Love the Magician: Meeting

Part 2
by Vaughan



Continued from part 1...



Mark addressed the audience, which hushed before he had utter his fifth syllable. "The illusion you just witnessed is generally referred to as the head chopper and is an old stand-by of the stage magician. Would you like to know how it works?"

There was a mixed response from the audience, but it seemed that the majority were in
favor of knowing.

Sarah's thoughts raced. 'He's going to do it to me again! Oh well, at least, I know what to expect, but how am I going to cope having my neck chopped twice?'

"Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm not going to tell you."

A groan of disappointment rose from the audience.

"Instead, I'm going to show you how that greater and older illusion, The Guillotine, works."

There was a cheer.

"And Sarah's going to help out again," he stated.

The audience cheered again. Sarah's groan was lost in the din.

Sotto voce, Mark said to Sarah, "You'll only be checking stuff close to for them."

Sarah relaxed a bit. She had not been looking forward to having her neck chopped again.

"I think I'd better get on with it," said Mark. He made a gesture and the curtain opened behind him. At first, the only thing anyone noticed was that a black curtain had been drawn over the video wall. The stage was dark. Suddenly, the lights brightened. What became visible was a tall item of equipment under a black cloth, which was rotating.

At a signal from Mark, the equipment stopped rotating. He took a corner of the huge cloth and pulled. The black sheet of material cascaded into a heap at Mark's feet. Mark gave a whistle and the cloth flew up into the flies. The crowd applauded.

The equipment was impressive. It stood eight feet high on top of a six-inch high, seven foot diameter turntable. The uprights of the guillotine stood about eight inches from the turntable edge, between them were the stocks about two feet wide with the hole two feet from the floor. Above the stocks hung the blade. Behind the stocks was a bench wide enough for someone to lie on, from the edge of the bench hung straps that were evidently to hold down a victim. The audience got to look at this dangerous equipment from all angles as the turntable did two slow rotations. There were gasps throughout the audience. The blade, with its classical oblique cutting edge, was polished stainless steel and reflected the lights brightly. The straps that hung from the bench sides were black leather, those down one side terminating in shiny metal buckles. The main reason that the equipment looking impressive was that, apart from the blade and the straps the entire device was constructed from a clear material making every part see-through.

The turntable stopped when the uprights faced the audience. Mark reached into his pocket a pressed the button on the remote control. For a moment, the blade hung unsupported in the grooves in the uprights, before descending for about half a second and then shuddering to a halt at the bottom. The silence in the auditorium was such that nearly every member of the audience could hear the faint thrumming of the blade as the final shock of the stop was dissipated as sound. The point of the blade had stopped inches above the turntable, with leading edge sloping from there beside the left upright across to the right upright three inches below the stocks. The top edge of the blade run straight across between the two uprights a full two inches above the stocks. Between the two edges was a solid sheet of bright stainless steel, a quarter inch thick, except at the lower edge where it tapered to a sharp edge. The sound of the falling blade had not been the usual metal against metal sliding sound, but the whisper of air being cleaved and therefore virtually silent.

Mark invited Sarah to examined the blade, which she did. She checked the edge, which she announced was not particularly sharp. She tapped it above and below the stocks and also through the hole in the stocks, it rang softly. She confirmed that the blade was a solid single piece.

Mark reached into his pocket and activated motor that pulled the three strands of high-tension fishing line, which in turn raised the blade to its former lofty position. Mark released the button when he heard the release mechanism engage, with a soft click.

Cathy also heard the click, which Sarah missed, because she was astounded at the apparent rising of the blade without benefit of any rope. This click was the cue for Cathy to enter carrying a small melon. Cathy was glad she and her brother both liked melon, because they got through at least one a day and it would be such a waste. Over her arm she carried a towel. She presented the melon to Mark and then stood back.

Mark carefully placed the melon into the hole in the stock and adjusted it so that it would be cut lengthways. He stood back and drew Sarah back with him, because she would be in the way of some of the audience and he did not want her to get melon juice on her dress.

Mark's hand was in his pocket and pressed the release button. Once more the blade hurtled down to its jarring stop. As if in slow motion the half of the melon visible to the audience peeled itself from the front of the blade and then fell the short distance to the turntable. The audience burst into a round of applause, which faded away when they
realized that there was not much of a trick to cutting a melon, no matter how impressive the tool used was.

Under Mark's control the blade rose out of the stocks and stopped, revealing the other half of the melon lying on the bench behind. Cathy stepped forward and used the towel to wipe juice the blade. She then picked up both halves of the melon and exited. Once the blade had been dried, Mark raised it into the ready position.

"As you have observed, Ladies and Gentlemen, the guillotine is very real. Sarah has confirmed that the blade is a single solid sheet of the finest steel and you can see that there are no hidden gimmicks in the uprights or the stocks, because they are transparent. So now we shall look at the other side." On cue, because he was also controlling the turntable, the whole assembly did a half turn so that the viewers were looking over the bench and the reverse side of the deadly implement.

With a deft motion, that spoke of many an hour of practice, Mark placed his foot on the near end of the bench, causing it to swing up on a pivot until it was vertical and the leather straps swung gently down the sides.

