“Another day full of hope!” Wos hummed a little tune as he put on that familiar clown mask.
Tom and Jerry were in high spirits too.
Yesterday’s success had them looking forward to today’s show.
So when he got home yesterday, Wos had spent time thinking about what to perform next.
A sudden idea struck him, and he asked Tom and Jerry if they could do magic tricks.
After getting a yes, Wos decided to open everyone’s eyes today, and he used the money he’d earned yesterday to buy a lot of magic props.
Jerry had even taken the time to groom his fur, while Tom was practicing some new magic moves.
“Let’s go, partners! Today we’re going to earn enough for the rent!” Wos picked up the bag of props, and the trio headed for Times Square once more.
However, when they got close to yesterday’s performance spot, Wos was completely stunned.
“Holy crap! What’s going on?”
The sight before him left him totally baffled.
The wide-open street corner was now packed solid with a dense, dark mass of people, at least several hundred of them.
The crowd was layered three rows deep, and all kinds of chatter came from inside it.
Wos’s heart sank.
“Oh no, oh no, somebody must have gotten hurt. With this many people gathered around, did someone kick the bucket right here?”
Tom stood on tiptoe to peer into the crowd, while Jerry simply climbed up onto Tom’s head to serve as a temporary lookout tower.
Wos decided to pull Tom and Jerry back.
“Looks like we’ll have to change locations today. There’s no way we can perform here.”
Wos felt a little down.
“From the look of it, they’ll probably be waiting for the police to deal with the scene. Let’s go find another spot today.”
Just as he was about to turn and leave, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted:
“It’s them! That’s them! The masked guy and the two little animals!”
“It really is! They’re the ones from the video yesterday!”
“Look! Tom and Jerry are here!”
Wos was completely lost.
“What? What video?”
The crowd began to stir, and everyone turned to look at them.
Then something amazing happened: the dense crowd actually parted on its own, opening a path for them.
“Come in! Come in!”
“We came here just to see you perform!”
“Hurry to the middle! Everyone’s been waiting!”
Wos was at a loss, overwhelmed by the sudden enthusiasm, and Tom and Jerry were just as clueless.
But seeing all those expectant eyes, they had no choice but to steel themselves and walk toward the center of the crowd.
When they reached the middle of the circle, Wos finally understood what was happening.
Several phones were set on the ground, and their screens were playing the video of yesterday’s performance.
“Holy crap!” Wos exclaimed inwardly.
“It went viral already?”
A young man with glasses said excitedly, “Bro, your video from yesterday blew up online! It already has two hundred thousand views!”
“Some people say it’s special effects, and we came to find out if it’s real or fake!” a middle-aged man said loudly.
“Right! Let’s see if it’s real!” someone in the crowd egged them on.
Only then did Wos realize that someone had filmed their performance yesterday and posted it online, and it had unexpectedly blown up.
These people had all come specifically to see them perform.
“Um…” Wos cleared his throat.
“Since everyone’s being so supportive, we won’t hold back!”
The crowd burst into warm applause and cheers.
Tom and Jerry looked at each other and saw excitement in each other’s eyes.
Being anticipated by this many people was a first for them.
“Today, we’re bringing you a magic show!” Wos announced loudly.
Tom pulled a little top hat out of the bag and put it on his head, and instantly he had the air of a magician.
Jerry hopped onto his shoulder to serve as the magician’s assistant.
“The first trick: Something From Nothing!”
Tom took off the top hat and showed the audience that it was empty.
Then he turned the hat upside down on the ground and made a few mysterious gestures over it with his paw.
“Behold, the moment of the miracle!” Wos called out in coordination.
Tom lifted the hat, and a lively little white rabbit actually appeared inside!
“Wow!” The crowd gasped.
But something even more amazing was still to come.
The little white rabbit suddenly went “poof” and turned into a bouquet of flowers!
“How is this possible?”
“It’s definitely real! I’m this close, there’s no way it’s special effects!”
“Incredible!”
Tom bowed proudly, and Jerry made a victory gesture on his shoulder.
“The second trick: Passing Through Magic!”
Jerry jumped down from Tom’s shoulder, and Tom pulled out a transparent glass bottle and showed the audience that it was sealed tight.
Jerry stood outside the bottle and made a few exaggerated moves, then suddenly leaped, and passed straight through the glass wall to appear inside the bottle!
“Oh my God!”
“What’s the principle behind this?”
“The bottle is clearly sealed!”
Even more amazing, Jerry spun around once inside the bottle, then walked right back out, patted the dust off himself, and waved at the audience as if nothing had happened.
The crowd completely erupted, and applause rolled out like thunder.
Just then, a news van marked with the “Daily Bugle” logo squeezed into the crowd.
“This is the Daily Bugle, and I’m reporter Sarah Olemei.” A blonde female reporter held a microphone and spoke into the camera.
“We’re at Times Square, bringing you live coverage of an unbelievable street performance.”
“As you can see, a cat and a mouse are performing real magic, right before the eyes of hundreds of spectators!”
The cameraman pointed the lens at Tom and Jerry.
Seeing the camera, the two little ones didn’t get stage fright at all.
Instead, they performed even harder.
“The third trick: Space-Time Teleportation!”
Tom brought out a big cardboard box and had Jerry climb inside.
Then he stuck a few paper talismans on the box and made a series of mysterious gestures.
“Three, two, one!” Wos counted down.
Tom flipped open the box, and it was completely empty!
Jerry had vanished!
Just as the audience was wondering where Jerry had gone, someone suddenly pointed to the back of the crowd and shouted, “There! Over there!”
Everyone turned around and saw Jerry standing on a trash can fifty meters away, waving in their direction!
“That’s impossible!”
“He was clearly in the box a second ago!”
“How did he do that?”
Jerry leaped down from the trash can, shot through the crowd at top speed, and returned to Tom’s side.
The two bowed in perfect sync to say thanks.
The Daily Bugle reporter Sarah was completely stunned, and she said into the camera:
“Viewers, I’ve worked in journalism for ten years, and I’ve never seen such an amazing performance. This is absolutely not special effects, because we’re live!”
“Let’s interview this mysterious performer.” Sarah walked up to Wos.
“Sir, may I ask your name?”
Wos was a little nervous, since this was his first time facing a media interview.
“My name is… my name is Mr. Cat and Mouse Man.”
“Mr. Cat and Mouse Man, how did you train these two animals? Their performance goes beyond human understanding!”
“Well…” Wos scratched his head.
“Actually, they’re naturally gifted. I never trained them at all. I just gave them a platform to show off their talent.”
Hearing this, Tom and Jerry both looked at Wos with deep emotion.
“Then will you keep performing here?” Sarah continued.
“Of course! As long as everyone likes it, we’ll come every day!” Wos patted his chest and promised.
The crowd burst into warm applause again.
After the show, Wos looked at the hat in front of him, filled to the brim, and could hardly believe his eyes.
Besides bills of every denomination, someone had even tossed in a check!
“One, two, three…” His hands shook as he counted.
“One thousand eight hundred seventy-five dollars! Oh my God!”
Tom and Jerry were shocked by the number too.
It was more than ten times yesterday’s earnings!
“We’re rich! We’re really rich!” Wos was so excited he almost jumped.
“Not only is the rent covered, we can improve our living conditions too!”
Looking at the crowd still refusing to leave, Wos felt a sense of accomplishment unlike anything before.
Maybe being an ordinary person in the Marvel world wasn’t so bad, at least for now.