Key West - The Magic Begins

When I think of Key West it brings to mind, some marvelous imagery, as well as conjuring up foggy rum soaked memories of fantasy fests gone by. The farthest southern point of the US, it is more than snorkel trips, sunset cruises, and restaurants where chickens scratch at your feet. It is a mysterious island filled with hidden secrets. Beyond the delicious taste of a cool slice of key lime pie, and the palm trees split by a serene sunset, most of all, it is a place filled with characters. As though Hemingway himself had provided background and filled this tourist town with his own eclectic creations. It is in this very place indeed where he staggered down to a local bar, to challenge a friend to a drinking contest or boxing match. The saloons still echo his bygone bravado,with names such as Sloppy Joe's, Captain Tony's, or The Schooner Warf, they are a magnet to the often loud, wrinkled, liver ravaged, pirates which wander Duval Street in search of a drop of the magic which fortunately this wonderful, eye-opening, island can provide.

My search for magic began with my own christening as I finished packing the Jeep. The very last thing after everything was packed was to take out the leftover groceries from my refrigerator to give to a friend. When I did the bottom of the bag fell out and a half bottle of Cabernet went pouring down my shorts, ran down my right leg, soaked into my white gym sock and pretty much dyed my white tennis shoe instantly. My trip was going to begin as random as my life, like the man who is picked to be a spy simply because he has "one red shoe."


After finally arriving in Key West and getting a shower and changing from my wet shoe, I felt ready to search for the magic. I'd been unable to contact the magician whom I set out on this journey to Key West to see, so I figured a trip down to the Schooner would fill dual purpose. I'd get a drink, number one. And maybe, just maybe I'd see a magician. As I recalled from a vacation on the island years ago, I'd once met a magician there. His name was Frank Everheart Jr.

As I entered the bar which doesn't really amount much to entering, because it it mostly an outside venue. I could see a small crowd gathered in the far corner. There in the middle of that laughing, amazed bunch of drunks was a man wearing a hat (a definite sign of a magician). A small wooden bar wrapped around him and to his right was a wooden box filled with dozens of cases of playing cards. He was sweating profusely in the 90 degree heat and humidity which comes with it. He had a cold drink in one hand and a pack of cards in the other. As a magician who has done many card tricks, I know that humidity is an enemy to a deck of cards. In this case his cards looked like a stack of soggy wash cloths.

Yes indeed, I had found a magician in all his glory.

Frank, had his audience wrapped around his finger, especially the attractive ladies. He was performing one of his signature card tricks in which the chosen card somehow ends up under that magical hat without the knowledge of the very person who chose it. However, Frank puts a twist on the trick as the sign behind him with announces, "Frank's Magic Bar" includes a picture of him wearing the hat, with a card protruding from it. The card is the same card which now appears underneath his hat. As the spectator discovers the image on the sign is indeed her card, the audience is already aware that the card is at the same time protruding from his hat.

It was amazing to see the reaction of the girl when she discovered that Frank had performed not one card trick, but two miracles with those humidity soggened paste-boards. His magic amazed and amused this cadre of rum soaked patrons who were entranced by his often witty patter. At one point he did a card trick which totally caught me off guard in which a chosen card was lost and found rolled up in the beer bottle of the very person who had chosen it. Frank is skilled at his art to say the least, and well he should be, for he's been working this magic life at "Frank's Magic Bar" for fifteen years.

But Frank was not the end of my Key West search for magic life.. there was another.