Spoons

                “I’m bored.” complained Alex as he squished his nose against the window. It had been raining all day and Alex was getting restless. He turned away from the window and glanced around the room at his siblings. Nick was stretched out on the couch, reading a book about airplanes. Libby was curled up in the armchair, wrapped up in an old novel. Sarah was sitting on the floor, perusing a book of crafts. Alex was not surprised when Libby absentmindedly told him to go get a book to read.

                “I’ve read all my books.”

                “So go get a book from the shelf inside.”

                “Those are boring.” Alex whined.

               “Ask Nick for a book to read. Nick?” said Libby. “Nick? Nick!”

                “Hmmm? What?” he mumbled, without taking his eyes away from his book.

                “Oh, never mind. Sorry, Alex.” she said, going back to her book. The room was quiet for a while until Alex broke the silence again.

                “Guys, can we play a game?” he asked.

                “Sure, I’m game for a game!” said Sarah impishly, closing her book. 

                “Ha Ha Ha.” said Alex. “What do you want to play?”

                “I don’t know, maybe monopoly?”

                “We would need Nick and Libby to play that. Hey, Libby? Wanna play a game with us?” Alex asked.

                “I’ll play with you guys, but only if we don’t play monopoly.” she said, closing her book.

                “But we always play monopoly!”

                “I know that’s why I want to play something else. What about a card game?”

                “Okay! Let’s play Liar!” suggested Sarah enthusiastically.

                “No!” protested Alex. “I’m no good at the lying part.”

                “Alright, Go-Fish.”

                “I’m thinkin’…. No.” said Libby. “I vote for Spoons.”

                “What the heck is that?” said Alex laughing. “Do we get to eat something?”

                “You’ve never played Spoons? Come on, everyone’s heard of Spoons.”

                “Yeah, you eat with them. Stuff life ice cream and soup and pudding and cereal and-“

                “I get it, I get it. Here, I’ll teach you how to play. It’s easy. Alex, go get a pack of cards, and Sarah, go get three spoons. Nick, get up. You’re going to play with us.” Libby said bossily.

                “Fine. What are we playing?” Nick asked.

                “Forks.” said Sarah quickly.

                “No.” said Libby.

                “Whoops. I meant Knives.” said Sarah, pretending to be innocent.

                “What?” said Alex, looking scared. “We’re playing with knives? My cub scout book says we should never play with knives.”

                “No, Alex, we are not playing with knives.” said Libby.

                “Sorry, my mistake. What is it again, Libby? Soup ladles? Chopsticks? Pitchforks?” Sarah teased.

                “Spoons, Sarah, Spoons! We are playing a game called Spoons. Now everyone sit down and put the spoons in the middle. Alex, where are the cards?” asked Libby.

                “Here.”

                “Thanks. Okay!” She said as she shuffled the cards. “Here’s how you play. First, you deal out all the cards.”

                “Lib, you deal cards like you’re playing poker or something.” said Nick.

                “I don’t know how to play poker.” she said as she flicked the cards down.

                “I do!” cried Alex. He jumped up and ran around Nick to his sisters. “Poke! Poke!” he said, jabbing a little finger into both Libby and Sarah.

                “Oww!” said Sarah.

                “Hey!” said Libby. “What are you doing?”

                “Playing poker.” Said Alex.

                “Where did you learn to play poker?” asked Libby, rubbing her arm.

                “Uncle Peter taught me how to play. He said that the way to play poker is to run around the room poking all the girls. That’s why it’s called “poke – HER!”

                “Well, we’re not playing poker. We’re playing Spoons. Now, does everyone have their cards? The goal is to get four of a kind. Everyone passes cards until they get four of a kind and when you do, grab a spoon. Once one person grabs a spoon, everyone tries to grab a spoon. Get it?” explained Libby.

                “So, it’s sorta like musical chairs, but with spoons and a pack of cards?” asked Nick.

                “Pretty much.” said Libby.

                “I’m not sure I get it.” Alex said, looking confused.

