By
NaOH_r

"All right. All right. I’ll show you something."

Anne wondered if the guy had tanked up elsewhere earlier or if he just couldn’t hold his alcohol.

She’d served him two cognacs and he was only part way through the second but he was already acting half bombed, staggering slightly as he stood. "What do you want me to show you?"

"Thanks, Mark. Just do whatever you’ve been working on lately." Rob had spent the last twenty minutes talking Mark into performing for them, buying both his drinks in the process. Nobody was left in the club but this lone table of three, plus Anne. She had sent the bartender home at midnight; no need to have two people to serve only three customers. "Just watch this, Cal. This guy has the best tricks you’ll ever see." Rob was jubilant.

Cal was markedly unenthusiastic. "We’ll see. I remember this guy; everybody liked his stuff but he couldn’t work sober." He looked up as Mark stumbled over a chair leg, nearly falling. "Doesn’t look like he’s changed much."

Mark had made it onto the low stage, where he was peering at the props left from Rob’s show earlier in the evening. "I dunno. I’ve been working on a disappearing stunt. Would you be happy with that?"

Rob looked uncertain. "I don’t have a cabinet or anything for that. Can you do something else?"

"I don’t need a cabinet. I can get by with these." He picked up a pair of large, brightly colored metal rings which Rob had linked and unlinked during his act. "OK if I use them?"

"Sure, be my guest." Rob leaned over to mutter to Cal. "That’s another reason I really like this guy. He does amazing tricks but with the wrong props."

"I need a subject, though." Mark slurred. "How about the barmaid? Anne, is that your name? Would you be my assistant, please? And while you’re on your way, bring me another drink. A double, this time." Neither Cal nor Rob had seen him take his drink with him, and Anne could have sworn he left it on the table, but now it was mysteriously in his hand. Not so mysteriously, it was empty.

Anne looked quizzically at him as she poured his double, then shrugged. "If you’re sure I’ll be safe." He nodded his reassurance and she delivered his drink to on the stage.

Mark accepted the drink and immediately took a healthy slug from it before handing it back. He motioned her to the side while he held one of the rings in each hand, scowling slightly. "Let’s see, now." He flipped the blue one in his right hand, twirled it, tried various little moves. Finally he hung it from one finger and started twirling his hand, so that the ring began to rotate. He kept twirling. When he had it spinning at a fairly good clip, he flipped it up, almost head high, and caught it with his left hand, meanwhile transferring the other, yellow, ring to his right. He kept the blue one spinning while he twirled the yellow one, finally getting it up to speed as well. By now, though, the blue one had slowed down considerably. Apparently, he couldn’t spin it very effectively with his left hand, at least when he was drinking. He flipped both rings up and switched them again so that his right hand had the blue one again. Again he worked it up to a good speed and then again switched the two so he could work on the yellow one.

Finally he seemed satisfied with both rings, so when he flipped them up again, instead of switching them, he caught them both, still rapidly spinning, on his right hand. Although they were now moving together, one didn’t hide the other; off-centered, they wove a complicated blue and yellow pattern in the air.

Mark’s face contorted as he spun both rings with his right hand, increasing their speed still more and synchronizing them until that it appeared that he was using only one. As they sped up, they blurred together, their shapes staying sharp but their colors mixing, so that it was hard to tell if the blue one was in front of the yellow or the other way around. The blurring of the colors grew more confusing as he spun them faster and faster, until neither a blue nor yellow ring could be seen, only a vaguely colored circle in midair. Then Mark suddenly withdrew his hand and the rings dropped to the floor. They didn’t bounce or roll away when they hit; they just clattered down flat in front of him. Only it wasn’t they, it was it. One bright green ring lay still on the floor for a second until he held it up for display.

Loud, but singular, clapping echoed in the almost empty room. "Nice job!" Rob was delighted. "Don’t you think so?"

Cal was now respectful, maybe even mildly impressed. "That was pretty good." He spoke more loudly. "But I thought you were doing a disappearing act."

On stage, Mark was gasping, partly from the effort and partly from the latest slug of cognac he’d just swallowed. "In a minute, let me get my breath." He finished his drink. "And maybe get me another of these."

"You sure you need more of that?" Anne was doubtful.

"Only if I’m going to continue." Rob answered. "Working sobers me right up but I can’t do anything without a drink or two in me. "

She fetched him another nearly full snifter, along with a glass of water. "You might want this on the side."

