Card Games and Smiling

Poker tournaments are often on ESPN, and they are slow watching because the players are always thinking long

and hard about what card to play. They also are wearing hoodies and sunglasses, so you never get to see much of the people. The audience knows what is the winning hand, so you often want to shout out, "Don't go all in! You'll lose!" But until we have televisions that will be more like Zoom, the players will never hear us. Sometimes I wish ESPN would broadcast a bridge tournament because I know how to play that game. I think Melba and I were playing bridge with some other gals the night Ray was born, so it's been in the family a long time. Even before that, Mother and Daddy played with my aunt and uncle.  Mother was the best bridge player I ever saw and didn't learn until she was in college because Grandpa Henry thought cards in the house were a sin. Never mind that dominoes were around and could be a source of gambling. It was those evil cards. Somehow Mother learned and could tell after the first play what everyone at the table had. But she didn't mind playing with the grandkids or beginners as long as everyone had a good time. If she ever played in a bridge club with people who took the game deadly seriously, she never played with them again. She wanted the time to be a good one with people talking and enjoying the experience. We've all heard her say a million times, "It's only a game."

And a good laugh or smile can always come when you least expect it. One spring at Wilson dear Gary, the principal, asked me to teach a reading class because he had a group of sophomores and juniors who needed a credit, but there was nothing for them to take at that period. Sure, I said, we'll just read and talk and maybe write a paragraph. Things were going well, but the weather was absolutely beautiful after a severe winter. It was the kind of day that made it hard to stay in the classroom, so since I could do what I wanted, I said, "Okay, kids, we're going out in the front. I saw the maintenance guys cleaning on the flower beds, and we can do a little work as help. Everybody game for it?" Of course they said yes, and we were in the front in no time. Someone had left a couple of hoes and a rake, so the group divided their chores with those while some just straightened some crooked plants. It was such a good, quiet way to enjoy outside when suddenly funny, funny Gilbert dropped the hoe he had, put on an Academy Award look of anguish, and shouted out, "Quick! the border patrol!" and started running for the street. We all broke into a huge laugh because no one besides Gilbert would have come up with something quickly that was so well known in the  Mexican-American experience.

Other times we can get a smile out of critical mistakes that movie makers pass off as the real thing. Remember the mountains in the background of The Buddy Holly Story when he was in Lubbock? How about the classic 1939 John Wayne movie of "Stagecoach" with a beautiful Concord stagecoach, 3 pair of well-groomed horses, and ample room for passengers. In reality the stagecoaches were called mud wagons because they would have mail, packages, and passengers stacked together with knees touching, baggage on top. They were designed for speed with no doors. Passengers were expected to climb in over the sides. Three boards were placed across the body, and as many as twelve riders were crammed inside. There was so much dust that everyone was covered. Stage stops were every twelve to fifteen miles apart so drivers could hitch a new team. It was a speed contest, and drivers prided themselves in being able to make the change in no more than ten minutes.  If it was mealtime, passengers paid an extra thirty cents for a meal which was often described as hard biscuits and greasy meat or a stew with unrecognizable parts and always beans.  If you got off, you lost your place if it had been one you wanted. There were no assigned seats.Trips were long. The trip from Austin to San Antonio, for instance, began at 6 a.m. and was finished almost 18 hours later. Sometimes stagecoach owners would advertise, "No mud wagons" to make riders think they were going to get something better. But it was the only way to travel, so you had to endure it.

Games or jokes or knowing the real thing are meant to give us a chance to smile. Maybe we can all do a little more of that these serious days.