Playing cards with Grandma Eckman, part three

We didn't have much choice, my older brother, younger sister and I. Our great-grandmother was babysitting and wrecked our plans with her own. While we were breaking down the worlds we created with our Matchbox cards and Barbie dolls in our playroom, she was waiting for us in the kitchen. She had given us ten minutes to put all of our toys away, and we were taking longer, because we were heartbroken by her declaration that our play world was a “disaster,” especially since we had set it up just for her.

We had hoped to finish late enough to go to bed and avoid her for the rest of the evening, but she had other plans. She wanted us in the kitchen, and while we didn’t know why, we knew we had to finish and report to her.

Earlier that evening, we had nearly run down the stairs to greet her, but this time, we moved lugubriously from our playroom through the living room and the dining room and finally into the kitchen, where she was seated at the table, drinking a cup of coffee.

“There you are!” she exclaimed with a big smile.

We stood in the doorway, puzzled by her demeanor and confused by the way she had set the table.  She had dealt playing cards at four places, including her own, with stacks of pennies at each place. Also at each place was a glass of Kool-Aid and a dessert plate. At the back center of the table was a plate of her incredible raisin-filled cookies.

All of the disappointment and anger we had been feeling immediately flew right out of the room, and we fell over each other to get to the table.

“Missy, you sit by me,” Grandma Eckman instructed to help the four-year-old learn the game.

We were all familiar with playing cards, even Missy. She had mastered Go Fish and could even play Crazy 8s with a little assistance. The way Grandma Eckman had dealt the cards, however, was something entirely different. Jeff and I knew several other card games, and this was none of those.

“What game is this, Grandma?” I asked.

“You know,” Jeff started in his authoritarian voice, “Missy only knows—“

“This is a new card game,” Grandma Eckman said. “I’m going to teach it to all of you. I’m sure Missy can learn it, too, can’t you, darling?”

That’s all it took for my little sister to dessert us and take her seat by Grandma Eckman.

“What’s it called?” I asked.

“It doesn’t really have a name,” Grandma Eckman answered. “It’s a game my older sisters taught me when I was a little girl. You’ll like it, I promise. Now, let’s sit down and get playing.”

We each took our seat, and Grandma Eckman explained the rules. We ate cookies and played that card game for a couple of hours, long past our bed-time, until Grandma was sure we had mastered it, and Missy was falling asleep at the table.  The game used two decks of cards, and included three parts – five-card draw poker, a give-and-get depending on the cards in our hands and a match our cards to the count. In each hand, the dealer tended to come out ahead, so we all wanted to be dealer.

The best part, at least to us, was that Grandma Eckman allowed us to keep whatever pennies we had left, and we all had some pennies. Although it was only pennies, we each felt rich and went off to bed without a whimper. Our evening with Grandma Eckman turned out all right after all.