Extreme Magic Vignette: Lampposts

The sun was shining and the park seemed fairly crowded. In the area near the bandstand, Terry, in his usual attire of black T-shirt, jeans and trainers and followed by a cameraman, stood and watched groups of people wander by. He is holding a small black backpack.

Terry, trailed by the cameraman, approaches a group consisting of three couples in their early twenties.

"Good afternoon," he greets the group, "My name is Terry; I'm a magician. We are filming some location magic stunts for a TV magic show. Would you like to take part?"

"What kind of magic stunt?" asked the tallest of the three men.

"Nothing death defying or embarrassing, I assure you. We would just like a couple of you to stand in one place for a few minutes, while the others watch what happens and give honest reactions; I will ask you to help with the preparations, but it won't be hard work."

The tallest girl, still holding hands with the tall guy, said, "Why don't we help out, especially if we get on tele. It will probably be more interesting than just hanging round here doing nothing, especially since the Avenue Patriots had to cancel their gig and there are three hours to kill 'til the bus home."

The friends nodded and made sounds indicating assent.

"Thank you!" said the magician, "As I said I'm Terry, may I have your names to help this thing run more smoothly?"

Introductions were soon given. The tall couple, him 6' 3", her 6' 1", were John and Theresa. John wore a studded leather jacket over a black Avenue Patriots T-shirt and leather trousers and trainers. Theresa was in a tight leather dress from armpit to mid-thigh and mid calf stiletto boots. The dress enhanced her bosom and bottom without exposing anything and her black dyed hair emphasized the paleness of her skin.

The second couple, George and Mary, were both a little short of six foot tall. George dressed similarly to John, except the trousers were not leather and the absence of the jacket. Mary's clothes were likewise a black dress, which showed, without exposing, her assets, and stiletto ankle boots, which brought her up to match George in height. Her long natural brown hair enhanced her tan.

The third couple were more dressed for the summer weather than going to a gig. Simon and Janice seemed to be there more to be with their friends. At 5' 7" Simon was sporting a pale blue polo shirt and matching shorts and trainers and he carried a small backpack. Janice stood 5' 4" tall in a bright yellow sundress and sandals. Her blonde hair was tied in a ponytail and her pale face had freckles.

Introductions made, Terry asked, "Would you please choose among yourselves who are going to be those standing still and who will be helping with the preparations? You may want to bear in mind that the standers will be handcuffed, but get to keep them as souvenirs."

The group went into a huddle, which soon produced Theresa and Mary as volunteers for the role of standers. During the discussion Terry had been getting some items from his backpack. He placed a fold-up stool, a set of handcuffs and a large roll of black cling film in a pile and duplicated the pile next to the original pile.

"OK, I shall begin the preparations with Theresa, if you don't mind. Then once they are underway, I'll ask John and Janice to finish off while I start the preparing of Mary, which Simon and George will complete. OK?"

They readily agreed and seemed to naturally move into their two teams; John and Janice joined Theresa a short distance from George, Mary and Simon.

"Theresa, as you're going first, choose a lamppost!" 

Theresa looked round at the fan-shaped area in front of the bandstand. There were a dozen cast-iron lampposts to choose from. Theresa pointed out her chosen lamppost.

Terry picked up one of the piles and strode to the selected lamppost. Theresa's group followed immediately, while Mary's group picked up the other pile between them and trailed along behind.

Once the post was reached, Terry set up the stool next to it and invited Theresa to stand on it with her back to the lamppost. With some help from John, Theresa stood on the stool. Terry instructed to put her hands behind her, where he snapped the handcuffs in place. Theresa tried them, and found them secure, but not uncomfortable.

"Now we are going to secure Theresa to the lamppost with this plastic wrap." Terry took the loose end of the roll and holding it against the post, passed the roll round Theresa's thighs twice so that the film stuck to itself. He then walked round Theresa pulling the film tight across her belly and twice around her chest. Theresa was now tightly held to the lamppost. He handed the roll to John and said, "Now it's your turn. Keep winding the film round Theresa and the lamppost, making sure you cover her tightly from her shoulders to her ankles; just leave her head, hands and feet showing!"

