Prestidigitation

[3 word prompt: Magician Clowns Hecklers]

Gentle applause tittered around the audience under the dingy tent as Mr. Marvel produced a diamond necklace from what appeared to be midair. An elderly woman in the front row suddenly gasped.

“Why--that’s my necklace! It was around my neck just a moment ago… I was sure of it!” Mr. Marvel presented her with the necklace and a handful of spectators slow-clapped. Jed was about to begin heckling, but someone beat him to it.

“Fake as fuck!” said a bearded man in the third row. Mr. Marvel turned toward the man with a gracious smile.

“Certainly you think my prestidigitation is merely a ruse, do you?” Mr. Marvel said, sweeping back the sleeves of his shimmery robe. The bearded man’s girlfriend tried to hush him, but Mr. Marvel moved toward them, his eyes twinkling. “What’s your name, nonbeliever?”

“I’m Chad,” the chubby man said, standing up and leering down at the magician. He gave the opulent bejeweled hat on Mr. Marvel’s head a nudge. It nearly toppled off the skinny old man’s head. “And you’re a fucking fraud. This whole carnival is trash--I should’ve known this show would be trash too!”

“So,” Mr. Marvel said, turning away from Chad for a moment. “Do I rise to the challenge and prove my power to this lout, or do I prove to him that I do, in fact, have the power I boast?”

The rows of folding chairs in the tent were only half-occupied, but Mr. Marvel was giving such a huge performance one would think he was in a packed arena. Murmurs rose around the tent as some wondered what he might do next. Jed checked his watch. There was still plenty of time to drink on campus, if he wanted to head back there. This carnival idea was turning out to be a bust. Troy, Jed’s roommate, elbowed him in the ribs.

“Dude, the girls bailed on us. Let’s ditch on this scene!” Troy said. Jed shrugged down at his much shorter buddy. A guy Jed’s size couldn’t get up and leave without causing a scene, and he wasn’t exactly in the mood for this phony old carnival guy to try to make him part of the act as he tried to duck out.

Mr. Marvel produced a scarf from his sleeve. “Won’t you pull my scarf, oh doubting one?” he said, waving the dangling scarf across Chad’s face. He swatted the purple silk aside and pushed Mr. Marvel away.

“Fucking stupid,” he said, hands on his hips, broad gut thrust out. “I grab that thing and it turns out to be a hundred scarves tied together. That was dumb back in the 50s.”

Mr. Marvel stuffed the scarf back into his sleeve and turned away. “Well, then, I guess there’s no possible way I could put a new spin on a classic.” Mr. Marvel returned to the folding table on the stage and stroked the crystal ball he’d set upon it.

Suddenly Chad coughed. He buckled over, his thick hands pawing at his throat desperately. His girlfriend stood up in a panic as he started to choke and wheeze, his face deepening to red, then purple. Mr. Marvel folded his arms and turned away from the audience. People started panicking.

“The fuck?” Troy asked, scratching his head. “Should we call 911?”

“All part of the act,” Jed said, rolling his eyes. “Guarantee that guy’s a plant.”

The crowd went silent as Chad pulled a clump of purple fabric from his mouth. His eyes went wide as he pulled, revealing Mr. Marvel’s scarf tied to another scarf, which in turn was tied to another scarf. Chad yanked frantically, gagging, but the scarves kept coming, forming a small pile on the flower. His girlfriend shrieked and he started dry-heaving as yet more scarves came out--and then they stopped. The final item tied to the last scarf was a pair of sweaty boxer shorts.

Chad stumbled weakly as he looked at the mound of scarves, but his jaw dropped as he noticed the boxer shorts. “WHat the--the fuck?!” He said, pulling the boxers free. “These--I was wearing these!” The boxers in his hands had clearly been worn with small holes around the crotch. Chad yanked the waist of his pants down just a few inches revealing the top of his bush--and no underwear at all.

