September 16, 1999
Traveling Queen
Robin Robertson
You need two decks, one red and one blue, no prior setup.
1. Take the red deck and casually cut the QS to the back of the deck, then openly upjog 4 red spot cards. Use the Vernon add-on to add the QS to the rear of cards. Lay the deck aside. Fan the packet FU, holding the last two cards as one. Show front and back. Leave FU on the table.
"Four red spot cards with red backs."
2. Openly upjog 4 black spot cards and the QS. Remove the same way as doing the Vernon add-on. Lay deck aside. Fan the packet FU, openly moving the QS to the middle. Show front and back, then lay FU on top of the red pile.
"Four black spot cards and the Queen of Spades, all with blue backs."
3. Pick up the combined packet and get a little finger break over the bottom card (the red QS). Transfer to Biddle grip and begin to count the black cards into the left hand. Count the first two fairly, then add the red QS as you count the black QS, and get a break under the black QS. Biddle it back as you count the 4th black card. Count the 5th black card. Lay the red packet aside FU briefly and fan the blacks FU to show 5 blacks with the QS in the middle. Square and turn FD.
"Let's imagine that this is the Queen from a cold, dark, Northern country. Perhaps some place you might see in an Ingmar Bergman film."
4. Pick up the red packet FU and do a modified Ascanio count in order to show 4 reds only, and the move the QS to the middle of the packet. Simply draw off the face card with the left thumb, then the next card fanned next to it. As you pull off the 3rd, just do so enough that the 4th can be pushed into the middle of the fan, thus displaying 4 red cards. Square and turn FD.
"She had always wondered what it would be like to to spend time in the sunnier Mediterranean climes."
5. Butt the two packets together, then do an Anti-Shuffle, moving them through each other. Pick up the blue backed packet and do a normal FD Ascanio, except shoving the double card into the middle of the packet. Square and lay FD on the table.
"So she decided to take a little vacation from the cold."
6. Openly spread the red packet on the table. A blue card will show in the middle. Flip over to show that the QS is in the middle. This should be quite a surprise as the spectators saw the QS in the middle of the blue packet only moments before.
" . . . and visit sunny Spain. Here she is having a high old time."
7. Square and turn FD, then repeat the Anti-Shuffle. Afterwards, pick up the red packet, turn FU and do the Ascanio again, keeping the QS hidden in the middle. To emphasize that it's gone, take the right two cards fanned in the right hand and brush the cards in the right and left hand against each other. Finally put the right hand cards under the left (thus putting the blue QS on the back on the packet and lay them FU on the table.
"You've heard the expression that 'it's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.' Well, the Queen soon got lonely for 'home, sweet, home.'"
8. Turn the right hand packet FU and spread to show that the QS is back in the middle. Upjog it a bit, the flip the pile FD to show that the QS is now red-backed.
"So she came back home, but she had one souvenir of her trip. . . a bad sunburn."
9. To clean-up, pick up the FU red packet in the left hand, the FD blue packet in the right. Turn the right hand palm-down and pull-off the now red QS on the face of the red cards, then put the blue cards in back of the full packet. Fan the cards toward yourself enough so the spectators can't see the faces. Take the QS on the face, plus the red cards off and lay them on the red pack. The remaining cards go FD on the blue pack.
