Darlene had been right. At the end of the game Erin ended up owing her twenty bucks and a pair of nylon stockings. Erin figured she had at least all of her time in post op to sulk over her loss. And sulk she did.
"I hope you're still not sour about our game the other day."
Erin looked over to Darlene, who was shuffling her deck of cards.
"You don't plan on playing me again do you? I'd like to keep at least some of my paycheck," she replied, tossing her sack up into the air.
Darlene shrugged. "That's fine with me, have fun tossing your life away."
Erin rolled her eyes and sat down her bean-sack. "Alright, I suppose I'm up for a game of cards. But can we at least play something that isn't going to burn a hole in my wallet?"
"Fine. War, Slapjack, Go Fish?"
Erin shrugged, "whichever you want," she looked over to Josephine, "you want to play with us?"
Josephine, or 'Jo' as the two started calling her, was avidly reading an article on kidney failure before she went to sleep. "Certainly not."
Darlene glanced over to Erin, "Why would you ask such a silly question? You know she can't stay up late on a school night."
Jo sat the article down and glared at them. "I sure do miss the first day you two came here, you talked and annoyed me much less then. In fact, I miss the days before you came here," she replied with a mocking tone.
Darlene returned her gaze to Jo, "Well if we annoy you that much you can always go bunk in the latrine."
"That is no way to talk to a colleague! Especially one in an authoritative ranking," Jo huffed. She angrily tossed the article onto the table and turned off the lamp.
"Hey! Turn that light back on!" Erin demanded.
"Just go to sleep so I can get some peace and quiet," Jo mumbled, pulling a blanket over her.
Erin sighed as she and Darlene went to go lie down in their cots. So much for a card game.