The Cardturner: A Novel About Imperfect Partners and Infinite Possibilities

by Louis Sachar

  She wasn’t being beaten. Her screams were screams for attention.

  At some point, Annabel managed to obtain a bottle of bleach from a janitor’s cart.

  When Arnold first mentioned the bottle of bleach, I actually felt hopeful. I thought that maybe she threw bleach in a doctor’s face, then escaped out a window into Trapp’s waiting arms.

  I watch too much TV.

  She committed suicide by drinking the bleach. It took her several tries, because she kept vomiting it back up.

  We walked out of the restaurant. I ran my fingers over the cold, hard bricks of the cement factory.

  A heart like a brick, my father had said. Whose heart wouldn’t turn cold and hard?

  I thought of my mother as a little girl, hearing all those stupid, dirty stories about Annabel King.

  I thought of all the stupid things I had said to my uncle.

  Did you ever work as a milkman?

  When you first met Annabel, how old was her daughter?

  I always make the biggest fool of myself just when I think I’m being the most clever.

  46

  Nixon

  In their grief, Trapp and Nina turned to each other.

  “They each loved Annabel,” said Lucy, “and for a while, they confused that with thinking they loved one another.”

  We were in the car, driving back to the hotel.

  “I was the best man at their wedding,” said Arnold, “but I knew the marriage wouldn’t last. Everyone put on happy faces, but it was the saddest wedding I’d ever witnessed.”

  They were divorced within the year. Trapp quit playing bridge and started the Yarborough Investment Group.

  “It was just another game to him,” said Arnold. “Except, instead of masterpoints, now he was accumulating money. You want to know what he once told me? He said he preferred masterpoints to money because masterpoints were worthless.”

  Twenty years later, Gloria happened to run into him at a shoe repair shop.

  “I needed a strap fixed on my purse. Trapp was worth millions, but he still got his shoes resoled.”

  She asked him if he would like to play bridge sometime. She mentioned that there was a sectional the following weekend, and she was looking for a partner.

  “His face turned white,” Gloria told us. “He started trembling.”

  He told her no, he couldn’t, then hurried out of the shop.

  “But then at three o’clock in the morning my telephone rang,” Gloria said. “It was Trapp. All he said was ‘I might be a little rusty.’ We played a week later and had a seventy percent game.”

  Richard Nixon was Eisenhower’s vice president. In 1960 he ran for president and lost to John F. Kennedy, and according to Arnold, most people thought that would be the last they’d ever hear of Richard M. Nixon. By 1967, Henry King, who had been in the Senate for more than a decade, was expected to be the next Republican presidential candidate.

  But Nixon wasn’t finished.

  “I’d always hated Nixon,” said Arnold. “But one thing I’ve got to give him credit for: he was good at destroying his enemies. And to him, Henry King was the enemy.”

  Nixon tried to dig up dirt on Henry King and came across all the court documents Trapp and Nina had filed. That was more than just dirt. He hit a gold mine. He initiated a well-publicized investigation into the care and treatment of the mentally ill, and into the suicide of Annabel King, his “dear friend’s wife.”

  Rolling Brook Sanitarium was shut down, and two of the doctors went to prison.

  “What about Henry King?” I asked.

  “He and Nixon made some kind of secret deal,” said Arnold.

  Arnold didn’t know what the deal was, but Henry King abruptly resigned his Senate seat and lived the rest of his life in relative seclusion. Nixon was elected president in 1968.

  When Sophie King turned eighteen she changed her last name to Finnick (Annabel’s maiden name) and never spoke to her father again. She never allowed him to see Toni, his only granddaughter.

  47

  Teodora’s Tea

  I almost felt like crying when I knocked on the door to my uncle’s suite. I couldn’t stop thinking about Annabel, and had to remind myself that her death had occurred more than forty years ago. He had gotten over it, or, if not over it, at least he’d learned to live with it. He certainly didn’t need me to open up old wounds. I’d already asked too many stupid questions.

  Teodora answered and told me that Trapp was still in the process of waking up, whatever that meant. She told me to go ahead and shovel and she’d take him down in a few minutes.

  She must have said shuffle, not shovel.

  Lucy and Arnold were sitting East-West at B-2, and Gloria was North at A-2. Before joining her, I decided to research the competition. The lists of teams and matches were posted on the wall beside the directors’ table.

  I was hoping to play the team with more than 110,000 masterpoints. I was looking forward to knocking out the big shots. Instead, I saw that our next opponents were the lowest-ranked team in our bracket. However, I also saw that they had defeated the team with 87,000 in the afternoon session, so maybe they shouldn’t be taken lightly.

  I joined Gloria, took the cards out of board seven, and started shoveling. I reported that Trapp was still resting and would be down shortly.

  The two men sitting East-West were a lot closer to my age than to Gloria’s. They were probably in their late twenties or early thirties. I think West had a tattoo, but it might have just been a birthmark. I could only glimpse a small portion of it, underneath his shirt collar.

  “It’s got to take its toll,” he said. “Memorizing every card.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Trapp and Teodora still had not come down. At the other table, Lucy and Arnold were already playing.

