Chapter 210: My Date With Mackenzie; The Magic Part

Thursday, May 12, 2005 (Continued)

"Please give me a few seconds to prepare. I need to tie the hair that Diana so kindly donated into a knot." Diana and Claire giggled, with Mackenzie joining in with a small chuckle too. Plus small smiles from the parents.

I made a small loop in one end of the hair, then wove the long end around and around the loop, pulling the loop a little smaller as I went, until I ran out of hair. Hair being somewhat stiff, the tension in the loop kept it in a loop shape and prevented it from coming undone. I was holding it with NP too, as extra security against it becoming unraveled, especially for later when I would be moving it around.

I retreated a couple of steps until I was about four yards from the family. "Come back and stand next to me please, Diana."

I used a hand on her upper-back to guide her into position on my right, so we were both facing our audience. I held up the hair in front of her face with my left hand, pinched between thumb and forefinger. "Have a good look at it. It's definitely your hair, isn't it?"

While I'd been talking, I'd also been running my right hand down Diana's back, out of sight of everyone else. It arrived at her ass just as I was finishing. I squeezed her ass slowly and gently enough not to shock her, as she started answering. "It is," Diana confirmed, with a big smile on her face, secure in the knowledge that I didn't think of her as a sister. Little did she know!

I dropped the hair onto my palm. "Can you see the hair on my palm?"

"Yes."

"Good girl. Watch closely everyone, so you can see there's no funny business." I slowly closed my fist on the hair, then turned my hand over. My fist was at waist height, as usual with this trick. Within seconds the hair was safely out of my hand, up the underside of my arm, around my back, then down to floor level by going down behind my right leg.

"Diana, I'd like you to walk around the side, to the right, keeping well away from my hand so everyone can keep it under clear observation. Stop there. Good. Now I want you to lean carefully forward, so you don't block anyone's view, and kiss the back of my hand."

"{Giggle}. Kiss it?"

"Yes please. I'm a little embarrassed to say so in the presence of such nice, young ladies, but magic needs a little bit of sexual power to make it work. Sorry about that, but I didn't write the rulebook for magic. That's just how it works. This is a very easy spell, so just a little kiss will do."

Diana was such a good girl (from my point of view), that she didn't even look at her parents for permission. "Okay." She bowed forward and kissed the back of my hand, secretly licking it with her tongue during the kiss. GOOD GIRL!

"Good girl. You did that perfectly. Now back away a couple of steps, then go around behind your family and stand next to your mother."

My eyes followed Diana, because my NP-fingertips were carrying the hair immediately behind her. When she was walking around behind her family, I was looping the hair over one of the buttons halfway down the side of Mackenzie's long dress. The hair loop was just a little wider than the button (which I'd looked at carefully enough in the car to memorize its size). I'd chosen that destination because it was believable that the loop could stay in that position for a reasonable period of time.

When Diana was with her family again, I slowly raised my fist until it was high in the air. I extended one finger, pointing it at Mackenzie, who shifted nervously.

"Hold still please, Mackenzie, you're making it harder for me to make the magical connection." Mackenzie froze in place. "Thank you."

I looked intently at Mackenzie for a few seconds, then frowned. I said, "I didn't estimate the range properly. I need just a little bit more magical energy. Would the three girls please blow a few kisses at my fist."

Claire and Diane immediately giggled and started doing so. Mackenzie joined in, but slower and with less enthusiasm. (To be fair, the younger girls were VERY enthusiastic.)

After one blown kiss from Mackenzie, and three or four noisy efforts from each of the other girls, I said, "Okay. I've got enough now. Thanks, girls."

I pointed my right index finger at my raised left fist. I started moving my pointing right hand in circles, sideways relative to my left fist, and as wide as my elbow would allow (about twenty four inches). I slowly moved my right arm closer and closer to my left fist, accelerating the circle and diminishing the radius as it got closer. By the time my right hand was a six inches away from my raised fist, it was rotating as fast as I could possibly move it. This had taken about ten seconds, and had built the tension nicely. Everyone was dead quiet.

My rapidly spinning right hand suddenly rushed forward to slap the back of my left fist. At the same time as the loud {SLAP} sound, I yelled, "JUMP!"

