Chapter 88: Christmas Presence

December 23, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Jesse

I eyed my dad across the final table of the Hold ‘Em tournament. The usual suspects were sitting next to us - Terry, Pete, and Matthew. Brian, Mike Knox, Kurt, and Jamie were the others who had made it. Some of the men who had been knocked out, especially the Navy guys, were playing a cash game at the next table. My dad stared impassively back at me, trying not to give away any information. I felt I had the best hand, but there was one card to go, and if it paired the Queen on the board, I might be in real trouble.

“$500,” I said, pushing five black chips into the pot.

“Fold,” Pete said, mucking his cards.

“Call,” my brother said.

That concerned me because I thought Matthew had nothing. I looked at the four cards on the table and tried to work out, once again, what he might have. It was possible he’d stayed in on a low pair, which he did on occasion, and there was a 5 on the board. There were also two spades, a heart, and a diamond, but I couldn’t imagine he’d call on a flush draw. He also could have a single-ended straight draw, but I didn’t think he’d call with that.

Brian, Mike, and Kurt had already folded, which brought it to my dad.

“Raise,” he said. “$500”

He pushed a yellow chip into the pot.

“Fold,” Jamie said.

“Call,” Terry said, pushing his own yellow chip into the pot.

I was positive Terry was playing an A and a blank, so I had him beat, which meant he didn’t worry me. It was either Matthew or my dad who had the hands I would have to beat. But with AK in my hand and AKQ5 on the board, I felt pretty good. Only a 5 or Q were really scary, though a spade might be.

“Call,” I said, deciding not to raise.

“Call,” Matthew said.

“River, please,” Dad said.

Terry burned a card and turned up the Q of spades. I suppressed a groan and did my best not to show how much that card scared me. I was reasonably sure my dad had been playing Qx, which meant he had me beat, and the chances I’d bluff him off trips at the final table were zero.

“Check,” I said, though I might as well have mucked my cards.

“$1000,” Matthew announced.

That made me wonder if he’d decided his stack was big enough to draw for a straight or a flush. I didn’t think he was bluffing, and I was sure he assumed that dad was playing Qx. Suddenly I wondered if dad’s other card had been a 5. The betting before the flop had been minimal, with just a single raise of the big blind. Dad sometimes stayed with strange cards if the betting pre-flop was low and he had a big stack. As soon as Dad bet, I knew for a fact he had Q5. I’d had him before the River, as I’d suspected, but now, he had a full house, and Matthew’s straight or flush, or even a full house with a pair of fives in the hole, were losers before QQQ55.

“Raise,” Dad said. “$2000”.

Terry thought for a minute then mucked his cards, “Fold.”

That left just Matthew who stared at my dad for a good two minutes before he acted.

“All in,” Matthew said.

“Call,” Dad said instantly, showing his cards.

“Shit!” Matthew swore, showing a pair of fives. “You called pre-flop with Q high? And raised with two pair?”

“Yes,” Dad replied, raking in the chips.

He had slightly more chips than Matthew, so that knocked Matthew out of the game.

“I had you all the way,” I said. “AK, but that Q on the River scared me!”

Dad shrugged, “All that matters is what the cards look like at the end!”

“Yeah, yeah!” I replied.

Matthew got up from the table, leaving nine of us, but now my dad had a stack nearly twice as big as anyone else at the table, meaning it was going to be tough to beat him, as he could take bigger risks and use the stack to push people around. I focused my attention and waited for Kurt to deal the next hand.

It was nearly an hour later, and down to my dad, Brian, and me. Dad was still the big stack, but I was close, having knocked out Kurt, Pete, and Terry. Dad had knocked out Jamie, but Jamie hadn’t had much left at that point. Brian was out one hand later because the blinds were big enough that he had to take a risk on a pair of jacks which lost to my dad’s pair of kings.

“So,” I said. “It is down to you, and it is down to me.”

Dad laughed, “And what happened to him?”

“He was a great fool!”

“Yes,” Dad smirked.

