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The dice clattered along the large wooden game table. The group leaned in close to see the total and a set of identical twos stared back at them.
“Another goddamn four?” Jesse exclaimed with frustration. Judy and Kelvin both smirked as BJ passed them their rightful resource cards.
Things had been good among the Gemstone family. Better than they had been in a very long time. Between almost dying at the hands of their uncle’s militia, to almost dying when their uncle brought a bomb to church, to almost dying after a freak swarm of locusts attacked the taping of Bible Bonkers, the siblings had finally managed to start working together. It started with Cousins Night, but once the Montgomerys had left the compound and gone their own way, the family realized that they actually enjoyed having a game night every once in a while. Even if the night often ended with screaming and someone turning over the game board. That was their way of bonding.
Tonight’s game had been chosen by BJ, as they often were, and though they had played Settlers of Catan once or twice before he still had to try and reexplain the rules. A task that proved difficult when the siblings refused to stop talking over each other.
“Don’t cry just ‘cause all you got over there is sheep bro,” Judy snapped at Jesse, who had been loudly complaining about his lack of resource cards to everyone at the table.
“Shut up and play your turn Judy,” he yelled back, pulling his cards closer to his chest.
“Don’t mind if I do cause I’m goin’ build a mothafucking city son!” She slammed the five cards required to upgrade her settlement into the middle of the table, shooting Jesse a middle finger as she did.
“Goddammit!” he yelled.
“It’s okay baby, you still have time to catch up,” Amber said softly, giving him a comforting pat on the arm. Jesse pouted, looking at his meager three settlements that put him ahead of only Keefe on the scoreboard.
“Suck it Jesse,” Judy continued to taunt.
“Great job lolipop,” BJ said. He leaned over to her and the two of them rubbed noses together.
“That’s disgusting,” Jesse said as Amber visibly cringed beside him.
“Okay, my turn!” Kelvin interrupted, reaching for the dice. He rolled a two.
“Finally,” Jesse said, reaching over to grab the one ore card he was now owed. “Bout damn time.”
“Not my fault you chose to build on bad spaces dummy,” Kelvin said.
“I picked last! I had no choice! Shut up and do whatever you were gonna do.”
“Okay, let’s see,” Kelvin mused, taking his time to carefully consider every hexagon in front of him. “I’d like to propose a trade. I need brick and wood.” He turned his gaze to his right to look at Keefe, who dutifully plucked all the brick and lumber cards out of his hand and gave them to Kelvin. “Thank youuuu,” Kelvin smiled while Judy and Jesse both threw their arms up in protest.
“Oh fuck off,” Jesse said.
“Naw homie, this ain't a team game you can’t keep pooling all your resources with your little boyfriend over there.”
“It’s called making a trade, it’s part of the game,” Kelvin responded with as much sass as usual.
“Well technically it wasn’t a trade, because you didn’t offer anything to Keefe in return,” BJ interjected and Kelvin sent daggers his way.
“Yeah listen to BJ,” Judy said. “He knows tons of game rules.”
“Fine, I’ll do a real trade. Keefe, I will give you one wheat for all your bricks and wood.” He held out the single grain card and Keefe took it without complaint.
“I accept this trade.”
Judy rolled her eyes dramatically as Jesse leaned over Amber’s shoulder to look at her cards. “You wanna give me anything good?” He mumbled.
“Aw baby you know I would but I don’t have anything useful right now,” Amber said with a glint in her eye.
“Stop doing trades on my turn Jesse,” Kelvin snapped. “I am going to build two more roads.” Kelvin put his pieces down on the board.
“Now that your road is longer than Judy’s you get the longest road card,” BJ explained.
“Nu uh, it’s mine, he can’t take it!”
“My road is longer now Judy. Give it.” Kelvin snatched the card away from Judy with a very pleased look.
“Is it my turn now?” Keefe asked and the table gave him a nod. He rolled the dice and announced “seven” when the roll was revealed.
“That means you have to move the robber onto a new space,” BJ said, gesturing to the grey pawn sitting currently on a brick space that Jesse had built on.
