As we watched, hidden in the bushes, Phil sat on the deck in the open air that August night at Lake George over thirty years ago, dealing the cards and reciting the words. He couldn’t get the spell to work for hours. It had to be that instruction Grandpa withheld. What could it be? He looked at the first card dealt, the Sun. In the night, the sun should not be in the sky, and yet the card was clearly needed. He tried turning it over, hiding the sun.

Not even sure what he hoped to see, he looked up at the stars that traced a dragon,
    its tail curling between the Great Bear and the Little Bear,
    and saw nothing but the vastness he always saw.
  Then it (cleverly) dawned on him that the Sun card should be turned upside down, but kept face up.

   

Still nothing. He had no idea what to expect, nor did he know if the spell worked instantaneously.