Magic in the Moonlight Page #8

a purpose for life,

a larger meaning.

That all our suffering

will somehow accrue to some

greater plan.

But if what I see

of late is real

then I don't have

all the answers.

It's possible,

even logical, that

we are here by design,

to serve some higher ideal.

And that you

could be real.

And although I have no

right to expect anything,

my aunt,

whom I love,

is in mortal danger.

And so, I ask you...

I ask you...

Wait a minute.

This is the stupidest

load of twaddle

I have ever heard.

My common sense tells me,

I'm falling into

a seductive morass

of sugarcoated claptrap

because I want

my aunt to be all right.

That girl

is a fake.

I told you the surgeons

were wonderful.

Should I not stay?

Well, there's nothing

for you to do here.

She's sleeping comfortably.

She responded

well to the drugs.

The surgery went beautifully.

She's out of danger.

You know, after you left,

I began to pray for her.

Really?

Then I rejected the entire

notion as pure poppycock.

And that includes

Miss Sophie Baker.

Is that right?

Well, if Sophie is a fraud,

then how does she do

what she does?

on, Stanley!

Oh, we were all so worried.

So worried!

You can imagine how anxious we

were about your Aunt Vanessa.

Yes!

Thank God!

Madam, I can assure you,

God had nothing to do with it.

She had good doctors.

Yeah, we have all been

on tenterhooks, Stanley.

Well, couldn't Sophie

have predicted the outcome

and put all your minds at ease?

Me? I didn't even know.

I was so mobbed

by all the press, I...

If I had known,

I would have gone

with you to the hospital.

Well, it's all over.

And, "All's well that ends well".

That's not Dickens.

Well, now that

everything's ended well,

shall we repair to the garden?

Brice? Mrs. Baker?

Me? Great idea.

I'm so excited about the further

details of the foundation.

I want to talk over...

Actually, there

are a few financial details...

Mother, I'm just

gonna stay here.

And thank you, by the way.

And I really want to

go into some detail

about how much...

Stanley, I can't imagine what has

been going through your mind.

I mean, Aunt Vanessa's

such a dear woman.

Yes, well, a man

in a hospital waiting room

while a loved one

is under the knife

has many feverish thoughts.

I imagined that if I prayed

my prayers might be heard.

You thought of praying?

I never imagined

I would hear those words.

And my ace in the hole,

so to speak, was that...

Even if the worst had happened and

Aunt Vanessa had sadly passed away,

you could always put me in touch

with her in the spirit world,

and that...

That rather put

a smile on my face.

Well, in the end,

she pulled through.

Well, you look exhausted.

Well, can you blame me?

What I need now is a good

bath and a nap and...

So, if you'll excuse me...

Yes, of course.

Stanley...

Oh, I'm so relieved

about Aunt Vanessa.

She's such a marvelous woman.

Yeah, she's so lovely.

We should break open

the champagne.

We should celebrate.

Aunt Vanessa's

recovered.

Not to mention that I

find this whole thing

a most rewarding experience.

You feel no remorse?

Why should I feel remorse?

Hoodwinking a lifelong friend.

Wife.

I see it quite differently.

Hoodwinking is what we do.

Now, you've got to understand

that since we were boys,

I have played second fiddle

to that egomaniacal,

self-regarding...

Genius.

Yeah, he's a

genius at what he does,

and I turned out

to be a mere mortal.

But now, after years

of trailing in his wake,

and I admit,

some envy and resentment,

I have finally put one over

the great Wei Ling Soo.

I have fooled the man

who could not be fooled.

Not quite, Howard.

How did...

You admired this effect

when you saw my show in Berlin.

I said I'd teach it to you

if you behaved yourself,

but you have not behaved.

It's a trick, Sophie.

I don't really dematerialize

and reassemble my ectoplasm

any more than you contact

spirits or read minds.

Stanley, I can explain...

I watched you so closely.

Howard watched your mother,

but who watched Howard?

You were free

to rap on the table.

You seized the floating candle,

you swore there were no

wires making it float,

and I took you at your word.

You were free to rap

once for yes, twice for no.

And when Sophie excused

herself at my aunt's

to make a telephone call,

she called you

and you fed her

information about my aunt.

At first, I couldn't believe

you would betray me like that.

But, as you know,

lam a misanthrope.

And that people do

unconscionable things

does not run counter to my

normal view of humanity.

As boys, we both chose

magic as our calling.

We both practiced day and

night, I as much as you.

My skill was

the equal of yours,

and yet, you emerged onto the

world stage as the great artist.

But it wasn't fair.

Life's not fair, Howard.

In fact, as a general

rule, as I've often said,

it's pretty nasty.

Because of Sophie,

I began to succumb

to magical thinking.

And for a while,

I was actually happy.

But I was happy

as a fool is happy.

Happiness is not

the natural human condition.

And incidentally, you never

practiced as much as I did,

and your skill

was never equal to mine.

Stanley, I'm sorry,

I'm sorry...

I ran into Howard here when he

was sent to expose me, and he...

He did expose me, quite easily.

But we made this private

pact to do this scheme,

and I only agreed because it

meant so much to Mom and me.

I view your behavior as

a great man views

the malicious mischief of...

What shall we say, pygmy?

You're a fake.

As I always should have

known, and did, in my heart.

I only wish I hadn't wasted

so much time with you.

Well, now you're just being

a pompous stick in the mud.

We played an elaborate

joke on you, Stanley.

No one was harmed.

My reputation will suffer,

and you played me for a fool.

Your reputation is all ego!

I've...

Yes, yes,

things got out of hand,

but no awful thing happened.

I mean, you were...

You were happy.

And you enjoyed life for once.

You saw the world

as optimists see the world.

And we had some

laughs together,

so don't say that you wasted

your time with me.

What would you have been doing?

Sitting in your room and shuffling

cards in front of a mirror?

All my optimism

was an illusion.

Well, I started

reading that book

by that German philosopher,

you know, that you gave me?

I didn't really

understand much of it,

but he said that we need

our illusions to live.

You mean lies.

You were much happier

when you let some lies

into your life, Stanley.

Think about it,

Stanley,

do you really want to ruin the

peace of mind Grace Catledge has,

secure in the knowledge that she

is her husband's only love?

We can't go around

deluding ourselves.

But we must.

If we're to get through life.

I mean, I didn't say it,

I'm just quoting,

you know, Mister...

Um...

Nietzsche.

And, in the end, who really knows

what's real and what's not?

Well, it's quite clear what's real,

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