Night Magic by Thomas Tryon

Author:Thomas Tryon [Tryon, Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780684803937
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 1995-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Night School

SUPINE ON HIS NEW bed, closer than ever to his heart’s desire, Michael was nevertheless staring joylessly at a picture on the wall, a framed reproduction of a fresco: St. Francis Preaching to the Birds. None of the last forty-eight hours had been very pleasant. His landlady, reconciled without difficulty to the idea of losing him as a tenant, had proved more intransigent during the ensuing negotiations concerning the return of his damage deposit. Dazz had replied to the announcement of Michael’s plans with questions about stipends and box-office percentages; Michael’s answers left him shaking his head in uncomprehending disapproval, convinced that his friend was making a bad career move. Telling Emily had been, of course, the worst of all. He tried a display of enthusiasm; he had, after all, gone out and gotten exactly what he wanted—but Emily saw through it, right into the uncertainty he knew he must not entertain, and she was quick to pull from him the information he least wanted to give her, that Max had made it clear Michael would not see anyone else for an undetermined period of time.

Her sad, hurt look filled him with guilt, nearly swaying him from his purpose. But she remained silent, as though disdaining to press so cheap an advantage. While he was vowing to keep in touch, indeed to call her as soon as he was settled, her features hardened from dismay into resentment. “Don’t make any promises you can't keep,” she said bitterly. As he stood by the door, preparing to leave, she kissed him on the mouth, then embraced him tightly, her cheek resting on his shoulder. “You can still walk away from this,” she whispered before she let him go.

After that, transferring his few belongings had seemed a relatively painless, though certainly time-consuming, ordeal, and the spacious, attractive room that was his new home had been an agreeable surprise; he was braced for something altogether more monastic, or more menial. Wurlitzer, reading his face, assured him that mortification of the flesh was not a requirement of the magician’s discipline. “You were expecting some dreary cell?” he asked sarcastically. “Perhaps your own personal sackcloth? No, no, my boy, it is distracting to be uncomfortable, and I require your concentration. Life brings enough discomfort as it is. Especially,” he went on in a musing tone, “to the old—and the ambitious.”

Truthful words, Michael thought, as he lay on the tufted chenille bedspread, fatigued by the labors of packing and moving, weary from two nights of restless dreams, convinced he had earned the right to fall asleep at once, yet held back from oblivion for a long, impatient while by the echo of Wurlitzer’s voice, the memory of Emily’s face.

On another count, the master, as Michael now thought of him, had spoken the unvarnished truth: there was plenty of work to do. Props and equipment were scattered everywhere—in the wings, behind and under the stage, in various storerooms and workshops in the basement—and nearly all of

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.