Poker

Saturday nights have been poker night for the neighborhood “boys” for years. But the gang keeps decreasing until finally only two of the men would meet. Mitzi came into the basement to check to see if the guys wanted drinks and asked her husband Hank why he has never asked her or Fred’s wife Mandy if they wanted to play poker and make a foursome. Hank and Fred thought for a minute, “Do you girls think you know enough about how to play poker to make the games interesting?” ...

“…But I don’t have enough quarters to ante up" I whined. “I have plenty” the man sitting across from me taunted with his wicked smile… We were the first of our little group of friends that were married, and our little two bedroom rented house as a result the unofficial social center for our friends. There was a couch and a spare bedroom, so if somebody needed to they could always stay over, and many times they did due to our little place being well out of town where rents were cheaper. This time the excuse to get together was poker, but it could have been a barbecue, or a college game on the TV, or even a board game. It didn’t matter really, just friends getting together in a place that wasn’t their own home. ...

story continues from part seven Chapter Eight - High Stakes “You want to do what?” We were sitting at the kitchen table having breakfast when Lydia had asked me a question about the up-coming holiday weekend. Three days with no work, no client calls, and no plans. While things hadn’t been completely crazy recently, they’d been busy enough that both of us were looking forward to the time alone together without interruption. I was a bit engrossed with the sports section, since the Cubs were on a tear lately and I was very much looking forward to the fact that they were on the TV twice in the next three days. Then Lydia had said something about “high stakes poker.” ...