were even though they’ve been gone for a long time.

Houdini’s name had even entered the language. When you say that somebody “pulled a Houdini,” everybody knows it means he or she escaped from a seemingly inescapable situation.

“Everybody remembers you,” I tapped.

A pause. And then…

“HOW IS LIFE?”

“Okay,” I tapped.

I thought about asking him “How is death?” But that would have been obnoxious.

Little by little, we were getting to know each other. It wasn’t like Houdini to make small talk. I had the sense that he had a message to deliver, or there was something he wanted me to do for him.

“BUT LIFE COULD BE BETTER, RIGHT?” he texted.

“I guess,” I tapped.

Sure. Life can always be better. My mom could win the lottery. That would make life better. I could become the centerfielder for the Mets. That would make life better. What was he driving at? My screen was blank for a while, and then…

“WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ESCAPE FROM?”

Weird question. What was he talking about? Handcuffs? Jail cells? I didn’t want to escape from anything.

“Huh?” I tapped.

“EVERYBODY WANTS TO ESCAPE FROM SOMETHING,” he texted. “IT’S HUMAN NATURE. WE ARE NEVER SATISFIED WITH WHAT WE HAVE IN THE PRESENT.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.