don’t you live here?” Martin asked as they approached the shop.
“Various reasons,” was Phillip’s reply as he opened the door and entered, Martin following behind him. The front room of the shop was small, with a low ceiling, and was cluttered with weird-looking knickknacks. There were statues, bowls, jars of fluid, jars of powder, and sparkly rocks. In one corner there was a small work table and a set of shelves. The shelves looked like an oversized spice rack, but along with the spices there were some live plants and a few dead, dried animals. On the table there was a mortar and pestle. In the other far corner there was a doorway blocked by a curtain.
Phillip closed the door behind them and lit an oil lamp. “Now we can talk freely. I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can. If I forget something, please remind me.”
Phillip stood in the middle of the room and spread his arms. “All this is just set decoration. Most of it is stuff I found in the gutter. The only power anything in this room has is the power to confuse. As you learned last night, it’s not enough to just turn up, claim to be a wizard, and ask for food. People have to think you’re earning your keep. As long as people are sure you’re doing something, they don’t worry too much about what. I take the occasional gig just for show. Every now and then I appear out of thin air, just to remind people who I am.”
“So, you don’t have to work?”
“No more than a stage magician has to wave a wand and say abracadabra .”
“So, what kind of work do you do?”
“You’ll see. I have an appointment for later today. But first, let’s finish the tour.” Phillip swept aside the curtain leading to the next room and beckoned for Martin to follow.
The second room was dark. Thick, dark fabric hung from the walls. On the fabric were crude finger-painted markings and symbols. To the people of this time, they must have looked quite mysterious. Martin recognized many of them: the prism from the cover of Dark Side of the Moon , Icarus from the Led Zeppelin album cover, and the Van Halen logo were all instantly familiar. At the back of the room there was another door, partially obscured by the curtains. In the center of the room was the stereotypical crystal ball on a table, only the ball seemed to be partially recessed into the surface. A cloth covered the table and extended all the way to the floor. “Pretty nice, huh?” Phillip asked.
“Yeah. I bet this is pretty convincing,” Martin said.
Phillip nodded. “You haven’t even seen the best part.” He walked around to the far side of the table and sat down. He was just visible in the dim light filtering in around the edges of the curtains. There was an audible click, and suddenly a blue light emanated from the crystal ball, illuminating Phillip’s face eerily from beneath. The light pulsed and flickered irregularly.
“That is really cool.”
“You don’t know the half of it. Come look at it from this side.”
Martin carefully walked around the table until he stood behind Phillip. He looked into the crystal ball and there, distorted in the glass, he saw a blue light and white letters that said:
**** COMMODORE 64 BASIC V2 ****
64K RAM SYSTEM 38911 BASIC BYTES FREE
READY
Martin laughed out loud. Phillip smiled broadly and pulled aside the tablecloth. There, mounted on a tray beneath the table, was a Commodore 64 with the power light glowing red. Next to it was a box with two circular appendages rising from its top, cradling the handset from an old school dial telephone. They shared a good laugh. “Wait, you haven’t even seen the best part yet! Go back around to the other side and sit down.”
Martin sat in what was presumably the customer’s seat. Phillip’s face, the crystal ball, and the hand-painted glyphs were the only things his dark-adjusted eyes could make out.
Phillip paused and said, “Now watch, as I summon the demons!” He lowered his eyes, then there
“Various reasons,” was Phillip’s reply as he opened the door and entered, Martin following behind him. The front room of the shop was small, with a low ceiling, and was cluttered with weird-looking knickknacks. There were statues, bowls, jars of fluid, jars of powder, and sparkly rocks. In one corner there was a small work table and a set of shelves. The shelves looked like an oversized spice rack, but along with the spices there were some live plants and a few dead, dried animals. On the table there was a mortar and pestle. In the other far corner there was a doorway blocked by a curtain.
Phillip closed the door behind them and lit an oil lamp. “Now we can talk freely. I’ll try to answer your questions as best I can. If I forget something, please remind me.”
Phillip stood in the middle of the room and spread his arms. “All this is just set decoration. Most of it is stuff I found in the gutter. The only power anything in this room has is the power to confuse. As you learned last night, it’s not enough to just turn up, claim to be a wizard, and ask for food. People have to think you’re earning your keep. As long as people are sure you’re doing something, they don’t worry too much about what. I take the occasional gig just for show. Every now and then I appear out of thin air, just to remind people who I am.”
“So, you don’t have to work?”
“No more than a stage magician has to wave a wand and say abracadabra .”
“So, what kind of work do you do?”
“You’ll see. I have an appointment for later today. But first, let’s finish the tour.” Phillip swept aside the curtain leading to the next room and beckoned for Martin to follow.
The second room was dark. Thick, dark fabric hung from the walls. On the fabric were crude finger-painted markings and symbols. To the people of this time, they must have looked quite mysterious. Martin recognized many of them: the prism from the cover of Dark Side of the Moon , Icarus from the Led Zeppelin album cover, and the Van Halen logo were all instantly familiar. At the back of the room there was another door, partially obscured by the curtains. In the center of the room was the stereotypical crystal ball on a table, only the ball seemed to be partially recessed into the surface. A cloth covered the table and extended all the way to the floor. “Pretty nice, huh?” Phillip asked.
“Yeah. I bet this is pretty convincing,” Martin said.
Phillip nodded. “You haven’t even seen the best part.” He walked around to the far side of the table and sat down. He was just visible in the dim light filtering in around the edges of the curtains. There was an audible click, and suddenly a blue light emanated from the crystal ball, illuminating Phillip’s face eerily from beneath. The light pulsed and flickered irregularly.
“That is really cool.”
“You don’t know the half of it. Come look at it from this side.”
Martin carefully walked around the table until he stood behind Phillip. He looked into the crystal ball and there, distorted in the glass, he saw a blue light and white letters that said:
**** COMMODORE 64 BASIC V2 ****
64K RAM SYSTEM 38911 BASIC BYTES FREE
READY
Martin laughed out loud. Phillip smiled broadly and pulled aside the tablecloth. There, mounted on a tray beneath the table, was a Commodore 64 with the power light glowing red. Next to it was a box with two circular appendages rising from its top, cradling the handset from an old school dial telephone. They shared a good laugh. “Wait, you haven’t even seen the best part yet! Go back around to the other side and sit down.”
Martin sat in what was presumably the customer’s seat. Phillip’s face, the crystal ball, and the hand-painted glyphs were the only things his dark-adjusted eyes could make out.
Phillip paused and said, “Now watch, as I summon the demons!” He lowered his eyes, then there
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