July 4, 1942...

    It was July 4, 1942, and I had just gotten a job with a traveling show to promote War Bonds to help the war effort. This show featured live music, dancing girls, and a magic act. I worked as both a dancer and helped with the magic act. Everyone in the show had nicknames, and I was known as "Little Carlie" because of my short stature.
   We had a special 4th of July show lined up, and I was wearing a low cut blue top with white stars on it, a red and white striped short skirt, and red lipstick (all of us girls started wearing red lipstick after it was reported that Hitler hated it). I wore my brown hair in the style of the day complete with pin curls. Most of the audience was made up of soldiers about to deploy overseas.
   The girls and I had just gotten done with a dance number that had gotten loud cheers and catcalls from the predominantly male audience, and it was time for the magic act. A long metal table was wheeled out, with me lying on it on my side with a big smile on my face. The audience applauded, cheered, and gave a few catcalls. I laid down on my back and crossed my arms over my chest. No boxes or restraints of any kind were used. Another girl brought out a large two-man saw like lumberjacks use.

    The magician and another man placed the saw on my waist and started sawing. My jaw dropped and I put my hands on the sides of my face as I tried to act like I was shocked. I covered my eyes and pretended like I didn't want to see my body being sawn in half. In reality, I only felt a little bit of pain as the saw dug into my waist. After a few seconds, they sawed through my spine, and the saw came out my back. The magician handed the saw back to an assistant, and then he walked over to the head end of the table, while another assistant walked over to the foot end of the table, and the two of them pulled the table and my body apart. The audience applauded. I uncovered my eyes and looked down at waist. I put my hands on my waist, and tried to act shocked when I felt that my body really was sawn in half. The magician walked over to my feet, removed my shoes, and started tickling my feet. I laughed. While the magician was distracted by my feet, a man dressed as Hitler snuck up to my top half, picked me up, and tried to carry me away.

    "HELP ME! OH PLEASE HELP ME!" I cried.

     The magician ran over and managed to pry me away from the man dressed as Hitler.

    "Not today, you nazi scum!" The magician said as he threw an obviously fake punch. The man dressed as Hitler fell to the ground.

    The magician turned to the audience and said, "Buy War Bonds, and you too can give Hitler a knuckle sandwich."

     "My hero." I said, and gave the magician a kiss on the cheek.

    The magician set my top half back on the table, and he and the assistant pushed the tables and my body back together. I could feel my body rejoin. I sat up, and was handed a small 48 star American flag (Alaska and Hawaii had not yet been admitted to the Union as states). I climbed off the table in one piece, held the flag up in the air, and waved it. I took a bow, blew a kiss to the audience, and left the stage to a round of applause, cheers, and catcalls.

July 4, 2022...

    I woke up, after having fallen asleep at my desk at home.

    "What a dream." I said.

      I looked down and noticed a small 48 star American flag lying on my desk. I picked it up and said, "It was just a dream, wasn't it?"

The end.