The Bag

"Penny," answered the young woman as Chardonnay helped her onto the stage.

"Thank you for volunteering, Penny," the magicienne smiled, and looked the strawberry blonde up and down. Her hair was in a bun, and she was wearing a tan suede vest, over a long sleeved white blouse, with a loose floral skirt and brown tights beneath. A small purse with a floral pattern that matched the skirt dangled over her shoulder.

"Nice purse Penny- I like how you accessorize. I've got a purse, of sorts, as well." Chardonnay pulled out a black cloth bag, the mouth of which was attached to a ring about six or seven inches across. The ring itself was attached to a rod around a foot long- almost as long as the bag was deep. She held the bag up at face level to Penny. "It's velvet- feel it."

Penny reached up and touched the outside of the bag.

"Go ahead and squeeze it- tell me if you feel anything inside."

The volunteer reached up with her other hand and pressed the bag, putting her hands together and squeezing the material. "It feels empty."

Chardonnay lowered the bag to waist height. "Take a peek inside."

Penny peered over. "It looks empty, too."

The magicienne smiled. "Could I ask you to place something inside?"

The volunteer shrugged, and opened her purse. "Let's see- all I've got is..."

Chardonnay gently grasped the purse, holding it up. "This would work perfectly- if you don't mind, of course."

Penny blinked, then clasped the purse, and, hesitatingly, put it in the bag.

"The strap, too, please- thank you!" Chardonnay pulled the bag away, and tilted the ring to the side to close the mouth of the bag. Penny's purse was clearly visible inside, weighing down the fabric. The slightly worried volunteer reached forward and grasped it through the cloth.

Chardonnay put her hand on the bottom of the bag, then, tilting the ring level again, pushed upwards between Penny's hands, flipping the bag inside out.

"Hey! Where'd my purse go?!"

Chardonnay flipped the ring over, so the inside-out bag dangled downwards again. "You put it inside the bag, of course."

Penny leaned forwards, looking inside the bag. "But it's empty!"

The magicienne smiled. "Of course. You put it inside the bag. But after I flipped the bag over, the inside wasn't the inside anymore."

Penny shook her head. "That doesn't make sense."

Chardonnay nodded, "It does make sense, but it doesn't follow your prior experience. Would you like the purse back?"

"Y-yes! I was saving the money for a new comp-"

Chardonnay held the bag out again, interrupting. "Go ahead, reach inside."

Penny stuck her hand in, feeling around. Chardonnay turned the ring to press the bag shut against the cuff of her blouse, and pushed the bottom of the bag into Penny's grasping hand. "Hey! It's still empty!"

Chardonnay smiled. "Of course- like I said, it was on the inside, which isn't the inside anymore. So, Penny, what do you think would happen if you pulled on the bag and flipped it again?"

The young woman thought for a moment. "Well, the outside would become the inside again, and- I should be holding my purse through the cloth!" Penny smiled.

The magicienne nodded, and curled her fingers around Penny's hand, through the bag. "That does make sense..." Chardonnay pushed upwards, flipping the bag inside out again, and spinning the ring so the new outside dangled again. Penny stepped back and looked at the bag, hanging floppy, and still empty.

She pouted a bit. "Hey, it didn't work- where's my purse? You said-"

Chardonnay interrupted again, "I just said your theory made sense. And it would have worked- for a bag with only one inside and one outside. On the other hand..." The magicienne looked at Penny's arm.

Both volunteer and audience followed the glance. The young woman's arm still appeared perfectly normally proportioned, but ended at the cuff of her blouse. Penny gaped. "W-where's... my, uh, my hand?" She reached with her left hand to feel her wrist, as the audience murmured with surprise.

Chardonnay stuck the bag under her arm as she reached forward, unbuttoned the cuff on Penny's right arm, and folded the sleeve of her blouse back. Penny's wrist ended in a smooth, seamless stump. The magicienne smiled. "Inside the bag," she said, as she held up the rod with her left hand and grasped the bag, near the ring, with her right. She pulled the fabric through her fist, showing the bag was still completely empty.

A stage hand quickly crossed the stage, leaving a stool behind the volunteer as Chardonnay noted to her, "You may want to sit down."

Penny, stunned, sat on the stool, nodding. Absentmindedly, she rubbed her abbreviated wrist with her left hand. "Weird... I can't even feel it... I can't even remember how to wiggle the fingers on that hand..." She seemed more intrigued than worried, staring absently out towards the audience.

Chardonnay held up the bag in front of her left arm. "Here, why don't you reach in and see if you can find your hand? Or the purse? I'm sure both of them are in there somewhere."

The woman leaned forwards and pushed her hand the full depth into the bag, when it seemed to keep on going. Chardonnay pulled the bag all the way up to Penny's left shoulder.

"I should have warned you, that inside is bigger than the others... though it's the same size when it's an outside." She grasped the bag below the ring and pulled it through her fist. The lump that should have been Penny's arm seemed to dissolve beneath her grasp. Chardonnay pulled the bag away, flipping it inside out again as she did so. The audience gasped and applauded- where Penny's left arm had met her shoulder, there was nothing. The blouse was smooth, tight over the stump, not even a seam. The volunteer's arm had vanished entirely.

