TWENTY FIVE & SIX
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450 his approval as he saw Eddie watching everyone’ s reaction. Lee stayed in character when Lisa yelled“ Hi sweety!”
The Mad Scientist performed to perfection and the elaborate backdrop was incredible. The life-sized doll began to shake and smoke on the table. Lisa grabbed George’ s arm and the look on her face said“ Tell me it doesn’ t get worse than this.” Eddie smiled devilishly.“ The show is just starting,” he said, as the usher moved them along.
As they entered the room with the gallows, the hangman was pulling the hood over the last of the condemned. Eddie experimented with speed and distance of the drop on the platform the observers stood. He found the perfect drop to be about five inches, with the first half the distance fell away quickly. The next two and a half inches slowed dramatically. Everyone’ s heart skipped a beat as the henchman pulled the lever. The floor dropped from below the condemned and the righteous observers alike.“ Son of a bitch!” George yelled. His gaze threw daggers at Eddie until Lisa wrapped herself around him.“ This way please,” the usher said. They moved through the“ Prisoner” exhibit, Medusa’ s forest and past the Wolf-man who was chained to a claw marked tree. Count Dracula chased them into the spider’ s web. Everyone was fascinated with the surroundings.“ This is a fucking work of art. Talk about sensory overload,” George stated, as two spiders moved overhead. Lisa followed the usher as she crawled into the tunnel with George right behind her. Tanya, Sam and Eddie brought up the rear. Lisa froze as she came to the edge of the glass floor about eight feet from the entrance. George got a face full of her jeans as she started to back up.“ Oh Fuck No!” she screamed. George put his head down and bulldozed her across the glass surface with her screaming the whole way. Eddie took George’ s cue and did the same with Sam as brown and black rats scurried about in the red glowing light, inches beneath the glass.
The next“ Mad Scientist’ s Lair” was similar to the first. Everything looked the same, except the body on the steel table. She was already thrashing around, struggling against the leather restraints. The scientists could have been twins. Their movements, down to the glare and sneer, were mirrored images. Reaching for the switch and then having three millivolts course through the aluminum benches did more than startle the hair-raised witnesses.
The magic act gone awry was gory comic relief. The girl being sawed in half began to scream as blood poured from the box in which she was trapped. The magician spoke casually to the crowd and the young lady as he pushed and pulled the large hand saw.“ Introducing my assistant and ex-wife. You’ re fired!” he laughed maniacally. Freddy Kruger tore through a wall and was held up briefly enough for his next potential victims to escape. Frankenstein and the Mummy made their presence known as did the figure that caused Nicole’ s big fright.
The last scary exhibit was a butcher’ s counter, like you would see in any major supermarket. The fare being offered was bloody body parts. Realistic looking faces stared from behind the glass case. Large cockroaches climbed over the and through the various body parts. When the strobe light began, the counter moved silently toward the group. The butcher leaned over the counter wearing a blood stained apron, brandishing a large meat cleaver and a severed arm. The tall, wild looking man sunk the cleaver into the wall over Lisa’ s head. She slid down the wall she had pressed herself against. George helped her to her feet