“I would assume that’s enough evidence for the skeptics?” Mr. Marvel said, crossing his arms and strutting back and forth on the stage. The crowd clapped weakly. Chad backed away, still gasping for breath, and grabbed his girlfriend’s hand as he headed for the door.

“That’s enough,” Jed said. “Let’s go.” The broad-shouldered man rose to his full 6’5”, and just as he suspected, Mr. Marvel focused on him.

“Young man, I recommend you postpone your bathroom breaks until the end, lest you miss out on even more mind-blowing…” He fluttered his fingers and threw his hands in the air. “...illusions.”

Jed looked back at the lackluster crowd, then at the door. “Actually, I… think I’m going to go. I have a…” He couldn’t think of an excuse, and wondered why he felt he needed to. “...thing.” Jed’s big bicep flexed as he gestured for Troy to join him. Mr. Marvel seemed to take note of the flash of muscle. He grinned.

“Truly you wouldn’t want to miss out on our most frightening illusion yet?” Mr. Marvel clapped his hands. Suddenly, a set of large cabinets on a massive dolly wheeled through the tent’s open flaps. Steering the whole thing was a little man, no taller than 4 feet, dressed in a leather mask that covered his whole head, leather trunks and leather boots. He was well-muscled for a such a small man, but his revealing get-up gave Jed the creeps.

“Thank you, Grubbin,” Mr. Marvel said as the little guy wheeled the cart to the stage. The purple cabinets were covered in glittery gold moons and stars. Each had a face hole in its door. One was the same height as Grubbin. Jed was impressed as the little guy hoisted it overhead and set it down with a loud thunk on the stage. He couldn’t believe his eyes when Grubbin lifted the other cabinet, which was taller than Jed, with just as much ease.

Troy looked back and forth, from big Jed to the creepy magician, waiting for his cue to either stay or leave. Troy just waved a hand to calm his roommate down. “Look, I think I got my four tickets’ worth with all this. Sorry to interrupt your show, but… I’m out of here.”

“The least you can do to make up for the interruption,” Mr. Marvel said, unlocking each of the cabinets and throwing the doors open, “is assist with one final illusion. Unless you’re… afraid...”

Jed rolled his eyes. “For fuck’s sake…” He couldn’t understand why any of these yokels were still sitting through this garbage--and now, the crowd was tittering about him. He didn’t care what these rednecks thought of him, but the idea of Mr. Marvel mocking him got under his skin.

“Let’s just leave,” Troy suggested. But Jed marched toward the stage.

“How about this,” Jed said. “I do your stupid trick, and after it’s done I get to explain to everyone exactly how it worked.”

“IF you can figure out HOW it worked,” Mr. Marvel said, unphased.

Jed ran a hand through his thick blonde hair. This guy was performing in a small town carnival but he had all the ego of a Vegas showman. He hopped on the stage. “Which cabinet should I get in?” Jed said, banging on the side of the smaller one.

Grubbin had pulled out a cigar. He gave it a few puffs and tapped his feet. The little man was staring up at Jed with a threatening grimace.

“You got a problem little man?” Jed said, leering down at the masked little guy.

“Yeah, big assholes who need to get taught a lesson!” Grubbin barked back in a cartoonishly high-pitched voice.

This was getting ridiculous. Jed stared at Grubbin incredulously, then turned toward Mr. Marvel, who had produced a thin white-tipped wand. “Ready for some… MAGIC?” he said with a generous arm flourish.

“Fine, jesus,” Jed said, stepping into the cabinet and sticking his face through the one hole in the door. Mr. Marvel locked it--and suddenly Jed panicked. The wooden box was tight on all sides of him. He tried to jiggle the door, but it seemed solidly locked. “Fuck, hey… I want to get out,” Jed said.

“Aw, the big man is scared?” said Grubbin, who exhaled a cloud of cigar smoke up at Jed. Grubbin climbed into the smaller box and Mr. Marvel locked the door. The little guy’s face poked through the hole in the door, just like Jed’s. Mr. Marvel spun Grubbin’s box around, then did the same to Jed’s.

