The Cribbage game started at 6:30, right after supper was over and the dishes had been washed and put away. Edith hadn’t played for quite some time, so she asked Murdock to “freshen” her memory.
“I’m sure you remember that an Ace counts as 1, and that 10s and face-cards are each 10. And that you get 2 points for each combination that adds up to 15, and for each pair. And each card in a run counts as 1 point, so a double run—say a 2, 3, 4, 4—is 8 points. And if the turned-up card is a 5, then you’d have 10 points for the double-run, and another 2 for the 15. And don’t forget that if a Jack is cut, that’s 2 points. And when we lay down, we get 2 points for reaching 15 or 31, and 1 for last card. Oh yes, the Right Jack counts only as 1. Now, let’s play.”
The game began and both were getting good hands, but Murdock’s were slightly better, so after twenty minutes he was leading Edith by 21, with only 9 more pegs needed to reach 121 and a win. However, it was Edith’s turn to deal and she had two Cribbage hands to his one.
“Well, I can’t SKUNK you, but I sure as heck can bring you to your knees. You want to concede now, Edie, to save yourself the shame?”
“Not on your life,” she answered.
“But, sis, you do know that the average hand in Cribbage is 8 don’t you? And if I happen to get that—which there’s no way I won’t—it’s all over. I’ll just hav’ta peg 1 to go out.”
“Dream on, little brother! You’re not gonna get 8 in your hand, so you better pray that you peg a whole lot more than 1. A whole lot more. Because, if you don’t, I’m gonna take you down a peg or two. Have your children seen you eating humble pie, yet? If not, they’re in for quite a treat today,” she said confidently, while winking at the giggling children.
“Okay, Edie, but don’t say I didn’t give you a chance to bow out gracefully. You know how I hate beating women, but if that’s your choice.”
—1—
After the hands were dealt, Edith was holding two 5s, a 9, a Jack, and two Kings. Murdock on the other hand had a 5, two 6s, a 9, a 10, and a Queen. He decided right away to keep his four lowest cards. It wasn’t that hard a decision since from his way of thinking he had no choice but to keep the 9 and 6s, and besides, he would never put a 5 in his opponents Crib—most especially not Edith’s—unless the other cards he held were too good to part with. Even so, he wasn’t that thrilled about throwing Edith a 10 and a Queen either. That could be double trouble if a Jack were turned over, because she would automatically get 2 points, and would have at least a three-card run in her Crib, for 3 more points.
“But what’s the chance a Jack will be turned over,” he thought; besides, the cards he held had a lot of potential: a 5-of-Diamonds, 6-of-Spade, 6-of-Hearts and 9-of-Diamonds. That was 6 points, with a lot of possibilities for much more, certainly enough to go out and humiliate his sister if the right card was turned over. And even if it wasn’t, he only needed to peg 3 to go out.
“Please, God,” he thought, “just give me a 4, 6, 7 or 9, and it’s all over. I’d even settle for a 3, 5, 10 or face card. That’d be 8 points in my hand, and I’d only need to peg 1.”
While Murdock was pondering his cards, Edith was busy studying hers: a 5-of-Clubs, 5-of-Spades, 9-of-Hearts, Jack-of-Diamonds, King-of-Hearts, and King-of-Spades. She had no choice but to hold the two 5s and two Kings; that was 12 points.
After Murdock and Edith each threw two cards facedown into her crib, he cut the deck. Edith turned over the card and laughed when she heard her brother’s reaction.
“On no! A Jack. You lucky so-and-so.”
“Why did I give her the 10 and Queen?” he asked himself. “Should’ah kept the 5, 6, 9 and 10. That’ah been 9 points and lights out. Oh well, as they say: hindsight is twenty-twenty. No sweat though, I’m still in good shape with these cards.”
“Gee, kids,” Edith said, “from the look on your father’s face I think he might have given me something good in the crib. Hopefully, a 5 and a face card; better yet, a couple of 5s would be even better. Getting worried, Murrr-deee?”
“Just take your measly 2 points, Edie. You still need 28 more to win, and there’s no way that’s gonna happen. In fact, I’ll be OUT before you can even count your hands; and a 28-point win is almost as good as a SKUNK,” he said, knowing that a 31-point win is needed for a SKUNK in Cribbage.
