Seam's Impossible
by Shannon Ledbetter

Shannon's bio: "My name is Shannon Ledbetter, I'm twenty years old and live on the East Coast of the U.S. When not constantly reading and creating ripping good yarns, you can find me at my security officer job or living life as best I can."

"Ever notice how beans have that black little line on them, like they've been stitched up just before reaching your particular bag of beans?"

"Well...they have. "

"It started out simply enough. An old woman cooking a heaping helping of beans for supper, using straw to kindle her flame."

"But a single, uncooked bean managed to escape the flames. Good things usually occur in threes, and this was no different. One of the doomed pieces of straw managed to slip through the old woman's fingers, as well as a single, glowing ember jumped from the fire."

"Thinking it best to stick together, the three set off into the day. But along their travels, a problem arose. A babbling brook stopped them dead in their tracks."

"The straw was nice enough to offer himself as a bridge to cross the brook. The ember took him up kindly on his offer and began to cross. But just about the time he got to the middle, the ember got frightened at the bubbling water beneath him. "

"The heat began to take it's toll on the straw, and soon...it wasn't long before he had burned through the straw, and sent both of them tumbling into the water."

"The bean saw all of this from the safety of the banks. And though they were friends, he simply could not help but laugh at the misfortune of his comrades. In fact, he laughed so hard...he split in TWO."

"Lucky for him, a kind-hearted tailor was passing by and patched up the small bean. Unfortunately, all he had was black thread to sew him up with."

"So that's how beans got their black seams."

"Pretty unbelievable, isn't it?"

(Here, you pull out a single bag of beans. Opened, yes but clipped shut with some sort of tie.)

"I thought it was too, until I started to cook last night's supper."

(The person is offered the bag to pick a bean from and does so, handing it to the performer. The performer takes the bean in one hand, while the other hand clips
the bag shut again.)

(The performer proceeds to pull a small piece of black thread from the bean, as the two sides separate in the performer's hand.)

Working: The good old thumbtip, a short length of black thread, and a duplicate bean already split in two along the seam.

The only real sleight here is the switching of the beans, which can be done easily enough as you go to close the bag of beans back up. The main crux of this
piece is simply presentation.

You can alter the patter near the end depending on the situation. My eight-year old niece absolutely loved it as a bedtime story.

Feedback is more than welcomed and encouraged.

Cheers.

Shannon Ledbetter