As James and Becky walked on stage the judges couldn't have looked any less impressed. The two friends knew they were unprepared - they were just dressed in the regular clothes they had arrived at the carnival in and hadn't had a chance to work on their routine at all. Becky was sure that the genuine magic they were about to perform would soon change their attitude, James just wanted the whole sorry experience to be over.
"And you are?" the first judge asked with barely concealed contempt. He was a smartly dressed middle aged man with a serious, condescending demeanour.
"Um, the Marvellous Magical Rebecca and the Amazing Transforming James" Becky smiled enthusiastically. The man huffed and scribbled something in his notes.
"And what are you here to perform?" the second judge, a beautiful, young red haired woman asked in a much more sympathetic tone.
"A magic act!" Becky pronounced confidently.
"Can you make yourselves disappear?" the male judge sneered.
"We see a lot of magic acts" the third judge, an attractive but serious looking middle aged woman interjected "the winner of this competition will have the chance to join our circus and even appear on national television.."
Becky gasped with excitement while James looked forlorn.
"What exactly makes your act unique?"
"I can turn James into any animal you can think of, right now in front of your very eyes!" Becky beamed.
The judges looked at each other, interested if unconvinced.
"Ok, let's see what you've got" the male judge challenged.
"So who wants to decide what James becomes first?" Becky offered.