Read Online Bender at the Bon Parisien (A Novel) by Pres Maxson - Free Book Online

mused.
    “What’s
that?” Trudel asked.
    “It’s
a drink we made up before you arrived,” I answered. “Would you like to try it?”
    “I’ll
hate it,” the opera singer answered. “I’ll stick with another whiskey, neat.”
    “Oh,
I think I could take another beer,” Pistache slurred.
    “A
beer please,” said Fleuse.
    “Here’s
an idea,” Pistache practically jumped in the air. “We should play a drinking
game!”
    “We’re
listening,” Janie answered. She smiled at me. We have a good time with drinking
games with our friends.
    Trudel
rolled her eyes, but Fleuse nodded.
    “Well,
I’m thinking maybe something that says ‘welcome to Europe’ for the both of
you,” Pistache continued. “Perhaps something that involves the loss of
clothing.” He couldn’t resist gauging Janie’s reaction out of the corner of his
eye.
    “No,”
both Janie and I definitively reacted. She sighed and shook her head at me.
However, Fleuse missed our exchange as he eagerly looked toward Trudel, who
rolled her eyes and made a “pfft” sound.
    “Okay
then, new idea.” Pistache recovered. “Does anyone have a deck of cards? I
assure you, all clothes will stay on.”
    “I
do, upstairs in my bag,” Janie offered.
    “Victor
always kept some back there somewhere,” Fleuse said. He stood and approached
the bar top. Leaning in, he squinted over the top of his glasses at the area
behind me. “Try that cupboard down there.”
    I
turned, squatted, and found nothing besides a few cobwebs and some dirty glassware.
“I don’t see it.”
    “It
is probably in a shoebox. I think it was blue. Try the cupboard next to that
one.”
    I
moved over one and the search continued.
    “Should
be a deck of cards … some dice?” His speech was meandering.
    “Got
it,” I said triumphantly as I pulled the shoebox from the darkness. The box did
indeed contain a deck of cards, some dice, and also some miscellaneous game
pieces including chess, checkers, and a Monopoly top hat. There were no game
boards.
    “Perfect,”
Pistache commented. “Let’s see the cards. Everyone gather around up here.”
    Trudel
joined the rest of us at the bar, and Pistache began wildly handling the cards.
As drunk as he appeared, he was amazingly adept with the shuffle.
    “Didn’t
you say you did a little magic?” Janie asked him.
    “I
did, but card tricks aren’t really my thing. That is, unless you have another
card hiding behind your ear,” he said as he winked and playfully pinched her cheek.
I have a pretty high tolerance for people hitting on my wife, but this was
starting to be a bit much. Janie wasn’t exactly pleased either.
    “Back
off, man,” I finally snapped. I could feel myself starting to really dislike
this guy. “Really, that’s enough.”
    “Sorry,
my friend. I get carried away,” he apologized. “Okay, here’s the game. There
are five of us here, so we deal out 9 cards each, jokers included.”
    “What
about the leftovers?” I asked.
    “There
will be a nine card blind,” he answered with a shrug.
    “What’s
this game called?” Trudel asked.
    “I
don’t know. Uh … Pistache!” Jacques exclaimed.
    Trudel
already looked like she disapproved.
    “This
is not a real game?” I asked.
    “Of
course it’s real! Here’s what happens: we will begin with clubs. Whoever has
the two of clubs lays it down and has to take a drink. We each take turns
adding to the pile in a sequence. Three, four, five, etc. We go all the way up
to the ace. Whoever has the ace assigns a sip to someone else. That person will
then drink and call the next suit.”
    “Uh,
okay,” I stammered. Janie gave me a look of slight confusion, and I’m sure she
read the same on my face. Fleuse and Trudel looked equally perplexed.
    “Think
you got it?” Pistache asked.
    “I
guess,” Janie said.
    “So
only four people drink through the whole deck? The ones who start each suit?” I
asked. Feeling drunk, I needed as much explanation as