Pulled pork, pulled chicken, a deck of cards, a group of friends and at least an hour of down time. Gabriel begins shuffling the cards as Horia, Marissa, Justina, Deeana, and me wait. We sit silently and listen to the cards smacking down on each other. The aroma of chicken and the warm air fills my soul with satisfaction. The cards get separated and its finally time to play. Deeana proclaims and states that the best game to play is Egyptian rat screw, an hour of freedom offers us the opportunity for new card games, we agree whole-heartedly. Little did we know that both Horia and Deeana have had years of experience and know tips and tricks to crush the competition. The cards start flying, first 6, then an 8 then another 8… Bang! Horia’s hand slaps the table and takes the cards. (Apparently doubles means, if you’re fast enough and smack the pile on the table, two cards of the same kind show up your allowed to get them). Again we begin to throw cards towards the center of the pile. I place a 3 card, Deeana places a 4 card, then Gabriel places a 3 card and we all swing our hand towards the pile… a nano second later after the laughter and chaos which has just occurred blows over Deeana ends up with all the cards that were in the pile. This rule is called sandwich, if you have a two cards with the same number with one card of a different number in between it means the cards are yours. This process continues for about 20 minutes and before we know it Horia ends up with all the cards. We played a few more rounds and called it a day but the moral of the story is, don’t play card games with Horia if you want to win.

• Andrew