With the Jack turned up, Murdock was now holding an 8-point hand and he knew he could easily peg 1 point. With the cards he had to peg with, it would be a miracle—or maybe a disaster is more appropriate—if he didn’t. Edith noticed that her brother didn’t have on his usual smug face, the one that was so familiar to her when he knew he was going to win. Seeing that, she suspected he didn’t have enough points in his hand to go out, and that he would have to peg at least 1 point to win. The problem was, she didn’t know just how many pegs he would have to get. If it was only 1 or 2, or even 3, Edith knew she could be in deep trouble. All it took was a pair or a 15, and a GO to give him 3; and that was certainly not unthinkable.
“Please, God, let him have a bad hand,” she prayed. “Four points would be okay, but no more than that.”
Even though she was concerned, Edith decided to rattle her brother’s cage, and asked sarcastically: “Did someone stoke the stove, Lillian?”
“Nope. Why, Aunt Edie? Are you hot?”
“No, but it sure looks like your father is starting to sweat a little.”
Everyone laughed again at her sarcasm and, just when the laughter was dying down, she decided to give her brother another verbal jab.
“Go ahead, Murdy, it’s your turn. Or are you just too afraid to lay down?”
“Just a minute, I’m thinking,” he answered.
“What’s the matter? What are you waiting for?”
“I don’t want to give you anything to peg on, just by chance you lucked out and have good hands.”
When he said that, Edith was sure that her brother couldn’t go out without pegging, so she decided to try to divert his attention from the game.
“Hey, Murdy, Maggie tells me you’re a big Red Sox fan. What do you think of their chances this year?”
“Excellent!” he said as his eyes lit up. “The Sox have a brand-new ballpark—Fenway, I think it’s called—and they’ve gotten off to a great start.”
Then he remembered that Edith had no interest in sports, and realized that she was just up to her old tricks again, trying her best to distract him.
“Nice try, Edie, but it’ll take more than your pathetic mental tricks to beat me.”
She grinned, and he smiled slyly while giving his sister a curious, sideways look.
“Six,” he said after laying down the 6-of-Spades.
“Sixteen,” his smiling sister said, upon laying down the King-of-Hearts.
Murdock laid down the 9-of-Diamonds and said: “Twenty-five.”
“Thirty,” Edith counted when she laid down her 5-of-Clubs.
“Please don’t let him have an Ace,” she prayed.
“GO!” he said. “Take your stupid point!”
Edith sighed in relief. It wasn’t that she hated to lose; it was that she hated to lose to her brother. At least, she pretended she did. In reality, she didn’t care one way or the other. However, Murdock’s feigned arrogance forced her to take delight in beating him.
“Only 27 to go, my dear Murdy,” Edith said after pegging 1 point for the GO.
Upon laying down the 6-of-Hearts, Murdock grinned and said: “Let’s try six, again.”
“Sixteen,” Edith said, upon laying down the King-of-Spades.
“Twenty-one,” Murdock counted with the last card he held: the 5-of-Diamonds.
Edith then laid down her last card: the 5-of-Spades.
“Twenty-six, but more importantly, my 5 matches yours; and that’s 2, if I’m not mistaken,” she said, and promptly pegged 2 points.
“Oh! And I do believe I get one for Last Card.”
“Darn!” Murdock said. “But you still need 24 to win. Well, doesn’t matter anyway, Edie. Read ‘em and weep,” he taunted his sister, as he laid down his hand.
Edith pondered his hand: a 5-of-Diamonds, 6-of-Spades, 6-of-Hearts, 9-of-Diamonds, to go with the Jack-of-Hearts.
“I’m reading ‘em, but I’m not weeping,” Edith said. “That’s only 8 points, little brother.”
“What do you mean?” he said unbelievingly.
“Fifteen-two; fifteen-four; fifteen-six; and a pair is 8. And the Right Ja—…. Oh no! One point shy. I thought for sure I was out.”
“Not only can’t your father play Cribbage, he can’t count either,” Edith said disparagingly, while tenderly kissing Leona on the head.
The children and Margaret laughed hysterically.
“I like this lady,” she thought, remembering all the times Murdock had teased her when they played Cribbage. Somehow it was Murdock who always squeaked by with a win, and darn if she could figure out how or why. “Lucky, I guess.”
“All I needed was one more point! One measly point!” Murdock moaned. “I thought for sure I had the Right Jack.”
