THE LITTLE RED BALL TRICK by Steve Trash®
It was gone.
It was completely gone.
That little red plastic “magic trick” ball had been there moments before….. now it was gone.
Totally gone.
I hadn’t done anything. It wasn’t a trick. That little ball had REALLY disappeared. It just disappeared.
I was 7 then. I’m 58 years old now but I can still remember the elation, the wonder, the fantastic feeling of wow-ness that overwhelmed me.
I’d just experienced “magic” for the very first time.
Genuine confession here: this is the feeling I’ve (probably) been chasing ever since.
It’s true. To this day, I’m a bit of a wonder-freak. Not only do I create magic tricks and illusions for others professionally (it’s been my job for 40 years), I can’t get enough of that “oh wow” feeling. I crave it. I seek it out.
And my mind is ALWAYS on the lookout for it.
I’m kinda lucky that way because I’m primed to find it and I seem to find it in so many wildly different places: in the shape of a small Kelly Green patch of moss down by the creek; in the way a child laughs with reckless abandon at one of my silly jokes; in the way my Australian Shepherd, Gracie, waggles her rump (she doesn’t really have a tail)!
The ball and vase trick is really a beginner’s magic trick. It’s a simple magic trick that comes with almost every starter magic set and I’d just gotten my first magic set ever.
As I opened the little blue vase, I discovered a small red ball that fit neatly inside. Somehow, the magician could make this ball disappear but I didn’t know how. I hadn’t read the instructions yet, but I knew from the colorful illustration on the cover of the REAL MAGICIAN BOX OF TRICKS that this is what was supposed to happen.
So as I sat on my bed looking at this panacea of colorful wonderfulness, I held that vase up to make the ball disappear. I hadn’t read the instructions and had no idea what I needed to do, but something magical happened.
I didn’t see it. I didn’t expect it.
I opened the little blue vase and that little red plastic ball was gone.
What?
Had I made it disappear? Really? Had I found some kind of slip-stream-magic vortex where magic was truly real? Had I just discovered undeniable magic abilities in myself to make stuff really disappear? I was elated.
A moment ago, that ball was here. Now it’s not. I was beside myself with joy. Holy Smokes… that’s so wonderful. I jumped out of bed to run and tell my Mother about this amazing discovery.
Then, as I jumped, the little red ball tumbled noisily onto the floor.
It hadn’t vanished into the netherworld of magical-ness: just into the folds of my blankets, and come popping out when I hopped up.
For a short moment, I was disappointed. I mean, who DOESN’T want to be Harry Potter and have REAL magical powers? My next discovery was what a blast that feeling of wonder had been.
It felt good.
It felt fun.
I loved it and I began wanting to share that feeling with others.
That’s the real dream I personally seek. When I started, I just wanted to know. I wanted to learn as much as possible about “the secrets of magic tricks”, but over these many years I’ve come to realize that “the knowing” isn’t that big a deal. It’s the sharing that makes magic wonderful.
Magic connects me to others.
It’s seeing the faces of kids and grownups and hearing their gasps of amazement. It’s the spontaneous laughter. It’s the real magic of magic.
Almost every day of my life I try to show someone my little red vanishing ball trick because I want them to “feel THAT magic.”
It’s a good thing.
THE LITTLE RED BALL TRICK by Steve Trash®
###