"This bench is used to hold the victim, so that he or she can not escape, because it would be most disappointing to drop the blade on an empty set of stocks. The straps also have the secondary purpose of stopping the victim from struggling so that the delicate parts of the mechanism are not damaged. Would you like to try it for size?"

Sarah gulped. "Me?" she asked.

"Only if you want to. Just to see what it's like," Mark assured her.

"OK, just so long as I can get off when I want."

"Of course," said Mark, "I would not dream of doing anything to you that you don't allow me to do."

Sarah's mind noticed the odd wording and tried to set off alarm bells to tell the rest of her brain that this was a bad idea, but a growing desire to get to know this young magician better had switched off the alarm system and her trust of him would have overridden her caution as a false alarm, in any case.

Mark offered a hand and helped Sarah to step onto rail at the bottom of the upright bench. She had to lean back against the bench to prevent herself toppling off forward.

"Of course, it would be easy to escape from there, because the straps aren't done up. Do you mind if a demonstrate how the straps go, until Cathy gets back?"

"Why not?" replied Sarah.

Mark did not reply, but, instead, picked up the two straps at elbow level and threaded the end of one strap through the buckle at the end of the other, then tightened them together until they prevented Sarah from moving forward. Mark then tightened the straps one more notch, so that Sarah was positively held against the transparent bench.

"Are you comfortable?" he asked.

"Not really, but it does not hurt or pinch if that's what you mean."

Mark smiled and nodded. "Do you think you could escape from there?"

"Yes," she said and touched the buckle with one hand, to demonstrate that she could get at the buckle to undo it.

"So, if I did this," began Mark, gently placing Sarah's arm back at her side and swiftly buckled the strap that went across her hips. "You wouldn't be able to escape now?"

"Not without some help," Sarah confirmed.

"You wouldn't be able to escape?" Mark enquired again. Sarah nodded, that this was true. "So, these other straps are merely icing on the cake," he continued, also rapidly doing up straps across her ankles, knees and shoulders.

Cathy entered carrying a blindfold. She looked surprised at how far her brother had gone, which she was. He usually took some time explaining which parts were what and what they were for. Tonight she had not been as fast at getting rid of the towel and melon halves, because it was evident to her that Mark really liked this young woman. Cathy thought that she would allow him some more time to talk to her. Seeing Sarah strapped to the upright bench, instead of looking over the parts of the guillotine, made Cathy
realize that Mark not only liked Sarah, and with suitable encouragement Mark could love Sarah enough to reveal his secrets to her, thus relieving Cathy of her self-imposed obligation to carry on with the show. If Cathy played her cards right, she could look forward to pursuing her interests and finding a career that did not involve being sawn in half nightly except Sundays.

"Are you feeling comfortable there?" asked Cathy.

"Oh! um... yes," answered Sarah, "But, I suppose, you'd better let me out so you can do your big finish." Sarah had
realized that this was not going to be an expose' of the guillotine illusion, so there had to be something else special about this guillotine of glass. She assumed that Cathy's body would be covered, once strapped to the bench, and when the guillotine smashed down the audience would her head fall from the stocks and her body would be vanished from the bench, only to appear at the back of the auditorium or in one of the boxes or somewhere equally improbable.

Cathy smiled and said, "You look so snug there, maybe you'd like to carry on and do this one. You did so well in the previous two, I feel sure you'll be brilliant at it."

Mark was taken aback, because he had only ever done this effect on Cathy, but he admitted to himself that he would like to do it to Sarah. The main problem, which was why this was the last effect in the show, was that once the effect was complete there was always some special repair work to do and the victim needed to be there. On the other hand, he would quite like to see Sarah again and what better way than keep her after the show. On the negative side, if he took advantage of the current situation of having Sarah already strapped to the table, he was not sure that he would not lose her.

Having considered the pros and cons, Mark said, "Yes, up 'til now I've always done this demonstration with Cathy under the blade and the audience representative watching close, but if you would like to experience the magic then I'm sure that you will do it at least as well as Cathy does. You will probably bring something new to this effect."

This left the ball fully in Sarah's court. She had to decide whether to go ahead and try to impress a guy she had just met with her bravery, or to step down and allow the show to carry on in the normal fashion. She had also become aware that she had very little time to come up with an answer, because just hanging around humming and hawing would spoil the show for everyone. With a reckless rush of blood to the head, she said, "I'll do it, just so long as it does not hurt."

Cathy, seeing the opportunity to get Mark and Sarah together in private, to give their embryo relationship a chance to grow, assured Sarah that no harm would come to her and that there would be next to no pain.

Mark remembered Cathy's frequent requests for him to sharpen the guillotine blade to lessen the pain when the edge impacted the front of her throat. He wondered what Cathy was up to, but dismissed any possible malicious intent, because she was his sister and she would never do anything to harm the act. Maybe she just wanted a rest from this effect, which she had told him could be quite disorienting.

Mark smiled at Sarah, as if to say he agreed with what Cathy had said, but without directly lying to her.

