Page 21 - Unlikely Stories 1

Madagascar Madness

you, a youngster with at least some illusions intact, but it was the
cleanest way for me to leave a life of which I had become fatigued
and ill-equipped to continue. Neither of us wanted a rancorous
divorce and the attendant press coverage of sensational court
proceedings. When the corpse of a hobo sufficiently resembling me
turned up in the morgue of the Grace Hospital in Detroit, it was a
simple matter for me to fake an abdominal injury and put myself in a
yogic state of suspended animation long enough to get a doctor to
certify my death. Then I made the switch in the middle of the night,
changed some documents in the hospital office to show that the
indigent’s body had been claimed by relatives, and left before
daybreak.”
Seidell shook his head slowly.
“That is difficult to believe. And if it were true, why of all
places would you choose to go to Madagascar?”
Weiss took another small sip from his cup and put it down,
his hand slightly shaking. “To answer that we must go back in time to
1918. Did you know I had starred in several films?”
“You mean, do I know that Houdini was an actor in the
movies? No, my memories of him are from newsreels and magazines.
You must know that you do not resemble those images at all, sir.”
The invalid grimaced.
“There is something to be said for dying young and leaving
no photograph of oneself as an old man. Yet I was already fifty-two
years old when a camera last captured my face: my physical training
kept me fit and youthful well into middle age. It had to, after all,
given the stunts I performed. And I had hopes…but I get ahead of
myself. Do you remember any of the films of your childhood, before
sound was added?”
“No. I think they were gone before I ever got to a theatre.
They’re obsolete. Most of them were probably melted down for the
war effort.”
“That’s too bad,” said Weiss. “Then you never had a chance
to see The Master Mystery, the serial I made during the Great War.”

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