Several years ago, while milling about the main bar at the Castle, I spied R. Paul Wilson and Jason "Superman" England discussing amongst themselves. Figuring that I ought to be part of the conversation, I moseyed my way on over and expertly butted myself into the scene. R. Paul and Jason were discussing a particular thread on a particular magic board. I knew the thread in question and gently joined the discussion.

The topic was John Ramsey and his brand of magic. While R. Paul and Jason were deeply engaged in some sort of banter about looking at things or something to that effect, I surreptitiously spied the going ons of R. Paul's left hand. He was absentmindedly muscle passing a cork from his left hand to his right. I thought to myself it was probably some kind of nervous magician affliction like the riffling of cards or the steeple chasing of coins. During the discussion, I would murmur out "yes" or "hmm..." or even "wow!", little things that assured my participation in all that Ramsey talk. But in reality, my little magic mind was trying to work out the technical aspect of muscle passing corks and even more so, I wondered, to what purpose?

"...all boils down to a fairly simple concept. Like Malini's "I vait" strategy, Ramsey states that if you want someone to look at something, look at it yourself, if you want them to look away, look at them." R. Paul looked at Jason and then to me, pointedly emphasizing his words. I looked up, nodded my head and put on a face that revealed my deepest considerations. Then I went back to spying on his left hand. At that moment, the cork tumbled in flight from the left hand and was caught by the right hand, as it had been doing for the past several minutes. But this time, the right hand "crumbled" the cork into nothingness.

I reeled back, eyes wide open. Right hand empty, left hand empty, pockets smooth... where did that f'n cork go? I snapped up my head and looked right into R. Paul's eyes. And I would swear that they twinkled, just like in the movies. R. Paul gave me a very slight, crooked grin and continued the conversation with Jason.

I sell those corks for 500 bucks. Comes with a free bottle of twinkle.

Haven't seen you for a long time, Rawdawg - hope you are well.

BTW - RamsAy - two As.

Dang spell check doesn't have the Scottish filter. 500 bucks you say... must be some Porper collaboration. I'm fine but a little heavier since the last time we met.