And that was how Ruby found herself living in an apartment over a magic shop.
11
To begin with, everything seemed to go well. It was a lot more exciting than being at Grimlocks. Alfonso was generosity itself. On Ruby’s first day he took her shopping at the department store of wonders and spells, and made a great show of choosing her a dress.
“You can’t wear that school uniform anymore, child,” said Alfonso. “It clashes with the décor.”
Ruby tried on dress after dress until Alfonso found one he liked, a pink frock with a huge bow.
“Now you look like my niece, dear heart,” said Alfonso.
Ruby hadn’t liked her school uniform one little bit, but she liked the pink frock even less. She wanted to say so, but Alfonso wasn’t listening. He was thinking about what a great actor he was, and how well he played the part of a generous and caring uncle, which of course could not have been further from the truth.
Alfonso had followed the careers of Mr. Genie and his wife Myrtle with starstruck envy. He had seen amazing things happen when the lovely Mrs. Genie waved her magic wand, and watched the audience gasp in wonder as Mr. Genie wafted out of his magic lamp. So when he heard of their untimely deaths, he saw his chance. If only he could get his hands on that lamp and that wand, how his life would change! He too would become a great magician. He would be the Great Alfonso!
Alfonso was all prepared to spend his life savings on buying the lamp and the wand when he heard that they had been given to the Genies’ only child, Ruby. He didn’t even know they had a child! She must have great magical powers—that was why they had kept so quiet about her. But he needed that lamp and wand more than Ruby did . . .
That was why Alfonso decided to pretend to be Ruby’s uncle and abduct her from Grimlocks School. It had worked like a dream. Miss Pinkerton, the old cabbage leaf, had believed every word he’d said. Now he had Ruby, and, far more importantly, he had the lamp and the wand. Alfonso was not going to waste any more time.
12
Ruby couldn’t understand what she had done wrong. Alfonso became like an actor taking off his disguise. Gone was the kind and generous uncle who wanted his niece to look her very best—all gone in a puff of blue smoke. In his place there appeared a frightening, bad-tempered man. Ruby could see quite clearly now that this was not her uncle.
“I’ve had enough of this playacting. It’s time for you to earn your keep,” said Alfonso. He took the lamp and the wand out of his safe and placed them carefully on a table. He could hardly contain his excitement.
“Now show me the mysteries of the lamp,” he said, rubbing his chubby hands together in glee.
Ruby looked at him, amazed. “I don’t know what you mean,” she said.
Alfonso laughed. “Oh, very funny! Well, if you like you can start by showing me how the wand performs, and we can move on to the lamp later.”
“Honest, I don’t know anything about them. They weren’t mine, they belonged to my mother and father,” said Ruby, rather worried by the glint in Alfonso’s eye.
“I know that, you stupid little girl,” said Alfonso. “That’s why I wanted them. You must know what to do. Otherwise, why would your parents have left them to you?”
“I don’t know,” said Ruby, her eyes pricking with tears.
“Oh, very touching. I weep for you, I sympathize. Now, no more fun and games,” said Alfonso. He was turning redder and redder.
“I’d like to help, but I’m no good at magic,” said Ruby, her legs shaking.
“You are toying with the Great Alfonso. You play with me at your peril! Do you think that I would have invested all this time in you if I thought for one miserable moment that you couldn’t make the lamp and the wand work?” said Alfonso furiously. “Well, don’t just stand there, give the lamp a rub!”
Ruby rubbed the lamp with all her might, but nothing happened.
“I’m sorry,” said Ruby, tears pouring down her face. Alfonso let out a cruel laugh. She tried waving the wand around. Nothing happened, except that Ruby was so frightened that she began to shrink.
Alfonso looked a little surprised, but said, “Now you see what the Great Alfonso can do when his anger is roused!”
Ruby too was surprised to find quite how much she had shrunk. She was now about as tall as the table. She climbed up onto a chair and tried again. Nothing happened, except that she could see her frightened face shining back at her in the lamp.
