Dean Hudson was a full-fledged businessman, expensive black suit, slick hairdo and money written on his forehead.
Ever since his supermodel girlfriend got hit by a bus that ironically had her modeling underwear on the side, she had been acting enlightened and told him all about karma.
So today was going to be the first day he was going to help the people around him and the first person he thought of was the bum he had been ignoring for years that he passes by while walking from the office building to his car.
Because of some weird loophole in the city law the bum was allowed to live in a cardboard box in the bushes in the back of the parking lot where there is also a sidewalk which most people take to get to the office building.
Dean approached the cardboard box and pressed the small remote on his keychain to unlock his car, the car acknowledged his master by beeped twice.
The bum was looking up at him while holding onto a sign that said ‘Money for food please.’
Dean got the bundle of paper bills from his pocket that got held together by a silver clip, removed the clip and started to go by each bill until he found a $5 bill.
He handed it to the bum who looked surprised and gave him a smile in return and began eating it.
Dean watched the bum eat the entire money bill and when he was about to say something about it the bum raised his hands and started to wave one in front of the other and made the note reappear unharmed.
“You should really do something with that.”, Dean joked.
“I just did, have a nice business evening.”, The bum replied while putting on another sock that was missing the toe section.
Dean went to his car and drove back to his home and forgot about what had just happened, but his girlfriend was happy he did and told him if he did it long enough good things would come to him, and considering the bad economy was also making his job difficult, Dean was hoping for a miracle.
The following day Dean did the same thing and handed the bum another $5 dollar note.
The bum got up on his feet, “Open your hands.”, He said.
Dean did as he was asked and the bum placed the money on Dean’s hands and held his above them and looked very seriously for a while and then made a rumbling, somewhat like a coffee machine, before he removed his hands which showed the note was gone again.
“How?” Dean asked with a confused look on his face.
The bum sat back down and did not respond to Dean’s question.
Later that night in bed while reading Donald Trump’s biography he kept thinking about the bum instead.
Dean just couldn’t figure out how he made the money disappear and reappear like that.
The next day while there was a snow storm the bum was still there but now had a small fire going in front of his cardboard box.
“How about this..”, Dean began to say.
The bum looked up, “How about it.”
“No, just wait. How about you explain me how you do one of your tricks and I’ll make sure you get something to warm you up, whatever you want.”, Dean had tried his best to pitch some kind of deal, but the bum was not impressed.
“No, thanks I’m fine.”, He said.
Dean handed him the $5 bill and continued, “But what about some blankets, a warmer cardboard box, some new clothes?”
“A real magician never reveals his secrets!” The bum said with a strong voice while he burned the note in the fire but then coughed it back up.
Dean went home and laid awake all night on the tricks the bum had showed.
The next day right after the bum somehow made the note reappear out of Dean’s ear he asked him some more questions.
Since it was so cold Dean spoke from behind his scarf, “So who are you?”
The bum did not hear him clearly enough and replied, “My stomach’s a bit upset but I’m fine thank you and how are you?”
“No, thats not what I meant.“, Dean added.
The bum wasn’t sure what Dean did mean so continued roasting what seemed to be a pigeon.
“Are you a magician?” Dean asked.
The bum took a careful bite of the hot roasted pigeon and explained, “I’m a vagabond, traveller, citizen of the world.”
Dean wondered if eating a pigeon was going to help the man’s stomach.
“My deal still stands, whatever you want, I’ll trade it if you teach me one trick.”, Dean said.
The bum shook his head and Dean gave up for the night and got to his car and drove back home.
His girlfriend brought home some KFC and he couldn’t help but think about the bum for the rest of the night.
The next morning Dean did something different, instead of going to the bum at the end of his day he went to visit him early in the morning.
He seemed to be inside his box and possibly sleeping, but Dean took a peek inside, and the bum immediately woke up and looked at him but didn’t get up.
“My stomach’s hurting so bad.”, The bum said.
“I got some Pepto in the car, you want it?” Dean said while looking genuinely worried about the bum’s well being.
The bum was making a come-closer gesture with his one hand and Dean climbed into the box wearing his best suit.
“What?” He asked.
The bum looked really sick from this close, but he began to talk, “A real magician.. Never tells.. His..”
Dean looked at the bum taking his last breath, at the same time a couple of co-workers passed by the cardboard box.
“Did you hear about Hudson? They said he’s been hanging out with the bum over there.”, A female voice said.
“I just saw him crawl into the box, maybe their having an affair.”, Another man joked rather loudly.
Dean didn’t care what others thought of him, and he stayed with the bum for a moment until he picked up his mobile phone and dial 911.
As it was ringing he felt a kick against his foot and he looked down at the dead bum and saw it was shaking and something in was forming under the blanket, something big.
Dean tried to get up but the box was too small, the blanket began to rise to a constantly changing form.
Out of panic Dean kicked the box apart and walked backwards back onto the sidewalk and watched the form come to a stop.
The bum’s dead face was staring up at the sky and the blanket was slowly sliding off whatever was underneath it.
A young man revealed himself, with a big smile on his face that revealed his perfect white teeth and he had a wild long hair that miraculously waved in the air when there was no wind blowing.
Dean wasn’t sure what had just happened but the twitching in his face showed his brain tried to figure it out.
The young man walked up to Dean and said, “You were nice to me, you were the only one.”
He took a step back and a blizzard passed through them and Dean watched the young man disappear and the blizzard slowly turned into gentle snow fall and he saw couple of $5 dollar notes on the sidewalk forming a circle around a business card.
Dean only picked up the card and read it out loud, “Karl Hertz. Street magic extraordinaire.”
Dean and his supermodel girlfriend were after this day known as Uma and Rama, the enlightened ones, gurus of the rich.
