umbrella, then rolling away.
The Great Grissini was not looking that great today. He was very thin, pale
and bony, with his toupee not too well secured. He looked up suspiciously
when we approached. I remembered the reaction-and lack of reaction-of the
magicians I had tried to contact. I did not want to repeat my mistakes. They
were surely a prickly lot. A strong sales pitch was very much in order now.
I had boned up on his biography while Angelina drove, so I could be a little
more subtle in my approach.
"Might I ask if I am speaking to Pasquale Grissini-known throughout the
galaxy as the Great Grissini?"
The grunted response could have meant anything. I tried to smile warmly
while I introduced myself and Angelina. He broke in before I was done.
"You want a drink?"
"Why, yes, of course. Kind of you to ask."
His next grunt was a more enthusiastic one as he pressed a button on the
table before him. When he took his thumb away I saw that the button was
inscribed with a symbolic cocktail glass. Things were indeed looking up.
A boxish wheeled robot rolled over. It had arms at the front end beside a
male mannequin's head. "May I be of service?" the thing said. "The special
today is Zubenelgenubian Iced Tea. One hundred and fifty proof."
"I'll take a double," Grissini said, leaning forward; the first sign of
animation I had seen. We ordered the specials as well. Something hummed in
the thing's interior. Then a hatch sprang open and the iced drinks were
there on a tray. Behind a transparent door.
"That will be twenty-two credits," the robot said. "Cash only." Then it
opened its mouth wide, revealing a money slot where its tongue should be. I
looked out of the corners of my eyes at Grissini who was as a marble statue.
My round, obviously. I stuffed in coins until a horn sounded a quick fanfare
and the door slipped out of sight. Mechanical arms seized the tray and
deposited it on the table before us.
"And some deep-fried seaweed pretzels," our new friend said, almost smiling.
I paid with pleasure. Then, while he was getting tucked into his toxic tea,
I hit the high points of his career.
"Your vanishing Boy Sprout was the hit of the circuits. Where a real live
Boy Sprout climbed a rope right before the audience-then vanished in an
instant.
Did you know that there have been two books written about that trick? Each
one said that they knew how it had been done."
