Nocturne in Magic [Flash Fiction]

                                                                       Nocturne in Magic

     The rain was torrential when the magician reached the bus stop that evening. He brushed off his shoulders, casting glittering drops everywhere, and he looked doubtfully at the shelter above as the rain hammered down. His leather satchel leaned against him, its secrets safe and dry.

     He was alone for five minutes before another poor soul rushed in. Her box-dye red hair dripped, her hoodie drenched to the point it looked more black than gray. She gave an apologetic smile as she sat next to him.

     “Awful, isn’t it? Hopefully it doesn’t result in a tornado like last week.”

     The magician frowned. “A tornado?”

     “Yeah, one came just north of town…” She took in his shimmering midnight blue suit. “Are you not from around here?”

     “I’m passing through. Or rather, I’m on a tour of sorts.”

     “Are you in a band?”

     He looked down at his satchel briefly. “I’m a magician, actually.”

     “Really?” The woman’s eyes brightened. “You could probably figure out this trick I learned!”

     Before he knew it, she held out a silver dollar in her right hand.

     “See this? It’s a fairly big coin. Considering my hands are kind of small, this would be hard to vanish, right? But I’m going to try anyway.”

     She closed her fingers over the coin and turned her fist so the back of her hand faced up.

     “Because it’s magic, it needs one, maybe two, maybe even three taps to make it vanish,” she said, tapping her closed fist with her left index finger each time. “Now let’s see if it worked.”

     The magician watched as she rubbed her fingers against her palm, opening them to reveal nothing. He grinned. “That was very well done.”

     “You know the secret?”

     He nodded at her left hand, where the coin was. “Must have taken you awhile to perfect.”

     “I did mess up a lot in the process,” she replied with a shy laugh. “But I always wanted to do at least one magic trick…there’s so little magic to be found in the everyday world.”

     “It’s not that common, is it?” He paused, his eyes sympathetic. “Since you were so kind to demonstrate, allow me to return the favor.”

     Reaching into his satchel, he pulled out a thin rod and a lighter. Lighting the tip, he let her gaze drink in the dancing golden flame.

     Then, with a perfectly timed flourish of his hand, the flame vanished and a red silk rose blossomed in its place.

     “How did you do that?” She stared in awe at the rose as he gave it to her.

     “Perhaps you’ll learn it and perform it for me next time. If I ever find myself passing through again.”

     “Well, then,” she said, giving him her coin, “be sure to come back.”

     Her perceptive smile and the warmth of her coin in his hand awakened something unnamable and tender inside him. The chaos of the rain felt miles and miles away as he smiled back at her.

Author’s Note

     The piece of flash fiction you’ve just read was one I wrote last spring (2024) for a contest requiring stories be 500 words or less and centered around the theme of magic. As is the nature of flash fiction, the story itself can barely be more than a moment, and you really have to think about what’s happening so you don’t exceed the word limit. Storytelling sacrifices are made because of this, yes - but it is a fun exercise in seeing how much you can tell with only so many words!

     With the theme being magic, I could have gone in a more fantastical direction (like I was inclined to). However, the venue holding this contest was based in literary fiction – as are most contests of this nature – and I knew leaning into the fantasy genre wouldn’t fit. So I instead opted for another source of magic that captures my imagination – the sleight of hand of magicians.

     Yes, for this story, I had to research a couple magic tricks to understand how I should write them out. Both the coin and the rose tricks are familiar sleights of hand you can access online and in magic books. I doubt my writing of the coin trick makes it sound half as cool as it looks, but I tried as best as I could!

     The idea of two strangers meeting at a bus stop at night was one of the first elements of this story that came to mind. In writing tons of flash fiction last spring, I realized this theme – strangers meeting and connecting – was something I revisited a lot. I’m fascinated by people and I think there’s a lot of magic in those moments when we feel a pull towards others. In an age where loneliness and isolation are everywhere, striking a chord with a stranger seems like a distant yet lovely dream. Admittedly, my own experiences with loneliness have also drawn me to write stories about characters finding their way towards friendship, love, kinship, community, comradery – whatever form of connection it is they need most.

     While this story didn’t win the contest it was submitted to, I did end up digging this out for peer review for one of my graduate classes last fall. Honestly, I’d been thinking about this story ever since I wrote it, so I was wondering if others would see anything in it. They sure did and then some. Two out of my three peer response partners said I’d written a “meet-cute” between the magician and the woman, and they wanted a whole novel about those characters falling in love! (A friend read it over and also agreed on the hints of romantic chemistry) I had no idea that the chemistry between those characters gave off that vibe, but then that’s the beauty of others reading your writing: they’ll see and interpret things in a way you couldn’t have while writing it. I’m not a romance writer by any means (more of a “romance as a subplot” kind of writer), but I do like the idea of revisiting these two characters and giving them a longer, more in-depth story someday!

     Looking back, I can see why this (and so many other flash fiction stories I wrote last spring) didn’t succeed. The biggest part of that lies in the writing itself. Literary fiction requires extra close attention to the language used and tends to favor extreme realism with a down to earth feel. None of that is really present here, despite my best efforts. And though I knew I was never going to be a literary fiction writer, I hoped I had it in me to at least be flexible in my skills. In the end, this opportunity showed me both where my natural writing style lay and showed me my limitations at the time.

     But that doesn’t mean this wasn’t a success of some kind. Writing this story made me more aware of the stories I want to tell, the characters I want to bring to life, and the moods I want to set. True, it features a much more realistic setting/premise than I’d choose to work with. Yet every time I think of this story, I recognize some of the essence of the storytelling I want to share within it. And for all its imperfections, it’s still one of my favorite stories I’ve written to this day.