Thank you Mystery Adventure Club for proving to be the best detectives we could have asked for!
When you told us that the culprit was the Grandmaster Professor Smartlegate, we just couldn’t believe it. We were all so shocked! He was one of the best teachers at the school; always ready to help and encouraging us to practice and be our best. Why he would try to ruin our performances, especially so close to the show? We had to find out so we decided to confront him!
All the kids marched to the office; a grand enclave on the far west side of school. Professor Smartlegate’s secretary tried to stop us from going into his office, but there were too many of us and we were all determined to speak to him. He looked up from the files on his desk as we barged in and filled the room. There was a small minute of silence and then Blaine spoke quietly and sadly. ‘Why?’ he said simply. ‘Why did you do it?
The professor simply looked at us in disappointment and said, “50 years ago I was just like you. I was a student in this very school, working on all of my tricks. I worked harder than anyone else, and spent years trying to make my assistant disappear and reappear! Yes, back in those days, each student had an assistant. I knew that after all of my practice, all of the late nights, and all of the time, that my performance would win. Unfortunately, that never happened”.
We looked around the room confused, still not sure why he was so upset or what any of that had to do with us. He continued, “What I didn’t know was that the whole time I practiced, openly sharing with my classmates, they saw that they couldn’t win the competition if my performance went forward. So they decided to stop me any way they could. And worst of it all was, my assistant - my best friend - was in on it. Together, they did something to the special mirrors I used that made her appear invisible. During my trick, when I wanted to show that she had disappeared, she was still there. Completely visible. I knew at that moment I had lost the competition. All these years, I buried my feelings. Never speaking a word of what had happened to anyone.”
We couldn’t believe what he told us. He spent 50 years heartbroken that his own classmates had ruined his one big opportunity to become a famous magician. He said to us disappointed, “I feel terrible. I just wanted someone to know how it feels to have your tricks ruined - all your hard work meaning nothing. I felt cheated for so long that I wanted everyone know what I experienced. Now I can see that this was not right”.
He told us, “I’m so sorry for what I did. I didn’t realize how deeply this had affected me. What happened changed the course of my life and it clouded my judgement. I promise to make this right. I’ll replace everything I broke and push back the talent show so that you will all have more time to practice and get ready for your big shot. Everyone deserves to have a fair chance”.
So that solves our mystery! Thank you so much Mystery Adventure Club. Now the show can go on! If I ever need any help again, I’ll be sure to get in contact with you again! Thanks so much for saving our most important day. I’m off to practice now!
- David Silvermeadow and the International School of Magic