The Geller Experiment

Prologue: Jamie

            She rapidly moved her feet back and forth in the air, attempting to go even higher. The swing swung back and forth like a long pendulum, her old shoes beneath it. Jamie watched her push herself harder to unify their swinging. When she finally succeeded, she looked up and grinned at him triumphantly, her loud laughter ringing throughout the empty playground. Jamie timidly smiled back, always timid around her.

            "Close your eyes," she said, her voice a bit breathless from laughing.

            Jamie complied. His body felt like it was floating through the air, from the swing or from the elation of the moment. When he peeked one eye open, he saw Dustin with her eyes closed too, a serene smile on her face surrounded by dark, whipping hair. The nighttime gave them an empty, snowy, playground and a soft, yellow streetlight glow.

He imagined a short film of this, in slow motion, where everything was crystal clear and you could see the puffs of dirt that flew into the air as their feet skidded against the dusty ground. Mostly, though, close ups of Dustin's face: eyes closed, snow-garnished black lashes pointing to rounded, pinked cheeks and cupid-bow lips. Her post-braces teeth would be on display in a stretched out smile, lighting up her face. And, of course, framed by her wild mass of shiny, dark hair, making her rosy cheeks and white forehead beam with contrast.

            They slid to a stop in unison, smiling goofily at each other, and exited the playground. Dustin zipped up her jacket and shivered a bit. Jamie felt the opposite, his insides still warm. He unwound his long black scarf and wrapped it around Dustin's neck three times, creating a thick, wooly barrier from the cold, covering Dustin's mouth. Her eyes crinkled with a smile and Jamie wrapped his arm around her, kissing her cool temple. They walked down the park, surrounded by blue-white snow and shadows cast by the streetlights.

            It was like magic, and Jamie didn't believe in magic. Jamie didn't believe in magic in the way that a magician doesn't believe in magic. Dustin, however, believed in magic in a way that only a hopeless romantic could. She believed in the idea of a burning sensation that reaches from the pointy tips of your eyelashes to the toenails of your feet, making them curl up with happiness, just by touching the one you love. That's why she was good for Jamie, Jamie knew. Because she offered a different type of magic, a type with tricks that Jamie wasn't familiar with — a type with no tricks at all.

            And, hell, Jamie was close to believing.