Do you believe in magic? I’m not sure I do, but I do believe in magic tricks, a belief I’ve had since childhood when I used to play with some old magic tricks of my father’s and attempt to make glasses of milk disappear or surreptitiously make colorful scarves appear.
While staying with our friends in Barcelona, they took us to a shop they thought Ruby would enjoy — El Rei de la Magia, a magic shop over 100 years old filled with all sorts of magic tricks and books about magic.
A selection of books and magic tricks
The shop is small, but crammed with possibilities — card tricks, old standards, such as making coins disappear, and magic tricks that are exclusive to the shop. Mr. Miscellany chose one of the exclusive tricks, a complicated one that involves a great deal of sleight of hand. Ruby and her friend chose another, a card trick that involves turning the ducks on the cards into cats.
If you are the proud owner of a magic trick, you, of course, need to know how to perform it. That is where the black curtain comes in. Usually when you see a black curtain, that’s a sign to back off! stay away! don’t go behind there! But, in El Rei de la Magia, if you purchase a trick, the owner, a woman who can smoothly demonstrate any trick in the shop, invites you behind the black curtain, away from the prying eyes of your potential audience, where you are taught the secret of your trick, so you put on a magic show at home.
Behind the black curtain, the magic trick’s secret is revealed
While you always come back from a trip with good stories for a party, it’s not often you can also come back with good party tricks.
Complicated sleight-of-hand card trick