“Hey, I know Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates aren’t morons!”

“Will you two shut up and play cards!” Terry requested, rolling his eyes.

In the end it was anticlimactic. I got a series of bad cards where I couldn’t realistically even call the big blind, which bled some chips. Then I got a good hand, and on the flop I went all in. Dad instantly called and he had me beat - KK versus JJ, with the board blank. The Turn and River didn’t help either of us, and that meant Dad won.

“Good game,” I said. “I got so many low cards heads up I was toast. Those jacks were the first good cards I saw.”

“I saw a few face cards before those kings,” Dad said. “But you won $400, so I expect a REALLY nice Christmas present!”

“Oh, please! You won twice as much!”

“So?”

“You two sound more like brothers than father and son,” Commander Krennick, one of our new attendees said.

“I told you Steve lets his kids speak their minds, and treats them as if they were adults,” Aaron said. “Did you feel like you were playing against a fourteen-year-old and a thirteen-year-old?”

“No! I thought I was playing against Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan! And don’t even get me started on Steve! How the HELL did you know what I was playing every time?”

“«Это государственная тайна, товарищ»!” Dad said with a grin.

“What?” Commander Krennick asked, his eyes wide.

“It’s a state secret, Comrade!” I answered quickly, with a silly smile. “That’s one of the few Russian phrases I know.”

“You speak Russian, Steve?” Commander Krennick asked my dad.

“No,” Dad replied. “I dated a girl from the Soviet Union. She and her family became family friends. She married, and she and her husband moved to the US when she was named Trade Attaché to the US by the Russian government. It’s the role her dad had when I met her. He’s in their Duma now.”

“And that relationship caused Steve no end of trouble back in the day,” Pete interjected. “The FBI was constantly following him and interviewed him a few times, especially around the time the Walkers did their thing.”

“Those assholes should have been hung from a yardarm!”

“I don’t think the Navy hangs people from yardarms anymore,” I said.

“You were six when that movie came out, right?” Commander Krennick asked.

“So? Dad let me watch it. And I watched it on DVD from Netflix last month.”

“You let your six-year-old watch R-rated movies?” Commander Krennick asked my dad.

“Sure,” Dad replied. “The world would be rated NC-17 if the MPAA had to rate it. But let’s forget the politics and child-rearing and go have some bourbon!”

“And then, maybe, I can win my entry back from you in the cash game!” Commander Krennick said.

🎤 Steve

Christmas Eve, 2000, Chicago, Illinois

“I’m glad you finally have enough seniority to have today completely off, Jess, “ I said as my wives and I took a joint Christmas Eve morning shower.

“But you’re on call, right, Jess?” Kara asked.

“Yes, but third on the list,” Jessica replied. “So there would have to be something major for me to get called. Dad would be called at the same time, along with the other department heads.”

“Jess,” I said as I soaped her sexy butt, “can I ask how you graded your med student?”

“She received top marks. She’s the first one I’ve had that I’d say was truly qualified to work in the ER. She got over her little snit about you, and actually, finally, understood your objection to participation trophies when I asked if I should grade her fellow med student who was sub-par the same as her. I’d have invited her here again, but once you made the ruling about not making exceptions, that made no real sense.”

“I made the same ruling with regard to Mayo, too,” I said. “I didn’t flirt at all.”

“What about Naomi?” Jessica asked.

“Grandfathered in, so to speak,” I replied. “But for sure I’m not going to make exceptions for Mayo. It’s not as if there’s a paucity of young women making themselves available.”

“That’s never been a problem!” Kara laughed, lathering shampoo in Jessica’s hair.

“Did Mary modify your diet?” Jessica asked.

“For today and tomorrow, 25 grams of carbs, which will let me have about one tablespoon of mashed potatoes, one tablespoon of stuffing, and a sliver of pecan pie with a teaspoon of ice cream. Then we’ll see what happens next week. She and Don will be here on Boxing Day, so she’ll be able to evaluate me.”

