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“Yeah,” her father said, all smiles. “It’s fun to perform at Evening of Wonder. Wish it paid better.”
“I liked the two people who went on before you,” Pro said, and she brought her voice low as if imparting a secret. “They can read minds.”
This caused him to burst into a loud laugh, which frustrated young Prophecy.
“They can’t read minds, pumpkin,” Max chuckled. “It’s all a trick.”
Pro scrunched up her face and crossed her arms. “But I saw them do it, Daddy.”
“It’s a two-person mentalist act,” Max said dismissively. “They just coded each other the answers.”
“They did what?”
Max smiled and relaxed. “I’m sorry, pumpkin, I didn’t explain it well.” He bent down, opened his arms, and picked Pro up to settle her on his hip. “C’mon, I’ll tell you how it is done.”
“Am I gonna know the sucrets, Daddy?”
“The secrets, yes. Because I want you to grow up and know that when people say they can read minds, it’s all pretend.”
“Like a fairy story, Daddy?”
“Yes,” Max said, and carrying the little girl, he walked over to a bookcase and extracted a thick hardcover book with his free hand. He then sat on the couch and put Prophecy on his lap.
“What’s the book, Daddy? Are there pictures?”
“This is the Kellock book about Harry Houdini,” Max explained and opened to a page of the yellowing book to show a black-and-white picture of the famed conjuror.
“Does he do what you do, Daddy?” Pro asked, and snuggled close to her father, the smell of his aftershave in her nose. It made her feel safe, her big, tall father who was magical.
“He did, but he died a long time ago. Here is what I want to show you.” He flipped open to a page that listed numbers and words.
“What’s that?” Pro pointed at the page.
“This was the code Harry used when he did a mentalist show with his wife, Bess. They had words that meant numbers, and they used the words to know what the other person wanted them to know. They call that a code.” Max cleared his throat. “Harry would say things like: ‘Be Quick, Bess.’”
His voice became quite deep when he became Harry, which made his daughter giggle. He then pointed at the open book. “See, and here in the book ‘Be Quick’ means the number 10.”
“Uh-huh,” Prophecy said. “So the man said things only the lady understood!”
“That’s right, sweetie. You’re so smart.” He picked up the giggling girl and deposited her on the sofa. He then handed her Barbie and Christy, kissed her head, and headed for the room he used as an office.
Prophecy watched him walk away, smiling. She had no idea that in six months he would be gone and her blissful life would be over. It would be years of shuttling to visit her dad, and her mother trying to be all things, but never able to achieve it. Until Joe walked into their lives and gave both women the love and stability they needed.
Pro looked around the empty bullpen and wiped the unexpected tear from her eye. “Damn that bastard,” she muttered. “Here’s another time for him to make me cry. Just like when I was a kid.”
But the memory was clear in her mind. She knew about the Kellock book: Houdini, His Life and Times. It was a rare book in which Harry’s widow, Bess Houdini, told the story—and the mythology—about her amazing husband. It went out of print in 1930, but of course, her father had a copy in his collection of magic books.
Pro turned to her computer and entered all the words she could think of in the search engine. “Kellock Houdini Code” got several hits, and one of them took her to the entire book online. She quickly went through the scanned pages until she reached a familiar one with numbers listed for words. It read:
Pray 1
Answer 2
Say 3
Now 4
Tell 5
