Poker Game

Elsa sneezed.

Diane laughed. “Did you know you sneezed the last time the four of clubs came up?”

Elsa laughed too. “Who pays attention to that? Just deal the cards, Diane. You are so strange.”

Diane, Elsa, Tim, Eddie, and Janet played Texas Hold ‘Em every Sunday afternoon, usually at Elsa’s house. She had a cozy dining room with a big round table that could hold their cards, their drinks, their phones, and their snacks, although most of them tried to keep their phones face down out of respect for the game.

Diane sipped her gin and tonic and grinned. “Poker is a game of patterns, predictions. Of course I pay attention to what happens when the four of clubs shows up.”

Janet shook her head ever so slightly. Of course Diane paid attention to what happened to Elsa. Elsa and Diane had been flirting for what had seemed like 20 years, although it had likely only been a few months. She had been waiting for something to come out of this weekly flirting, although Elsa and Diane seemed a bit trapped in the repetitive poker game with no outlet to advance their interests. Janet, witnessing it all, felt like a parent watching young kids play a complicated sport. Winning and losing really wasn’t the point. She truly hoped everyone just had a nice time.

“The four of clubs is a shit card.” Tim’s gruffness made them smile. He was young in years to be such a deep curmudgeon, but in storybook fashion, once you got through the crusty exterior, he had a deeply kind heart. Each of them had learned to be careful about complaining about anything broken in their homes, unless they wanted Tim to show up unexpectedly the next week, tools in hand, able to almost magically fix anything.

“That hardly seems pertinent to the game. Nor does Elsa’s sneezing. Are you going to bet or just sit there, Janet?” Eddie smiled, rushing the game, meaning he liked his cards. Janet knew this. Everyone knew this, including Eddie.

Janet noted Eddie’s enthusiasm. “I’m all in.” Eddie hesitated, knowing his cards were good, but maybe not that good. He grinned, recognizing he had overplayed. “I fold.”

After Janet scraped in her modest winnings, she started shuffling the cards to deal the next game. Diane and Eddie placed their blinds in the pot, and Janet dealt two cards to each player. Everyone stayed in to see the flop. Janet flipped three cards in the middle of the table: seven of diamonds, king of diamonds, and a four of clubs.

Elsa sneezed.

Everyone laughed.

Betting continued, Eddie folded, and Janet then flipped a ten of diamonds on the table. Eddie’s phone buzzed, and he ignored it. At this point, only Diane and Janet were still in the game. Janet flipped the last card, the river, an ace of hearts. An owl hooted outside the window.

“That damn owl, every week. Ok, Janet, what’s your move?” Diane looked back and forth between the cards in her hand and those on the table.

“It’s a good day for me, team. I’m going all in again.”

Diane stared at the cards again. She had nothing and was pretty sure Janet didn’t either. But she didn’t want to find out she was wrong.

“I fold. You are tearing it up today, Janet.” Diane said.

Janet smiled. “Something in the air.”

It was Tim’s turn to deal, and the ten of diamonds came up again on the flop. Eddie’s phone buzzed.

“For the love of god, Eddie. That’s twice.” Although it didn’t sound like it, Tim was no more irritated than average.

Eddie checked his phone and responded to his daughter by text, asking if all was well. She immediately sent back a message stating all was fine. She had just felt the urge to call him. “Strange. She never feels the urge to call me or anyone. I didn’t know she knew how to not text, honestly.”

The game moved on, with Eddie taking his turn dealing and then Elsa. Janet continued to win small but steady amounts as the other players lost small but steady amounts to her.

It was Tim’s turn to deal again. The four of clubs and the ten of diamonds came up on the flop. Elsa sneezed. Eddie’s phone buzzed.

An ace of hearts came up on the turn. The owl hooted outside the window.

The group hesitated. Tim stopped dealing and laid the cards down. “I know this sounds strange, but I’m not alone here, right? You guys are seeing the repetitions, yes? The sneezing, the phone, the owl?”

