I devised the following
effect over a dozen years ago, and it
was published in the September 1986 M.U.M.;
it also appeared in my 1994 book MYSTERIES.. It is designed for closeup performance in a restaurant
or at the dining table.
EFFECT:
From the table's salt shaker you pour
a small pile of salt. You add to this
pile from the pepper shaker, stirring
up the two condiments with your finger.
You take a spectator's
hand and place it over the pile of granules.
Both of your hands are seen to be empty,
and you place one under the table. You
ask the spectator which she would like,
salt or pepper. She says "Salt."
"Very well,
then," you say, "you have the salt..."
She lifts her hand
at your indication. The salt remains,
but the pepper has vanished.
"...and I have
the pepper!" You bring your hand up
from beneath the table and open it to
show the pepper.
METHOD:
Of course, it is equivoque as to salt
or pepper; the effect is always the same,
that of the pepper penetrating through
the table. You have an extra pile of pepper
in your lap.
And how do you
make the tabled pepper vanish from the
pile of salt?
You are wearing
a ring with an amber stone. Just prior
to taking the spectator's hand -- with
your ring hand, of course -- you rub the
ring on your pants leg. This builds up
a charge of static electricity in the
stone.
As your palm-up
hand guides the spectator's hand over
the pile, for a moment the amber stone
is directly above the pile. The pepper
alone will be attracted to the stone and
leave the pile.
When you place
your hand under the table, you wipe the
pepper from the ring against your pants
and then pick up the pile of pepper from
your lap. The effect is done, except for
offering the `choice' to the spectator.
You can, of course,
scrape the pepper from the ring into your
lap and then use that pepper for reproduction,
if you haven't had time to `load' your
lap. When possible, however, the procedure
given above makes for smoother handling.
copyright c 1994
by T. A. Waters