  “I guess you’re going to have to fill in, Alton,” said Gloria. “Until he gets here.”

  For a moment I was stunned, or maybe for several moments, but then I thought, Okay, I can do this. It probably would only be for one hand, so even if I screwed up, Trapp could overcome it. But just imagine his surprise if I got us a good board.

  I’d sat on the sidelines long enough. It was time for me to get into the game!

  Gloria laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m only kidding,” she said.

  “You should have seen the look on your face!” laughed West.

  I smiled, pretending relief.

  A minute later, Trapp and Teodora entered the Grand Ballroom. To save time, I removed the South hand from board seven and met them before they reached the table. “Spades: queen, jack. Hearts: eight, seven, five, three, two. Diamonds: jack, ten—”

  “Whoa, slow down,” said Trapp. “Let me get my bearings.”

  Teodora handed me a thermos bottle. “Make sure he drinks this,” she told me. “A little bit at a time.”

  I held the thermos in one hand and the fan of cards in the other, and once again told him his hand. “Spades: queen, jack. Hearts: eight, seven, five, three, two. Diamonds: jack, ten, six …”

  We started with boards seven through twelve. The other table had one through six.

  On board seven, Gloria bid and made four spades, for a score of 620.

  “Sorry, I guess my diamond lead gave it to her,” said West, the one with the maybe-tattoo.

  “You had to lead something,” said East. “It was the normal lead.”

  “I considered the eight of clubs,” said West.

  “That would have worked.”

  I tried to get Trapp to drink some of Teodora’s tea, but he refused, saying it wasn’t necessary since he had been dummy, so he didn’t exert any energy. He groaned as he stood up, and I led him away from the table.

  Once again he told me to slow down when I recited his hand. I admit I had been feeling rushed because of our late start, but I don’t think I was speaking any faster than normal. Usually he got impatient with me because I didn’t go fast enough.

  East bid and made three no-trump. T
rapp hadn’t been dummy, but he still wouldn’t drink Teodora’s tea.

  On board nine, he had me repeat the diamonds.

  On board ten, he was down one in four-hearts. Gloria said there was nothing he could have done about it, but he seemed disappointed in himself.

  The caddy came by with the six boards from the other table, and we gave her the four boards we had played so far.

  When I tried to get him to take a sip of tea, he snapped at me. “You drink it!”

  It smelled like rotten cantaloupe.

  Some time later, I noticed that Arnold and Lucy had finished. We still had four boards to go. True, they had started before us, but it seemed to me that Trapp was playing extremely slowly. More than once, when it was his turn to play, I’d make my guess as to what card he’d call for, but then I’d wait for what seemed like forever until he finally called a card. It was usually the card I had anticipated, which was either good for me or bad for him.

  We finished the first twelve boards. Arnold and Lucy came over and we compared results.

  On board seven, Arnold had led the eight of clubs and they set four spades. That gave us 12 IMPs.

  Unfortunately, that was our only good board. Lucy totaled it up. At the halfway point we were down by 41 IMPs.

  Everyone sat glumly.

  “They’re very good players,” said Arnold.

  Gloria nodded.

  “It doesn’t mean we can’t come back,” said Lucy.

  “Forty-one IMPs isn’t impossible,” said Arnold. “If they can do it, so can we.”

  “Forty-one is nothing!” said Gloria. “I was down forty-nine once, and we came back and won by two IMPs.”

  Arnold then said that he once was behind by 55 IMPs at the halfway point and still won.

  “I got you both beat,” said Lucy. “I was once ahead by fifty-seven IMPs … and lost.”

  Everyone laughed at that, including me.

  “Pour me a cup of tea,” said Trapp.

  I unscrewed the top of Teodora’s thermos and filled the cup. Trapp brought it up to his lips, shuddered, then drank it all down.

  “Let’s go get ’em!” he said.

  48

  Quack of Clubs

  When the two men returned to our table, there was a slight discrepancy in the score. They thought they were only winning by 38 IMPs. We went over the results, and found the error on board six. Unfortunately, we were right.

  They seemed almost apologetic about being so far ahead. Bridge isn’t an in-your-face kind of game. There’s no dancing in the end zone.

  I realized that the fact that they had fewer masterpoints than us didn’t mean all that much. They were a lot younger. It takes a long time to accumulate masterpoints. Arnold, Lucy, and Gloria had all been playing for about fifty years. Trapp had only played about thirty, having quit for a while. The team we were up against had probably been playing less than fifteen years, but they had already won enough masterpoints to be in the top bracket. They were, I realized, about the age of Trapp and Annabel the last time they played together.

  We started with boards one through six this time. On board one, our opponents tried to stop at two spades, but Trapp, who had passed throughout, suddenly said, “Three diamonds.”

  He only had seven points: the ace of hearts and the queen and jack of diamonds. I tried to keep my expression blank as I placed the 3 card on the table. West bid three spades, and we set it by one trick. That was fifty points for us. If Trapp had let them play two-spades, they would have scored 110 points.

  It was a start.

  “Pour me another cup of tea,” he said.

  On the very next board, he bid six clubs and made it for 1,370.

