Summary

Kate remembers going to see a magician's show which prompts her to reflect on the nature of magic. She thinks of parents who attempt to buy cures for their sick children and preachers who promise to multiply dollar bills. She herself at one point wears a bracelet that is supposed to serve as a "conduit for positive ions" in the hope of curing her arms. She writes about how, in religious studies, the word magic is not often used because "it is employed as a cheap way of describing faiths whose supernatural forces we simple don't credit" (31).

A month away from getting surgery in the hope of fixing her arms, Kate is referred, by a friend who remembers that she used to play the cello, to a psychical therapist who specializes in musicians. This therapist easily diagnosis her problem, saying that Kate...