by Louis Sachar
I chose the card myself. It probably didn't matter anymore what card I played since we'd already be getting a bottom board.
I didn't hear from him again until two cards later. His voice was loud and clear. He called me a donkey.
After the session was over, we could see where we stood with two rounds to go. There were too many players, and not enough time, for the directors to post the usual one-round-to-go results. After eleven rounds, Annabel Finnick and Lester Trapp were in fourth place in section G, East-West, with a 55 percent game. It felt strange to see their names.
I wasn't too worried that somebody might notice their names. The only people who would check these particular results were the other twelve East-West pairs in section G. Besides, people tended only to look for their own names.
Toni and I stuck around another twenty minutes for the final results. Finnick and Trapp remained at 55 percent, and fourth in their section. For this, they earned .7 platinum points. I wondered how much the donkey hand had cost them.
66
The Beer Card
There must be at least fifty thousand restaurants in Chicago. Toni and I ate dinner at the same sandwich shop.
I ordered a vegetarian sandwich this time. Toni never seemed to have any difficulty hearing Annabel. Maybe meat clogged my receptors.
I told her about the donkey hand. She didn't think it was my fault. She said there were lots of times when it's right to overtake your partner's king with your ace. "You might need to unblock, or it might be necessary that you be on-lead. You had no way of knowing."
Maybe, maybe not.
Toni told me about a play made by Annabel. She got a pen out of her purse and drew a bridge diagram on a napkin.
The contract had been 3NT.
The declarer led the 9, and nobody else had any clubs left. Trapp discarded a diamond, and the dummy got rid of the 7. Annabel still had to play.
"If you were Annabel, what would you discard?" Toni asked me.
I looked at the diagram. "Do you know if the declarer had any diamonds left?" I asked.
"He only had spades," said Toni.
I wasn't very good at reading bridge diagrams. I wished I could see the real cards. Still, it seemed pretty obvious that Annabel should discard the 7. She needed to save the 5 in order to protect her K. Otherwise, on the next trick, the declarer could tell dummy to play the ace, and Annabel would have to play her king.
"So what happened?" I asked Toni.
"Well, on the next trick, the declarer tried the finesse," she said. "He played the queen of spades. Annabel won that trick with her king of spades, and then she won the last trick with her seven of diamonds, setting the contract."
(She had discarded the 5!)
In bridge, as in life, Annabel did not consider it her duty to serve and protect the king.
Annabel made a risky defensive play and won two tricks instead of just one. She won the last trick with the 7.
"The seven of diamonds is the beer card," Toni told me. "If you win the final trick with the seven of diamonds and it sets the contract, your partner is supposed to buy you a beer."
"You're making that up!"
"Swear to God," she promised, crossing her heart.
"Wait a sec," I said. "Let me get this straight. Besides trying to win against the best players in the world, Annabel also managed her cards so she'd win the last trick with the seven of diamonds, just for kicks?"
Toni smiled.
"Well, wherever she is," I said, "I hope she's enjoying her beer. Or I guess I should say, I hope the idea of beer is being enjoyed by the idea of Annabel."
Toni looked confused, but not half as confused as I was.
I raised my cup in the air. I was drinking a mango smoothie. "To Annabel!" I said.
Toni raised her bubble tea. "To Annabel!" she repeated.
We clinked our cups together.
Paper cups don't actually clink, but it was the idea that counted.
67
A Message from Afar
The top hundred pairs were posted on the wall just inside the door to the playing area. I had to wait for several people to move before I could get a look. Finnick and Trapp were currently in seventy-eighth place.
"Alton?"
I turned around to see Deborah, Arnold's wife. "What are you doing here?" she asked.
I didn't know what to say.
"Arnold!" she called. "Alton and Toni are here!"
"Hi, Deborah," Toni said, then hugged her. "When did you get here?"
The best defense is a good offense.
A moment later we found ourselves surrounded by Lucy, Arnold, and Lucy's husband, Carl. There were hugs and handshakes all around.
"Are you two playing bridge?" asked Arnold.
"Of course they're playing," said Lucy. "What else would they be doing here?"
"Trapp had already paid for the airfare and hotel," I said, "so why not?"
"Fantastic!" Arnold exclaimed. "How's it going?"
Toni proceeded to tell everyone about the side game. ". . . If I'd had the queen of clubs, or if Alton had had the king of spades . . ."
They all remembered the hand. They had played in the two-session pairs game, which had used the same hand records we had.
"They bid six spades on that crap?" asked Deborah.
"You were fixed," said Arnold.
"Tell me about it," griped Toni.
"It's a tough tournament," said Carl. "Even in the side games, you're likely to face some world-class competition."
"So what event are you playing in tonight?" asked Deborah.
There was no use in lying, since they were likely to see us in the room. "Right here," I said. "National Pairs Championship."
"I'm impressed," said Arnold. "But that's the way to do it. No point playing in the novice game. The best way to learn is to play against the best."
"You're not in the top hundred, are you?" asked Deborah, who had seen me looking at the chart.