My audience all jumped in surprise. When they settled I said, "Mackenzie, if you carefully lift the side of your dress which has the buttons, about halfway down you'll find the hair looped over one of the buttons."

Mackenzie did that, while her sisters scrambled to get into position to see. I ALMOST got a glimpse of one of Mackenzie's naked knees, setting a new highlight for my sexual activity with Mackenzie this evening.

"I see it! I see it!" squealed Claire. "There, on that button."

As Mackenzie lifted it off the button, I said, "Show it to Diana so she can confirm it's hers."

Diana inspected it, excitedly yelling, "That's it! That's the same hair! That's incredible. How did you do that? It's impossible. You were miles away."

Claire and Diane rushed to me, to tug on my arms and beg me to tell them how I did it. Mackenzie and her parents looked impressed too, they were just too dignified to express it.

Amidst the two girls' clamor, I got a chance to say, "I didn't do much. Diane did most of the work; you saw her kiss my hand."

"Haha. No, really, how did you do it?"

"Diana did it. She's REALLY good at kissing. Say! You didn't get so good by kissing lots of boys, did you, Diana?"

That made her blush fiercely, and quiet down for a few seconds.

When they next had to draw breaths at the same time, giving me a moment of silence to use, I said, "That was ONLY a warm up. The REALLY impressive trick is my next one. Do you want to see that?"

"YES! YES!"

I put my hands on their shoulders, saying, "In that case, go stand with your family, while I start to summon the concentration I'll need for the next spell. It is FAR harder than the first one, so I need to prepare myself." I gave them a little push, and they eagerly rejoined their family.

I explained, "Mackenzie. I said both magic tricks were gifts for you. The first one is really just a little joke. We've had a single four-hour date, so I've given you a very temporary ring. Guys are supposed to give girls rings eventually, but a hair ring is the best our relationship deserves at the moment. However, the second spell will produce something much more long lasting and more to your tastes. It is a real gift, and I'm sure you will enjoy it."

^-- "The first spell was easy, all I had to do was magically move something that already existed. The next spell is MUCH more complex though. I'm going to be creating something out of nothing. I saw earlier that you love orchids, so I am going to create an orchid out of thin air for you."

"WOW!" from my two favorite girls, followed by more refined expressions from my least favorite.

Mackenzie spoke into the clamor, with some incredulity, "You're going to make me an orchid?"

"I think it'd be a perfectly appropriate magic spell to finish our date with. Years from now, when you're caring for the plant, you'll be able to remember this date, and you'll know that it is a very, very special orchid. Very few people have plants that were conjured out of thin air you know. Only people who're friends with a very powerful magician such as me."

Mackenzie's expression was a hard to decipher mixture of several emotions. She was getting excited, but didn't want to be. She was happy, but upset that I was so friendly with her sisters. She was impressed, even though she didn't believe in magic. And there were probably some more incompatible pairs, but I couldn't be bothered trying to identify them. If there was any "horny", its opposite was winning easily.

Mr. and Mrs. Norris were somewhat impressed and amused; Mr. Norris being freer with his facial expressions than his wife. I was doing a delicate balancing act with my talking about spells, magic and sex; those being words I wouldn't be surprised to hear parental objections to. I particularly wanted to talk about sex in a very mature, sensible fashion, as I had when Diana was on my lap, because I wanted the parents to trust me and believe their daughters were safe to visit my home. Convincing them of my trustworthiness couldn't be done to the extent and at the speed I wanted by totally ignoring the subject of sex, so I had to push it a bit. If the parents continue to seem okay, I'll cautiously ramp up the sexual references; but if they become unhappy, I'll dial back. I was also hoping that their embarrassment over my license would help keep their objections unvoiced. Spells and magic I'd excuse as entertainment if challenged about them, and I could downplay them totally by talking about my magic show as if it was only an act of manual dexterity. I'd prefer to keep talking about magic though, because it provided a way for me to mention sexual issues without making the sexual references specific or threatening to any of the girls.

