K and I played a three-handed game of hearts with the Girl tonight. We wanted to watch a movie, but L was not in the mood. “She’ll play a card game,” I thought, and bounded up to her room to suggest it.

I like throwing down the queen of spades on unsuspecting players, and I usually keep her in my hand. L did poorly on the first hand, and so for the second hand, I wanted to make sure she didn’t get the queen. I almost ended up with it myself as a result.

But I did manage to do something that has crossed my mind a few times, but I never did: announce to everyone I had the queen. I began the hand with 7 spades; K gave me the ace, king, and queen of spades. But I had not a single diamond. At one point, I even lead with spades to get the hand to someone else, waiting for the first person to lead with diamonds. It was K. I laid it on her.

In the end, I gave her the queen probably four or five times. When we finished, she said, “Well, pack up your stuff to sleep on the couch.”

L thought it was uproariously amusing. And I think that was what it was all about. Next time, I’ll have to fall on the sword a number of times — it should amuse L even more, and K, too.