Jeffery!” both Kit and Chris shout in unison and then they laughed at each other for copying each other again.

Rebecca and Baloo both staring at Kit and Chris, couldn't resist a slight smile at their cheerful sons.

“Do it again!” shouted Molly cutely.

“Thank you, thank you,” Melissa said as the light come back up, the spotlight shining on her and Jeffery, both standing in the center of the stage with a small trunk.

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, as the last trick was me disappearing to Thembria, this time, Mom’s the assistance!”  Jeffery said in a sly, mischievous voice with a grin to match.

Just then, two ape goons, not unlike the ones Louie sometimes used as security guards at his place, came onstage. They grabbed Melissa and started to bind her with ropes, a straitjacket and handcuffs.  

 “As you can see, Mom’s being put in this straitjacket and handcuffs for a reason as I’m going to make her try and escape this trunk with me standing on it, holding this special sheet,” Jeffery said. “But that not all,”

Their job done, the two goons walked toward the backstage behind the curtains, but one of them tripped over his feet and fell against the other and they both went crashing to the floor. Then they started arguing over whose fault it was that they fell, which led to a physical fight that was blocked from view by a cloud of dust.

“Oy…” Jeffery muttered, smacking a palm to his forehead with a mixture of frustration and embarrassment. “I’ve gotta get me some better goons…” with a flick of his wand, the two goons vanished off the stage in a cloud of blue smoke and then he turned smiling to the crowd. “Now it’s time to have some fun!” he laughed mischievously with a wink as the stage manager came out after the disappearance of the goons and helped Melissa into the trunk and Jeffery closed the lid, locking it in place.

“Now let’s see you escape that!” Jeffery said, banging on the side of the trunk getting a low groan from his Mom.

“You have no idea, son.” Melissa whispered so low that her son couldn’t hear her.
 Jeffery stood on top of the trunk holding the sheet over himself and the trunk. As he started to say: “You can’t escape now, Mom, not with me—” Jeffery was cut off as the sheet fell away to reveal Melissa standing on top of the trunk instead of Jeffery! She was out of the straitjacket and the ropes and the handcuffs were gone, earning a wild round of applause from her niece and nephews, as well as from the crowd.

“Ha-ha,” she laughed. “What was that, son? I can’t escape what now?" Melissa asked teasingly, poking fun at her son’s jokes as she opened the trunk to reveal Jeffery, now bound with ropes, straitjacket and handcuffs.

“Very funny, Mom…” Jeffery said with a bored expression, clearly giving the audience the impression that he did not like being bound like this.  “Get me out of this mess, would you please?” he asked, giving his mother a puppy dog pout while struggling a little against his bonds.

“Well, I don’t know…” Melissa said slyly, putting up a thoughtful posture.

“MOM!” Jeffery whined with an expression that seems to do the begging for him.

“Oh alright! Sure, I’ll be glad to.” Melissa replied with a comical laugh.

She cut Jeffery loose from the ropes, straitjacket and handcuffs, setting Jeffery free. He hugs his Mom and then they both take another bow

“It’s all a trick, I tell you, it has to be.” Kit kept insisting to Chris. “That’s impossible…”  Or is it? he thought.

“A bit confused, are we?” Chris asked, grinning at his brother's stupefied expression. “Let’s just hope we can be as good as our aunt and cousin. I hope we can be, at least.” Chris added, still laughing at his brother’s looks of shock and amazement.

“Uh sure,” Kit replied, still shocked at what he was seeing. This looked more like real magic to him. Not that he wasn’t a believer in magic, he and Baloo had once switched bodies through a magical idol, but it still was rather impressive the way people can fake magic through illusions.

“Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, we have one more trick for you before a short break,” said Melissa, pointing to center stage where another cabinet was sitting in the spot light with a table, bearing ten sharp swords nearby. “My brave son, Jeffery will now assist me in the famous sword cabinet illusion.” Melissa said; looking hopeful that Jeffery would not fight this one like he did his first time...

