The devil made me do it.

I have a confession to make:  I am on speaking terms with the devil.  We're not best friends or anything like that, but he does sometimes speak to me.  And unfortunately, sometimes I listen.  This is never a good thing; take Friday night, for example.

I was playing with Lee, and as far as I could tell we were having a solid game.  Since I hadn't played for almost two weeks and was worried about being rusty, this was a relief.  Then came board #11 and the devil.  I had 14 high card points, 7 clubs and a singleton heart.  The opponents were bidding hearts and my partner was silent.  They went to two hearts; I said three clubs.  They said three hearts.  This is when the devil appeared.

Oddly enough, he (of course the devil is male) was silent.  Usually he is vocal, whispering bad ideas in my ear.  If perchance he was talking, my own voice overpowered his.  "Don't bid 4 clubs, even though you can probably make it," I said to myself.  "You'll just push them into game.  Then you'll have to bid 5 clubs, they'll double and you'll go down."  Even though the devil was silent, I could feel his presence.  "Don't do it!"  I told myself more loudly.

It was my turn to bid.  Aghast, I watched myself pull out the card to bid 4 clubs, and then, as I knew they would, watched the opponents bid 4 hearts.  I was so stunned by my bid that I just passed.  At that point I should have kept bidding all the way to 6 clubs; even going down two, doubled, would have been a better score.

But, you guessed it, the devil didn't let me.