Holidays at the Avinroo Household

     "In a minute..." responded AAA. He sat at the head of the table in front of a set of Kiko Match II cards and flipped over a pair of matching cards. To his right sat a timer counting the time he spent matching. Aristotle A. Avinroo (AAA for short) was well known for his prowess in games, and made a habit to regularly train his mind with them. Sadly he was not as well known for having good manners.

     "I really could use some help," said Abigail slightly louder. She grabbed a couple of glasses and placed them near the top right of the plates, just above the knives. Abigail was AAA's sister, and she was tired of doing all the work to get things ready for today's gathering.

     "A few more seconds..." muttered AAA, as he proceeded to match some of his last pairs. He was racing against the clock in an attempt to beat his previous record, and he was laser focused... much to his sister's dismay. As he reached to flip the last card, an empty glass was suddenly placed upon it. "What? No!" cried AAA, looking up at his irritated sister. "What have you done, Abigail?"

     "More like what have you done, big bro?" retorted Abigail, proceeding to answer on her brother's behalf. "Nothing! That's what." It was half past four, and the guests would soon be arriving for supper. "I promised cousin Lulu and the rest of our family that we would have everything ready by the time they get here!"

     "They won't mind waiting a few minutes," grumbled AAA, stacking his cards neatly and putting them away. "They'll likely want to exchange pleasantries before eating, anyway."

     "Well, what about Chadley?" replied Abigail, reminding her brother that not only family would be present. "He'd definitely be unimpressed with your tardiness." Chadley was AAA's classmate. Abigail had invited him in an attempt to socialize AAA more, despite the fact that AAA and Chadley were not particularly fond of each other..

     "Pfft - I don't care what that stuck-up Zafara has to say," replied AAA scornfully. "I only allowed you to invite him so that we could play games after dinner, and so I can remind him that I am the undisputed games master!" Abigail rolled her eyes as she put the roast in the oven. AAA put out the appetizers as she filled the empty water glasses; with the two of them working together it wasn't long before the table was laden with food and drink and ready for the festivities. Good thing too; the doorbell rang just as they finished, signaling the arrival of the first guests. Abigail and AAA played a quick game of rock, paper, scissors to see who would answer the door. Unfortunately for AAA, there was nothing he could do to improve his odds of winning in a game of chance. and thus it was AAA who opened the door to greet Lulu and her family. Lulu was delighted to see AAA and hugged him tightly, which took him by surprise.

     "I have to show you my new stamp collection!" she said brightly, releasing her hug and excitedly shaking the stamp album she was holding up and down. AAA was more of a gamer than collector, but his interest was moderately piqued. Lulu then rushed over to Abigail, wanting to gossip about the latest fashion trends from the NC Mall. Lulu's parents likewise exchanged their pleasantries with AAA and Abigail, and then proceeded to join the other adults. A few moments later the doorbell rang again, and this time Abigail answered it. No sooner than she unlocked the door it burst open from the other side, revealing one boisterous Zafara. It was none other than Chadley, who instantly made his presence known.

     "Fear not everyone, the guest of honor has arrived!" he announced loudly as he made his way to the table. He tossed his jacket to the side where it was expertly caught by Abigail and hung on the coat rack. Despite knowing what Chadley was like his attitude irritated her; but as a good hostess she refrained from commenting on it, and joined everyone at the table.

     The evening was subsequently merry, with plenty of food and drink to go around. The turkey was tender, the vegetables were savory, and the potatoes and gravy were smooth and warm. In between bites Lulu showed AAA and Abigail pages of her stamp collection, and Abigail showed off the newest additions to her Usuki collection. AAA brought out his new playing cards...and Chadley bragged about his last dental exam, which had been perfect as always. After dinner, their bellies full of good food, the adults cleaned up while the kids gathered around the fireplace to play games.

     "What are we playing this time?" Abigail asked her brother, knowing how important this decision was to him.

     "Since there are four of us, I thought we'd play a game of Cheat," replied AAA, shuffling a deck of cards.