Ever since his supermodel girlfriend got hit by a bus that ironically had her modeling underwear on the side, she had been acting enlightened and told him all about karma.
So today was going to be the first day he was going to help the people around him and the first person he thought of was the bum he had been ignoring for years that he passes by while walking from the office building to his car.
Because of some weird loophole in the city law the bum was allowed to live in a cardboard box in the bushes in the back of the parking lot where there is also a sidewalk which most people take to get to the office building.
Dean approached the cardboard box and pressed the small remote on his keychain to unlock his car, the car acknowledged his master by beeped twice.
The bum was looking up at him while holding onto a sign that said ‘Money for food please.’
Dean got the bundle of paper bills from his pocket that got held together by a silver clip, removed the clip and started to go by each bill until he found a $5 bill.
He handed it to the bum who looked surprised and gave him a smile in return and began eating it.
Dean watched the bum eat the entire money bill and when he was about to say something about it the bum raised his hands and started to wave one in front of the other and made the note reappear unharmed.
“You should really do something with that.”, Dean joked.
“I just did, have a nice business evening.”, The bum replied while putting on another sock that was missing the toe section.
Dean went to his car and drove back to his home and forgot about what had just happened, but his girlfriend was happy he did and told him if he did it long enough good things would come to him, and considering the bad economy was also making his job difficult, Dean was hoping for a miracle.
The following day Dean did the same thing and handed the bum another $5 dollar note.
The bum got up on his feet, “Open your hands.”, He said.
Dean did as he was asked and the bum placed the money on Dean’s hands and held his above them and looked very seriously for a while and then made a rumbling, somewhat like a coffee machine, before he removed his hands which showed the note was gone again.
“How?” Dean asked with a confused look on his face.
The bum sat back down and did not respond to Dean’s question.
Later that night in bed while reading Donald Trump’s biography he kept thinking about the bum instead.
Dean just couldn’t figure out how he made the money disappear and reappear like that.
The next day while there was a snow storm the bum was still there but now had a small fire going in front of his cardboard box.
“How about this..”, Dean began to say.
The bum looked up, “How about it.”
“No, just wait. How about you explain me how you do one of your tricks and I’ll make sure you get something to warm you up, whatever you want.”, Dean had tried his best to pitch some kind of deal, but the bum was not impressed.
“No, thanks I’m fine.”, He said.
Dean handed him the $5 bill and continued, “But what about some blankets, a warmer cardboard box, some new clothes?”
“A real magician never reveals his secrets!” The bum said with a strong voice while he burned the note in the fire but then coughed it back up.
Dean went home and laid awake all night on the tricks the bum had showed.
The next day right after the bum somehow made the note reappear out of Dean’s ear he asked him some more questions.
Since it was so cold Dean spoke from behind his scarf, “So who are you?”
The bum did not hear him clearly enough and replied, “My stomach’s a bit upset but I’m fine thank you and how are you?”
“No, thats not what I meant.“, Dean added.
The bum wasn’t sure what Dean did mean so continued roasting what seemed to be a pigeon.
“Are you a magician?” Dean asked.
The bum took a careful bite of the hot roasted pigeon and explained, “I’m a vagabond, traveller, citizen of the world.”
Dean wondered if eating a pigeon was going to help the man’s stomach.
“My deal still stands, whatever you want, I’ll trade it if you teach me one trick.”, Dean said.
The bum shook his head and Dean gave up for the night and got to his car and drove back home.
His girlfriend brought home some KFC and he couldn’t help but think about the bum for the rest of the night.
The next morning Dean did something different, instead of going to the bum at the end of his day he went to visit him early in the morning.
He seemed to be inside his box and possibly sleeping, but Dean took a peek inside, and the bum immediately woke up and looked at him but didn’t get up.
“My stomach’s hurting so bad.”, The bum said.
“I got some Pepto in the car, you want it?” Dean said while looking genuinely worried about the bum’s well being.
The bum was making a come-closer gesture with his one hand and Dean climbed into the box wearing his best suit.
“What?” He asked.
The bum looked really sick from this close, but he began to talk, “A real magician.. Never tells.. His..”
Dean looked at the bum taking his last breath, at the same time a couple of co-workers passed by the cardboard box.
“Did you hear about Hudson? They said he’s been hanging out with the bum over there.”, A female voice said.
“I just saw him crawl into the box, maybe their having an affair.”, Another man joked rather loudly.
Dean didn’t care what others thought of him, and he stayed with the bum for a moment until he picked up his mobile phone and dial 911.
As it was ringing he felt a kick against his foot and he looked down at the dead bum and saw it was shaking and something in was forming under the blanket, something big.
Dean tried to get up but the box was too small, the blanket began to rise to a constantly changing form.
Out of panic Dean kicked the box apart and walked backwards back onto the sidewalk and watched the form come to a stop.
The bum’s dead face was staring up at the sky and the blanket was slowly sliding off whatever was underneath it.
A young man revealed himself, with a big smile on his face that revealed his perfect white teeth and he had a wild long hair that miraculously waved in the air when there was no wind blowing.
Dean wasn’t sure what had just happened but the twitching in his face showed his brain tried to figure it out.
The young man walked up to Dean and said, “You were nice to me, you were the only one.”
He took a step back and a blizzard passed through them and Dean watched the young man disappear and the blizzard slowly turned into gentle snow fall and he saw couple of $5 dollar notes on the sidewalk forming a circle around a business card.
Dean only picked up the card and read it out loud, “Karl Hertz. Street magic extraordinaire.”
Dean and his supermodel girlfriend were after this day known as Uma and Rama, the enlightened ones, gurus of the rich.
