Sonnet was so excited. There was going to be a high school talent show!   She had always wanted to do a magic act and quickly checked out the copy of,'How to be a Magician in 3 easy steps,' from the school library.  She had to read fast, she only about a week to get ready, and that didn't leave much time. Not with school work, and babysitting and other odd jobs, and spending time with her somewhat wayward boyfriend, Owen, who had been neglecting her of late. She tried learning a pick a card trick.  But the cards usually ended up flying all over the place.  Yet, to everyone's surprise, including her own, the single card that always remained in her hand, no matter how often she did the trick, was always the card that had been picked.  She had no idea how or why, it just seemed to happen that way.  Unfortunately, the card trick was better suited to a small group and would not play well for a large audience.  She finally realized she needed something better and hurriedly skipped ahead to the chapter on the famous Linking Rings trick.  Even people in the back row should be able to see the large 12 inch rings when she handed them out to prove they were solid, and separate, and had no secret openings or breaks.     Half the week was now gone when she asked the Shop Class teacher to make her three large and very solid steel rings for her to practice with.  It took him a day to make them, and it took her a bit longer to read through the chapter again and try to figure out how to do the trick.  After bit of time and effort, Sonnet finally got all three of the rings linked together.  Unfortunately, she wasn't sure how she had done it.  Even worse, she couldn't get them apart again and there was no time to have the Shop teacher make her another set. The Linking Rings were now out and she began scouring the book in desperation for some quick and easy trick to learn, and she was nearly out of time. The big day was now less than twenty-four hours away and she still had no magic act. She was starting to worry, just a little bit. Luck came Sonnet's way the next day as the class went on a field trip to the local RPublishing museum and they watched the macabre elderly curator demonstrate his working replica of an authentic 18th century guillotine by slicing heads of cabbage in halves for their horror, amusement and the coleslaw they had with their lunch.   Now, it was showtime, and Sonnet was the last act to close the show for the night, as her sometimes thoughtless and less than attentive boyfriend sat looking on, bored, flirting with the girls sitting around him. Only to find himself grabbed by the arm and dragged onto the stage as Sonnet appeared as if out of nowhere, now in her magic outfit, as the curtain parted open.  There on the stage was the same guillotine they had seen earlier that day at the museum.  He had no clue how she had gotten it there.  Or what her act was suppose to be.  He hadn't even known he was going to be in it.  At least not until he found himself shoved down flat on his back, laying face up, with his head in the stocks, looking up at the huge, ugly, scary blade poised above him.  He was pretty sure Sonnet had gotten that part wrong  - and in olden times the victim, he cringed at the word, had been made to lay face down, not face up. He wondered if she even knew what she was doing.  He certainly had no idea what was he doing here.  What was Sonnet thinking.  He paused at that thought and felt a chill go down his spine.  He had, sort of, been deliberately neglecting her, since he liked it better when he was getting all the attention, and he didn't much care to have her upstage him doing tricks, with people paying more attention to her than to him.  So, he had, well, tried to rub her nose in it, ah, been, ah off, ah well, ah, spending time with some other girls instead of helping and supporting her to get ready for her show; but surely... Sonnet, smiling, lit the rope, that kept the blade from falling, and made a slight flourish with the magic wand she was holding in her right hand toward him as she spoke the magic words, "Abracadabra!"   Owen swallowed. "This is a trick, right?  I mean, you know what your are doing, right?"  He managed to ask, remembering how she had fumbled about with the card trick, spilling the pack all over the place.  Try as he might, he didn't recall there being a guillotine in any of that.  Nor was she holding a deck of cards or even the three big steel rings he had seen her trying to make magically link together, as if that was even possible, before he had told her it was dumb and left.  Not even believing her when she proudly showed him the three joined rings later and left her crestfallen when he just shrugged and said anyone could weld three rings together and walked away.  He started to sweat. Sonnet just smiled back at him, sweetly, as she struck a dramatic pose for the audience, holding the hourglass poised on her outstretched left hand up as the sand quickly trickled away.  "So, tell me, Owen," she breathed, still smiling, through clenched pearly whites, "Was that Rayne I saw you with the other night?  And the night before that, I'd swear it was Braelyn, and before that..." "They're just friends, honest, we were just hanging out....  You're the only one... Owen choked, realizing this was not the time to lose his head as the word "Abracadabra" kept going round and round inside it.  For some reason he did not like the "Cadabra" part.  It sounded too much like "cadaver" to suit him, and he gulped.  "...I'm sorry!" And now the flaming rope was nearly in two, Sonnet was still smiling sweetly at him as the last few grains of sand trickled from the top of the hour glass.  His heart raced.  His mind reeled.  Than a swoosh!   There was a gasp from the audience. Sonnet took her bow to thunderous applause.   Owen found himself stunned and amazed. His head was still attached, though he would have sworn the blade had gone right through his neck.   Sonnet helped him from the stock and onto his unsteady feet.  They took a bow together to more thunderous applause.  He heard her soft voice in his ear.  "I can play games too, if that's what you want!" It was at that moment the macabre old curator came onto the stage, clapping his hands enthusiastically, a broad grin on his wrinkled, aged face, as he led the audience in more applause.  "I told you you could do it, Missy," he said, giving Sonnet a wink and warm embrace.  "It's as fine a prop as ever I built, back in the day when I use to travel doing magic shows myself!" So that's what it's like: to wonder and worry if you could trust someone or not, Owen realized, his trousers none too dry.  He definitely needed to change some things. --------- I hope you enjoyed the story and the render. It was a bit lengthy but it was a lot of fun putting it all together. Abracadabra!