Distraction
First you see it, then you don’t. Any resemblance to my paycheque is purely coincidental. Tonight, before your very eyes, I intend to present a pledge, which I will turn, to a final prestige. I learned that excellent description from a recent movie, which didn’t teach me anything of value other than the axiom that revenge is a dish best tasted cold, and it has nothing to do with the topic at hand (note the interesting turn).
I’m in the middle of a learning situation. Someone (not one of the sons, nor the dog, although she is involved) has decided to master a feat of prestidigitation and since we all live together we are all willing participants. Did you know that there are stores that sell paraphernalia and “learn at home DVDs”. Somewhat evolved from the days of the little shop around the corner, it still works to make your money disappear.
I’m not going to reveal any arcane detail, but the whole business strikes me as something like the training of a musician, albeit less useful in real life. Think of the hours of practice before the first performance of a child with a small violin. Painful, with a result that lasts less than two minutes. OK, one small detail; the trick involves tiny balls, and one did disappear, albeit under suspicious circumstances. The dog had a very “guilty look” which supposedly differs from her other expressions; the “where’s the food look” or the “scratch me look”. In this case, she had carefully hidden one tiny ball inside a nest of sharp teeth.
Magicians have assistants. This is just a variation, one more part of the pledge. Besides, who would ever suspect that the dog was anything more than a mobile prop. Anything to distract the audience during the turn. If the prestige involves wrestling to free the prop from a locked muzzle, so goes the routine. At least nothing was swallowed.
I am continually amused around here, and I can’t wait to see the next morsel in the repertoire.
