s.job

Fresh out of college, Stacy Rodriguez needed a job for the summer to pay off her student loans. So, she picked up the classified ads and was able to quickly secure a job: the assistant to “The Great Lay-Cant”.

“The Great Lay-Cant” was stage magician Layla Cantonberry. She was a stunning lady ten years Stacy’s senior with raven hair that contained bits of purple highlights. Stacy felt a little bit intimidated upon seeing her at first, but her fears subsided upon seeing just how kind and gentle she was.

And the job wasn’t bad either. Yea, some parts were a bit gross (like when she had to clean out the dove cage), but other parts were fun, such as stocking her hat with rabbits, finding out which smoke pellet looked the best onstage, and she even got to saw her in half during a show once (she was tempted to tickle her feet while she was vunerable. But Layla must’ve been reading her mind, because she warned her before the act that if she tried to, Stacy would be the one sawed in half and the magician might forget to put her back together…)! But nothing was more interesting (or insane) as the night of August the third…

That night, Layla’s agent, Kermit Finnegan, had booked her to perform on the local beach’s boardwalk, where he told the promoter that Layla would be performing a straitjacket escape…upside down!

“Are you sure you can do this?” Stacy asked her boss the morning of the show while her crew was setting up backstage.
“Of course I can, dear,” Layla assured her. “I’ve escaped from these things dozens of time.”
“But never upside down!”
“True. But it’ll only be just a little different in that blood will be rushing to my head. Besides, it’s pretty easy to escape one of those things.”
“It is?”
“Yea, I mean…”

Something dawned on Layla. “You don’t know how to escape from a straitjacket, do you.”
“Nope.”

The magician grinned. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She turned to her manager. “Kermit, please fetch my straitjacket, dear.”

Kermit did so, but pretty reluctantly. “Are you sure you should do this to our non-trained assistant?”
“Of course! After all, you’re never too young to learn how to escape from one of these. Why, I was about your age when I first tried one of these on. Now, hands out in front, Stacy.”

Though pretty hesitant, Stacy trusted her boss enough to let her get strapped into the jacket. It was a bit bulky, but otherwise a pretty good fit. After the last strap was tightened, Layla turned to her assistant. “Well, good luck. I’ll check on you in a while,” she said as she turned to leave.
“Ms. Cantonberry!”

Layla turned around and laughed. “I’m kidding! I’m kidding! Now, let me walk you through the process. The first thing is to get your arm free. Try shifting your arm above your head.”

Stacy tried shifting her arm up, grunting as she did. “This is pretty exhausting. How do you even do this?”
“Experience, which is something I’m trying to give to you. Keep on trying.”

Stacy nodded and kept going. After a minute or two of effort, she was able to get her arm over her head.

“Amazing job,” Layla praised. “Now, you gotta try to free your hands so you can start unbuckling.”
“How do I do that?”
“I usually try stomping down on the sleeve and pulling my arm loose.”

Stacy did as recommended, and within another minute, her hand was loose from the sleeve. Stacy then poked her hand from out of the top of the jacket and started to pick the belts loose. Two minutes later, the jacket was thrown to the floor.

“I did it!”
“Yea you did! I’m so proud of you!” Layla exclaimed as she pulled Stacy in for a huge hug. “So, was it easy?”
“I guess, but only because you helped me out.”
“Well…would you mind maybe escaping it again in the future?”
“Why?”
“Because it’s fun! Besides, I love passing my knowledge onto others.”
“But what about the rule ‘A great musician never-‘”

Layla shushed her “That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because I said so. So, whatdya say?”

Stacy shrugged. “I…guess.”

Layla pulled her into another giant hug. “Yay!”