You stare at her for a moment with the keen comprehension of a brook trout.

        She smiles.  "I'm kidding you.  What do you need with 18 million dollars?"

        "Well, besides buying a plane, a yacht, and the island of Maui, there's a great band that's coming soon that I'd really like to see, but--"

        "There you go," she says.

        The brook trout look descends upon you again.  "Huh?"

        "You just touched on the first step in spell-crafting."

        "I did?  I did."  You ponder for a moment.  "Okay, I give up.  So what's the first step?"