In your dreams.

“I had such a wonderful dream last night. You and me took a 52 going towards Willesden. And as we went past Hyde Park, this magician came up to the top deck. He smoothed down is immaculate tuxedo and straightened his yellow bowtie before he started his tricks. He did all the usual ones. You know like making all the kings jump to the top of the deck and pulling your card from someone else’s handbag. Then he asked me if I could do some magic. I took his deck of cards and turned all of the black cards red and the red cards black. Can you imagine, black Hearts and red Clubs? After doing that I noticed that my hands were glowing with some sort of power. Do you think that’s why all the old magicians usually wear those fancy white gloves?
So then as the bus drove towards Ladbroke Grove, the magician went from Paul Daniels table magic to David Copperfield illusions. What he did next was to make the roof of the bus disappear. I thought that it was such an amazing thing to do. But, oh my god, his next trick left me utterly speechless. He walked up to a couple who were sitting a few rows back. They were a bit unsure of this guy. I don’t know why people get embarrassed when performers interact with them. It’s not like they want to make you look stupid, they just want to entertain you.
So the magician walked up to this couple and spreads a huge red silk cloth over them. The woman starts screaming but is calmed down by her partner. The magician asks everyone if they remember what the couple look like and makes sure they have a good mental picture of them. It was so amazing when he pulled back the silk cloth. The couple had switched places. They didn’t even move, not even to breathe. I know, I watched them. But the best thing was, they had also changed clothes. There is no way that that could have happened under the cloth, they didn’t even move an inch.”
“Now hold on a minute Timo. Didn’t you first notice that they were dead?”
“They weren’t dead, Jainy-girl. They… What are you on about?”
“Their faces were smashed in. I had the same dream, except that we were on a 13 going to Golders Green.”
“How could you have the same dream?”
“I don’t know, but none of it was good in my eyes. Yes the magician came up to the top deck and yes he smoothed down his clothes, but he smelled bad. You know when your food blender overheats. He smelled like that. And his bowtie, which was too small and made his face red, had faint orange stains on it. It looked like he keeps cutting himself shaving.
Yes he did do the easy tricks. But the magic trick that you did for him was different to what you described. You actually did the contrary by turning the Clubs and Spades back to black and the Diamonds and Hearts back to red. You did this by scratching at the cards until they were normal. The friction must have made your hands warm, which might explain why you felt they contained power. I don’t know.
Also Timo, the roof didn’t just vanish. The magician pointed his finger like a blow torch so that where he pointed, the roof tore off.
But that wasn’t the worst of it. When he pulled out the cloth, it wasn’t totally red and it definitely wasn’t red. At least it wasn’t totally red. I think it was white to begin with and just glistened with fresh blood. When he covered that couple, the woman was still screaming when the magician was sure everyone remembered what they looked like.
And then the worst thing happened. The woman stopped screaming. That’s when I knew it was bad. The cloth was pulled back to show that not only had they swapped places and clothes, their faces were unrecognisable. That was when I noticed they had stopped moving. I woke up when the woman fell over into the aisle of the bus on top of her partner.”