8. Practice Makes Perfect
Giovanni was very pleased to see that all the other School kids were in the same class with him again. Maybe, he thought, maybe I'm not as far behind as I thought I was in the beginning.
The Three Furies had walked with him through a couple of corridors and, when they all reached a door with a strange symbol carved on it, the door opened up by itself and Giovanni was gently pushed inside by Agatha.
"Mister Wozniak, sorry for the delay and the interruption!"
"No problem at all, miss Agatha, and thank you for bringing him," and he motioned Giovanni to go and find a place to sit on the floor.
Circe squeezed closer to Traci and Staci and made him a spot next to her. As Giovanni crossed the room to go sit down next to Circe, many of the children whispered to each other and openly stared at him. The forty-four kids were sitting in a semicircle in three rows around Mr Wozniak, who was so large that everyone could see him from anywhere in the classroom. This classroom was an empty room, that only had one solid-looking three-legged stool and a blackboard. On top of the stool there was what looked like a metal bucket, and right next to it, a plastic milk crate full of papers was set on the floor. Mr Wozniak still wore his flannel shirt, jeans, suspenders and hiking boots. He didn't seem very teacher-like, at all.
While Giovanni settled down, Mr Wozniak bent over the crate and fumbled with the pile of papers in there, all the while mumbling under his breath, and straightened up with a wad of papers in his hand, and walked up to Giovanni.
"Okay. Here you are, mister Wingrove!" Mr Wozniak placed about fifty pages in Giovanni's hands. "These are all the handouts from the last six weeks. I want you to read at least up to chapter three by tomorrow, and by Friday I expect you to complete all the exercises up to chapter five. That should catch you up with the rest of the class. Now, back to what I was saying before…"
Giovanni noticed all the children perking up and sitting forward, intent on whatever Mr Wozniak was about to say.
"We've been practicing all the steps leading to an act of Magick. You've learned some basic symbols and how to properly draw them. You've learned the drawing of the circle and the triangle, and the proper way to do it. You've learned that you must draw these symbols, the circle and the triangle, in precise strokes, in the correct order, and thinking the words to yourself in order to focus. Once you are focused, you should be able to effect the Magick."
"Wait a minute!" Giovanni interrupted rudely. "You mean to tell me that we are in this school to learn magic spells? That's just stupid!"
"Yeah, whatever. We'll see how you feel about it after class. Now, pipe down and pay attention, alright?" Mr Wozniak didn't seem perturbed at all.
"Wingrove, you're an asshole…" The whispered insult floated all the way to where Giovanni was sitting down. Of course, Garret was who said it, and he was sitting two rows behind him, with his cronies, the Thompson Twins. Giovanni looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see that most of the kids in the classroom seemed to agree: they were all frowning at him. So he shut up. For the moment.
"Okay, Garret, why don't you go ahead and show us how it's done? You have more practice than most already." Mr Wozniak was beckoning with his paw.
With a self-satisfied and smug expression on his face, little eleven-year old Garret stepped to the front of the class and took the chalk from Mr Wozniak's hand.
"You remember all the steps, yah? Okay, then, I need you to say out loud what you're doing, so that you won't get distracted. Children, remember that at this point, concentration and focus are the most important aspects. Do it, then! The Act of Joining!!"
Garret nodded and assumed a very serious expression. He took the chalk and knelt down on the floor.
"This circle encompasses my intention. This circle represents my will." Garret said the words in a sing-song, while he drew a circle on the floor in two strokes, and then a smaller, concentric circle inside of it. "H… N… P… Q… One phrase for each letter, one thought for each phrase: Union, Joining, Complete, Same." As he declaimed, he drew the letters evenly spaced in between the circles and then circled each one and joined them with lines drawn across the circles, with the resulting drawing a kind of number four inside two circles. "It is my will, what I do." As he said this words, he drew a triangle inside the circles with a flourish.
Garret then stood up and broke the chalk into two pieces. He took one piece on each hand and showed them first to Mr Wozniac and then turned around and showed his hands to the rest of the classroom. He then bent down and placed the two pieces at the center of the number four figure, inside the triangle. Garret turned to the metal bucket and picked out a road flare from inside, he took off the cap and, after taking a deep breath, said in a loud voice: "I will it!"
