Lethal Experiences - Achilles Yellow

Betty entered the door bearing the yellow plate and looked round. The room was uninspiring, but the envelope on the bed drew her interest almost as much as the gold lamé gown beside it. The envelope proved to contain instructions that amounted to remove all you clothes, put on the dress provided and follow the directions to where you will be dining.

Her clothes were soon dumped into the specified drawer and she stood naked to examine the dress that would be her dining attire and her costume for the threatened lethal piece of magic to follow. At first she thought that it was nothing more than a skirt, but then she found the band of cloth that was attached at both ends to the waist band and was the upper part of the dress. Getting into the dress was the work of a moment or two; release the zipper at the waist, pull the skirt up her slender legs, duck her head through the loop formed by the upper part and refasten the zipper. It took her quite a while to adjust herself and the dress to the point that her breasts were supported by the garment and provided the tension to keep it in place. She practised walking to be sure that she was not going to jiggle herself into any unintentional exposure, then returned through the door by which she had entered, to find the dining area.

The dining area proved to be a rectangular space looking out onto an empty area, where she presumed that the promised magic would be performed. Her contemplation of the area was interrupted by the arrival of a man in a white tail suit and white bow-tie. He complemented her on looking ravishing, before he introduced himself as Harry. He had got as far as to stealing a kiss on her cheek, when they were both interrupted by a waitress, who introduced herself as Jenny and asked them what they would like to drink. The waitress' outfit was a dark grey waistcoat over a white shirt above a pair of black trousers.

Betty and Harry ordered beers and waited for their meals.

Later, after dessert, they watched the magician drown, flatten, behead, burn and impale the diners from the other dining alcoves overlooking the stage area, and were surprised and a little worried when they were invited to join the magician for the final illusion; the worry was minimal as the previous participants seemed to have survived, and possibly enjoyed, the usually lethal situations that they had been put in.

"Welcome, you are our final couple. Do you have any idea what we have in store for your lethal illusion?"

"I hesitate to mention it," said a nervous sounding Betty, "but you haven't sawn anyone in half."

"Despite the technicality that the guillotine divides a person in two, although they could hardly be described as halves, you are right. But we are going to give you a few choices; like how many pieces would you like to be divided into? And depending on how you answer that one, you might get a choice of how it is done."

"So what are the options of how many pieces?" asked Harry.

"Let's see," mused the Magician, "Definitely two, three and four. I can almost certainly dig up something to divide you into seven, eight or nine, Betty; and there is always the possibility of finding a way to go for an indeterminately large number."

Harry stroked his chin as if thinking about the options provided, but did not get to share the conclusion of his pondering, because Betty said, "I think two pieces will be more than plenty; I sometimes have trouble keeping track of where I'm at while I'm in one piece, so more than two pieces risks me losing track of a chunk of me, which I think would be a bad thing."

The magician smiled. "An excellent choice madam. It also means that you have the widest choice of how we do the deed." He turned to face the off stage area and called out, "Jenny, bring out the sawings in half!" The magician turned back to the volunteers. "This may take a little while, so tell us what you know about sawing in half illusions."

"Not a lot," admitted Betty. "I guess that the point is that the person in the illusion gets cut into two pieces, and whether you used a buzzsaw, a hand saw or an electric jigsaw is for the most part irrelevant to how it works and more about the kind of atmosphere you want to create. I think I've even heard of swords, and chainsaws, and plain dividing blades being used."

Harry added, "I think most of them have the victim lying down; I supposed that is because there is less risk of falling in the wrong direction, if you are already flat on a table or such."

While the volunteers had been thinking and talking Jenny had pushed four sets of apparatus into the area behind them. "Allow me to introduced you to your options for being sawing in two!"

"This one is the buzzsaw," he said, patting the sturdy cuboid frame with a large circular saw mounted in the centre. "The illusion dates from the 1930's, but this particular one was built for me nearly ten years ago."

The magician moved onto a multi-legged table supporting a wooden box. "This is the version of the sawing in half illusion that is most familiar to modern audiences, but also has its origins in the 1930's."

"This next one," he indicated a table on which lay some leather straps and some box shaped covers behind, "Was originally developed in the 1940's and improved in the subsequent decades."

"And this final one is an upright sawing, known as 'Modern Art' and is the product of much development since it was first designed in the 1970's."

