Shamanka Part 12

"Your father, your mother and, er, me."

Why would they do such a thing? Why would anyone want to fool Candy into thinking her own sister had died? Kitty holds up her hands: "Candy brought it on herself. We had to make her believe Christa had been killed."

Killed? What dreadful secrets had gone up in smoke all those years ago? John and Christa aren't here to explain; it's down to Kitty to reveal everything.

She admits to Sam that the witch doctor really had sent his son on a global quest. That much is now indisputable. Unfortunately, things didn't go quite as John had expected. Hardly surprising. The chances of crossing the Pacific in a mwa sawah and surviving are very slim. The witch doctor must have known the canoe would capsize, so, given that he was desperate for his only son to step into his shoes, why would he send him to his inevitable death?

I suspect Yafer Tabuh knew a ship would be pa.s.sing the right place at the right time to save his son from the shark-infested water. He could read the patterns of the waves. Even if the ship was far out to sea, its ripples could be read at the upper end of the Sepik, and he could judge its position with amazing accuracy.

In fact, John had told Kitty that his mwa sawah capsized on the third day of his journey and that he and Lola had been rescued by an ocean liner called The Trinity. John had worked aboard the ship until a dreadful incident occurred, forcing him to flee to London. There he'd met Bart Hayfue who'd given him Kitty's address.

"What dreadful incident?" asks Sam. "Did he tell you?"

"He refused, so I asked the ancient spirits."

So Bart had been right. Kitty did believe she could communicate with the spirits. Trying to sound as sincere as possible, Sam asks her what they'd said. Kitty lowers her voice.

"Murder by magic!"

When Kitty told John what the spirits had written, he couldn't look her in the eye. He claimed that automatic writing was a load of nonsense and insisted on showing her a mind-reading trick to prove that although it made him appear psychic, it was just an illusion.

"Was it the trick where you have to write something on a piece of paper and the magician sets fire to it and guesses what you've written? asks Sam.

"Yes argh! You read my mind!"

"No, I didn't. He wrote it down in a notebook I found in the attic."

She still doesn't know how the notebook came to be in the trunk or how John Tabuh came to be a magician. I do, but now isn't the time to share it with you. I'm happy to share the secret of the mind-reading trick though no doubt you found it at the front of this chapter. I thought twice about telling you. Once you know how the trick works it's so obvious, it's disappointing. But I need you to understand why John Tabuh became so sceptical. The more he learnt how illusions were done, the more he felt there was no such thing as real magic; all was trickery, manipulation and deception.

His English mother was partly to blame. She was determined to bring John up the western way. She didn't have long to live; she knew the world was changing and wanted her son to be prepared. That's why she taught him to ask questions, why she told him that science and psychology were behind most of the phenomena his father called magic most, but not all. Sam opens the sh.e.l.l locket and shows Kitty the photo inside. "Is this his mother?" she asks.

"Yes, that's Freya. When she died, John lost faith in his father because he failed to bring her back from the dread."

"Do you think it's possible to bring someone back from the dead, Kitty?"

Kitty isn't sure, but John told her that when he was thirteen, Lola was. .h.i.t by a poisoned dart and died in his arms. Sam interrupts the story.

"And didn't he beg his father to bring her back to life?"

That's what she'd dreamt and Kitty says yes. Seeing his son's sorrow, the witch doctor took Lola into his hut and chanted for two days. When he called John inside, Lola was alive.

"See what power I have, my son!" he'd boasted. "I can raise the dead."

But when John's mother died, the same magic didn't work and John was left with nothing but her photo and three questions: 1. Did Lola really die or had she just swooned?

2. Did the witch doctor simply give her an antidote for poison?

3. Had the witch doctor swapped the dead orang-utan for a live one?

"I wonder if John's found the answers yet?" sighs Kitty. "He was supposed to be asking three questions his father gave him: What is magic? What is real? What is-"

"Illusion," says Sam. "I know."

But there's one illusion she knows nothing about; her mother's death. How was it faked? She won't find out this afternoon. Kitty is dozing off; she tires easily. She says she has a weak heart, something to do with smoke inhalation. She must lie down in her cabin.

"Do you sleep with your mask on?" asks Sam.

"What mask?"

It could be a weary attempt at a joke. But trust no one.

THE MAGIC CHAMBER TRICK.

The masked magician's a.s.sistant climbs into a box. The lid is closed, and with a wave of a wand the magician says, "Be gone!" The box is tilted towards the audience with both hands and the lid is opened. Hey presto! the box is empty. How?

THE SECRET.

You need: a large cardboard box, extra cardboard, strong tape, black paint, a little friend.

1. Cut out the bottom of the box leaving a lip on three sides.

2. Cut a false bottom from another piece of cardboard. Fit it in the box and attach with a hinge of tape. Tape on a handle.

3. Cut or tape together a one-piece cardboard top.

4. Paint the whole thing black.

continued over

HOW TO DO THE TRICK.

