more opening
“Director, please!” comes the anguished cry from the far corner of the room. Much closer, a heavily-painted eighty-year-old woman hisses “shush!” at a table of old friends having entirely too much fun. Here and there throughout the sections, someone will have pulled up a chair at the corner of a table. Contract bridge, at the summer North American Bridge Championships, is a spectator sport.
They are gathered around table RR3: the players sit in their designated positions, extras are kibitzing at the corners. The woman sitting South shakes her head, her manicured chocolate brows knit together; she folds up her hand and lays it face down, leans forward to rest her elbows on the table. She is completely oblivious to the dozens of eyes riveted on the quarter inch of lace-covered breast which has escaped her delicate white sweater. She studies her partner’s hand: all thirteen cards laid out face up sorted into suits, biggest to smallest. The King and five of spades. The nine, four, three, two of hearts. Ace, King, Queen, seven, five, two of clubs and the lone Ace of diamonds. Those cards will be her salvation or her punishment, and to the dismay of the South player, she does not know which.
For two minutes and nineteen terrifying seconds, the expert player sitting North is completely powerless. Hers is the dummy hand; she must play her cards as directed by her less-experienced partner, without remarks of any kind. She is a compassionate woman, prepared for exhaustion and the pressure of a close match to overwhelm her partner. She will not be upset if a mistake by South costs the match. Though she fears otherwise, North hopes her partner does not know that the result on this last hand will determine the game’s winner.
It has been a difficult, swingy set of hands made almost unbearable by the glowering opponent sitting West…
April 27th, 2007 at 10:41 am
very good !!!
I want more:)
April 27th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Anything for you. Just not today, sorry
15 screaming 6 year olds at the mall, now heading to baseball. Exhausting, all this fun. xoxo
April 29th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
Very nice, Stacy. You really capture the flavor of the events, with an eye for things others would not notice. Well - -some of us might notice part of it, but you get the point.
Jeff
April 30th, 2007 at 6:38 am
Thanks so much.
May 7th, 2007 at 2:23 am
Stacy,
Your knack for detail and emotion makes your blog refreshing and exciting. Sometimes we forget that bridge is supposed to be entertaining.
~BJD