“Yes, thank you,” Jesse said. “That motherfucker has been blocking me all game.”
Keefe delicately picked up the game piece and considered the options. It was a rare moment when all eyes were on him, everyone anticipating where he might put the piece down. He hovered over a space where both Judy and Jesse had built, and Kelvin gave him an encouraging nod, but the warning glares he got from the other two siblings were enough to scare him off. He placed the piece in the empty desert spot, hoping to upset as few people as possible.
“Lame!” Judy said, blowing a raspberry and giving a thumbs down.
Kelvin rolled his eyes “Come on bud this is game night, you have to learn to be more cut throat. Which means screwing over Jesse and Judy every chance you get.”
“Stop telling him how to play dude,” Judy said, turning to flick Kelvin on the ear.
“Quit it!” Kelvin protested.
“My turn!” Jesse barked. He rolled another four and let out a yell of frustration. Judy and Kelvin put their differences aside to point and laugh at Jesse’s misfortune. “This game is stupid.” Jesse pouted.
“You just think that ‘cause you’re losing so bad,” Kelvin said.
“Well does anyone want to trade me some fucking wheat in exchange for some fucking sheeps?” He looked around the table, but no one spoke up. “Really? Goddamit.” Jesse threw his cards down onto the table and sat back with his arms crossed in front of him, letting out a dramatic huff as he did.
“Aw poor little Jesse can't make a trade,” Judy mocked.
“Is your turn finished baby?” Amber asked.
“Yes my turn is fucking finished.”
“Oh well let's see what I can do,” Amber said, looking at her cards like she hadn't yet considered them. “Well I guess I’ll just play one of these knights again.” She laid down a knight card on top of two she had played earlier in the game.
“Oh wow Amber, that means you get the largest army card,” BJ said, passing it across the table to her.
“Do I?” She asked innocently, but the satisfied smirk on her face gave her away.
“What the fuck even is that?” Jesse asked bitterly.
“Now BJ does that mean with this card, my two cities, two settlements and these-” she flipped over two victory cards that she had in her hand and everyone at the table gasped. “That equals to ten victory points doesn't it?”
“Yes it does,” BJ confirmed, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice.
“What does that mean? The points?” Jesse asked.
“It means she wins you idiot!” Judy threw her cards across the table as Amber finally stopped playing coy and beamed with satisfaction.
“Dang it, I almost had it.” Kelvin whined.
“Good job Amber,” BJ congratulated her, starting to pick up the pieces of the game board.
“Thank you BJ,” Amber smirked with superiority as the rest of the table pouted.
“This shit sucked worse than when she beat us all at poker,” Judy complained.
“Well it’s not hard to win since you all have massive tells,” Amber explained.
“I don’t have a tell.”
“Yes you do Judy, whenever you have a good card you pinch your mouth together real tight to stop smiling. And when Kelvin has good cards his eyes dart around real fast to look at everyone-”
“No they don’t!”
“- BJ always gets weirdly loud when his cards are bad, and Keefe, well honey sometimes you just forget to hold your cards away from everyone else and we can see your whole hand.”
“Yeah you all suck at poker, I’m the only one who don’t got a tell,” Jesse said smugly.
“Well darling, after being married for over twenty years you don’t need a tell. I can read your whole face,” She said it so sweetly, gently resting a hand on the side of Jesse’s cheek, that it took him a minute to realize it was an insult.
“Well I still think next time it should be strip poker. That way Beej can’t loose another thousand bucks like last time,” Judy said.
“Ew Judy, stop trying to get us to play strip poker,” Kelvin replied. She stuck her tongue out at him.
“Well I actually have a real suggestion for our next game night. It’s called Dominion, it’s kind of like the OG deck builder game…”
The rest of the table groaned and got up, leaving BJ to finish his pitch to no one.
…
Later that night, one of Aimee-Leigh’s records had been put on, wine had been poured, and the couples gathered around Jesse and Amber’s fire pit. BJ had taken it upon himself to start the s’more making. It was a rare quiet moment among the group, all of them content to listen to Aimee-Leigh’s voice mixed with the South Carolina’s night ambiance.
