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entrance.
    “Ladies and Gentleman,” said the announcer. “Put your hands together and give a warm welcome to your guest for this evening, Mr. Jason Green, the man who can blow your mind, create a new reality, and make you believe you can do anything.”
    Cheesy. I rolled my eyes. If I were in charge, I’d change that tag line.
    The lights pulsed again in time to the drumbeat. Jason walked on stage. He was wearing tight black pants and a fitted black t-shirt. The t-shirt accentuated his arm muscles.  I bit my lip.
    He must have known I was watching, but it didn’t distract him. He went right along with his performance like a pro. I was impressed.
    Jason bent down and peered into Andy’s eyes, whispering something in his ear. Andy stood up immediately, snapped to attention. Jason turned to the audience. “Isn’t it cold in here? So cold. I think there’s ice forming. Don’t you, Andy?”
    Andy nodded and began to shiver. He wrapped his arms around his sides, rubbing them to keep himself warm.
    “I think a bit of jogging on the spot might help warm you up.” Andy began to jog on the spot.
    “And perhaps, growling like a bear. Bear’s don’t get cold, do they Andy?”
    “Growwl.”
    The audience laughed. Even I cracked a smile. It was amusing to see a grown man rubbing his arms around his body, jogging on the spot and making weird noises, which in reality, sounded nothing like a bear. The other two simply looked straight ahead, seemingly oblivious to the fool Andy was making of himself.
    The plump woman was next. Jason got her to ballroom dance with the man of her dreams. The man of her dreams was an old broom. The woman even placed a sweet kiss on the handle, on suggestion that she was kissing her date goodbye on the cheek.
    Now it was Pete’s turn. I wondered what Jason was going to get him to do. Cluck like a chicken?
    Jason picked a teacup from a nearby table and told Pete to stand.
    He had him put his hand on his hip and sing the children’s song, I’m a little teacup . At the end, when the teacup bent over to pour tea out of his crooked arm, Jason placed the teacup underneath it. Actual tea came out of Pete’s arm. The crowd cheered as they laughed. I was impressed, I didn’t realize Jason did tricks as well.
    Pete curtsied to the audience like a shy ten-year-old girl and sat back down. I couldn’t see where the tea had been hidden in his sleeve. Very discreet.
    Jason got them to do a few more crazy tricks that had the audience doubling over in laughter. I laughed too, it was far more amusing that I expected. It wasn’t just about the hypnotism, but about the antics that he got the participants to engage in.
    At one stage, he had convinced them all they were babies and they were crawling on the ground sucking their thumbs. I’d never considered that his show would be funny.
    At the end, Jason clicked his fingers in front of each of the participant’s faces. A flash of recognition blinked across them. The woman’s face turned bright pink and she buried her face in her hands.
    One last bow and it was over. I looked up at the clock. The show had taken half an hour, but flew by so quickly. I wanted more.
    “You like?” asked Lacey.
    “Did you see what he did when he got them to pretend to fish? I’ve never seen that done. It was so realistic. Andy’s a good actor, it looked like he was really enjoying eating that lemon.”
    “He’s not an actor any more than any of them. Jason is just a good mind manipulator. And good eye candy too.”
    I bit my lip again.
    “Are you going to talk to him?”
    “Oh no, I can’t.”
    “Why not?”
    “He’ll think I’m following him. Not after yesterday’s disastrous interview.”
    Lacey put her hand on my shoulder. “Just go and say hello. I’ll make an excuse to Pete when they get back to the table and tell him you’ve gone to the bathroom or something.”
    I hesitated. Should I go and say hi? I guess I could tell him I enjoyed the show. I know I