DAY FIVE AFTERNOON
After Molly's shower, she hurriedly climbed to her loft then returned seconds later dressed in nothing but a pair of skimpy booty shorts and a matching tank top, looking stunning, of course, with her freshly shampooed hair.
It didn't take me long to realize that Mom had been right about Molly's deliberate teasing towards Dad. Molly found every excuse to bend over in front of him, and strangely, he didn't seem to mind. After relentlessly teasing him all day, Molly finally put her and Mom's plan into motion later that evening.
"I'm so bored," Molly complained, gazing out at the raindrops streaming down the window. "There's never anything to do on a stormy day."
"You know there's a whole closet filled with games, right?"
Molly turned her head in the direction Mom was pointing. "Oh yeah!" she exclaimed, her spirits immediately lifted. "How did I forget about those?"
I found it amusing how effortlessly Molly slipped into the role of an airhead teenager as if this hadn't been scripted by her and Mom hours earlier.
As planned, Molly jumped up and eagerly skipped over to the game closet, suggesting various game titles. "Candy Land," she proposed first.
I let out a chuckle. "Come on, Molly, we're not five years old anymore."
"You're right," she giggled. "How about Monopoly?"
"Nah, that game takes forever," objected Dad.
"Hmm," Molly pondered, scanning the closet for more options. "There's a deck of cards here. Does anyone know any fun card games?"
"Isn't there a set of poker chips in there, too?" Mom proposed. "We could always try our luck at poker."
"You guys...play poker?" Dad laughed, already anticipating our impending doom.
Dad had played in a regular game of poker every Wednesday night at his friend Greg's house, so you could say he was far better than the rest of us.
"Hey, I'm not scared," I told him. "I play poker sometimes back at school. I bet I could give you a run for your money."
Dad simply chuckled at me.
"Well, I would have no idea how to play poker," said Molly.
"We'll teach you," Mom offered. "It'll be fun."
"Okay then," Molly smiled, retrieving the poker chips from the top shelf. She brought them to the kitchen table, then claimed her seat.
The rest of us grabbed our drinks, then joined her.
Mom took a second to give Molly a brief summary of the rules while Dad began divvying out the chips -- four ways.
Once Molly received her initial five-card hand, she picked them up and said, "So, having two cards of the same number is considered good, correct?"
Dad chuckled. "Yes, it's called a pair, but the idea is to not let anyone know what's in your hand. Unless you're bluffing, of course."
"Bluffing?" Molly questioned, unfamiliar with poker lingo. "What's bluffing?"
"Bluffing is where you try to make us think that you have something worth betting on, when really, you don't have anything at all."
"Oh..." Molly nodded, and soon the cards were dealt and everyone threw in a few chips.
"All right, flip 'em over!" Mom announced, then we all laid our cards face up on the table.
"Cha-ching!" Dad teased us, winning the first round with an impressive straight. He raked his chips in like a big-shot hustler, making the rest of us laugh at his goofiness.
"Take it easy there, Mr. Las Vegas," Mom teased him, "the rest of us are still amateurs here."
Dad laughed, reshuffling the deck before dealing out the next round of cards. Once I'd received my five cards, I picked them up and found myself looking down at another lousy hand.
"Awesome, three aces!" I lied, wearing my best poker face.
"Ugh!" Molly complained, "well I guess that means I'm folding then."
"He's just bluffing," Dad whispered, shooting me an amused smirk.
I kept a straight face, sliding four chips forward to the middle of the table. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not."
Molly quickly narrowed her eyes at me, calling my bluff. "I see your dollar, big brother, and I'll raise you two more dollars," she said, carelessly throwing twelve chips into the pot like it was nothing.
"I fold," Mom giggled, tossing her cards aside.
Dad then tossed his away, too.
I knew my hand was worthless, but this was all in good fun, so I threw in the additional eight chips, then flopped my cards down.
"I knew it!" Molly cried, celebrating her winning hand; a measly pair of fours.
"Yeah, yeah. Beginner's luck," I chided with an eye roll.
Dad reshuffled the deck, and the game continued. The next five rounds resulted in either Dad, or myself winning, then collecting our chips with cocky grins. As the game went on, the girls never seemed to know when to hold'em or when to fold'em. They just kept making foolish bets, then shrugging it off with their adorable giggles. As a result, their chip stacks rapidly diminished to almost nothing.
"I'm getting my ass kicked over here," Molly complained. She looked over at Mom and asked, "Can we team up as, like, an all-girls team? I don't stand a chance on my own."
"You can't do that," interjected Dad.
"Oh, sure we can, Roger," Mom said, already sliding her chair up next to Molly's. "Besides, with both of our chips combined, we're barely making a full stack."
Dad let out a chuckle, realizing Wednesday night poker rules didn't apply there at the cabin.
The next hand was dealt and Dad won with a pair of kings. I won the next hand with queens, and then the girls pulled off an impressive win with a full house.
"Girl power!" Molly chanted, high-fiving Mom before collecting their winnings.
The girls' luck ran out after that, and they lost the next four hands in a row. They were nearly bankrupt, until the next hand was dealt, and they suddenly seemed more confident. Dad had folded, and it was down to me vs. them.
"We'll call your dollar, bro," Molly said to me, sliding the last of her and Mom's chips into the pot, "and we'll raise you chores for a week."
"Chores for a week?" I chuckled. "How would that even work?"
"It's simple. If you win, Mom and I will do your chores for a week, and if we win, then you have to do my chores for a week."
I glanced down at my hand, praying that my three nines would be strong enough to beat whatever they had, and hopefully wipe that smug grin off Molly's face.
"Make it two weeks, and we have a deal," I countered.