Examining the bowl in front of him, Bill plucked it off its pedestal and gave it a swirl.  "I've only got time for one more performance tonight," he lamented.  "Then I have to do silly things like paperwork, cleaning up, and restoring all my wonderful volunteers."

This announcement was met with a round of disappointed resignation from the audience.  "I know! I know!  I'm sorry!" Bill apologized as honestly as he could.  "I mean, I could quit now if you wanted...." he let his offer trail off into silence.  "But I figured you won't like that."

He put his hand into the bowl and took out one last slip.  "Could Gwen please come up?  You're my last volunteer!"  With that last selection, he tossed the bowl back stage, where his helper caught it.

To cheers and applause, Gwen came up to the stage.  Her brown hair was similar to her eyes, and she wore a velvet-colored dress, thick straps going over her shoulders, sleeves reaching down to her elbows, with the hem of the bottom past her knees.  "Hi!" she said cheerfuly, an eager helper for the grand finale.

"And hello to you too," Bill returned with a smile.  "You ready for this?"

"Sure!" Gwen almost chirped.

"In that case, I'll have you step into this," Bill gestured behind him.

Gwen leaned over.  "Is it invisible?"

"What?  No!" Bill turned to point at his last prop, only to find it wasn't there.  "Hey!  Helper!  Where's the prop?"

From the back, Bill's helper rolled out a large table with a huge transparent box, the size of a bathtub on it.  He stopped, locked the table's wheels in place, then made sweeping motions with his arms.

"Oh," Bill nodded in understanding. "I suppose keeping Joy in one place while moving her would prove to be a bother.  Sorry for snapping at you."

The helper offered a hand, and Bill shook it, settling the peace between them.  "So," he returned to Gwen, "Climb on in!"

"I thought you didn't re-use tricks?" Gwen waited a moment until the helper pulled out a small step stool for her to use.

Bill was aghast.  "Never!  I have something different in mind."

"I believe you," Gwen noted as she finished climbing into the tank.  "Do I lay down?"

"Yes, please." Bill said as he pulled the stool away.  From behind the curtain, the helper came with a five gallon bucket that was filled with water by the way he was carrying it.  Gwen lay down, finding just enough room for her.  She crossed her legs, and folded her arms over her body.

"Now what?"

"Now," Bill took the bucket from his helper, "I empty this."  He heaved the bucket up to the lip of the tank, and tilted it, a torrent of water emanating from it that quickly caused Gwen to shriek and act to protect her face from the splashing.  Contrary to expectation though, the bucket did not empty, instead the water kept pouring through - the tank was filled an inch deep, then two, then Gwen started floating just a bit.  "How are you holding up?"

"Wishing I had taken off my shoes first.  They're waterproof, but only up to the ankles." Now that there was more water in the tank, Gwen didn't need as much effort to prevent splashes of water from getting into her eyes, nose or mouth.

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Bill assured her.  The water level was raised, and Gwen found herself being pulled under as the water soaked into her clothes.  She was able to keep her head up by propping herself up with her arms as Bill's bucket finally ran out, leaving the tub almost full.

"You couldn't have had the water in this first?" Gwen asked.

"Of course not!  My poor helper would have sprained something if he tried to move something that heavy!" Bill hung the bucket from a small knob on the front of the table.  "And a person takes up space, so how would I have known how much water to put in in the first place?"

Unable to argue with the logic of a magician, Gwen could only shake her head.  "So, I have a bath.  At least the water's warm."

"Well, I need you to take a deep breath and dive under for a moment," Bill said.  "Um, how long can you hold your breath?"

Gwen thought for a moment.  "I'm not really a swimmer, so, like 30 seconds?"

"Good enough," Bill assured her.  "Because now I'm going to drain everything out once you're under and holding your breath."

Gwen looked confused at the request, and what it meant for her, but acquiesced anyway.  She took a deep breath of air, then dunked herself under the surface.  She stayed down thanks to the weight of water in her clothes.  On the outside, Bill rushed over to where he put the bucket, and pulled on the knob.  Water cascaded out, and into the bucket far faster than normal hydraulics would suggest was possible.

With the water level lowering, Gwen too sunk a little until she was against the bottom of the tank.  Then she started to sink into the tank.  It wasn't her flattening into it, but rather it was as if the water was simply going down, and her with it, not out of the tank.

Bill, of course, simply smiled and checked the bucket.  It met with his satisfaction as he
kept his back turned to the tank where Gwen had sunk up to her stomach.  If she felt anything
unusual, she didn't react.  Instead, she kept sinking out of view until at last her nose was gone and only clear water remained.

Then even that was gone, and the flow of water petered off, leaving only water drops inside the tank.  "That is going to streak after it dries," Bill commented with a shrug.  "But I get to use magic to clean it up!"  This got a couple laughs.  He leaned over and pulled the bucket full of water off the knob.  Giving it a swirl, he peered in.

"Yep, looks normal to me."  He looked out over the audience.  "Now, I bet you're all expecting me to pour this back in there," he rolled his head to indicate the tank.  "Well, that's not what's going to happen."  Instead he set down the bucket on the floor in front of him and reached into a jacket pocket.  He produced a cube of ice.  "Magic," he explained to the un-asked question.

Dropping the cube into the bucket, he waited a moment, making a show of checking his watch and counting down.  Once he was finished with his timing, he picked the bucket back up and set it down on the edge of the pillar that used to hold the name bowl for the duration of the program.

Carefully, he tilted it onto the small surface area he had to work with.  For a moment, nothing.  Then Bill slapped the bottom of the bucket hard causing something to rattle inside it.

Out slid a small figure, which Bill righted.  It was clear in the lights, and stood only about eight inches high.  "This," Bill announced, "Is Gwen."  He tapped the figure lightly.  It had the shape of her dress on it, but without color, it was impossible to verify his claim in the lights from above.  "Nicely frozen.  Not quite a popsicle though."

"And with that cool ending," Bill took a bow, "I think I will leave all of my lovely volunteers to your tender mercies for a little while while I help clean up.  I will be back... eventually to put them back properly.  Thank you all for coming."