I continued, "Actually, I'm not powerful enough to make it out of purely thin air; I need just a tiny amount of help. Mrs. Norris, may I please borrow a small saucer. An old teacup saucer would be perfect, or one of the saucers I see you have under some of your potted plants. Do you have something like that available please?"

We were standing in the open-plan dining room, separated from the kitchen by an "island" (as I later learned they're called, when I started seeing the shortlist of mansions). Mrs. Norris said, "I'll get you one."

I followed her toward the kitchen, explaining, "I need to put the right amount of water in it too, so I'll come with you."

She extracted an old saucer from the back of a cupboard. I took it to the sink and put a couple of drops of water in it, then carried it carefully back to the family.

I placed it on the table, saying, "I've got the perfect amount of water in it so no one touch it please. Now Mackenzie, I'd like you to get something for me please. I need a tiny corner of an orchid's leaf. About an eighth of an inch square. Can you get that for me please?"

"Okay."

Mackenzie took a couple of steps toward the hallway, when I said, "Hang on! Let me check exactly which species of leaf I want. I'll just get out my magic X-ray telescope." I mimed pulling a small, invisible telescope out of my jacket's inside pocket, formed my fingers on both hands into circles, then held them up to my left eye so I could look through both as if they were a tube. I had a fair idea where Mackenzie's bedroom was from where I'd seen the girls run from in this and my previous visit to this house, so I aimed my 'telescope' in the right direction, looking at the wall while I rotated both my hands as if I was adjusting a focus ring.

After a couple of seconds I said, "Ahh, got it now. Let me see, hmm. Ahh, excellent! I see you've got a Broughtonia," (that's the same family or genus or whatever it is, that I'd bought her, although I'd bought her a species that she didn't have).

I pretended to lower my telescope, saying, "Would you bring me a tiny piece of Broughtonia leaf please Mackenzie. That'll make my spell easier."

The two girls had, of course, been giggling during my old-fashioned sea captain imitation. The next time Diana said something that expressed doubt that I had a "magic X-ray telescope," I said, "Of course it's real. You can't see it because it's an X-RAY telescope. You can't see X-rays; everybody knows that! I'll prove it really works."

I held up my 'telescope' to my eye again, pointing it down at Diana's waist, saying, "I'll tell you what color panties you're wearing." Followed a second later by my ordering my face to blush fiercely. I rapidly lowered my telescope, saying with a very abashed and apologetic manner, "Oops, sorry! I forgot you weren't wearing any. I'd better put this right away." I quickly pushed the two halves of my telescope together, then put it back inside my jacket pocket. I kept a sheepish look on my face, acting embarrassed by what I had seen.

No one had believed for a second that I had a magic X-ray telescope, but my blushing and abashed act had been very convincing, so my audience was confused. They knew it was ridiculous, but it almost seemed believable.

Claire excitedly asked, "Could you really see her cun... , umm, you know?"

Still looking shy, I said, "A gentleman would not talk about such matters. The less said about my mistake, the better." I added to Diana, "Sorry Diana. I won't do that again."

"It's okay. I don't mind," accompanied by a smile.

"DIANA!" criticized her mother.

In an attempt to soften up the mother, I asked, "Mrs. Norris, you just told Diana off for letting me look at her when she's covered by a great big robe. SURELY you don't believe I really have a magic X-ray telescope, do you?"

Mrs. Norris wasn't so easily softened up. "She was consenting to your looking at more than that, regardless of whether you can or not."

"I was trying to be humorous, but I'll try being real instead. What she was REALLY trying to do - in her inexperienced way - was flirt. She likes me, but she knows that I'm treating her as I would my sister, which is giving her the confidence to take risks to learn from. She is surrounded by her family, in her own home, with a boy she trusts and who won't take advantage of her. It's the safest, most secure environment she could possibly be in to learn an important new behavior. If you don't let her learn in a safe environment, then you risk her learning in an unsafe environment."

#1: <Or, "Risk her not learning at all." That's what's happened to Mackenzie. I don't think Mrs. Norris is a big fan of flirting, so let's stop. Arguing about it is counterproductive to the girls getting freedom to visit our house.>

Mr. Norris said, "Good point," which earned him an unpleasant look from his wife. He added, "What? Diana WAS flirting, and she is in a safe environment, exactly as he said."

