H&R Staff Writer

DECATUR - The trick called for two coins.

Rick Eugene showed his two young helpers that he had two coins in his right hand, holding his other hand far away from it so there could be no question of sleight-of-hand. Then he'd take one out of his right hand and put it in his pocket in full view of everyone.

"How many coins are in my hand?" he asked, and both helpers were certain there was only one.

"No, the trick uses two coins," he said innocently, opening that hand to show both coins still there.

As an added attraction of the summer reading program, the magician, whose full name is Rick Eugene Brammer, performed at Decatur Public Library on Friday for a large and appreciative crowd of children and adults. Brammer also sells children's books and, in that capacity, visited the library when children's librarian Katie Gross arranged for him to come back and do his show.

Brammer is largely self-taught and belongs to a magicians club back home in Davenport, Iowa. He learned to do magic mostly from books, he told the children at his show, and if he'd realized he could have borrowed books from the library instead of buying them, he would have learned without spending nearly as much money.

The suggestion took root. Several of the children in the audience headed straight for the stacks and checked out magic books before they left the library.

Brammer's show is as much comedy as magic, and one portion of it called for youngsters to wear feather boas and chicken beaks (if they were girls) or rooster hats (if they were boys) and compete to see who could do the best chicken impersonation. Michael Brewster, 12, knew what he had to do.

"I knew roosters strut around and show off," said Michael, who was the audience's favorite "rooster."

Michael and his siblings - Grace, Devin and Catherine - always participate in the summer reading program, said their mother, Connie. When the kids had nothing to do Friday, she suggested going to the magic show.

Brammer jokes that he's always the kid magnet at events where he performs. When he does a show at a wedding, for example, he said the kids surround him, and he entertains them so the adults can visit and catch up with each other.

John Schirle, who works in the library's children's section, saw evidence of that. When Brammer was there on his book-selling excursion, he sat right down and made balloon animals for a crowd of fascinated children, Schirle said.