"These aren't regular children," the woman tells me. Her voice is slightly breathless. I'm wondering what she's about to share. Are they ax murderers? Savants? Do they start fires with their minds? "They're genius kids. We had a magician here last year and he couldn't get out fast enough. They figured out every one of his tricks. So we all just went to see "Now You See It" and Nicholas has decided he'd like a mind reader for his party this year."

I pause to process. "How old is he?" I ask.

"He's turning 8. His brother, Bron," she says this name so I can almost see the umlaut over the "o"...or maybe the "u" -- however the he** you spell BRON, "is bringing some of his friends as well. There will be roughly fifty children in attendance. All very smart."

She makes 'smart' sound like 'packing guns.'

I think about this. I spent three years only entertaining kids. I like them. But I've never done a complete mentalism show for them. And kids the age of 8? Hmmm. So I quote a price about double what I'd charge of the usual birthday party (significantly less than what I charge for a mentalism performance) and she agrees.

So I've spent a little time preparing the show. I've tried to figure out what an 8 year old soon-to-be rocket scientist is going to find fascinating. In the end, I pack up my mentalism show -- with some of the effects kidified and head out the door.

"I thought you were doing a mentalism show," my wife Sheree observes.

"I am," I say, as I put the large kids' show case behind me.

"What's that then?" she asks.

"What that?" I ask back, shifting just a little in a vain attempt to block the kids case.

"That's your birthday party kit," she says. "Not your mentalism case."

I pause to explain that the mentalism case is already in the car...but I've run into enough parents that think their kids are WAY smarter than they are and if it turns out that these are regular 8 year olds, I want to have some kids stuff with me...just in case.

Sheree smiles in the 'wife way' that tells me an 'I told you so' is coming no matter how things shake out.

I drive to the show and come up on a massive house. Massive. Four car garage...a Lexus in the (really long) driveway and two very imposing doors. A fantasy plays through my mind as I walk up the path with my mentalism case. Smart kids hire a mentalist and have him come to a mansion. Once there they give him a stick and tell him that he has two minutes to run before they become the hunters. Too many dumb movies.

The door opens before I knock. It's the mother.

"Exactly on time," says she. "Excellent." She's thin and her hair looks unnaturally stiff.

The creepy factor is inching up. The house is quiet. I've done enough birthday parties in my day to know what they sound like. Kids wired on sugar running roughshod through the house. Where are the kids? Did I remember to leave the address to where I'm going with Sheree? What if they are thralls for a vampire?

She takes me into a room with a large television set...a REALLY large television set...and comfy furniture arrayed around it. (I'm mentalist enough to know someone thinks I'm making this crap up. I'm not.)

"We thought this would be ideal for your...performance," she says. I am thankful she didn't call it a 'skit' or a 'little show.'

I nod. "It's perfect. It'll take me about ten minutes to set."

She's standing there looking at me. I smile. She takes a step forward. I take a step backward. The creep-o-meter is inching up again.

"My husband and I are divorcing," she says. "If you read any minds and that subject arises, I would rather you didn't talk about it."

I am honestly not sure what to say. So I nod, grateful primarily that she is making a simple request and not sprouting fangs and not tearing my still beating heart out of my body and feeding on it.

Understand -- there's nothing inherently creepy about the place. It's just a large house. She's a mom...and she hasn't actually done anything illegal...yet. But my Spidey sense is tingling.

"Where are the kids?" I ask. I'm thinking hidden dungeons and trolls and big snakes. And cages.

"Some are in the basement," says she. Holy crap, I think. "They're playing video games. Some are watching a movie. They've been waiting for you."

I watch her eyebrow -- expecting it to arch meaningfully as thunder rolls darkly through the air. It doesn't.

"Okay," I say -- ever the wit. "It'll take be about ten minutes to set the show," I say. Again. "And I'd like to see Nicholas just before we get started."

She nods and leaves.

I set the show and as I finish a kid walks in. He's a short version of his mom. Tousled blonde hair and a polo shirt. Seriously. He looks great. When I was 8, I considered it a the height of sartorial splendor if I remembered to pull up my fly.

"I'm Nicholas," he says. He extends his hand to me. So I shake it.

"Hi, Nick," I say.

"Nicholas," he corrects me. "My mother said you wanted to see me?"

"Yes," I say. "Happy Birthday!"

He pauses for a second and then says "Thank you. And thank you for coming. One of my classmates saw you at the Yamaha School fundraiser and said you were excellent."

The kid's eight. The voice belongs to a kid. The words belong to someone a LOT older. (Yamaha is a school for musically gifted youngsters.)

I thank him and then: "I'd like you to do something for me," I start.

"Of course," he says. He's suddenly all intense interest.

"I'd like you to take this pad and draw a picture for me," I say, passing him my ParaPad. "Don't let me see it. You can draw anything. When you're done, I want you to take the paper off the pad and put it into your pocket."

He nods but he's still looking at me. It's unsettling.

Finally he takes the marker and the pad and goes to the back of the room, draws his picture and comes back. He hands me the pad and the marker...already capped.

