Sitting on a table, one knee up, the lady magician gazes down at the audience. She looks something of a queen on a sedan chair, exuding glamour in her black leotard, sheer nylons and high-heeled pumps. Before and after her, rolling the table forward on its castors, are two girls who look to be in their early teens at best. They wear skimpy two-pieces as their only outfit, blue and orange respectively, with matching socks and no shoes.
As the table reaches center stage the woman hops down, rocking her high heels like she was born in them.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome. Let me thank you all for coming to the show. I am really, really glad and excited to see so many people here tonight. I am Nora, as you probably know already, to thrill and amaze you. Please meet my beloved daughters, as well as invaluable assistants, Stacy and Claire. Together, we’ll do our best to make tonight a night you won't forget. Enjoy and have fun. Thank you."
A punchy dance tune kicks in under the applause.
Showtime.
Claire, the girl in orange, climbs onto the table where she lies face up, while her sister Stacy opens a drawer on the underside. The blue-clad girl takes out a wooden panel, painted orange, and hands it over to Nora, who attaches it to the edge of the table behind Claire's chest. More panels follow, gradually forming an orange box around the girl from which only her head and feet emerge. Two sheets of metal, not wood, are used to make the top face of the box. They look as sharp as blades and are provided with handles.
Their job done, mother and daughter engage in a little dance to the background beat. Claire watches with a smile, swaying her feet in time with the music. The dance ends when Stacy twirls into Nora’s arms to be scooped up and laid face down on the blades, with her head above Claire's feet and vice versa. Nora runs a hand down the back of the prone girl and then up again, turning to smirk at the audience. From the same drawer as before, the lady magician produces a pair of blue wooden panels, which she installs behind Stacy. Not slowed down by having to do it single-handedly, she takes out more blue panels and proceeds to build a second layer on top of the first. This time around the top face is made of wood just like the rest, with no more blades being used.
Once the last panel clicks into place Nora flourishes at the finished box, getting some timid applause from the hall. As the claps die away, Stacy reaches down and tickles the orange-clad feet below, causing their owner to burst out laughing. Clair does the same in retaliation, and soon the whole box is rattling from all the kicking and the struggling within. It is clear that both girls would like to pull their feet inside, but the panels around their ankles are shaped like stocks, preventing all movement.
Unconcerned with the tickle fight, Nora comes around the front of the box and pulls out the blade that holds Stacy's legs over Claire's chest. The steel gleams under the stage lights as it twirls in the woman's hands, and when she smacks her palm against it there is a loud clang, one that makes Stacy and Claire stop and turn their heads. Nora aligns the blade with a vertical gap down the middle of the box, so that it forms a “T” with the remaining one. She begins to slide it in, and the two girls yelp in unison, then flat-out scream as Nora shoves the blade the rest of the way, throwing her head back dramatically. The woman repeats the process with the other blade, then removes two panels diagonal from each other from the front of the box, exposing the girls' upper halves. Their bodies bend at the hips, apparently continuing into the mismatching compartments. With their arms now free Stacy and Claire lift off the remaining two panels, and the impression is confirmed: the girls are no longer one above the other, but one beside the other, separated by the pair of blades. Curled up in one half of the box, Stacy is now wearing a blue top with orange shorts and socks, while her sister, upside down in the other half, is in inverted colors.
Amid the cheers erupting from the crowd, Nora helps her daughters off the table. Stacy and Claire check themselves out, patting up and down their bellies, and point at each other's legs with giggles and raised eyebrows. Hand in hand they take a curtsy, while Nora wheels the table backstage.
The music shifts into a different song, though equally upbeat, and the lady magician re-emerges pushing forth another wheeled prop. This one resembles a gong, in that it consists of a large metal disc held up by a frame, to which it is hung by means of a massive chain. Like a giant bi-metallic coin, the disc is divided in two concentric halves of different colors, namely a silver core with a bronze ring around it. Five pairs of cuffs are riveted at even intervals along the circle that separates the two areas. The cuffs are open, and each pair is oriented so that one cuff lies on the inside and one on the outside of the circle. A total of ten steel blades, five on either side of the chain, are hanging from hooks in the top of the frame. Oblong in shape and about the size of letter paper, the blades dangle and clink like chimes in the wind as Nora brings the prop to a halt between her two assistants. The woman motions for Stacy to come over, and the girl steps onto the low platform with her back flat against the gong, spreadeagled. The cuffs, which Nora and Claire promptly snap shut, were obviously designed to accommodate the girl’s arms, legs, and neck. Stacy is now secured to the disc, with her head and limbs lying on its outer ring, and her torso occupying the inner core.
The girl disappears from sight as the whole thing is spun around. The other side has five more pairs of cuffs, which Claire submits to. Her mother then reaches up and unhooks one of the blades, showing it to the audience. It’s a lot smaller than the ones from the previous trick, but no less sharp, and the restrained girl stares at it in apprehension.
Holding the blade flat, Nora slides it between the cuffs around Claire's neck and immediately slaps it home. There is a loud, sharp cry, but not from the girl who merely winces, baring her teeth in a grimace. It was her sister, from the hidden side of the gong. Spontaneous applause ensues, and Claire exhales, relaxing her clenched fists.
Nora acknowledges the applause with a smile, then retrieves another blade and slips it in with the first. Neither Claire, nor Stacy show any more of a reaction as their mother goes on inserting blades two by two into the rest of the cuffs. After finishing, the lady magician makes the gong spin one full circle around its chain, so that Stacy briefly comes back into view before her sister reappears, at which point Nora stops the disc with just one hand. With the same hand she cups the side of Claire’s face, then gently slides downwards. Once she reaches the girl’s waist she pushes on the silver surface under it, and the inner core of the disc goes spinning freely around its vertical axis, carrying Claire's torso away with it and replacing it with Stacy's, over and over again. At the same time the lady magician pushes on the outer ring as well, making it spin the other way, so that the heads of the dumbstruck girls are also seen trading places, together with their wiggling arms and legs. The audience is absolutely wild with astonishment now. Some are literally screaming.
When Nora finally stops the disc, blocking its two halves together, the girl on the visible side is Stacy. At least her head is. The body under it is the one that was supposed to belong to Claire. Nora twirls around to flash her grin at the audience, and a thunderous ovation washes over her. Taking it all in, she opens the cuffs that are holding her daughter in place. Stacy takes a few staggering steps forward and looks down at her new, orange-clad chest, traded for her own original hips. Whistles reach her over the cheering, and she lifts her head with a tentative smile upon her face.
Behind the girl’s back, Nora spins the gong so that Claire comes back into view. The girl’s outfit, as expected, has an opposite coloring to her sister’s: blue top, orange shorts, blue socks. Nora releases her and leads her next to Stacy for a side-by-side comparison, just like the finish of the first trick. With an arm around each other's shoulders, the young assistants gracefully bow to the audience.