Your magic chamber has a false bottom. When you tip the box forward, the box slides over your a.s.sistant, who pulls the hinged bottom shut by holding the handle. Your a.s.sistant is now crouched down, hidden behind the box, but to your audience, she's vanished!

THE MAGICIAN'S a.s.sISTANT

It is dawn. The Cat Barge has grown a platform of foliage near the top of the mast. It's Lola's nest; she is asleep inside, cuddling her monkey. In the rainforest, she'd have slept in the trees, building a new nest every day. She's used to sleeping in Sam's bed now, but, last night, she wanted to sleep under the stars.

Kitty is up before Sam. Maybe she's an early riser or maybe she didn't want to be caught without her mask on. I know the feeling.

Sam is still asleep. In the night, she dreamt that her mother was lying in a box painted in the Egyptian style. She was wearing pink gloves and her hands were crossed over her heart. She was alive and beautiful not a bit how Aunt Candy had described her. Sam had cried out, "Mother!"

She'd woken in a sweat then struggled to go back to sleep, desperate to return to her dream. Instead, she slipped into a nightmare: she thought she saw her mother in the same box, but this time her gloves were purple with blood and, when Sam cried out, the woman snapped open her green eyes and snickered, "Surprise... I'm Candy!"

Sam sits upright and screams. Lola is below deck and by her side before you can say Pongo pygmaeus.

Kitty appears with a cup of coffee. "What's wrong? Have you had a night horse?"

Sam grabs her by the shoulders. "Did my mother bleed to death? Was she stabbed through the heart?"

"No, there was no blood it was red oink."

"Red ink?" It makes no sense. How did Kitty even know her mother?

Kitty perches on the end of the cabin bed and adjusts her mask. "Drink this and I'll tell you."

"I hate coffee."

Sam drinks it anyway. She takes a great gulp every time Kitty comes up with a new revelation; it helps to wash down things that would otherwise stick in her throat. I will now tell you exactly what Kitty told Sam as the sun rose like a fried egg over Eel Pie Island.

When John and Lola first arrived at the warehouse, Kitty kept her distance. Like many artists, she needed solitude to create and what she created was mostly cat-sized sarcophagi highly decorated coffins similar to the ones found inside pyramids. The warehouse was home to lots of cats. If one died, Kitty mummified it and placed it into a sarcophagus, along with a carved mouse and a tin of tuna to be enjoyed in the afterlife. It bothers me that she forgot to include a tin-opener, but perhaps, if there is an afterlife for cats, there's someone there who opens tins for them.

While Kitty practised her art at one end of the warehouse, John practised magic at the other. But as the Dark Prince's doves escaped yet again, splattering droppings all over her sarcophagi, she decided enough was enough; she wasn't prepared to put up with random acquaintances of Bart Hayfue's cluttering up her warehouse with magician's paraphernalia. It just wasn't on.

Kitty didn't say any of this though; John was so handsome, she would always forget what she'd come to tell him off about. He was so charming, he only had to catch a woman's eye and she wanted to mother him or marry him. Kitty wanted to mother him, and when John told her he had no mother, she felt it was her moral duty to care for him.

Although he was managing to sc.r.a.pe a living by performing illusions on the street, John's lack of income bothered him. Kitty said it didn't matter, she could keep them both by selling her carvings; but he was fiercely proud and insisted on paying his own way. One night, unable to sleep for worrying, he confessed that he needed to think of a way to raise enough money to travel the world. His father had given him some pearls to sell, but these were for emergencies. Kitty didn't want him to leave and asked him why the hurry. He was on a mission, he said. He'd been away for two years already and hardly begun. If his father died before he completed it, the consequences would be too terrible to contemplate.

Kitty put her mind to the problem and had a brainwave. She'd make him a magic box; a sarcophagus large enough for a woman to fit inside. He could use it along with a sword to create a death-defying illusion. And that would be just the beginning! Together, they would create a fantastic magic show: she would make his props, he would invent new and wonderful illusions. They would invite an agent to see his act, right here in the warehouse.

Forget the streets, the agent would be so impressed, he'd book John into all the best theatres. There would be a real stage. A beautiful a.s.sistant. He could join the Magic Circle and become the greatest magician in London. He would be invited to travel far and wide all expenses paid and, in between shows, he could visit the people on his father's list. How famous he would become. How proud his father will be.

John, who was unduly modest about his talent, wasn't sure if any of this would happen but Kitty seemed so certain, so excited, he was willing to give it a try. But where to begin?

First, he needed a glamorous a.s.sistant. John wondered if Lola could take on the role, but apart from the fact that she didn't look her best in a sequinned gown, it was decided that it would be better to employ her in other ways, for the following reasons: 1. Orang-utans are shorter and more agile than human a.s.sistants and can be easily hidden in places an audience would never expect.

2. Orang-utans are excellent climbers and can hide up in the roof, manipulating mirrors, hanging upside down by their feet, if necessary.