“As you can see, there are no tricks here. No false backs, just solid wood.” Mr. Marvel produced a sheet of metal from his robes. “...but not solid for long.”

“Wait, what are you--” Jed started to say, but Mr. Marvel clapped a hand over the big guy’s mouth. With the other hand, he slid the metal sheet into a hidden slit in the door, a few inches below the face hole. Jed felt a tingling all over as the metal slid all the way in. Something was wrong. He didn’t feel anything entering the box, but he felt… something. “What… what are you doing…”

Grubbin cackled with laughter as Mr. Marvel produced several more sheets of metal, sliding them into the cabinet at Jed’s chest, then at his waist, then at his knees. “As you can see, our large friend here has been sliced into many different pieces!” Then Mr. Marvel grabbed the top section of the cabinet and lifted it, detaching it from the rest--with Jed’s head along with it. “But you can see, thanks to my incredible magical ability… he is still okay!”

“Oh god,” Jed said as Mr. Marvel set the box containing Jed’s head on the floor. This couldn’t be possible, he thought--there was no way this could be happening! But there he was, staring at Mr. Marvel’s filthy shoes, and at the crowd’s looks of awe and amazement.

Mr. Marvel started disassembling Jed’s cabinet into the sections formed from by the sheets of metal. Jed couldn’t feel anything below his chin, but his brain had a hard time processing the idea that he had been split into five different pieces and separated around the stage.

To Jed’s dismay, the crowd cheered. Mr. Marvel put a boot on the box containing Jed’s head and shoved it over. The blonde hunk begged him to stop as he toppled helplessly to his side. Troy ran to the stage, mouth agape, as he saw his bulky friend’s panicked face easily turned on it side.

Troy banged on the bottom of the box. “How is this even possible?” he said. Jed was horrified to find a huge grin on Troy’s face.

“The fuck--don’t just stand there!” Jed barked. “Fucking help me!”

“Oh, I’ll reassemble you momentarily,” Mr. Marvel said. Jed couldn’t turn to look, but he heard the slice of metal entering a box, then the sound of the smaller cabinet being sepearated the same way Jed’s was. Mr. Marvel tilted Jed’s box so he was right-side-up again, then turned it so he was face to face with Grubbin’s sneering visage.

“How about that?” Grubbin said, still chomping on his cigar. “You and me are the same height now!”

Jed thought he might throw up. “I… Okay, I’m… I’m sorry, just… I want to get out now!”

“What do you think, folks?” Mr. Marvel said.  Jed gasped as he lifted up his box and plunked it down on another. “If I open the doors now, our big cornfed stud will just be his pretty face and a pair of feet. I don’t think he’ll be strutting around so cocky then, will he?”

Marvel’s hand went to the door’s knob. “No!” Jed said, now believing the old man could do everything he threatened. “No, please! I’m sorry, just… put my body back together, please…”

Mr. Marvel laughed as he started stacking the boxes, reforming each of the cabinets. “There we go, big fella. It’s almost over.” There was a short cabinet and a tall cabinet now, each only missing its top segment. Jed’s heart dropped when Mr. Marvel set his box on top of the shorter cabinet.

“Wait, wait… don’t!” Jed said as Mr. Marvel opened the door. He stumbled forward and shivered. He was so cold… He looked down to find stumpy muscular limbs where his beefy athletic body used to be. He was wearing nothing but leather trunks! He turned around to find Mr. Marvel looming down at him.

“And let’s see now,” Mr. Marvel said, opening the other cabinet. Grubbin strutted out, still wearing his leather mask, but now 6’5” tall in Jed’s clothes. The big man flexed his muscles and smirked, taking a puff on his cigar.

