She volunteered, and I know she wasn't a plant, because I invited her to come to the magic show at the last minute, because my brother had to work late that day, I asked Cheryl, his wife, if she would like to come in his place. Cheryl raised her hand when the magician asked for a volunteer for a dangerous illusion. Using the word 'dangerous' cut down on the number of people willing to volunteer. Of the half dozen people that raised their hands, Cheryl got chosen. The downside of Cheryl being chosen was that she was asked to choose two men to came with her to 'help with the mayhem'. I was the obvious first choice, but then she chose the guy on her other side from me, who we had exchanged a few polite words as we arrived at our seats, but otherwise did not know from Adam.

Once we arrived on the stage, the magician asked her to introduce herself and her two chosen helpers.

“My name is Cheryl. This is my husband's brother, Gavin; he invited me to come to the show at the last minute, because my husband couldn't make it. I don't know this guy's name; he just happens to be the guy we were sat next to, but he has been polite so, why not invite him to help.”

The magician looked at the other man. “My name's Steve; happy to meet you.”

“Have any of you helped a magician before?” asked the magician.

After Cheryl and I had shaken our heads, Steve admitted to having be the victim of a guillotine illusion when he was a kid and that he had been frightened to the point of embarrassment.

“Ok, Cheryl would you mind taking off your shoes, please.”

Cheryl leant on me to remove her shoes, while we watched an assistant wheel a cabinet from the wings. This was parked in the middle of the stage a few feet behind us and the wheels locked. There did not seem to be much to it. The front was open, showing the inside of the cabinet, painted with pale blue and white vertical strips. The rear had a vertical slot in the centre and a pair of straps attached to it about shoulder-width apart and, lastly, a couple of rods sticking out either side of the base of the slot and another pair about foot further up. The sides each had a hole about level with the straps and some battens to support something about level with rods. The top was solid and carried a couple of planks. The bottom of the cabinet was not there. The whole cabinet was supported on a metal frame with more wheels than seemed strictly necessary.

“Please, check out the cabinet, while I help Cheryl change into something that will help keep her decent.” The assistant brought out a hoop with a fabric tube attached and the magician helped her arrange it on the floor in front of the cabinet. Cheryl was invited to stand in the hoop. I could not see that there might be a problem with her decency, she was wearing a knee-length light-green check skirt and a plain blouse in a matching pale green.

With Cheryl standing inside the hoop the magician and the assistant raised it to waist level, then asked her to put her hands on the hoop in front of her and stay in contact with the hoop. The performers increases the height of the hoop until the only part of Cheryl visible was her hands holding the hoop. When the hoop was lower to show Cheryl again, the cheering from the crowd alerted me that something had happened. I looked to see what the noise was about and was surprised to see Cheryl in a completely different outfit.

Cheryl now wore a creamy white dress, that reach mid-thigh. It appeared to consist of a wide strip of fabric, slightly less than shoulder-width wide, with a hole for her head and fastened at the sides with strings. These ties were loose enough that the edges of the front and back did not meet, showing that any underwear that she might have been wearing had disappeared with the outer clothes, without exposing anything too private. She was aware that her costume had been changed, but after a short moment of shock she recovered, checked she was decent and then looked to the magician to find out what was next. From where I was standing, behind her, I could see the dress had what looked like a thick seam down the middle of the back and soon discovered that it had a matching feature down the front too.

The magician asked me and Steve if we had found anything suspicious about the cabinet; neither of us had. He had us take the first plank from the top of the box and slide it into the upper of the slots in the sides, which led us to discover that the rods either side of the slot in the rear supported the middle of the piece of wood. This plank was about one third of the depth of the cabinet. We also inserted the second plank, which was wide enough to make the bottom of the cabinet; this was supported by the slots and rods at the bottom and had a couple of loops of leather nailed near the front edge.

Cheryl was invited to sit on the upper board in a squat, with her feet in the leather loops to help her stay in place. When she was in place the front part of the dress' skirt sank between her thighs to cover her modesty, but exposing a lot more outer thigh. The magician asked Steve and I, to help Cheryl put her arms through the holes in the side walls and then use the straps to hold her shoulders in place. We were then asked to hold Cheryl's arms on the outside of the cabinet. After some further instructions, we each stood behind the arm, holding her hand with one hand and her elbow with the other. I felt Cheryl squeeze my hand, which I took as a sign that she was still alright with this, even though none of us knew what the illusion she was now strapped into was meant to achieve.