Sarah accepted these assurances and repeated that she would do it. The audience clapped to show their appreciation of her bravery.

"Well," said Mark, "You're already strapped in and comfortable. Shall we begin?"

Sarah and Cathy said, "OK," in unison and then giggled.

Mark pondered for a moment how to make this effect go smoothly, because instead of no assistance, except an audience observer, which he was used to, he had an assistant who was unaccustomed to assisting this illusion.

Mark spun the turntable, using the remote control, until the bench was sideways to audience. "Cathy you open the neck stocks, while I lower Sarah!"

Cathy went round to the front of the device and lift the upper half of the stocks to a height that, when Mark lowered the bench with Sarah on it, it would miss Sarah's head. Lowering the bench back into a horizontal position not as easy as raising it, because the
center of gravity of the bench with Sarah was not where he was used to it being. With a little extra care and effort Mark pivoted the bench back to the horizontal. He was quite glad of his sister's assistance with the stocks, because the extra care taken to lower Sarah meant he did not have a hand free to move the stocks himself. When he had done this with Cathy, the bench had been better balanced (Cathy was shorter and less busty than Sarah) so he could easily support the tilted back bench while raising the upper stock. With the maximum gentleness possible under the circumstances the bench met the stops. Sarah now lay horizontal strapped to the bench, with her neck central in the semicircular dip in the top of the lower stock, but because of the way the equipment was arranged her neck did not touch the clear material of that lower stock. Cathy lowered the upper stock into place, giving Sarah her first view of the potentially fatal blade. The blade looked more terrifying from her foreshortened perspective. As the stocks were carefully, but positively locked into place, Sarah began to feel another sensation. Her neck was beginning to ache with the unaccustomed effort of supporting the full weight of her head.

"Can you hurry up, please," Sarah pleaded, "I'm getting a crick in my neck."

She heard a mutter of amusement from the dark cavern of the auditorium and flushed with embarrassment.

"I'm sorry about this, but I have to make all the necessary adjustments just so, otherwise this could go horribly wrong, but I'll ask Cathy to support your head for the while."

Cathy stepped round the structure and took a gentle but firm hold of Sarah's head, which both supported her head and held her neck straight.

In the process of the final setting up, Mark noticed that the height difference between Cathy and Sarah meant that instead of cutting at the top of the neck as he did with Cathy, he would be sent the blade through the base of Sarah's throat. For a moment, he wondered whether this would make a difference, but quickly dismissed the thought.

"Ok, I'm ready. Cathy's ready. Are you ready?" asked Mark.

"I think so," replied Sarah. She was beginning to have second thoughts about this but knew it was far too late to say so.

"Well, you aren't. You need to be blind-folded."

"Why?" asked Sarah, with the intention of refusing if the reason put forward sounded like claptrap.

"I'm glad you asked me that," answered Mark, in the manner of a politician who was quite the reverse. "The first reason is to spare you the sight of the blade falling to chop off your head. And the second and more important reason is so that you don't flinch and disrupt the adjustments I have been so carefully making just now."

Between them Cathy and Mark fitted the elasticized blindfold over Sarah's eyes. They asked if she was comfortable. Mark withdrew to the edge of the stage and then rotated the turntable an eighth of a turn so that most of the audience could see Sarah's blindfolded head and neck sticking through the stocks, supported by Cathy, and her body strapped to the bench. The few at one side of the theatre could not see her body directly, but could see her nearly bare shoulders through the transparent material of the stocks. Mark's hand went into his pocket.

"All right, I'll do it on the count of three," Mark announced.

Sarah braced herself, not entirely sure why. She also felt Cathy's hold on her head become a grip as if she expected Sarah's head to really fall off and she did not want to drop it.

Mark's voice took on a commanding quality. "One.... Two...." Half a second before he said "Three", he touched the blade release button, so that at the moment he said, "Three," the blade struck Sarah's neck.

At that moment, Sarah felt like screaming, but found she could not. Had she been able to scream it would have been drowned in the screams from the audience, when they saw what they thought was the blade descending prematurely.

Sarah heard the screams from the audience at the same time as she heard the dreaded word 'Three', this also coincided with the sensation of being karate chopped at base of her neck. For a moment, her mind rebelled and thought, 'I thought Cathy said this did not hurt.'

For a few seconds, screams rang round the hall, then a deathly and attentive silence reigned. Cathy stood supporting Sarah's head beside the stocks which were completely filled by the steel sheet of the blade. Sarah's body still lay strapped to the bench.

Sarah realized slowly that the strength of Cathy's grip had increased as if her neck was providing her no support. She next noticed that the base of her neck felt numb in the same way it had when the sword had passed through it earlier. The rest of her body felt no different to before, which she felt she ought to be relieved about.

Mark had disappeared into the wings and soon returned with a box about three foot to a side. Sarah heard the sound of the casters and wondered what was being brought on and why.

