Playing Cards in Michigan
I looked up around the table. Everyone was studiously checking their cards and organizing them whichever way they saw fit. I glanced back down at my cards and started organizing them myself. I tended to put disposable cards to the left first. After that, I either matched cards by suit or numbers, whichever seemed most beneficial at the time. I had nine cards in my hand and fanned them out so I could see all of the cards at the same time. I could hear the rain outside pouring down onto the street, the cars, the porch. Inside however, I was covered with a plush throw blanket, sitting comfortably at the table with a warm cup of tea steaming next to me. We were sitting on the patio, which was only covered by a screen, so the smell of rain trickled in along with the noise.
We were playing Rummy, a family favorite. Card games in general were always a family favorite. I've known what four of a kind, full house, or flush were since I could hold the cards in my hand, well before reading or counting. My favorite memories were sitting in my dad's living room, surrounded by family and friends, the Loop blaring in the background as we all quietly reviewed our cards and eyed each other warily. Rummy was always my favorite. Nights like this reminded me of my dad, of those nights. I felt happy, at peace.
I leaned back and let my back rest against the wall. My cards were organized and ready. I watched as the rest finished organizing their own cards, making eye contact as they each finished and looked up. Shannon moved first to grab a card out of the pile. She made a small face, it could have either been excitement or regret, but she quickly concealed it and added the card to her hand, pulling another one out to discard. Jr. made a sound that was somewhere in between a snort and a laugh. He smiled and slapped his palm against his leg. He was always more interested in egging people on rather than carefully play his cards. He went next, picking up Shannon's discarded card and adding it to his pile. He made a show of adding it to his cards and then shuffling several of them around, like he had a good hand. Everyone smiled and my mom made a comment about him teasing us.
Sam was next. The only problem was Sam didn't even have his cards in his hand. He had turned around and was doing something behind him with his shoes. Jr. coughed loudly, trying to get his attention. We all sat and stared for several seconds quietly, waiting to see how long it would take him to notice. My mom, not playing but sitting off to the side observing, lifted her foot and started poking him with her toe. After three times, he finally turned around.
"OH!" He shouted all startled. He made a show of turning around and picking up all his cards. We watched as he turned serious, examining each of his cards individually. He looked at his cards, looked down at the pile, looked at his cards, then down at the pile again. Someone sighed loudly, I'm not sure who. Finally though, he moved to pick up a card. He paused, his hand hovering over the pile as he again looked back and forth between his hand and the pile.
Shannon sighed, I'm thinking she did it the first time too, "Sam! Come on!" Sam smiled and picked up a card from the pile. He enjoyed the attention, even if he was being yelled at. He immediately threw down the card into the discard pile, not wanting it. I glanced around the room at everyone's faces. Most were looking at their own cards. I looked back down at my own cards. It was my turn next and I was a serious player. I looked at the cards in the discard pile and then back at mine. I bit the inside of my lip and contemplated my options, taking my time. There were ones in the discard pile I could use, but nothing I needed immediately or could lay down immediately, so I decided to skip that. I grabbed a card off the top of the pile and added it to my hand. Was it the same suit as any of mine? Was it the same number as any of them? I shuffled some cards around to see what worked, but knew already I probably wouldn't keep it.
I was a player who held onto all of my cards until the very last minute. I could have all four aces and not lay them down until the very last second. Sometimes, it worked in my favor. With a blitz attack, going out right away, people usually lost points with the cards left in their hands. Sometimes, it didn't work out so well. On those occasions, I'd be stuck with four aces in my hand and someone else would go out unexpectedly. I'd be the one losing all the points. I could never really tell which way it was going to go, but I still stuck to my method. This was one of the reasons I was always so reluctant to give up any cards, you never know down the road if you could use it or not.
Sam started mumbling quietly, "Tick, tock, tick, tock..." I looked up and gave him a dirty look. "Says the one who didn't even know we had started playing." Even as I was saying it though, I was discarding the original card I'd picked up. I knew I wouldn't keep it from the start.
Next up was my sister. She was a serious player as well, just in an quicker time frame than me. Before I'd even had a chance to glance in her direction she had already picked up a card and switched it with another card in her pile. Once she switched them out, she laid three nines out in front of her on the table. Everyone groaned. It wasn't an amazing hand to lay down, 15 points, but it was the first points of the game. We were that much closer to finishing, that much closer to having a winner. All at once, everyone seemed to get more serious.
The game continued for several more hours. Comments were made, threats were thrown, points were laid down. We played to 500 most nights, but tonight we were playing to 1000, so every point helped. At one point my mom got up to leave, only to be replaced by someone else. We were playing in my Aunt Cindy's cabin that night, so people continued to shuffle in and out all night despite the rain. We got louder and rowdier as the night continued, but no one complained. Sam fell asleep around the eighth hand and was replaced by one of my uncles. As 1AM loomed closer, we were finally in the last stretch. As long as Shannon scored more than 50 points, she would win. But most of us were right behind her, excluding my uncle who was losing from the start having picked up Sam's score, so if any of scored higher than that, we could bump her out of first. Most of us were close. I could see people adding up their points in their head before the game was even over, glancing at the scoreboard, trying to do the math in their head.
I watched as my sister added a Jack to her pile, "Off Shannon" and then a three, "Off Darcy." She sat back, smiling successfully, "I'm floating."
My uncle started arguing, "No! No, no, no. There is no floating. You have to discard something." This was only one of the many arguments of the night. We grew up allowing floating, there was no changing that rule. He was overruled quickly and the game continued. If she was floating, that meant she would go out at any time, so everyone was desperate to get rid of their high point cards, and quick. Shannon went next and immediately went out. She shouted triumphantly as she laid down her last card, "Out!" This was met with a few groans, both happy and sad. The game is fun, but after playing for so many hours, it's nice to finally have an end. We all sat quietly, counting up our final points. When Shannon realized that even going out first and being in the lead didn't ensure her winning, she stood up.
"You guys suck. Tomorrow night we play Spoons." We all laughed as she opened the screen door and went inside. Spoons dragged on for several hours as well, and was just as cutthroat. I'd been famously punched in the eye twice playing Spoons, and many other people had similar injuries. It didn't matter what game we played, it was still a battle.
Comments
Post a Comment