Daniel was eating lunch with his grandmother and her friends at the retirement community.
"Daniel does wonderful magic tricks," Grandma said proudly to Mr. Hudson and Mrs. Ross.
"Would you like to see one?" Daniel picked up his spoon and wiped it off.
"I will now use my magic powers to bend this spoon."
Daniel focused on the spoon, which slowly bent in his hands.
"Such a clever boy!" Grandma said.
But Mr. Hudson wasn't impressed.
"You need to work on concealing the spoon's handle.
A magician must be aware of how his tricks look from every angle.
I could see what you were doing over here."
Daniel sighed. "Are you a magician?"
Mr. Hudson nodded. "What's your favorite trick?"
Daniel's face lit up.
"I love all kinds of magic, especially big illusions!
It would be fun to make someone float above a table."
"Levitation tricks require special equipment that amateur magicians don't have," Mr. Hudson said.
"Things like platforms that rise in the air.
But I think card tricks and other close-up magic require more skill."
He took out a coin.
"My favorite tricks involve teleportation—like moving coins from place to place."
Mr. Hudson made the coin vanish from one hand.
He pulled it out from behind Daniel's ear with his other hand.
Daniel shook his head. "How did you do that?"
"Practice!" Mr. Hudson winked.
"I've always admired escape artists, though their routines make me so nervous," Mrs. Ross said.
"Especially when someone is handcuffed or tied inside a tank of water."
"Don't worry," Mr. Hudson said.
"An assistant slips the magician the keys to the handcuffs or uses knots that are easy to untie.
The magician escapes quickly but stays underwater for suspense."
"I still wouldn't want Daniel trying that!" Grandma said.
"I prefer classic tricks like pulling a rabbit out of a hat."
"Nobody does that anymore, Grandma.
Using animals in magic acts is considered cruel.
Magicians pull other things out of hats today—like bowling balls!"
"The item is often hidden in a secret compartment," Mr. Hudson explained.
"The magician sets his hat over the compartment and pulls the object through an opening in the hat."
"I'm just a beginner," Daniel said.
"All those tricks take lots of practice!"
Daniel was determined to outwit Mr. Hudson.
So the next time he visited Grandma, he brought an assistant, his friend Joaquin.
"There's another kind of magic we didn't discuss," Daniel said as Joaquin blindfolded him.
"Mind reading."
Joaquin invited Mrs. Ross to hand him any item from her purse.
"I'm thinking about this object." Joaquin paused.
"Read my mind."
"Wallet," Daniel said.
"You're right!" Mrs. Ross handed Joaquin something else.
"I'm thinking about this object." Joaquin paused for a few seconds.
"Read my mind."
"Comb," Daniel replied.
"Wonderful!" Mr. Hudson applauded.
"Magicians and their assistants usually have code words for different items, but I'm puzzled.
Joaquin said the same thing both times.
If you did the trick again, I could probably figure it out."
Daniel removed his blindfold.
"That's why we're not repeating it!" he said.
"Won't you read my mind just once?" Grandma pleaded.
"Sure, that's easy." Daniel grinned.
"You're thinking, 'Such a clever boy!'"