Heather arrived outside the warehouse at 12:30, wearing a summer dress and feeling more than a little nervous. Jana's refusal to explain how any of the illusions were done, beyond "It's magic!" didn't reassure her.
She walked up to the door and entered. The offices beyond were empty, but she could hear the sounds of talking coming from the door at the end, so she wandered through, entering a large space full of strange equipment.
"Heather, you made it!", Jana said as she ran over. "Guys, this is Heather, Heather this is Dave and over there is Mike."
Both men looked at Heather. They saw a 25-year old woman, wearing a spaghetti strapped summer dress, with dark wavy shoulder-length hair.
"Hi", said Mike, wiping grease off his hands. "I'm just working on some of the illusions."
Dave politely shook hands, "He's been fiddling around in here all morning. I think he just does it to have something to do."
"So, you want to be an assistant, do you?" Mike asked, ignore Dave's comment.
"I might - I thought I'd come along and try out. Jana made it sound fun."
Mike and Jana exchanged looks. "Well, why don't we get you involved straight away? We've got a lot of illusions to practise, so let's do one with you."
"Hmmm, I guess so," Heather said. "What are you suggesting?"
Mike looked at Jana. "What do you think?"
"Make it a surprise. Nothing too exotic, though. I'll take Heather and get her into a costume." Jana led Heather off to a make-shift dressing room behind a sheet strung in one corner.
"What are we going to do?" asked Dave.
Mike thought for a moment. "I know. Grab those boxes over there, and then get..."
The two men moved about swiftly.
Behind the sheet, Heather was surprised to find rack after rack of costumes, ranging from swimsuits and lingerie to ball gowns and even fancy-dress costumes.
"What shall we wear?" mused Jana. "How about these?" she asked, holding up a pair of shirt-skirted metallic gold dresses with matching gold string bikinis.
Heather took hers, and quickly changed into it, putting the bikini on underneath.
"Ready?" asked Jana.
"What are they going to do to me?" asked Heather, with a slight quiver in her voice.
"Beats me, but it'll be fun. Trust me."
The two walked out to where Mike and Dave were working. The two men had strung up a black curtain as a backdrop, and cleared a space in front of it.
In the space in front of the curtain stood a woman-sized cabinet. The cabinet had holes for hands, feet and face in wood panels. The remainder of it was fabric, on which was painted the outline of a woman's body and legs.
"I guess this is for me?" Heather asked. Dave opened the side of the box and extravagantly waved her inside. She slid, with some difficulty, into the cramped space inside.
Once inside, Heather's face, hands and feet were visible through the openings. Jana quickly fitted panels and fabric over the side through which Heather had entered.
Mike went behind the curtain and emerged carrying a large crank, which he inserted into a hole in the side of the hand section. Dave inserted a similar crank into the far side.
"Ready?" asked Mike.
"Ready." said Dave.
"What do I do?" asked Heather.
"Just enjoy it!" said Jana.
The two men began to turn their cranks. As they did, the bottom of the box began to move toward the hand section, as did the head section.
Within seconds, the entire cabinet had contracted to a 2' high section with Heathers concerned looking face directly above her hands and then feet.
Mike grabbed a corner and spun it around, showing all sides, and then bowed to his imaginary audience. "Thank you."
He and Dave then started turning the handles the other direction until Heather's hands and feet were back in their normal positions. Jana opened the sides of the box, and Heather climbed out, grinning.
"Nothing to it!" she exalted. "How did you do it, though?"
Jana and Dave answered as one "Magic!".
---
Later that day, they sat around the office table. Jana and Heather had changed back into their street clothes.
"Well, what next?" asked Dave.
"I think we start doing some publicity shows - free things at nightclubs or on the beach or something." Jana replied.
Mike nodded.
"Well,", Jana continued, "Here's my plan. We want to make a big impact, and to give people a taste for more, right?"
Mike nodded again.
"So, we do a couple of illusions at a night club. Heather and I flash a lot of flesh, we get some audience participation going and then we tell them where we're going to be performing in 3 weeks."
"Three WEEKS!" Mike yelled. "We need 3 months to get this show together!"
"We don't have 3 months; we've got 3 weeks. I've booked the theatre. We can start looking around for some other assistants and dancers after we start getting some publicity."
"Well, you're the sales expert, I guess. Why are you doing all this for me, though?". Mike seemed puzzled.
"I want 10% of the profit, and I want another 15% split between all the performers. That's what I want."
Mike agreed, and the two of them began to discuss the show. "After all, last time I performed 10% wouldn't have paid for a taxi home!".
"Oh, and I've booked us into the Beach Tavern in 3 nights and a photographer is coming over tomorrow for a whole-day publicity shoot." Jana didn't bother explaining that the photographer was a friend and would only want to be paid for film - she wanted to see Mike's face.
Mike just gaped. Heather and I decided to go for a couple of drinks, and behind us we could hear the discussion grow louder as we walked away.
"She'll get her way, you know." Heather commented.
I knew.