Marshall E Murdaugh

Soda Jerk Wizard Marshall E Murdaugh

Prepare yourself for a hilarious, adventurous romp through the herky-jerky 1950s-the era of Elvis, the bop, poodle skirts, and the magical, coming-of-age journey of high school junior, jokester, and aspiring kid magician Mikey Moran, who leaves his mundane world to become the new soda jerk in a wacky Richmond, Virginia, neighborhood drugstore. There, he encounters a menagerie of quirky characters destined to change his life forever; Old Doc, the drugstore's wily owner, the Italian Mafiosi, and his southern fried belle, a soft-shoe dancing encyclopedia salesman, mind readers, carnival workers, magicians, his football player rival, and the girl of his dreams. Mikey's life is complicated by his escalating prankster behavior, and serious troubles begin when he attends a spooky séance and uses Houdini-like techniques to expose the Indian mystic as a fraud and shuts down the event. In quick succession, he loses his father to cancer, his sweetheart abruptly moves away without a promise of return, and Mikey is then shocked to discover that his actions at the séance have caused the immigrant's family to become destitute. To right this terrible wrong, he assembles a team of zany drug store associates, and with the magic learned from his uncle, "The Amazing Le Roy," he creates an incredible stage show entertainment starring the Indian with superhuman powers of memory. Will Mikey extricate himself from some seriously dangerous life-threatening behavior? Can he avoid the sadistic attack from his football nemesis and rekindle his romantic relationship with his one true love? Not before thwarting some formidable foes with his laugh-out-loud pranks, magical abilities, perseverance, and sheer guts that will dramatically alter his life and those around him.