The show tent arrived in a new town that night. The old lady and her son were back to their usual forms. By the time Jeff was unfrozen, he was sitting in the wings of the stage and watching Stephan introduce Madame Illusia.
"Far away from her native lands was she flung...my mother, mistress of magic and curses. It was her plight from the atrocities that surrounded her that she ran from. But I assure you...she is no one to be trifled with... As you have come here tonight I no doubt you expect to see some proof of her power...one that is deeply entrenched in her blood. For she has powers of the immortals...a rare strain caught and passed down from the very fires of antiquity until it is only *she* and myself that remain of that lineage..."
"He doesn't change his tune," thought Jeff bitterly.
Madame Illusia appeared on stage, dressed in her stage red robe and earrings. Stephan brought out a chicken in a cage and it was duly regressed back to a yellow chick, to the general amazement of the audience. Jeff couldn't see them, but could tell from their voices that this crowd was even more loud and boisterous than the crowd in his own town.
"And now," declaimed Stephan. "For your further entertainment gentlemen, I bring you an unbeliever, a person who saw a chicken become a chick just like you but who was still not convinced. A city boy, and we all know how those city folks are easy to fool." The crowd roared their appreciation. "I bring you... Jeff."
The curtain that was hiding him swept away as Stephan took Jeff by the arm and thrust him in the centre of the stage. Again the crowd roared when they saw Jeff's puny frame in the spotlight, and the front row shoued insults and spat at him. By the look of these guys, Jeff realised, they were playing to a real redneck town.
"Can you believe that this boy is sixteen?" asked Stephan with a snigger. With a complicate gesture from the old lady, Jeff's designer clothes fell to the ground, leaving him naked in the intense light.
"Look at his little dick," continued Stephan. "Boys, you ever seen a steer after it's been gelded?" Even though Jeff felt utterly humiliated, he dreaded what might be about to happen next.