‘‘I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to sit here in this suite any longer. Let’s go play some bridge, how about it?’’ She stood up, hands on her hips, waiting for a response.
Marylou and I didn’t demur—we were both ready for a change of scene.
In the hallway, we stared curiously at the activity going on next door as we passed by. There were various crime scene personnel at work, so we didn’t linger. I tried not to think about what I had seen in that room. Playing bridge would be a good distraction, at least for now. I just hoped I wouldn’t have nightmares about the crime scene tonight.
Once downstairs we made our way to the ballroom. I glanced at my watch, amazed to see that it was only about nine fifteen. Play was supposed to commence at nine thirty, so we weren’t even late, despite what had happened.
‘‘I’ll see you later,’’ Marylou said. She headed for the duplicate-bridge area.
Sophie and I surveyed the scene on the nonduplicate side. Most of the tables were already occupied by foursomes, but I spotted one empty table. ‘‘Shall we sit there?’’ I pointed. ‘‘And hope that two more people turn up?’’
‘‘Might as well,’’ Sophie said.
We had barely seated ourselves when we saw two men approaching us.
‘‘Good morning, ladies,’’ Bob said. ‘‘Mind if we join you and play a little bridge?’’ He smiled.
‘‘Please do,’’ I said.
His companion, Bart, said, ‘‘If it’s okay with you, ladies, Bob and I don’t usually play as partners.’’ The two men glanced at each other and grinned. ‘‘We find that it’s easier to keep the peace that way.’’
Amused, I shook my head. ‘‘Not a problem.’’ I had sat down across from Sophie at the table, but I moved to the chair to her right.
Bob sat down across from me, and Bart took the chair opposite Sophie. Two decks of cards, a scorepad, and pencil were on the table between the two men. Bob picked up a deck and started shuffling. Sophie handed the other deck to Bart to shuffle.
Once he finished shuffling his deck, Bob set the cards down to his right. Bart did the same thing with his deck. Sophie slid them toward me, and I cut. Sophie then dealt out the cards.
‘‘Do you play any particular conventions?’’ Bob asked. ‘‘Bart and I play the usual ones, but we don’t go in for a lot of the really complicated ones people play when they play duplicate.’’
‘‘I’m still pretty much a novice,’’ I said as I organized my hand. ‘‘We play Stayman, and Blackwood, of course, and we usually play short club openers.’’
‘‘Same here,’’ Bart said. ‘‘What about transfers?’’
‘‘I’ve read about them,’’ I said, ‘‘but we haven’t really played with them.’’ I nodded at Sophie. ‘‘Sophie might have. She’s played more than I have.’’
‘‘Yes,’’ Sophie said. ‘‘They can be quite useful.’’
Bart beamed at us. ‘‘Shall I refresh your memory?’’
Suppressing a smile, I said, ‘‘Please do.’’ Once a teacher, always a teacher. I was like that myself.
‘‘Okay, then,’’ Bart said. ‘‘You use transfers if one partner opens one no-trump. If you respond without using transfers, you can end up with the stronger hand as the dummy, and that gives your opponents an edge. So the point of transfers is to allow you to play from the stronger hand, with the weaker hand as dummy.’’
Sophie and I nodded obediently to show that we understood.
‘‘I open one no-trump,’’ Bart continued, ‘‘and if Sophie has up to seven high card points and a five-card major, she would bid two of the suit below her major. If she has a good heart suit, she would say two diamonds. And if she has a good spade suit, she would say two hearts.’’
Sophie and I nodded again.
‘‘If I like the suit Sophie is bidding, I respond with a two bid in the appropriate suit,’’ Bart said. ‘‘If Sophie doesn’t have many points, she passes on her next bid. If she has a stronger hand, enough for us perhaps to make game, she can bid two no-trump if her suit is a five-card suit. If it’s six cards or longer, she would bid three in the suit. Then I could decide whether to play three no-trump or four hearts of four spades.’’
‘‘Sounds easy enough,’’ I said. ‘‘But let me clarify one thing. If I respond to your one no-trump bid with two clubs, that means Stayman. If I respond with two diamonds or two hearts, it’s a transfer.’’
‘‘Exactly,’’ Bob said.
‘‘Those are the basics of