Playing Cards

"Hi, I can't talk, AL and Junie are here playing Skip-Bo and if I don't watch them every minute they'll cheat."

This is how my mother answered the phone yesterday.

Every week, my mom's two best friends come over to play Skip-Bo and, presumably, accuse one another of crimes against the draw pile. I've known AL for decades, she and her husband call burps "lip flappers," which tells you almost everything you need to know about her. She is one of my most loyal readers. Junie has been friends with my mother since GRADE SCHOOL. Junie is long suffering.

"Tell her she's late posting on her blog," I hear AL shouting in the background.

See? Loyal.

After my mother rushed me off the phone (ahem), I got to thinking about that little trio — three friends around a card table, talking over each other, making each other laugh. Put them in a coffee shop in Blue Lake and they'd fit right in. They'd also, knowing them, have the town's mysteries solved before their card game ends.