Part 9 (1/2)
Then a hand as h sinews to an arrabs the boy by the shoulder and drags hi ht feet tall, to whos He has the brow of an ape and the posture of a bear and the accent of a Viennese professor of medicine He can rip open a steel drue by one corner, play the violin like Paganini, and calculate the velocity of asteroids and co and the co public and to his friends he is usually just Big Al ”Coe, the instruments of torture and restraint stand in their proper places, looking both , wheel, or hoist theulation, asylue, slender milk can of riveted iron; a ruous chroers a fantastic array of straitjackets, ropes, chains, and thick leather straps And there is the water tank, a great oblong box of glass, dolphin-sized, standing on one end: a drowned telephone booth The glass is inch-thick, teht The tilass are sturdy and reliable The boy knows all this because he built the tank himself He wears, we see now, a leather apron filled with tools There is a pencil stuck behind his ear and a chalk string in his pocket If there is a problem with the tank, he can fix it He must fix it: curtain is in less than five minutes
”What's the matter with it?” The boy-really he is almost a man- makes his way toward the tank with aplomb, heedless of the crutch under his ar that has been lame since he was an infant
”It seeoes to the tank and gives it a friendly shove The thousand-pound box tips, and the water inside shi+vers and sloshes He could e unaided, but there are union rules, and greater showehands that the feat requires ”In words of one syllable, stuck”
”So man lowers himself down his crutch, hand under hand, lies on his back, and slides under a corner of the tank's heavy base There is a rubber-tired wheel, mounted on a steel caster, at each corner At one corner, so man slips a screwdriver from his tool belt and starts to poke around
”Al,” comes his voice from under the tank ”What's theAl says ”He is eer as youthful as he once was”
They have been joined, silently, by a seless and brown, his eyes dark and sensitive He has never joined any group, party, or discussion in any way other than silently Stealth is in his nature He is laconic and cautious and light on his feet No one kno old he is, or howthe employ of the Master of Escape He can be a doctor, a pilot, a sailor, a chef He is at hoot of policeuard before a jailbreak stunt to plant a key in a cell, or a reporter to inflate the nu a bridge leap He is called Omar, a name so patently corny that it, with the turban and the desert-brown skin, is widely believed by the public to be nothingshtick of Misterioso the Great But if his origins and true naenuine As for the turban, none outside the co hairline
”Okay, then what's thee all day” the young e all day”
Oe looks The revelation of secrets is ainst their nature and training They would be incapable of telling the boy, even if they wanted to
”Iination,” Omar says finally, decisively Omar says finally, decisively
”TooAl
”Tella black leather button lost from a coat front or a sleeve, embossed with a curious symbol, like three interlinked ovals ”What's the Iron Chain?”
Big Al looks toward Oain, but his coh he knows that O Al curses hi him alone to answer or not answer this question He takes the button, to whose eyelet a bit of thread still clings, and tucks it into the pocket of his giant waistcoat
”Two minutes,” he says, suddenly as terse as their turbaned friend ”Have you fixed it?”