“The Jack has to be in your hand, Murdy, not on the deck.”
“I know. I know. I was so anxious to kick your butt that I just got confused. Oh well, with you needing 24 points, there’s still no way you’re gonna go out, Edie. So I’ll just hav’ta wait until the next hand to whip your useless butt. But I sure would’ve enjoyed beating you bad, right here and now.”
Murdock was so sure he was going out that he had not paid close attention to Edith’s hand. When he looked down he saw: a K-of-Hearts, K-of-Spades, 5-of-Spades, 5-of-Clubs, to go with the J-of-Hearts.
Then he said: “Edith, you lucky so-and-so! Leave it to you to come up with a 16-point hand. But that still leaves you 8 points shy of going out. And there’s no way your gonna get that—not in a Crib anyway—what with the cards I gave you,” he said, knowing that he could very easily be wrong, but hoping otherwise.
“No problem, little brother,” Edith said, trying to appear confident while slowly turning over her Crib, at first dreading to look. Then her eyes brightened by what she saw: a 9-of-Hearts, 10-of-Clubs, Jack-of-Diamonds, Queen-of-Spades, to go with the Jack-of-Hearts.
“Damn! A 10-point hand.” Murdock said, and then he closed his eyes, raised his head, and chanted: “Damn! Damn! Damn!”
“Murdock! The children!” Margaret said in admonishment.
But he didn’t hear her. He was still thinking about the embarrassment of his sister’s win. It was even more embarrassing for him when she let out a yelp and began dancing around the floor, twirling little Leona as she did.
“Okay, put the blindfold on and then shoot me and get it over with,” he pleaded.
“That’s funny, Papa,” Lillian said; and then her hyena-sounding laugh could be heard punctuating her words, causing Arlene and Leona to giggle.
“It’s not that funny, Lillian,” Murdock said. “Edie, I can’t believe anyone could be as lucky as you.”
“Luck? What do you mean luck? It’s called skill with a capital ILL, my dear brother.”
“You sure made Papa look ill, Aunt Edie,” Lillian chimed in.
“Didn’t I though.”
The Haleys’ living room exploded with laughter, and Edith had to wait for the laughter to subside before she spoke again.
“Now I know why you beat your Papa all the time, Lillian. Heck, even little Leona could whip his useless butt,” she said, adding insult to injury.
And once again the room exploded into laughter. Leona was laughing too, but she was not sure why. The only thing the 2-year-old knew for sure was that her Aunt, someone she had become extremely attached to in just a few short days, had just spoken her name. She was likely too young to realize that her aunt had become just as attached to her.
The little girl looked up at Edith and said: “What happened, Aunt Edie?”
“Oh, nothing too unusual, dear. I’m just taking your father to the cleaners; that’s all. Nothing to worry about though; it happens all the time.”
“Are his clothes dirty?” Leona asked innocently.
“They are now, dear. They are now. At least his underwear anyway.”
One more time the room shook with laughter.
“You know, Leona, I think you are my good luck charm. I might have lost to your father if you weren’t sitting here on my lap.”
Leona smiled, happy that her aunt was pleased with her.
“Well, guess I’ll turn in,” Edith said. “All this laughing has tuckered me out.”
“See you in the morning, Edith,” Margaret said.
“Nite, Aunt Edie,” Lillian and Arlene called out.
“Goodnight, everyone,” she replied before heading to her bedroom.
The room filled with laughter again when Edith turned and said one last thing:
“Now, don’t you stay up too late practicing your Cribbage, Murdy. The children need their shuteye you know, especially little Leona.”
“Vare-ree funny, Edith. Now get your skinny butt to bed. And take your damn sarcasm with you.”
—2—
“Edie’s taken quite a liking to Leona, don’t you think?” Margaret said to Murdock when she was fixing his breakfast the next morning.
“She sure has. She even asked me if she could take her back to Canada. Of course, she was just kidding, I think.”
“And what did you say?” Margaret asked.
“I told her I’d think about it,” he laughed. “I know one thing though: Leona couldn’t be in better hands. Edie would’ve made a good mom.”
“How old is Edie now, Murdy?”
“She was born in January of ‘71, so the way I figure it that makes her 41.”
“Really? She doesn’t look a day over twenty-five. Suppose she’ll ever get married?”
“If she hasn’t by now, I doubt she ever will.”
