Granted, I did feel bad trying to keep him in the dark like this but that was only because I truly treasured our friendship. Even if for no other reason than he had the knack of being able to get me to smile. In fact, he was so skilled at this that I was certain that were I in the middle of my own execution, somehow, he would manage to coax me to smile or laugh. But then again, he also had a tendency to overreact. Hence the need to keep some things, such as the details of this tournament, secret. Before he could reply I tried to lighten the mood just a little. “And that is all that matters.”
Normally this would have drawn a laugh, but instead all that I received was a series of rather blunt questions. All of which were fired off in such rapid succession that I didn’t have a chance to answer even one as they flew from his lips. “You just finished collecting your fee? The tournament is tomorrow, right? Normally you’re quicker about that sort of thing, is something wrong? Why have you been avoiding my calls? Have you been able to study the location? Where is the tournament taking place?”
“Matt, stop asking me questions.” I commanded in as firm a voice as I could manage without being too insulting. “I can only answer one question at a time.”
“Go ahead and answer then.” Matt replied with just a bit too much forced pleasantness in his tone.
With the other end of the phone now silent, I was able to begin processing his questions as I prepared to answer them in a way that would appease my friend. Though, I really did hope he was just kidding around with this whole interrogation. I answered the first question, which was the only one that I was willing to answer, and made sure to tinge my voice with an ever so slight amount of mock anger, as if I had been offended by his barrage. “Matt give me a little bit more credit than that. I’ve had my fee since before I pulled into the city.”
“And how long have you been in the city?” I could easily imagine the frustration on his face.
I winced as I realized that I had let slip the one thing that I hadn’t wanted to communicate. I knew he was going to be less than thrilled with the answer, but I also knew that I owed him for ignoring his calls. There was a small voice inside my head that said I should just lie, but I quickly squashed it since I knew that trying to lie to Matt would just be a gigantic waste of time. The only real hope that I had of keeping him from digging all that hard into the details was if I let him assume that I had just gotten wrapped up in my reconnaissance and simply been unable to answer his calls.
Of course this was a flimsy hope since it would suggest that I knew something about this tournament was dangerous. But then, I doubted he would get on that particular train of thought, so I just gritted my teeth as I settled my nerves and went for an audacious plan. I told him the truth. Well, part of the truth at any rate. “I’ve been in the city going on three days now.”
There are times when everything goes your ways and you get the reaction you are hoping for; this wasn’t one of those times. “So you’ve been in the city for three days?” Matt asked, with plenty of restrained anger in his voice. This wasn’t going to end well for me. Before I even had a chance to defend myself, he answered his own question in a much calmer tone. “Wait, you’ve been doing that glass circle thing haven’t you?”
The “glass circle,” thank goodness he has always been fascinated by my glass circle trick. And why not, it has always proved to be quite a handy trick. Okay, the first time I showed it to Matt it proved not to be all that helpful, but over the years that single trick paved the way for us to make lots of money, all the while giving us some of our best memories. For Matt, the sweetest memory was that first time, and of course, there have been moments when I regretted ever showing it to him. I had tried to keep it from him, but he eventually convinced me to show him, and then managed to get me to set it up just inside of… I shook my head as I dislodged that train of thought. Even after all these years I couldn’t help but get embarrassed over that particular use of my trick. After that, he had started asking me to open the portholes everywhere. He really just didn’t understand why I was so reluctant to use it, no matter how I explained it to him.
And, as he would always argue, we had some fun experimenting with my little creation. But no matter how much fun we had, for me, nothing ever topped the very first time I managed to craft it. In my mind, that initial success was made even more wonderful by the fact that it had been the first transformation that I had ever made. In a way, my success was incredible considering that, at the time, I only had a vague idea of what I was hoping to accomplish. Somehow, without the guiding knowledge I had since built up, I was able to produce a very rough and rudimentary version of exactly what I had been looking for.
I remember how my right hand had been pressed against the wall when suddenly, the part of the wall that I was touching changed. It was a subtle change, hard to notice unless you were looking for it. That small section of wall had been slightly discolored in an almost circular pattern. But that patch of wall, while interesting, would never have been useful without the shiny circular piece of glass that was in my other hand. Neither one was going to win an award for their intrinsic beauty, but they didn’t need to, because these weren’t designed for decoration. Neither could function without the other, but when someone looked correctly through that small piece of glass, they were able to see out of the discolored section of wall. The two pieces worked together to create the most exquisite surveillance camera I had ever seen, especially when one end was attached to a video camera like the one I was using.
Smiling at the flood of memories, I answered my friend’s question with a warm voice. “Yes, I’m using the glass circle thing.”