7. Houdini’s Key

“The importance lies in the fact that the knot is left intact, and that this knot is of a peculiar character.”

— Dr. John H. Watson.

“The Adventure of the Cardboard Box.”

Oscar jumped in front of my carriage, the cabbie suddenly reined in the horse.

“Sigerson, I’m on my way to Houdini’s boarding-house. Join me!”

“How do you know him?” I said as I paid the cabbie.

“We met at the Chicago World Exposition last year.” He smiled. “I was there for artistically political reasons. That’s Water Street over there.” We turned down the street. “His act grew exponentially, but he was non-stop. I doubt he slept or even had a place to sleep. He had nothing, but his genius. Yet he was always ready with something new for the next audience; it was a cauldron for him, and he became Houdini. I kept him fed. We ate a lot of sandwiches, drank some beer together and became friends.

“You seem considerably healthier than when last we met.”

He looked at me and chuckled. “It helps to have a little acting skill when living with so many siblings!”

We ran up the side stairs, and entered into the small sitting room, where Houdini was inspecting the Metamorphosis trunk. He stopped when he saw us and shook Oscar’s hand. “Marcello, can’t get rid of you! Are you here to sketch me for your next sculpture? I have the pose.” He reached out with both arms, stuck his tongue out, and his eyes were afire. Marcello laughed.

“That is quite reminiscent of the powerful yogic lion pose, Houdini.”

“You were in the front row with all those young lovelies.”

“Harry Houdini, meet Professor Keevan Sigerson.”

“Oh, you’re that explorer everyone’s talking about, what a life, living in harems!”

The intensity and motility of his face was startling even in repose, filled with high energy, his eyes held and looked through you at the same time. A man filled with an acute sense of purpose. Strewn everywhere were unusual paraphernalia. I gestured to them with a wave of my hand, as an illusionist would do. “Houdini, what would a magician be doing with handcuffs, chains, etc?”

“Oh, just considering new ideas for my act, always looking for another angle. What would the great world explorer be doing in Poughkeepsie?”

“I teach archaeology at Vassar Female College, of course!” We laughed.

“Would you like to see what the magnificent mind of Houdini is hatching?”

Our eyes lit up and Marcello said. “You bet!” We were reduced to wide-eyed youngsters perched in our chairs.

He swore us to secrecy and then displayed his instantaneous escape from handcuffs. I deduced that he palmed the key.

“You got it! How did you do that?”

“As a magician, sleight of hand is your mainstay, and I know how handcuffs operate. It’s elementary deductive reasoning.”

Houdini stopped and sized me up, he shook his head slightly and smiled mischievously, “Now what do you think of this?” With the flair of a well-practiced magician, a bouquet of roses appeared in his hand.

I thought this commonplace, and then awakened to the fact that he had tied my ankles to the chair. He dared me to get out of it. It proved impossible. The knots were untameable. “Extraordinary, this is a powerful weapon and benefit to all law enforcement. Might I convince you to educate me as to their use?”

“Law enforcement! They are a closely guarded secret, sir, sorry.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “That is a shame, thank you anyway. Your sleight of hand is remarkable, Houdini.”

Dash ran up the stairs. “Harry I’m back! Help me carry Metamorphosis to the theatre.”

I looked to Houdini. “Marcello, as I am all tied up.” I turned to him. “Would you help Dash out?”

Houdini nodded to Marcello. “Help with Metamorphosis? Sure.”

“And would you pick up some cigarettes on your way back, thank you?”

They carried the trunk downstairs. Houdini ran out. “Dash!”

While waiting, I reached for Houdini’s copy of the Beeton’s Christmas Annual and read from Watson’s first story his list of my limits. I silenced my chuckling as I heard him come up the stairs.

“Sigerson, please, my Sherlock Holmes collection is very special to me.” He seized it from me and gently placed it on the bookshelf. In one motion he slashed the knots on my ankles with a razor sharp knife. They fell tattered to the floor.

I stood and moved around, stamping life back into my feet, thanked him, then said quietly. “Your illusion has been solved, sir.”

“What did you say?”

“One of the young ones after your latest show, made a spectacle of her own on Market Street, disentangling your puzzle.”

“A child has done this!” He said.

“Not an ordinary child, she is probably as you were a young genius, a Mozart.”

“And a girl child!” His voice rose to stage volume. “No one from Chicago ‘til now, has solved it!” He pointed angrily in my face. “What’s your resolution? Prove it!” Houdini incinerated me with his gaze.

I lowered to a calm whisper, and told him of the child’s deductions.

“Damn! You missed a step but basically I’m ruined!”

Softly. “No, no, no, no, we can keep your secret, and haven’t come forward for this reason. Please do not conclude your audience’s delight, continue on as the Houdini Brothers have planned. It is our great pleasure to assist you in this way. Furthermore, you have my assurance your knots are secure with me, Houdini.”

He looked at me, and shook my hand. “This is a life pact, you understand?”

“I will not reveal your secret.”

“Under pain of death!” He said.

He began. “You must keep it in your head, do not write it down. This is how I do it, follow me. Yes that way, no, it goes like this, and now this, that’s what makes them unbreakable, and then this to finish. You can add two of those, but in a pinch it’s unnecessary.”

“Ingenious, you are a scientist, Houdini. So you palm the key to the locks and handcuffs?”

“My brain is the key that sets me free. Like Sherlock Holmes I use a burglar’s tool, only I hide mine in my mouth. But this is another secret never to be shared. I want competitors to think I use a key.”

“Excellent and what is your rational for that straitjacket?”

“It’s still a mystery.” He spoke as if convincing himself. “But it has such shock value. I think the answer lies in dislocating my shoulders to get out.”

I winced. “That could lay you low, Houdini, your audience is excited by the peril involved but they also want you to emerge unscathed.”

“So do I!”

“Has Marcello mentioned to you that we are searching for his sister? She has been missing nearly a fortnight.”

He shook his head. “If there’s anything I can do to help Oscar or his sister, I will.”

Dash and Marcello ran in. “Harry, it’s safely there.”

“Thank you, Houdini, now I’m a fan. Shall we meet at Meyer’s for a pint?” As I shook his hand, he palmed me something and I surreptitiously dropped it into my pocket as I bent to pick up the tattered string. He smiled at my misdirection, and Marcello and I went down the stairs and out.

“Your cigarettes, Sigerson,” he said.

I lit one. “Marcello, thank you for including me in your circle of friends, Houdini is one-of-a-kind. How is Metamorphosis?”

“Do you know they have everything laid out in sequence backstage? It’s like a surgery.”

“Marcello when can you meet me for some target practice?”

“Anytime.”

“Tomorrow, I’ll be at the river, I usually get in a sail before breakfast.”

“See you then.” He waved as he turned west.

In my room I found the knot Houdini had slipped me. It now rested in my violin case, until London, where it will accompany Miss Adler’s photograph in my museum. To accelerate my nimbleness, I practiced tying the unbreakable beauties. A masterpiece of craftsmanship! Houdini’s release from the straitjacket seemed very nearly as horrible as wearing one. I aspired never to practice this terrible knowledge.

I religiously rosined the bow strings and tightened them, raised the violin, tuned it and played the Mozart piece for two violins. I was ecstatically serene and wandering through the lyrical fantasy, enraptured by the humorous melody which pervaded throughout. The challenge of their interweaving ended in that drowsy state of sweet tranquil exhaustion which brought me to another day’s rest.