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This writing was accepted for publication in
the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book
the Curve of Arctic Air
cc&d (v253) (the Jan./Feb. 2015 Issue)




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the Curve of Arctic Air

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Salvation
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the cc&d
Jan. - June 2015
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Jan. - June 2015
cc&d magazine
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Salvation
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Jan. - June 2015
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Jan. - June 2015
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Sunlight
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Sanctuary

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prose & artwork anthology)
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Surprise, Surprise

Harry Noussias

    Yeah, you know. You’ve seen it a hundred times. Me too. It happened last year.
    A magician on a stage aided by his very sexy wife prepared to perform the longest trick of his life. The longest trick, at least that’s what he said. That’s what the advertisement said. That’s what they all went to see.
    There was a drum roll
    The sexy wife danced bewitchingly, seductively, alluringly. All eyes were on her. No one was watching the magician. I guess that was the plan. You know, all part of the show. Anyway, he placed her in a box. He did it with style, pose and elegance. All those elaborate motions just to put her in a box. But, people want to feel like they are getting their money’s worth.
    There was another drum roll, and in view of a very watchful crowd he made her disappear seemingly forever. He showed the audience the empty box. They all waited for her to reappear. But, she never did. And that was the end.
    Some kid in the third row shouted this is a rip off! I agree. Don’t you?
    Some time had lapsed, several weeks, before anyone even had a suspicious thought. Then the police came looking for the little bits and pieces they sought. There was no body and the evidence was all circumstantial. The arrest was based on hearsay and rumors, some quite substantial. Whatever that means. That’s how the newspaper reporter wrote it. It kind of rhymes. I guess he thinks he’s a poet.
    The courtroom was void of a single caring heart or sympathetic ear. The hangman sat unobserved in the row furthest to the rear. Yeah, I’m surprised that they still hang people in that state. But, they do. Anyway, the hangman smiled as he knew he would earn his daily bread. The judge’s sentence to be hanged by the neck until dead. More rhyming stuff from the poet reporter.
    On the gallows the two men stood both dressed in black. The condemned magician was facing forward with the hooded executioner at his back.
    There was no drum roll.
    As the magician glanced at the trap door on the deck a hood was mounted on his head (just like the executioner’s except there were no holes for the eyes). A rope surrounded his neck.
    Still no drum roll.
    The trap door was sprung only seconds before the message came that the magician had done nothing for which he was to blame. It was just a misunderstanding the wife was alive and well.
    It was a tragic mistake, but something of which no one could foretell. Oh well. Stuff happens.
    The lifeless body was brought down and the hood slowly taken. But, the magician’s secret knowledge served him well. The observers were all shaken.
    You’ll never guess. I didn’t.
    The clever magician was gone. They could not believe their eyes.
    In his place the paid hangman was dead instead surprise, surprise.



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