Mark took a nip from his fresh drink, then another, larger pull. "Put those over on that table in front ," he directed, handing her the now half-empty snifter. She complied before climbing back onto the low stage.

"Now it’s your turn in the spotlight. If we had a spotlight." Despite the drinks he had just consumed he seemed perfectly sober. He motioned to the green ring again lying on the floor. "Just step into the middle of the circle and stand there. And don’t move. I need to concentrate and it’ll distract me if you move."

She stepped into the middle of the ring and stood still, facing the front of the stage. Mark moved to the side, facing her, sideways to his meager audience. He reached forward and locked his hands together, flexing his fingers, stretching his shoulders and arms. Finally he shrugged and put his thumbs in his pockets, standing, or rather slouching, as he peered at the ring on the floor and the young woman standing in its center.

"I’ll admit," Rob offered to Cal, "his stage technique isn’t the best. Great tricks, but not so good at..."

Mark glared at them. "Hold the commentary. I need to concentrate and you need to be quiet. Just watch this and never mind my stage presence."

With that, he turned his gaze back to the ring and stared at it. Nothing at all happened for perhaps a minute and then the ring began to quiver. It rattled gently on the floor and then one side of it lifted up an inch, two inches. Anne let out a little gasp of surprise and the ring clattered back down.

Now Mark glared at her. "You be quiet too. I’m telling you, I need to concentrate so be quiet and stay still. In fact, don’t even look down. Just look straight ahead and ignore what I’m doing."

He returned his gaze to the ring. This time it didn’t quiver but abruptly rose an inch or two and hung in the air. A white glow appeared between it and the floor, a stubby, glowing cylinder of light. Nobody moved or made a sound as Mark continued to concentrate and the ring rose further, in little jumps of an inch or two at a time. The glowing tube extended as the ring rose but the lower portion of it faded. By the time the ring had risen to the level of Anne’s knees, the glow near the floor was nearly imperceptible. As the ring rose toward her waist, the light followed, bright near the ring, diminishing in intensity down its length to finally fade out a foot or so down.

Below the glowing cylinder, the two-man audience could see nothing but the back wall of the room. Of Anne’s feet, ankles, lower legs, nothing could be seen. The viewers remained silent, entranced at the sight. Sweat broke out on Mark’s face but his attention stayed riveted on the ring as its upward jumps became longer and more closely spaced. It reached Anne’s hips, her waist, her breasts, her neck. It hung there for a long moment, a green ring of metal supported by a floating cylinder of light, topped by a pretty woman’s head, with no trace of her body to be seen. She appeared to be unaware of what was happening, following her instructions to stay still and look straight ahead.

Mark was grimacing now, intent on the ring. With a final surge it abruptly shot up over Anne’s head and continued rising a foot, two feet above her, its trailing glow rapidly fading. Mark suddenly sprang out of his slumped pose, reached up and grabbed the falling ring out of the air. Of the girl below it, there was no trace. He tossed the ring aside to clang into a corner while he staggered off the stage. Seizing his drink, he drained it in two gulps and collapsed into a chair.

Cal let out a low whistle. "My God, that was something. How in the world..."

Rob lurched to his feet. "Anne? Where did you go? You there?"

A disembodied voice came from the stage. "I’m right here. There was a flash in my eyes but..." Her voice suddenly rose in fear. "Where’s my hand? Where’s my...What did he do to me?"

They heard several footsteps echo across the stage followed by the sounds of a short jump to the main floor. Mark’s limp shoulders shook, seemingly spontaneously. "Hey, wake up! Wake up, damn you! What have you done to me? Bring me back!" His shoulders shook again.

Rob sat down next to Mark and started shaking him also. "Come on, man, wake up! Snap out of it."

Mark’s eyes finally crawled open and he shook his head foggily. "How was that, huh? Pretty good disappearing stunt, isn’t it?" He seemed shell-shocked but not especially intoxicated. As they watched, he grew more alert and seemed fairly proud of himself.

"How’d you do that to her?" Rob demanded.

"Never mind what he did. Make him do it backwards. I don’t like this at all. It’s scary." Anne’s voice, shaking but vehement, was now coming from a point between them and the stage.

Mark looked over to where she apparently stood. "I guess that’s where you are. Don’t worry, I’ll reverse it, no problem." He turned back to Rob, with Cal now seated next to him. "What did you expect? You pleaded with me to show you my new trick; I told you it was a disappearing act; I didn’t force her to be my subject. I disappeared her, so now she’s invisible. I guess there’s no pleasing some people."