"Yeah, right," I said. "No, we're just playing for the experience."
"So are we all, I'm afraid," said Carl.
I was glad to hear that Lucy and Arnold had had a 46 percent in the afternoon, which was a percentage point better than their spouses had done. Don't get me wrong; it wasn't that I wanted them to do badly. I just didn't want them looking for their names in the top hundred.
They didn't even ask what our score was, presumably because they didn't want to embarrass us.
"No one's out of it yet," said Arnold.
"The main thing is to Q," said Carl.
I didn't know what that meant. We all wished each other good luck.
"Maybe we'll get to play against you tonight," Lucy said.
I'm sure she hoped she would.
Our table assignment for the evening session was H-10, North-South. I was glad that neither Lucy and Arnold nor Deborah and Carl appeared to be in our section.
The director reminded everyone to put away their cell phones. I was about to turn mine off, when I saw I had a new text message.
mom saw cliff @ pool
That was all. There was no further explanation or voice mail.
Leslie didn't own a cell phone. I decided she must have borrowed her friend Marissa's. Marissa's family had a membership in the country club. Leslie must have gone as Marissa's guest, and our mother had either driven her there or picked her up.
It probably took Leslie longer to type the @ symbol than it would have to type the word at, but that's the kind of thing she loves to do.
"You haven't talked to Cliff today, have you?" I asked Toni.
Toni's cheeks turned red. "Twice," she said. "Why?"
I was surprised, and also jealous. "When was the last time?" I asked.
"In my room after dinner."
"Did he say anything about my mother?"
"Your mother? No, we didn't, um, talk about your mother."
I turned off my phone.
68
Signals
I was gl
ad to be sitting South. It meant I remained at the same table throughout the session, and so far, after the first three rounds, the reception had been very good. I was having no difficulty perceiving my uncle.
"What are your defensive signals, please?" asked the dignified woman in the East seat.
"Standard," I said, having memorized the answer to that question.
"Is your primary answer attitude or count?"
"Um . . ."
"Attitude," said Toni, "unless count is obviously more important."
"Of course," said the woman.
I should explain.
When you are on defense, if you are not trying to win the trick, then the card you play sends a signal to your partner. Just like in the bidding, you are not allowed to have any secret signals. The opponents can ask what signals you use.
I usually got by with saying "Standard."
It basically works like this. A high card encourages. A low card discourages. Let's say your partner leads the 3, and the A is played from the dummy. Since you are unable to win the trick, you can signal your partner for later. If you held the K62, you would play the 6, encouraging, telling your partner you had something good in clubs. If instead you held 862, you would play the 2, discouraging your partner from leading clubs again.
Those are called attitude signals because you are telling your partner your attitude toward clubs. But sometimes it's hard to tell. Is the six high or low? If you have K32, the 3 is the highest card you can signal with. If you have 987, the 7 is a low card.
That's the problem I was having with Toni. I couldn't read her signals. I didn't know if she was encouraging me or discouraging me. And I'm not talking about bridge anymore.
"Seven of hearts," said Trapp.
I set the card on the table and tried to focus on the game. It was dangerous to let my mind drift.
I looked across the table at Toni. She was the picture of concentration.
Toni saw me looking at her. She smiled and winked.
"You shouldn't have done that," I told her after the opponents had left the table. If the opponents had seen her wink at me, they might have thought she was giving me some kind of secret signal.
"Done what?" she asked.
"Wink."
"Wink?"
"You winked at me."
"I did not!" she insisted. "Why would I wink at you?"
A new East-West pair sat down at our table, abruptly ending our discussion and saving me from further embarrassment.
I removed my cards from the South slot and sorted my hand.
"One heart," said Trapp.
I set the bid on the table.
She had winked. I could still see it in my mind: a slight upturn of the left corner of her mouth, then the quick but purposeful flick of her right eyelid.
Before I knew it, it was my turn to bid again. Trapp's voice was extremely fuzzy, no doubt because my mind was still thinking about the wink.
I looked at my cards, and at all the bids on the table. I bid two no-trump and hoped it was right.
Toni bid three no-trump and everyone passed.
I must have made the correct bid, because Trapp didn't call me a donkey. He was the declarer, and I forced myself to concentrate on his instructions.
Halfway through the hand, I realized I'd been wrong. Toni hadn't winked. There was no way she would have risked doing that in the middle of a bridge hand. She was also too shy.
The wink had come from Annabel.
69
Q
With two rounds to go, Annabel Finnick and Lester Trapp were first N-S in section H, with a 63 percent game. When the final results were posted they had dropped to 62 percent and second. They earned 1.68 platinum points.
There was also a capital Q next to their names. All around me, people were talking about whether or not they had Q'ed.
It took me a while, but I finally figured out that the Q meant we had qualified to play the next day.
I extricated myself from the crowd and looked for Toni. Instead, I saw Lucy and Arnold coming right toward me.
I hurried to meet them halfway. I didn't want them anywhere near our posted results.
"How'd you do?" I asked.
"We Q'ed!" said Lucy. "Fifty-eight percent."
