Hearts - Jeff Thomas

Margaret shuffled the deck. She loved the weighty but crisp, ripping sound of it. Then the sharp tap-tap on the table to true it up, followed by the less fun but still pleasant toss and snap of dealing the cards. Finished, she picked up her cards, fanning them. How in the heck did she always end up with the queen of spades? “Three to the right this time, I do believe,” she announced. Deftly she chose three cards and tossed them to the right.

“Yes, dear,” purred Caroline, sitting to Margaret’s left. Without looking up, Caroline slid three cards to Margaret. Margaret smoothly received and blended them into her hand. She pursed her lips. “Mmmmm.”

“Okay, let’s go! Who’s got the two of clubs?” barked Julia, across the table from Margaret. Julia took a long drag from her cigarette and exhaled a blasting stream to the ceiling. Her sharp, dark eyes scanned the group.

To Julia’s left, Theresa mimicked the accusatory scan. Finally her eyes flicked down to her own cards. “Oops! That’s me!” Flustered, she tossed the card into the center of the table.

Margaret closed her eyes briefly to conceal their rolling. She followed suit. As the play went round the table, she reached for her coffee cup and took a sip. Weak. The cup made a slight clinking sound as she set it back in the saucer.

As she continued to play, Margaret’s attention lingered on Theresa. She noticed that coffee had pooled in Theresa’s saucer from an earlier spill. Each time Theresa lifted the cup to her mouth, a small drop or two would land on the table. Each time she would return the cup back to the dirty saucer. Theresa seemed not to notice. Enraged, Margaret bit her lip. She remembered that Theresa’s dimwittedness had been a blessing in many ways. It had allowed relatively easy access to Theresa’s husband for one thing. But since that fire was out, Margaret was back to resenting her. “Oh, well,” she sighed, snapping her card on the table and taking the next trick.