He lit the road flare, and bent down to place it inside the triangle and the circle, next to the chalk pieces. The moment the road flare touched the floor it went out. At the same time a small but bright flash of blue flickered on the floor, inside the circle.
Mr Wozniak ruffled Garret's hair and said, "Well done! Well done! Back to your seat, now. Thank you very much." He then bent down and picked up the chalk, which was now in a single piece again, and showed it to the classroom.
There were several "Ooo!" and "Aaah!", except for Giovanni, who had a sneer on his face.
"Oh, puh-leeze! Like you've never seen a cheap magician do sleight-of-hand before. What next? A bunny out from a hat?" And then blew a raspberry. Circe elbowed him in the ribs, hard, and she looked miffed. "Wha? You believe this crap?"
"Okay, then, next!! Circe, come on up here, and bring your friend the skeptic with you!" Mr Wozniak seemed oddly amused.
"Let's go!" Circe seemed furious, and dragged Giovanni behind her by the hand. Some of the kids laughed at him, while others were still commenting on Garret's demonstration.
"Okay, Miss Circe, first, tell me: can this circle be used again?" Mr Wozniak pointed his sausage-like finger towards the floor.
"Y-yesss?" Circe made it into a question, looking a little confused.
"For the same Act, of for a different Act?"
"No, it has to be the very same Act…" She seemed a bit less unsure now.
"Explain."
"It wouldn't work for a different Act because the focus would need to be different."
"Well remembered!" Mr Wozniak beamed at Circe, who smiled brightly again. "And, remember kids," Mr Wozniak continued, now talking to the whole class, "that the only reason why we know which Act was performed with this circle and triangle is because Garret said the words out loud. Otherwise, we would never could guess what is the meaning of the letters he wrote because…" Mr Wozniak paused, and then the whole classroom chorused with him, "the symbols are personal, and only have meaning for the one who drew them!" Mr Wozniak smiled, and then continued on his own, "We can never be able to use the circle again if we don't know its purpose. Now, Circe, use the circle… Wait! Let's do a little bit of cheap pres-ti-di-gi-ta-tion for Giovanni here. Giovanni, do you have any dollar bills in your pockets? Giovanni, do you? Hey! Giovanni!!"
Giovanni blinked (clearly he wasn't paying much attention) and then pulled out a dollar bill from his wallet.
"If you want to, you can write something on it, across the whole bill, so that you know this is your dollar bill. Now, you tear it in half. And place it in the middle of the circle, on the floor." Giovanni complied, writing "This is stupid!" on the bill, and then tearing it in half, but length-wise. He then placed it on the floor, making sure that both halves were apart. "Okay, Circe, let 'er rip!" Mr Wozniak sounded as if he were about to laugh.
Circe mumbled a few phrases in a low voice, clasping her hands under her chin, repeating most of what Garret had said, bent down and then touched the edge of the circle with her fingertips, straightened up, grabbed a road flare, lit it up, and yelled, maybe a bit louder than necessary: "I will it!!!" She then let the lit flare drop to the floor, inside the circle.
The instant the road flare touched the floor it went out, and another blue flash blinked around the circle.
"Well, I'll be…" Giovanni stood there, blinking owlishly, looking at the restored dollar bill laying on the floor next to a burnt out flare. "She didn't even touch it!" he whispered.
Giovanni turned to Mr Wozniak, and with an addled look on his face he demanded, "But, how is it done?"
Mr Wozniak just laughed a big, hearty, full-bellied laugh. "Oh, Giovanni, you think you've just seen something extraordinary, right? Boy, oh, boy, are you in for a crap-load of surprises!! As to the 'how' it is done, well, do your homework, and you'll learn step by step the procedure. But as for 'how', like, in 'how is this possible at all?', well, that's why you have to take a class with Professor Benoni. He'll explain much better, I promise… Now, you two go back to your seats. Who wants to go next?"
The whole classroom raised their hands.
They spent the rest of the class, until dinner time, with every one trying at least once the Act of Joining. Giovanni started reading his handouts and doing the exercises right there, in class, asking questions to Circe, Staci and Traci, and at the end with several other students whispering the right answers to him, to help him complete the monstrous amount of homework.
But Mr Wozniak didn't let him try out his Magick that day.
