We played cards, but then, we were Methodists! The Baptists down the road wouldn’t be caught doing that and truth be known, Mama and Daddy didn’t want us caught at it either.
They weren’t opposed to us playing, we just couldn’t do it in view of passersby with the possibility of being the topic of conversation around someone’s dinner table that night. We had to maintain a certain appearance you know – especially since we were the preacher’s kids and were often held to a higher standard than the neighborhood kids.
One day my sister and I headed out to the front steps to play a friendly game of poker. We were quickly told that we could play in the back yard or in the house where no one could see us. I didn’t see a problem, nor did I think it was anyone’s business. Some folks even frowned on solitaire or pinocle or rummy.
Our poker playing was quite harmless. After all, we used candy corn for poker chips. If someone happened by, we could easily destroy the evidence by ingesting the sweet nuggets. Surely using candy corn ante couldn’t be considered gambling. Well, I guess it was quite a gamble for the winner who took the ante pot that had been handled by everyone at the table. You can bet that made the win not quite so sweet.
Ante up!
Cute memory