-Lucky at cards..-

Dinner was casual, they said, and your cousin's responsibility. Actually, my cousin was also responsible for introducing his girlfriend of a few months, so his plate was full.

In the meantime, my immediate family traveled to the one beach that permits dogs. This way, my brother's pet could run and swim until she puked. She did, thanks to a little girl who never got tired of seeing the animal chase a tennis ball over the waves and back. It was the first time I'd seen the dog actually give up on the game before the humans did.

After dinner, we sat down for cards. Too bad it wasn't real - I won the pot.
$10 from six relatives, minus my entry fee makes $50 that would become very important later.

Later the twenty-somethings would go out to bars and do what twenty-somethings do, I suppose. We would drink expensive shots and try to communicate in sign language and shouts to bartenders who refuse to sign or speak, since they communicate by three distinct facial tics (annoyance, disgust, and botulism).

I never used the fifty dollars. At least for tonight, I'm too cute to buy my own drinks.

On the way home, the same cousin who prepared the meal and introduced a girlfriend took a detour with said girlfriend. They jumped into a hotel pool with their clothes on. Newly single brother of mine - the same brother who had to have his cellular phone taken away at the bar, lest he call his ex-girlfriend - looked on with three facial tics I can only convey as (regret, loneliness, and constipation.) After he jumped in, all the facial tics were gone.

I wonder if someone should tell the hotel guests?