I was pretty sad on Monday when dad had to take my cousin Tina home because she broke her little finger. I had looked forward to spending a whole week with her at the cabin. At least Janice, Linda's friend, was still there. Dad came back on Friday afternoon, and Janice's mom and dad drove up to get her on Sunday.
We had fun showing them around the cabin. They stayed all afternoon, putting off the time when they would have to return to the heat of the valley. As usual during monsoon season, rain clouds built up in the north-east during the afternoon, and we all hoped it would rain so hard they wouldn’t be able to leave.
We spent the last hour or so of the afternoon in the cabin, visiting. Keith and Phillip were playing cards at the table, and they were looking pretty bored. In the evenings we would all play Rook together, but when there were only two players they usually played War. It kept them busy, but wasn't very difficult or exciting.
Mr. Jones was sitting next to them. After awhile he asked, “Would you boys like me to teach you how to play poker? That would be more fun than what you’re playing?”
Mom and dad looked at each other in consternation, but before they could think up a polite way to stop him Mr. Jones had picked up the deck of cards and was dealing out a new hand.
Just then the electricity in the cabin went off! It often did when there were storms in the area, that was part of the charm of being at the cabin. Unless mom was cooking something in the kitchen we didn't really need electricity, and it was fun to get out the candles and pretend we were pioneers. This time it wasn’t even dark outside, although it was dusky in the living room without the lights.
Mr. Jones looked up in surprise and chuckled. “I guess someone up there doesn’t think playing poker on Sunday is such a good idea, do they?”
Everyone laughed, but it was kind-of strange that the lights would go out just at that moment. They didn't stay out very long, and the thunderstorms passed by without hitting us, but still we wondered.
Soon the Jones’s had to load up their car, dad put his stuff in the truck since he had to go back home to work, and we said our goodbyes. As they drove away I had a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. I were going to miss Janice, and it was always hard to say goodbye to dad though I was really glad he was letting us stay up at the cabin for so long while he had to go down to the valley and work. But I felt funny. It was almost like I was afraid of being alone, even though I hadn’t minded before.
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