Part II-Chapter 23: THE GAME

Chapter 23

The Game
(Ó 2009)

One Week Later

In the Living Room of the Home of Noel Jaworski

“So, Mariola and the kids won’t be home for another hour or so Dave; gives us plenty of time to do this.” Noel Jaworski said to his partner.

“We’ll do it just as we agreed then; this will decide which one of us will actually be the messenger.” Said David.

“And we both will carry this out.”

“Yeah Ski, we will both carry this out.” David began to pace in the living room, “I mean it Ski, this past week? This woman is fucking nuts. She keeps pushing and pushing; and coming up with the most ridiculous shit. This whole thing is going to be a fiasco you know that. Every nut case is going to be trying to get involved in this. We are going to be bogged down in tons of bureaucratic bullshit. But today? Jeez! That was the last straw man. That crazy bitch acts as though her life depends on this whole thing.”

Noel looked at his friend and said calmly, “Well … maybe it does. It seems as if she just may be involved with the Chekov family in some way, and if that’s true, then maybe … just maybe … her life does depend on it.”

David sat down on the sofa, gave out a sigh, with a little smile on his face looked up at Noel, and said, “You know Ski, I’ve never thought of that. You could very well be right about that.” There was a momentary pause, then David said, “Come on then man. You ready to play the game? Let’s do this before Mari and the kids get here.”

Noel then went over to his briefcase that he had placed on coffee table when they first came into the house. He unzipped it and reached inside. He removed from it on unopened deck of Bicycle playing cards and five small manila envelopes and placed them on the table. He picked up the manila envelopes and began to shuffle them and mix them up. After a minute, he handed the envelopes to David who then began to do the same. Noel then picked up the package of playing cards, grasped the small red tab on the plastic with his thumb and index finger. He then pulled gently and removed the plastic, opened the lid of the box and removed the cards inside. He found and discarded the Joker cards, sat down in a chair next to the coffee table and then began to shuffle the deck. 

David finished with his turn in mixing up the manila envelopes, “You got something that we could put these in?” He asked.

“I think that Mari has some pillow cases in the basket in the laundry room. Go grab one of those.” With that, David stood up and made his way to the laundry room that was on the other side of the kitchen. Noel continued to shuffle and cut the playing cards. In a moment, David returned with a blue pillowcase and placed it on the arm of the sofa. Noel then shuffled the cards one more time, formed the deck into its original neat stack, tapped them down on the coffee table, and then handed them to David. “Your turn.”

David took the cards from his friend, sat back down on the sofa in front of the table and began to shuffle them himself. While he did so, Noel stood and picked up the five manila envelopes, then picked up the blue pillowcase from the arm of the sofa and placed them inside of it. David shuffled the deck a couple more times, then he spread the deck face down of the coffee table and mixed them up as a child would. After a few seconds, he molded the deck back together and began to shuffle them again. After five more shuffles, he straightened the deck and placed them on the coffee table, looked to Noel and said, “Cut ‘em.” Noel reached over and cut the deck. With that, David placed the bottom half left by Noel on the top half and then spread the deck out into a neat straight line. “Okay, just like we said, guy with the high card gets to make the call in the coin flip.” With that, David picked a card from the deck and placed it face down in front of him, Noel then did the same. They looked at each other, and then each turned their cards over. David’s was the four of clubs, Noel’s, the five of diamonds. “You get to make the call Ski.”

They both then stood up and each reached into their front pockets and produced a quarter. They stepped over to an open area in the living room and placed their quarters on their thumbs in order to flip them into the air. “On three.” Noel said. “Let them drop to the floor. Ready?” David nodded. “One … two … three!” As the coins went into the air Noel called out, “Odd!” The coins hit the hard wood floor and bounced around. In a few seconds, they both settled flat. Both coins were showing the profile of George Washington. “Even Dave … sorry … looks like you get to deliver the package.” He placed his hand on David’s shoulder, “You got any idea how you’re going to do it.”

“Yeah, I kind of felt that it was going to be me, so I started thinking of a way I would do it without drawing attention.” David sighed and then said, “Well then, let’s go see who the lucky lady is.” Noel stepped over to where he set down the pillowcase with the five manila envelopes. Noel opened the pillowcase and when he did so, David turned his back slightly to it, faced away, and then reached inside. He fumbled with the envelopes, felt the one between his ring and pinkie finger, and pulled that one from the case. He then took a couple of steps away from Noel and began to tear it open. “And the winner is …” he mocked. He removed the content of the envelope and looked at it. He let out a sigh of apprehension and said, “Aw … shit man.”

“What is it?” Noel asked. David held up the contents of the envelope to show him. When Noel saw them, he burst out laughing. David looked at him and said in frustration, “It ain’t funny man!”