Extreme Magic Vignette: Losing her head while bowling

The bowling alley was noisy with the rumble of balls, the clatter of pins falling and the excited chatter of the bowlers. Everyone was here to have fun, whether that was scoring more than the rest of their group or just taking part.

Into this scene of noise and enjoyment walked a young man in a black T-shirt, jeans and trainers, followed by a man with a camera on his shoulder. The cameraman panned across the lanes and then turned to watch the young man assess the potential in the chattering crowd.

The young man pointed out a group of girls about his age, early twenties, before going to hire some bowling shoes.

Properly shod, the young man approached the girls he had identified earlier.

“Hi ladies,” he called as he gets closer, “Could I show you something?”

“Maybe,” said the nearest girl, “depends what you want to show us. And what’s with the camera?”

“We filming a show which the producer wants to call ‘Extreme Street Magic’, but I think that’s a bit boring and inaccurate as most of the magic will be in the studio.”

“So you want to show us a trick and get our reactions for some magic show?” another of the girls asked.

“Yes, that’s it in a nutshell. Are you girls game?”

The six girls that made up the group exchanged glances. The first girl answered for them all. “OK, it’ll make a break from the bowling. Do we get any money?”

“Sorry, no money, but I will get you all a drink and give you tickets to a studio recording.”

“That’s sounds fair. Shall I introduce us.” He nodded in reply, “I’m Kelly and my friends are Angie, Betty, Carol, Bess and Sharon.” As Kelly named the girls, she pointed to them and the cameraman got a shot of each one smiling with varying degrees of enthusiasm. “I guess the one you need to impress the most is Bess; she has been a magic fan since she was told she was named after Houdini’s wife. She’s seen every magic show ever shown on TV.”

“Thanks for the hint, Kelly. By the way, I’m Terry, we haven’t settled on a stage name yet.”

There was a bit a hiatus while the girls were arranged so that the cameraman could follow the action and get the reactions without too much wasted time and movement. During this time the only instructions they were given were to react honestly and to try not to talk all at once.

“Well, I’m here in the bowling alley with six lovely young ladies I’ve just met. They are Angie, Betty, Carol, Bess, Kelly and Sharon. I thought it would be a good place to do a trick with a bowling ball.”

Sharon, at the end of the line, made a move to fetch a ball from the return rack next to the lane.

“Thank you, Sharon, but I need a special bowling ball, but I didn’t bring it with me. Maybe you brought it for me.”

The cameraman caught the looks of puzzlement down the line, except Bess, who clearly expected Terry to produce a bowling ball somehow.

“Have any of you ladies got a bag big enough to hide bowling ball?” Terry asked.

After a moments silence made louder by the background noise, Carol said, “Yeah, I’ve a bag big enough; it’s just the carrier bag I brought my shoes in. Is that OK?”

Angie commented, “Carol takes bowling very serious; she bought proper bowling shoes. The rest of us just rent ours. But then Carol is down here practicing most days. We don’t expect to come close to her score this evening.”

“Good, thank you Angie. Ok, Carol would you please bring your bag to me!”

Carol went to the pile of handbags next to the chairs and pulled out a dark blue carrier bag bearing the logo of a local sports shop. She returned to a position next to Terry and made a move to hand the crumpled up bag to him.

He held out his hand in a ‘stop’ motion and asked her to hold the bag out for him. She told a grip on each of the holes in the bag that did duty as handles and held it out towards Terry. It did not hang at all well having been crumpled, so she gave a quick up and down shake so that it was straightened out by the sudden movement of air.

Terry touched the mouth of the bag adjusting it into a more circular shape. He then put in his bare left arm and drew out a clear bowling ball.

“I thought I’d find it,” He said as he pulled a cloth from his back pocket and began to polish the clear plastic sphere held on three fingers of his left hand.

The next few minutes were taken up with get the reactions from the girls, including Carol declaring that the ball had definitely not been in her bag and Bess acknowledging that she thought it had been a good trick.

Another couple of minutes of rearrangement of the group to nearer the seating followed.

“Who was next up to bowl?” Terry asked.

Betty spoke up, being the scorer for the group, “It’s Bess’ turn next.”

Terry addressed Bess, “Do you mind if I take your next turn for you, once I done my next trick?”

Bess shrugged, “I don’t see why not. You can’t do worse than me; I’ve been bowling about 50% gutter balls. I don’t think my friends will mind; there’s no way I’ll catch up.” The rest of the girls nodded in agreement of Bess’ assessment.

“So, I’ll be doing you a favour?” Bess nodded in answer to Terry’s question. “In that case could you do me a favour?” A flicker of worry crossed Bess’ face, but she nodded. “Would you come and sit here!” He patted a place in the middle of the bench.

Bess cautiously sat, as if the seat might bite. “Get yourself firmly and comfortably seated and relax” As she settled, Terry said, “Would you mind holding my bowling ball while I prepare a last thing or two?” before she could answer he had placed the ball in her lap and she had to grab it to stop it rolling away. He then draped the cloth that he had been rubbing the ball with over his shoulder.