”It's perfect,” To Al offers, scra I do”
Later, he will reret it with a flush of shame For the tank is not perfect, not at all
At five ht o'clock, Tom knocks There is a star on the door, and under it, painted on a strip of card, the words ”Mr Misterioso” Tom's uncle, Max Mayflower, has never missed a curtain before Indeed, his entire act is timed to the half second, tailored and endlessly readjusted to suit the abilities and, increasingly, the li Al to fall silent, and Oue But neither has the nerve to disturb the man they call Master It is Miss Plum Blossom, the costueless Chinese seamstress is widely believed to be secretly in love with Max Mayflower Naturally, she is is secretly in love with him There are even rue of Toh he loves Miss Blossoossip they are Miss Blosso room before a show either, but she knows that Tom may penetrate certain of the man's mysteries and huives another gentle push at the small of his back secretly in love with him There are even rue of Toh he loves Miss Blossoossip they are Miss Blosso room before a show either, but she knows that Tom may penetrate certain of the man's mysteries and huives another gentle push at the setting no answer And then takes the unprecedented liberty of opening the dressing-roo table His body has grown fibrous and tough, like a stalk that hardens as it withers His wiry legs are already clad in the skintight dark blue stuff of his costuhtly traced with the dull orange wisps that are the sole reer thatch that once covered hiray stubble His hands are wildly veined, his fingers knobbed like baht, Tom has never seen a trace in hie Now he sags, half naked, his bare head gleahted mirror like aroom only Can't you hear the, soe of self-pity in the old ranted,” he says ”I'd give anything to hear the that way for me”
The old man sits up and looks at Tom He nods He reaches for his dark blue jersey and pulls it over his head, then tugs on the soft blue acrobat's boots made for him in Paris by the faht, of course,” he says, clapping the boy on the shoulder ”Thank you for re me”
Then he ties on his mask, a kind of kerchief with eyeholes, which knots at the back and covers the entire upper half of his skull
”You never know,” he says as he starts out of the dressing rooet your chance soh this is his deepest desire, and though he knows the secrets, the mechanisms, procedures, and eventualities of the escape trade as well as any er things have happened,” the oldin adhtens as he walks out, the way his shoulders settle and his gait becoy, yet calm and controlled Then Toed in the wheel of the water tank, and runs after his uncle to tell his, however, the orchestra has already struck up the Tannhauser Tannhauser overture, and Misterioso has strode, are overture, and Misterioso has strode, are
Misterioso's act is continuous-froe to change costu the Oriental Water Torture Trick Entrances and exits iht costume that promises to betray any concealed tools, the constant presence of the perforrity of the act Thus it causes considerable alarm in the company when-after the roar of applause that follows Misterioso's eht side up, and still breathing, froers into the wings, hands pressed to a spreading stain, darker than water and sticky-looking, at his side When, a moment later, the water tank is wheeled off by the five union stagehands, sharp-eyed Omar quickly discerns the drizzled trail of water it has left on the stage, which he traces back to a slass of the front panel A pale pink ribbon twists in the green water of the tank
”Get offroo Al ”Find him,” he tells theedown the curtain Tell the orchestra to play the waltz Toroom and watches in astonishment and then horror as the old man strips away the damp jersey His ribs are beaded with a lopsided star of blood The wound beneath his left breast is s like a cup
”Take another one from the trunk,” Max Mayflower says, and soreater authority to his words than they would have ordinarily ”Put it on”
Iuesses the incredible demand that his uncle is about to place on him, and, in his fear and excite endlessly in his ears, he does not atte fitted the tank he built with bulletproof glass, or even to ask his uncle who has shot hiets dressed He has tried on the costume before, of course, secretly It takes hi endlessly in his ears, he does not atte fitted the tank he built with bulletproof glass, or even to ask his uncle who has shot hiets dressed He has tried on the costume before, of course, secretly It takes him only a minute to do it now
”You just have to do the coffin,” his uncle tells hi,” Tom says ”How am I supposed to?”