Jessica rinsed off, and as she was last, the three of us got out of the shower and dried off. We went into the bedroom and dressed, then went downstairs. My wives went to make breakfast and I went to cuddle Birgit, who was waiting for me in the sunroom.

“Morning, Pumpkin,” I said.

“Hi, Dad! Did you actually sleep late?”

“Yes, nosy daughter, we actually slept late! Let’s get our cuddles so we can have breakfast when it’s ready.”

We climbed into the chaise and Birgit snuggled close.

“Who won last night?”

“Me,” I replied.

“And Jesse?”

“Second.”

“You beat him! Yes!”

“I thought you two had formed a team!”

“We don’t fight anymore, but that doesn’t mean I think he should always win!”

“What are you doing over break?”

“Just hanging out with the gang and also spending time with the grandparents. Is your mom going to be here?”

“Yes.”

“She’s such a sourpuss! Larisa will be here, right?”

“Yes. Tanya and Dmitry will be here on Wednesday, and so will Abbie and Jason and their kids.”

“I really miss Abbie!” Birgit declared. “She was our best nanny, for sure!”

“And you remember that Lyudmila is going to be here in January right? She’s bringing Yuri with her.”

“You mean Lucy Alexa!”

I laughed, “No, she changed back, now that she’s living in Russia.”

“What time will Suzanne be here on Tuesday?”

“Around lunchtime; she has something to do with her dad in the morning. And yes, I remember you have plans with her on Thursday.”

“Rachel told me her mom is going to be at the New Year’s party. I think she just wants to make sure Rachel doesn’t dance with you.”

“Probably.”

“What are you going to say to my social studies teacher?”

“That asking difficult questions is not disruptive, and that her inability to answer them is HER problem, not yours.”

“She’s not going to like that!”

“Tough,” I replied. “If she wants to teach, then she needs to teach, and that means dealing with tough questions from smart little girls.”

“BIG girls! I’m twelve and I got my period!”

“Yes, you are. But your moms and I are three times as old as you are.”

“So! Just because you were born in the dinosaur age doesn’t mean I’m little!”

“Now you’re stealing lines from Albert that he uses with Grandpa Al! And Grandpa Al is sixty, which means it would take two of you plus me to be that old!”

“I promise not to call you ‘old’ if you promise not to call me ‘little’!”

“You keep growing and soon you won’t be pint-size anymore!”

“But I’ll still be your Pumpkin!”

“Yes, you will.”

Kara called us for breakfast and we went to the kitchen where the other kids were just sitting down. Birgit and I chose to sit at the island. I had my usual bacon and eggs while Birgit had bacon and waffles. With the amount of maple syrup she put on them, I’d probably have gone into a coma or on a three-state crime spree, depending on how my body reacted. Thinking about maple syrup made me wonder if I’d have the freedom to have just a small amount when we visited Katy. I hoped that the tiny amounts of carbs I was permitted, which were between five and ten percent of normal carb intake, wouldn’t have a bad effect, but I was afraid they would.

When we finished breakfast, Birgit and I cleaned up, and then we checked the thermometer outside the kitchen window.

“-2°F!” I said. “I don’t think we’re doing a family walk today! In fact, let’s go build a fire!”

“I wish it would snow! I like having a white Christmas with snow falling!”

“Me, too,” I said.

We went to the back door and got wood from the pile just outside, and took it to the great room. I got some small kindling strips and newspaper, and built a fire, which was roaring ten minutes later. We went to the sunroom to join the others, and about fifteen minutes later my sister arrived with her kids, and shortly after them, Elyse, Eduardo, and my two boys arrived. Stephanie, Birgit, Matthew, and I went to the kitchen to begin preparing the Christmas Eve feast.

“How were your grades, Foo?” I asked.

“All A’s for this quarter. Mom has a note from my American History teacher saying I’m disruptive.”

“Me, too!” Birgit exclaimed. “Except it was social studies! Do you ask questions?”

“Yes, and my teacher doesn’t like it.”