“Hey!” said Bess, “you cheated. This isn’t a real bowling ball; it’s too light.” She held it up to the light and examined it some more. “It’s hollow and there seems to be some cracks in it; I bet it comes apart.”

“Firstly,” replied Terry, “I’m a magician and I let you know I was, so cheating shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. And yes, it’s hollow and comes apart.”

He retrieved the ball from Bess and with a quick motion rotated the three finger holes which can out as a plug, leaving the rest like a goldfish bowl.

“Do you think I could get your head in there, Bess?” he asked, indicating the hollow ball.

“Of course not!” she responded, “The hole would only just fit my neck.” Her look said that not only did she expect that he would, but he would impress her if he could.

He tucked the section with the finger holes into the back pocket of his jeans and with a move was soon holding two near hemi-spherical shells. “I wasn’t planning on stuffing your head through the hole, but you are giving me ideas.”

“But my head is still to big to fit inside your bowling ball,” she protested as he went behind the bench.

“That’s just an illusion,” he explained, “the curvature of the clear plastic is acting as a lens and I’m sure you know how lenses can make things seem bigger or smaller.” As he said this, he held one half of the ball in front of Bess’ face and all her friends could see of her head was through the clear plastic.

Almost immediately he snapped the other half onto the back of the front so that Bess’ head was entirely contained within. The camera took a tour viewing her encased head for all angles, while catching the stunned expressions of her friends. Bess’ expression was puzzlement and wonder.

“And now for what I had planned. Could two of you come here and sit next to your friend, Bess. Partly to see what I do up close and partly to support your friend, because I think the magic might make her a bit dizzy.”

Sharon and Kelly took their places beside Bess and at Terry’s instruction took a firm hold of her upper arms. Meanwhile he had draped the cloth over her shoulders so that the top edge was in front of her neck just where it emerged from the ball and the top corners hung down to her shoulder blades behind.

Terry lifted the top corner of the cloth, so that the taut top edge ran from one hand round the front of Bess’ neck to his other hand. He began to make a side to side motion with his hands, drawing the edge across the Bess’ throat. After about ten seconds, it became obvious that cloth’s edge was tucked further under the globe surrounding her head than her neck should allow. As Terry drew the cloth to and fro, it seemed to progressive pass under her head and above her shoulders. He did not stop when the edge of the fabric emerge from the back of Bess’ neck, but carried on until the position of her head was roughly central on the cloth. He stopped pulling and let the expanse of fabric drape down Bess’ back.

The entire group were fascinated, allowing the cameraman to capture the slack-jawed wonder on their faces. Terry fussed with the cloth as if to be sure it was evenly spread; it was killing time and an excuse to remain in position while the cameraman did his work.

Soon the camera was watching Terry and Bess again. Terry to this as his cue to continue. He placed his hands either side of her head and almost casually used his right hand to roll the sphere of plastic onto his left hand, thus tilting Bess’ head sideways about 60 degrees. Once the ball was balanced securely on his hand with the neck opening turned towards him, he reached into his back pocket, quickly returning with the plug containing the finger holes of the bowling ball, which deftly fitted into place.

As the cameraman followed to the magician to the end of the bowling lane, he managed to catch the dumbstruck expressions of Bess’ friends and also the fact that Terry transferred Bess’ detached head from his left hand to a three fingered bowling grip hanging inverted from his right hand.

In three quick steps he arrived at the end of the lane and released the clear globe containing her head rolling towards the pins more than 60 feet away.

The camera and the eyes of the group of friends followed the ball as it rumbled towards the pins; they watched as Bess’ head rotated before it collided with the front pin and a couple of seconds later disappeared among the ten scattered skittles.

The girls looked shocked at the fate of their now headless friend; The cameraman took the opportunity to capture the worried expression and the headless state of Bess.

The magician said to Betty, who was as speechless as the rest. “It looks like Bess has scored a strike.”

A short while later the noise of a ball returning was heard and moments after that Bess’ head popped onto the return rack, looking both highly pleased and highly disoriented.

Terry immediately picked up the ball and, as he returned to the position behind bench where Bess’ body sat supported by Sharon and Kelly, he removed the finger hole plug. He adjusted the ball so the she was facing upward with her neck towards him and smiled at her. She smiled back, although still quite evidently not sure which way was up and dazed.

The magician placed the open end of the ball back on her shoulders and then rotated it so she faced forward. A quick movement later, the cloth was whipped away and being stuffed into Terry’s back pocket. Just as quickly, the remainder of the ball was dismantled, leaving a stunned Bess to regain her balance while still held up by Kelly and Sharon.

As Terry walked away, he handed Betty a card, saying, “This’ll get you the drinks I promised; the PIN is 1234, and don’t forget to score Bess’ strike.” To the rest of the girls he said, “I hope I meet you again sometime, because it’s been a pleasure.” He turned and then walked out of the bowling alley.

The cameraman was left to gather the group’s reactions; Bess’ only reaction was, “I scored a strike for the first time ever.” He then went through the formalities of getting releases signed and said that the tickets promised would be sent to them in the post.