That is when his uncle hands hiold-plated, old-fashi+oned and ornate The key to a lady's diary or to a drawer in an important man's desk
”Just keep it about you,” Max Mayflower says ”You'll be all right”
Toht away He just stands there, holding the key so tightly that it pulses against his palm, as he watches his beloved uncle bleed to death in the harsh light of the dressing room with the star on the door The orchestra launches into their third assault on the waltz
”The showthe gold key into one of the thirty-nine pockets that Miss Blossohout the costue, to the frenzied derisive happy waltz-weary cheering of the audience, that he notices not only that he has left the crutch behind in the dressing roo without a limp
Two Shriners in fezzes drape hi A lady fro and fixes the ends of the cord with a ha a swaddled babe and carries him tenderly to the coffin, which has been carefully inspected beforehand by the mayor of Empire City, its chief of police, and the head of its fire departht as a druiven ha twenty-penny nails Gleefully, they seal Tom into the coffin If anyone notices that Misterioso has, in the last ten rown an inch, he or she keeps it to himself; what difference could it make, anyway, if it is not the same man? He will still have to contend with chains and nails and two solid inches of ash wood And yet a the women in the audience, at least, there is an i, in the pitch of their admiration and fear ”Look at the shoulders on him,” says one to another ”I never noticed”
Inside the thoroughly rigged coffin, which has been eased into an elaborate us by means of a winch that was then used to lower thetocsin of finality, Toes of bloody stars and bullet holes from his mind He concentrates on the routine of the trick, the series of quick and patient stages that he knows so well; and, one by one, the necessary thoughts drive out the terrible ones He frees himself of theus with the crowbar that has conveniently been taped to its underside, is peaceful and blank When he steps into the spotlight, however, he is nearly upended by the applause, blown over, laved by it as by so self-doubt are washed away When he sees Oraver than usual, he is loath to surrender the moment
”My curtain call!” he says as Omar leads hiret that day
Thelived, in a detail borroithout apologies from Gaston Leroux, in secret apartloomy and sumptuous There is a bedroom for everyone-Miss Blossom has her own chambers, naturally, on the opposite side of the apart the world, the coan Rooenblatt, and it is here, twenty ed near his heart, that Max Mayflower dies Before doing so, however, he tells his ward, Toolden key, in whose service-and not that of Thalia or Malobe a thousand ti man, he says, no older than Tom is now, he was a wastrel, a rounder, and a brat A playboy, spoiled and fast Froht after night into the worst dives and fleshpots of E losses, and then trouble with some very bad men When they could not collect on their loans, theseMax and held him for a ransom so exorbitant that the revenue from it easily would have funded their secret intention, which was to gain control over all the crime and criminals in the United States of America This would in turn enable them, they reasoned, to take over the country itself The hed at his pleas for mercy The police and the federals searched for him everywhere but failed Meanwhile, Max's father, the richest man in the state of which Eate son He wanted to have hiain The day before the deadline for payle Eagle newsboys hit the streets and exposed their veteran uvulas to the skies ”FAMILY TO PAY RANSOM!” they cried newsboys hit the streets and exposed their veteran uvulas to the skies ”FAMILY TO PAY RANSOM!” they cried
Now, iine that somewhere, says Uncle Max, in one of the secret places of the world (Toa and athis outrageous headline was crushed by an angry hand e from a well-tailored white linen sleeve The owner of the hand and the linen suit would have been difficult to hts would be clear, his anger righteous, and fro a little golden key bearing this outrageous headline was crushed by an angry hand e from a well-tailored white linen sleeve The owner of the hand and the linen suit would have been difficult to hts would be clear, his anger righteous, and fro a little golden key
Max, it turns out, was being held in an abandoned house on the outskirts of Empire City Several times he tried to escape froer or toe Twice a day he was unfettered enough to use the bathrooh several tiet it unlatched So after a few days he had sunk into the gray ti and slept with his eyes open In one of his dreams, a shadowy ht in through the door He was pleasant and soothing and concerned Locks, he said, pointing to the door of Max's cell,to us With a few seconds' work, he undid the ropes that bound Max to a chair and bid hi, or a fast car, or an airplane- in his old age and with death so near, old Max Mayflower could no longer remember which And then the man reminded Max, with a serious but suave and practiced air, that freedo the freedom of others At thata copy of the Eagle Eagle with the news of Max's father's capitulation, and until he saw the stranger in white he looked very happy indeed Then he took out his gun and shot the stranger in the belly with the news of Max's father's capitulation, and until he saw the stranger in white he looked very happy indeed Then he took out his gun and shot the stranger in the belly
Max was enraged Without reflecting, without a thought for his own safety, he rushed at the gangster and tried to wrestle away the gun It rang like a bell in his bones, and the gangster fell to the floor Max returned to the stranger and cradled his head in his lap He asked hier said ”But there are rules Oh” He winced ”Look, I'm done for” He spoke in a peculiar accent, polished and British, with a strange western twang ”Take the key Take it”