Betty piped up, "I had hoped you were going to show us the one with the jigsaw and the arch-thing that goes over the person's waist."

"A fine illusion, but hardly suited to the climax of an evening such as this. Perhaps before you make a decision, you would like to see one of these demonstrated on Jenny."

The volunteers quickly agreed that such a demonstration would be welcome and chose the buzzsaw as the illusion to be given a test run, before Betty was divided.

Jenny returned from the backstage area pushing a trolley which she parked near the frame of the buzzsaw illusion, before pulling the tails of her shirt from the waistband of her trousers and removing her waistcoat. With the help of the magician, she sat on the moveable table that would transport her through the whirling blade and took up a position lying on her front with her bared middle lined up with the steel disk.

The magician adjusted her placing very slightly, and placed a pair metal half hoops over the waitress' waist, holding them in place with some wooden pegs. "Normally we would use padlocks to hold Jenny in place and cuffs on her wrists and ankles, to give the impression that she might change her mind and attempt to escape. It seems unnecessary in the present company."

"Now that Jenny is as secure as she needs to be, we start the saw blade running. With a blade this size, it takes a while for the motor to get the blade running at sufficient speed that it won't be stopped by starting to cut its victim; so we'll get it going now." He pulled a lever and the small triangular teeth the formed the circular saw's rim began to move. For a few moments the entire frame shuddered, as the individual teeth became a blur at the edge of the steel disk.

"With the saw up to speed, it is time to move Jenny into harm's way. Harry, if you would care to do the honours? Turn that handle clockwise to move Jenny towards and through the blade."

Harry did not look enthused with the task, even though it would afford him an excellent view of the waitress' waist as she passed under the saw. Nevertheless he took hold of the handle and turned. Once the slack and initial inertia in the system had been overcome, he found it easy to wind the handle at a uniform speed that inched Jenny towards the terrifying saw.

Suddenly the faint whistle of the blade, became a scream as the teeth on its edge began to bite into the sheet of wood that was transporting Jenny into its clutches. Harry faltered in his handle turning, but was quickly told by the magician to continue, before he lost momentum. Both Betty and Harry could smell the fresh sawdust that the blade sprayed to the rear of the performance area.

A further two handle-turns later, Jenny failed to suppress a yip as the blade made contact with the bare skin of her waist. Slightly relieved at the lack of gore Harry continued turning the handle dragging the waitress through the blade and leaving a gap in its wake. Betty was initially concerned on hearing Jenny's yip, having been guided to the head end of the device, but watched Jenny's face closely for any further signs of pain or worry and saw none.

Soon the steel blade no longer intersected with  Jenny's waist and the magician cut the power, then waited for the blade to slow before getting any closer to stop the blade completely. In short order, the waist restraints were removed. The magician went to the end on the apparatus and gave Jenny's feet a tug which opened up a two inch gap in her middle.

"Of course if this were a normal magic show, Jenny would either be restored or left on the equipment and taken backstage, but whichever version of the sawing in half you choose, I'm going to need an extra hand."

Jenny's legs gave a kick which turned them over and she rotated them a bit towards the front edge of the sawing platform. With a little bit of scrabbling, Jenny's legs and hips were sitting with her calves and feet dangling over the edge. Then with an expression of concentration Jenny pressed her hands down lifting what remained of her torso until she could swing it forward and rest it on her severed waist.

The magician had moved the trolley she had brought in before being cut with the buzzsaw, closer. While he held it steady she transferred her upper half onto the top of the trolley, then he moved it closer to her legs. When Jenny was in arms-reach of her legs, the legs straightened and slid off the edge of the sawing table. They landed on their feet and Jenny had a hand either side of her hips to stabilise them. With a few steps, she was leaning the front of her hips against the trolley, while she fixed them in place with a strap. She then turned her upper torso to face the same way as her legs and used those legs to pushed the trolley to the side of the performance area, where she awaited the next development.

"Now is the moment when you chose how we divide you in two," announced the magician. "Would you like to follow Jenny through the buzzsaw, or would you like to try one of the other ones?"

Betty looked at Harry to see if he was going to express a preference for her manner of bisection; he tipped his head in a gesture that said that it was her body, so her choice. "I think I'll try that upright cabinet thing, because I don't think at my age, I'm agile enough to get up from those low tables; not without help. And I think managing this dress while getting onto any of those tables, might be a bit difficult too."