"Great," I say. "You can bring your friends in."

He pauses in a Hitchcockian way. He looks at me again with those really frank eyes. "Did my mother tell you I am a genius?"

"Yup," I say.

He stands there...maybe waiting for me to toss down rose petals or something.

"Good for you," I add. He does not roll his eyes. But he's not done yet.

"We had a magician last year. He was not very good," he adds.

"Well...I hope this year is better," I say. I am actually trying not to laugh...because this whole thing has taken on a perverse Twilight Zone feel.

Nicholas turns and leaves. But it feels like I'm the one who has been dismissed.

And they arrive a few minutes later. Usually kids come pounding into the room like apes...lots of talking and laughing and openly curious looks. These kids come in and smile at me. They nod. They take their seats. One girl smiles shyly at me...and I started to get a sense of who they are.

Genius or not...they're kids. I have this feeling that they're all playing at something that makes them be something they aren't.

"I was taking to Nicholas' mom," I start. "She told me you guys didn't want a kid's magic show."

Noses wrinkle and "My Dear LAWD" looks are exchanged.

I lean forward. "She told me you wanted the real thing."

They lean forward too. I have their complete attention. There are nods around the room.

"Don't you think it would be cool...to know what someone else is thinking without ever having to ask them?"

Nods. Smiles. A few giggles.

"That's what I do," I say. "Wanna see?"

They nod. "Then make some noise," I say.

It takes a while...but they get into it. The first few effects draw applause and then delighted sounds. As the show progresses, I can almost feel like I'm in a room full of kids. One of them chooses the word "underwear" from MOABT PE and there are kid-like snickers at both the word and the mess of a drawing that I make of it.

The PCT gets sharp intakes of breath...and Evo'que draws one of the all-time most thoughtful silences yet. Then applause. And laughter. Sixth Sense with my 'pirate' medallion and eight little hands actually draws laughter when I talk one of the kids into trying to trick me. These kids rise to EVERY challenge. My ESP cube from ProMys*ic actually draws gales of laughter when I come to the lie detector portion of the show.

Things are going well.

I invite Nicholas back and ask him to tell the group what we did before the show started.

"Mr. Thiel asked me to draw a picture."

"Have I seen this picture?"

He shakes his head. "That would be impossible. After I drew it, I ripped out the page."

"Where is that page now?" I ask.

He smiles. "In my sock."

The kids laugh.

His drawing looks like a turd with legs. But I try to play with it. And as he concentrates, I draw the same kind of turd...with legs. His picture had a sharp line in the middle. I draw a line in the middle and put two dots on either side of it.

Before we get to the reveal, Nicholas' dad arrives. He's a very precise looking man dressed in an expensive looking suit. From the other end of the room, I can smell booze. He's not unsteady or anything...just unexpectedly aromatic. Nicholas' face lights up...his mother's face darkens. The father raises one hand to all of us, smiles in a completely broken way, and leaves.

Crap.

So I try to get attention back on the effect. It's hard to get Nicholas to cooperate. He's (understandably) out of sorts. But he reveals his drawing and I reveal mine. Turds a la deux.

"It's not right," says Nicholas. He points to the two dots on either side of the line. "It's all wrong, really. There are no dots on mine."

He's upset...but I don't think it's with me. We agree that he could have drawn anything...and that my turd looks like his turd-le. I am forgiven for the two dots. I get applause.

It would be a great finish to this story to say that Nicholas was smiling and laughing by the end of the show. But he wasn't. He sat through the rest of it with his arms crossed and his face set to "stony."

The show concluded with applause and a few compliments on my bracelets, which feature skulls and malachite.

The kids cleared out. Nicholas was still there, staring straight ahead.

I was packing things up. But I really felt for the kid. It's not the first time I've been performing for a family in the process of splitting up...and it's absolutely not the first time I've seen a drinking dad appear.

So I took a chance and sat down opposite Nicholas.

"You like magic,huh?" I said.

He shrugged. "I guess."

Yup. He's eight. "Want to learn something cool?"

After a second he nods and I teach him a little something. Again -- it would be very cool to tell you that his little face lit up and his demeanor brightened. But it wouldn't be true. He was absorbed in what I showed him...and he applied himself to learning it. He was actually very quick. (Go figure.) I swore him to secrecy and he agreed a little too seriously.

I shook his hand before I left. I wanted to tell him that everything was going to be okay...but that was none of my business...and I didn't believe it myself. So I just wished him a happy birthday.

He complimented me on my bracelet...and I left. But I'm still thinking about him. I truly hope he's going to be okay.

Anyway...I thought I'd share the story with you guys.

I am also wondering how mentalism would play to regular kids...

David

Flipping heart rending tale told with somber and sober brilliance.

I can feel the melancholy seep through me and hope this family will be okay.

Best,

Atlas

When I do kids shows, I always teach them a very easy magic trick that is not lame and obvious. the mentalism trick that floors both kids and adults is that mindreading trick where you put the fingers on the temples of the announcer and the medium guesses the number. I hope you know what trick I'm talking about. It is a killer and really establishes rapport and an excuse to hang out with the kids and discuss technique, etc, for a little while longer, get to know the kids.