Once the box had been positioned on the front left of the stage, Mark went over to his sister and whispered some instructions, which even Sarah could not hear. He continued round the back of the turntable until he was next to Sarah's feet. As Mark reached Sarah's feet, Cathy pulled on Sarah's head which separated from the blade. The on-lookers oo-ed. The turntable turned until Sarah's feet were pointed at the watchers. Mark followed. He stepped up onto the turntable and leaned over to stroke Sarah's calf. Her foot twitched. Meanwhile Cathy had carried Sarah's head behind the box.

Mark gave a signal and in synchrony, Cathy placed Sarah's head on the top of the box, while Mark raised the bench with Sarah's headless body back to the vertical. Sarah was slightly dizzy from the movement from the guillotine to the box, but she could tell that the motion she felt with her body and that which she felt with her head did not match. She also wondered how Cathy had, while still holding her head, managed to get from one side of the guillotine to the other without letting go. These sensations made Sarah
realize that something was not as she had hoped, but she could not quite put her finger on what it was. The audience could easily see that Sarah's head was eight feet from her shoulders, and applauded their appreciation of the fact.

When the noise had subsided, someone in the audience, who was quickly shushed, called out, "How do we know that's her head?"

Mark smiled at Cathy and she removed the blindfold that had been obscuring Sarah's features. The audience showed their recognition of Sarah with their hands. Sarah was gratified that she was being appreciated, but was becoming more worried about what she was being appreciated for. What further worried her was the her neck was still numb and in front of her was an eighteen inch expanse of lacquered wood. Sarah smiled nervously.

Mark came over and asked, "How do you feel?"

"Umm, My neck feels numb, but otherwise I feel OK. I thought you said this does not hurt. It feels like I'll have a bruise for quite a while where that blade hit." She shrugged her shoulders. The audience saw the body's headless shoulders shrug and reacted with a murmur.

"All right, I think it is time to sort you out and return you to the audience, so that I can finish the show. I'll need to blindfold you again." Before she could mutter her grudging assent the blindfold had been fitted and she felt Mark take a firm but gentle grip on her head. He held the sides of her head, with the cleft between fore-finger and thumb under her ears, the thumbs against the back of her head and the last two fingers of each hand under her jaw.

Sarah felt the sensation of her head being lift, without the usually associated pull on her neck. She was now beginning to more than suspect that her head had indeed been removed from her body. She also heard the box being rolled away.

Mark stepped onto the turntable and carefully aligned the two halves of Sarah's neck. Sarah felt the numbness in her neck reduce, but not go away completely.

Cathy appeared from the wings carrying a lot of bandages. Mark gave her a questioning look. "Well, Sarah has had her neck chopped twice this evening and there is always the risk that her head may spontaneously fall off," Cathy explained. A chuckle went round the audience and Sarah frowned.

It took Mark and Cathy only a short time to firmly bandage Sarah's neck and undo most of the straps. They removed Sarah's blindfold and allowed her to undo the elbow level strap and step from the bench. They also caught her when her knees momentarily buckled.

Mark guided Sarah to the steps down from the stage and gave the usual advice that until her neck had fully healed she should avoid doing things that might dislodge it, such as banging her head against walls or nodding to friends. He also whispered that she should stay behind so that he could fix her neck properly.

Cautiously, she made her way down the steps. As she reached the bottom she found that she could now see the sea of faces. Then she saw one she
recognized from her fitness class and nodded to her. For a moment she felt woozy, like you feel after your second glass of strong wine, and instinctively grabbed her head to keep it in place. She carefully made her way back to her seat, next to her boss' wife, Sally.

Meanwhile on stage, Cathy had brought forward a thin platform in front of the curtains which were now shut and they both stood on top. Mark picked up a cloth and displayed it to convince the audience that it was just a piece of heavy red cloth with something rigid in it to keep it straight when held one handed. The cloth was about two foot square and the red contrasted well with the gold of the curtains. Mark wished the audience farewell. He lowered the cloth in front of Cathy from head to toe and she vanished. He then covered his lower legs with the cloth and began to raise the cloth. Nothing appeared from below the cloth. When the top of the cloth reached his neck, Mark said a final goodbye and raised the cloth, which then dropped straight back to the top of the empty platform. The applause were rapturous and lasted for two minutes.

As the lights in the auditorium went up, the majority of the audience got up to leave. Sally asked why Sarah was not getting ready to go.

"Mark said that I should stay so he can fix my neck properly. I did feel most peculiar when I nodded to one of the girls from my keep fit class and it is still numb." Sarah put her hand to her neck to see if she could tell if anything was wrong, but she could not feel anything through the bandages that had been applied.

While people were leaving, several of them came over to look at Sarah and ask questions about what being behead felt like and whether she was a plant, which Sally emphatically confirmed she was not.

When most of the audience had departed Mark and Cathy appeared in auditorium, Sarah did not notice which doors they had come through. They were now casually clad in jeans and sweatshirts. They made their way to where Sarah still sat, although Mark did stop to sign an autograph on the way.

"Well, Sarah, I suppose we ought to do a more permanent job of mending that neck of yours," said Mark.

"What about Sally?" Sarah asked. "I was going to drive her home and I'm sure she does not really want to hang around here waiting for me. Maybe I should take her home and come back."

