Magic
​
He came at her from the darkness, his hoodie pulled down over his eyes, the knife where she could see it. "Give me your purse," he said and thrust the blade at her chest.
"I don't have a purse," she answered. She'd just finished a double shift at the hospital, too tired to deal with a mugging.
He frowned and motioned to her big, snakeskin bag. "Your bag then." She hoisted the bag off her shoulder, let it fall to the ground with a thud. He nudged it with his foot. "What’s in it?"
"Magic.”
He'd seen magic once when he was a kid at a birthday party in the park. He wasn't part of the party, just part of the trees. The magician had pulled coins from each kid’s ear and he’d wondered if his own ears would ever grow coins.
“Magic,” he said softly.
"But it’s only for those who believe.”
"I believe." He nodded his head so hard his hoodie fell back. Scars criss-crossed his face, so many they no longer had individual stories. “I believe with all my heart.”
"Let’s see," she said and reached up to his ear. When she brought her hand down, in between her thumb and forefinger was a shiny quarter. He laughed a high, bright laugh and reached out for the coin, ignoring the police sirens in the distance.
Linda Shields Swicker
Inner Magic
Collage
~ Sonja Nieuwejaar
Meet the Creators
Sonja Nieuwejaar
Sonja grew up in Gilmanton, N.H., picking blueberries and riding horses. After college, she took a detour to Washington D.C., and worked for FEMA, USAID, and the World Bank. During that time, she also married a Marine, had two kids, and moved seven times, with the last nine years being in Europe. She and her family have finally (hopefully!) settled down in Ipswich. In the fall, Sonja will be attending the MFA Creative Writing program at UMass Boston.
Linda Shields Swicker
As a mostly self-taught art and music hobbyist, I have drawn inspiration from family, friends, workshops, and museums. Dad’s leftover sheetrock from carpentry jobs made perfect substrate for his young daughter’s painting lessons. Those experiences sparked the awareness of repurposing. Fabric arts soon followed and I transformed discarded wool and cotton into vibrant, useful quilts and rugs. This spirit of reuse further evolved into paper collage, combining unfinished watercolors, vintage photos, and thrifted ephemera. “Weaving narratives” around these antique images breathes new life into a forgotten cast-away.