Looking at his blank phone out of habit, Eddie said, “Maybe we should call it. I know it’s early, but whatever.”

Diane and Elsa exchanged glances, clearly interested in continuing. Janet laughed. “Is this because I’m winning, Eddie?” she teased.

“Maybe Eddie has a point,” Tim said. He sighed. “But let’s finish this hand at least.” He flipped the river, a jack of spades. Everyone hesitated for a moment to see if anything would happen, and then, when nothing unusual occurred, most smiled a bit, although Eddie still looked concerned.

“Well, I’m getting another drink,” Diane announced. Elsa said she’d like to do the same, and the two of them moved into the kitchen.

“Was it your daughter again, Eddie?” Tim asked.

Eddie checked his phone. “It was. Then she immediately texted that it was nothing important. She even apologized for calling again. That’s three times in, what, 30 minutes?”

“Well, let’s test it,” Janet said. “Let’s flip the cards and see what happens.”

Tim and Eddie looked at each other. Tim still had the deck in front of him. He fished out the relevant cards and placed them, one at a time, face up on the table. Nothing happened.

“Maybe it has to be natural, like while we are playing? We can’t force it?” Janet mused.

“Force what?” Tim said. Janet waived her hands vaguely, to the universe in general, in response.

Elsa and Diane returned from the kitchen, drinks in hand. “Let’s play one more, and see what happens,” Elsa said, smiling at Diane. “Eddie, your deal.”

Eddie picked up the deck. The game proceeded, and Eddie hesitated before the flop. He placed the three cards face up, none of the suspect cards from before, and there was a knock at the door.

Janet looked at the flop: queen of clubs, two of spades, and eight of hearts. A crap flop, she thought, as Elsa got up to check on the door.

Elsa returned quickly, informing the group her neighbor was just checking on her. Elsa looked a little uneasy. “I’m not sure in all the years I’ve lived here, she’s ever just checked on me. I mean, it’s kind of her.”

The game quietly continued. With each card that flipped, and nothing strange happening, the group relaxed little by little, smiling more, making more offhand comments. Janet continued to steadily win, and it came back around to her deal. Three cards on the flop: two of spades, a six of clubs, and an ace of diamonds.

Three things happened at once: there was a knock on the door, the electricity flickered, and someone screamed. Janet quietly laid the deck of cards on the table and looked at the others. “We all heard that?”

Everyone nodded.

Tim cleared his throat. “This feels like a kind of escalation. Elsa, do you want to check on the door?”

Elsa shook her head no.

Diane said she would do it, returning shortly thereafter just as Elsa had, looking just as confused. It was the neighbor again, who, according to Diane, also seemed a bit confused. Diane resumed her seat, and no one said anything for a moment.

“It’s a little funny, right?” Her face didn’t look particularly amused. “It can’t be that the cards are like making things happen in the world. That’s beyond absurd. That’s not science. And yet,” her voice trailed off.

“There’s a part of me that wants to get to the bottom of it. Figure it out. And there’s a part of me that is getting louder, that thinks we walk away from this.” Tim looked at the others.

Janet hesitated. “Nothing bad has actually happened,” she said. “You all are assuming this is a bad thing.”

Eddie, thinking about his daughter’s strange behavior and the next-door neighbor’s, did not look convinced.

Elsa stood up and went to the side cupboard, where she had laid the empty playing card box. She took it to Janet and handed it to her. “Please put the cards back in the box, carefully, face down.”

Janet did as instructed, handing the box of cards to Elsa.

**********

Years later, Elsa and Diane’s daughter, Maya, was playing in the attic. She had found a key in Elsa’s jewelry box and was looking for its lock on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Pushed in the back corner of the attic was a small box the key fit into. Maya opened the dusty box and found nothing but a pack of playing cards.

Having nothing better to do, she settled herself on the floor to play solitaire. As she started dealing to herself, an owl hooted outside the window.