Sleight of Hand by Robin Hathaway Page A

overconfident … . Anyway, the clasp on this particular necklace stuck and the woman began screaming, just like
in the movies. ‘Stop thief!’ she yelled. The cops came and I was sent up. The sentence was for seven years … Regina managed to support herself and Lolly by doing freelance secretarial work at home. That’s what she’d done before I met her. But they lived in a two-room apartment in a lousy neighborhood, eking out a living, barely above the poverty level. Of course, she had to sell all her jewelry. And she had to take care of Lolly without any help. She became very bitter … .
    â€œI got out after five years, for good behavior. The other inmates were sorry to see me go. I’d kept them entertained with my tricks, you know. I tried to find work as a magician, but no one remembered me. People in show business have short memories. Besides, entertainment had changed—taken other forms, like cable television, the Internet … . But I hadn’t been idle in prison. I’d learned a new trade—printing. I went to work in a shop downtown and began to save toward buying my own equipment.
    â€œBy now, Lolly was seven years old, and because of her disability, she needed special care. She went to a private school a couple of days a week, and it was expensive. Regina had changed, too. Her looks had faded and she had become more and more resentful. She felt the world was against her. Her husband was no longer a glamorous superstar. On the contrary, he was an ex-con. And she was stuck at home with a kid who didn’t have all its buttons—”
    â€œDon’t!” I exclaimed.
    â€œAnd she missed her baubles. She refused to have any more children and treated Lolly with indifference. She attended to the kid’s physical needs but never played with her or took her anywhere, like the park or the playground. I think she was embarrassed to be seen with her.
    â€œOne day, Regina stole a wallet off a tourist in Times Square. She had learned a few tricks herself while working with me. It had a couple of hundred dollars in it. Like me, she found stealing easy, and soon it became a regular thing. She didn’t tell me about it, of
course. She spent the money she stole on her favorite thing—jewelry. But she didn’t dare wear any of the baubles in public. She hid them in her bureau drawer and took them out only when she was alone. Then she would put them on and admire them in the mirror. During one of these sessions, Lolly burst in on her, ran over, and asked if she could try on the pretty necklace. Her mother slapped her and told her if she ever told Daddy, she’d beat her. I had come home early that day and witnessed the whole scene. I bawled Regina out and warned her about striking Lolly. I doubt if Lolly understood all we said, but from then on I noticed she was afraid of her mother. We were a very unhappy family.”
    Max closed his eyes and sighed. I knew he was getting tired, and I should have suggested he stop and continue some other time. But as usual, my curiosity won out over my better judgment. I wanted to know what happened next. He took a deep breath and went on.
    â€œOne Christmas, Regina lifted a woman’s pocketbook outside Macy’s. You’re a New Yorker, so you know what the crowds are like at that time of year. It’s a haven for pickpockets and petty thieves. Before she grabbed the bag, she bumped into the woman—a useful distraction. I had used it often myself. In fact, she’d probably learned it from me. But this time she overdid it and the woman lost her balance and fell in front of a taxi. The taxi hit her and she was badly injured. Regina ducked down the subway steps, but an undercover cop had seen her, and he followed her. When she got home, she was so upset, she told me all about it. I whipped out some of my old equipment—mirrors, mostly—and set them up in the living room. The cop came and searched