A Bet, Some Rum, and a Wedding
Chapter 23: The Cards
Jack walked into the galley and found the whole crew staring at the doorway waiting for him. "Alright, he's here!" Amy shouted. As soon as he stepped in, the whole crew, including Amy, started diving into the chicken and grabbing everything in sight. Amy drove straight for the drumsticks and quickly threw them on to her plate. She grabbed a heaping spoonful of the mashed potatoes and bread and placed them not so gently on her plate to join her chicken.
"Jack! Come over here and eat before all the food is gone! I saved you a spot!" Amy patted the sit next to her and started to eat. Jack took his sit next to Amy and watched her in amazement. She was just as sloppy and messy as the rest of the crew, maybe even a little worse. She protected her food like it was the vodka she loved and made it disappear just as fast. In the middle of eating one of her two chicken legs, she looked over at Jack to see him staring at her with a grin on his face.
"I'm hungry! Is there anything wrong with wanting me to eat?" she asked wile chewing on her chicken.
"No, it's just that you're almost as bad as the crew. Maybe even worse."
"Well right now all I care about is filling my stomach with food and hopefully drinking some rum." Just then one of the crewmembers pulled out all the rum and started handing them out to the crew. Amy quickly took one and chugged down about a forth of the bottle and resumed eating her food. Jack laughed and looked at the table. Nearly half the food was already gone. Realizing that he had nothing on his plate, he grabbed the nearest thing he could get and started eating.
"I ate too much." Amy hugged her stomach and slumped back in her chair.
"Well you ate practically half of that bloody chicken! And not to mention all those taters you had and the rum," Jack said finishing off a piece of bread.
"I only had one bottle, thank you very much."
"Well sorry."
"I think I'm going to lie down for a bit. Can I rest in your room?"
"No. Ye have to rest in Ana's cabin." Amy scowled at him."It was just a joke."
"Never joke about Anamaria's stupid bed again. I swear I'm going to sneak into that room one night and destroy it. So can I rest in your room?"
"Of course ye can. Can I come with you?"
"No, because then I'll never get any rest." Amy stood up quickly from her chair and realized that was a big mistake and made her nausea come back. She moaned in sickness and slowly walked out of the room. Amy made her way down the hallway to Jack's cabin and collapsed on his bed. Her not so graceful fall put pressure on her stomach and made the nausea come back. She grabbed the first pillow she could find and placed it under her head. With one arm clutching her stomach and one arm around the pillow, she fell into a peaceful, and slightly uncomfortable, sleep.
Amy rolled over onto to her back and yawned. She had fallen sleep for about an hour. The nausea in her stomach was gone and didn't feel like she was carrying a ten-pound weight in her body any more. She still felt a little tired though. Amy stretched her arms out to both sides of the bed hoping to feel someone next to her. All she felt were blankets and pillows.
"Bloody pirate," she murmured to herself. She yawned again and opened her eyes to stare up at the ceiling. She didn't feel like getting up just yet. Amy took a few deep breaths in and realized that she had the urge to drink rum, probably still from lunch. Once she starts drinking, she can't stop until she gets at least 'really happy' as she would call it. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to rest again unless she quenched her thirst for rum, she unwillingly swung her feet over the side of the bed and sat up. Amy stretched her arms out, fixed her hair, and stood up. On the nightstand she noticed a deck of playing cards. Thinking that she might be able to get a card game started among the crew, she took the cards off he table and walked out of the room.
She made her way down the hallway, not passing anyone and made it to the galley. No one was in there. She saw that someone had left out the rum from lunch on the table and grabbed two bottles. She sat in a chair at the head of the table and opened the deck of cards. Amy started shuffling them when she heard a few of the crew members walk into the room and turned around to see who they were, Duncan and Zack.
"Hello Duncan, Zack."
" 'Ello Amy," both of them said in unison.
"Whatcha doin' in here all by yerself?" asked Duncan.
"I was going to play Solitaire but since you two are here would you like to join me in a game of cards?"
"Sure. Have nothin' else to do," added Zack. Both men pulled up a chair near Amy and grabbed a bottle of rum for the each of them.
"What do you want to play? Go Fish? Blackjack? 5-Card Stud? Poker? Egyptian Rats Crew?"
"What was that last one?" curiously asked Duncan.
"What? Egyptian Rats Crew?"
"Yeah that one. Never heard of it."