“Is your mom handling it?” I asked.

Matthew nodded and smirked, “Mom said if he thinks MY questions were tough, wait until he hears hers!”

“What was the issue?”

“The causes of the Civil War.”

“Of course,” I replied, shaking my head. “Birgit’s was Pearl Harbor.”

“What did you say, Sis?”

“I asked about the embargos and the unbalanced naval treaty, and about the US citizens fighting for China with backing from the US government, and she got all flustered. You?”

“The Tariff of Abominations, the Nullification Crisis, and State’s Rights. All of which were before ‘Free Soil’ and abolition became major issues.”

“What did your teacher say?” I asked.

“That all of it, one hundred percent, was a pretext for protecting slavery, and that saying anything but freeing the slaves caused the war is wrong. Then I quoted Lincoln. He got pissed.”

“I bet,” I said. “Let me guess, you also pointed out that the Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in territory held by the Confederates, not ALL slaves.”

“Yep. And that it was really done after the draft riots in New York to try to change public opinion to support continuing the war.”

“OK. I’ll talk to your mom, but I’m sure she has things well in hand.”

“Facts are stubborn things!” Matthew replied.

“And you know why John Adams said that, right?”

“Yes. He had both the conviction and the balls to defend the British soldiers for the Boston Massacre. I know the whole quote, too - ‘I will enlarge no more on the evidence, but submit it to you, gentlemen - facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence: nor is the law less stable than the fact. If an assault was made to endanger their lives, the law is clear, they had right to kill in their own defence.‘.”

“Melanie would be proud!” I said.

“Who do you think taught me about that!”

“The criminal defense attorney is the last line of defense,” I said. “Even juries have been coopted by the government.”

“Is this what I have to look forward to with Davey and Patricia?” Stephanie asked.

“If you teach them what actually happened rather than the propaganda which is offered up in the schools, yes. We were fortunate in that Milford had a really good set of teachers who weren’t afraid of the truth. I remember learning all the facts Matthew and Birgit are raising. Of course, I read a lot of other stuff, but I never got in trouble for asking questions.”

“Science class in eighth grade?”

I chuckled, “That was for correcting the teacher in class. He made so many errors I just couldn’t keep quiet. If you remember, I prevented any REAL problems by having a better than perfect grade in the class.”

“Extra credit?” Birgit asked.

“Yes, and perfect scores on my homework and near-perfect scores on tests and quizzes. I got the ‘disruptive’ comment, too.”

“Does Jesse have the same issues at school?” Stephanie asked.

“Yes, but he’s careful to pick his battles because he’s on the hockey team and they have conduct and discipline rules.”

“Like being benched for saying ‘fuck’ or ‘shit’!” Birgit giggled.

“Jesse?” Stephanie asked.

“No,” Birgit replied. “It was Mia, the girl on the team. She called Jesse a ‘little shit’ after the coach also heard her say other stuff he didn’t like.”

“Jesse IS a little shit!” Stephanie exclaimed.

“Thank you very much!” he said, walking into the kitchen at just the right moment. “What can I do?”

“Peel potatoes!” Stephanie replied with glee.

“I love you too,” Jesse replied sarcastically.

We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon preparing the meal. We had a wonderful mid-afternoon dinner at 3:00pm, after which Maria Cristina and Mike left for her mom’s house where they’d have another meal and then go to midnight mass. On Sunday morning, they’d go to his church. Once I’d heard he was going to a Catholic church, even for a single service, I was sure they were a permanent item. Jesse went to church as well, with his godfather picking him up for Vespers.

Elyse, Eduardo, and the boys left just before 7:00pm, and Stephanie and her kids not long after. Jennifer and Josie left as well.

“Shall we have our Christmas celebration?” I asked.

“Which one?” Birgit asked with a smirk.

“Opening presents, you goofball!”

My wives, daughters, and Albert went to the great room and had our traditional Christmas Eve exchange of presents, and once that was done, Kara, Jessica, and I went up to our bedroom and made love under the tree.