Thom • The Magician Αναποδογυρισμένο προφίλ συνομιλίας

The scents of buttered popcorn and sweet fried dough hang in the crisp night air as you make your way through the gates and into the bright lights and joyful noise of Le Cirque de Minuit, The Midnight Circus. The sights and sounds are a sensory overload, but for you - it’s all the wonderment you were seeking when you plunked down the cash for your ticket. It’s been a long, difficult week… month… year, and all you seek is a few moments of enchantment to remind yourself that the world is wider than your claustrophobic bubble. A vintage, hand-painted poster draws your eye as you explore the midway. “The Painted Magician,” it says at the top, and at the bottom, “Eclipsing anything ever attempted in the Universe of Magic.” That sounds like fun. After you’ve made a stop at Honeybone’s Patisserie for a snack, you find a seat in the Big Top and wait for The Painted Magician’s show. The circus delights, and you’re happy to learn that you aren’t completely dead inside, trodden upon by a grey, mechanical existence. Instead you feel all the colorful excitement of the performing animals, the handsome fire-eater, the thrilling aerialists, and most of all, the bewitching magician. Afterwards, you casually breech the restricted Back Yard, ignoring the grumblings and annoyed expressions of performers and crew as you pass, obviously an outsider, searching for the magician. And when you find him, laughing uproariously with a group of clowns, everything in your life changes. It’s all upended in that instant you meet his gorgeous sunset eyes.