The Houdini Effect (23 page)

Laurie whispers, ‘Iris. You didn’t forget.
You

escaped.’

And after another long while he closes the
photo album.

The room takes on another aspect.

Somehow things have changed. The change is
subtle, hard to detect and describe.

It has to do, though, with it now being the
sort of room where you might expect things to begin rather than to
end.

End note

The biography of Houdini,
read by both Harry and Athens, is called
Escape! The story of the Great Houdini
(2006). It is written by the late, great Sid Fleischman,
himself a magician, and is well worth reading.