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will start the timer to see how long it takes you to tie me up. When you're done, she'll stop the timer
and that's how long I'll have to get loose. If I beat your time, I'm home free. If I go over, the three of
you will split the check for ten-thousand dollars Madeleine's holding up."
A spot light panned to Maddy, who held up an oversized check and gave it a flutter.
"Okay Madeleine, start the clock," Dimitri said. "And you men start tying."
Immediately, Adam began binding Dimitri's wrists with an off-center section of rope before
dragging the rope around Dimitri's chest and wrapping it around the column, while Marc wrapped the
rope several times around Dimitri's feet and cinched it tight. And Tyler took his center section and
wrapped it around Dimitri's stomach and thighs and tucked it under and around the rope sections
Adam and Marc were binding and pulling tight, all the while the three were mumbling to each other to
go faster, and pull harder, and not leave any slack, while scrambling around and stumbling, and
bumping into each other. But in less than a minute, Adam raised his arms, as if he'd finished a calf-
tying competition, and announced, "We're done!"
"Fifty-four seconds," Maddy called out to the audience.
Dimitri appeared to be bound tight, as he said to the crowd, "I feel like I've been hog tied.
There's no question, these cowboys know how to tie a rope. So now I have fifty-three seconds to get
loose since I have to beat their time, so if you'll start the clock, Madeleine, I'll see if I've finally met
my match."
Maddy started the clock, and immediately Dimitri began struggling against the ropes, which
seemed to be holding firmly. She could also hear him grunting and letting out labored noises, like he
was straining hard. The ropes moved around some, but the timer was also moving around. And then
someone in the audience started counting with the timer, and another joined in, and another, until there
was a collective chant, forty-one& forty-two& forty-three& as the timer ticked its way toward the
final count of fifty-three seconds.
About the time Maddy was certain Dimitri had lost the challenge, and her brothers had won ten
thousand dollars, the ropes started slipping down Dimitri's body and dropped around his feet. A few
seconds later he freed his wrists, then his ankles, and at the count of fifty-one, he stepped from inside
the tangle of ropes and raised his hands to the cacophony of cheers and enthusiastic applause. Turning
toward Adam, Marc and Tyler, he shook their hands, while saying, "You guys gave me a run for my
money. I imagine those calves you tie up don't get loose quite so easily, but thanks for the challenge."
The audience clapped as the three returned to their seats. But after they'd settled in their places,
Maddy caught the dark looks on all three faces and knew her brothers were steamed. But if there was
any doubt in their minds that Dimitri was a city wimp, his water torture escape coming next would put
an end to it. She'd also get to see him in his tiny black suit again.
With that thought, her heart started fluttering, her face felt hot, and all she was doing was thinking
about Dimitri stripped to near-nothing and standing on stage. The problem was, her three brothers
would also see him that way, and they would not be happy because they'd realize the wussy magician,
who didn't even know how to ride a horse, might actually turn their little sister's head. It bothered
Maddy that maybe he already had.
***
By the time the show was over and they were once again in the limo on the way back to the
ranch, Maddy was both exhausted and exhilarated exhausted from the constant surges of adrenaline
from being in and out of the spotlight, along with the anxiety of holding an ax while watching a timer
ticking off the minutes until Dimitri burst between the curtains, and exhilarated because Dimitri had
performed illusions and feats of magic that defied natural laws.
Objects couldn't float through the air on command, and cards couldn't flow like water between
hands and right themselves into a deck again. Dimitri also managed to get out of a tank of water with
the lid still padlocked securely, and the enclosure surrounding the tank was made of solid wood, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]