“Don’t worry, Mom. I’m over that, I’m heading inside right now.” Jeffery said; putting on a brave smile, slightly laughing, and then he turned to face the cabinet and stepped inside, mumbling under his breath: “Yeah, if you like being a bear pin cushion…” He stuck out his tongue at his Mom playful-like as Melissa closed and locked the door.

Kit and Chris were sitting on the edge of their seats with worried expressions on their faces, concerned for their cousin as Melissa stuck the first sword in and Jeffery let out a groan from inside the cabinet, as if the sword went right through him.

Melissa continued to place all the swords in various places as Jeffery still groaned a bit louder and louder each time.

“Oh c’mon, son, it’s not that bad,” Melissa said; adopting an impatient tone of voice as she playfully placed the last two swords in place.

“YOOOUUUCH!” Jeffery screamed as the last sword was being placed right through the front of the box. “Hey, watch where you’re sticking those things! They’re worst than the doctor’s needles!”

Kit and Chris both covered their eyes, hoping that the worst didn’t happen to their cousin while everyone else laughed at Jeffery’s statement.

“K-K-Kit,” Chris gulped, stuttering a bit from the shock of seeing the neat but scary trick. “I h-h-hope Jeffery is o-o-okay. That does looks scary but fun, I want to do it too,” he added, trying to joke and to sound brave while hiding his already revealed fear.

“I’m sure he’s fine.” Kit said, while trying to convince himself of that. “It’s just a trick. And you sure you wanna do that?” he added, responding to Chris' joke. “I’m not sure on that yet, but we’ll see.”

Melissa started pulling the swords out very slowly one by one, so not to cause any more problems if there really was one.

“Jeffery honey, are you okay in there? I didn’t really hurt you, did I?” Melissa asked with concerned, pulling the last sword out for the front of the cabinet, unlocking and opening the door slowly

Jeffery pushed opened the door and jump out, saying: “I’m just fine, couldn't be better.” He beamed around at the audience with a huge smile on his face.

Kit and Chris breathed a sigh of relief, seeing their cousin was fine

“Jeffery, honey, are you sure you’re—” Melissa started to say but Jeffery cut her off.

“Look, Mom, I’m fine,” he said firmly. “Like I said, couldn’t be better. Where’s my water bottle? I’m thirsty.” he searched his pockets and pulled out a water bottle. “Oh, never mind, here it is.”

He took the cap off and drank deeply. As he drank, Kit and Chris’ mouths fell open in shock; water was sprouting out of Jeffery’s body, as though it was leaking out from the holes in his chest, stomach and back.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Melissa asked, sounding skeptical.

“Yeah, Mom, why?” Jeffery asked, and as he stopped drinking, so did the water leak in his body.

“Oh, no reason, sweetie,” Melissa said, pinching Jeffery’s cheek. “You know how paranoid Moms get.”

“Mom…” groaned Jeffery, blushing from embarrassment and stepping back out of his Mom’s clutches. “Not in front of the audience.”     

Maybe it was just a trick; Kit thought, but that was ultra real-looking. I hope Chris was joking, even if he does want to do that trick, I’m not sure Mom will let me even try it. Or would she?  he wondered, witnessing Chris and Rebecca talking about how the show had been so far.

Melissa and Jeffery bowed before the audience as they went backstage for a short intermission.

As they came back onstage ten minutes later, Melissa and Jeffery stood in front of the crowd, beaming at the audience

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,” Melissa spoke to the audience; her arms open wide as if to embrace the whole room. “Tonight will be a special treat, for I will call two volunteers from the audience to come up here and assist me in my Grand Finale. But first…” she took off her top hat and put her hand down in it. She appeared to be searching in a very deep dept within the hat until finally, she withdrew from the hat, a snowy white rabbit. “Oh!” she chuckled, acting surprised. “How did that get in there?”

The audience laughed loudly at this unexpected magic act.

“Kit, did you see that?!” Chris asked excitedly. “How did she do that?”

Kit, however was completely lost. If the top hat had been sitting on a table when Melissa pulled the rabbit out, it would have been easily explained, like there was a hole in the table that she can put her arm through and pull out the rabbit from