  “Well bid,” West said, after the hand was over. “Our teammates will probably be in three no-trump.”

  “You got to push a little when you’re down by forty-one,” said Gloria.

  “It’s not forty-one anymore,” said East, a worried expression on his face.

  Trapp and Gloria kept on pushing. They made slam on board five, and then doubled the opponents on board six, setting them by two tricks for 500.

  The caddy came by with boards seven through twelve just as we finished board six. I poured my uncle another cup of tea.

  On board seven, Trapp had almost all black cards: seven spades, headed by the king and queen, and five clubs, headed by the king and jack. His only red card was the three of diamonds.

  He was first to bid. “Four spades,” he said.

  I confidently set the bid on the table, and I was still just as confident when he was doubled. In fact, I was a little disappointed he didn’t redouble.

  He only took eight tricks. That was worth 500 points to our opponents. However, in the post-mortem, our opponents realized they actually could have made six diamonds for 1,370, so this was still a good board for us.

  I looked at the IMPs chart. If Lucy and Arnold had bid six diamonds on the board, we would gain 13 IMPs.

  Trapp wasn’t happy about it. “I could have held it to down one if I played you for jack-ten doubleton of clubs,” he said to the guy with the tattoo.

  “It’s always easier after you’ve seen all four hands,” the man replied.

  It’s funny how quickly people forget that Trapp cannot actually see the cards.

  I started to give him his hand for board eight, but he was still grumbling about board seven.

  “It won’t matter if Lucy and Arnold bid the slam,” I said.

  “Six diamonds is hard to bid,” he said. “Everybody’s going to open four spades with my hand. It’s called a preemptive bid. It makes it hard for the opponents to bid, since their very first bid has to be at the five-level.”

  I think that might have been the first time he ever took the time to explain bridge to me. It felt good.

  I started to give him his hand for board eight.

  “C’mon, c’mon,” he interrupted.

  I had been saying his cards too slowly.

  We reached board ten. The thermos was empty. I thought about calling Teodora and asking her to bring down more tea, but you weren’t allowed to use cell phones in the playing area.

  The contract was four hearts. West was declarer, and after the first seven tricks, he’d won five and we’d won two. We needed two more tricks to set the contract.

  These were Trapp’s remaining cards:

  “Two of clubs,” said Gloria, placing that card on the table.

  West called for dummy’s ten of clubs, and then it was Trapp’s turn.

  He thought awhile. The jack of clubs was my choice, but Trapp was on a roll. If he played the eight, I knew it would be right.

  “Queen of clubs,” he said.

  I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, so I didn’t do anything. I just sat there.

  After a long and uncomfortable moment, Trapp wanted to know what was happening.

  “We’re still waiting for Alton to play a card,” said West.

  “Queen of clubs,” Trapp repeated.

  I felt like I’d been kicked in the gut. I remained motionless.

  “I’m sorry, I’m going to have to call the director,” said West.

  “I think you better,” Trapp said, his voice quaking.

  East raised his hand. “Director, please!”

  “I’m sorry,” said West.

  “No need to apologize,” said Trapp.

  The director arrived and the situation was explained to him.

  “He instructed Alton to play the queen of clubs,” said West.

  “And apparently, I do not hold that card,” said Trapp.

  His voice was without emotion, but I could feel his humiliation.

  The director thought a moment. I doubted this situation was anywhere in his rule book.

  “Okay,” he said at last. “We’re going to treat this as unauthorized information.” He turned to Gloria. “You now know your partner doesn’t hold the queen of clubs. You will have to play the rest of the hand as if you don’t have that info
rmation. Of course, if you’re the one holding the queen, then there is no unauthorized information, but don’t say so, one way or the other. Otherwise, you’ll be giving unauthorized information to your partner.”

  He turned to West. “You are permitted to know that South doesn’t have the queen of clubs, and if that information helps you, you may use it to your advantage. After the hand is over, call me back if you feel you’ve been damaged.”

  He then told me to take Trapp aside and tell him his remaining cards. “But you are not to in any way suggest what card to play, and you are not to tell him what cards have already been played, either by him or by anyone else.”

  I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell the director that there was nothing I could possibly tell my uncle that he didn’t already know. I wanted to tell him that not only did Trapp know every card that was played, he also could tell you every card in everyone’s hand.

  Except that wasn’t the case. Not this time.

  I rose from my chair.

  Trapp remained seated.

  “C’mon,” I said.

  He didn’t move.

  I pulled on his arm, but I might just as well have been tugging at a block of cement.

  “I’m done,” he said.

  “You have to finish the match,” I said.

  “You know how to play,” he said. “You finish it.”

  I looked to Gloria for help. Tears were flowing down her face.

  “Call my room,” said Trapp. “Have Teodora come and get me.”

  With an unnaturally controlled voice, Gloria asked our opponents if they had any objections to Alton playing the remaining hands.

  “That’s not a problem,” East said, his voice quiet and sober.

  I found a house phone and called Trapp’s suite. When Teodora answered, I said, “Trapp needs help.” Then I returned to the table and played the jack of clubs.

  49

  A Monkey and a Typewriter