From behind the box, the assistant brought a panel, which she helped the magician clip to the front of the box, so that Cheryl was hidden from view, except her arms and her toes, which emerged from a couple of cut-outs in the bottom of the panel.

At this point, we, the audience and us helpers, found out what was planned for Cheryl. A male assistant brought out a large buzzsaw blade mounted vertically on a frame. The saw-blade itself was as large in diameter than the cabinet was high. The magician took some care in lining the saw with the slot in the cabinet, before switching it on. It was surprisingly quiet; the electric motor whined, and the blade whistled softly.

“Ok, gentlemen, hold firmly to Cheryl arms, because it could get a bit messy if she moves too much.” With no further warning, he began to push the blade into the slot in the front cover; there was a slight increase in noise as the blade rubbed against the edge of the narrow gap in the front cover.

When she heard the extra noise so close to her, Cheryl tensed up. It took her a moment to gather her courage, before she took a deep breath and squeezed my hand again. Soon I could feel vibrations coming through her arm, but was unclear if this was Cheryl being nervous or shaking caused by the saw.

I leant down to the arm hole and spoke to Cheryl. “I can stop this if you want.”

She replied, “No, I volunteered; I don't want to seem a coward.” Her arm seemed to stiffen under my grip, as if to demonstrate her determination to see this through.

After another ten seconds of the magician push the spinning blade into the box containing Cheryl, our ears were suddenly assaulted by the scream of the blade hitting wood. Cheryl tensed again. This level of noise did not last long, maybe ten more seconds. At which point I saw the curve of the blade emerge from the slot in the rear of the box.

Moments later, the racket quietened, followed a second or two later, by another hand-squeeze. A pair of stage hands, came forward and fixed two sheets of metal to portion of the saw frame that now jutted beyond cabinet. At a signal from the stage hands the magician began to withdraw the whirling blade from the box, which dragged the dividers into its place. When the blade was clear of the cabinet, the magician detached the dividers from the saw frame and fixed them to the cabinet's frame, while the stage hands turned off the saw and took it away.

The assistant helped the magician unclip the front of the cabinet, then ducked under it. I could hear the assistant saying something to Cheryl, but not clearly enough to understand. The assistant ducked back out and took the cover away. I could not see what the audience saw, because I was still holding onto Cheryl's arm. Whatever they saw they reacted with deafening applause. The magician went behind the cabinet and fiddled with something, before instructing us, the arm-holders, to take a couple of steps sideways.

I was surprised that the cabinet followed me, until I saw, the magician step through the gap we had opened. The audience got louder in showing their appreciation of the act that they had just witnessed. From in front of the cabinet, the magician beckoned us forward to see what the commotion was about. The sight of Cheryl squatting in the two halves of the box separated by about three feet was shocking. It seemed that Cheryl registered my shocked expression, so she gave me a smile and a thumbs-up with the hand that I had been holding.

The magician and assistant wheeled the two sections of Cheryl about so that all the audience got to see both halves. Judging by her expression it took Cheryl a minute or so to get used to both of her sides being moved independently, but she was soon evidently enjoying being the centre of attention and doing her best to wave to everyone.

After a few more minutes, the two parts of the cabinet were rejoined and the assistant went behind the box. There was a flash. When my eyes recovered from the brightness, the person divided vertically by the blade was the assistant, wearing the white tunic-dress that Cheryl had been wearing. Moments later, Cheryl appeared from behind the cabinet wearing her own clothes and carrying the costume that the assistant had been wearing. She draped the costume over one of the assistant's out stretched arms.

The magician invited us forward and asked Cheryl how she had enjoyed being part of the illusion.

“It was actually a lot of fun, but if you'd told me what you were planning in advance, I'd have chickened out. I thought the magnetic fastening hold the dress together when I was wearing it and to the blade once I was in two was a clever idea. Would you like me to volunteer for anything else?”

While she was speaking, a couple of stage hands separated the cabinet with the assistant still in it and wheeled the halves away to opposite sides of the stage.

“Thank you, but we really need to give some of the others the chance to volunteer, but I will offer you another go, if nobody else volunteers.”

We returned to our seats, but Cheryl did not get the chance to volunteer, because there were always a good selection of enthusiastic volunteers.