Alfonso’s face had gone purple. His eyes looked as if they might pop out of his head.
“This is too much. You’re playing with me!” yelled Alfonso, stamping his foot.
Oh dear, thought Ruby. I’m shrinking again.
“Do you think that I, the Great Alfonso, would have gone to so much trouble, pretending to be your uncle, squandering money on you, if I had known for one minute what a stupid, useless little worm you would turn out to be—”
Here Alfonso stopped and stared at Ruby. She had shrunk to about six inches.
“Now you see the spells I can cast on little girls who don’t do what they’re told!” shouted Alfonso. “You’re useless!”
And he picked Ruby up and threw her inside an old handbag that was lying around. With one click it snapped shut and Ruby’s world went dark. “Good riddance to bad rubbish!” yelled Alfonso, and he flung open the window and hurled the bag out.
Ruby felt herself flying through the air. She tumbled over something in the dark, hurting her knee and hitting her head on something hard. Then Ruby knew no more.
Just then, a lady who had been buying a trick at the magic shop walked out onto the sidewalk.
She was surprised to see a handbag falling out of the sky. With one nifty move she caught it, then looked up to see if someone had dropped it by mistake.
“Is this yours?” she called to Alfonso as he was shutting the window.
“No, madam,” said Alfonso. “What would I want with a handbag?”
“Imagine that!” said Aunt Hat (for that was the lady’s name). “It must be my lucky day. This bag could come in very handy.”
Just how handy, she was about to find out.
13
When Ruby woke up, she had no idea how long she had been in the handbag. She had lost all sense of time. All she knew was that she was hungry and frightened. Perhaps she had been forgotten, left on a shelf in Alfonso’s magic shop. It would be years before anyone thought to look inside the bag. When they did, they would find a tiny skeleton.
Ruby started to cry. This was really bad. Worse than being an orphan, worse than Grimlocks, worse than being with Alfonso.
Suddenly the clasp of the bag flew open. Ruby could see daylight and a string of ladies’ underpants hanging on a clothesline.
Aunt Hat was in a cheerful mood. Not every day, she thought, do you get given a handbag, even if it does come flying at you out of the sky. She got out a dust rag. “With a little polish,” she said to herself, “that bag will look as good as new.”
It is hard to know who was more startled when she opened the handbag, Ruby or Aunt Hat. It is true to say both were in for a very big surprise. What Ruby saw was a round, kind face staring down at her. What Aunt Hat saw nearly made her jump out of her skin. It’s not every day you find a teeny-weeny little girl in a handbag.
Ruby’s luck was about to change. Of all the people she could have landed on, she couldn’t have chosen better than Aunt Hat. She lived in a small apartment that was full of odds and ends, colors and flowers. Everything had been put together in a higgledy-piggledy way that gave the place a warm, comfortable feeling. Ruby, for the first time in a long while, felt safe.
They sat together drinking tea at Aunt Hat’s kitchen table. Ruby perched on a dollhouse chair, drinking from a tiny cup and saucer, while Aunt Hat cut her small slices of toast and cake.
Ruby was beginning to feel better already. She told Aunt Hat all about her adventure and how she had come to be in the bag in the first place. Aunt Hat’s sunny face clouded o
ver when Ruby came to the bit about Alfonso. She was horrified to learn that he had taken her so easily from Grimlocks. What was Miss Pinkerton thinking, letting Ruby go off with that dreadful old magician? What was the world of magic coming to? That’s what she would like to know.
“I don’t think I’ll ever see my father’s lamp or my mother’s wand again,” said Ruby sadly. “I wish I was good at magic like them. All I can do is read, and that’s not much use.”
“You can read! Oh petal, that is some magic trick!” said Aunt Hat, really impressed. “That is something I’ve never been able to do.”
“Really?” said Ruby.
“Oh yes, petal, to be able to read is worth more than old lamps and wands,” said Aunt Hat. “If I could read properly, I might have been able to find myself another job after the magic left me.”
“I don’t understand,” said Ruby.