They stared at him, briefly taken aback by his nonchalance. Then first Cal, then Rob, nodded, if not in full agreement, at least in comprehension. "You can make her visible again." Cal was the first to speak.

"Certainly I can. I’ll tell you though, that took a lot out of me and I’m pretty beat. It would be better if you let me get a good night’s sleep and do it tomorrow." He turned to the unseen Anne and asked, "Would that be okay with you?"

"Hell, no, it’s not okay with me! That wouldn’t be better at all. Make me normal now."

"Okay, okay, in a while. I still need to recuperate. Speaking of which," he held out his empty glass, "I need another drink."

"Are you kidding?" Anne’s voice rang out. "More to drink is the last thing you need. Just get me back to normal and you can drink all you want then."

"You don’t understand. If I don’t have anything to drink, I can’t do my stunts, I don’t know why. It’s just the way it works for me. I need another drink or two to reverse you."

"Oh, all right!" Anne’s angry voice had moved and continued to move toward the bar. A second later they were all treated to the spectacle of a half-full bottle of cognac floating jerkily through the air as she carried it back to them. She slammed it on the table next to Mark’s glass. "Drink up. It’s on the house. Only," a trace of fear tinged her words, "Make it quick, huh?"

Fifteen minutes and two double Henesseys later, Mark rose to his feet. "You two," he gestured at Rob and Cal, "Over there. Stay away from the stage and keep quiet. I’m still pretty burnt and if you distract me, I can’t make any guarantees." The two eased over to their original table and positioned themselves.

"And Anne, wherever you are, get on stage again please." Despite the renewed dosage of alcohol, Mark was handling himself pretty well. They could all hear Anne’s footsteps as she marched across the floor and the little thud as she jumped onto the low stage. Mark clambered onto the stage as well. "Where’d I throw that ring? Do you see it anywhere?" He peered into the dark corners on the left side of the stage.

From the right side, Anne spoke up. "There it is; no there they are. There’s two rings here." Two metal rings, a blue one and a yellow one, sprang into the air at the right side of the stage and floated to the center.

"Dang. I might have known that would happen." Mark reached out to take the rings from her.

"Is it okay? I mean, you can still undo me." Anne’s voice was worried.

"Oh yeah, but now there’s a hitch. The man I sto— I mean, the man I learned this from had, um, interesting tastes. He used a variant of this to make women’s clothes invisible. That’s how he got his jollies." Mark was apologetic. "So if I use one ring, I’m afraid your clothes will stay invisible. And there’s no way I can merge them again and have enough energy left to bring you back, too, not tonight. So I’m afraid your clothes won’t be hiding much, if you know what I mean." He was clearly embarrassed by this development.

"Who cares about that? It’ll only be for a minute and you won’t be the first guys to see me naked. I’ll put my coat on anyway. Rob, can you get it from behind the bar for me?"

"Uh, now, you can’t wear that while I’m doing my stunt, you know." Rob threw the coat to the stage, where it halted in midair before resuming its journey to a chair on the left side. "Yeah, leave it there and put it on when we’re done. Here, put one of these rings down and stand in it again." He held the rings out and they floated a few feet away.

"Which one? Yellow or blue?"

He considered his choice. "It shouldn’t matter. Put one down, pitch the other one out of the way and stand in the one you keep. Tell me when you’re ready."

The yellow ring sailed to the right side of the stage and the blue one settled to the floor.

"I’m standing in it. I’m ready." Anne’s voice had grown apprehensive. "Tell me everything’s going to be fine."

"Everything’s going to be fine. Now, just like before, stand still and don’t pay any attention to what I’m doing. Just look straight ahead. Don’t anyone distract me. I only have one shot at this left in me tonight." 

Mark took his position to the side of the ring surrounding the invisible woman and pursed his lips, staring at the ring. It remained motionless for a moment or two, then began to levitate, slowly, smoothly rising from the floor, not jerking as it had before. Also unlike before, no glow accompanied it as it rose into the air, no cylinder of light appeared below it.  As it crept up, the viewers were relieved to see the base of Anne’s shoes appear below it, then the tops, then her ankles. Slowly her legs came into view, then, just above her knees, her skirt began to appear.

"Well, he was wrong about her clothes." Rob thought, a bit disappointed. He found Anne quite attractive.

