Invite him in.
I'm not a magician. I don't do tricks for applause.
I've spent my life learning things most people never get close to: how a card cheat wins, how a pickpocket chooses, how a stranger can know what you're thinking. I learned them in New Orleans, Guam, Korea, and Malaysia. Now I live in Chicago, and I bring them into homes like yours.
Where my uncle showed me the first thing I couldn't explain.
Where I learned to read a room because there was nowhere else to look.
Where I learned the rest from people who don't teach it.
Where I stopped running and started inviting people in.
Lights on. Cards on the table.
Cards that cheat for me. Watches that leave wrists. Thoughts I shouldn't know. Up close and in your guests' hands, around a table or through a party on its feet.
Lights down. One glass poured.
The candles are lit and your guests are seated. I tell them where I've been, from New Orleans to Chicago, and every chapter comes with proof they can't explain.
A guest only you invited.
He arrives as one of your guests and knows things he shouldn't. Later, the lights go down and The Passage begins. Only you will know he's coming.
At your dinner, your cocktail party, your anniversary, your guests will meet a stranger. He knows things he shouldn't. When they ask who he is, he'll tell them they'll find out soon enough.
Later in the evening, they do. The lights go down and the stranger tells them his story, from New Orleans to Chicago. Every chapter comes with proof they can't explain.
You provide a seat at your table, a meal, and your silence.
They'll spend the night wondering who invited him. You'll spend it watching them wonder.
If you want your guests amazed.
If you want them drawn in.
If you want them to never forget who came to the party.
Not sure? Tell me about the night and I'll tell you which fits.
No. That's the point. You'll introduce me as a friend, or not introduce me at all.
Then they'll spend the evening wondering what I'm doing there. It works either way.
No. Dinner, cocktails, a birthday, an anniversary. If your guests are gathered, I can be among them.
No one is frightened. A few are unsettled. They usually enjoy that part most.
One call before the evening. You tell me about your guests. I take it from there.
Date, guest count, the occasion. I'll reply within a day.