                “You will. Eventually. Ready? Go!” Libby said, officially starting the game. Nick, Libby and Sarah quickly began passing cards around while Alex tried to keep up. Soon Nick grabbed a spoon and Libby and Sarah followed suit and took the remaining spoons. They turned to Alex, who was still working through the pile of cards that had accumulated next to him.

                “Alex?” said Nick.

                “Yeah?” said Alex, still trying to play.

                “This round is over.”

                “What? I didn’t get four of a kind yet! I’m still looking for two queens!”

                “I got four of a kind.”

                “Oh.” Alex said. “So I lost?” His three siblings nodded. “Oh.” He looked at them holding the spoons. “Can we try again?”

                “Sure. Sarah, do you want to shuffle this time?” asked Libby, handing the deck of cards to her sister.

                “So, the point of this game isn’t to win, you just don’t want to lose.” said Alex.

                “Yeah, I guess you could put it that way.” said Nick as Sarah dealt the cards. “Everyone ready? Go!” The cards flew for a few seconds before Sarah grabbed a spoon. Nick and Libby quickly grabbed the other two while Alex continued to pass cards.

                “Nick! Come one, keeping passing cards! You’re so slow!” he said.

                “Alex, the round is over.”

                “It is? Already? That was so quick! Who picked up the first spoon?”

                “I did!” said Sarah triumphantly.

                “How did you get four of a kind so fast?”

                “Well, I started out with three sevens.”

                “How did you start out with three sevens?” asked Libby indignantly. “Wait a minute, you’re the one who shuffled and dealt the cards!”

                “You stacked the deck!” Nick cried. “You cheated, you card shark!”

                “I did not! I am not a card shark! Wait, what’s a card shark?” said Sarah.

                “Someone who cheats at cards.”

                “I am not! I just didn’t shuffle the cards very well, that’s all.”

                “Well, guess who’s not going to be shuffling the cards at all anymore?”

                “I didn’t cheat!” cried Sarah.

                “Can we stop arguing and play again?” asked Alex. “I wanna get this.”

                “Alright, but Nick, you shuffle this time.” Said Libby, eyeing her sister suspiciously.  Nick took the cards and began to shuffle them. And shuffle them. And shuffle them.

                “Nick, just deal the cards already!” complained Sarah.

                “I just want to make sure I shuffle them thoroughly.” He said as he finally started to deal the cards. “Everyone ready? Go!” The four kids rapidly started passing cards around.

                “How many tens have you passed me Libby?” asked Sarah as they played. “That must have been the fifth one!”

                “Well, considering there should only be four...” said Libby.

                “It doesn’t matter, Sarah keeps passing them to me and I don’t need them, so stop passing them!” said Nick.

                “You know Libby, if you had kept them all, you could have won by now.” commented Sarah.

                “If you had kept them all, you would have won by now.” said Libby.  

                “Touché.” All was quiet as the cards got passed for a few more moments and then all of a sudden Alex made a mad scramble for the spoons. He grabbed one and then started jumping up and down.

                “I got it! I got one! I won!” he cried.

                “Good for you!’ said Nick. “What did you have four of?”

                “I had four eights!” he said as he danced around the room.

                “Wait, that’s impossible.” Said Libby, abruptly putting an end to Alex’s celebration.

                “Why?” he asked.

                “Because I have an eight.” She said, holding up a card.

“What? I was sure I had…” Alex’s voice trailed off as he checked his cards. “Ohhh!” he wailed. “I only had three eights instead of four!”

                “I’m sorry, Alex. We’ll play again. You’ll win next time, I’m sure.”

                “Nay, I don’t really want to play again.” He said sadly. He put down his cards and started to walk out of the room.

                “Wait! What are we going to do now?” asked Sarah.

                “You guys can keep playing.” said Alex.

                “You can’t play spoons with just three people, it’s not as much fun.” said Libby.

                “Well, then play monopoly.” suggested Alex.

                “I don’t feel like playing monopoly.” said Nick.

                “Well, I don’t know what you should do.” said Alex, getting frustrated with his older siblings. “Go get a book!”

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