…in response to Patti Digh’s Writing Prompts 2021 – #13: “Write about the hardships of a fairytale wizard.” 

           
The Magician wasn’t sure if he could take one thing more. His life was already perfection and he was so over it. I mean seriously, enough of the blue skies and the freaking blue birds. His lack of fear was what distressed him most, and Not, which was all the more distressing. It had been years since he felt anything like ennui or the glorious breathtaking misery of heartbreak. His She was ever-present. Flawless, kindness personified. Beyond his wildest dreams. Every blessed wish had led him here to this stalemate. Abracadabra! water into wine, straw into gold, no problem. But a simple downpour, a baby’s tears to wipe away, the dark side of a woman, losing these was the true tragedy. Weakened by sunshine, even the longing, could be fleeting. All he ever wanted had turned out to be a sublime disappointment. Of course no one around him would concur, after all he had it all.

Once upon a time he had loved a simple table of elements. It had been ceremoniously replaced with a mint Louis XIV model, on which the elements themselves, jacked up on wisdom, created spells and potions on their own. What a showstopper! they cried when it was first unveiled. But he missed the guess work. Longed for the trial and error. What he wouldn’t give for an honest mistake! This glorious transcendence (read obsolescence) was the ultimate slight of hand. He thought about deserting the deck, getting lost as it were, it had been done before he’d heard, in hushed backstage conversations. That was back in the dark ages, during that great “Awokening”. But as the second card, he was clearly in it for the long haul. He was after all a team player, who still believed in the honor of serving the Whole. 

But there was nothing left to conjure, the deck was stacked, the Zero sum had rigged the game. If only his expectations for the One could be realized. Perhaps then he could finally lose this Fool’s paradise. Time had come for the dawning of a New Moon.

Elsa Wolman Katana
for the Lunar New Year 2021