Cathy said, "Definitely not. You are in no state to drive at the moment. If the slightest thing went wrong, you'd have an accident. Why don't we get a taxi to take her home?"

Sarah looked at her boss' wife who nodded. "OK," Sarah said slightly dubiously.

"Great," said Cathy, "I'll get a cab for Sally and you two go backstage and start sorting out Sarah's neck."

"Have you got enough on you to pay the taxi?" Mark asked Cathy.

Before Cathy answered, Sarah noticed Sally considering whether to offer to pay for herself and deciding against it.

"I should think so. I've probably got enough for a taxi half way across the country," joked Cathy.

Cathy and Sally set off to find a cab, leaving Mark and Sarah in the now empty auditorium. Mark offered his arm, which Sarah accepted, and they walked arm in arm down the aisle to a curtain covered door near the stage. Mark pulled back the curtain and opened the door beyond, allowing Sarah through then following.

They were at the end of a corridor with slightly worn red carpeting and red and gold decor and posters of past performers and well known shows. This corridor led along the outer wall of the auditorium to the lobby of the theatre. Opposite was an emergency exit double door with a crash bar, which probably led into some junk filled alley round the back of the theatre. Mark turned, pushed open a door marked 'Private' and ushered Sarah through.

The corridor on the other side was nowhere near the faded opulence on the public side of the door. The floor was
gray-brown carpet tiles and the dirty walls and ceiling had once been white, but were now a not quite uniform pale
gray.

Mark lead Sarah through the labyrinthine passages backstage to a moderately large room. When they arrived, Sarah
realized that she probably could not retrace her steps, because each section of corridor had looked so much like any other and she had not been counting rights and lefts. The dressing room contained a rail with several male and female costumes, most of which she
recognized from the show. It seemed that Mark and Cathy shared the dressing room.

Sarah began to consider what the relationship between Cathy and Mark might be, because it seemed quite evident to Sarah that they were close in more than would normally necessary for people working closely together. They seemed to have a mutual empathy (if not telepathy) that goes with loving each other and living closely together. Were they married? Were they living together? Was she his
fiancée? Or was this something that comes of being in a magic show together? Being an only child, Sarah did not consider that possibility that they were brother and sister.

When Mark offered her a chair for the second time she snapped out of her contemplative mood. "Oh, I'm sorry. I was miles away," Sarah
apologized. She slumped heavily into the proffered chair and felt the same woozy sensation she had before, as if her head was not properly attached, which she was beginning to suspect was the case. Her expression changed to show her worry.

"I'm sorry, maybe we shouldn't have asked you to do the guillotine. Cathy always says she feels terrible after that. But you seemed so willing and I didn't want to disappoint you. Anyway, it was Cathy's idea," Mark murmured.

Sarah smiled at his discomfort and Mark smiled back. It did not take long until they were laughing together for no apparent reason. It took them several minutes to calm down. Mark
apologized for not getting on with fixing Sarah neck, but he explained that he felt that Cathy ought to be there to help, because he had never done the repair on someone new to his form of magic.

They filled the time while they waited for Cathy to return by talking. Mark tried to get Sarah to talk about her life, while Sarah encouraged Mark to talk about his life and work.

Sarah was not very happy with her life, which had begun with a strict upbringing by her poor parents, and most her few school friends had come to unpleasant ends before reaching twenty. Sarah had escaped the poor life when she had got her job as a secretary to a small-time business man. She lived alone in a tiny apartment, with few acquaintances and fewer friends. Her life outside work, which was six days a week, was an seemingly endless round of keep fit classes and evenings alone in front of the TV and going to see her parents on Sunday. During their conversation little of this was revealed, but enough to make Mark feel for Sarah's plight.

Mark's description of the life he led made it obvious that Mark and Cathy had been together for a long time, which depressed Sarah more. Mark's stories about the places they had been, and the people they had met, sounded very glamorous and exciting, even though Mark included tales of the truly dreadful theatres they had worked in and the one that had burnt down destroying most of their props and equipment.

After half an hour, Mark and Sarah were enjoying each others company. Sarah and Mark both knew they could love the other. Sarah did not want to make her feelings known, because for all the talk, she had not worked out where Cathy fitted into Mark's life. Mark did not express his feelings, because it was clear to him that Sarah was holding something back and he was not sure what Cathy's reaction would be and he did not want to
antagonize her.

Cathy had only taken ten minutes to find a taxi for Sally and return through the maze of cramped corridors, but she had spent the last twenty minutes listening at the door to try and work out what was going on. She did not want to spoil her brother's chance of forming a relationship, by going in at an inopportune moment.

Cathy sensed that the conversation was drying up for lack of something. She did not know what that something was, but hoped she could supply it. She crept round the nearest corner and then returned making enough noise to be heard. She briskly knocked and then entered.

In the dressing room, Sarah sat with legs comfortably crossed on one chair and Mark was lazily sat in the other chair balancing it on its hind legs, as was his habit, So Cathy shut the door and crossed between them and dropped on the chaise that was the only other place to sit in the room.

"I got Sally a taxi," she said, "and I gave the driver a handsome tip to make sure he helped her to her door, if necessary. She seems like a nice lady."

