Everywhere Man by Jim Nelson

Everywhere Man by Jim Nelson

Author:Jim Nelson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780990480211
Published: 2014-06-08T22:00:00+00:00


We Give Chase

Tourists buffeted us from all directions. We left the photographer’s assistant and pushed through the crowds snapping random pictures with our cameras. There! One photo caught the Everywhere Man up ahead, on a corner. We bolted. We dodged pedestrians left and right and ran through halted traffic. On the sidewalk, a man hauling two buckets of crab stepped out from a side door and into our path. We ran around him at full speed with our hands up in apology. He snapped something at us in Italian. When we arrived at the corner, the Everywhere Man was gone. Then one of our cameras spotted him again and we were off, pushing through people and leaping up to see over the crowds. It didn't matter. Once again we lost the Everywhere Man to the slow-moving river of humanity coursing through Fisherman's Wharf.

Across from us, a street magician was working a good-sized crowd. He was linking and unlinking wire hoops. Then he pulled a stream of colored handkerchiefs from his balled fist. It was that kind of magic.

On the periphery of the audience, humped over in a brown windbreaker wearing no-name blue jeans, was the Everywhere Man. Stunned, we needed a moment to realize we'd actually found him. We gingerly advanced, soft in our step. Like caging a feral cat, our instincts were of patient advancement. If he fled again we'd lose him in the crowd.

The magician produced a dove from a cage. The dove shook itself and fanned its wings. He wrapped the dove in a black velvet sheath. Then he counted to three and heaved the bundle into the air. All our faces shot up to watch its rise. The black magic ascended and hung midair for a millisecond and a half, then exploded with a hollow pop. Confetti bloomed and fluttered down. The magician caught the velvet sheath with a flourish and demonstrated it was empty. Then he reached inside it and produced the dove, now visibly shaken at being stuffed into whatever hiding spot the magician had utilized. Over the sustained applause he thanked his audience for their time and asked for cash contributions. This verbal tear gas dispersed the crowd. They swallowed the Everywhere Man whole.

As thin as the magician's magic was, we were mesmerized by the act and had forgotten our prey. We rushed for him. The tidal forces of the human ocean buffeted us once again. We swam against the vacating ebb until we reached the spot where he'd been standing. The Everywhere Man was gone, just like that, like a fist when you open your hand.



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