Kylie the Magnificent by Marty Chan

Author:Marty Chan [Chan, Marty]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781459828094
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2021-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

As the seniors headed out of the dining hall, a few stopped to talk to me. Mags led the charge. She got so close I could smell what she had eaten for lunch. Tuna salad. Definitely tuna.

“Young lady, I wanted to tell you that I laughed so hard I might have peed a little,” she said.

“Well, that’s the first time someone’s done that during my show,” I said. “Now you’re sure you still have your watch?”

She checked her wrist and laughed. “Of all the acts your mother has brought in, you’re my favorite.”

“Really?” I said. “That’s great. Thank you.”

“My husband wanted to be a magician when he was younger, but he never got around to it. He bought all sorts of magic books. They’re in storage. I can get my daughter to pull them out and give them to you if you’re interested.”

“That’s so kind,” I said.

“I’ll get them to your mom,” Mags said. “Keep it up. You’re great.”

The other residents nodded. Mags joined them and walked away. I hopped onstage to help Min get out of the handcuffs. He had the key in his hand, but he couldn’t quite fit it into the lock. I grabbed the key from him and opened the cuffs.

“I don’t understand what went wrong,” he said.

“It’s okay,” I said. “It can happen to the best of us.”

He tested the handcuffs, snapping them shut. “Not to me. I worked on the escape for months. I can get out of the cuffs in my sleep.”

“I’ll bet it was the same problem I had,” I said. “Put them on me.”

“Why?”

“I’ll show you,” I said.

He slapped the cuffs on my wrists. I squirmed and twisted, trying to hit the secret latch, but nothing happened when I flicked it.

“See?” I said. “They won’t open.”

The cuffs remained firmly around my wrists.

“It can’t be broken,” he said. “Try the latch again.”

I flicked again. Nothing.

Min tried thumbing the latch. Again. And again. And again. By his tenth try, the cuffs finally opened.

“See?” I said. “The latch only works some of the time—it’s totally random. That’s why I couldn’t get out of them the first time.”

“I’m sorry, Kylie,” Min said. “I thought you had messed up, but it was my handcuffs that were broken. I didn’t mean to blame you.”

“Doesn’t matter, Min,” I said.

“This is my fault. I should have tested the handcuffs before the show. I ruined everything.”

“No,” I said. “If it weren’t for the broken cuffs, we wouldn’t have found a new way to do the act.”

“I knew that we weren’t ready to go on. If we’d had another week to work on everything, I would have found out the latch was broken. Then we wouldn’t have looked like idiots onstage.”

“You’re too hard on yourself,” I said. “Don’t you remember what Peter talked about at the magic club? You have to prepare outs in case things go wrong. And I came up with a new ending. And the seniors loved it. Didn’t you hear them?”

“I was in the mailbag,” he said.

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