I interrupted, "Do you mind if we get back to my creating an orchid for Mackenzie? I think that's the best thing to do now."

Mr. Norris agreed, "That'd be best."

I turned to Mackenzie, "Please get that piece of leaf that I need, Mackenzie. A Broughtonia please."

Mackenzie went to do that.

I looked at Diana, caught her eye, and gave her a wink and a smile, which made her smile in relief.

Claire said, "What color panties am I wearing Mark?"

#4: <Uh oh. The folly of youth. Wait for it. Here it comes... >

"CLAIRE! That is not decent behavior..."

I quickly interrupted, "Sorry Claire. Your mother won't let me use my magic X-ray telescope to check your clothing..."

#4: <I hope that makes the mother feel ridiculous.>

" ... I think we'd better not say anything else on that topic, girls. Let's just wait for Mackenzie to return."

While I was waiting for Mackenzie, I had a talk with myself. My plan had called for me taking the moral high ground with the family, to be fun, positive, forgiving, etc., all the way to the end of the evening, and then to try to use my position to make them believe I had buckets of integrity and morality by criticizing their lack of those attributes during the "Driver's License Nastiness". But the evening had gone downhill even further with Mrs. Norris's prissiness over the talk about the girls' panties. Now I felt tempted to walk out, throwing Mackenzie's orchid back at her as I left. Admittedly I'd dialed the sexiness of the entertainment up a few notches above what it could've been, but it was hardly worth the level of condemnation it was getting. How could people be so pathetically fearful about everything that even hinted of sex?

#4: <Just as well they don't know we want to fuck all their daughters in a foursome!>

#1: <Haha. Yeah, there is that. Although Mackenzie's looking like a waste of space, don't you think?>

#4: <Definitely. It was a dull date, she made hardly any effort to do or say things that we'd like, and when the driver's license drama was going on she backed away from us to stand with her mother. The other two girls are good value, but Mackenzie's company is not enjoyable. She thinks she's good quality, but she's dull and possessive. She's not going to fit into our lifestyle.>

#1, #2: <Agreed.>

#4: <So the plan is just to complete the magic trick with minimal sexual content, then leave without making the "Three Dancing Naked Virgins" joke or bother to look for any other tricks we could do?>

#1: <Agreed. Don't even bother with criticizing their morals by complaining about the license accusation. Let's get out of here before yet another argument erupts.>

#2: <Agreed. It occurs to me that one possibility is that Mrs. Norris isn't normally this bad. She even almost laughed at our "dirty date" joke, and helpfully agreed to a mid-week date, so she can't be a pain in the ass all the time.>

#1: <True about the "dirty date" joke, but the mid-week date isn't so convincing. Remember part of our justification for it was that it was less sexy than a weekend date.>

#2: <It's certainly less sexy all right! But you may be right about her not always being such a pain in the ass. Let's not blow our stack at her, or anything like that.>

Mackenzie returned with the piece I wanted. I presumed it was the one I wanted, as I hadn't been watching her with my magic X-ray telescope.

"Thank you." I took it from her and dropped it in the saucer. I'd planned to make an issue out of trimming it to exactly the right size, with lots of impressive sounding bullshit to build excitement for the trick, but I couldn't be bothered anymore. I just said, "I just need a little bit of dirt now. I noticed there's a garden by the front door, so I'll get it from there."

There's a very short hallway between the room we were in and the front door. I picked up the saucer with one hand, and carried it toward the front door. Halfway there I turned to say, "I forgot something. I should really have a large handkerchief to cover the magic while it's happening, but I don't have a hanky large enough to cover a whole orchid with me. I'll have to use my jacket. Hang on while I take it off."

I put the saucer on the floor behind me, took my jacket off, then let it fall - open side down - onto the floor in front of me (I was facing my audience). I stretched it out and patted it flat, saying, "Just to show you that it's too flat to have any orchids hidden in it."

"What about the telescope?" called Claire. Which caused a small frown on the mother's face.

