Aaron, transfixed by what he had just seen, raised his hand with enthusiasm. With medium height, medium build, average looks and medium brown hair, he had tried to stand out all his life. Now was his chance. He didn't know what his options were, he didn't know what he would be given, but in his feverish mind he reasoned that any change would be a once in a lifetime opportunity.
"You over there!" Madame Illusia pointed to Aaron, the only person with a raised hand in a crowd of almost 100. His exuberance seemed to radiate. "Come on up and tell me... what you want to see "
Suddenly, Aaron felt the weight of the crowd's gaze. He moved gingerly forward to the stage. She politely asked Aaron his name and gestured him to stand up next to her.
"So now thinking about what you just witnessed, what brings you up here? What would you like?" Madame Illusia asked.
Aaron face was flushed, he was staring into a crowd. Stephen, Madam Illusia's assistant, handed him a microphone.
"I uhh.." he stumbled "I uhh, I guess I'd like to change something about myself. Can I do that?"
"Can you? Sure you can. What about you would you like change?" She said with a sly smile.
"My hair? I guess.... the color. Um....Could you make it black?"
She seemed slightly disappointed but followed his request. With a mighty wave of her arms the audience started to murmur, then applaud. "Take a look my young friend", Stephen handed Aaron a hand-held mirror. He looked intently at his reflection, in awe of what had happened. His unkempt hair, his eyebrows, even his patchy stubble, all of it was now black. It didn't look unnaturally dark or dyed, his black hair had the appearance of being his natural color. No one would ever know.
"Is there anything else we can do for you?" Madame asked "Maybe something a little more, dramatic?" Aaron continued to peer into the mirror. He hated how thin his stubble was. If only it was fuller, denser, he could grow a full beard like some of his friends. He envied the men his age with those full beards.
"Can you" Aaron paused "... allow me to grow a beard? I can't grow one, I wish I could grow one of those big beards some guys have."
Madame turned to the crowd. "This man wants a beard! A big one. Now lets see… I know that lumberjack look is in right now... Here’s what I say, why not go for the full lumberjack look?" There were a few exclamations of approval from the audience "... So what do you say Aaron? Want to go full lumberjack?" She turned around to look at Aaron, who nodded with an unsure look on his face. "...Ok" he muttered, unsure of what she had planned.
Without hesitation Madame Illusia raised her hands.
Aaron immediately felt a tingle on his chin, he sensed some strange energy. He lifted up the hand-held mirror to stare into his reflection. Sure enough his black patchy stubble was starting to sprout. It was rapidly forming high on his cheeks where no hair had grown before, and down the length of his jaw. After a few seconds, his stubble was turning into a short, black beard. He gasped and felt it with his hands
"Now Aaron, let the people see, don't block their view with that mirror." Stephen came up and gentle took the mirror from his hands "We will let you see when your change-over is complete." She said, in an almost maternal tone.
Aaron's hands continued to run his hands over his jaw. His thick dark beard was growing longer and fuller with each moment. That’s when he noticed his hands, where thick black hair was sprouting and growing and merging with the hair on his increasingly furry forearms. Even his knuckles were growing hair. Aaron stared, mesmerized. He gasped for a moment as he noticed the fabric of his shirt changing. In place of his graphic tee was a light flannel that hugged his frame tightly. His weight shifted as Aaron's stature began to increase. His pants began to transform into worn looking jeans, growing to accommodate his increasing weight. His shoes started morphing into a different material as his feet lengthened. Aaron seemed oblivious to the changes in his size, but the audience, watching Aaron’s frame broadened ever so subtly, could clearly see everything changing at once. His increasingly thick, dark beard, his clothes, shoes, his whole appearance, all of it was rapidly shifting. At the same time, Aaron's height inched up ever so slowly, so gently he grow taller that no one seemed to notice.
Aaron’s shoulders and arms began expanding, his muscles rapidly thickening as if the experience of wielding a heavy axe over the years had created them. Aaron's hands grew callused and strong. His stomach thickened and rounded out , pressing against his buttoned down flannel, suggestive of a woodman’s large appetite. His neck thickened and back widened, giving his a very broad and powerful build. His increased height was becoming more apparent. All the while Aaron’s beard grew to a tremendous size, extending down his chest, nearly to his increasingly round midsection. Aaron continued to paw at his now massive beard, in shock by it’s density and softness.
A thick, dense patch of hair sprouted at the base of his muscular neck, exposed by the loosely buttoned collar of an otherwise tight fitting piece of flannel that had once been a tee shirt. This combined with his furry arms, impressively thick and dense beard suggested that Aaron had grown quite hirsute in this process. Few people had noticed his augmented height until the Madame lowered her arms and approached him. Suddenly she was dwarfed by a man who had been scarcely taller than her just moments ago. Aaron now towered at a solid and beefy 6’3”. His tremendous beard and powerful looking body gave him the complete look of a stereotypical woodsman.
“Ok, sir, you can look” She said. Aaron immediately took note of the change in her tone, and the astonished look on the faces of the audience. His reflection was transformed. Behind his heavy beard, which grew up high on his cheeks, was the rugged, but still youthful face. It was only then that he sensed how the transformation had so dramatically altered his build. He was a big man now, easily over 250 lbs. Madam Illusia and her assistant Stephen looked so much shorter suddenly. His whole vantage point had shifted by a half a foot.
Aaron shuffled his feet, which were now encased in size 14 leather boots. He couldn’t believe it. Not only was he huge, hairy, and heavily bearded, he had the wardrobe of a real lumberjack. Aaron was enthralled, shocked and slightly terrified. He hugged the now seemingly petite Madame with his characteristic enthusiasm.
“So how do you feel young man?” she asked
“This is … this is amazing” Aaron said astonished.
“Wonderful!" She exclaimed, turning toward the audience "Another satisfied participant. But I have to ask for one thing!“
“What’s that?”
“I’m going to need you to help me take down this stage when we’re done here today,” She turned to the audience “You see, my friends, I won't have to hire strong men to help me take down the stage later today if I create them!” Madame Illusia turned back to Aaron.
“Ok, you can go for now my lumberjack, but remember to come back after the show. I mean it! I’m going to need your help!”
Aaron sauntered off the stage. He couldn’t believe how heavy his footsteps felt in his new boots. He could feel the new sensations of how his arms swayed around his new bulk. Not to mention the feeling of wind blowing in his massive bushy beard.
“So do I have any other volunteers? Maybe one of you would like to volunteer to help me take down this stage later today?“ She said with a wink.
Members of the audience made way for him as he walked off the stage. Several asked to touch his beard, seemingly to check it’s authenticity, or just to flirt with him. He couldn't be sure. Several others seemed to be checking him out. Suddenly Aaron had both woman and men eyeing him.
“So, I’ll ask” The Madame began, “do we have any other volunteers this afternoon?”