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The Fakir and the Science of Miracles/Chapter Six: Katya and Ram

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Chapter Six:
Katya and Ram

A week had passed since the fall. Katya remained in a kind of quiet slumber, but Ra-Mak-Mey did not hurry to wake her.

“Let her body get used to being healthy, and then everyone around will forget about what had ‘impossibly’ happened!” — he laughed, when Tom anxiously inquired about her health.

And, in fact, soon everyone was already merely casually interested in asking Tom about how things were with Katya, and Tom would answer with confidence: “Better! She is recovering!”.

So, no one in the circus was surprised when Katya had fully woken up. The only one who was really surprised was Katya herself, seeing Ram leaning over her bed.

“Who are you?”

Katya looked at the stranger, who was wearing an eastern-styled turban and sitting on the edge of her bed, gently holding her hand in his swarthy hand with his thin and graceful fingers.

His eyes were so friendly, caressing, soothing, and familiar…

But she had never before seen his face.

“Or have I?…” — she thought.

“Yes!” — she realized. — “I saw you in a dream!…”

In that dream, he as if found her and called her. She saw only his eyes in the Light, Which was like a gentle sun. His loving peace enveloped her like a cloud and then… But she could not remember what happened next.

Suddenly, Katya remembered something else… She recalled how she fell from under the very dome of the circus itself, feeling fear, pain, and understanding that this was the end…

Did it really happen? Or was it just a terrible dream?

“Am I alive?” — she wondered.

The stranger said:

“It was a kind of ‘terrible dream’. Do not think about it now! Your body is all right!

“And everything that happens to us here, in this world, is truly like a dream.

“But man is able to wake up — and know the Reality!

“But we’ll talk about this another time, if you want to, of course.”

“Who are you? Where is Tom?”

“Tom is performing right now. Soon he will come and be glad that you have fully recovered.

“And my name is Ra-Mak-Mey. But Tom shortened that name, claiming that it was too long. So now, here in the circus, everyone just calls me Ram. I like that name.

I am a fakir. Recently, I signed a contract with Mr. Lurie — and now I am also performing in your circus.”

“Can I stand up?”

“Yes… But… Tom is coming! Now I must go to prepare for my performance.”

“May I see it?”

“Yes.”

Tom carried Katya in his arms to the arena, still fearing for her health. Katya was cheerfully welcomed and seated next to the entrance of the arena — on the pedestal that was used for the performances of dogs.

Katya was not the only one watching the fakir’s performance from behind the scenes. Even the artists, who had already seen the different tricks of the show many times, watched it once again.

The show was fascinating not only because of the novelty of the different elements, but also because there was a special feeling which enveloped all the viewers.

A golden fog like smoke was released by the fakir at the beginning of the performance from an empty bowl. For this, Ram put his hand in the bowl and as if began to stir it. And then, this fog enveloped everything and everyone, giving everyone a sense of happiness.

Then four white pigeons emerged from the same bowl and took flight under the dome. There, they seemed to as if snatch a light translucent fabric out of the void, pulling it out with their beaks, and then bringing it to the fakir.

He covered these birds, which were sitting on the edge of the bowl, with the fabric — and they… disappeared.

Then a flame began to flare in the bowl. From it, Ram began to extract different objects…

And everything that happened after that was also magical!

Sometimes Ram invited someone from the audience to check the objects before another miracle — for firmness or for emptiness…

Most viewers believed that those who took part in this were so-called stooges: special helpers of the fakir, playing along with him. But the circus people knew that this was not so, and their surprise was limitless!

Ram’s show ended the program — since it was the most new and spectacular! The public accepted everything “with a bang”. Mr. Lurie even decided to extend the tour in that city.