Talented Man - Extract 2

It took them a while to notice it, but Marcus was flicking sugar grains further and levitating crumbs higher. By May he could levitate a needle about a quarter inch about the table. He had also discovered by accident that using the telekinesis did not require the hand movements, but using his hands imparted more control than solely thinking about what he wanted to happen to the object.

It was Kate's suggestions that they try to measure the amount of force he could exert telekinetically and record it to see if they could observe any patterns in the data. To this end they bought a cheap electronic scale, it came second hand from a pharmacy on E-Bay. From the new year, when they received it, they measured the force that Marcus could press down on the pan of the scale without touching it. The trend of the readings was generally upwards, but there seemed to be times when Marcus could barely get the scale to read any force at all and few times when there were readings that were much higher than the trend.

Having a talent that came and went was frustrating for Marcus, but it validated the decision they had made not to attempt to decapitate Kate. They tried to work out if there was anything in common for the low days or the high days, but could not find any correlation with any circumstances they thought of.

By June, Marcus had devised a trick which used the floating needle as an indicator, by getting it to point at cards and reveal what the chosen card was.

During this period they were also working on a new larger illusion, a cardboard sword box. They initially practised with a wooden frame covered with shrink wrap, so that Marcus could see where the swords were going and how much or little space there was available to put more swords. About the time that Marcus' needle trick was passing from development to a few test runs with friends and family, the pair decided that it was time to try out doing the sword box with a cardboard box, this introduced more danger into the illusion as Marcus could no longer see Kate's position through the side of the box.

The first few rehearsals magician and assistant left the top of the box open so that Marcus could peek in between swords and see how accurate he was being and where exactly Kate was. With the clear film box they had reached fourteen swords, but had not used the fifteenth sword, the large claymore that was intended to go into the box vertically once the other fourteen were in place. The first rehearsal had been a success, in that Marcus had inserted the first six swords, which was all they had intended to spear the box with for a first time, but was marred by the last of the swords catching Kate's leggings and making a tear. Further rehearsals proceeded with much more caution, but they soon had the box loaded with Kate and all fifteen swords.

They decided to debut the trick for Bjorn and Elizabeth and their parents. Bjorn was a regular visitor, both as a school friend and in his capacity as their stagehand. He needed to rehearse too, and to know how to prepare the various props for the show. Elizabeth was a frequent visitor, coming along with Bjorn whenever her booking schedule did not require her to be somewhere far away.

Marcus and Kate decided that Kate's birthday, the fifth of July, would be the time to debut the trick. After showing off the floating needle, which seemed to work with a lot less effort and concentration than it had needed in rehearsal, it was time to present the first performance of the sword box for an audience.

Marcus brought the cardboard box on to the small practice stage and showed it to be empty and that the base was folded into place with box flap held in place by the flap on one side and holding in the place the flap on the other. The box was placed on a low wooden stand, with a low rim above the platform and four wooden feet below. The feet lifted the platform about four inches from the floor allowing the audience to see under and have some confidence that there was no escape from the platform without being seen and the rim held the box in place against the forceful stabs that Marcus would be making with the swords; even with Kate's weight in the box, the rim was necessary.

Kate came on stage wearing what appeared to be a tight fitting leotard that the intimate audience recognised as one of Kate's quick-change costumes. "Did you get me a birthday present?" asked Kate. She looked round to see if she could see something that might a present. He gaze fell on the box. "Is it in there?"

With a mischievous glance at the audience, Marcus nodded. And upon being asked what the present was, telling Kate that it would spoil the surprise if he just told her.

Kate approached the box and looked in. She pouted and said, "I can't see anything." And then she reached into the box and added that she could not feel anything either.

Marcus told her that this was because the present wasn't in the box yet. She would have to get into the box and he would teleport the present into the box with her so that she could be the first to know what the present was before everyone else.

Kate nodded and then asked for help to get into the box. Marcus lifted Kate and dropped her lightly into the box. "Now you need to sit down in the box and I'll close the lid; you don't want anyone knowing what your present is until you do and that way there will be no peeking."

