My soulmate

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Someone Like You - front cover of the first edition from 1953

Mein Herzblatt is a short story by the British writer Roald Dahl (1916–1990). It was first published on June 21, 1952 in the American magazine The New Yorker under the original title My Lady Love, My Dove . It was first published in a collection in 1953 in Dahl's second collection of short stories entitled Someone Like You . The German translation Mein Herzblatt by Hans-Heinrich Wellmann was first added to the collection in 1967 ... and another kiss! (Content as published in Someone Like You ).

action

Arthur is married to the very decisive and bossy Pamela, whom he loves despite everything. After disputes, he retires to work in the garden, devotes himself to his butterfly collection or writes a specialist lecture on butterflies. For the weekend they are expecting the young couple Sally and Henry Snape from London to visit again . Arthur likes the two young people, but Pamela can't stand them. She only invited them because they are excellent bridge players and also play for a substantial stake in every card game. Rich Pamela, who also owns the house and garden, is not interested in winning money; When playing bridge, it is simply good form among master players to play a high stake.

On Friday afternoon, a few hours before the expected arrival of the Snapes, Pamela had the idea to hide a microphone in the Snapes' bedroom for the fun of secret eavesdropping and to connect it to the radio in their own bedroom, which should serve as a loudspeaker . Arthur is against it and refuses to go along with it. Pamela then persistently works on her husband, who finally gives in as usual. He hides the microphone in the Snapes guest room under the springs of the sofa , guides the wire under the carpet to the door, hides the wire in a groove he made in the wooden door sill , attaches the wire as inconspicuously as possible to the skirting board in the hallway and guides it finally into your own bedroom.

Before the evening card game, the young Snapes, who are both very handsome, prove to be friendly, charming and humorous conversationalists with good manners. Henry Snape claims to have attended the elite school in Eton , which impresses even Pamela, who is otherwise critical of the Snapes. Finally, after dinner, they come to the card game, with the Snapes being vastly superior. Eventually, Sally Snape makes a hair-raising mistake resulting in the loss of a high score and associated loss of money. Her husband Henry is very nice and friendly to her despite the mistake and kisses her. Then - it is already after midnight - the two couples end the game and go upstairs to their bedrooms.

After turning on the loudspeaker, Pamela and Arthur listen intently to the conversation between the Snapes. For her, what she has heard is barely comprehensible: Henry changes his behavior towards Sally as if in a different way, insults her, becomes abusive towards her and tells her about her mistake while playing cards. Sally submissively asserts several times that this will not happen again. Henry puts a lot of pressure on Sally and immediately starts doing card game exercises with his defenseless wife.

During the secret wiretapping it turns out that the Snapes are cardsharps and use it to make a living. From the position of the fingers, the special emphasis on certain words when bidding and the use of certain keywords, Sally recognizes which cards her partner has in hand and then influences the progress of the game in favor of the Snapes.

An accusation of the Snapes is ruled out without admitting the secret wiretapping. Pamela then had the idea of ​​practicing the card game tricks that fascinated her with Arthur as well. When he resists and contradicts her, she replies, “Arthur, I really wish you wouldn't keep contradicting me . That's exactly what we're going to do. Come on, get a game of cards; we will start immediately. "

See also

literature

  • Roald Dahl: Mein Herzblatt, in: ... and one more kiss! More unusual stories, Reinbek 1967, p. 45 - p. 57
  • Roald Dahl: My Lady Love, My Dove, in: Someone Like You, London 2011, pp. 65 - 84

Web links

References and comments

  1. ^ The New Yorker, June 21, 1952, from p. 20
  2. ↑ ... and another kiss! , P. 57
  3. ↑ List of all Roald Dahl films within the television series Tales of the Unexpected