"You're right, but it's made of X-rays which can go through anything, so it doesn't make a lump in the jacket. It's not part of the trick from now on, so it doesn't matter, Claire."

I picked up the jacket with one hand, pinching it in the middle of the back and lifting like it was a large hanky. I picked up the saucer with the other hand and walked the rest of the way to the front door. I lowered the jacket and saucer to the floor in front of the door, but where they wouldn't get hit when it opened. I called back, "As you can see, nothing funny going on. I'll just get a pinch of dirt now."

I opened the door, nipped out, and grabbed a pinch of dirt quickly. I was simultaneously using NP to lift the orchid out of the bag, and had it floating immediately beside the doorway barely above ground level. Then I returned just inside the doorway. I picked up the saucer, and made a production of sprinkling the dirt in it. I then did a pirouette, while saying, "Nothing hidden anywhere."

I bent down and picked up the jacket with a pinch as before, except this time my pinch was off-center, so when I raise the jacket, the side of it closest to my audience would hang significantly lower than the back. I stood up slowly. Having both my hands full - the jacket in one and saucer in the other - I had to close the door with my foot, using that as the apparent reason for my slowness. I pretended to stumble a little, then got my foot hooked around the door properly, and closed behind me. In the meanwhile, the orchid had slipped around the doorway and into the back of the jacket, thanks to a bit of NP'ing. The jacket had easily obscured the orchid from the family. As is the case with many houses in Corvallis, the Norris's house was set back from the street, with a path leading to the front door. There were no visible observers, and there were plenty of garden bushes obscuring the view too. It was virtually impossible for any observer - had there been one - to have the perfect angle down the path to have seen anything happen at floor level. Plus the movement of the orchid was reasonably consistent with it being pulled in by a string.

I stood with the saucer carried out in front of me by one hand, with both my eyes on it, and with it being handled with caution, as if it were fragile. The jacket was pinched by the other hand. I gave that hand no visible attention at all as I stood up, so the jacket was dangling from my hand down by my waist. I carried the saucer toward the audience, saying, "Careful, don't bump the saucer. Give it plenty of room." They all watched the saucer.

I walked to the nearest edge of the dining room table, placing the saucer very carefully on it, then sliding it another foot farther in. They all peered at it.

"You can all see that it contains a few drops of water, a fragment of Broughtonia leaf, and a sprinkling of dirt." I changed hands holding the jacket, so the new hand's position was more central.

I held the now freed hand out to the side, palm up with the fingers spread, flexing and rotating them around in my attempt of a mystical manner. I said, "I'm about to start casting the spell. Take your last look at the saucer before I cover it and start the spell."

I gave them a few seconds, then casually extended the jacket over the saucer, lowering it so the jacket brushed the table all around the saucer. The saucer was within three feet of my center, so I had no problem holding the orchid up with proximity, nor in lowering it into the saucer quietly.

I faced Claire, "Claire, I need you to say the magic words and do the magic action. Say 'orchid-cadabra.' That's like 'abracadabra', but with 'orchid' at the front. 'Orchid-cadabra.' You can practice saying it a couple of times if you like."

Claire repeated it falteringly, but correctly, twice.

"Can you say it a little faster please, otherwise it'll grow too slowly."

She practiced a couple more times, until I said, "That's great, thanks. When I count to three, say the word at the saucer once, then blow it a kiss to give the magic power to work. Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Good. 1, 2, 3!"

"Orchid-cadabra. {Kiss}."

"It worked perfectly, Claire! Well done. I can already tell that you've created the orchid exactly the way I wanted. Do you want to lift the jacket yourself, so everyone can see what you've done."

"Yes please."

"Good. Take a hold of the jacket near where my hand is. I'll let go, then you just lift it straight up, okay?"

"Yes."

We made the hand swap, then Claire lifted the jacket, to reveal the pot and small orchid sitting in the saucer.

There were squeals from the girls, even including Mackenzie. No squeals from the parents, but even they were impressed. BUT, unfortunately, I was more than a little annoyed by it all. I'd worked out a marvelous build up, with lots of tension building and some funny sexiness from the girls, but because of Mrs. Norris's attitude I had skipped nearly all of it, including all the best parts. I felt cheated and disappointed.

