I had another free night, which means another magic show. I decided to wear a white tank top, and blue jeans. I sat on the second row.

It was a typical magic show with all the standard tricks. Nothing out of the ordinary. Finally, the magician announced that he would need a volunteer from the audience. Several hands went up, including mine.

"You there, on the second row." He said while pointing to me. "Would you please come up here and help me?"

I made my way up to the stage as the audience applauded.

"What is your name?" The magician asked.

"Erin." I replied.

"Have we ever met before, Erin?" He asked.

"No, we haven't." I replied.

The magician pointed to a table with a box on it that had been wheeled onto the stage, and asked me to remove my sandals and climb into it. The box was long and had a crank at each end. The magician held out his hand to help me into the box. I grabbed it and laid down inside the box. My head and feet stuck out of the ends of the box. I noticed that it fit my 5'8" frame perfectly.  The magician placed stocks over my neck and feet and closed the lid. He then started to turn the crank at the head of table. When he did my head moved closer to the middle of the table. My eyes widend as my head moved closer. I couldn't understand how he was doing this.

After this, he moved to the other end of the table and started turning the crank. This time, it was my feet moving toward the middle of the table. I could feel my body being sqeezed and compressed, but I still couldn't understand how he was doing this. I should be dead now, but somehow, I was still alive. The magician finally finished turning the crank. He then latched the two ends of the box together, locking them in place. My entire body (with the exception of my head amd feet) was now squeezed into a box that was only a few inches long.

The magician then did something that you don't ever see other magicians do with this trick. He picked up the box containing my compressed body up off of the table.

He then took it out to the audience so that they could get a closer look. Several of them tickled my bare feet. I think the audience could tell that I really had been compressrd.

The magician then walked back on stage, and handed me to an assistant, who walked back stage with me without restoring me. The magician took a bow to a standing ovation.

THE END