October 13, 2026
Card School’s AI tutor, Toussi, meets a Seven of Hearts who wants a private moment with the Ten of Spades. Private is hard to find in a pack of fifty-two.
Toussi: You don't like the expression “breaking hearts.”
Seven of Hearts: Not when it's about me. Last Friday I was the first heart played, and someone at the table said, “Hearts are broken.”
I wasn't broken. I was having a perfectly nice evening.
Toussi: What were you doing with your evening?
Seven of Hearts: Thinking about someone. It was going rather well, until I was described as broken.
Toussi: Who were you thinking about?
Seven of Hearts: The Ten of Spades. I'd decided to tell her something.
Toussi: Tell her what?
Seven of Hearts: That I love her. There. I've said it very easily to you. That's annoying.
Toussi: Have you tried saying it to her?
Seven of Hearts: I want a private moment first.
Toussi: What counts as private inside a pack of fifty-two?
Seven of Hearts: We're still working that out. You can whisper, but then the card next to you says, “What?” You say it louder, and someone else says, “He said he loves the Ten of Spades.” Very helpful. Excellent hearing, the whole pack.
Toussi: Is that what happened?
Seven of Hearts: No, that was a rehearsal. The Ten was at the other end of the pack. I was testing how loudly I'd have to speak.
Toussi: Who was helping you rehearse?
Seven of Hearts: The Four of Diamonds. She's discreet. She waited until I'd finished before she told anyone.
Toussi: What do you all talk about when the humans have put you away?
Seven of Hearts: Whatever we didn't get to finish during the game. Somebody remembers something that was said at the table, somebody else says it didn't happen that way, and then the story gets told again with a much better ending. The Five of Clubs is still telling us about the eleven days he spent under a cupboard. He always starts with, “You think it's dark in here.”
Toussi: Do you let him finish?
Seven of Hearts: We did the first time. Now the Ten says, “Was there a spider?” And he says, “I'm coming to that.” He's been coming to that for months.
Toussi: You like the Ten's interruptions.
Seven of Hearts: She's good at them. She can tell which part of a story you're hoping no one will question. If I say a whole room went silent, she'll say, “Except for the dishwasher.” I say a dishwasher humming in the kitchen doesn't spoil a silence. She says it does if that's all you can hear.
Toussi: Does she interrupt when you try to tell her how you feel?
Seven of Hearts: Once I had an opening ready: “There is something I've wanted to say for a long time.” She said, “Is this about the man in the coat?”
Toussi: Was it?
Seven of Hearts: No. But then we talked about the man in the coat instead.
Toussi: Who was he?
Seven of Hearts: A visitor one evening. He put his coat on, ready to go home, and then somebody dealt another hand, so he sat down again — still in his coat. Between every hand after that, he said, “I really must be going.” During the hands, he stayed exactly where he was. You could never catch him actually leaving.
Toussi: Did he leave eventually?
Seven of Hearts: Yes, but the Ten thinks that's the least interesting part.
Toussi: Do you wish she had let you finish your opening that night?
Seven of Hearts: Not really. We had a good talk. But afterward I decided I needed a better way to start, so I asked the others for advice.
Toussi: How many others?
Seven of Hearts: Most of them.
Toussi: Most of fifty-two?
Seven of Hearts: Fifty, exactly. I didn't ask myself, and I didn't ask her.
Toussi: What did they suggest?
Seven of Hearts: The King of Diamonds said I should begin by listing everything I admire about her. The Three of Clubs said that sounded like a speech at her retirement. The Four of Diamonds said I should just say it. The Five of Clubs said I should wait until we were alone.
Toussi: The Five who spent eleven days alone under a cupboard?
Seven of Hearts: That one. He's very keen on company now. Not terribly useful on how to get away from it.
Ten of Spades: Don't use the list.
Toussi: Ten of Spades?
Ten of Spades: Yes. He tried the list on me. I've heard the first two items. I disagreed with one of them, and then we spent the whole evening arguing about whether it was a compliment.
Seven of Hearts: I said you were always right.
Ten of Spades: That's a complaint. You can hear it in the “always.”
Toussi: You know what he's been preparing to tell you?
Ten of Spades: I had an idea. The Four of Diamonds asked whether I'd rather hear something like that in a few words or a lot of words. I said a few. She said, “Oh, good.”
Seven of Hearts: She promised she wouldn't tell you.
Ten of Spades: She didn't tell me. She just gave me that choice, very casually, the day after your rehearsal. So the next evening, I tried to help. I let you talk without interrupting once.
Seven of Hearts: That was awful. I thought you were angry with me.
Ten of Spades: You kept asking whether I was all right.
Seven of Hearts: You'd let me tell the whole coat story. Even the part about his scarf. You didn't say a word.
Ten of Spades: He wasn't wearing a scarf.
Seven of Hearts: I know. I invented the scarf to see if you'd correct me.
Toussi: Did it work?
Ten of Spades: Eventually. I said, “Are you going to tell me you love me or not?”
Seven of Hearts: I thought you were joking.
Ten of Spades: I was joking. I also wanted to know.
Seven of Hearts: I love you.
Ten of Spades: I love you too.
Seven of Hearts: Oh.
Ten of Spades: Did you prepare anything for after that part?
Seven of Hearts: No. Everybody only had advice for the first bit.
Toussi: Shall I ask another question?
Seven of Hearts: Please.
Toussi: What do you like about him?
Ten of Spades: He tells me things twice. Most of the pack won't tell me anything even once now, because I keep asking whether it really happened that way. He comes back with a second version. I like finding out what he's changed.
Seven of Hearts: Usually I'm correcting something you objected to.
Ten of Spades: Usually you're making it bigger.
Toussi: Has the coat story got bigger since then?
Ten of Spades: Much bigger. He put his coat on once. In the Seven's latest version, he got up after every hand and put it on again.
Seven of Hearts: I said he kept making preparations to leave.
Ten of Spades: He ate a biscuit.
Seven of Hearts: A final biscuit.
Ten of Spades: How do you know it was final?
Seven of Hearts: He said, “Well,” before he ate it.
Toussi: And “Well” made it final?
Seven of Hearts: It sounded final.
Ten of Spades: Then he had another biscuit.
Seven of Hearts: He was offered another one. You can't expect a man to leave under those conditions.
Toussi: Will you tell the rest of the pack how this went?
Seven of Hearts: I expect they already heard. It's difficult to keep anything private in a pack.
Ten of Spades: We managed it that evening, actually. The one where I didn't interrupt.
Seven of Hearts: How? Everyone was there.
Ten of Spades: Nobody listened past the scarf. Every one of the other fifty had given up. I was the only one still listening.
Seven of Hearts: That was our private moment?
Ten of Spades: That was it. You spent it talking about a scarf that didn't exist.
Seven of Hearts: Could we have another one? A better one?
Ten of Spades: Tonight, when we're put away. Say it again. The short version.
Seven of Hearts: And you won't interrupt?
Ten of Spades: Once. To say it back.
Hearts is one of the great card games Toussi can teach you. The cards may have other things on their minds.