Greg pressed the lobby button in the elevator. "I had hoped to have a nice breakfast with you this morning, but I think we should skip that and make the most of the time we have."
"Yeah," Kim agreed. "Thanks for making coffee while I was in the shower. I should be okay until lunch time."
"Let's check with the girl at the front desk," Greg suggested. "Beth?"
Kim confirmed the receptionist's name. "Yeah, Beth. Hopefully she can try reaching out to Marvin again."
The elevator door opened and they turned left and headed to the front desk. They didn't see Beth, but approached the only person behind the desk, a blonde man who appeared to be in his late twenties.
"Hi," Greg said to the man with an "Edwin" name tag. "Is Beth around?"
Edwin looked up. "No, I'm sorry. She's not on until this afternoon. Is there something that I can help you with?"
Kim nodded. "Yeah, we're looking to get in touch with Marvin, the magician who was performing here last night."
Edwin nodded and started typing into the computer built into the desk. "I'll see if he's around."
As Edwin continued typing, Kim looked at Greg in frustration. Greg shot back a smile that indicated he knew what she was thinking and that Edwin's search would be futile. Kim knew Edwin wouldn't be able to find him in the hotel. She wanted to have him stop wasting time and tell him he flew out of town last night, but figured she might get further with fresh eyes starting from scratch.
Edwin looked up. "It appears that Marvin was not staying here last night. He's scheduled to return and do another show on Monday. If you'll be around, you should be able to see him then."
"Well, is there any way you can contact him?" Kim asked trying to turn on the charm. "It's kind of urgent."
"Oh?" asked Edwin. "Do you mind if I ask what this is about?"
Kim looked at Greg. She wasn't sure what excuse to give. She thought for a moment as she looked at Greg, but wasn't coming up with a believable reason.
"We were actually part of his show last night," Greg explained. "We discovered that we accidentally still had one of his props. I recall him telling us he was headed out of town, but we're afraid he'll need it tonight. So we want to reach out and make sure. Time is of the essence, obviously."
"Oh, I see." Edwin typed into the computer more. "I'm not allowed to give you his contact information, but I can call him for you. What's the prop?"
Kim jumped in. "A magician never reveals his secrets, so I'm not sure we should say." Kim winked at Edwin and flashed a smile.
Edwin laughed and leaned closer while speaking quietly. "Yeah, I've seen Marvin's act. To be honest, there's not much secret about it. Some of the tricks seemed pretty obvious."
"I know," added Greg. "Honestly, he needs all the help he can get. That's why we want to get this back to him. It's a key to a secret compartment and he can't perform a couple of his tricks without it."
"Yeah, that'd be pretty important," agreed Edwin, falling for their bluff. "I can see why you'd want to get it back to him. If you want, you can leave it with me and I'll make sure he gets it."
Kim looked at Greg. She hadn't expected that option. "Well, we figured we could meet up with him to get it back as quickly as possible. That's why we need to reach out. If it waits here until he's back on Monday, that would ruin some tricks for his Saturday and Sunday shows."
"Okay, I'll give him a call," Edwin finally agreed. "One moment, please." Edwin picked up the phone and placed a call.
"Hello, this is Edwin from the Mystic Hotel. I'm calling to get in touch with Marvin." Edwin paused. "Oh, I see. Well, we've got a couple of people here who he accidentally left a prop with and they're trying to get it back to him." There was another pause. "I see. And where is that?" Edwin started writing on a notepad. "Uh huh. Yes. Is there a cell number where I can reach him?" Edwin nodded as if the person on the other end could see it. "Okay, I've got it. Thank you. Have a nice day."
Edwin hung up and looked at Greg and Kim. "That was Marvin's wife. He's out of town this weekend. He was asked to perform at The Magic Castle in Los Angeles, so I guess you're right that he might need that prop. Unfortunately, Marvin is a bit old fashioned and doesn't carry a cell phone. If you'd like, I can look up the number for The Magic Castle and give them a call."
Greg shook his head. "No, that's okay. I think we can take it from here. Thank you!" He took Kim's hand and walked away from the front desk.
When they were out of earshot from the front desk, Kim looked at Greg. "Los Angeles? Fuck! That's like a 9 hour drive non-stop."
Greg let out a deep sigh. "I know. It's almost 10am now. If we left now, risked as much speeding as possible, and made minimal stops, we'd be getting to LA at 7pm. That would put us right up against the latest estimate of our deadline...and that's before we even find Marvin and get him to swap us back."
"Would we have to bring his cabinets?" wondered Kim. "Even if we could somehow get them out of the hotel without someone stopping us, there's no way we can fit those in our car."
Greg felt helpless. "Fuck." He put his hand to his forehead and wiped sweat from his brow. "What do we do?"
"Can we fly to LA?" asked Kim. "I know last minute tickets would probably be expensive, but this is an emergency!"
Greg shook his head. "Even if we could, there's no way we'd get his cabinets there." He sighed again. "There's got to be something we can do."
"Let's see if there are any other magicians in the area who might know how his trick is done," suggested Kim. "It's pretty clear that there's no way for us to get to Marvin along with the cabinets he'd need to swap us back. We need to bring in some outside help."
Greg agreed. "Yeah, let's see what other magicians are in the area." He motioned to the hotel's cafe. "Let's go sit in the cafe and do some googling."
As they started to walk over, Kim grinned. "I guess we do get breakfast today."
Sitting in the cafe with some breakfast pastries and more coffee, Greg and Kim poked at their phones. Greg was checking local hotels and entertainment venues to see who might have magicians performing. Kim was doing a more general search for magicians in Reno.
