Indian Poker and Earthquakes (488 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.09 on 13 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Esso (View user info) at 2004-03-31 14:23:49 EST
"All right. Ante up." My dad tossed a penny in the middle of the card table and we all followed suit. Then the four of us, my penny tossing father, my stepmother Anita, my sister Carrie, and myself, each picked up one blue Bicycle playing card and placed it face up on our foreheads. Pop called this "Indian Poker."
I stared at everyone else's cards. Carrie held a two and the look on her face said she knew it. Anita was holding up a ten, but she was also holding a great poker face. My dad had a Jack. Queen, King or Ace. I didn't think I was holding one of those, but what the hey. There's a reason it's called "gambling." Right?
I was just about to throw two pennies down when Dad turned to the TV. We all looked over and the World Series logo was on the screen. We had all been waiting for this, the third game of the series, since this year it was the Battle of the Bay: Oakland versus San Francisco. Our house was rooting for the Athletics. My father turned back around and looked at me.
"Ben. Go and turn it up. We'll listen to the pre-game while we finish up this hand." Being the obedient twelve year old kid that I was, I ran right over to the television and twisted the volume knob until my dad gave me the "thumbs-up" sign. The human remote returned to the game table.
"Go ahead and start us off," my pop told me. I picked up two dull pennies and tossed them into the pot with an air of indifference. I wanted to win this hand. I always liked finishing up games as the final winner.
Anita met my bet and raised it a penny. Carrie folded. Dad saw Anita's penny, smiled, and reached back towards his change pile. He raised two and I was sweating. Did I have a three of clubs on my head or was he bluffing? I decided to go for it. I saw his raise and called. Then the television once again grabbed our attention.
The normal drone of the sports broadcasters had changed suddenly. Quite suddenly.
"What's that?" one said.
"It feels like a..." the other responded.
The TV went black.
"Earthquake!" I don't know how, but Dad knew it before we even felt it. He jumped up from the table and looked at us all at once. "Get under the doorway in the hall! Now!" Then it hit.
I looked out our front window towards the street. The power lines were swaying back and forth. Our two cars were rocking into each other. The ground seemed to be rolling like a soft ocean wave. The was a low rumble that I not only heard, but could feel. I was both frightened beyond belief and mesmerized by the destructive power of nature. Then my dad pushed me and I was running with my family. I felt as if I was running for my life.
With everyone under the doorway, Dad ran to the front door. My sister Sabrina was outside. I felt bad for forgetting, but she had opted not to play cards with the family and had gone outside to skate around the neighborhood. Having three-quarters of his dependents in the safest place he could get them, Tom Rojek ran to the front door to look for his daughter.
He threw the door open and stood in the doorjamb calling out for his daughter while the world was still shaking. Suddenly, the door swung to and hit him from behind. I had been watching the street, still hypnotized by the rolling movements of the Earth, when I heard my father call out and fall out the front door. Then we heard the crash.
This was all in less than thirty seconds. It felt like I had been standing there forever, riding the waves of the world on the foundations of my house. The fear and panic had given way to a numb curious feeling. Even the noise of furniture falling over was lost on me. Then my father fell, we heard a crash and a yell, the quake stopped, and fear and panic returned.
I beat my stepmother to the front door. I quickly pulled it open and saw that our wooden awning was no longer attached to the roof of our house. It had fallen on the front walk. It had fallen on Daddy.
Anita ran past me to the clutter of wood and shingles. She kneeled down and pulled aside as much of the mess as she could. I ran over to help as Carrie stood in the doorway, tears in her eyes. We only had to grab a couple of hand fulls of shingles and there was Dad's face. He turned his head and looked at us.
"Is Sabrina all right?" he asked. Anita burst into tears and I began to pull up what parts of the mess I could. "Ben. Run and find Sabrina. Check up towards Highland first. Bring her back home."
Now it was my turn for waterworks. "Dad, we need to get you out of there. You need my help. We need to..."