Aunt Hat laughed. “I haven’t introduced myself properly. I am Aunt Hat, a children’s conjurer.” She pointed toward a beautiful collection of hats hanging on the wall. “That’s how I got my name, on account of the wonderful hats I wore. When I was a bit younger than I am now I was a rather good children’s entertainer, but something happened, and I lost my magic touch. These days I’m grateful for any little job that comes my way.”
“That’s very sad. What are you going to do?” asked Ruby.
“I can only do my best with my fisherman’s vest,” said Aunt Hat cheerfully. “As it happens I’m booked to do a children’s party tomorrow, because Cecil the Snake Man has come down with the flu. But I have a feeling that now I’ve met you, Ruby Genie, maybe, just maybe, things might get better.”
14
That night Ruby slept in Aunt Hat’s bedroom, in a little dollhouse, on a wrought iron bed with a feather mattress and feather pillows. Ruby read Aunt Hat Aladdin for a bedtime story. For the first time in ages she went to sleep happy.
The next day the sun shone through the windows, and the apartment twinkled in the sunny light. Aunt Hat was busy making tiny pancakes for breakfast. She had laid a miniature table with dollhouse plates and cutlery. In the middle of the table was a small bunch of glass flowers.
After breakfast, Aunt Hat found a box of dolls’ clothes for Ruby to look through.
“I have boxes and boxes of useless small things, don’t ask me why! I just love collecting dollhouse dolls and furniture.” Aunt Hat laughed merrily. “I must have known that one day I would meet you.”
Ruby had hated the clothes Alfonso had bought for her and made her wear, so she was thrilled to be able to look through Aunt Hat’s boxes of delights. She finally chose a hat with bells hanging from it with a tiny spoon sewn onto the front, a pair of baggy trousers, and a very beautiful old coat covered in stars. It was almost as if it had been made for her.
“Don’t you look wonderful!” said Aunt Hat. “Quite the magician, if you don’t mind me saying.”
That afternoon Ruby went with Aunt Hat to the children’s birthday party. Aunt Hat had gone to considerable trouble to clean out the handbag. She had removed the bit of old orange peel that had been left in there and now the bag shone inside and out. Ruby sat on a dollhouse armchair so that she would be comfortable while traveling. She had a flashlight so she could see in the dark and a ladder so she could climb up and look out.
The party was held in a very grand house on Canal Street. A rather over-anxious mother greeted Aunt Hat.
“Oh hello,” she said. “You haven’t come a moment too soon. The little darlings have gotten through all the games and demolished Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and now they want entertaining before lunch.”
Aunt Hat was shown into a sitting room where a stage had been set up. A little girl in a huge pink frilly dress came over. She looked like a marshmallow on legs.
“Here is the birthday girl,” said the mother in a flustered voice. “Charlotte, say hello to Aunt Hat.”
“Oh Mommy,” said Charlotte in disgust. “I thought you’d gotten the snake man. You know, the one Miranda had at her party. She got to hold a tarantula.”
“Now precious,” said her mother, “you know he isn’t well. We were very lucky to get Aunt Hat.”
Charlotte stamped her foot on the floor.
“I don’t want Aunt Hat. She’s for babies!” And Charlotte stomped out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Her mother gave a nervous little laugh.
“She’s just a little over-excited. You know how it is. They wait all year for this day, and we do so want to get it right.”
Aunt Hat was left alone to set up. She opened the bag so that Ruby could see out. In no time at all the room filled up with noisy giggling girls in party dresses.
“I had a sword swallower for my party,” said one little girl with a pink bow.
“That’s nothing,” said a girl in blue. “I had a fire eater at mine. He lay on a bed of nails and I got to stand on him. When he got up there were real nail marks all down his back.”
Aunt Hat tried to get their attention but nobody seemed in the least bit interested in what she was doing. Ruby had by now climbed up her little ladder so that she could see what was going on. She had to agree that Aunt Hat was pretty terrible.