Giovanni was very pleased to see that all the other School kids were in the same class with him again. Maybe, he thought, maybe I'm not as far behind as I thought I was in the beginning.
The Three Furies had walked with him through a couple of corridors and, when they all reached a door with a strange symbol carved on it, the door opened up by itself and Giovanni was gently pushed inside by Agatha.
"Mister Wozniak, sorry for the delay and the interruption!"
"No problem at all, miss Agatha, and thank you for bringing him," and he motioned Giovanni to go and find a place to sit on the floor.
Circe squeezed closer to Traci and Staci and made him a spot next to her. As Giovanni crossed the room to go sit down next to Circe, many of the children whispered to each other and openly stared at him. The forty-four kids were sitting in a semicircle in three rows around Mr Wozniak, who was so large that everyone could see him from anywhere in the classroom. This classroom was an empty room, that only had one solid-looking three-legged stool and a blackboard. On top of the stool there was what looked like a metal bucket, and right next to it, a plastic milk crate full of papers was set on the floor. Mr Wozniak still wore his flannel shirt, jeans, suspenders and hiking boots. He didn't seem very teacher-like, at all.
While Giovanni settled down, Mr Wozniak bent over the crate and fumbled with the pile of papers in there, all the while mumbling under his breath, and straightened up with a wad of papers in his hand, and walked up to Giovanni.
"Okay. Here you are, mister Wingrove!" Mr Wozniak placed about fifty pages in Giovanni's hands. "These are all the handouts from the last six weeks. I want you to read at least up to chapter three by tomorrow, and by Friday I expect you to complete all the exercises up to chapter five. That should catch you up with the rest of the class. Now, back to what I was saying before…"
Giovanni noticed all the children perking up and sitting forward, intent on whatever Mr Wozniak was about to say.
"We've been practicing all the steps leading to an act of Magick. You've learned some basic symbols and how to properly draw them. You've learned the drawing of the circle and the triangle, and the proper way to do it. You've learned that you must draw these symbols, the circle and the triangle, in precise strokes, in the correct order, and thinking the words to yourself in order to focus. Once you are focused, you should be able to effect the Magick."
"Wait a minute!" Giovanni interrupted rudely. "You mean to tell me that we are in this school to learn magic spells? That's just stupid!"
"Yeah, whatever. We'll see how you feel about it after class. Now, pipe down and pay attention, alright?" Mr Wozniak didn't seem perturbed at all.
"Wingrove, you're an asshole…" The whispered insult floated all the way to where Giovanni was sitting down. Of course, Garret was who said it, and he was sitting two rows behind him, with his cronies, the Thompson Twins. Giovanni looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see that most of the kids in the classroom seemed to agree: they were all frowning at him. So he shut up. For the moment.
"Okay, Garret, why don't you go ahead and show us how it's done? You have more practice than most already." Mr Wozniak was beckoning with his paw.
With a self-satisfied and smug expression on his face, little eleven-year old Garret stepped to the front of the class and took the chalk from Mr Wozniak's hand.
"You remember all the steps, yah? Okay, then, I need you to say out loud what you're doing, so that you won't get distracted. Children, remember that at this point, concentration and focus are the most important aspects. Do it, then! The Act of Joining!!"
Garret nodded and assumed a very serious expression. He took the chalk and knelt down on the floor.
"This circle encompasses my intention. This circle represents my will." Garret said the words in a sing-song, while he drew a circle on the floor in two strokes, and then a smaller, concentric circle inside of it. "H… N… P… Q… One phrase for each letter, one thought for each phrase: Union, Joining, Complete, Same." As he declaimed, he drew the letters evenly spaced in between the circles and then circled each one and joined them with lines drawn across the circles, with the resulting drawing a kind of number four inside two circles. "It is my will, what I do." As he said this words, he drew a triangle inside the circles with a flourish.
Garret then stood up and broke the chalk into two pieces. He took one piece on each hand and showed them first to Mr Wozniac and then turned around and showed his hands to the rest of the classroom. He then bent down and placed the two pieces at the center of the number four figure, inside the triangle. Garret turned to the metal bucket and picked out a road flare from inside, he took off the cap and, after taking a deep breath, said in a loud voice: "I will it!"
