Zamboni

He had always wanted to be a magician, ever since he was a child. Ever since he had seen Ricky Jay perform the card trick titled “Alaskan Poker,” The trick was about the concept that in Alaska, they play a decidedly different type of poker. Alaskan Poker is a mix of draw poker and stud poker, where the deck is shuffled with half the cards face-up and half face-down. Ricky Jay shuffles the deck like this, and then deals cards out to four mock players and himself. Somehow, Jay ends up with his cards all face down, and after four are dealt to him, the rest of the deck changes “magically” face-up. At the end of the trick Ricky Jay flips his hand to reveal he has, in his hand, four aces.
The thing that had interested James the most was that he saw how the trick was done. He saw he trick shuffle and the double lifts, and every part of the trick. He followed every little detail, every little change, to see how the trick was done. As soon as he had finished watching the trick on his computer, he searched the house frantically, looking for a deck of cards. When none were to be found, he hurried down to the toy store that was a block from his house. After buying the cards, he hurried back home and started to teach himself the trick. After a couple days, he had it perfected, and he showed his family.
Even though it was flawlessly executed, his parents were bored by it and didn’t even pay attention. They hardly watched the trick, and all they said to him when it was over was, “Cool,” If they had payed the slightest bit of attention they might have realized his talent. But no, they didn’t.
Three days later, after thinking, plotting and practicing, he created his own card trick. He called it, “The Zamboni,” an italian adaptation of his last name, Zane. He quickly perfected it, and when performed, it was amazing. He had learned his lesson, though, and he was afraid to show it to people because they might not pay attention. Instead, he continued to invent and practice new tricks. He never showed them to anyone, at least then. The next time he showed someone one of his tricks, was fifteen years later, when he was twenty-seven, and working at a high class cabaret restaurant.
The entertainment at the restaurant was a new band every week, but this week was different. It was a Monday night, and the restaurant was filled with people, wanting a show. Unfortunately the band had cancelled. Four hours ago, the manager had run into the employee lounge, speaking so fast his words were blending and mixing. After he calmed down, he told them that the band had cancelled because of some other gig and he asked if anyone had any talent. James had been looking for a chance to show people his tricks, he had long got over his fear of criticism. He spoke up, telling his boss that he could do card tricks. His boss had been hesitant at first, but when James demonstrated he quickly changed his mind.
Now it was time for James to show the world his tricks to the world, the moment of truth. He stepped out onto the stage, and he heard someone announce him. There was a small card table in the center of the small wooden stage. James looked out over the crowd. There were all types of people, all races, men and women. James swallowed. He sat down at the card table, and pulled a deck of cards from his pocket. And he began to trick.
The show went on for an hour, in which James pulled twenty tricks, never missing a beat, keeping up a steady conversation with the crowd. He though, while he was performing, that he was born to do this. It definitely seemed like it. The crowd loved the show. They gasped and clapped, watching the cards with utter fascination. At the end, when he pulled his best trick, The Zamboni. It generated a huge amount of clapping and cheering. He sat there, basking in the glory, in the limelight. Then he exited, stage left.
The next few weeks were something of a blur for James. He did several more shows at the restaurant, changing his tricks every week, but keeping his best one, The Zamboni. After two weeks, he was offered a job with a traveling circus. He would do card tricks as an act. It took him exactly three seconds to decide to take the job. The salary was triple his current paycheck, and he liked traveling. He was in the circus for another two weeks, after which he got picked up by a movie company. They wanted to produce a DVD with some of his tricks. It was to be titled, The Great Zamboni. He accepted. The filming took only one week, and another to produce it and start selling it. Money started rolling in soon after. People loved his tricks, and they were paying seventeen dollars to watch them. With the royalties from the sales, James bought a new house, and new cars. Plural. He was living the good life.
He did a second DVD soon after, and it brought even more money in. He was getting to be very rich. And then, at a live show in Amsterdam, it all went wrong.
The show progressed as normal for an hour, and then it happened. A man rose out of the crowd, clutching a black pistol. The man was tall, with blond hair and blue eyes. He wore a dark blue suit, and a cross on a chain around his neck. He fired the gun three times, and the bullets tore into James’ chest ripping bloody holes through his upper body. The man was instantly tackled by three security guards, when in police custody he was identified as a very serious religious nutjob, who hated the idea of “magic” and wanted to kill anyone who claimed to be any sort of magician.
James Zane, The Great Zamboni died in the hospital four hours later. And with him went the secret of the one trick, his holy grail. The one that he never told anyone how to do. When he died, he took the magic of the Zamboni, the one that made him who he was. And to this day, no matter how many people study his videos, study his movements, no one has figured out the secret to it. Nobody ever will.