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It seems like it was a
hundred years ago. But really was just in the 50's. Donald,
my first husband that passed away, worked farming with his
dad. That summer was very wet and they got behind putting
the crops in the ground. So Donald's brother Darrell came up
from Missouri to help out. His construction crew had been
laid off because of so much rain, so he was available to
help plant corn. Well, he stayed the whole summer.
All the boys were interested
in Baseball. So when the World Series started, it was my job
to go out to the field every once in a while and let them
how the Cardinals were doing. But on rainy days, we played
Hearts. Now if you have never played Hearts before, the
object of the game is to give the Queen of Spades to the low
score person. Every one gangs up on you and tries to give
you the Queen. The Queen of Spades is 13 points and the
Hearts are 1 point each. That adds up to 26 points. If you
get all 21 points, each person except you gets 21 points
against them. But it is very hard to get every heart AND the
Queen of Spades, So there is always someone that can "stop"
you, by having a card that beats yours. If you lose 1 trick
that has a heart on it, you will get all but that one trick.
So, all rainy days were
spent, playing hearts. Donald had 4 brothers that were very
good a playing hearts.
I was a beginner! But I
played my best. But it seems that they were always against
me and would give me the Queen of Spades, even though I was
not the low man. Low score wins. Being the beginner of
playing I tried to "take them all" if I had a good hand. Of
course they always knew when I was trying to take them all.
And they would give me the Queen of Spades. Several games of
Hearts with them giving me the Queen, was very hard for me.
I would get up from the table crying. ???I am not the low man
in this game??? I would say. Go into the bedroom, throw myself
on the bed and cried. They, of course were laughing. Here I
would come, out of the bedroom, saying "I'm ready to play,
but you must give the Queen to the low man."
We played a lot of Hearts
those rainy days. (And still do play). But I have learned to
accept the Queen. Comes with age I guess.
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