John, with a little help from Janice, was soon cocooning Theresa to her chosen lamppost.

Turning to Mary, Terry said, "Now it's your turn. Choose a lamppost! But make it one of those three." He pointed to the nearest posts on the same side of Theresa's post as Theresa was. Mary chose the one that was directly in front of Theresa and set off with the second stool. The cameraman lingered with Theresa's group, before following the ten yards to the other lamp, where Mary had already set up the stool at the post's base and was mounting it with some help from George. Mary turned to face Theresa and put her hands behind her, which were quickly attached, by the handcuffs that George had been carrying. Terry took the roll of cling film from Simon and began the process of wrapping Mary to her lamppost; twice round her thighs, across her stomach and twice round her shoulders, before handing the roll the George with the same instructions as he had given John.

Terry returned to Theresa's lamp, where John had reached the end of his roll of black plastic and Janice was smoothing the tail end down across Theresa's shoulders. 

"Good job, nice and smooth and it looks good and tight," said the magician.

"It's definitely tight," announced Theresa.

"We'll see," countered Terry and he leaned down and pulled the stool from under Theresa's feet.

Theresa drew a breath, but the words, "Hey! Don't do that!" came out too late, because the deed was already done. Now only the film wrapping help her in place.

Terry handed Janice a hoop with a curtain tied to it and asked her to arrange it around the base of the lamppost; pointing out the break in the ring to allow it to put in place.

Terry was soon back at Mary's post repeating the procedure. He fitted another curtain around the base of Mary's lamppost. Then he handed Simon a handheld camera and instructed him to film Mary attached to her lamppost. He also told George that he would be calling out instructions shortly that George should follow.

Janice was soon equipped with a camera and John told that instructions would soon be coming. The cameraman withdrew to a vantage where he could record what was happening at both lampposts.

Standing halfway between the lampposts, Terry called out that Simon and Janice should keep the cameras on the upper bodies of their respective captives and that John and George should lift the curtains up to the waist levels of the girls.

"John, George. On the count of three I want you to raise your curtains above Theresa and Mary's heads, then when I count three again to lower them to the ground again. Are you ready?"

John and George both called, "Yes."

"One... two... three. Raise your curtains!"  Terry spread his arms and made a pulling motion with both hands until they came together, just below his chin. Then he turned on the spot, before making a pushing gesture with both hands, until his arms were spread again. "One... Two... Three. Lower your curtains!"

For a moment there was silence from the participants and the wide circle of onlookers, who had stopped to watch what was going on. Then both the girls wrapped to the posts squealed, while John swore his amazement, George managed to control his language better, exclaimed, "What the ...?" Both Simon and Janice were dumbstruck, but keep there cameras trained on the young woman strapped the lampposts.

Soon the audience that had accumulated broke into applause with the odd comment or holler.

At Mary's lamppost, Theresa was trying to work out how from facing the sun with the bandstand on her left, she now had her back to the sun and the bandstand on her right. Simon looked up from the camera in his hand to confirm that it was now Theresa fastened to Mary's lamppost. It was.

The reverse situation was happening at what had been Theresa's chosen post. Each of John, Janice and Mary were trying to come to terms with the fact that Mary was now bound there and none of them knew how.

Terry was soon handing out keys to handcuffs and plastic tools to rip open the cocoons that held Mary and Theresa to the other's former lamppost.

The cameraman took a while getting reactions from the spectators and the participants.

Terry was about to walk away, to leave all the witnesses confounded and puzzled, when Janice came up and said, "Can I have a go?" 

He looked at Janice and he thought, 'Why not?'

"Did you bring a change of clothes?" he asked.

"Yes, they're in Simon's bag. Why?"

Terry called to everyone, "I've decided to do something more, because the lovely Janice here volunteered."

