So, I entered the FirstLineFiction.com writing contest, and I'm not entirely sure, but I think I won.... (I'll post when I hear for sure) anyway, here's my entry for it.
Bridge
All the trouble began when my grandfather died and my grandmother - my father's mother - came to live with us. She had stayed with us before for things like holidays and birthdays, but never more than a weekend. She always had to be home for her Bridge game, which happened every Monday night at 6. All I really knew about Bridge was that is was a card game, that it was favored by old people, and usually meant an abundance of sugar free candy. So, naturally I never gave that card game much thought. At least, not until my grandmother moved in. My dad and my uncle brought her and all of her things (which, smelled as old as she did) to our house on f\Friday, the funeral was Saturday. She was unpacked by supper on Sunday and then They came. It was Monday evening, supper was finished and I was doing the dishes when I noticed my gradmother shuffling around the dining room, rearranging chairs at the table and setting out glass and pencils.
"Whatcha doin Grandma?" I asked, a little confused.
"Setting up for Bridge" she answered me with a slightly sarcastic smile. Like I should have know already exactly what she was doing. Then the doorbell rang. My mother answered the door in her usual warm and welcoming way, and the next thing I knew, there was another old lady in my dining room. She was wrinkled, like my grandmother, with curly white and gray hair, thick glasses, a black straight cane and an old fashioned carpet bag. She also smelled like formaldehyde.
"Uma!" my grandmother cooed at her as she three-legged limped her way around the table. "Uma, this is Jered, my grandson, isn't he handsome?" she stood next to me and waited while Uma took a good long look at me and then huffed. She sat down on the far side of the table, arranged her cane, and began to shuffle a deck of cards she had brought with her.
"He certainly is Rosie." she looked me over again 'Does he play?"
"Bridge?" I asked "Never." I have to admit I was a little shocked when Uma laughed at my response, and slightly insulted when my grandmother winked at her and laughed too. I was about to ask when the doorbell rang again. This time, the lady was slightly less wrinkled and wearing a wicker hat. No cane, she had hair that was obviously dyed blond and a strong floral scent. Uma waved heartily to her as she came in the room and sat down at the end of the table.
"Margaret!" she said "What do you think of Rosies new house? Hmmm? It comes complete with a grandson to help us out. Jered this is Margaret." she gestured from me to the blond old woman.
"Hi." I said
"Pleasure young man. Do you play?"
"No ma'am, I don't play Bridge" I blushed when they all laughed again, which only made them laugh harder. My grandmother put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed, just as the doorbell rang for a third time.
This woman, was the tiniest person I had ever seen, she couldn't have been taller than 4'5", her hair was still black and strait as a board, cut in a bob around her harsh face. She wore rimless glasses and a scowl that would scare the devil as she scooted along on her walker to the closest side of the table and lowered herself into the seat.
"Who's this?" she looked at me pointedly, and I swallowed
"I'm Jered, Rosies' grandson, and no I don't play." I said to her before she could ask.
"Pity. You should learn. Have a seat young man, and don't hold up the game." I went to the empty chair next to her and nervously sat down as my grandmother slid into her place at the head of the table.
"Go on the Uma. Deal the cards." As she said this she reached into her purse and pulled out a zip lock bag of poker chips. The other ladies each handed her a 20 dollar bill and she counted and passed out them out.
"Blind is 5 and 2" my grandmother called as Uma finished dealing.
"Pair of 8s, clubs and diamonds, and the 5 of spades on the flop" Uma announced. Margaret tapped the table twice.
"Call, and raise you a dollar." She looked at the tiny woman as she slid a chip into the center of the table.
"Alright Martha, I see your raise." and Uma turned over a fourth card on the table.
" 7 of Diamonds on the river"
"Fold" from my grandmother
"Check" from Martha and Margaret
Uma turned over a fifth card. " Jack of clubs"
She looked at Maraget. "Check" and then at Martha, who tapped the table.
The two women spread out their cards.
"Trip eights and a pair of Jacks to Martha" Uma called the hand and martha scooped the chips into her pile. I watched her for a minute while she counted and stacked, and then I looked at my grandmother.
"Teach me?" I asked. She laughed and smiled and said "Alright, sonny."
That night I learned the ins and outs of poker, the terminology, the difference between a straight and flush, the blind, the check. All of it. As the weeks went on, I continued to join their game, the only problem was that I never really got the hang of the game. I always lost, I won maybe one hand in my first three weeks of playing with my grandma and her friends. But I couldn't stop playing, I didn't have a job, so at first, I borrowed money from my grandma to play, but after awhile, that just didn't feel right. So I started to use my allowance. When that ran out, I got the money from the cigar box under my dads side of the bed. I don't think I was supposed to know about that box.
About two months after I started to use the cigar box money, my parents started fighting. I didn't know what about, it was always in their room, and never quite loud enough for me to hear clearly. But when I came home that Thursday and found the electric company had shut off our power, I started to get the idea. Money, they were arguing about money. I decided to help, I made up my mind right on the spot, that I would win the next poker night. If only it had worked that way.
That night, when my dad came home from work he was unusually silent. My mom had stayed in their room all day, but I didn't know why. I watched him walk slowly up the stairs and stop at the bedroom door. He just stared at it, then turned and went down the hall to my grandmas room. I was worried, but I didn't know what I could do, so I went for a walk.
When I came home my mom was waiting for me on the porch. She told me that my dad and grandmother had left. That they weren't coming back. She told me that my dad wanted to divorce her, and that I was old enough to know the truth about it.
" Your father found out, that I have been having an affair. I don't know how he found out about it, but he did." her voice shook as she told me. "He kept some emergency money hidden in our room, he said it was gone, and that that was how he knew he was right. I just don't understand how he found out, we never touched that money.I mean I guess I did, by spending too much because I knew he had it..." She started to cry and I did too.