"What! You don't know how to play Egyptian Rats Crew?"
"No."
"Poor things. Well by the end of the day, you will. I'm going to teach you. I have mastered this game." Amy cut the cards and dealt them to Zack and Duncan.
"Captain, what are you doing?" Gibbs walked up behind Jack who was standing at the helm staring into space.
"No idea. Just thinkin' I suppose."
" 'Bout Amy?"
"No, about Harry's death. I have it all planned out. You see first I would take this bottle of rum and this toothpick…"
"Jack, stop foolin'."
"Who says I'm foolin'? If the time comes when I need to kill Harry, I have a plan that will work."
"Sometimes I worry about ye."
"Sometimes I worry myself."
"Jack, I think there's somethin' going on below deck that I think you'll find amusing."
"What? Is someone drunk?"
"No. Not yet."
"Where has the crew gone?"
"They're below deck."
"Where's Amy? Didn't she fall asleep 'bout a while back?"
"She's awake now." Jack could see where this was going and promptly spun around and followed Gibbs below deck
Jack followed Gibbs to the galley and saw the whole crew gathered around the table. Every one of them had a bottle of rum in their hands and was fighting to look at the table. Jack couldn't see what was going on so he pushed through the crowd and saw what they were looking at.
"I WIN!" Amy collected all the cards in the small pile and put them in with her deck.
"That's the tenth game in a row!" Duncan exclaimed.
"I told you I was a master at this game. But you are getting better. Fast learners you two are. Shall we have another go at it?" Both Duncan and Zack nodded as Amy shuffled the cards.
"What's going on here?" Jack's voice was heard over the whole crew and all of them turned to look at him.
"Why, it looks like the captain has come down to join us. I was just teaching these two men here how to play some cards." Jack noticed a half empty bottle of rum next to Amy.
"Are ye drunk again?"
"Number one, I was not drunk before. I was just really happy. Number two, when I'm drunk I either dance on a table or swear like there's no tomorrow, or both. Do you see me doing either one of those? No. Besides, I've only had three bottles. Including the ones I had at lunch. Right now I'm just happy."
"I see. Well it seems you've riled up me crew for the second time."
"What can I say? Everyone wants to be near me. Everybody loves me. Why don't you join us? There's still plenty of rum left…for now."
"What are ye playing?"
"We were playing Egyptian Rats Crew, but we're thinking of switching games."
"To what?"
"I don't know. I was going to let them pick. Come on, Jack, join us. Have some fun. You know you want to." Jack sighed and grinned."Alright. Give me some rum."
"That's the spirit Jack." Jack pulled put a chair near Amy and saw her hand the cards to Duncan."Duncan, you chose the next game we play.""How 'bout Blackjack?"
"Sure, I guess. You'll have to refresh me on the rules of the game. I haven't played in so long."
"But we were just-" Amy kicked Duncan under to table trying to get him to shut up. He quickly shut up and realized what Amy was doing, so he started to deal out the cards. Jack didn't catch on to what happened and actually thought that Amy didn't know anything about the game. He had just fallen into Amy's trap.
"The point of this game is to get as close to 21 as possible. Face cards are worth 10, Aces worth 1 or 11 you choose, and the rest of the cards are worth their value. Now, to hit means to take another card. If you go over 21 you're out. Savvy?" Jack explained.
"I think I can manage," Amy said with a smile. Duncan gave everyone two cards, one faced up the other faced down. Amy had a face up card of 5. She looked at her other card and saw that it was an Ace, 16 total.
"Hit me," Zack said. It was a 10. He passed his cards into Duncan, he busted.
"Hit me," Jack said. It was a 9.
"I'll stay. Amy?" Amy knew what she was doing. She needed a 5 card.
"Hit me." Duncan passed her a card, it was a 5. Amy smirked over at Jack, as he was doing the same to her. He flipped over his card, in all he had a 6, 5, and a 9, 20 total. Amy's smirk grew.
"What do ye have?" Amy flipped over her cards. "Twenty-one." Jack had a somewhat shocked impression on his face. She had just beaten him in a card game.
"How'd ya do that?"
"Beginner's luck. Again?" Jack nodded in agreement and passed their cards in to Duncan. Amy got a 4 and a 6, only 10 total.
"Hit me," she said. Duncan dealt her a card, a 3.
"Hit me," Amy said again. This time she got a 7, now the total was 20, better.
"I'll stay." She turned to Jack.