     "Ohohoho, one of my specialties," smirked Chadley, rubbing his hands together. "Are you ready to lose, AAA?"

     "Not likely," AAA snapped back, dealing cards to each player. "In fact: if you win, I'll do your homework for a week."

     "You're on," responded Chadley, eagerly gathering up his cards. "And if you win, I'll give you any one thing I own."

     Lulu and Abigail gathered up their own cards, giggling as they watched Chadley and AAA stare intensely at each other. The game started; Abigail played honestly and straightforwardly, generally only putting down cards that she actually had, which meant she often only placed one or two at a time. Lulu was more daring; she alternated between being truthful and cheating outrageously, testing the waters to see what she could get away with. Chadley was aggressive and placed lots of cards into the pile whenever he could, but cheated more often than not and was quick to reacquire cards. Despite having to pick up a lot of cards initially, he rebounded once he was able to consistently place four of a kind truthfully. AAA was calculated in his plays; he used his incredible brain to remember what cards were declared by each person to keep track of inconsistencies over time and made pinpoint accusations. However, by dint of bad luck AAA often found himself in the predicament of having a single card remaining that was either too high or too low to place in the pile and clinch his victory without getting caught cheating, thus forcing him pick up the pile at the worst times possible.

     "Any last words?" taunted Chadley as he triumphantly declared "four jacks" and placed his last few cards onto the pile.

     A nervous sweat trickled down AAA's head; he had no choice. He replied coolly, "Naturally, I accuse you of cheating."

     "Bah," grumbled Chadley. Revealing his cards to be three jacks and a three, he picked up the rather large pile. "I was so close!" He was determined to best AAA, but found himself on the losing end of this back and forth time and time again. After several minutes he took stock of the situation. The pile had just emptied and he had an impossible-to-recover-from 35 cards, Abigail held 6 cards, AAA had 8 and Lulu had just 3. Just then Chadley had an epiphany. Abigail never attempted to accuse Lulu of cheating, but he and AAA were too distracted with each other to notice. Glancing at his large hand, he realized that there were no sevens, which gave him an idea. He watched as Abigail declared two fours, and placed her cards onto the table to start a new pile.

     "You're cheating, Abigail!" accused Chadley confidently.

     "Unfortunately for you - I'm not," responded Abigail, flipping her placed cards over to reveal two fours. Chadley happily added them to his hand.

     "It's like you're not even trying anymore!" taunted AAA gleefully, anticipating his imminent victory. "Your turn, Lulu. Declare your cards."

     "Three sevens!" she announced triumphantly, emptying her hand onto the table face down. AAA thought for a moment, then blinked twice as he realized that sevens had not been declared recently nor were present in his hand. "You must be cheating!" he challenged, his nervousness now apparent.

     "Nuh-uh!" sung Lulu. She flipped her cards over to reveal three sevens. "I was saving these for the end, I knew they'd bring me luck!" Abigail applauded Lulu's victory as AAA glared at Chadley.

     "You did this on purpose! By accusing Abigail of cheating and resetting the pile, you knew Lulu could choose the cards she wanted to place."

     "So what if I did?" teased Chadley. "It just goes to show that even the games master can be defeated sometimes!" AAA shot up and made an angry grab for Chadley, who immediately stood up and started running around the sofa to put distance between him and AAA. "Catch me if you can!" Abigail and Lulu laughed hysterically as AAA chased Chadley around the room, throwing pillows at him when permissible. Eventually they quieted down, and Lulu finally spoke.

     "I have some math homework I could use help with," she told AAA, "And my stamp collection could really use a Chadley Stamp," she said to Chadley. AAA and Chadley glanced at each other in unspoken solidarity; simultaneously they both grabbed pillows, eyes fixed on Lulu.

     "Y-you wouldn't," she cowered, taking a few steps backwards as they proceeded a slow march forward.

     "I think they would..." cautioned Abigail, not wanting to get caught in the middle of this.

     "Ahhhh!!!" Lulu screamed, inexorably disappearing under a massive pile of pillows.

     Such is the price you pay for becoming the night's unexpected games master.

     The End.