3. Orang-utans are intelligent and, having very long arms, can be trained to release trap doors and operate secret compartments that a human a.s.sistant could never reach.

Lola could help perform all sorts of tantalizing illusions that could never be accomplished if she weren't an ape and not realizing an ape was on stage (for John would take care to keep her hidden), no one would ever guess how the tricks had been done.

Lola was invaluable, but he needed to find a beautiful human a.s.sistant. Apart from pa.s.sing props and climbing into boxes, he needed her to act as a distraction and misdirect the audience's eye away from him while he was performing his magic. Kitty knew someone who would be ideal for the job; someone who'd worked in a circus and was particularly flexible. However, she was hesitant to suggest her because the woman was a little unhinged, to say the least.

"Let's risk it," said John. "She can't be that awful."

Famous last words, Dark Prince! John might have been brought up the Western Way but he was far too trusting where women were concerned. He believed they were all essentially good, like his mother; but this woman wasn't. Her name? Candy Khaan.

John hired her on the spot. Candy wafted into the warehouse with her blonde hair flowing over her slim shoulders and smiled at him with perfect teeth. When he asked her to climb into a magic box, she folded into it as prettily as a petticoat and he was sold.

They should have nailed the lid down there and then and thrown the box into the Thames. It would have saved everyone a lot of heartache, but Kitty didn't know just how twisted Candy had become.

People don't become twisted without good reason though. Candy had been badly treated by a man in her past. She'd fallen in love with the circus ringmaster. He'd asked her to marry him, but on their wedding day he jilted her for Lorna the Lion Tamer; the humiliation was too much.

Devastated, Candy had climbed onto the trapeze, hung by her feet, then deliberately let go; there was no safety net. As she plunged head-first into the sea lion pool, the audience roared with laughter, thinking she was a clown. No bones were broken but her failed suicide left her with a shattered ego and a warped brain, and she became greedier and needier than ever.

Kitty was soon to learn how dangerous she'd become, but, by then, it would be too late. For a while, Candy managed to conceal her psychotic nature and set about wooing the innocent John Tabuh with all the charm she could muster. Before the month was out, she announced their engagement and moved into the warehouse.

Kitty had taken John aside and insisted the engagement was far too soon. The woman John Tabuh had fallen in love with wasn't the real Candy; it was an illusion. But he couldn't see it. Even magicians can't see beyond the mirror when they're in love.

As soon as Candy had John's ring on her finger, she changed; she became rude and demanding. She would turn up late for rehearsals. She'd ruin tricks and blame it on Lola, but if Kitty complained, John defended Candy, insisting that she was pa.s.sionate, not aggressive; a perfectionist, not a tyrant. He said it even though she was making him miserable, because he thought he loved her.

When Candy threw a tantrum and demanded new stage clothes, John said she could hire a wardrobe mistress. She suggested her own sister, knowing, no doubt, that she could bully her into producing a lifetime's supply of frocks and a free wedding dress.

Christa was every bit as beautiful as Candy. They were identical twins. Physically, it was impossible to tell them apart, but there the similarity ended. Christa was modest, gentle and full of compa.s.sion, and as time pa.s.sed the scales fell from John Tabuh's eyes and he realized that he didn't love Candy at all; he loved Christa.

John and Christa couldn't stop loving each other. They tried to for Candy's sake, even though she was a monster. Christa knew how hurt she'd been and didn't want to be the cause of more suffering. Kitty encouraged their affair. She'd never seen John so happy and would cover for him while he slipped off to meet Christa at her flat in St Peter's Square.

Candy had no idea what was going on, but one day, when John had been out on "business", Christa came back to the warehouse glowing with kisses. Candy knew the signs of a woman in love and demanded to know who her boyfriend was. Caught on the hop, Christa said that he was an Intrepid Explorer called Bingo Hall.

Nine months later, she gave birth to a girl; something of a miracle as she'd been told she could never have children. The baby was called Sam. She had her mother's fine features and her father's blond streak in her dark hair, which Christa kept covered with a bonnet; if Candy saw it, she'd guess John was the father and who knows what she would do.

"She'd kill herself!" Christa had cried. Although she loved John with a pa.s.sion, she insisted their affair must stop and begged him to marry Candy as he'd promised. It was the last thing he wanted but, as he couldn't bear to see Christa consumed with guilt, he agreed.

Unfortunately the truth has a habit of getting out. The baby was lying in a cot in the warehouse Christa had only left her for a few minutes to fetch some sequins when along came Candy. Gloating with happiness because John had finally set a date for their wedding, she took the baby out of the cot and whirled her around like an aeroplane. As she did so, the bonnet slipped off.

Only Kitty saw it happen and recoiled in horror. Candy had seen the blonde streak in Sam's hair and realized in an instant that she was not the Intrepid Explorer's baby.

She was John's.

HOW TO SAW A LADY IN HALF.