My Little Houdini

I came home from work one afternoon and found my wife sitting in front of the computer. Beside her is our son, sitting in another chair with his hands and feet tied with a rope. Yes, tied with a rope! Did my wife finally lost it? Is this her new way of disciplining?

As I approached them, my wife remarked dismissively, “I have nothing to do with that!” as perhaps a retort to the look on my face. I then looked at my son, who was grinning from ear to ear and excitedly said, “Dad, see this!”

He  jumped off his chair, and then hopped (remember his feet were tied) a few steps. He then demonstrated to me how fast he can extricate himself from being tied.

Tadah!!!! He was free!

He also showed me how he was able to tie himself up without the help of anybody, and I thought that was even more impressive. He may have a future career as an escape artist like Houdini.

My son has some other tricks that he has mastered. He has a magician’s hat and some gadgets that he got as a gift from one of his friends on his birthday. He can make a coin disappear and reappear. He can make a handkerchief vanish with a slight of his hand. He also has some card tricks.

His mom, challenged him to make the wild rabbits disappear in our yard so they would not eat the flowers in her garden, but he was not able to make that happen yet. But he can make a bowl of ice cream disappear in seconds!

I had a few “magical” tricks of my own when I was a kid. I tried to make a toy marble (jolens) disappear in my nose, but was quite unsuccessful for it kept on getting stuck. I was an escape artist during nap time when my mother ordered me to sleep  in the afternoon. This caused me some castigation. I also tried levitation when I jumped from a swing. And I was successful, though so briefly. I plummeted down with a thud, and busted my lips open. My parents were glad I did not follow the path of being a “magician.”

I am not sure what other fancy my son will pursue tomorrow. But whether he will be a NASCAR driver with his car made of boxes, or a knight with his cardboard armor, or a magician and an escape artist like Houdini, or a professional clown which he already is, I will be supportive of him, for no other reason besides that he’s my son. If he will be an astronaut, or a genetic engineer, or a physician like his old man, or the first Asian American president of the US, I will be cool with that too.

But for now, he can continue practicing on his magic tricks if he wants to. There’s one thing he is already good at though. He can make my fatigue and stress from the day’s work vanish in thin air with his winsome smile, every single time.

I wonder what will be my son’s next trick? Sawing her sister in half? Maybe I should hide our electric hedge saw.