Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow Page A

family continued to gaze at him. A sound came from the figure on the bed. One of the sons leaned over and put his ear down. He listened a moment and nodded. He went to the other son and said something to him. They were big fellows, over six feet, with chests like barrels. No rough stuff, the doctor said. Houdini found himself lifted by the arms and walked down the aisle of the ward with his feet just failing to touch the floor. He made a decision not to resist. He knew the tricks of self-defense, there were ways he could best these oafs; but this was a hospital after all.
    Houdini walked through the streets. His ears burned with humiliation. He wore a hat with the brim turned down. He wore a tight-fitting double-breasted linen jacket and he kept his hands in the pockets of the jacket. He wore tan trousers and brown and white shoes with pointed toes. It was a chilly autumn afternoon and most people wore coats. He moved swiftly through the crowded New York streets. He was incredibly lithe. There was a kind of act that used the real world for its stage. He couldn’t touch it. For all his achievement he was a trickster, an illusionist, a mere magician. What was the sense of his life if people walked out of the theatre and forgot him? The headlines on the newsstand said Peary had reached the Pole. The real-world act was what got into the history books.
    Houdini decided to concentrate on his outdoor exploits. Going on tour he escaped from a packing case nailed shut and tied with ropes that had been lowered into the freezing Detroit River. He had himself lowered into rivers in Boston and Philadelphia. Ice floated in the rivers. He practiced for the freezing river escapes by sitting in his bathtub at home with blocks of ice dropped in there by the iceman. But nothing was changed. He decided to do a European tour. He had gotten his start in Europe when he had been unable to crack the big-time vaudeville circuits in the States. In some peculiar way, he still felt, the people in Europe understood him better than his own countrymen. A few days before his departure he agreed to do a benefit for old magicians and retired theatre folk. He wanted to surprise them with a new escape. He hired a team of orderlies from Bellevue to come up on the stage and wrap him from head to foot in bandages. This was done. Then they wound him in numbers of sheets and then they strapped him to a hospital bed. Then they poured water over him to weigh down the wrappings. Houdini escaped. The old theatre people went wild. He was unsatisfied.
    Houdini was to sail for Europe on the Imperator , an immense German vessel with a figurehead—an odd thing for a modern three-stack passenger line. The figurehead was a crowned eagle with its claws embedded in the world. Houdini’s ancient mother, Mrs. Weiss, came down to the pier to see him off. She was a neat little woman in black. He kissed her and hugged her and kissed her hands and went up the gangplank. He ran back down the gangplank and kissed her again, holding her face in his hands and kissing her eyes. She nodded and patted him. He ran up the gangplank and waved. He wasn’t sure she could see him. As the great liner backed into the river he stood at the rail and waved. He waved his cap to attract her attention. It was obvious she could not see him. He shouted, ridiculously, because the ship’s engines were churning up the river water. He continued to watch her small black figure and ran around to the port deck when tugs faced the ship downriver. She stood on the pier, a frail sweet old lady, and watched the ship drift out of her vision. She enjoyed her son’s devotions. Once he had come to her and had her hold out her apron. Into the apron he poured fifty shiny gold dollars. He was a good boy. She returned by cab to their home on 113th Street to wait for him.
    Houdini opened his European tour at the Hansa Theatre in Hamburg. The audiences were enthusiastic. The papers gave him lots of space. He had never known