I also had a good joke worked out for my next trick. I had no doubt the girls would have been excited by the magic, and would have asked for another one. I was going to promise them an even more spectacular trick, do some fancy talking, then say it needed three beautiful virgins to dance around the table. Once they were dancing I was going to say, "Hmm, it's not working. What have I done wrong? Oh, I remember now: the beautiful virgins have to dance around the table NAKED!" Then I was going to tease them, and joke about how tricky some boys will be in order to see naked girls, etc. I could have turned it into something quite funny, and made lots of self-depreciating but mature-sounding jokes about myself. But NOT with Mrs. Norris in the room! I had my doubts about Mr. Norris too.

I collected my jacket off Claire, folding it over my arm while the girls all made very excited and appreciative noises. The parents adding a few too. Diana and Claire were VERY excited and happy. I enjoyed seeing how happy the two younger girls were.

Among all the anticlimactic (for me, not for them) expressions of excitement that followed, I said, "I'm sorry it's not larger and in bloom, Mackenzie. I was planning to produce something much more spectacular, but magic needs a little sexual energy to make it work, and that's especially true about nature and growing magic. I could see your mother is uncomfortable with that topic, and this is her house and you are all her daughters, so I have to respect her boundaries." I was trying to do some moral high ground grabbing, but I don't think it worked very well because Mrs. Norris disapproved of even mentioning the existence of sex.

Mackenzie accused, "That's exactly the same container and everything that they were selling at the show!"

"Thank you. I've never seen a Broughtonia sanguinea before, so I had to copy the design from the show. There was no reason not to, so I copied the pot and the little stick that tells you the name too. If I've done it properly, it should be indistinguishable from one of the pots from the show."

That left her with nowhere to go. She did thank me for it very much though. I even got a hug. Wow!

Last, but certainly not least in frequency, the girls many times asked me, "How did you do the tricks?"

"I will NOT tell you, sorry. I did those tricks to entertain you, and I know that if I tell you how I did them you'll feel let down and sad. What I am prepared to do, is tell you parents how I did them, but in another room so you can't hear. If your parents want to spoil the fun by telling you later, that's their prerogative as parents."

The girls urged their parents to find out, and Mr. Norris said, "I am very curious myself."

We adjourned to the living room, to the far end where any little ears at the door wouldn't be able to hear us, especially after I suggested turning on the TV to drown us out.

"Any preference for which one I tell you first, in case you decide to stop after one?"

"I don't have any preference." He looked at Mrs. Norris, who had no preference either.

"Chronologically then, starting with the hair. I decided to do the orchid trick several days ago. That's the only one I planned before the date. Otherwise I was just going to make up some tricks on the spur of the moment. When Mackenzie and I were walking around the flower show I saw one of Diana's hairs on the back of Mackenzie's top, so I plucked it off and put it in my pocket. When she went to the bathroom in the restaurant I wove it into the loop. I made sure she stood beside me when I was paying for the meal. As the cashier was processing my credit card I bent down to tie the laces on my shoes." I pointed to my boots, showing the Norris's that they had no laces. [By the way, I'd successfully tested my credit card at dinner, as it was MUCH better to find out if it didn't work now than in LA on the weekend.]

"When I was pretending to tie my laces, I knelt down, pulled the loop of hair out of my pocket, and carefully put it over the button of Mackenzie's dress. The hair you all saw me pull from Diana's hair was a total red herring. And the reason I wove them in a loop was so no one would know the two hairs were different lengths. When I pretended to 'jump' it to Mackenzie's dress, the hair was still in my fist. When you were all looking at the hair Claire found, I opened the loop of hair I had, then dropped it on the floor."

"Oh. You're right, that is disappointing."

I shrugged, not caring about their disappointment. I asked, "Do you want to know the orchid trick?"

"Might as well."

My jacket was still over my arm. I opened it up so the two loops of string that were safety-pinned to the inside of the shoulders could be seen. "I bought the orchid at the show obviously. Quietly and near the end so Mackenzie wouldn't see me while she was distracted by something else. It was small enough to keep it hidden from her, especially as her attention was on the displays, not me.