The night was oppressive. We turned out the lights to minimize the additional heat from the incandescents. That’s how bad it was. We clicked on our LED camp light and broke open a deck of cards and settled in for a friendly game. Even the honey brown was sweating.
I sucked at Snap. My sister used to beat me at that when we were kids. It’s just so unnerving and violent. So Suzy suggested Crazy 8s, and added a naked challenge to make it more adult. I’d learned from Grammie Phoebe but she’d never taken it to this level. Lose a hand, lose some clothes. With the kids in bed and the evening stretching out before us, I was buoyed and encouraged by the fact that our handicap was the heat. We were already nearly nude, in running shorts and T-shirts and on holiday. I kept shifting nervously from one cheek to another to come unstuck from the wooden kitchen chair. How attractive!
Suzy was unfazed when I won the first hand. Off came the t-shirt (advantage: bra). Then she clucked when I peeled off a sock when she won with a string of diamonds. “What are you doing wearing wool socks?!” It got intense. Then my shorts came off.
Did you know that Crazy 8s can come to a draw? I played a 2 (Suzy had to pick up two cards). Then she played a 2 on mine (I picked up four). Then I added another to the pile. With that, the deck was gone and the play pile shuffled. Suzy played another two and I picked up 8. By this point I was really stuck (to the chair). You get the idea. This went on for some time. We were out of beer and one t-shirt away from naked at the lake.
Then Simon woke up and we switched the lights back on.
