Sound the Alarm, the Game 's afoot ...***

    … we were playing in a 32 board team match, IMP scoring, on the sunny island of Martinique. My presence on the team can be explained by the absence of any decent substitute for their fourth; why he did not show up is another, most likely better story.

    My partner was a lovely lady, called Tocsin, the name may have been given or bestowed, but certainly fitting (students of the 1950's detective fiction take notice). We chose Bridge World Standard, primarily because her english was worse than my french ... in any case that had little bearing on what happened.

    After a routine 1 NT - 3 NT +430 for us and an even more routine +420 for the opposition, my cards on the third board were:

S: Q,9,8,5,2 | H: K,10,9,4,3 | D: - | C: A,K,Q

    Vulnerable dealer on my left opens 2 Clubs, artificial and forcing, as if she were in New York. Tocsin, white against red bids 2 hearts, gentleman with a Hercule Poirot moustache on my right passes. I rack my brain relative to the latest version of "BWS" incorporating any two or three or four-suited overcalls over 2 Clubs and conclude none.

    A gentle raise to four may let us buy this at Five, making mayhap? After duly knocking on the table (still the skip-bid-warning on Martinique) I offer same.

    Lady 2-Club-Opener doubles (I know I should have bid five), Tocsin has no problems in passing, Monsieur Poirot thinks this over a while and passes and it is my turn again:

    +590 is a nice number to take back to our mates, but what will happen at the other table? Opener did not bid 4NT, she doubled, thus interest in spades. There may be a +800 lurking in this deal. I let greed stifle my best judgment and rewind the double; opponents !!!, do not even think of 5 diamonds, ple-e-ase.

    Opener has nothing to say, Tocsin passes in a flash, Hercule (by now we should be on a first name basis) thinks for a very long time and emerges with 4 Spades. Double by me, double the five clubs somewhat later, Tocsin hits the five diamond run-out, and the opponents conclude, that first thoughts are best, thus back to five spades, doubled.

    The King of Clubs to inspect Dummy ...

S: A,K | H: A,Q,J,7,5,2 | D: A,K,J | C: J,10

    ... and switch to the deuce of Spades. Declarer wins, cashes the Ace of Hearts, except that it does not cash, Tocsin ruffing. Leading hearts may not have been the best idea, but my sympathies are with Hercule, given ...

    We score up the +1,400 (friendly defense) and I quietly congratulate Tocsin (after comparison-time) for her nerves of stainless steel (never mind "iron") in passing both the double and the redouble (!) without a twitch of the proverbial eyelashes (pretty as they were).

    "C'est rien, Michel" -she dimpled a smile- "the table for IMP-s, she is quite progressive at the bottom".

    ***Post-Script: Not an account of fiction, but a colorful (i.e.: poetic license relative to non-bridge parts) rendering of events, as they occurred.

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