"Son, you can help me by getting your sister. I want to know she's all right. Now go."
I sniffed back another outburst and ran down the street. There were signs of destruction everywhere: windows busted, small fires, cracks in the sidewalk, cars that had rolled into the street. I even noticed that the power lines were down a block over. I prayed that Sabrina wasn't over there. First I had to check Highland Park.
Highland Park was your typical tree filled city center getaway with a manmade pond and cement walking trails. I ran along one of these trails hoping to find my sister soon. I needed to get back to Dad. Anger was taking over fear. Why hadn't she stayed at home? Pop would have never been hurt if she had stayed in the house. Why? What if?
Where? Where was she? I came around a sharp curve and I saw her, sitting on a park bench tying up her skates. Relief washed over me and the anger faded away. My sister was fine. I counted all her limbs and appendages before I reached her. The only damage I saw was a scraped knee.
"Hey, Bean. Let's get home. Dad is worried about you. There was an accident during the earthquake. We need to get back. He might be hurt." I talked a million miles a minute, but she got the gist. She jumped up and skated ahead of me towards home. It seemed she was doing just fine.
Sabrina and I arrived at home to find our Dad being put up on a stretcher by a couple of harried looking paramedics. I called out as we ran over, but he couldn't turn his head with the neck brace strapped tight.
"Dad! Daddy! I found Sabrina. She's fine."
"Good," he said. "I knew you'd find her." The paramedics raised the stretcher. "Listen, Ben. Anita has to follow me over to the hospital. She needs your help to keep your sisters calm. Let them know I'll be fine. O.k.?"
"O.k.," I said. I knew he would be fine, and in the end he left the hospital having suffered cracked ribs, a sprained ankle, and a dislocated shoulder, but I was still scared and near tears. I was overwhelmed by the events of that early October 17th evening. I just wanted to watch Oakland beat the Giants and go to bed.
"Oh, yeah." Dad called out as they raised him up into the back of the ambulance. "Grab my wallet from inside the house. It's on the kitchen counter!"
I ran back towards the house, leaped the awning wreckage, entered and hopped over the litter within. I grabbed my dad's black leather wallet and was heading out when I saw the four cards lying upon the game table. Curiosity once again took over and I walked quickly over. I grabbed my card that was setting face down and turned it over. King of Diamonds.
I grabbed my winnings and ran outside.
User Reviews
Submitted by cellar_door (user info) at 2004-04-01 05:01:50 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Yee-haw! Ride out them earthquakes!
Nice story.
Submitted by esso_merda (user info) at 2004-03-31 21:22:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Yeah, Cunning, that earthquake sucked ass. I'd been in a few small ones before, but nothing that bad.
Submitted by AlwaysAnEagle (user info) at 2004-03-31 21:02:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Wow, this was not at ALL what I was expecting. Awesome.
Submitted by CunningVision (user info) at 2004-03-31 18:23:00 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Another for you.
Submitted by esso_merda (user info) at 2004-03-31 18:21:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
For Flak:
http://www.ubersite.com/m/29012#450701
Thanks child.
Submitted by Flak (user info) at 2004-03-31 16:57:36 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
ah jeez!
Submitted by WookieSuave (user info) at 2004-03-31 16:46:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Greedy 12 year old. :)
Submitted by Mr-Boo (user info) at 2004-03-31 16:10:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Good story.
Submitted by Rixes (user info) at 2004-03-31 15:36:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by Herpes (user info) at 2004-03-31 15:04:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Yes yes... good story.
Submitted by Tom (user info) at 2004-03-31 14:48:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by CunningVision (user info) at 2004-03-31 14:41:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I felt that quake just a bit. Lived about and hour from Frisco. Good tale.
Oh, and Al, his dad was busy blowing loads in your mom's face. Just get over it.
Submitted by Al_Queda (user info) at 2004-03-31 14:30:46 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Your dad shoulda tossed his load if your face.