I had played with Mark once before in an evening game at a regional tournament. On that occasion he had just agreed to play the same card that I had played in the first two sessions that day. As soon as I arose on Friday morning I tried to replicate that card as closely as I could. I then made a copy for Mark, who probably would not have time to make one before the session started.

Since we were not scheduled to play until 1 o'clock, Sue and I decided to eat a big breakfast and a very light lunch. We went back to IHOP. This time I eschewed the senior menu and ordered the extremely decadent country-fried steak and eggs. Country-fried steak was not exactly a traditional Hawaiian specialty.[1] I have undoubtedly tasted better, but it certainly was filling.

After breakfast I downloaded my photos to Yoga. It would definitely have been embarrassing to run out of room on the camera's card on the road to Hana.

Mark arrived at about 12:45 before I even started to get worried about his absence. He reported that the snorkeling excursion was great, but he should have gotten a flotation device. He said that all the treading of water had made him tired. I had only been snorkeling once in my life, and so I really had little notion of what he was talking about.

Our afternoon session was extremely bizarre. It got off to a great start when we played hand #21 in the first round. I was sitting West. Our side was bidding spades, and they were bidding clubs and hearts. North bid 6♥, and Mark countered with 6♠, which was the par bid. South pondered and pondered before bidding the granny. I did not have much hope for my ♠A, but no one had mentioned diamonds, and I had a very nice card in that suit. So, I doubled and then took the opening trick.

Ann and I had earlier defended a hand in which the opponents bid 7♥ without the ace of trump. In this case they had that one, but they were missing two others. We got 100% of the matchpoints on this hand, which was one of only two bright spots in the round.

In fact, we had an incredibly bad round. My card shows twenty-one minus scores and only six pluses. We played fourteen hands, only three of which were successes. On two of the hands that we made, we took a total of four overtricks. On both occasions we made games that we had not bid. We did bid and make 4♥ on one hand, but so did almost everyone else.

In about the middle of the session I had a sneezing fit. These happened to me from time to time, but never before while playing bridge. My sneezes were generally alarmingly explosive and repetitive — up to nine at a time. I excused myself, left the playing area, and blew my nose until the situation was under control.

Our most embarrassing hand was #12. North opened 1♥, and Mark overcalled 2♣. South raised, and so did I. North bid 4♥, which prompted Mark to bid 4♠. I muddled about this. I figured that he must be 6-5. Lots of people bid the minor first when they are 6-5. 4♠ was worth more than 5♣, and eleven tricks are a lot more difficult to take than ten. Therefore, I passed. No one doubled.

The hand record alleged that the opponents can only take six tricks in spades, which would leave us down four. However, Mark was only able to corral four tricks, which left us down six for -300. One other pair played in this silly contract. They were set only five tricks.

I apologized, but in my defense no one with whom I play would have dared to introduce a four-card suit at the four level. Mark said that it was OK because 5♣ would have gone down two. If they doubled, we would have gotten the same score. Mark also said that he would have bid Michaels if he had held five spades.

In fact, they can make 4♥ on this hand, but it would not be easy. Many of the pairs who tried were set one trick. One was doubled and was defeated by two tricks for the disastrous score of -500.

Some of the bad results were not our fault. On hand #17 we pushed the opponents into an unmakeable 5♠ contract. Mark started with the ♣K, which was ruffed. He had bid both diamonds and clubs. I thought that our best chance of setting the contract was if Mark held the ♦A. I could then take the first round of trump and lead my singleton. He could then give me a ruff, QED. Unfortunately, this strategy cost us a trump trick when the ace and king crashed, and I never got my ruff. If I had to play this hand again, I would play it just as I did.

In all we got no zeros and two 100's. Nevertheless, our total percentage was only 38.05, which was more than six percentage points worse that the next poorest East-West score in our section. Mark's assessment was accurate: “It did not feel like a good round, and, in fact it wasn't.” We still had one more session to show our stuff.

I ate a sandwich for supper and then spent most of the rest of the time packing. I learned from Sue that we were scheduled to go with Sonja Smith, an occasional partner of mine, and her husband Chris on a sunset cruise in Maui on Monday. They were staying at the Westin in Ka'anapali, which was just north of our home base of Lahaina. Sonja said that she would buy our tickets, which meant that I needed to find $200 in cash to reimburse her.

The evening session was a great improvement. Just as the first round was starting the weekly fireworks display was set off, and we were ready. We only really had one bad hand. We were down two in 4♦ when we should have defended a doubled contract in hearts or clubs. Neither side had an eight-card fit in any suit.

Our total percentage was 60.70, less than 1 percent less than the first-place North-South team in our section. It was a nice way to finish a week of bridge that had contained so many low points. We even eclipsed Sue's one-day-old record for greatest comeback.

Afterwards Sue and I went to the Tapa Bar for one last drink. A trio that played traditional Hawaiian music was just finishing its final set. It seemed like a fitting way to cap off our stay in Hilton's Hawaiian Village.