Things could never stay quiet for long however, and this time it was Jesse who broke it.
“Well family, I hope y’all don’t mind me bringing a little fun to this party.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a ziploc bag full of weed.
“Aw sick!” Judy said, flicking her wrist in approval.
“Where the heck did you get that?” Kelvin asked, judgment written all over his face.
“Pontius tried to hide it in his sock drawer, so obviously I had to confiscate it,” Jesse explained, producing rolling papers and a grinder from his other pocket. “If you are nice I will share some with you. That goes for everyone.” He pointed accusingly around the circle.
“Nu uh, I don’t want any. And you shouldn't be doing illegal drugs either, you don’t know what it could be laced with.” Kelvin said, crossing his arms. Keefe reached over to place a comforting hand on his thigh.
“With the amount of money we give that boy as an allowance he better be buying the primo shit,” Jesse said.
“Besides,” Amber chimed in. “It’s illegal here but it’s completely legal other places. Doesn’t really feel right that the Lord would punish us if we smoke here but if we fly to California he would be okay with it.”
“I agree,” BJ said. “It’s really tragic that there are people locked up in prison for selling weed when there are whole businesses making money off of it.”
“Yeah yeah,” Judy brushed him off. “Hashtag legalize it and all that we get it. Jesse you gonna roll or do your sausage fingers need help?”
“I don’t need help Judy, shut up!”
“I’m just saying last time when you rolled it canoed like crazy and I don’t want that from my smoking experience tonight.”
“I’m great at rolling, better than you sis.”
“Nuh uh!”
“Yuh huh.”
“I no longer partake in marijuana consumption,” Keefe spoke up, “But back in my younger days, we used to have joint rolling competitions to see who could roll the best.”
“Yes, we are doing that,” Judy said, nodding enthusiastically.
“Why’d you have to encourage them?” Kelvin whined.
“How exciting!” BJ said with a grin.
“Who is participating?” Jesse asked, stuffing the grinder full with herb and starting to grind it down. Amber took the papers and started to hand them out.
“No,” Judy said to BJ as he reached for one. “You can't participate, we need someone to time us and judge.”
“If he judges he has to swear to be completely unbiased,” Jesse insisted.
“Of course he will,” Judy snapped.
“Keefe?” Amber asked, holding out a paper.
“No, I better not,” Keefe said politely.
“C’mon dude it was your idea,” Judy said.
Keefe looked to Kelvin for help and Kelvin rolled his eyes in response.
“Well if we are doing this you better show these losers how it's done,” he said, gesturing to Keefe to take the paper from Amber.
Once all the participants had their papers, a filter and a pinch of herb, they sat ready to face off. BJ held his watch in front of his face.
“I just have to wait for the second hand to hit twelve,” he explained as everyone waited with anticipation. “Okay, ready, set, go!”
Kelvin and BJ leaned forward in their chairs as the other four got to work. Amber’s fingers were lithe and smooth, Judy filled her paper with an awkward urgency, and Jesse struggled to get the paper around the filter in a way that made any sense. It was Keefe, whose muscle memory had kicked in, who expertly licked down the side of the paper and twisted it into a smooth joint in basically one motion. He twisted the end, holding it up triumphantly as Amber finished her joint shortly behind him.
“Yes! That’s how it’s done,” Kelvin cheered, giving Keefe’s shoulder a proud squeeze.
“Well done Amber, you were a very worthy opponent,” Keefe said bashfully.
“Well it’s not just about speed, it’s about how nice they are too,” Judy insisted, finally securing hers.
“Goddamit! Shit! Fuck!” Jesse swore and he continued to struggle to complete his joint.
“Ok Jesse’s out,” Judy announced. “Time for judging.”
She held her joint up vertically in front of BJ’s face, and Keefe and Amber did the same. BJ made a good show of considering all three joints, but after one look from Judy, he announced his decision.
“Judy’s joint is the best.”
“What!?” Kelvin shouted. “Even I can see hers is busted as heck! Keefe finished fastest and his is the prettiest.”
