I couldn't say no to this.
Meeting my old university friends after more than 20 years was really
nostalgic.
"Join us on Friday. We all are going to be there. We actually found a
4th and we play every week since you disappeared from our life," said
Ariel when I accidently met him on the street, then he continued: "I
still live at the same place. Do you remember where it is?"
Sure I remembered. 4 of us studied together for all the exams for 3
years, mostly at Ariel's big house. We used to study for about 2 hours,
and then play bridge all night. So... I said yes, and was really
looking forward to reuniting with my old friends.
Ariel opened the door. Next to him stood a huge threatening Schnauzer
dog. He stood there like a statue, not moving, his eyes fixed on me.
"Hi Oren, great to see you! Oh... this is Gustav", he said noticing my
worried look.
"I never saw such a behaviour in a dog. My dogs are always barking at
strangers. He seems very disciplined. Is it safe to pass?" I asked, as
Gustav made no attempt to move from his position.
Ariel wanted to say something, but then changed his mind and said with
a smile: "Sure! Come in. All the others are already waiting."
After talking for an hour about old days and new days we started to
play (we were 5, so we changed every few deals). Ariel became declarer
on this deal:
I was West and I lead the
♥6.
Ariel won the trick with his
♥10
and played on clubs. I took the ♣A on the 2nd round of clubs and
switched to the
♦3.
Ariel tried the
♦J
but East covered with his
♦Q
and lost to South's
♦A.
Stuck in hand, declarer tried to play spade to dummy's ♠K , but East
took it with the ♠A and returned his 2nd heart. Ariel played low but I
won with the
♥K
and played a 3rd heart forcing declarer to win in hand once more with
the
♥A and
promoting 2 heart tricks.
When Ariel tried his ♠J , I won the ♠Q, cashed my hearts (East guarded
his spades and threw diamonds so on the last heart declarer threw
spade) and continued with another diamond. Declarer won East's
♦10 with the
♦K, cashed the ♠10 but lost
the final trick to my
♦7.
3 down!
"Killing defense", murmured Ariel. "I should have tried to run my ♠10
instead of playing to the ♠K".
"Then I would allow you to win and keep my ♠A to your ♠K", said my
partner.
"You could have made it if you win the 1st trick with the
♥A", I said. "Now you keep
2 low hearts in hand and guarantee an entry with heart after your clubs
are promoted".
All this time Gustav was laying calmly next to us but when we all got
up, saying noisy words to one another, he jumped from his position and
stood by the door. I made a big mistake, trying to go to the
door first, and saw Gustav exposing his teeth with a threatening noise
and make a fast move towards me. I withdrew immediately and threw Ariel
a questioning look.
"Yes Oren , I wanted to tell you before... Gustav has a separation
anxiety", said Ariel. When he saw that my puzzled expression did not
change, he continued:
"He is afraid to be left alone. We actually caught a thief once due to
that. The poor man was allowed to enter our house with no
interference and only noticed Gustav when he wanted to leave... Gustav
wouldn't let him go and he had to call the police himself to rescue him
from the dog."
I smiled and said : "So... What now? Are we to stay here till the end
of times, playing bridge?"
"Oh no, there is a practical solution to that", said Ariel and went to
the kitchen, coming back after few seconds with a cheese cube. He
showed the cheese to the dog and threw it to the kitchen. Gustav raised
his ears and ran quickly to the kitchen while Ariel closed the
door after him.
"You see? It's easy. The coast is clear now".
I reached the door and turned back to him: "He is not very smart, is
he? I mean, after all these times, doesn't he realize that whenever you
offer cheese to him it means that people are leaving?"
"Well I thought about it myself for a long time and came to the
conclusion that Gustav thinks the same way about us... They are not
very smart those humans, are they? After all these times, didn’t they
figure out that all I want is that little piece of cheese?".
