THE MAGICIAN ━ NYSM | ✓

09

"At the intermission," Merritt begins walking to the front of the stage. "We asked you to write down your current bank balance, and seal it in an envelope. Now it's time to take those envelopes out.Everyone take 'em out."

"Now, everybody, shout out your name, all at once," a now dry and dressed up Catalina says. "Go, just shout'em out."

"Clement? Frannick?" Merritt asks.

"Yeah! Up here!" A man yells.

"Oh, way up there."

"Okay, how about a Dina Robertson?" Catalina asks, standing next to Merritt.

"That's me!" A lady in a dress yes.

"Okay, okay. Names, names. Let's go," Merritt tells them.

"Josepha Hickey?" Catalina asks.

"That's me!" A women in a brown halter says.

"Okay, lovely, I want you to
focus on your balance, and count from one to 10 out loud."

"One, two, three, four, five..."

"Stop," Catalina tells her. "Is the first digit 5?"

"Yes."

"Do it again, this time, faster."

"One, two, three, four, five, six..."

"Stop, six, it's six. Again please."

"One, two..."

"Okay, Josepha, is your
bank balance $562 as of today?"

"Yeah," she says sadly. "That's what I got."

"Unfortunately Josepha," Catalina says, pointing to her with clasped hands. "You are wrong. Merritt, would you like to take the next one?"

Merritt nods. "Thank you Catalina. Okay, Dina, okay. 1,4,7,7.

"Yeah," Dina smiles.

"You think it is, but in fact, you, too, are wrong."

"Okay, okay," Catalina says walking to the right a little. "Uh, Clement, darling you do not have $6,500 in your account. In fact, everybody stand up, everybody please. Put your envelopes to your forehead, focus on your number."

"This is... oh, dear," Merritt says. "Just as I feared. Oh, this is strange. You know, I hate to say this, but you are all wrong. Every last one of you is dead wrong about what you think is in your account."

"You can sit down now," Catalina says putting her palms down.

Daniel walks towards Merritt and whispers in his ear. "Don't forget to thank Arthur," he tells him.

"Oh! Oh, yeah, I almost forgot," Merritt says as Daniel walks away backwards. "This evening would not be possible if it weren't for our great benefactor Arthur Tressier. Big applause! Big applause! Art, actually, why don't you come up on stage for the finale? Come on down, Art!"

"Come on down, Art!" Henley yells.

"There he goes, okay, good, there he goes," Daniel says as the old man walks towards the stage.

"Now, Art, did you fill out your envelope?" Henley asks. "Well, no need, we've done it for you."

"Now, Art, I took a guess," Merritt tells him as Jack walks on stage with a huge envelope. "North of 140. Am I right? That's 140 million, by the way," he tells them as Henley pulls the check out of the envelope.

"I'm sorry, Merritt. How can he be right about his balance
and everyone else be wrong?" Henley asks.

"I think possibly because he, too, is wrong."