Kim scrolled down her phone screen. "Yelp actually has a list of the best magic shows near Reno. There's a lot."
"Yeah," Greg confirmed as he poked at his own screen. "I think we might have a new problem now. Too many options. Where do we even start?"
"Look for someone who might do similar tricks, especially body swaps or sawing someone in half," suggested Kim. "Avoid mentalists or anyone that does close magic. They're less likely to be any help."
Greg looked up at Kim and chuckled. "I guess watching all those episodes of Penn & Teller's Fool Us finally paid off for you!"
Kim grinned as she scrolled through her phone. "Maybe. If only they taught me how to magically swap body parts."
After a few more minutes of searching, Greg spoke up. "Okay, I think I might have found a good one. If he doesn't know how to do it, maybe he'd know someone who does. It's a place to start at least. His name's Howard Wolter."
Kim looked up. "Howard Wolter? Never heard of him. Is that supposed to sound impressive?"
"Hey, the guy's confident enough to use what's probably his real name. I'll give him that," Greg said with a shrug. "Anyway, he's apparently performing regularly over at that big Sierra resort."
"So do we head over there or...?"
"I'll call him. It's early, so he might not be there yet, but there is a number here for bookings," Greg said as he started calling.
A voice picked up on the other end. "Hello, you've reached Howard. What can I do ya for?"
"Hello Howard, my name is Greg. My wife and I were hoping you'd be able to help us out today."
"Oh, well if you're interested in seeing my show, you can get tickets at the hotel's box office," Howard explained.
"No, no, it's not like that," Greg responded. "You see, we're actually wondering if you're familiar with Marvin the Magnificent."
"Oh, sure," Howard confirmed. "He's been a fixture of the Reno magic scene for as long as I've been around. Something hasn't happened to him, I hope." There was obvious concern in Howard's voice.
"No, Marvin's doing fine. In fact, we saw his show last night and that's why we're calling."
"I'm not going to explain how any of his tricks are done if that's what you're after."
"No. Well, not exactly. You see, for his finale, he performed a trick where he swapped my legs with those of my wife."
Howard interrupted again, "Oh, yes. That's always been his big finale and the main reason that hotel keeps him around."
"So when he has done this before, have you see him swap the people back?" Greg asked.
"Yeah, he usually does it backstage after the show has ended," Howard explained. "He let me hang out with him after the show a couple times. He's been backstage at my show too. Those of us in the Reno circuit tend to be friendly to one another and drop by each other's shows from time to time. We catch up on what's happening in the local magic scene, how venues are treating us, what new faces might be passing through town, that sort of thing."
"Well, the reason I ask is that after his show on Friday night, he didn't swap my wife and I back," explained Greg.
There was a momentary pause. "Okay, so you can just swap your pants in the bathroom or up in your room, right?"
Kim could overhear the conversation and looked at Greg with eyes open wide. Greg returned her gaze. "Oh, so you don't know..."
"Oh," Howard cut him off. "I think I have a pretty good idea how he does that trick. I don't want to reveal too much, but I'm sure you realize there are hidden compartments in those cabinets, right?"
"No, no," Greg corrected him. "You don't understand. He didn't just swap our clothes. He literally swapped our bodies below the waist."
Greg heard Howard scoff at his suggestion that they actually swapped legs. "Yeah, sure. Whatever, pal."
"No, for real. We can prove it!" insisted Greg. "Can you meet with us? We're at the Mystic Hotel."
Howard didn't respond and Greg wondered if he had hung up until he heard a sigh through the phone. "Okay, whatever. I've got some time before I have to go and set up for my show. I can swing by the Mystic on my way. However, you tell Marvin that this is a lame prank and I'm not falling for it."
"Uh..." Greg wondered how to explain that Marvin wasn't actually around, but Howard spoke up again.
"I'll be there in about 15 minutes. Look for the guy with the sequin jacket. Can't miss me." Howard hung up.
Kim looked at Greg with hope. "He's coming here, so that's a start."
"Yeah, but he doesn't even think the trick is real," said Greg with disappointment. "I'm not sure he'll be able to swap us back."
"At least he can refer us to someone else from his little magician's guild if he can't figure it out. I'm not giving up yet," Kim insisted.
Greg looked at the door. "So, I guess we just wait here until a guy in a sequin jacket walks through the door?"
Kim also looked at the door. "I guess so." When she turned back to Greg, she saw him feeling his chest.
Greg kept feeling his chest until he realized Kim was looking at him and he pulled his hand away in embarrassment.
Kim faced him with concern. "Any change?"
Greg nodded slowly. "Yeah. Not much, but there does seem to be more...volume. My guess is that the transition line is starting to work its way up your breasts. They're starting to grow on me and I'd imagine they're shrinking on you."
Kim shifted her upper body around and placed a hand on her right breast. "No noticeable difference for me yet. There might be if I could see it, but I'm not going to take my top off in this cafe."
Greg looked at his arms which were covered by his suit coat. "I wonder when our arms will change. Will they change rapidly after the transition line passes our nipples? Will the change work its way down the arms at the same speed?"
Kim shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."
Greg looked at his fingernails. "I'm going to have your fingernails. Great. At least I can cut them back."
Kim looked at her nails. "Don't you dare! I expect to get them back in the same condition that I loan them out!"
"You shaved my legs and said they'd grow back," Greg reminded her. "Fair is fair!"
Kim looked toward the door. "Hopefully Howard can change us back before you get my hands and chop off my nails! C'mon Howard..."