When I was a married student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill my wife, Donna, and I lived in Victory Village and I played a lot of Hearts with my neighbors, who were also students.
Hearts is a relatively simple game, child’s play compared to bridge. Even so, to win against good players you have to count cards, you need to know what’s been played, who is void, and how many cards are left in each suit. You have to concentrate.
We took turns hosting the game. Sometimes games didn’t start until after midnight, after everyone had finished their homework. But if we started playing early enough in the evening, the host’s wife would serve a snack, a soft drink and some cookies maybe.
One guy’s wife dressed a little bit funny.
She wore old-timey dresses. Her skirts were long, right to the floor. Her sleeves were long too, down to her wrists. But her dresses were exceeding low in the front. And when she leaned to refill someone’s drink it was easy to lose your concentration, forget your card count.
I didn’t look, of course.
But I did notice that when we played at their apartment the rest of us didn’t play very well, and he won more often than not.
Coming Friday: A Stupid Mistake