Her skirt became fully visible, then the bottom of her blouse, before Rob realized something was wrong. Wrenching his eyes from the interface between lower blouse and invisibility at the ring, he inspected what he could see of her legs again. He realized he couldn’t actually see her legs. Her nylons were visible but the back wall of the stage still showed through them. And he thought her hands should be coming into sight by now but they weren’t, until suddenly a bracelet popped into view where her right wrist should be. He gave an involuntary start at that, but forced himself to remain silent. Beside him, Cal didn’t seem to notice any problems, transfixed by the sight of a now partially invisible woman.

Mark was wincing now, his body shivering as he concentrated on the rising ring. He was rewarded as the upward movement accelerated to Anne’s shoulders but then stalled, leaving the vision of a headless woman standing on stage. Then, abruptly as before, the ring rushed over her head and continued up another foot or so before he grabbed it. He didn’t fling it aside this time; it slipped from his hand as he collapsed onto the floor.

As soon as he grabbed the ring, Anne, or as it appeared, Anne’s animated clothes, whirled to the chair holding her coat while her bracelet moved in a trajectory towards it. Then it stopped and her body froze, as she comprehended that her clothes, not her, had reappeared and she was still invisible.

She screamed out. "You! Look what you did this time!" She whirled to Mark’s fallen form and started kicking him in rage. "’Doesn’t matter’ which ring you said! Well, get up! Do it with the other one! Do it right!" She got in a couple more kicks to his body before Rob could get to the stage and pull her aside.

"Don’t do that. If you hurt him, he can’t change you back. After you’re normal again, then you can kick him to death if you want." He urged her off the stage and sat her down, his task made much easier now that he could see where most of her was, anyway. Her shoulders slumped and her rage turned to tears.

"Am I stuck this way for a whole day now? Invisible? How am I supposed to go around like this?"

Meanwhile, Cal had pulled Mark to his feet. He was mumbling gibberish, face flushed, eyes closed. Cal dragged him off the stage and draped him in the chair by his table. "Lemme rest. That took it all out of me." he groaned.

Anne got back to her feet, a wraith wearing a blouse and skirt. She stepped to Mark’s chair, snatching the untouched glass of water from the table on the way, and threw it in his face. "Snap out of it! You’ve got to wake up! Do it again! Do it right!" she demanded.

"I did do it right," he moaned. His eyes flickered, then stayed open a few seconds, looking straight forward at Anne’s waist in front of him before falling closed again. "You’re there, I can see you fine."

His head flopped back as she shook his shoulders insistently. "Don’t do that." His eyes snapped open to stay. "You’re..." His words trailed off as he saw where her face should be. "Ohh. I guess I was wrong. You’re still not visible, are you."

"No, I’m not." she said glumly, the anger draining out of her. "When can you do something about that? I want to be normal again." She let go of his shoulders and stepped back. Her whole body, what anybody could make out of it anyway, slumped.

Mark shook his head and took a minute to try to come fully to his senses. "I think you better sit down. And," he gestured at the others, "please don’t anybody get too excited. It wouldn’t be helpful."

Mark was forlorn himself now. He turned his full attention to Anne, now seated across the table from him. "I hate to say this but I think you’re going to stay invisible. For a while, anyway."

"How long a while?" Her voice was very faint.

"Maybe a long while." He looked imploringly to where she sat. "It might be permanent." He looked down and spread his hands. "At least I don’t know how to do anything about it. See, I can do these, well they’re not tricks, I call them stunts. And I can undo them, too. But I can’t undo them twice, the second time would be a new stunt. I can make things, or people, invisible..."

"Obviously." broke in Rob, standing behind him, gazing in fascination at Anne.. Rob whirled to look at him but immediately turned back to Anne.

"And I know how to undo that. But tonight, well, I goofed up. I made two things invisible at once, you and your clothes, and I thought everything would come back together." He looked apologetically at the invisible woman in front of him, at where her eyes should be. "But it didn’t work that way. I’d say I was sorry but..." His voice trailed off again.

Her voice choked out: "If you can’t do it, can somebody else? How about Rob? Somebody else must know how to do this sort of thing."

Mark looked at the table. "I don’t know who. Nobody I know but me can do what I do, and I can’t do it if I’m not drinking. The guy I got this particular stunt from, invisibility, he’s too old, he’s senile."

Nobody said anything for a long while, until finally they heard Anne’s voice. "Merde, what a way to have to live." And then they were quiet again.

-----------------------

Back to Main