PROSPERO THE ENCHANTER

 






Black velvet cape lined with shockingly white silk cascading behind him

Tailcoat… Waistcoat hangs unbuttoned over his lace-edged shirt… Top hat which featured prominently in his performance sits on a hat stand nearby

The man appeared younger on stage, his age buried under the glare of the footlights and layers of makeup

The face in the mirror is lined, the hair significantly greying. But there is something youthful in the grin

The announcement in the paper states that Hector Bowen, better known as Prospero The Enchanter, entertainer and stage magician of great renown, dies of heart failure in his home on the fifteenth of march

The figure hovering by the window turns. Where the sunlight hits him he is all but invisible. Part of a shoulder appears to be missing, the top of his head vanishes in a flutter of sun-caught dust. The rest of him is transparent, like a reflection

What is left of Hector Bowen reads the note and laughs delightedly

“Though perhaps he is better known as Prospero the Enchanter”

“Absolutely brilliant, completely mesmerized every audience. Never seen anyone to match him, never”