"Good," replied Mark. "How come you took so long?" he asked, with the suspicion that she had deliberately left them alone together to try and make something happen. While he appreciated the chance to get to know Sarah better, he did not want to encourage Cathy's matchmaking, in case he got stuck with someone he could not stand.

"Well it was raining and you know how difficult it is to find cabs in the wet. Then on the way back I got collared by the management and given a lecture on where their liabilities end when it comes to magicians who lop off the heads of members of the public. They must have been having kittens, until they dashed up to their office and checked the contracts," Cathy lied. "That reminds me. Why haven't you given, um,.. Sarah isn't it, her head back?"

"I realized that you know the principles of the magic so you know what to do to help out when I have to repair you. If Sarah got it wrong through not understanding, I would be for the chop. And at the time, I thought it would be quicker to wait for you than try to explain the intricacies to Sarah. It turned out that I was wrong," Mark replied pointedly.

"Well? Shall we do it? Or do you want to keep chatting?" asked Cathy.

"I suppose we had better, before things start to wear out."

"Could you explain what you are doing while you're doing it, please. I would feel so much better," requested Sarah.

Mark and Cathy exchanged glances. Mark's glance meant, 'shall we tell her the secret?'; Cathy's returned glance said, 'I don't mind, it is up to you.'

"The secret," Mark began, "is to know about the human body's super healing powers. It is known to very few people that there are certain very specific conditions under which wounds heal instantly. The reason it is so little known is because the conditions are extremely specific and those who know consider it would be dangerous to let others know, because the slightest deviation leads to a normal wound, which could be fatal. In fact, the conditions might not be all that restrictive, but it's not the kind of thing you experiment with is it?"

Sarah nodded, she was a believer in the saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Mark continued, "The sword through the neck is set up so that the conditions for super healing are met, so the cut heals once the blade is out of the way. That is why a narrow blade is used, so that the back of the neck can heal before the sword has cut right through, and there is always a bit of neck attached so the head doesn't fall off."

"Are you trying to tell me that that sword really passed through my neck?" asked Sarah, "I suppose, next you're going to tell me that moment when I couldn't breathe was just when the sword passed through my windpipe and I didn't feel anything because there are no pain sensing nerves inside my neck."

Delight and shame fought for dominance on Mark's face as he nodded his head to confirm Sarah's analysis. The delight was because Sarah had understood so quickly, and the shame was because her accusation was true.

"So, presumably, if you push that sword through too slow it gets stuck, or something, and injures the volunteer, or the weight of the head parts the wound and it isn't together to heal up once the sword has passed," Sarah went on. Mark nodded again. "And I suppose if it goes through too fast the cut is complete before the healing starts and the victim's head falls off."

Feeling a bit on the defensive, Mark said, "Well, I reckon so, but the too fast isn't really a problem, because the sword slows plenty enough as it goes through the bones in the neck."

This made Sarah feel a bit queasy. She was also slightly surprised that Mark was being so free and frank with his trade secrets, although she did
realize that with the information she had been given she could not do the sword through the neck trick, but she did understand it was a bit like pulling the table-cloth off the set table; too slow and it didn't work, because it drag everything off the table, too fast and the friction between the cloth and the table causes the cloth to catch fire. As these thoughts whirled through her brain she
realized that none of what she had been told explained how the guillotine effect worked. The blade was too big and stayed through the neck. "That's OK," she said, "but it doesn't explain how the guillotine works."

"Well, you seem to have understood the head chopper, and you've noticed that it relies on the neck not being completely severed. I guess you noticed that we separated your head and your body after the guillotine."

"Umm... I guessed that you had, but I didn't know for certain until Sally told me. That can't be explained by super healing, can it?"

"Well it can and it can't," equivocated Mark, "You see, it was discovered that if the cut was kept perfectly fresh, it could be restored at any time. A decade ago, keeping the cut fresh wasn't possible, but now we have cling wrap."

"Cling wrap?" asked Sarah.

"Yes. That thin clear plastic stuff you wrap sandwiches in. It keeps the cut fresh, so long as nothing happens to it."

"So, the cling wrap keeps the cut fresh, so you can peel it off and the severed parts will heal?"

"Exactly," agreed Mark.

"So, how come I could feel my body even though I was, sort of, disconnected from it?" Sarah enquired.

"We don't really know how that works, we only know that it does," admitted Mark.

"Let me get this straight!" said Sarah, "I'm sitting here with my head separated from my body by two sheets of cling wrap and controlling my body by some sort of unknown remote control, and its only the bandages that are preventing my head from falling off. This too weird and not very comforting." Sarah paused to consider her condition.

Mark took the opportunity to speak. "That about sums it up. And to fully reconnect your neck we just have to peel the cling wrap sheets from inside."

"That's all fine and dandy, but how did they get in there in the first place?"

"Oh, that's easy," chimed in Cathy, "when I was wiping the melon juice off the blade I was also wipe the cling film onto the blade." Sarah looked worried, it seemed slightly implausible. "It has to be done very carefully, partly so it doesn't show and partly to avoid wrinkles which would jam in your neck. I do it, because it's rather like packing your own parachute."

