When I was six years old I stole an airplane and flew to the Manu National Reserve in eastern Peru. My Spanish was pretty bad back then so I knew I had to get out in the bush quickly. Within a few days I located the Machiguenga people, which was fateful because like me they speak Arawakan and I needed to tell them about my problem with my appendix. In a healing session that night I drank some ayahuasca with the shaman and his extended family. He told me that the spirit of Houdini was angry with me because he thought I had stolen one of his magic tricks. The shaman knew this was a lie, and that Houdini was simply jealous of my prowess at underwater escapes. So they chased off the evil spirit and I was healed, my appendix felt much better after that. I bid farewell to the Machiguenga and located the airplane I had hidden beneath the brush. I flew back to America and snuck into my house before my parents even knew I had left. Life was so smooth after that, the magic shows were awesome, and some people say it was my experience in the Amazon that caused me to have such great luck from then on.