Is That a Queen of Hearts in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy To See Me?

“Wanna see a magic trick?” may not be the best pick up line for a bar.

Unless you’re British, then anything seems permissible.

I had seen him the day before (don’t judge me) at the St. Regis Bar (again, don’t judge me) as he was visiting his son who interestingly enough lives in my building.

My BNF (Best Neighbor Forever) and I walked over to grab a glass of wine and catch up on the week. There he stood, telling stories to a bunch of strangers. I knew they were strangers because he was standing over them with arms flailing and they were staring at their phones.

As soon as he saw us, he galloped over.

“‘Ello!,’” he began in his British accent. “Care to see a magic trick?”

“Absolutely we do.”

“Imagine a card, any card!” he exclaimed as he threw his arms in the air almost knocking over a drink tray in route to it’s table.

“Should I pick like a 6 of Diamonds or be basic and go with Queen of Hearts,” I thought to myself.

“Queen of Hearts,” I replied.

He turned to Erin and said, “Reach into my front pocket and you will pull one out!”

“Pull what out?” I wondered.

Erin squinted her eyes and said, “I can’t believe I’m doing this,” as she pressed her pointer finger and thumb together and barely reached inside his pocket. She then pulled out…you guessed it…a Queen of Hearts.

Everyone around us began applauding.

He asked to take a picture of us holding the card. We obliged. Then he asked to take another picture of us without the card for his “son who wanted to see who he was hanging out with.”

This seemed a bit stalkery, but then again the entire last 20 minutes had been stalkery.

“Ladies, come to our ‘pah-tee’ tomorrow night at my son’s condo!”

We told him to put us on the list.