The Lady Vanished …almost! – PHILIP ABRAHAM

There was excitement in the air that Thursday afternoon at Stanes. Our principal had announced in the morning that the last period in the afternoon was cancelled and that a magic show would be held in our assembly hall.

By 3 pm we were all gathered outside the hall waiting impatiently for the magician and his troupe to arrive. At last, a ramshackle old van hove into view and finally came to a stop at the main door of the hall. Four men and a pretty young girl in their early twenties jumped out and started taking out their boxes of props and other stuff.
Some of the boys helped them, more out of a desire to chat up the beautiful assistant, than to really help.

The show started and they went through their repertoire of rope tricks, coin magic, and rabbits in hats and so on. Finally, the magician said they would be performing their most difficult and mysterious feat – The Vanishing Lady. Anything that featured the beauty was fine with us and we cheered. The magician led her to a cabinet set up on the stage and she entered it. The lights dimmed, he chanted abracadabra and waved his wand .

Unfortunately for the magician and his assistant, their timing was just a few seconds off and the door of the cabinet opened a bit too early for just a moment. She was still in the process of dematerializing and she was revealed, clad only in red lingerie before the door was slammed shut by the scarlet faced magician!

We were speechless, but after the magic show was over, the boys were unanimous in their opinion that this was the best magic show ever performed in Stanes. As for the Stanes girls, I have no idea what they thought and we didn’t dare ask.

Philip Abraham
He is a retired banker, with a fascination for the English language and has been wriitng short pieces mostly based on life while studying in Coonoor. His other passions include travelling and quizzing. Incidently, while at college, he and his partner beat the the team comprising of the redoubtable Sashi Tharoor in the finals of the quiz conducted by in Mumbai.