Age 8

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the first ever Arthur Kirkland magic show! Prepare to be amazed as I blow your mind, defy the laws of reality, and make you question everything you have ever known!"

Alfred clapped loudly, laughing. "Arthur, there's no ladies here. Just me!"

Arthur scrunched up his nose, his little quirk when he was annoyed. "I know that, duh. It's to be dramatic."

"Okay, okay. Do the show!" Alfred smiled.

A smile spread over Arthur's face, but it was quickly replaced by a mischievous, shifty look. He pulled the cheap purple cape over his face and took a few steps back. "Now," he said in a low tone, "for my first trick, I will take this-" he let go of the cape and in his hand was a small pebble, "-rock, and place it here, on the table."

He set the stone down in the middle of the plastic folding table, with a bedsheet draped over as a makeshift tablecloth. "Then, I will take these three cups, and put them each on the table, with only one covering the rock."

Arthur pulled three small cups from a box and put them all on the table, covering the rock as he had said he would. Then, he quickly began shuffling the cups, changing their positions as quickly as he could. Alfred watched with wide eyes. He kept his eye on the cup which held the rock inside. His eyes darted to and fro with the cup's position, and finally, Arthur stopped mixing them around.

"Now, you there in the audience," Arthur pointed at Alfred, "which cup has the rock inside it?"

Alfred jumped up and pointed to the cup on his left. "That one!" he exclaimed, confident as ever.

Arthur grinned and lifted the cup, but to Alfred's surprise, there was no rock underneath.

"What..? But I followed it exactly!"

"Why don't you check under the other ones?"

Alfred lifted the other two cups, but they also were empty.

"Hahahahaha! I, Arthur Kirkland the magnificent, have made the rock disappear!"

He took an extravagant bow and and Alfred clapped, awed by the boy's performance.

"That was awesome!" he said, sitting back down, "But… where is it?"

Arthur laughed. "A magician never reveals his secrets."

Alfred pulled a sour face, but quickly got over his trouble. "Okay, so what's next?"

"Well," said Arthur, stroking his chin, " for my next trick… I will need a member of the audience."

Alfred shot his hand into the air. "Arthur! Me, me! I'm the only one here!"

"You, sir, with the glasses! Step right up!"

Alfred excitedly ran up next to his friend. Arthur handed him his wand and he took it with wonder-filled eyes. He held it gently in his hands, afraid that if he handled it in a strange way it would shoot sparks or something.

"What is your name, sir?" Arthur inquired to his subject's confusion.

"You already know my name."

"Just pretend," Arthur whispered.

The younger boy stood tall. "My name is Alfred. F Jones!"

"Alfred, I want you to hold the wand by the end"

He did.

"Now wave it around. See if it does anything."

He waved the wand, holding it as far as possible from his face. When nothing happened, Alfred frowned.

"Nothing's happening…"

With a twinkle in his eye, Arthur snatched up the wand. "That's because you're not a magician! Now, watch this!"

With a flick of the wrist, a bouquet of flowers sprang from the wand. Alfred gasped.

"Wow! How did you do that?" he asked for the second time.

Arthur scrunched up his nose again. "Like I said, a magician never reveals his-"

The front door of Arthur's house was thrown open with a bang, and Arthur jumped. A tall, gaunt woman, whom Alfred knew to be Arthur's mother, trudged over to the two boys. She stood over Arthur and his table.

"What are you doing?" she spat in a Cockney accent.

Arthur nervously yanked off his hat and cape. "Nothing, mum. Just playing with Alfred."

"Did I say you could take all this shit outside?"

Alfred went bug eyed and silent at her words.

"No…"

"Then don't fuckin' bring it outside! Pick up all this rubbish and put it in your room. I'm going to Uncle Davie's house and you better not call me, otherwise you're gonna be in some deep shit, boy."

Arthur's mother climbed into her sedan and slammed the door shut. She pulled out and sped down the street leaving the two boys on their own. Arthur put the wand back in the box and started pulling the bedsheet off of the table.

"Wow," Alfred said, helping him fold the sheet, "Your mom is pretty mean."

The older boy just stared at the ground, expressionless save for the obvious hurt in his eyes. "It's okay. She's always like that."

Alfred shifted uncomfortably. "I didn't know you had an uncle," he remarked.

A sour expression overcame Arthur. "I don't. That's just what she calls her boyfriend, Dave."

"Oh."

The two boys silently put away Arthur's magic kit and the fold away table. Alfred's mind turned the whole while. He wondered if Arthur's mother was just angry, or if she hated him. Either way, he was sure that he would never try and cross her in the future.

When everything was back in its rightful place, the boys flopped onto the couch. Arthur lay on his stomach and Alfred climbed and sat on top of him.

"What do you wanna do now?" Alfred asked, poking Arthur's back.

Arthur sighed. "I don't know. I'm not that excited anymore."

"Yeah."

Arthur got up, Alfred rolling off of him. He looked at his friend, dejected. "You can go home if you want," he said, Alfred frowning at the loss of enchantment in his voice.

"No," he said, and gave Arthur a reassuring hug. "I want to stay here with you."