Magic Tree House #50: Hurry Up, Houdini! (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))

of his pants.
    “Come on, hurry!” said Annie. She and Jackrushed out the back door of the theater. They ran down the dark alley, past the row of garbage cans, and out to the street.
    Surf Avenue was still bright with lights and just as busy as before. The sidewalks were still crowded with lots of people. The old-timey cars and horses and buggies filled the cobbled street.
    “They could be anywhere,” said Jack. “They could even have gone home.”
    “Let’s try Luna Park,” said Annie.
    “Why would they go back there?” asked Jack. “Especially after getting trapped on their Trip to the Moon?”
    “I don’t know. There’s lots they might want to do there,” said Annie. She gasped.
    “Ice cream!”
Jack and Annie said together. At the same moment, they’d each remembered Bess saying
“Ice cream always comes after the show.”
    “To the ice cream stand!” said Annie.
    “And fast!” said Jack.
    Jack and Annie took off up the street, dodging people along the way. They ran to the tall arches,where ticket sellers in chariots were still welcoming people into Luna Park.

    “Admission, ten cents each,” one said.
    Jack and Annie dumped the rest of their pennies into the ticket seller’s hands. Then they took off, dashing up the broad avenue, weaving around couples and children and barkers on stilts and unicycles.
    When they came to the ice cream stand, they found a line of people waiting to buy cones. Panting, Jack looked up and down the line.
    The two Houdinis were nowhere to be seen.
    Jack’s spirits fell. But Annie poked him. “What?” Jack said.
    Annie pointed at the terrace.
    Jack looked up. Harry and Bess were sitting on a bench side by side, holding ice cream cones. Their big hats hid their faces.
    Jack laughed. “Now I get it! They wear those hats so fans won’t recognize them,” he said.
    “Well, they can’t fool us,” said Annie. “C’mon.”
    Annie and Jack headed over to the bench.When they were close, Annie put her finger to her lips. Jack understood what she meant. Without greeting Harry or Bess, Jack and Annie sat down next to them.
    “Great ice cream, huh?” said Annie.
    “Great,” said Bess, not looking up.
    “Would you call it the
greatest in the world
?” asked Jack.
    Tilting her head, Bess peeked out from under the brim of her hat. She laughed loudly. “Hey, Harry! Look!” she exclaimed. “It’s our little friends!”
    Harry raised his hat, then laughed too. “The crazy kiddos!” he said. “So what’s the story? What the heck were you two doing up on that stage tonight?”
    “We just love to perform,” said Annie with a giggle.
    “We just love to make fools of ourselves,” said Jack.
    “Making a fool of yourself is a brave thing to do,” Harry said, smiling.
    “That’s what Aristotle once told us,” said Annie, “more or less.”
    Jack glanced at the Ring of Truth. It wasn’t glowing.
    “Mr. Houdini!” someone said. A man stood in front of the bench. He started to clap.
    “Oh, dear,” murmured Bess.
    “You were unbelievable tonight!” the man said. “I never saw anything like what you did!”
    Other people turned to look. They recognized Harry, too, and began gathering in front of the bench, telling him how great he was. Harry finished his ice cream cone. Then he stood up and started shaking hands with his admirers.
    Bess shook her head and sighed. “He’s always nice to people,” she said to Jack and Annie. “No matter how tired he is.”
    Harry’s fans kept asking questions: “How do you do it?” “How did you escape from those handcuffs?” “How’d you get out of that milk can?”
    “First of all, let me assure you again that I have no supernatural powers,” said Harry. “It’s allillusion. These skills just happen to come easily to me. Always have. I remember when I was a kid …”
    Jack looked at the Ring of Truth. Nothing.
    “That’s not the
real
story,” Bess said quietly to Jack and Annie, her eyes twinkling.
    “What
is
the real story?” Annie asked her.
    “Harry’s always worked very, very hard,” she said. “He’s worked all his life. When he was a little boy, he sold newspapers and flowers. He performed in a neighborhood children’s circus. A few years later, he hopped trains and tried to get work in Milwaukee, Kansas City, New York. He practiced coin tricks and card tricks for hours every day. He read every book he could find on magic. He practiced and practiced and practiced. Those skills