Jed couldn’t believe what was happening. He flexed his little sausage fingers, shocked to see them responding to his commands. He patted down his compact little musclebod, horrified to feel it all the way down to his absurdly wide calves. He was shocked to see his sneakers--over his size 14 feet--at the end of his squat legs. He turned to find himself staring at Grubbin’s leather shoes below Jed’s favorite pair of jeans. His eyes scanned up… UP at the creepy magician’s assistant.

Jed felt his knees shaking as he realized he was staring at his own body. He’d never seen it from this position before, but he suddenly knew how all of the shorter men he’d ever intiimidated with his bulk felt. Grubbin poked Jed’s bare, muscular chest with a strong finger, knocking the smaller man back.

“Thought you wanted to leave, pal?” Grubbin said, laughing and flexing his new massive arms.

The crowd was applauding wildly, theorizing how the trick could have been possible. “What are you all doing? Somebody get some help!” He was shocked to realize that despite being on the stage, he was still looking at the audience members’ chests.

“What do you think, my friend? Can you explain the mysterious powers of Mr. Marvel?” the old magician said, ruffling Jed’s hair. Jed was speechless. He couldn’t decide what was worse: being nearly naked in Grubbin’s humiliating outfit or being half his normal height.

“Show’s over, punk,” Grubbin said, grabbing Jed and hoisting him over his wide shoulder. Little Jed beat his meaty little limbs against the giant’s broad back but it did no good. The audience snapped photos on their phones as Jed was carried out of the tent and then tossed carelessly to the muddy ground.

Troy finally helped the little guy up, offering his coat to the filthy dwarf. Jed brushed the mud off his bare muscles and wrapped himself in the coat, shocked that it hung down past his knees. “What do you think, you wanna hit a bar?” Troy said.

“What… Troy? Why aren’t you… freaking out?” Jed said. His legs were so short he had to hustle to keep up with Troy’s longer strides, and the thickness of Jed’s little limbs was making it hard to move them around each other.

Troy smiled and bent at the waist to meet Jed eye-to-eye. “I dunno, maybe it’s just nice having you be the little buddy for once? C’mon, let’s get a beer!” he said. Maybe Marvel had hypnotized him, Jed wondered, but if he had, what could Jed do about it?

Jed turned around, watching the crowd dispersing from Mr. Marvel’s tent. He couldn’t leave his body back there… but Troy grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

Jed recalled that Grubbin had been insanely strong before Marvel had switched their heads and feet, but for some reason he couldn’t yank his arm free of Troy’s grasp. Something deep inside him was stirring… something unfamiliar.

When they got to the parking lot, Jed gawked at his huge truck, unsure if he could even reach the pedals. “Good thing you gave me the keys after you had those beers!” Troy said as Jed struggled to climb into the passenger seat. “Otherwise they’d be in that other guy’s pocket now!”

As Troy started the truck, Jed shed the coat and had a look at his body once again. Something in his groin felt wrong. There was a tingling there, something unfamiliar stirring up, but he also felt a pressure he couldn’t identify.

“So, does that little body have a big cock or what?” Troy asked. He reached out and grabbed the thick zipper on the front of the leather trunks and dragged it down. Jed’s breath caught in his throat. Despite wanting to slap Troy’s hands away, something about his body’s proximity to his junk made him sweat.

“Holy shit…” Troy gasped as he pulled the leather trunks aside to reveal a cock just as short and stumpy as the rest of Jed’s body now was--but locked tightly in a metallic chastity device. Jed pawed at the solidly sealed unit with his clumsy hands. Troy reached over and stroked Jed’s cheek. Jed’s breath caught in his throat--why was Troy’s touch so electric? And why was Jed so excited about the contact?

“You blushing, buddy?” Troy said. “You look like you’re sweating a lady!”

Sure enough, Grubbin’s body must have been gay. Now that Jed’s head was at the helm, Jed was too. The foreign sensations washed over him. He licked his lips at he looked at Troy, who seemed to have figured out the same thing. Troy unzipped his pants. Jed couldn’t believe it when his mouth started watering.