Saturday, July 27, 2013

Cards like a Boss

7-26-2013

            You have not seen someone play cards if you have not seen Bucky and Dylan play cards. You have not played cards if you have not played cards like Bucky and Dylan. If you have seen them play cards, you will understand what I experienced today, and if you have not, you should.
            It was a rainy day and no one came to swim at that small neighborhood pool, so Bucky and I, the two lifeguards, sat inside the club house and chilled for the day. When Bucky’s older brother, a lifeguard manager, was done at the water park he was working at, Phillip’s Park, he came over with Bucky’s girlfriend Haley. They brought Taco Bell…. and a deck of cards.
            After Haley left, I participated in one game of Egyptian Rat Screw with Bucky and Dylan, but little did I know of their skill. I went through my cards, but ended up being lucky because I had all the Jacks. I did eventually loose my cards in the end.
When Dylan left to use the bathroom, he gave me his stack of cards, thinking I would run out and loose against Bucky. Little did I know that I was again lucky because I had some strong cards in there. I held out until Dylan got back, but I had by then shrunk his stack to a small size. He was surprised that I had held out, but not too happy that I had shrunk his stack. He wanted me to just loose so he could start a new game.
He took his cards back from me and continued the game as I watched. It was hard and mind boggling to watch Bucky and Dylan slam their hands on that table, every few cards as it seemed. Dylan came around and started to gain his cards back from Bucky that I had lost. It was obvious that Dylan was a better player than Bucky, but not by much. They were both a pretty fare match.
Together, they bent over that table with me watching intently from the side, the card stack in the middle, all their minds and will focused on what was rapidly laying itself out before them. Their reflexes were lightning speed. Cards went down, and suddenly hands shot out from nowhere with a bang on the table. Whoever lost the slap would sometimes let out a curse under their breath. They played cards like their life depended upon it.
I was surprised how entertaining it was. I watched closely because I wanted to get good at seeing those doubles and sandwiches instantly. These guys made me suddenly interested in card playing. They made me want to get good at it. I wondered if I would ever get to watch them play cards again.
And then Dylan would goof up and blame it on me for loosing all his cards. Ah! Well he DID entrust me with his stack of cards. His excuse was he thought I’d loose them all, but I was too clever and lucky for that. I mean, I did win two slaps against Bucky which Dylan congratulated me for with a huge “TWO WHOLE SLAPS?!” sarcastically.
Don’t get me wrong, I knew they did not intend anything mean, and I took nothing personally. I just thought they were both pretty funny guys and I was seeing a side to them I had never seen before.
I watched them play game after game, and then they played Speed, which they called Spit because they played it at about five times its normal pace. This one involved them flipping lots of cards in rows and throwing them into two different piles faster than I could blink. When they were finally done, we went to clean up the pool and put away the equipment to end our day.

Sometimes brothers act differently or share interests outside of public. This is obviously Dylan and Bucky’s brother side. To those two guys, cards is not an old lady game, it is competition and pure joy.

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