When we reached the square, we saw a large crowd of people in front of the mayor on a small stage. She stood before a podium with a string of lights above her head. The street lights turned on as the sunlight dimmed.

“There’s the man of the hour! After much delegation with everyone, we’ve come to the conclusion that we’re desperate enough to humor you. We’ll give you half up front and then the rest after you end our dry spell. The two duffel bags are here beside me”, said the mayor on the mic. “Before you get a bag, please show us the proof, as promised.”

“Well, I guess a little magic show is in order then.” I clasped my hands together as I walked up the stairs to the stage. “Mayor, could I have the stage for a moment.”

“All yours,” she said as she walked off with the duffel bags and sat down on the ground. The rest of the crowd followed suit, making themselves comfortable.

“Okay, to start things off, let's do a classic trick, sawing someone in half!” I clapped both hands together and, in a puff of smoke, a long coffin-like box appeared before me, raised off the ground with some wheeled legs and a hole at the sides for someone to poke their head and legs out when lying within. “Nothing up my sleeves, see. Well, I don’t have sleeves cause this is a t-shirt but you guys get the point.” Everyone chuckled as I motioned to my arms. I yanked my hand away from my left arm, revealing a saw. “Now, are there any volunteers brave enough for this trick?”

Hands went up in the air so I just pointed to someone at the front. “You in the green shirt, please join me on the stage”. As he got on the stage I asked “What’s your name?”

“Derrin”

“Everyone give it up for Derrin’s bravery!” The crowd clapped. “Now, let’s turn this up a notch.” With a snap of my fingers the box spontaneously combusted and disappeared in a flash. I waved the saw quickly and it suddenly turned into a sword as I stopped. “Without the box, everyone can see what happens more easily. Are you ready for this Derren?”

“I-is this gonna be safe?” asked Derrin while he wrapped his arms around himself.

“Yes, this will be perfectly safe.” I reassured him.

“Okay, bring it on!” He yelled excitedly as the crowd cheered. After a short countdown, I quickly stepped forward, slicing at his midsection. Nothing seemed to happen at first but then slowly his top half slid off his bottom half, dropping to the ground. It took a second for the crowd to register what just happened before they all started screaming in terror simultaneously.

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A kid said “Cool!” as he stared in awe while his mother covered his eyes and her own while screaming in horror. Panicked people stood up and started running around, some covered their eyes, others stared in shock, and the rest just screamed.

I tried to calm everyone down. “He’s fine guys!” I yelled but no one was listening, it was way too noisy so with a snap of my fingers, it became pin drop silent. This confused everyone; they tried talking and making sounds but not even a peep was heard besides my voice. “He’s perfectly fine guys. See? No blood.” I went over to Derrin who was lying on his back and lifted him up on the base of his severed torso.

He waved at everyone. “Woah, I didn’t feel anything. How am I still alive?”

I snapped my fingers, returning sound to the crowd again. The crowd murmured in awe. “Magic. Now try tap dancing.”

His bottom half was still standing fine this whole time on its own. It started tapping on the ground, did some jumps, and then the splits. He opened his arms wide and said “Tah-daahhhh!”

Everyone clapped, amazed at the sight before them. I picked up Derrin’s torso, reattached it to his legs, took a step back, realized I put him backwards, spun his torso around, and then clapped my hands, returning him back to normal. “Give it up for Derrin! Good job!” Everyone clapped with some whistling as he went back to his spot on the ground. “Well, that should be good enough for proof, right guys?”

The crowd booed. “One more trick” one guy yelled and then everyone started chanting “One! More! Trick!”.

“Fine, fine, one more it is. Hey kid, sitting up front with the pigtails, what’s your favorite animal?” I asked, pointing to a little girl up front.

“Elephants!” she yelled.

“You got it then.” I went to the side of the stage, opened up my duffle bag, and pulled out my black baseball cap. Probably should’ve worn this earlier in the heat. I showed everyone my hat from all angles, even showed it was empty. Then I shoved my whole arm deep into my cap, moving it around, then pulled out a huge elephant that took up more than half the stage and dropped it beside me. Half of the stage was crushed under its weight in an instance while it trumpeted in shock. I motioned with my hands to the elephant and said “Viola!”

I let kids from the crowd get up and pet the elephant a bit. Afterwards, I asked them to return to their seats. The elephant then stood up on its hind legs and started juggling bowling balls that I tossed to it, pulled out from my baseball cap. It spun one ball on one leg and juggled two on the other for a bit then tossed all up in the air at the same time, catching all three with its right hind leg in a stack like a snowman, then it bowed its head. The crowd cheered excitedly. I tapped my cap on the elephant and it, along with the bowling balls, got sucked back into the cap.

Then, I started coughing. My coughs got harder and harder. The crowd seemed worried for a bit, murmuring amongst each other. I coughed up a black mass onto the ground that suddenly split up and started flying. Someone in the crowd screamed in shock at the sight. I opened my mouth wide and pointed it to the sky. A huge swarm of fireflies exited it, filling up the night sky with their lights like bright twinkling stars. They came together, forming the words “Thanks for watching!”, then slowly faded into the night sky. Everyone cheered, amazed at the whole spectacle.