“Why not? She’s soooo beautiful. I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as her, and so tiny and delicate. Those actresses at the Bangor Opera House have nothing on her. From my point of view, she’s even prettier than the girl that’s gonna be in the new motion picture: Birth of a Nation. You know: What’s her name?”
“You mean Lillian Gish?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. Edie is definitely prettier than her. Or anyone else I can think of for that matter.”
“Yeah, and don’t tell her I said this: Edie’s a beautiful woman all right. But I guess she’s not the marrying kind. And maybe it’s for the best.”
“What do you mean by that, Murdy?”
“Maybe I’m wrong, but I think some people are meant to be married and others are not.”
“Did she date much when she was younger?”
“Oh yes; the boys were falling all over themselves to date Edie.”
“Didn’t any of them meet her fancy?”
“Yeah, of course. In fact, there was someone she liked a lot. I thought for sure she would marry him, but he was killed when he fell off a roof working as a carpenter on a job with me. Come to think of it, she never dated much after that.”
“That’s too bad,” Margaret responded.
—3—
After staying with the Haleys for seventeen days, Edith Haley was getting ready to board the City of Bangor to head back to Canada.
“Before you leave, I have something for you,” Murdock told his sister when they were saying their goodbyes at the Front Street dock. It’s a picture of Lillian and Arlene. It was taken three years ago, so they’re 5 and 2 in this photo.”
“Oh, thank you so much, Murdy. This means a lot. I had such a great time with them. You and Margaret did a terrific job raising your girls.”
“We think so. And this is for you, too,” he said while handing a small white box to his sister.
“What’s in it?” she asked.
“It’s a chain and locket. Hurry and open the locket. I thought you might like to have this, since you took such a strong liking to Leona.”
Edith took the silver, heart-shaped locket from the white box. The shiny chain was hanging from her left hand, between her thumb and index finger, and she used her long fingernails to pry open the locket that lay delicately in her tiny palm.
“It’s Leona!” Edith cried with delight. “She’s so adorable. Oh, Murdock, I can’t thank you enough for this. I’ll treasure it forever.”
“We had her picture taken last week. Just for you.”
“Just for me? That’s so thoughtful; but how did you manage it without my knowing?”
“We had a photographer come out to Mrs. Murphy’s, and while the girls kept you distracted playing Hearts, Maggie snuck Leona over there.”
“Tricky,” Edith said. “Anyway, Leona’s such a cutie; a little sweetheart. Are you sure I can’t take her home?”
“Your offer is tempting, Edith, but I don’t think I’d be able to talk Maggie into it.”
They both laughed.
“That’ll be the day you’d part with Leona, little brother. Or, Lillian or Arlene for that matter.”
“You’re dead right about that, sis. It’d be a cold day in hell before I’d part with those little buggers of mine. But anyway, Edie, I’m so glad you could visit. I sure hope you can make it back again.”
“I’ll try, Murdy, but it’s hard on a secretary’s wages. Will you be able to visit me sometime?”
“No time soon I’m afraid. All our extra money is slated for a new home. We’d hav’ta save up an awful lot more pennies to visit Canada.”
Edith was startled when the ship whistle blew three long and very loud warnings.
“Well, I’d better be getting on board now. Wouldn’t want to be walking back home. Although, after what happened to the people on the Titanic, maybe that’s not such a bad idea.”
After hitting an iceberg, the enormous passenger liner sank in the north Atlantic on April 15th, 1912, just two weeks before Edith visited her brother.
“Yeah, that was a terrible tragedy all right,” he said. “I read where well over a thousand were lost. Poor souls. I suspect more would have been lost if the Capathia hadn’t arrived in the nick of time to rescue them.”
“No doubt. And to think, they said the Titanic was unsinkable. Just goes to show you, there’s nothing in life that’s certain. Well, enough dilly-dallying. Take care, little brother.”
“You too, sis. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Never! Nor, some you would,” she yelled over her shoulder as she ran up the ship’s ramp, after kissing her brother goodbye.
“Don’t forget to write!” he yelled.
“You either!”
“I won’t,” he said softly, waving one last time.
Murdock did as he promised: writing to his sister at least once a month. Edith did the same, and because she and Margaret hit it off so well, they also corresponded regularly. However, although Murdock had no way of knowing it then, he would see his sister only one more time in his life, and it would be under less than pleasant circumstances.