I congratulated them. That more than made up for their 46 percent in the afternoon. "How about Deborah and Carl?"
From the way Arnold sadly shook his head, you would have thought they had died.
"How'd you and Toni do?" asked Lucy.
The question was obligatory. I knew she didn't think we had a snowball's chance in hell, but she had to pretend otherwise.
"We're still in it," I said, as if I didn't quite believe it myself.
You could tell Arnold and Lucy were experienced bridge players by the way they congratulated me without revealing any of their shock.
"Well, you had a great teacher," said Lucy; then, choking up, she added, "He would be very proud."
Arnold explained that for the next day there would be some carryover of that day's results, but only to a degree. It was like a car race in which after the race is half over, half the cars are eliminated. The remaining cars are kept in their same order, but they're bunched closer together, so even those at the back still have a chance.
"That's fair," said Arnold. "Some of the pairs may have gotten high scores today because they got to play against much weaker pairs. But tomorrow all of the weak pairs will have been eliminated, so it will be a much fairer test for the rest of us."
I appreciated the fact that he included Toni and me with the stronger pairs, even if he didn't believe it.
Lucy grabbed some hand records, and they invited me to join them for a drink in the bar and go over the hands. I reminded them I was only seventeen.
"Get a Coke, then," said Arnold.
"C'mon, it'll be fun to hear how you and Toni beat all the pros," said Lucy.
"I need to find Toni," I said.
I looked for her out in the hall, then over by the escalators, and finally at the bank of elevators. She wasn't there. I went back to the ballroom, then returned to the elevators and waited there for at least another ten minutes.
I felt like a fool. No doubt she was in her room, talking to Cliff.
He was her boyfriend, okay, I got that. Still, I was angry that she didn't stick around long enough to say good night before rushing off to call him. I took the elevator to the twenty-seventh floor.
There were no more messages on my cell phone, or on my room phone. That was good. At least my parents hadn't been trying to call me. Still, I would have liked to know more about what had happened between my mom and Cliff.
I didn't use the hotel pillow, just the pillowcase, which I stuffed with my dirty clothes. It was soft enough, but lumpy.
70
Canned Peas
Toni called after her morning swim, but I was already awake this time, having slept a good two and a half hours. My neck hurt worse than ever.
"Trapp and Annabel are in nineteenth!" she said, all excited.
I took a shower and tried letting the hot water pound on my neck, but the water pressure in the hotel was so weak I could just barely feel it. I was glad that Trapp and Annabel were up so high, but it was also worrisome. The higher they were on the list, the likelier other people would notice their names.
Toni and I met at the elevator and walked to the sandwich shop. She was energized after her swim, and talked excitedly about the upcoming two sessions, but I just grunted a few times. I was tired, my neck hurt, and I was still mad at her for rushing off the night before.
I remembered to check my cell phone when we got to the restaurant. There was a new text message.
cannedpeas was his password
"Yes?" said the girl by the cash register.
"Canned peas," I said aloud, still staring at my cell phone.
"What?"
"Granola and a lemon poppy-seed muffin," said Toni.
"The same," I muttered.
&nbs
p; It was a good thing they didn't serve peas at that place, or I might have just ordered a bowlful.
At the table I told Toni about Leslie's latest text message and the one I'd gotten previously.
"So that's why you asked me if Cliff said anything about your mother," she said.
I nodded, or tried to. My neck hurt too much.
"He didn't tell me he saw her," she said. "I wonder what she means by a password?"
I didn't know. "The only passwords I ever use are on the Internet."
"His e-mail!" exclaimed Toni. "The hotel and airline reservations had been e-mailed to him. But why would we need his password? We had hard copies. Unless . . ." Her face lit up.
"What?" I asked.
"Unless he didn't know that Mrs. Mahoney had printed the e-mails!" she exclaimed triumphantly. "He thought you'd have to go online for them. And that's why he told you his password was cannedpeas!"
She banged her fist on the table, proud to have solved the cannedpeas question.
But that left another question: How did Leslie learn that cannedpeas was Trapp's password? Only one answer came to mind, and I didn't like it.
"My parents know where I am," I said.
"What? How?"
"Mrs. Mahoney was the only person who knew Trapp's password," I said. "My mother must have spoken to her after running into Cliff at the pool. Mrs. Mahoney gave her the password so she could go online and check Trapp's old e-mail to find out where I was."
"You think they're coming here?" Toni asked.
I didn't know. It would explain why they hadn't tried to call me. They could be planning a sneak attack.
"Not again," Toni whispered fearfully.
"Again?" I asked.
"The last time they played," said Toni, "Annabel was dragged away."
"They won't come here," I said, sounding more certain than I felt. "They'd have to pay full fare for a last-minute plane ticket. No way they would do that."
We were walking back to the hotel when Toni suddenly asked, "Where'd you disappear to last night?"
I was shocked. "Where did I disappear to?"
"You were supposed to tell me the results, but I saw you talking to Lucy and Arnold. I didn't want to have to deal with them, so I went to check the results myself, and then when I got back, you were gone."