It was after dinner and Randy and Voluptua were sitting cosily on the sofa in Aunt Frieda’s lounge going over the hands from the recent graded tournament. Frieda was away with Gordon in Sydney and Voluptua was house-sitting. Feeling that Voluptua was in relaxed mood Randy was edging hopefully closer thinking that his luck might at last be in.
“Didn’t I play this hand well” said Voluptua indicating
| ♠AK32 ♥85 ♦876 ♣T985 | ||
| ♠854 ♥43 ♦A32 ♣K7432 | ♠976 ♥T92 ♦QJT54 ♣J6 | |
| ♠QJT ♥AKQJ76 ♦K9 ♣AQ |
In point of fact, Voluptua was right although Randy was not in any mood to argue. Voluptua, South, was in 6♥ doubled by West who lead a trump. Voluptua sensed from the confident double that the ♦A and ♣K were poorly placed and had been resigned to defeat. Postponing that evil moment for as long as possible she played off all her hearts and spades (discarding the ♦9 on the fourth spade) and came down to this three card ending
| ♠— ♥— ♦8 ♣T9 | ||
| ♠— ♥— ♦A? ♣K? | ♠— ♥— ♦QJ ♣J | |
| ♠— ♥— ♦K ♣AQ |
An expert would probably know whether West held ♦A3 and ♣K (in which case Voluptua must play the ♣A) or ♦A and ♣K7 (in which case she must play the ♦K and end play West). However Voluptua was completely unaware of these subtleties and just got it right by chance. Randy was full of effusive congratulations and five rather pleasant and intimate minutes then passed.
But just then the phone rang. It was Frieda. “We’ve arrived at the airport; can you pick us up?”.
“Yes, Aunt Frieda” said Voluptua “we’re just coming”. Thought Randy: “Chance would be a fine thing”.
Bridge Romances 
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