"I just came to see Eric Henning [the magician]," one reveler was overheard saying, "then I'm going home to wipe out." Sure enough, several minutes later in a classroom, the mustachioed Henning wowed his audience with a deft display of sleight of hand and unbelievable skill. "If you please, I need one volunteer from the audience," he said. Hands flew up. "I need a happily married lady." The hands dropped. Suddenly a man near the door pointed to his wife across the room. "There's one in a gray sweater," he called out. Through well-practiced patter, Henning gained her trust and shortly afterward her wedding band, which he placed in a small envelope. He then placed it visibly in his front vest pocket. After a digression on the use of tea leaves as currency in the T'ang Dynasty in China, he poured the envelope back into her hand, repaying her trust with priceless tea leaves "from the T'ang era house of Lip-Ton" and thanked her for her participation. As the participant balked, Henning directed the audience's attention to a wooden chest sitting atop a filing cabinet. From that box, he presented her wedding ring sealed in a tea bag. |