The 5:00 show
Jim and I been comped tickets to a magic act off the strip. Generally, we tried to stay in familiar territory among the main casino hotels but being Monday, most shows were dark and this was about the only thing sounding interesting and besides it was our anniversary and they were free.
6 years, man it goes fast. It seems like yesterday we were standing in that church saying our vows. 6 years later, here we are, trying to rekindle the spark that started it all where it all started.
The doors opened and we all started taking our seats. The arena was small and intimate, we chose to not sit too close to the stage, but still were able to get good seats.
The lights dimmed and out came a woman who must be one of the magician's assistants. She was dressed in a black mini with red knee high boots and a short jacket with sequins. Her hair looked red, but it could be the affect of the stage lighting.
Momentarily, some music begins to play and in a blinding flash and smoke, what looks to be the magician appears on stage. Pretty impressive entry, for what appears to be a very low budget show.
He introduces himself as Max Von Crucial, and he is here to amaze us. Yada yada I think and I start wondering if we are wasting our time.
He starts the show with a few slight of hand tricks but what is impressive is the preparation he must have put into this performance because his attention is always on the audience. Several time he made direct eye contact with me and I could tell also he spent a lot of time focusing his attention on other members of the audience as well.
Later in the show, came the cliché where he asks for volunteers from the audience. Not surprising, only a few people actually raised their hands and out of that few, only a couple were selected. He then started hand picking some of us from the audience, and I was not surprised that he walked our table and extended his hand. I looked at my husband and he nodded approvingly and encouraged me to go on stage.
On stage there were now, 4 of us, 2 women, and 2 men. He lined us up and started in with a hypnotic rhyme that immediately calmed my nerves because I had stage fright. To my left was a red headed woman I recognized from our hotel and next to her was her male friend. She did not have a ring on so I assume there were not married. To my right was a younger man who was clearly intoxicated.
Von Crucial then walked behind us and stood behind the young man to my left. I couldn't see what he was doing but suddenly there was a flash and the smell of ozone in the air. I then heard the crowd clap loudly but for some reason I could not move, not even to turn my head. It was a very anxious feeling and I started breathing heavily as to not black out from anxiety. In through mouth, out through the nose I thought to myself just go with it, what could happen? It's only a show, or so I thought.
I heard Von Crucial walk behind me and stop. The next feeling I had was of the air conditioned room air against my naked body because somehow, that scoundrel had removed my clothing. The PA system in the meantime had begun that rhythmic lullibye that seemed to have earlier calmed my fears. It must have worked on the audience as well because my husband did not seem bothered that his wife was standing stark naked on a public stage. The soothing lullaby continued.
We stood there for what seemed like an eternity while Von Crucial went off stage. From my peripheral vision, I could see him talking to someone and based upon the gesturing that was going on, there seemed to be some disagreement.
In through mouth, out through the nose I continued to think as my legs began to grow tired from standing in one position for so long until I saw the two figures shake hands and Von Crucial came back on stage, stopping behind the red headed girl standing next to me. Again I saw a flash of white light and smelled the now familiar smell of ozone. What I saw next was incredible. Because of how we were lined up, I had a better view of what was going on to my right that to my left and what I saw both amazed and frightened me. After the flash, the red headed girl, changed right before my eyes. Her head seemed to collapse into its self, deflating like a pink balloon with the red locks of hair slipping off and falling to the floor like a wig. Her head continued to deflate until it laid there upon her neck and slopped over onto her left shoulder. In the folds of the balloon head I could see one of her eyes frantically looking for help.
Von Crucial then grabbed the tip of the deflated head and pulled it upright, stretching it until it resembled an empty pink hot water bottle, complete with a eyes, nostrils, ears and mouth. Von Crucial stepped in front of her and placing his mouth over hers, he began to blow, which started the balloon head to inflate, well, like a balloon. He stopped when it reached the size of a standard basketball. He then pinched the lips shut and grabbing her by the nose, he and eventually tied her lips and nose into a knot thus keeping the balloon head inflated. The flicked it with his middle finger and it sounded just like a rubber balloon and if it weren't attached to a girl's body and the two blinking eyes frantically darting about, you would think it was a clever child's toy.
Suddenly, the girl was levitated and he positioned her so she was facing up. His stage assistant then pointed some kind of remote control at her and she started to shrink, until she was no more than about 18 inches in length. She then grabbed the girl out of the air and walked off stage with her.
All the while the audience sat there, guffawing and applauding as if this were the best show they had ever seen. Something about the music must be hypnotizing them because the illusion they think they are seeing I think is all too real.
