The Grumpy Magician (2)

The magician's assistant had entered the cabinet, been shut in and the doors in the doors opened to show she was still there. These doors were re-shut and blades inserted to divide the cabinet into four sections, which had been unstacked and placed in a row on the stage.

The magician turned and scowled at a member of the audience. "You," came the word that followed the scowl. The scowlee looked up. "Yes, you. You've been talking since the start of the performance. I don't know about the people around you, but I certainly find it distracting. And if, as I suspect, you were trying to tell people how I have achieved some of my illusions, it will have been positively detracting from the show." While he spoke the magician was staring intensely at the offender. "Stand up!"

The woman in the middle of the fifth row stood up, with a glazed look on her face. Now visible to the entire audience, they could see she was either a fair brunette or a dark blonde; it was difficult to be sure as the only light was the spillage from the stage.

Another few seconds of staring was followed by the command, "Rise!"

The woman rose from her standing position into the air until she was six feet in the air. Now they could all see that she was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. A gesture from the magician caused her to pivot in mid-air until she was upside down and her ponytail hung down from her head, almost within reach of the other members of the audience. A further gesture, like a beckoning motion had her floating towards the stage, while the magician stepped into the wings.

As the entranced gossip arrived at the edge of the stage, the magician returned carrying a box. The inverted woman floated so that her head was at his waist height. He pulled a metal panel from the box and positioned the box around the talkative blonde's head.

The audience murmured wondering whether this was planned or not. They groaned in unison, when the magician slid the metal panel back into place in the box and straight through the blonde's neck. He then placed the box on the stage and had the headless body glide back whence it had come, returned to the upright position and lowering into its former seat.

"Her companions, should they wish, can come and collect her head after the show; and if I'm feeling in a good mood I might re-attach it too."

He return to his interrupted task and with the aid of some stage hands restacked the cabinet. When the cabinet's inner doors were opened, the assistant was jumbled, she seemed genuinely shocked that her head was upside down.

The magician commented to the audience, "See the havoc you can cause by distracting a magician."

Dutifully, he reclosed the cabinet doors, unstacked and re-stacked the cabinet, letting his somewhat shaken assistant out once the blades between the cabinet sections had been removed.