The Magician bought forward the tall cabinet with its waist-high table beside it. He opened the doors in the front and the two-section door on the side; showing the cabinet to be empty.

Nervously, Betty asked, "How does this work? And do I need to do anything special?"

"All you need to do is get in and face the front; leave the rest to me!"

"Sounds simple enough; perhaps too simple, but I'm here to be adventurous, so here goes." Betty went behind the side doors and slid sideways into the cabinet. The audience could soon see her legs and golden dress through the lower door and her torso from her right shoulder down and across to her left hip though the upper door. Her face appeared in an oval hole above the slant of the door. "There's not a lot of room in here; if I were any fatter it would be squeezing me."

"You're doing fine," said the magician. "I'll just close these doors, so you don't change your mind. And if you could shuffle forward a bit so that your toes show through the slot at the bottom, that would be great."

Betty shuffled forward. "Sorry that's the best that I can do, otherwise my belly will stop you closing the top door."

"That's good," remarked the magician. "I'll just shut these doors then we can get on with the meat of the magic. I just need you to put your hand through the hole in the bottom corner of the door, then we're good to go."

"Ok," said Betty nervously.

The magician reached back and was handed a blade by Jenny, who had left the performance area during the preparations and returned still in two pieces with the blade.

With care the magician slotted the blade in the gap between the side doors, until he felt it touch Betty's hip. "Harry, would you like to do the honours?"

"If that's ok, yes, please. But I've never cut a woman in two before."

"Of course, you have; how do you think Jenny ended up like that."

"What do I do? I don't want to get it wrong."

"All you have to do is push on the handle end of the blade, gently, but firmly. Try not to jiggle the blade, because that does not fell good (so I'm told). You feel a bit of resistance to start, but after that it should be fairly easy."

Harry took hold of the blade and pressed it again Betty's hip. He tried pushing it in, but Betty's face showed some discomfort and the magician advised him that less pressure, but more firmness was required. Harry adjusted how he was standing and applied pressure to the handle once more. expressions of wonder spread over Harry and Betty's faces as they felt the blade begin to penetrate through Betty's hip. The magician advised Harry to not rush pushing the blade through Betty; a sentiment that Betty agreed with; she was finding that the experience of being slowly sliced through was much more pleasant that she had been expecting.

As all good things come to an end, the handle of the blade stopped against the side of the cabinet; Betty wondered whether she would have been better opting to be cut into more pieces after all.

"Now what?" asked Harry. "It looks like Betty is in two pieces."

"We prove it." The magician took up a position on the opposite side of cabinet from Harry. "You push and I'll pull! but again, go gently; we don't want to catch the ladies severed middle on the edge of the table."

Between them the magician and Harry guided the top half of the cabinet left onto the side table. Betty's face showed that she was having feelings beyond the slight disorientation of her upper half going sideways while her lower half stayed where it was. With Betty's upper half completely on the table, the magician slid a small bolt down to stop the upper half of the cabinet from moving and went to the open the front doors. Under her face in the upper half of the cabinet was her body with the two bands of golden fabric and below and to the right was the skirt of the dress and her feet in the slot below that.

Betty commented, "If I had known being cut in half was as nice as this, I'm sure I'd have done on long ago." Then she asked, "Is there anything more to do?"

"Well, some sceptics will suggest that you are still connected to your feet; how about we prove them wrong?"

"I'm game, do I need to do anything?"

"Not a thing, but Harry, you'll need to hold onto the legs, to make sure they don't go anywhere." The magician flicked a few catches with his foot, while Harry took a firm grip on the lower half of the cabinet, then he pulled on the table supporting the upper half making it roll a further two feet from the lower half.

"And that wraps it up for this evening's entertainment. I hope you all have a good and fun night and I'll see you all in the morning to restore you ready for breakfast."

He wheeled Betty's upper half back to the alcove where she and Harry had dined and beckoned that he should follow with Betty's lower half.

The logistics of getting Betty's halves up to Harry's suite proved to be less than they anticipated, because they found the elevator. Once there it prove easy to get Betty out of the cabinet and onto the bed, where they sent a relaxed night of gentle lovemaking.

In the morning, the magician and Jenny helped herd Betty's lower half into the lower half of the cabinet and place her upper half on top of the blade. Under instruction from the magician, Harry withdrew the blade, then opened the side door to allowed Betty to step out.