He lit the road flare, and bent down to place it inside the triangle and the circle, next to the chalk pieces. The moment the road flare touched the floor it went out. At the same time a small but bright flash of blue flickered on the floor, inside the circle.
Mr Wozniak ruffled Garret's hair and said, "Well done! Well done! Back to your seat, now. Thank you very much." He then bent down and picked up the chalk, which was now in a single piece again, and showed it to the classroom.
There were several "Ooo!" and "Aaah!", except for Giovanni, who had a sneer on his face.
"Oh, puh-leeze! Like you've never seen a cheap magician do sleight-of-hand before. What next? A bunny out from a hat?" And then blew a raspberry. Circe elbowed him in the ribs, hard, and she looked miffed. "Wha? You believe this crap?"
"Okay, then, next!! Circe, come on up here, and bring your friend the skeptic with you!" Mr Wozniak seemed oddly amused.
"Let's go!" Circe seemed furious, and dragged Giovanni behind her by the hand. Some of the kids laughed at him, while others were still commenting on Garret's demonstration.
"Okay, Miss Circe, first, tell me: can this circle be used again?" Mr Wozniak pointed his sausage-like finger towards the floor.
"Y-yesss?" Circe made it into a question, looking a little confused.
"For the same Act, of for a different Act?"
"No, it has to be the very same Act…" She seemed a bit less unsure now.
"Explain."
"It wouldn't work for a different Act because the focus would need to be different."
"Well remembered!" Mr Wozniak beamed at Circe, who smiled brightly again. "And, remember kids," Mr Wozniak continued, now talking to the whole class, "that the only reason why we know which Act was performed with this circle and triangle is because Garret said the words out loud. Otherwise, we would never could guess what is the meaning of the letters he wrote because…" Mr Wozniak paused, and then the whole classroom chorused with him, "the symbols are personal, and only have meaning for the one who drew them!" Mr Wozniak smiled, and then continued on his own, "We can never be able to use the circle again if we don't know its purpose. Now, Circe, use the circle… Wait! Let's do a little bit of cheap pres-ti-di-gi-ta-tion for Giovanni here. Giovanni, do you have any dollar bills in your pockets? Giovanni, do you? Hey! Giovanni!!"
Giovanni blinked (clearly he wasn't paying much attention) and then pulled out a dollar bill from his wallet.
"If you want to, you can write something on it, across the whole bill, so that you know this is your dollar bill. Now, you tear it in half. And place it in the middle of the circle, on the floor." Giovanni complied, writing "This is stupid!" on the bill, and then tearing it in half, but length-wise. He then placed it on the floor, making sure that both halves were apart. "Okay, Circe, let 'er rip!" Mr Wozniak sounded as if he were about to laugh.
Circe mumbled a few phrases in a low voice, clasping her hands under her chin, repeating most of what Garret had said, bent down and then touched the edge of the circle with her fingertips, straightened up, grabbed a road flare, lit it up, and yelled, maybe a bit louder than necessary: "I will it!!!" She then let the lit flare drop to the floor, inside the circle.
The instant the road flare touched the floor it went out, and another blue flash blinked around the circle.
"Well, I'll be…" Giovanni stood there, blinking owlishly, looking at the restored dollar bill laying on the floor next to a burnt out flare. "She didn't even touch it!" he whispered.
Giovanni turned to Mr Wozniak, and with an addled look on his face he demanded, "But, how is it done?"
Mr Wozniak just laughed a big, hearty, full-bellied laugh. "Oh, Giovanni, you think you've just seen something extraordinary, right? Boy, oh, boy, are you in for a crap-load of surprises!! As to the 'how' it is done, well, do your homework, and you'll learn step by step the procedure. But as for 'how', like, in 'how is this possible at all?', well, that's why you have to take a class with Professor Benoni. He'll explain much better, I promise… Now, you two go back to your seats. Who wants to go next?"
The whole classroom raised their hands.
They spent the rest of the class, until dinner time, with every one trying at least once the Act of Joining. Giovanni started reading his handouts and doing the exercises right there, in class, asking questions to Circe, Staci and Traci, and at the end with several other students whispering the right answers to him, to help him complete the monstrous amount of homework.
But Mr Wozniak didn't let him try out his Magick that day.
To Be Continued…
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