Were the card players aware of anything beyond the probing expressions and careful movements of their opponents, they would note the distant sound of classical music, sometimes clearly, sometimes muffled, coming through the half-open door from the adjacent kitchens.
Studying their current accommodation they would assume that it typically served as an activity room of some kind. Or perhaps even a gym, given the paraphernalia which had earlier that day been scattered across the floor and since pushed unceremoniously to the room’s four walls to accommodate the game.
One of the room’s pale blue walls has a series of windows through which the sun is attempting to pour, hampered only partly by some half-drawn red curtains, catching the dust in the air and creating shafts of warm light which attract a small ginger cat looking for somewhere to nap. Periodically a car drives down the tree-lined street outside, the noise intruding on the game abruptly and making one of the card players look up nervously until it passes to his opponents barely concealed annoyance.
Opposite the kitchens is a further entrance, this one leading down a narrow magnolia walled passageway to a large wooden door. Through here the card players will eventually, one by one, make the walk of shame to waiting transportation. Stopping perhaps to agree future meetings with their hosts, while their drivers wait impatiently.
But awareness of their surroundings comes second to careful observation of their opponents. The only pronounced movement in the room is the cat, shifting occasionally to follow the sun across the floor.
The four card players sit, almost stock still, around the green plastic table. The game has reached a crucial point. Money is not a concern; the real stake here is respect. Reputation. For the winner the chance to laud it over his opponents, to brag about the victory amongst friends and peers, to enjoy all the social benefits success brings. For the unfortunates who will not win, the sole concern is avoiding significant loss of face.
Three pairs of eyes study the face of the fourth card player. Their right hands grip their cards while their left hands sit firmly palm down on the table in front of them, an important rule imposed by the adjudicator earlier in the game in the face of vigorous objection, but which will be observed to the letter by each player lest it be counted against them when arguing some future dispute.
The fourth player scrutinises his opponents one by one, his collar loose, his top stained faintly by an already forgotten spill received during the strained yet polite buffet they had endured before the game began. He lifts his left hand from the table and begins to carefully pull a single card from the selection in his right. Opposite a player's left arm twitches, his left hand moving almost imperceptibly, only to be returned to its place on the table by the stares of six observant and distrustful eyes.
The single card begins its journey towards the table. All four card players know this will be important, though not even the player holding the card will know how important until it is on the table and his left hand safely removed from the field of play. Carefully the card settles on a pile of cards that had sat, studiously undisturbed until now, in the middle of the table. The fourth player's left hand briefly covers the card, denying all four a view.
The hand begins to lift, pausing bare millimetres above the card it has just deposited on the table. Four backs straighten. Four breaths are held. Four pairs of eyes stare at the hand, as if through sheer concentration alone they will see through it. Suddenly the hand drops back down.
"SNAP!"
“Cheater!”
“MUM HE CHEATED!”
“No see two monkeys!”
"You cheated you should move your hand so we can see!"
"I did I moved it plenty!"
“Cheat cheat cheat!”
"MUUUUUM HE CHEATED AGAIN HE DIDN'T MOVE HIS HAND ENOUGH!"
"See I moved it up like that you can see it fine see!"
"MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!"
Love it!
ReplyDelete