Marie had never understood how the Mojave, a desert, could get so damn cold at night. Pulling her ratty blanket over her shoulders the woman sighed, waiting for her companion to make a move, and losing patience.
"It's really not that hard. Simply use your cards to try and out bid me in each stack without being below twenty or over twenty six." She gestured at the six stacks of cards before her and watched as the other woman hesitated before laying down a card.
"Goddammit Gwyn." Marie growled as she picked up the card and tossed it at her companion. "You can't use that!"
"Well why not?" Gwyn shot back, her brow furrowing. "You said I need to get between twenty and twenty six, adding the five will do that."
"Yes…but you have to follow your current flow." Marie pointed to the row in question. "You're currently going up and you can't a card of lesser value than the one before unless you put a queen down to change the flow." She sighed and sat back, wrapping the blanket tighter around her and blowing a lose strand of blond hair out her face. "Just forget it."
"But Marie, you promised!" Her companion wined.
"I know, but if you would just stop taking every damn caravan challenge and betting our money I wouldn't have to teach you how to play."
"You know I can't say no to a bet…"
"Yes, I know all too well." Marie laughed which made the ears of their dog Sentry, who had fallen asleep some time ago, perk up and one eye open.
Gwyn stuck her tongue out and looked again at the rules Marie had written out for her on a scrap of paper. She looked from the paper to the piles of cards and back again as her companion lay down and settled in for the night.
"You're not allowed to sleep until I beat you once." Gwyn nudged the blond with her foot.
"Then I'll never get to sleep and you'll be to blame when a group of raiders finds this cozy looking shack and we're too tired to fight."
"Ha ha, very funny."
The two women fell into a comfortable silence as Marie tried to sleep and Gwyn tried again and again to understand Caravan. She secretly wished people would stop challenging her to games when Marie was the better player, at least with this card game. When it came to games like Black Jack and Poker Gwyn was set, she could count cards easily enough and knew how to throw enough hands to not look suspicious but still come out ahead. Caravan was a game of strategy, something that eluded her. Pulling strawberry blond hair back into a messy bun and pushing her glasses back up the bridge of her nose she sighed loudly from time to time, trying to bug Marie into playing another round.
"You know what?" Marie rolled over and looked at Gwyn.
"What?"
"I bet you can't figure out how to play Caravan on your own by morning….quietly." The blond smiled wickedly. Gwyn knew Marie was baiting her, but she still couldn't resist.
"You're on."