Penetration Deluxe
By Keith Clark
Put a lit cigarette in your mouth. Hold an 18-inch silk at one corner with the left hand, one corner of the silk lying at the inside of the bend of the arm, as in Figure 1. Turn your right side to the audience. Take the cigarette in the right hand, between the index and middle fingers smoker's position; bring it over the center of the silk, and apparently wrap the silk around it.
What actually happens is this: When the cigarette is over the silk. the right third finger rests on the silk-covered palm, Figure 2. The left hand turns over and drapes the silk over the right hand holding the cigarette, which is immediately transferred to the thumb grip, screened by the folds of the silk, Figure 10. The right thumb is extended upwards at once, taking the place of the cigarette under the silk, Figure 4. The right fingers are curled around the cigarette to protect the silk. An this takes place during the one continuous gesture of wrapping the cigarette in the silk.
Figure 3 shows the position of the hands and the cigarette just as the silk is about to be tossed over the right hand and the cigarette thumb palmed. Figure 4 shows the position after all of these actions have been completed.
While you still stand with your right shoulder nearest to the audience, the left hand approaches the right hand and the left fingers close around the cigarette (really the right thumb) through the silk, seemingly to grasp it and carry it away, Figure 5. Withdraw the right thumb as the silk is being removed, so that it isn't disclosed sticking up in the air. Drop the right hand for an instant to call attention to the left hand, and impress on the audience that the cigarette is now wrapped in the silk.
The right hand. back to the audience, now goes behind the left hand holding the silk and, under cover of the left hand, transfers the cigarette to a position between the right index finger and middle fingers -- smoker's position. Now, it is promptly transferred to a vertical position between the left thumb and index finger, lighted end up, where it is clipped with the silk. The lighted end must be above the silk so it cannot come into contact with it, Figure 7. The right hand closes around the silk below X, Figure 7, and twists it several times. As it twists, the left thumb pushes the burning cigarette out of the left hand, as in Figure 8, and it seems to have burned its way through the silk.
Study Figures 2 and 8 carefully and practice these moves until perfect. Practice with an unlighted cigarette first.
Take the cigarette with the right hand and place it well between the lips. Show the silk to be unharmed by holding it up between the hands, as shown in Figure 9, and bow to the applause.