"Shall we get on with fixing you, Sarah?" asked Mark.

"Not yet. I want to see what the cut looks like."

"Are you sure, dear?" intervened Cathy, "It's not a pretty sight."

"This may be the last chance to see my insides and, besides, I'm not squeamish, I used catch rabbits for food when I was young."

"Ok. Whatever happens we've got to undo the bandages. Do you want to do it or shall I?" offered Mark.

"I'll do it, unless you've done some sort of special magician's knot," responded Sarah.

"I was just thinking of the danger of you accidentally knocking your head off," cautioned the magician.

"Ah ... ha," Sarah muttered with her tongue stuck out in concentration. She was feeling the bandages to find out where the end was. She tugged at end which had been tucked inside, so as to get all the ends to the knot, which was at the back right of her neck. She started to attack the knot, using her finger-nails to expand the loops. Suddenly, but too late, she
realized that she was applying too much force with her left fore-arm to the back of her head. The next few moments were very confusing, She felt she was toppling over while firmly sat in a stable chair. The impressions she could remember afterwards were the feeling that the room was tilting around her, then falling past her body and landing in her own lap, there her head fell sideways and rolled down her legs and off her knees. For a moment she saw the plain concrete floor coming at her, then she felt a pair of hands catch her head at what felt like inches from the floor.

Sarah was disoriented and worried and it took her a while to calm herself. When she was calm enough she opened her eyes to see what had happened. She found herself looking at the ceiling from which hung a single light bulb on about six inches of dirty looking
gray flex. This did not match up with the feeling that her body was still sat in the chair. She felt two hands holding her steady and the fleshy cushion of a pair of thighs. Straining her eyes upwards she could see Mark's inverted face with a look of concerned with was quickly replaced by relief.

"I think we ought to get you repaired before you have another accident," said Mark, as he righted Sarah's head so that she saw her headless body for the first time.

Sarah was astonished to see a headless body dressed in her clothes seated, a little unsteadily, on the chair opposite. She made a motion to brush the hair from her forehead and the body made the motion, but, of course, no hand came up to brush the hair back. She then tried raising her right hand. As she watched the hand to her left began to rise, which looked wrong, so she tried to raise her other hand and when that began to rise, it looked right, but felt wrong. She
realized that her expectation of what her actions would look like, was conditioned by looking in mirrors all her life, but still felt
paralyzed by the fact that her vision and other, more direct, senses disagreed on what was happening and contrary to expectation her vision was winning.

While this experimentation and realization was going on, Cathy got up from her seat and began to undo the bandages, which Sarah had barely loosen. Cathy did have the advantage that there was no head in the way which made
unraveling the bandages easier.

Once the bandages had been piled on a shelf, Cathy remarked, "You seem very tense. Try to relax a bit, it makes it a lot easier." She began to massage Sarah's shoulders, which Sarah admitted to herself felt good.

Sarah began to wonder why Cathy was being so nice to her. She assumed that because of the relationship between Cathy and Mark, that Cathy would be jealous of her. Then Sarah remembered, it had been Cathy's suggestion that Sarah take part in the guillotine. It seemed to Sarah that her fear that Cathy would try to prevent her from getting to know Mark better was unfounded. She was being positively thrown together with Mark by Cathy. Relaxing further, she asked, "So, Cathy how did you and Mark get together?"

Cathy started laughing, but she soon was back in control. "I knew all the signals were there. You like Mark; a lot. I wondered what was holding you back. You thought we were married or lovers or something?"

Sarah tried nodding, which she immediately realized is a particularly useless gesture when your head is on someone else's lap. After a gulp of embarrassment, she said, "I suppose so."

"I think you forgot about the possibility that we were related. Mark is my brother," Cathy explained. Addressing Mark, she added, "Shall we fit Sarah's head back? or are you going to cuddle it until we are told to go home?"

Mark seemed flustered, "I suppose so, before the cling wrap wears out."

Mark stood and told Sarah to shuffle her chair forward a bit so that there was enough room behind her. After a bit of struggle, Cathy advised Sarah to close her eyes to make it easier. Sarah shut her eyes and found that it was indeed easier, although the fact that Mark was carrying her head did not help.

"If you really want to see what you look like inside, now's the moment," said Mark.

Sarah opened her eyes and instantly realized her head was being held about a foot behind her neck. A quick look at the cling wrapped severed, but living, flesh of the stump of her neck was enough for her. She clamped her eyes shut again. Cut living flesh was quite different from the dead flesh she had seen before. She had seen the twin holes of her
oesophagus and windpipe and the severed bone of one of her cervical vertebrae and most off putting was the way her neck muscles moved when she swallowed.

Mark detected Sarah's slight gagging at the sight of the exposed insides. He gently placed Sarah's head on the remaining portion of her neck.

"Well, I'm back to square one. What happens next?" She asked.

"We use these," Cathy said, holding up what looked like a pair of tweezers on a stick.

"And what are you going to do with those?"

"It's easy! We open the cut and snag the plastic with the tweezers. Then we slip the sleeve down so they are held shut. And finally, we align your neck and whip it out," Cathy explained.