“I know how you do that!” shouted one girl from the front. Charlotte’s parents were now in quite a state as the noise of bored children rose to a deafening din.
“I could do better myself,” said her father crossly.
“She was all I could get at such short notice,” the mother snapped back. The birthday girl burst into tears.
“This is the worst birthday ever,” she sobbed.
Her mother turned desperately to Aunt Hat. “Do something, anything, for goodness’ sake!” she wailed.
15
What happened next not only silenced the whole party but took Aunt Hat completely by surprise. Hidden in the handbag, Ruby wanted to help Aunt Hat so badly that she felt she was going to burst. She couldn’t bear the idea of all these children not liking Aunt Hat’s magic show. She could see tears in Aunt Hat’s eyes as the children began to jeer. They shouldn’t make fun of such a kind friend! If only she could do something to help—anything—like make lots of sweets appear! She closed her eyes and concentrated. As she did so, she felt a tingle go through her whole body. It was then that Ruby realized two things: First, the room seemed to have gone very quiet, and second, and far more amazing, Ruby Genie was doing her first ever magic trick.
The children watched as the first few sweets flew up in the air. They stopped when Aunt Hat put her bag on the table. It’s difficult to make sweets appear when you’re wobbling around in a handbag. The children began to shout, “We want more! We want more!” Then a fountain of sweets shot out like fireworks, in all directions and in all different colors.
When the display finished, Aunt Hat was so astonished she couldn’t think of what to say.
The children clapped and cheered. “More! More!” they shouted again.
Aunt Hat looked in the bag. Inside she saw Ruby Genie with a huge smile on her face, and the beginnings of a birthday cake. Aunt Hat had just enough time to say, “For my grand finale,” before the birthday cake came floating out of the bag. Aunt Hat caught it with great aplomb. (That was one thing Aunt Hat had always been good at, catching things.)
The cake was followed by a shower of blazing candles that formed the words “Happy Birthday” in the air before shooting down like darts to position themselves in the icing.
“How did you do that?” asked Charlotte.
Aunt Hat laughed. “The secret is in the bag,” she said.
After that the party was a great success. At going home time, Charlotte looked a little sheepish as she said to Aunt Hat that it was the best magic show she had ever seen. All her friends wanted Aunt Hat to entertain at their parties. In fact, Charlotte’s parents were so pleased with the way things had gone that they paid Aunt Hat extra.
That night Aunt Hat and Ruby went home in a taxi.
16
T
he next few weeks were a whirlwind of children’s parties. Ruby was really enjoying herself. She liked nothing better than being hidden in the bag. It gave her all the courage she needed, knowing no one could see her doing her magic.
At first, she could only make sweets and cakes appear. Aunt Hat wouldn’t have minded one little bit if she had just stuck to that, for all the children loved them.
But Aunt Hat had a feeling that sweets were just the beginning. Ruby had worked out that as long as she had a picture of what she wanted in her head, she could usually make it appear. At first floating unformed out of the bag, in no time it took on the shape of whatever Ruby was imagining.
The children in the audience knew nothing about Ruby. What they saw was Aunt Hat waving her wand and making the most magical things appear from her bag. Sometimes things appeared even when she wasn’t waving her wand. The truth was that Aunt Hat was never quite sure what Ruby would come up with next, whether it would last any length of time or vanish at once in a puff of rainbow smoke.
Every day Ruby’s magic got stronger and her confidence grew. There were a few teething problems, like the time she imagined a snake with two hundred legs that made all the children scream and run. The parents laughed nervously and looked most relieved when it vanished, but Aunt Hat didn’t mind a bit. That was what Ruby loved about Aunt Hat. Whatever she came up with, Aunt Hat would say, when they were safely home, “Well, wasn’t that amazing! Aren’t you the cleverest magician ever!”
Aunt Hat had had the bright idea of sewing a secret compartment into the bag, where Ruby could hide. The grand finale of every show came when Aunt Hat lifted up the bag so all the children could see that it was quite empty. No one knew about Ruby, and that was the way both of them wanted it to stay.