Chardonnay quickly stepped behind the seated young woman, running her hand over the girl's stump to prove nothing was there. Penny seemed to tilt over to the right, and Chardonnay quickly slipped the bag over her right arm, pulled it clear to her shoulder, and slid it away, then steadied her on the stool. "Sorry- now you're balanced." The magicienne tucked the bag under her arm again, and moved both hands over the silk covering Penny's stumps.

The volunteer giggled. "That tickles!"

Chardonnay nodded, "You seem to be taking this rather well, Penny. All things considered."

"Oh, it's not my first magic show..."

"Good! That makes me feel better about what comes next. Because I've actually forgotten how many insides this bag has. Can you peek into this inside?" Chardonnay twisted the end of the rod she was holding, and the ring expanded, pulling the mouth of the bag to nearly twelve inches across.

Penny peered inside. "No this one's still empty- hey!"

Chardonnay had put the bag over her head. She twisted the rod again, and the ring withdrew a bit back into the rod, pressing gently against Penny's throat. The shape of her head was clearly visible under the fabric. The audience could see her jaw move as she said, "Okay, now it's not empty."

Chardonnay smiled, and twisted the rod a bit more, squeezing the ring against Penny's throat. Slowly, the bag collapsed flat. "Yes, Penny, it is." The magicienne pulled the bag off, again flipping it inside out. The girl's blouse still had its collar, but where her neck had been was just smooth skin.

Chardonnay smiled, and unbuttoned the volunteer's vest, and pulled it backwards in a way that would be impossible, if Penny had still had arms. The magicienne then unbuttoned the top few buttons of the girl's blouse, and pulled it down around her shoulders, exposing her bra straps. From shoulder to shoulder was unbroken skin, as if Penny had never had a neck and head in the first place.

The audience applauded as Chardonnay waved her hand through where her volunteer's head should have been. "And in case you think her arms are tucked in her blouse..." The magicienne pulled Penny's blouse up and off completely. Penny crossed her legs on the stool, rubbing one calf with her foot through her tights, as her skirt flowed down the sides. Her bare tummy moved in and out as though breathing. Above, her bra remained covering her breasts, and the straps stayed on her collarbone, but there were not even stumps where her arms had been.

Chardonnay swiveled the stool around 180 degrees, to show Penny's slim silhouette and elegant back. She swiveled the stool the rest of the way, facing her volunteer towards the audience again.

The magicienne smiled wickedly, and lifted one of Penny's legs, then slid the bag over her foot. "Should I?"

Someone in the audience yelled, "Yeah!" and there was some laughter.

"Alright, then! I guess Penny can't complain!" Chardonnay slid the bag up the girl's calf, over her knee, and up her thigh, under her dress, as high as it could go. She paused, then slid it off, flipping it inside out again, and leaving her victim with one remaining limb.

She reached down, slid the girl's shoe off, and dropped it inside the bag, flipping it over to show it had vanished, before sliding her fingernail down the sole of Penny's foot. Her volunteer writhed silently, barely managing to remain on the stool. Chardonnay ended the agony by slipping the bag over her remaining leg, and vanishing it the same way as the other one, leaving poor Penny just a torso in a skirt on a stool.

The magicienne stepped behind the stool, and unbuttoned the skirt, then slid it off the young woman, showing her seamless hips under the tights, in much the same way as her shoulders were.

"Take off her bra!" yelled someone in the audience. "Woot!"

Chardonnay Blade smirked. "Really?"

"Yeah!"

"Someone's had too much to drink, I think." There was some laughter. "But I may as well."

"Aww-right!" The heckler snorted.

Chardonnay twisted the rod, and the ring expanded again. Slowly, she pulled it down over Penny's shoulders, until the bag covered the girl's breasts. Chardonnay looked up to stare right at the heckler, and pushed her hand against the bag, just over the ring. It slowly collapsed sideways under the gentle pressure, and the magicienne pulled the bag away. "There you go- Penny, sans bra. Happy?"

The heckler was silent, as was the audience- for only a moment- before the applauds started. Penny still sat on the stool. Or at least her hips did. Above, her belly. And over that, smooth skin where her body ended. Chardonnay waved her hands through the space where the girl's chest had been, then put the bag over her again, down to her waist. Again, the bag collapsed. The only thing left of Penny was her hips, packaged in the seamless, brown spandex fabric that had been her tights.

Chardonnay flipped the bag inside out, and picked up what remained of her volunteer. She slid those hips inside the bag, then pushed it inside out and flipped it over, showing it empty. The young lady had vanished completely.

The stagehand pulled the top off the stool, and gathered the legs together, to show there was nowhere Penny could have hidden, then left Chardonnay standing on the stage, holding the bag. She peered inside.

"Oh. I think I found the last inside of the bag!" The magicienne reached inside, and pulled out Penny's purse. She tossed the empty bag off the stage and held up the floral purse, then unclasped it, and turned it upside down.

From within spilled out pennies- far more than the small purse should have been able to hold, cascading down and scattering across the stage floor.