"Sounds too easy," commented Sarah. "Let's get on with it. I'm beginning to feel less secure about the possibility of losing my head."

Contrary to Sarah's expectation, instead of opening her neck by pushing her head forward and having it balanced on the front of her throat, Mark pivoted her head sideways. Sarah felt some slight discomfort as Cathy fished to catch the two sheets of cling wrap with the tweezers. This only took about ten seconds, before Mark rested Sarah's head back on her neck and felt round the cut to check the alignment. Sarah felt as though she was trying to swallow a golf ball. Mark nodded to his sister, who pulled on the tweezers. Sarah was a bit disappointed that being restored did not feel special, except that it removed the peculiar feeling of having something stuck in her throat and eliminated the residual numbness.

"There we are. All done," said Mark, in the manner of a doctor who had just finished doing something painful for the patient's good.

"How do you feel?" enquired Cathy, as she rolled the cling wrap sheets into a ball and tossed them in the basket the nearly overflowed with
make-up stained tissues.

Before she answered, Sarah felt her head and checked that it seemed properly attached. She experimented by turning it, then said, "Umm, I don't feel any different. I, sort of, expected that I would get some kind of rush or a buzz." A bit worried that she appeared ungrateful, she added, "But, I am delighted to be back in one piece." She stood up and turned to gave Cathy a kiss on the cheek. She turned further, kneeling on the chair and hugged and kissed Mark, who after an instant of surprise, started to enjoy it and reciprocated.

"When you two are quite finished, We need to leave before we are ejected," commented Cathy, "We'll meet you at the stage door in a couple of minutes, Mark. Come on Sarah!"

Not entirely sure what to make of what had just happened. Mark's sister seemed to have taken charge of the situation, which admittedly had unblocked the impasse and was going in what Sarah thought was the right direction, Mark seemed to agree, but what was Cathy's agenda.

The maze of passages behind the stage seemed even dingier than before to Sarah and just as labyrinthine. Cathy and Sarah soon arrived at the stage door, where they waited.

During a minute that Cathy seemed content to wait silently for Mark to arrive, Sarah was
cudgeling her brain to come up with a question which could be asked suitably casually, but would give her some idea of why Cathy seemed to want Sarah and Mark to get together.

Eventually she gave up and asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?" replied Cathy.

"You know, throwing me at Mark."

"Oh that!" exclaimed Cathy. "Well, the truth is Mark and I have be doing this magic stuff for the past seven years and on and off for several years before that, so my entire life is the show. Quite frankly, I reckon that it is time for me to branch out for myself and start living my own life, instead of supporting my brother's. For the last year or so, I've been looking for the right person to replace me as Mark's assistant. I'm looking for someone who could, given time, love Mark at least as much as I do and would be willing to take over as his assistant. I could detect the chemistry when you and Mark first met during that card trick."

At this point they heard Mark coming and seconds later he arrived. He stepped between them and opened the door. Once he was through the door, he held it for Cathy and Sarah. When they were all in the alley outside, Mark commented to Cathy that the theatre would be open again for them to prepare tomorrow's show at two o'clock.

"Do you want to get a drink before you go home?" asked Mark.

Sarah considered this invitation and the fact that she had to go to work the following day. Checking her watch, it showed past eleven o'clock. "No. I'm sorry, but I really ought to be going home. I've got work tomorrow."

"Maybe we could get together tomorrow lunch time," offered Cathy.

"That would be great," agreed Mark.

"Yes, that should be all right," said Sarah and grabbed a pen and a scrap of paper, on which wrote. "This is my work phone number. Call me tomorrow morning, to sort out where and when."

The three went to where the alley emerged into the street two doors away from the theatre. Sarah kissed them both good bye and waving rushed off to her small car, and drove back to her flat. Mark and Cathy strolled together back to the hotel where they were staying.

As they stood outside the doors of their adjacent single hotel rooms, Cathy said, "Well brother, unless I miss my guess, I think you met your future wife today."

"We'll see. We'll see."

----------

When Sarah got home, she made herself a milky drink and went to bed. She wondered whether she would hear from Mark and Cathy again. She decided, on balance, that she hoped she would. Then she thought about the reason for Cathy trying to get her together with Mark. At first it seemed rather selfish of Cathy, but gradually Sarah came round to the idea that, from what Cathy had said, Cathy was being loyal in that she was staying until a replacement could be found. As Sarah drifted into slumber, she sleepily considered whether, if asked, she would be prepared to give up the security her dull life to become a magician's assistant.

In her hotel bedroom, Cathy took a shower and thought about whether Sarah would be good for Mark. Her conclusion was that if he did nothing to put Sarah off, it would come down to whether Sarah was able and willing to leave settled, if drab, existence to full a more adventurous life. She switched out the light and was soon asleep.

Mark, got ready for bed. He picked up the book he had been reading from the bedside table and flipped to the page he had got to. He did not read much, because he was distracted by thinking about the woman he had met that night. As sleep claimed him, Mark wondered what his life would be like with Sarah instead of Cathy.