SHORT STORIES

 

“The Cat’s Moonshadow”

The cat padded down the on the bright, frosty, moonlight night, and his moonshadow padded beside him. When the cat slipped into a dark alleyway his moonshadow, although not visible, still walked beside him.

 The cat’s dayshadow always wanted the cat to rest, but his moonshadow nagged at him to be out and about in the quite gardens. His dayshadow was all for staying where it was safe, behaving sensibly and enjoying the free food. It was his moonshadow that encouraged the cat to go further, be nosier, and take chances.

 On this night the cat was drawn to the railway line in search of any small rodents. He saw evidence that a vixen had passed this way not long before. Stopping to stare into the near distance, the cat’s acute hearing picked up a slight scurrying sound. With little difficulty the cat located the direction of the sound, and began to move cautiously forward. A small rat, realising the cat was nearby, froze, trying to blend in with the grass of the embankment. As the almost reached the rat there was another sound, and a movement in the shadows, as the vixen, who had come from the opposite direction, also came within striking distance of the rat. The cat’s eyes gleamed, fury rising, as he stared out the vixen. She meanwhile, with cubs to feed, was determined that this snack would be hers. Minutes ticked by. The rat was now hardly daring to breath as the two predators silently vied for supremacy.

 A sound from the distance reverberated through the metal of track of the railway. Both cat and vixen knew what this meant. A big, noisy object would soon come rushing by. Neither of them could know what the object was, but both knew it spelt danger for them. Now they had to decide, stay or move away to safety. The cat backed off first, climbing the embankment. The vixen moved off to the far side of the tracks and into a hollow at the base of an old tree stump. The rat took her chance and sped away.

 The object thundered past, all noise, lights and what felt to the cat like a strong gust of wind. He climbed down to the track, to find no prey. The vixen remained where she was, watching the cat slink off, before she emerged and headed in the other direction to resume hunting. About a hour later the cat and vixen past each other, one on each side of the tracks. The cat had been unlucky in his hunting, not so the vixen.

 The night was done. The moon had set beyond the horizon, and the cat’s mooonshadow was no more. With one final look along the railway track the cat turned, leaving the vixen to feed and settle her cubs in the den by the disused factory.

 The cat padded home, into the warm house and ate ravenously of the food provided. The sunlight was shining into the window, and the cat jumped up onto the sill. The cat and his dayshadow settled down for a long sleep.

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ALLY OOP!

 One evening in eighteen hundred and ninety six Okay How performed his illusion with the box for what turned out to be the last time. In the late eighteen hundreds stage magician Okay How had performed in all the great music halls in the country. He was famous for the illusion with the box. The box was about three feet by three feet by five feet tall in size with a door at the front, and decorated in what was the Chinese fashion. The illusion involved Okay opening the box with a flourish to show that it was in fact an ordinary box. Then Okay would place a rabbit into the box, close the door, and then open it again and the rabbit would be gone. Everyone would gasp. Then Okay would climb into the box himself, squeezing himself into the small space, and his assistant, Lucy, would close the door make dramatic gestures, and open the door to find Okay How gone. The amazed audience would look at the box in disbelief, then there would be a cry of “Okay How!” from behind the crowd, who would turn around to see Okay running down the aisle to the stage. There would be thunderous applause, and that would be the end of the show.

 

One the evening in question Okay’s act had gone as usual right up to the point where he climbed into the box. Lucy opened the door of the box. It was empty. She waited for the cry to ring out. Silence. The audience was getting restless, where is Okay How? That is what everyone would soon want to know. It was a sensation in the press. There was speculation that Okay had staged it as a publicity stunt, and would reappear soon with a new show to take around the theatres, guaranteed sell-outs every night. Others thought Okay might be in financial trouble and had run off just ahead of his creditors. Whilst some thought that there had to be a married woman involved somewhere. The police became involved briefly, but as they were sure it was all a hoax the case was soon dropped in favour of more pressing matters. That was the last anyone heard of Okay.

 

The box and all Okay’s other bits and pieces were sold off eventually. The box ended up in a second hand shop, sold to the owner in the nineteen fifties for thirty shillings, a good price paid because of it’s famous connection. However, there did not seem to be anyone who wanted the box, and it sat gathering dust in a corner for many years. One day in walked Larry Long, a man with no magician experience, whose wife Mary had volunteered him for a spot on a charity talent show. Larry didn’t realy know what he was looking for, something old, that might look like it belonged in magic. The shop owner was delighted. At last, some one to whom she might sell that box. The selling patter was convincing. The box was made to sound so good an illusion that Larry could hardly wait to get it home to try it out. Getting home proved more difficult that expected, the box was surprisingly heavy.

 

Larry practised and practised with the box. He was a tight fit when he got inside, being just over six foot tall, and he had to stoop, but still he managed to pull off the illusion, running jubilant down to the stage every time in rehearsal. With his other hastily learned card tricks, and not too convincing slight of hand, Larry had a reasonable act by the night of the charity talent show. Mary was his beautiful assistant, dressed in spangles and fishnet tights, with the highest heeled shoes she could wear and still stand up. Apart from the odd dropped card, and fumbled slight of hand, the act went well enough. The audience seemed to be in a forgiving mood, having already sat though a raft of indifferent acts.

 

The moment came. The box was now in the spotlight. Larry went through the routine, using a toy rabbit instead of the real thing. Then it was his turn. Into the box Larry climbed. Mary closed the door, opened it again to find the box was not empty. It contained a rabbit, that looked up at Mary, sniffing the air. The audience clapped. From somewhere at the back of the hall a voice rang out “Okay How” it cried, as a man Mary had never seen before started to run toward the stage, stopped, and stared around in confusion.