Abracadabra

            On Monday morning I finished working out the chords for “J'ai déjà donné” (I Already Gave) by Serge Gainsbourg. I ran through it in French and English and then uploaded it to Christian’s Translations. I’ll begin preparing it for blog publication on Tuesday. 

            I weighed 86.2 kilos before breakfast. 

            The landlord knocked on my door and told me pest control is coming to my place on Wednesday morning and again on April 20. I asked what other apartments are being treated and he said just mine. I told him Caesar has had bedbugs for over a year. He asked if he’d told me and I said yes. Raja said unless he tells him he’s not going to do anything. He refuses to go door to door. I told him it’s going to cost a lot of money if he doesn’t treat Caesar’s place because they are just going to spread. He said that people should clean up their apartments, like my bathroom and it wouldn’t be a problem. I told him that bedbugs have nothing to do with dirt. One could have the cleanest apartment in the world and still have bedbugs. It’s very frustrating trying to appeal to Raja on this topic because he uses no logic. 

            I worked a bit on my essay. 

            I weighed 86.3 kilos before lunch. I had an avocado, Campari tomato, lettuce, scallion, and olive salad with balsamic vinaigrette dressing. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride to Yonge and Bloor and stopped at the Horseshoe Tavern on the way home to pee. Only the bartender was wearing a mask. 

            I weighed 85.6 kilos at 17:40. I worked for about an hour on my essay, drawing a parallel between the Untouchables’ relation to India and India’s relation to the world. 

            I made an avocado, lettuce, asparagus, grape tomato, scallion, radish, and mushroom salad with balsamic vinaigrette. I ate while watching an episode of Astro Boy. 

            This story begins with Astro Boy and his friends Specs and Dimmy attending a magic show of the great magician Abracadabra. After the show, they try to go backstage to get his autograph, but they are blocked by Abracadabra’s manager, Ten Percent. They find another door backstage and begin looking for Abracadabra but then they overhear Ten Percent telling Abracadabra to steal some famous paintings being delivered to the museum. 

            Astro Boy goes to warn Officer Gumshoe. Gumshoe doesn’t believe it but then Abracadabra appears and declares that no matter how many guards are placed around the museum he will steal the paintings at midnight. At midnight the paintings on the wall of the museum burst into flames. Then Abracadabra appears and tells Gumshoe that the burning paintings are fake and that the real paintings were stolen hours before. Astro Boy sees Abracadabra flying away and pursues him. After bypassing a few magic tricks, Astro Boy catches him but then Abracadabra’s hat comes off, and emerging from inside is Ten Percent, who makes Abracadabra and then himself disappear. 

            The police go to the theatre and encounter an old janitor who says he doesn’t know where Abracadabra is. But when the cops are gone the janitor opens a secret stairway to the basement where Abracadabra waits and the janitor reveals he is Ten Percent. He tells Abracadabra that he is his prisoner and if he escapes he will be caught by the police. 

            Later Abracadabra comes to Astro Boy to ask a favour. At first Astro Boy tries to catch him but Abracadabra insists he didn’t take the paintings. Suddenly Abracadabra is caught in the air patrol’s spotlights. He asks Astro Boy to follow him so he can explain. They are both pursued by the police until they are trapped but then a magic trick helps them escape and they find a spot to talk. He takes Astro Boy back to the theatre and shows him the secret place where all the paintings are hidden. He explains that the theatre was honest before Ten Percent arrived and took control. 

            Ten Percent reveals he's been waiting for Astro Boy and also shows he has made a copy of Abracadabra that has the same magical powers but does his bidding without hesitation. Then Ten Percent turns into a giant spider. Astro Boy fights the spider while Abracadabra goes after his own double. Astro Boy defeats the robot spider and Ten Percent tries to escape. Abracadabra imprisons him in his hat while Astro Boy tackles the double, but Abracadabra asks him not to hurt his brother. He suggests that he have an electronic conscience installed in the double. The double has the operation and becomes Presto Changeo. Abracadabra returns all of the paintings and then he and Presto form a new brother act together. 

            The first known mention of the word “Abracadabra” was in the second century AD in a book called Liber Medicinalis (sometimes known as De Medicina Praecepta Saluberrima) by Serenus Sammonicus, physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla, who prescribed that malaria sufferers wear an amulet containing the word “abracadabra” written in the form of a triangle. Maybe it works just as well against covid.