BTW, I really liked that story. I feel so bad for that family. =(

Sounds like you did the best you could for the kid. Yup, hard to want to 'have fun' and 'be entertained' when you're smart enough to know your family is falling apart.

I have a 10, 8, 6, and 4 year old. They're all 'regular' kids. I think mentalism would work for them (the older 2), IF they understood the premise of the effect. Whether they would appreciate it more than break-away wands and sponge bunnies...I'm not sure. It's all magic to them I suspect.

David, that's heartbreaking. Maybe you'll do a repeat show in the next year or two and see how Nicholas is getting along.

It sounds like you knew what needed to be said and done to get the young geniuses on your side. Thanks for sharing this story. It will be hard to forget.

David,

I genuinely enjoyed reading your story. Thanks for sharing.

I don't believe that you could have done anything differently or better.

Every show and audience is different, but this one might make your top ten list.


Best,


Scott

Great story. Very entertaining. You should write more David.

This story certainly made my morning more interesting and put a smile on my face. Thanks for sharing David! (for a few moments though I thought little Nick would discover the parapads err inner workings and spoil the finale haha)

What a story! Thanks for sharing this heartbreaking adventure. You are quite the raconteur, David!

A raconteur? Better smile when you say that, Paul.

I might decide to be offended. Y'know...after I look it up...so I know what it means. And stuff.

Thanks for the comments, guys. I appreciate them.

I didn't close with the drawing dupe, Mind Illusionist. I used my MindBuster and closed with Mental Epic.

You know why I keep posting these stories? It's fascinating to me to read about other performers and the experiences they've had...how they handled challenges or sharing the things that touched them. Broken marriages...drinking daddies...I've honestly lost count of the times when I've been at shows and experienced one or the other.

It all puts enormous pressure on the kids to wear a happy face. It truly is heartbreaking...but I'm never quite sure if there's a more tangible thing that could be done to help. It's certainly not my place. But still...


David

One of the best posts I've read in some time, David. Thanks for sharing.

Bryn

David, you are a great writer.

David, I genuinely enjoy reading your stories. Thank you so much for sharing. I too was expecting young Nicholas to return with a full explanation of the Para-Pad. Kids are under so much pressure these days to perform in specific ways that are not in sync to their natural personalities, it's great that you saw that aspect and allowed them to experience wonder, if only for a few minutes. At 8 years old, genius or not, they’re still trying very hard to be a parent’s little soldier. In this case, the creepy factor you witnessed is real; but it’s on the adults; the kids are just behaving as they’ve been instructed. I wouldn’t want to be around when this one finally blows up. Maybe not axe murderers, but old Mom’s definitely going into a “home”.

You gave your best gift – a few moments of escape.

Wonderful story.

VERY TRUE my friend. I loved reading this too David. Heck SURE you can do Mentalism for kids IF DONE right. John Riggs has a Kids Mentalism show that ends with a Q & A I believe, and I'm talking the EFFECT of course .

God Bless, Ed

Thank you for sharing that David. Beautifully written and tugs at the heartstrings. Hopefully Nick err... Nicholas will look back on that day and remember the gift you shared.

:-Dave

Great story writing!
Mentalism for kids? I think it works even better then real magic for the kids these days(8-9 or older). They see a lot of magicians doing the same tricks. Then they see the charismatic mentalists on tv or in the movies. Of course they will want a mentalist. It's cooler.

All you need now, is simple premise effects. I don't do kids shows and if I do, will do a lot of mentalism. Happened just two times and left with two good ideas from it:

1) for the younger ones(7-9) I did a blind fold routine. The "many layers" blind folding is interesting for them and can even be made funny. Then, I got all the kids to find an object in the room, and as I was sitting on a chair, the brought the objects between my hands(as I instructed) and I had to guess what it is. Simple, but effective. They were very happy that they had to choose the "hard to guess" object and even more happy when I got it write!
Also, it takes a lot of time.

2. for bigger ones(10-14) I did a book test with a poetry book. I had to guess the page number and the poem name. But also, after I revealed those, I started reciting the poem. That made me look like a super-man-genius-mentalist. But the important part is that was educational and the parents loved the idea.

The 1) routine can also be somehow educational by describing the good things and the bad things about the objects between hands. They listen very well in that moment, waiting for me to name the object.

Any other educational ideas?

Agreed -- a sign of the interesting times we live in. Although it might be a temporal bias shared by every generation, it does seem like kids today are really adults with small still-developing bodies.

A lot of that is due to what they can find on the Internet, which is pretty much everything unless a parent is prepared to sit next to them every time they go online. Knowing that anyone with the necessary motivation can dig up a website or video that exposes what many of us consider to be some of the most time-honored methods is a serious challenge for anyone who wants to be taken seriously.

While exposers rationalize their exposure by saying that it pushes us to be more creative, I would counter that it also destroys the wonder that good magic can provide, producing kids that become jaded long before they need to be.