by Isaiah Koch
AGood evening ladies and gentlemen, I=m Michael Murphy, the magician,@ he said. AWelcome to the Kay theater, here in Miami, Florida,@ Michael told the audience.
Michael started by doing some coin tricks, by making them disappear.
AFor my next trick, could I have a volunteer from the audience?@
AI=ll do it,@ said a man.
AWhat=s your name?@ asked Michael.
AHi, I=m Edward.@
AEdward, I would like you to help me with one of my magic tricks.@
Frank, the usher, escorted Edward up to the stage. As they walked around the magician=s table, Edward tripped and bumped the stuff off the table.
AOh, no!@ shouted the magician. AMy golden magic wand, did it break?@ Michael ran over to the wand to see if it was broken.
Frank picked up the golden magic wand, admiring its golden shine.
APut that down! That wand is priceless!@ exclaimed Michael. Frank walked off the stage through the backdoor.
Michael continued with his magic trick by asking Edward to step in the box. While Edward was getting into the box, Michael explained the trick to the audience.
The magician turned around and said, AHocus pocus.@ And when he said this, Edward vanished.
Michael opened the box to show that Edward was gone. Then he closed the box, and said, AAbracadabra!@ Then he opened the box and Edward was back and the audience applauded, and Edward returned to his seat.
The magician started his next trick by doing a card trick. After he did the card trick, the janitor cleaned up the water that was spilled, that fell when the table was bumped.
Michael noticed that his wand was missing.
He looked all over for it, but couldn=t find it anywhere.
Worried about what happened to his wand, Michael called the police. The police couldn=t find his wand anywhere, either. The police questioned and searched everyone there that evening. They didn=t find the wand.
After the long evening, Michael went home. And then he listened to music and ordered a pizza. Because Michael was so worried about the wand=s disappearance, he couldn=t sleep, so he worked on his stamp collection.
When he was working on his stamp collection, Michael realized that the janitor was on the stage during his performance. Also, he remembered he saw the usher admiring the magic wand.
Michael figured out that if the police searched everyone, the golden wand must be in the theater. So the magician went back to the theater to check the janitor=s closet and the usher=s office.
But when Michael got there, he thought he saw someone who looked like Edward leaving the theater. Michael was suspicious that Edward may have taken the golden wand.
Michael climbed down the stairs, under the stage, that led to the trap door. When he got down there, he noticed a loose brick was on the floor. He lifted up the loose brick, and when he looked under there, he saw a depression in the dirt in the exact shape of his golden wand.
He knew who the thief was! He called the police and told them to arrest... Edward!
How did he know? Didn=t the police search Edward and everybody else?
But Edward was the only one who went in the basement - when he slid out of the bottom of the box that the magician made him disappear from. It was then that he had the chance to hide the wand under the brick, and then he came back later to get it. That=s why Michael saw him running away from the Kay theater the next day.
When the police went to Edward=s house, they found the wand there, and Edward was completely surprised that he had been caught.