As the magician arranged a stool against another of the lampposts and assisted Janice to mount it. He borrowed back a pair of handcuffs from Theresa and was soon beginning the wrapping process again; this time he pulled two rolls of the film from his bag and began one with two turns round Janice's thighs and the second by two turns round her shoulders. These rolls he handed to George and John to continue the strapping of Janice to the lamppost, telling them to make sure that it was as tight as possible, because Janice's safety would depend on it.

While the wrapping continued the crowd grew.

Soon the double wrapping was complete and shortly after that the stool was removed and one of the curtains was in place, with John stationed to raise and lower it.

"We're nearly ready. Simon, could cut away a square of the film from Janice's belly, please?" Simon looked doubtful, but Terry reassured him that the film was strong enough to hold Janice safely, even with a bit missing.

Janice was now bound to a lamppost, wrapped in two rolls of black film, only her head, a square of the yellow fabric over her belly and her feet visible, dangling about eighteen inches from the ground. Terry approached her and apologised as he pulled a single strand of hair from a wisp by her left ear. As he stepped away again, he took a toy doll from his backpack and twisted the hair in amongst the doll's hair.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Terry and the young lady wrapped to the lamppost is Janice. In my hand I have a doll that includes a strand of Janice's hair. This gives me a certain amount of power over Janice."

A ripple of expectation stirred the audience.

"Theresa, would you take this doll and get someone from the front row of the crowd to whisper a phrase to the doll?"

Theresa accepted the doll and chose an older lady from the onlookers and she whispered something to the doll.

"Ok, Theresa bring the doll back! And Janice, say the first thing that comes into your head now!"

Janice immediately said in a clear voice, "Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir, Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine."

The cameraman, who was watched the whispering old lady, caught the look of surprise shock and wonder on her face. 

"Now for a more physical demonstration," the magician announced as Theresa handed the doll back to him. He held it so that its legs were in his fist. "John raise the curtain!" he called. John complied and as Janice was lost from sight, Terry turned his hand over so that the doll was now hanging head down from his fist. "John lower the curtain!" he called as a squeal of surprise was heard from within the circle of cloth. The lowered curtain revealed that Janice was still securely attached to the lamppost, but now in a head down position with her ponytail brushing the ground. 

The spectators made their astonishment known by applauding.

Janice's situation was soon remedied by having John raise and lower the curtain, while Terry returned the doll to the upright position.

"Of course, that's not all I can do with my volunteer. John raise the curtain to shoulder height!" Once the hoop was held in the specified position, the magician unzipped the dress on the doll and removed it, before asking John to lower the curtain. Janice was obviously blushing, despite her freckles, even before the curtain made its descent. The square hole in the black plastic wrap no longer showed the yellow of her sundress, but the pink flesh of her belly with a ring in her navel. There was a collective intake of breath took in the implications.

"Theresa, go and ask your quoter of poetry if there is something unexpected in her bag!"

Even before Theresa got to the old lady, she was rummaging in her shopping bag and produced a yellow sundress, which she tossed to Theresa. Then a look of shock crossed her face as she found and handed over a white bra and a pair of white panties. Some of the audience tittered, while Janice's blush deepened by a few shades.

The magician got a small plastic bag out of his backpack and put the naked doll in it. He then asked Simon to replace the stool under Janice's feet and Theresa to drape Janice's clothes over her arm.

Terry asked John to raise the curtain, then he redressed the doll inside the bag before removing the doll from the bag and telling John to lower the curtain. 

As the hoop from which the curtain hung hit the ground, Janice stepped off the stool, dress in a white Avenue Patriot T-shirt, and a mid-thigh length skirt. The crowd erupted into cheers and clapping.

Janice went and hugged Terry. "That was certainly a unique experience, Thank you."

"As a souvenir, you can have the doll, but whatever you do, do not burn it." Addressing Theresa, he said, "I think Janice would like her clothes back."

As she handed over the sundress and underwear, she discovered the handcuffs she had lent to restrain Janice attached to her wrist.

While the cameraman collected reactions from all the participants and got releases signed, Terry walk off round the bandstand, leaving everyone surprised, astonished or perplexed.