“I obviously got a bad paper or something and was unable to properly participate, but of the other three it’s clear that Amber’s was the most smokable of all the joints,” Jesse insisted.
“Don’t matter what you two chodes think because BJ was the official judge and he picked me.” Judy leaned forward to light her joint in the bonfire, and then leaned back in her chair to take a hit. It all looked very smooth until she had an aggressive coughing fit.
The joint got passed around, everyone but Kelvin and Keefe taking a hit. Then Jesse lit the one he rolled and passed it around too, Judy refusing to touch it and instead leaning over to take Keefe’s out of his hand and light it for herself. Jesse rolled his eyes at his sister.
“Smells,” Kelvin complained with an eye roll.
“You know what bro, it sucks that you don’t smoke because you are seriously the one who needs it the most,” Judy said, starting to laugh hysterically halfway through her sentence. The laughter caught on with everyone who had taken a hit, even BJ who usually tried to refrain from participating in the Gemstone insults.
“Whatever,” Kelvin said. “Y’all’s lungs are gonna give out long before mine.” He sulked as everyone continued to laugh.
“I think we need to get some better snacks,” Amber mused, tossing a marshmallow into her mouth.
“Uh oh, munchies!” Jesse teased and the group started giggling again.
“I could order us some pizzas?” Keefe offered.
“Make sure to get a pepperoni,” Jesse said. Him and Amber were now throwing marshmallows at each other and trying to catch them in their mouths.
“I’d take a Hawaiian pizza please,” BJ said.
“Ugh,” Jesse groaned. “Pineapple on pizza is disgusting."
“Shut up Jesse,” Judy said.
“I don’t think fruit belongs on pizza!” Jesse insisted.
“Technically tomato is a fruit,” BJ said. Jesse ignored him and decided to throw a marshmallow at Judy in protest.
“Get some garlic bread too,” Amber said.
“And I want buffalo wings,” Judy added.
“Can I get a diet coke please hon?” Kelvin asked.
Keefe was nodding along and trying to keep up with everyone’s suggestions as they called them out. When all was said and done, they had ordered over five hundred dollars of Domino’s and Amber was lighting another joint.
…
The night stretched on. Pizza had been eaten. Judy had picked the olives off her slice and thrown them at people. The fighting had mostly been kept to a minimum, with everyone full of fast food and most of them mellowed out from the weed. They had spread out three blankets under the stars, each couple taking one spot to sit together. They stared up at the night sky, the stars shining down on them.
“This was a good night,” Jesse said, his arm slung around Amber’s shoulders. “Thanks for coming over guys.”
“Ugh, gross,” Judy said playfully, she had her arms around BJ who was sitting in front of her and leaning back against her chest. “‘Course we’re gonna come make your boring ass life more interesting dummy.” Everyone chuckled.
“You guys are so high.” Kelvin shook his head fondly, from his spot on the ground, using Keefe’s lap as a pillow.
“Oh look!” Bj pointed up at the sky.
Above them a shooting star burned bright across the sky, then just as quick as it had appeared it burned out. A quiet gasp and a few “awes” were said. Everyone soaking in the magic of the moment.
“That was Momma I bet,” Judy said.
“Damn right it was,” Jesse agreed.
“She wouldn’t miss out on a night like tonight,” Kelvin said, sniffling a little at the thought.
The six of them sat there for a moment, feeling Aimee-Leigh’s presence around them. Their hearts hurting for what she was missing out on, but feeling full knowing that she would be so happy to witness this night. She would be proud to see the love among them. The way the siblings had figured out how to be there for each other, and how each of them had managed to find their person. They knew she would be looking down on them with pride.
Judy began to hum the first line of Toodles Till Tomorrow, the memory of their Momma singing it to them as she tucked them into bed hanging in the air. There was a calm that settled over all of them that only came about when thinking about Aimee-Leigh. They listened to Judy as she began to sing the words out loud.
“ We've come so very far, just look at where we are
What once was a dream is now a sweet memory
I'll see you again with the valley's warm wind
I'll see you some way, but it's toodles today.”