PERREAULT Magazine MAY | JUNE 2016 | Page 40

Perreault Magazine - 40 -

A CONVERSATION WITH DR. DOTY

SK: Your book is an incredible journey of how one interaction in a magic shop changed the trajectory of your life. The real magic began in the high desert of Lancaster, California in 1968. You’re twelve years old. Your father is an alcoholic and your mother has had a stroke and is chronically depressed. Your family is on public assistance. You often go to bed hungry. You like riding your orange Sting-Ray bike around the town. On one particular hot summer day, in the blistering heat, you ride to a part of town that you’re not that familiar and see a magic shop in a strip mall. And in this magic shop you meet a woman named Ruth who not only showed you great kindness but taught you a number of things that changed your life. What made you go in?

JD: That’s right. I grew up in poverty in the high desert of California with an alcoholic father who was frequently unemployed and a mother who suffered a stroke, was partially paralyzed, and chronically depressed. She had attempted suicide on multiple occasions. I was always constantly worried and anxious. I was afraid my family would be evicted. I would often go to sleep hungry. We were on public assistance.

Although we had little money, I occupied a lot of my time doing magic tricks. One day, I noticed that my rubber thumb that I used to perform a number of tricks was missing. Vanished. So when I saw the magic shop in the strip mall not only was I interested in replacing my thumb but also in the tricks in this store that until then I was unaware even existed. When I walked in the only person there was this woman who I describe as an “earth mother” with flowing grey hair and a radiant smile who was reading a book.

SK: Ruth taught you the most powerful magic of all. What did she teach you?

JD: It turned out that Ruth was the owner’s mother. I told her that I had lost my plastic thumb. She looked at me and laughed telling me she knew nothing about magic or plastic thumbs. Then she began asking me a number of questions about my life and background which for some reason didn’t bother me. Finally, she looked at me with a penetrating gaze and said, “I can teach you a different type of magic that I think could change your life.” At that time, I had no understanding what she meant but I for some reason I said, “sure”. She told me she was in town for another six weeks and I would have to come in every day and spend an hour or two with her.