The Magician

The magician asked for volunteers from the crowd and selected a little girl from all of the kids holding up their hands. She walked up to him and waited for instruction. He asked her name and thanked her for helping him. Then he had her turn and face the audience while standing in front of him.

As he flourished "The Magic Wand", he began to explain to her that he was going to use his magic to turn her into a rabbit and asked if that would be ok. She grinned and nodded her head. Then he began the "hocus pocus", "abra cadabra" talk while circling the top of her head with the magic wand. Just as he'd get to the point where he was going to complete the transformation, he'd stop and tell a story. One of the stories was about a little boy he had turned into a rabbit, and the rabbit ran off never to be seen again. He asked the little girl to please not run off after she was turned into a rabbit. She nodded and promised to stay put.

After about the tenth iteration of "abra cadabra", he dropped the magic wand in front of the little girl. A large sheet of paper rolled out of the wand, and the magician held the paper in front of the little girl. Painted on the paper was a rabbit with the face cut out--exactly where he positioned her face. After a round of applause, she returned to her mom.

The little girl really thought she was going to be turned into a rabbit. But I had already transformed her--my little girl--into a rabbit a few years earlier. I had made her a costume for Halloween; she's the white bunny on the right. I also turned my son into Batman. (By the way, I had no trouble getting him into the traditional "Batman Blue" (girls) tights.) Also pictured is "Robin"--my nephew Chris and the gray bunny is my nephew Pat.

All four of these "kids" love seeing the photos from that Halloween. I can't believe that I took this photo almost 30 years ago.

Enjoy the memories and the photo, kids. I love you.