11. Poker

As soon as I finished writing, Jessica, Sarah, Kim and Tina filed in. They completely ignored me and took seats around the table. Each woman was carrying a squirt gun, which they set next to them on the table. Kim also held a deck of cards, which she began shuffling. I set the score sheet on the counter.

​

Jessica and Kim were both in their "Daisy Dukes" (very short denim pants), Kim in a red bikini top and Jessica in her "Love the Game" T-shirt, just as she was a moment ago. Sarah hadn't changed either: she wore her green miniskirt and sandals. Tina was conspicuously under-dressed, wearing only pantyhose (and flower-print panties beneath, I could see), and a white bra.

 

Tina reached under her chair, producing the sleeveless white mock turtle I'd removed at the Opening Ceremonies and one of her brown skirts, placing them on the table.

 

"Five card draw, nothing wild," Kim said, and started to deal.

 

Tina shivered a bit. "I still think strip poker with just girls is no fun."

 

"That's because your losing, losing, looooo-ssssing!" Jessica taunted.

 

Kim finished dealing. "Screw the ante," she said, "Sarah, you want any cards?"

​

"I've five already," Sarah said with her British accent on full tilt. "Don't you deal some face up?"

 

"This is five card draw, you Limey," Jessica said. "You only get the five."

 

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" demanded Sarah.

 

"You get five cards," Tina explained. "You can replace any or all of them if you want. Best hand wins. No shared cards. Nothing face up."

 

"Nothing shared. Nothing face up," Jessica mocked.

 

"What the hell's your problem?" Tina shouted.

 

"Let's play some damn poker," Kim shouted louder. "Do you want any bloody cards, Sarah?"

 

Sarah looked at her hand. "No. What I have seems to be sufficient."

 

"Sufficient," Jessica mocked.

 

"What are you, two years old?" Tina challenged.

 

"Two-year-olds don't beat the pants, I mean skirt off the local know-it-all!" Jessica said.

 

"Cards, Jessica?" Kim asked.

 

"Two," said Jessica, and she slid two cards to Kim, who dealt her two fresh ones.

 

"One for each year," said Tina.

 

Jessica stuck out her tongue at Tina.

 

"Tina?" Kim asked.

 

"Three," said Tina, and exchanged cards.

 

"The dealer takes one," said Kim, switching out one of her cards. "Your bet, Sarah?"

 

"My top," she said. She started to undo it.

 

"Wait until the end of the hand. Nobody wants to see that," Jessica said. "I'm out." She slapped her cards down on the table.

 

"All in," said Tina with a smile.

 

"All in?" asked Sarah.

 

"It means, I bet everything, and if you want to stay in, you have to as well," Tina said.

 

"All right," said Kim, "then I'm out."

 

"I'll call," said Sarah, with her own mischievous grin.

 

"Full house," Tina said, showing her cards. "Kings over aces."

 

"Full house," Sarah said, showing her own cards, "aces over kings. I win."

 

"That's five damn aces!" shouted Kim, grabbing her gun.

 

"And five damn kings!" shouted Jessica, grabbing her own gun.

 

Tina was quick though and fired first, hitting Kim in the face. Her head flew back, and she tipped over backward in her chair, hitting the ground hard and rolling onto her side. She didn't move again.

 

"Holy..." Jessica started to say. She didn't finish because Sarah shot her right in the chest. Jessica's eyes went wide with shock. After a moment, she slumped forward onto the table, her head making a "thunk" sound.

 

Sarah continued to fire on Jessica. "Call me a limey," she said. Jessica shook under each blast, eventually sliding out of her chair and onto the floor.

​

"Um, Sarah," Tina said, aiming her gun at her face. "Nobody likes a cheat."

​

Sarah stood up and swung her arms around to aim at Tina. She backed away a little.

 

Tina smiled calmly.

 

Sarah pumped her squirt gun at Tina, but only a light spray emerged.

 

"It seems you're out of bullets," said Tina, "as well as out of luck."

 

Sarah's terror was obvious as she took another step back. "No," she said, almost a whisper. "Don't."

 

Tina fired. Sarah crumpled to the ground, twitched a couple of times, and then lay still.

 

Tina walked over to the table, dealt out three cards, grabbed her clothes, and walked out the back door toward the pool deck.

 

I walked over to the table. The three cards were three more aces: diamonds, clubs, and hearts. On the ace of diamonds was written:

 

Jessica (shirt) in kitchen

​

On the ace of clubs was written:

​

Kim (shorts) in kitchen

​

And on the ace of hearts there was:

​

Sarah (sandals) in kitchen

 

As I was wondering where to start, admiring the awkward death poses of the lovely women, I heard a scream from the pool.

​

Tina's scream.

 

Surely, I thought, I get more time to do my part here before Tina's next bit. This was Jessica's last one, too, so she was due for the Sleep Spray. I'd have to get the spray from the great room where I left it.

​

So I was a bit annoyed when I opened the back door to find out what Tina was up to.

 

I was not expecting to find a guy named Greg, a buddy of Tina's abusive ex-boyfriend Jim, standing just outside the doorway.

 

"Hi, Tommy," he said and punched me hard in the stomach.

 

I fell back on my rump into the kitchen.

 

I heard Tina scream again from outside.

 

I heard Jim shout, "SHUT UP!"

 

I saw another of Jim's friends (Steven) walk in from the great room, carrying the bottle of Sleep Spray.

 

"Look what I found," he said, and sprayed me right in the face.

​

Continue The Game (12. Trouble)

​

Please write me if you have any comments about this story.

Copyright 2007-2019 DPsleepy.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.