A Boston party: card games, Cardinals and a card--oh, my.(Boston Red Sox fans, celebrations)

Take a card, any card," says the magician in the Red Sox top hat.

We're on Yawkey Way, a Boston city street alongside the red brick of Fenway Park, the street closed to traffic, open to revelers of the baseball kind. It's a cool and windy night, October promising winter, October promising the World Series, and what more could be better?

The magician has a Red Sox logo on his face, and he has enticed a beautiful blonde to be his mark: "We have never met, have we? Other than that one night, we've never met, I've never seen you, you've never seen me. We've arranged nothing, have we? You haven't forgiven me for that one time yet. You'll get over it. Take a card, I'll turn my back. Sign your name on the card, re-insert it into the deck, meet me at the Cask 'N Flagon an hour after the game."

Stealthily, with the magician's back turned, the blonde picks the 9 of hearts, signs her name, returns the card.

More patter, and who knows what happened next, but he stops talking, and from his mouth, slowly, comes a card ... the 3 of spades.

He says, "Not your card, is it?"

Beautiful blonde, "Uh, no."