Mark was sitting on the front porch of Matherson’s store watching the town’s most prominent men play cards. Mark wasn’t playing today. In fact, it is said that the two surest ways to throw away money are to buy a boat and play cards with Mark Pritchett. Anyway, today he was not in the business of making money for his boat. Instead, he was trying to teach his grandson the art of playing cards. Mark had always considered the art of cards as the one good thing he could give to his children and to their children. (His son Matt made his own way through college.)
“Now Caleb, the first thing you do is play cards where there’s a cat. Cats are instinctive. They know who’s going to win the money and how long a person’s going to play before he leaves.”
Caleb listened on with temporary devotion.
“Now you see Ol’ Numbers, there? He’s been here about as long as I have. Now, he weren’t raised no dummy, he knows what he’s doing. ” Mark paused to catch his breath. “Now see,” he said pointing to the cat, “he’s sitting under Zach over there and a-wagging his tail. That means Zach’s gonna win, but he ain’t gonna play for more than twenty minutes or so. You got that?” Mark pointed at Officer Zachary Taylor and Judge Tillett. “Now listen very carefully to what they say.”
Caleb nodded and gazed over at the combatants on opposite stage.
“Alright, Judge,” Officer Zachary said, “you gotta bid.”
“With this hand you dealt me? I tell you, Zach, I couldn’t bid on this pile of refuse.”
“Reh what?” Officer Zachary asked with rapt attention.
“Refuse, Ref- Oh, never mind. From the looks of these beauties, I’m going to have to ask for a schmeiss.”
“Granddaddy, what’s a smiess?”
“Schmeiss,” Mark said, “that means the Judge wants Zach to redeal the cards.” Leaning farther up on the edge of his chair, he continued, “But the rules ain’t important, watch the men.”
“Well, if you’re going to press me like that Judge, I’m going to have to call Diamonds.”
“Diamonds?! Zach, someone is really watching over you today.”
“Why’d he say ‘Diamonds’ Granddaddy?”
“Shhhh. He said it to call Diamonds the trump suit in this hand, but the rules ain’t important. Watch the men Caleb, watch the men.”
“Well Zach, I’ll have to say twenty.”
“No good.”
Judge Tillett began to smile in the little corners of his mouth. “Maybe a ray of sunshine is coming this way.” He then scored himself twenty points.
“The Judge is about to get stomped. You see that smile on Judge Tillett’s face? He thinks he’s got a hand now even though he don’t. Now let’s see what happens to his little smile now.” Three more cards were dealt. “There it went,”
Mark laughed to himself, “He’ll be lucky to take a trick. That, Caleb, is a man with no diamonds.”
Caleb quit enjoying the spectacle his grandfather saw. It was just a fancier way of playing Go Fish to him. So, he decided to put the time he was spending with Mark to better use.
“You and Numbers always lived here, Granddaddy?”
“Yep. We’ve been here our whole lives.” Mark pulled his eyes away from the card game to look at Caleb. “I ain’t never been off of this island except during the war. You’d of loved Paris. About this time of year, all the flowers are in bloom and everybody is outdoors. Those French people are real nice and they were really glad to see us.
You know, I remember my friend Rodney. We’d pile into some stranger’s car and circle the Arc D’Triumph shouting about Hitler and what a windbag he was. Other times, we’d talk to the ambulance drivers, most of them were Americans, and try to figure out what to do before we had to move out to the front. One time, Rodney said, –”
“Said what, Granddaddy?”
Mark breathed a heavy sigh. “It’s not important, Caleb. That was a long time ago.” Looking up, he brightened. “See that? They’ve only played a couple of tricks and the Judge knows that he’s lost big time. You can tell by the way he’s holding his cards. It’s the eyes, too, boy. They never lie. You can always tell about a man by his eyes.”
Interrupting, Caleb said, “What happened to Rodney in Paris, Granddaddy?”
Ol’ Numbers had wandered inside the store to take his mid-afternoon snack. After two more hands of cards, Officer Zachary told the judge that he had some official business to take care of, so the two men parted company after long good-byes. Birds mutely chirped in the nearby trees and the wind produced a small gust causing Mark’s thinning hair to ruffle slightly. Matherson decided to come out on the porch since Officer Zachary had now left. He brought out two Coke-Colas and gave one to Judge Tillett.
The Sun traveled a little less than a degree in the sky.
“So did Rodney die, Granddaddy?” Caleb asked too loudly.
Mark was back in Paris during the war. He remembered asking Rodney if he wanted to play Go Fish to pass the time. All that Rodney said was that Mark needed to learn how to play serious cards. ‘That’s how it began’ Mark mused. They had talked several times of staying in Paris. Rodney was engaged to some French beauty and Mark was trying to court three women at the same time. They had figured on going into business running a nightclub or working for Rodney’s future father-in-law or maybe even moving to Madrid. They had so many plans to take over the world… and it all started when Mark asked if he wanted to pl–
“Huh, what?” started Mark coming out of a dream.
“I SAY DO YOU WANT TO PLAY SOME CARDS?” shouted Matherson.
“Oh, uh, sure, Jeremiah.” He said while traveling back to the present, “Just deal them out,” he whispered.
Ol’ Numbers came out of the big front door and jumped into Mark’s lap. Absent-mindedly, Mark began to scratch between his ears. Picking up his cards, he stared at the fistful of diamonds in his hand.