Mr. Monday and other tales of Jewish Amsterdam

140 Air. Monday and Other Tales of Jewish Amsterdam

The only question was, who would be willing to accept a demonstration?That's where Orestes skill came in.Unhesitatingly he would approach Mrs. So-and-so. When the two boys were inside the house, he did the talking. Not nagging or childish, but suggestive, one might even say hypnotic.

It was strange, but somehow he always achieved what he wanted. A lot of plates and saucers were broken to smithereens in the houses they visited. Yet not one of the housewives refused a trial, they just couldn't. It was very strange for a twelve-year-old boy to possess such a compelling power over adults.

Later, when he was in his fifties, I asked Oreste whether he had an explanation for the strange power he could exercise over people.

"No...not an explanation," he answered."The only thing I know is that I have always been terribly scared. I can't recall a day in my life when I didn't wake up with a feeling of fear. My greatest fear was that my friends would find out that I was a coward. That they would discover how yellow I was inside drove me to madly daring deeds that gave me superhuman powers. Do you understand what I am trying to say?"

"Yes and no," I admitted. "That so-called magician's trick with the tablecloth and china for instance, what on earth has that to do with your fear?"

"You don't know the full story yet," he said seriously. "It always started like this: My friend Appie told me that he had conceived some idea, the tablecloth trick, for instance. And then he asked me, "Oreste, are you scared to ask people to do it?"