"Hit me," he said. He got a King. Jack's jaw dropped, he busted. He passed his cards in, cursing under his breath.
"I'll stay," said Zack. Both Amy and Zack turned over their cards, he only had 19. She beat him by one.
"Oh, it looks like I win again." Amy passed to Duncan her cards along with Zack's, and smiled at Jack."Beginner's luck," she said trying to sound innocent.
"Are ye sure you've never played this game before?" he asked.
"I never said I've never played it, I just said I haven't played it in a while. There's a difference."
"Sure, whatever you say. Duncan, deal the cards."
"Aye Captain." Duncan shuffled the cards and dealt them out."I will beat you."
"We'll just see about that." Amy looked at her cards, a Jack and an Ace, a perfect 21. Blackjack.
"Oh my, it appears that I win again," Amy said with as much sarcasm as she could.
"Bloody hell woman you've beat in fifteen straight games! When was the last time you played this game?" Jack complained.
"Oh, about twenty minutes before you came down."
"So ye have played this game before."
"Of course! You are looking at the queen of Blackjack, and Egyptian Rats Crew." Amy made a fake bow towards Jack and finished off her bottle of rum.
"So ye lied to me?"
"I didn't lie, you just never asked. Twenty minutes seemed like quite a long time to me."
"I'm done playin' this game if I'm going to be treated like this."
"Oh Jack, come on. Lighten up. We'll stop playing Blackjack, if it makes you feel better. Just be glad you weren't betting real money. You would have nothing left."
"Somehow I doubt that."
"I just beat you fifteen times in a row! Don't tell me you think you wouldn't have had lost a good amount of money?"
"I might of."
"Jack…have you ever been kicked out of a bar because you took everyone's money and made them lose business?"
"A few times, yes."
"I've been kicked out ten times."
"Ten!"
"When I walk in and ask if I could join them in their game, they think that I have no idea what I'm doing and make them bet large amounts. It's really quite easy actually."
"So you've cheated who-knows-how-many men out of their money?"
"Yep and proud of it."
"That's it. The next time I go gambling, yer coming with me."
"Trying to take advantage of my card skills? Well it ain't the first time I've done it. Come on, I want to play more cards."
"What was that other game ye were playing before?"
"Egyptian Rats Crew?"
"If that's what you call it, sure. How do ya play?"
"Here watch the three of us play and see if you catch on. Duncan, if you please."
"It'll be my pleasure," he said. Duncan reshuffled the cards and started dealing them out.
"I'll be right back. I need some rum." Amy pushed nherself away from the table and worked her way through the crowd to get to the rum. She found the crate on the floor near the table and grabbed two bottles. She worked her way back through the crowd and found one of the crewmembers had taken her seat.
"Excuse me, but that's my seat."
"No I told him he could sit there," Jack said behind her back. Annoyed, Amy turned around to Jack and put her hands on her hips.
"And why did you do that?" Before she knew what has happening, Jack grabbed her waist and plopped her down on his lap.
"This way it's easier for me to see what's goin' on."
"Is that the best excuse you could come up with?"
"Yep."
"Hopeful pirate."
"That's what I am. One of those for me?"
"Yes, here you go. Where are my cards?" Jack handed Amy her cards and took one bottle from her hands.
"Zack you start." Zack put down his first card a 2. Duncan placed his card atop of that, a queen. Amy put down a 5 and then a Jack. Zack put down a 5 and Amy quickly snatched the cards and put the cards at the bottom of her deck.
"Now I have a Jack."
"What's so special about Jacks?" Jack asked curiously.
"They're the best cards in this game, very hard to get. If you have a lot of Jacks, you'll probably win."
"So the Jacks are the most powerful cards in this game? I like this game already."
"Conceded."
"And proud of it. Keep playin'. I want to watch." Amy put down a 10, Zack put down a 4, and Duncan put down a 10. All three of their hands went diving for the cards, but Amy's hand got there first and Zack and Duncan slapped their hands on tops of hers.
"Sorry, I got them first." Both boys took their hands off of hers as she took the cards away.
"What was that?"
"That is what you call a sandwich. You have one card, a different card on top of that, and then the same card as the bottom one on top of that."
"Interesting."
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Come on, let's keep playing. I'm in a winning mood tonight."
They ye go. Another chapter. No more updates this weekend. Family Reunion! I hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend. Thanks for all the reviews! Ta!