"Ladies and gentlemen, let's give it up for Marcus The Magic Maker!"
It was the night of July 22nd - Daniel's birthday. Daniel had always wanted to see a magic show live, and his friends Darren, Anna-Maria, Leonie, Walter, Nicole, Ben, Michelle and Lee surprised him by bringing him to Hotel Laviera - the hotel where Marcus will soon do his magic.
"Yes, yes, yes, welcome to MY magic show, ladies and gents," introduced Marcus as his assistants brought out his equipment - boxes and barrels of all shapes and sizes. Streamers and ribbon were flowing out of one box, confetti and candy in another. Marcus dazzled everyone with his magic - especially Daniel. He loved magic to death. Everyday he would learn a simple trick and practice it on his friends. Now he had a chance to see it all in action, right in front of him.
"All right, for my last trick I need a volunteer," announced Marcus. He looked around at all the attentive faces staring at him. "Is anyone celebrating a birthday today?"
"DANIEL IS!" shouted Darren and the gang, pointing to their friend. The spotlight fell on the birthday boy, who was slightly surprised. Marcus smiled at Daniel and invited him to come up on stage.
"So Daniel," asked Marcus, "How old are you today?"
"26 to the dot!" replied Daniel, which generated some giggles from his friends. The spotlight picked up their laughter and shone on them.
"Are those your friends?" asked Marcus.
"The best ones I've got!" replied Daniel. All his friends gave him the thumbs-up sign, wide grins on their faces. Just then two assistants appeared from backstage, pulling what seemed to be the walls of a portable changing room. The assistants arranged the walls to make a square, with one wall designated to be a door.
"Daniel, you are born today, right?" said Marcus. "That means you were born under the sign of Cancer..."
"Yep - Cancer the crab," replied Daniel. "But why?"
"Coz today Daniel, you will be just like your starsign!" announced Marcus, which had Daniel confused. Marcus blindfolded Daniel and brought him in into the square, closing the door. The lights inside the square were lit, and Daniel's shadow was clearly seen by all.
"Daniel, be prepared to be...erm...a little bit smaller!" said Marcus, waving his wand at the square. Everyone looked in surprise as Daniel's shadow became smaller...and smaller...and smaller...soon he was out of sight. Just then the shadow of a platform appeared, with some odd-shaped thing on it. Marcus opened the door, and everyone was shocked to discover that Daniel has been turned - into a crab.
"Well, this is Daniel the Cancer crab - see, his blindfold is still there!" said Marcus, showing the crab with the loosely-tied cloth around his body to the audience. The assistants took the crab and gave it to the people at Daniel's table.
"You mean to say THIS is Daniel?" asked Darren as he tried to keep the slightly-agitated crab on the table. Marcus nodded in agreement.
"Well, change him back!" said Leonie. "We have an album to record - and since when did crabs play guitars?"
"You guys record albums?" asked Marcus in surprise.
"We're performers for goodness' sake," replied Nicole. "Of course we record albums!"
"Oh, which band are you?" asked Marcus.
"SAVAGE GARDEN!" replied all eight. "The band which gave Truly Madly Deeply!"
"Oh, those guys!" said Marcus in understanding. "Well, let one of my assistants bring Daniel the crab back here and we'll see if we can do anything about it." The crab was placed back onto the platform and the square was closed. Moments later Daniel's shadow appeared, and when the assistants opened the square, Daniel the human being was seen standing on the platform, the blindfold still over his eyes. He removed the blindfold and walked off the platform, to the applause of the audience. Daniel was slightly bewildered but managed to keep a smile.
"Thank you for being such a sport," said Marcus, walking over to Daniel. "Here's something from all of us!" He gave Daniel a box of chocolates, then from out of the blue he took some powder and blew it over Daniel.
"What was that for?" asked Daniel, rubbing the powder from his eyes.
"Oh, you'll know soon enough," smirked Marcus, and brought him down the stage. There was a standing ovation as Marcus bowed and left the stage.
"Whoa Daniel, how'd it feel to be a crab?" asked Nicole.
"Crab? Oh, that wasn't me!" replied Daniel. "I was under the stage all the time!"
"You mean...oh man!" said Darren. "And I got worried for nothing!"
"That's okay," said Daniel. "Thanks for bringing me here, by the way!" He opened the box of chocolates and shared it to everyone. A bit of the blue powder fell on the box as he opened it.
"Wonder what that blue powder is for..." pondered Anna-Maria.
"Maybe he just wanted to make my face more colourful!" replied Daniel. All of them walked back to their studio to complete Daniel's birthday celebration.
The next day was to bring a even bigger gift to Daniel.
