The first blind paw at the phone sent it off the counter.
Levi looked down at it, missed a left handed pass with a purple ribbon.
Sarah.
Levi abandoned his surveillance and answered.
“Half off oysters at Mulligan’s. Meet me,” Sarah said without a greeting.
“Waiting on the glass people,” Levi said.
“Car get busted into?”
“Naw, front window of my loft. Bullet.”
Sarah inhaled and exhaled, both audible over the phone.
“You pay way too much for that neighborhood, Levi. Way. Too. Much. Connie is showing a place down on-”
“I wanna be here.”
“Because Giorgio’s Pizza is downstairs and it constantly smells like a large with extra onions?”
“That part is great, but there are other reasons.”
Levi glanced down at the street from the third floor.
The hidden handcuffs trick was over, and one of the small group of onlookers was wearing the purple ribbon over their shoulders.
“I’ll come over,” Sarah said. Skip Mulligans, we’ll pregame Karaoke at The Rose Slipper while you wait for the glass guys.”
Levi said “okay,” unenthusiastically. Sarah felt it.
She was starting to wonder where she stood. She knew she was at the carnival but wasn’t ringing the bell at the top.
She didn’t want to give up on Levi, but there was that one sales rep from Laidlaw who-
Text from Levi.
Can we skip Karaoke + just hang after the glass co leaves?
Sarah tapped both thumbs against the screen of her phone before impulsively typing
If hang means fuck then yes
Levi immediately sent a row of smileys, two clowns, an eggplant and a string of hearts in about 8 different colors.
Sarah smiled, double checked her legs to make sure she hadn’t missed any spots shaving, and grabbed her keys.
Levi grabbed his notebook and looked down.
It was 5:03, and people were starting to head into Giorgio’s.
Vasily the Mystery had a bigger crowd now.
At this angle of the setting sun, Levi could clearly see the outline of the false top in Vasily’s top hat.
Some of that stuff was easy to discern, some tools and accouterments that you could purchase.
Other elements of the act were beyond Levi’s comprehension.
Vasily was about to pull a card from behind a teenager’s head, and when he showed it to another member of the crowd, it would become a ping pong ball that Vasily would bounce off their forehead.
Levi had video of Vasily making the transition from card to ping pong ball, but hadn’t been able to replicate it in his loft.
He had video of Sarah in the shower, too, her all lathered and threatening to kick his ass if he showed it to anyone.
Levi had watched the shower video twice and his collection of Vasily videos dozens.
His bell rang.
He pressed the intercom.
“Yeah?”
“Northwest Glass.”
Levi buzzed them in the front door of the building.
With a flourish no one could see, he flipped the black table cloth over his notebooks and photos of Vasily.
It irked him that he was embarrassed of his project.
He didn’t want Sarah to know until he was ready.
He didn’t even want the glass guys to know.
I shouldn’t be embarrassed.
Any idiot can design software.
I’m going to be a magician.
***
Sarah dipped her pinkie into the Chartreuse and let Levi suck on it.
His eyes were somewhere else.
“Whatcha thinking about?” She asked.
Levi blinked, and smiled. He was wondering where the spinning basketball went when it turned into a dove.
***
How many of us yearn to colour outside the lines and escape from the constraints of conformity? Good on Levi for following his dreams!
Happy new year Jimmy