Nate put the rabbit cage on top of the pedestal. He crossed the stage and removed his top hat showing the empty interior to the audience before placing it on another pedestal. He crossed back to the rabbit and slowly raised a curtain in front of the rabbit. He smiled at the audience and lowered the curtain to reveal an empty cage. As he bowed to the audience which had started to applaud a door opened in the bottom of the pedestal and the rabbit fell to the floor. It sped across the stage slamming into the other pedestal which tipped over and crashed to the floor releasing another rabbit. This one hopped toward the audience.

The combination of screams, laughs and boos prompted the stage manager to lower the curtain. Nate scrambled to round up his rabbits. The manager picked up one and tossed it to Nate. "That’s it. It was your last chance. Pack up your stuff and disappear. If you know how to do that."

"But. Nate cried.

The manager directed some stage hands to cart the pedestals and cages off the stage. He turned to Nate. "I have to apologize to the audience and kill some time before the next act can set up. Unless you want to face the audience?"

Nate shook his head.

"I didn't think so." The manager turned and slipped through the curtain. Nate could hear him talking to the audience. He picked up a few things the stage hands had missed and walked slowly back to his dressing room."Stupid rabbits always gnawing on stuff," he muttered.

Nate was packing up his stuff when the stage manager entered. "You still here."

"Look, it’s the rabbits. They chew on anything and I can’t afford custom metal gear. Advance me next months wages and I’ll be able to get a more imposing animal. Maybe a cheetah. " Nate said.

"A cheetah!" A distance scream came from the audience. "I’ve got a rodent running through the seats and you want something with fangs? Out!" The manger turned and held open the door. "Now!" He motioned to two stage hands. "Get that stuff into the alley now."

Nate sat on a box in the alley. He had tried acting, then comedy and finally he added magic to his list of failures. He had three dollars in his pocket. He could call his father but that would go nowhere. "I’ll give you money after you come back to work," he could hear his father say. Or his mother, who would send him the money but only after a half hour tale of how his cousin had given her sister two grandchildren and if he would only go back to the biology department he could settle down and she would help him find a wife. Biology, he thought, studying the genes of some long dead species. "No," he slammed his fist onto the crate. "I’ll make it. I’ll see my name in lights." He pounded on the box. "I’d give anything to make it. To have my name in lights. To have everyone know my name."

A well dressed elderly man sat down next to him. "Anything you said?"

Nate looked at him.

"I’m not a pervert if that’s what you’re thinking. No nothing like that. I’ll take something you’re not using. Your soul."

Nate glanced over. "You’re the devil I suppose?"

"The devil, Lucifer, Beelzebub. I go by many names. For your soul I can give you the ability to change into any animal you like. Think of the tricks you could pull off. A welded cage with bars not wide enough for a human much less a tiger. Raise the curtain, turn into a cat, enter the cage and then you’re a tiger. The curtain falls and the audience goes wild. Or put the cage under water. You turn into a fish swim in and then you’re a shark.

"I don't believe you. Change into animals. Besides ‘a deal with the devil’ They are always supposed to go wrong."

"Slander, spread by the other guy. Tell you what I’ll do. I’ll grant you the ability to change into what ever wild animal you want. If at the end you don’t take the deal you can walk away."

"So no strings, fine print or catches. I can change in to any animal I want and keep my soul."

"Exactly. So simple we don’t even need a written contract." The devil held out his hand. "A handshake agreement."

Nate thought then held out his hand. They shook.

"Deals done. Go ahead try it. Just think of what you want to be. By the way, you’ll still be ale to talk regardless of what you turn into."

Nate thought back to his talk with the stage manager. A cheetah he thought. His vision blurred and when he looked at himself he was covered in spotted fur. "Cool. This will be great." He thought of his human body but nothing happened. "What? I can’t turn back."

"I said you could turn into any wild animal I never said you could turn into a human."

Nate swung his claws at the devil but his paw passed through the figure.

"When you wish to change back to a human summon me. You know how to do that don't you. Simply call out my name three times." The devil vanished in a puff of brimstone.

* * *

The MC walked onto the stage and said, " Give it up for Freddy and his amazing trained dog Nate." Freddy bowed and so did Nate. As they walked back to their dressing room the MC caught up to them, "We changed the billing on the marquee to ‘The Fabulous Freddy’ as you requested. Rest up for the next show."

Freddy closed the door to the dressing room. Nate sniffed at the bottom of the door. He couldn’t smell anyone nearby. "You had them take my name off the marquee! That wasn’t the deal."

"Relax. They had to make room for another act." Two bags were on the table. Nate could smell some fabulous beef dish in one but the other held something he couldn’t identify. Freddy pulled a container from one of the bags. He opened it and the aroma of beef stroganoff filled the room. He put it on his dressing table. He pulled a container from the other bag and put it on the floor for Nate.

"What’s this?"

"Your dinner. Dog chow of some kind. I didn’t specify."

"Since when do I eat dog food."

"Since your preferred meals coast fifty bucks."

"Give me that stroganoff or our deal is off."

"And what are you going to do? Everyone knows you’re my dog. Try to find someone else and I’ll have them arrested for theft. Now eat we’ve got a second show in an hour."

Nate ate the chow and plotted his revenge.

* * *

Okay Nate, which of the audience members is wearing a blue suit?" Freddy swept his arm past the three people he had chosen from the audience.

Nate trotted up to the large man in a brown suit and raised his leg. The audience howled and the large man grabbed Freddy by the collar and screamed, "You think that’s funny. I should pound you…"

The MC rushed out with two stage hands close behind. They separated the large man from Freddy. "We’ll be happy to pay for the dry cleaning and new shoes. Please Follow these men back stage we’ll get you fixed up."

Nate trotted behind a woman wearing a skirt and pressed his cold nose against the back of her leg. She screamed and jumped away.

Freddy ran after Nate who fled the stage. Behind the curtain he turned into a cat and slipped behind some old scenery. Freddy ran past screaming for Nate. Nate slipped out of the theater. Across the parking lot he could see a large sign with names lit up even larger than his and Freddy’s. The sigh read, "See Gorilla man George fight Savage Jim for the Heavy Weight Belt." Below that was a promo offering anyone who could last two rounds with Killer Caveman a chance to become a pro wrestler. "Caveman" he thought, that gives me an idea and besides I need a new gig. As Nate walked toward the glowing sign he started to grow and rose up on two feet.

* * *

Nate stared up at the sign and smiled. He checked to see if anyone was nearby then called, "Lucifer, Lucifer, Lucifer."

A young woman popped into sight.

"Lucifer?" Nate asked.

"Yea, thought I would mix it up. So ready to sign on the dotted line?" She pulled out a large contract from nowhere.

Nate smiled and pointed up at the sign. It read, "Neanderthal Nate defends his world title against the Barbarian."

"So," Lucifer said.

"All I ever wanted was my name in lights. To be known world wide. Consider this is a courtesy summoning. More like gloating actually. You won’t be hearing from me any more." Nate turned and walked into the arena. He smiled as he heard the crown chanting his name.

END