The Magic Trap by Jacqueline Davies

Author:Jacqueline Davies
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Heckling

heckling (v) calling out insults or rude comments from the audience in order to disrupt a performance

By noon on Thursday, Jessie had already counted thirty-six kids who said they were coming to the magic show on Monday. She’d handed out The 4-O Forum in the morning, and right away students—some of them even fifth-graders!—had asked about tickets. Maybe we should have charged more, thought Jessie. She was excited about the money—thirty-six dollars—but she was also starting to get that hard-to-breathe, thumping-heart feeling that sometimes ran through her like a freight train.

Here it was—Thursday afternoon—and they still hadn’t practiced the disappearing trick even once. They’d spent all yesterday afternoon cutting the hole in the porch. It was a big deal; they had to avoid the thick boards that ran underneath the floorboards, because that’s what held the whole porch up. If they accidentally cut through one of those, the porch might collapse.

“That would be a showstopper!” their dad had joked, but Jessie didn’t laugh.

First they’d cut in one spot, but then they decided to put the trapdoor in a different spot, and by the time it got dark and they had to stop, they hadn’t finished even one hole.

When Jessie got home from school, the hole still wasn’t finished, even though their dad had promised he would work on it while they were at school. Instead, Evan was sawing away at the floorboards using the old hacksaw. His hair stuck to his forehead in big, sweaty clumps, and his hands were bright red from gripping the saw so hard.

“It’s not done yet?” asked Jessie.

“What does it look like?” snapped Evan. “You think it’s so easy, you try it.”

“I’m not allowed to,” said Jessie. “Neither are you. Where’s Dad?”

“In there.” Evan waved at the house. “On the phone. Again.”

“Maybe he’s getting you another basket. Or another rabbit,” said Jessie. She didn’t like it when Evan seemed angry.

“No. It’s all work stuff. Very important work stuff.” What did it mean when Evan talked like that? Jessie couldn’t remember. Her mom had explained it to her, but now she wasn’t sure. It was one of those confusing things where people said one thing but meant another. She wished her mom were here to explain it to her.

“I get to talk to Mom first today, remember?”

“She’s not calling. She texted Dad and said she was trapped in a meeting and couldn’t get away. She’ll call tomorrow.”

“But I want to talk to her today! I want to tell her about the newspaper and how many kids are coming to the show.” Jessie knew she was whining, and she knew she should stop. People really do not like whining. This had been explained to her many times by both her mom and Evan, though Jessie could never really understand why. What made whining worse than regular talking?

Evan stopped sawing and looked off into the woods behind their house. “Yeah, me too,” he said in a soft voice. He tapped the blade of the saw against the wooden floor.

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