Kate nodded enthusiastically and sunk into the box with a cute wave at the audience. Marcus quickly began the folding down of the top flaps of the box to form a lid over Kate's head. Marcus put on a grin that most siblings will recognise as a prelude to a prank.

Kate said from within the box, "How long before you teleport my present in her with me? There's not much light in here."

"Very soon," Marcus reassured her. "I just need to prepare a couple of things." It became evident moments later that the couple of things that he was preparing were a rack of swords, presented as a fan of seven narrow blades, spikes with sword handles, on either side of the huge broad sword.

Marcus demonstrated the solidity and realness of the first two swords he selected from the rack by pressing their ends against the stage floor and applying enough force to cause them to flex slightly. He smacked one of the blades onto the top of the box as a warning to Kate that the action was about to start and give her the chance to use any of the back out lines to indicate that she was not ready or even that there was something wrong.

Marcus counted to six under his breath at the pace that he counted things at to allow for synchronisation, between his and Kate's actions or to allow time for Kate to do her thing inside the illusion. At six he stabbed the sword in his hand through the box; in one side and out the opposite side. The motion was smooth and the pops as the sword tip penetrated the cardboard was audible to the audience. Marcus also heard the suppressed yelp of surprise, that Kate always seemed to greet the first intruder into the box; fortunately their mother and Elizabeth were also yelping their startlement at sudden piercing of the box and did not hear Kate's sound.

The second blade was picked up from the top of the box and run through the box from the back to the front of the box. This invoked more noises from the audience, but had not caused Kate to make any further noise. The next four swords were rammed into place, two below the first in the same direction and the other two below the second going from the rear and sticking out of the front.

A hand waving a white handkerchief through showed through the slight gap in the centre of the folded down flaps. Kate's voice came out sounding doubtful. "It seems a bit cramped in here. Are you sure that there is enough space for me to get my present?"

Marcus made reassuring noises as he tucked the hand and the cloth back into the box and then ramming two swords through the upper halves of the forward quarters the box seemed to be divided into by the initial half dozen swords. A further six swords later, each of the quarters had a sword though it in a high position and another lower. During this process Kate had been silent and the audience of four had been watching a little stunned and listening for evidence whether Kate was well or harmed.

Marcus took up the claymore and, with deliberation, inserted it through the gap that had allowed Kate's hand into view. Before the handle reached the top of the box there was a little thud and the sword stopped; the sword had not been vertical enough to find the gap in the bottom flaps of the box that lined up with the hole in the platform that would allow the tip of the great-sword to show in the gap below the platform supporting the box.

Marcus had a nasty moment of worry that he may have stabbed the sword into his sister, but he felt a lateral force on the sword's blade, which was Kate guiding it to the hole he felt he should have found without her assistance. There was a louder thud as the claymore dropped into place and the tip knocked on the stage floor. The magician also heard a sharp intake of breath from within the box.

"Are you alright, in there?" Marcus whispered into the box.

"I think I cut myself on the big sword as it fell into place. A plaster should be enough to sort it out. Just get me out as quickly as you can, so I can finish the act and get one."

He pulled the claymore from the box with what he hoped would be sufficient speed to get Kate out to administer first aid to herself, but not risk causing more injuries. As he withdrew the blade he spotted a streak of blood on the edge. Not knowing how serious the cut might be and combining it with his familiarity with Kate's tendency to minimise injuries in a 'the show must go on' kind of way, he upped the pace of pulling the other swords from the box; he was confident that they were not sharp and that any graze from any rough section would be very minor compared to the cut.

Instead of the planned measured removal of the swords and their replacement in the stand, Marcus was pulling the swords from the box at speed and let the momentum imparted carry them to where it would. With the swords out and rolling on the stage he grabbed the nearest corner of the box and ripped it open, while Kate was trying to follow the original plan of pushing up the top flaps of the box to reveal her costume change into a pretty girl's party dress.

With box ripped open she stepped forward from the cardboard remains took Marcus' hand and they bowed to the audience. The effect of this was spoiled by it becoming obvious that the right sleeve of the dress had a slash in it and had a red stain.