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TJ Fritts New user 22 Posts |
I was out yesterday doing a few card tricks for a group of my friends and their kids. It was a birthday party and while I have little experience in working with kids I figured it was relatively safe territory as I know all the kids and have a fairly good "read" on them. For instance, I'll call one "Jimmy", you don't do any trick that involves math or a count unless it's a preset thing and you only go through the count once. He picks up on that very quickly. I asked him once why and he counts everything. If he spills a container of sugar cubes he can't help but count them as he puts them in the garbage. Another kid, "Tommy", little prankster. He's spent as much money on prank gear as I have on cards. If there's a prank product on the market he has it or knows about it. Truly, he loves to prank me and since it's really funny ninety five percent of the time I don't mind as much as someone else might. It's all in good fun. The takeaway here is I've met the kids, they know me, they know I can do cool stuff. I had a willing audience of fans. So, I know the group, I know where the little traps are, and I'm ready.
I did a couple of tricks and they went very well. Kids were into it, my friends were into it, the kids weren't bored. Great little outing. I was building confidence the whole way. Nobody is calling out how I was doing things, it was all going better than I expected. Then I made a booboo. Instead of pointing to a kid and asking the child to be my assistant, I uttered the stupidest thing I have ever said in my life. "Which of you should be chosen to help me me with my next card trick?" Ever have one of those moments where you blurt something out, not really even thinking about it, and after you say it you realize you just said the wrong thing? They all pointed to Tommy the Prankster. That confidence I mentioned? Zoomed away like a balloon with no knot. My intention had not been to exclude him. As a matter of fact, I had the ideal trick for him to help me with that was relatively safe for a prankster. But... that trick wasn't something I was ready to do right then. I should have just stopped, did a little patter, set up the proper trick for him, and went on. Nope. I'm a magician, I'm on a roll, I'm in control, I'm just going to do a card trick. The worst he can do is say "that's not my card", so I'll just make sure everybody sees the card so he can't do that, right? To avoid losing face and letting him know I was a bit rattled I proceeded. I ribbon spread the cards and asked him to pick one and show it to everyone while I turned my back. Then I asked him to conceal the card from me. I riffled down the corner of the deck and asked him to stop me, he did so. At that point patter gushed forth, legerdemain was done, skill was applied, and his card "magically" rose to the top of the deck and lay atop the deck. Triumphantly I did my reveal, "rolling" the edge of the card around my finger to reveal it. I do it because it's smooth, shows a little bit of skill, and is a little more showy than just lifting the card and asking "Is this your card?" His card was on top so I had zero concerns about the trick, I knew I'd done my control right. I did a couple false trail/dead-end-road sleights to put the "magic-wise" youtube searchers off balance, and I knew his card was on top. Zero trepidation about revealing his card without seeing it. Until the card was revealed and all the kids started giggling, followed by several of my friends smiling and trying not to giggle. I peeked at the card and it was the 14 of Spades. Fourteen little spades on one card and one big dummy magician. Somehow when I told him to conceal the card from me, he made a switch and I never saw it coming. I could do nothing but smile and point out that he had nothing to do with it, I told them I'd show them something they wouldn't expect and what's more unexpected than a 14 of Spades from a regular bicycle deck? He and everyone else "got me" with a high degree of success. Until we meet on the battlefield again, well played Tommy, well played. I will have my vengeance and it will be sweet. Thy day will come. If he ever gets taller I'll happily pay his mother (my close friend) to short-sheet his bed. I could do it now but he's so short he wouldn't notice. Perhaps a big Christmas Present with 10 nested boxes inside and the final box holding his original 4 of Hearts (they told me later what it was) with a note "Is this your card?". |
arthur stead Inner circle When I played soccer, I hit 1773 Posts |
Great story! And very well told. Now you've got me racking my brains, trying to come up with a good revenge trick for Tommy ...
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Maestro Special user 801 Posts |
Haha, that's pretty funny.
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