I can't decide how card playing is related to the Dry Farmer. I know it plays a role, has a part, is a clue...but I just can't quite figure it out. Let me explain.Card playing (specifically pinochle) was an obsession with my grandfather and my father. As a young child it defined almost every visit our family had at my grandparents' house. Pinochle games were sometimes played with other uncles or family friends...but those games (as far as I could tell) were far less passionate and intense. The cousins could wander by the heavy handmade card table to observe (but could not interfere); the wives and mothers would gaze in at the game; occasionally my father and grandfather would coax one of them into playing a four-handed game.
There was an entire vocabulary related to their game playing. Everything from moans and groans to contorted facial expressions and loud verbal expression. Cards could be placed on the table gently or moodily or they could be slapped down in a wild display of accomplishment, retaliation, or frustration. I know I am not very objective in my reporting; but it truly seemed to me that card playing was driven by some primitive emotional (perhaps genetic) design.
My father and grandfather were very hard workers. They would do whatever was needed to fix something or complete a job. But there were times (when my grandfather was too old to work in the fields, during the winter months, or during bad weather, or just waiting for the rain) when there was free time. My father and grandfather worked as hard at playing cards as they did at farming. In fact, that is probably one of the reasons why I never really enjoyed playing cards. My dad used to say something like, "You always play to win...you never go easy on someone...how will they learn if you go easy on them?"
When my father and grandfather played two-handed pinochle they were in their own world. When they coaxed my mother or one of my aunts to the table for a four handed game, emotions often ran high. I remember a common ending to the playing of a hand of cards...there would be two cards left in everyone's hand. It would be my mom's turn to play a card and she would stare at the two cards in her hand, trying to decide a strategy for the final two card plays. My dad would watch her...she'd look up at him and he would say something like, "What are you going to do, play the nine of clubs...or that ace?" My mom would explode..."Don't tell me what's in my hand!!" My dad always knew. My grandfather did too...but he was not as likely to say something aloud. How my grandfather and father played each other was beyond me. If they knew what was left to play how were they playing?
I played cards occasionally, but was never very good at it. My father's awareness of those 52 cards, which ones had been played and which ones had not been played, was beyond my grasp. He was a tough competitor.
So, I wonder...what is the relationship between the Dry Farmer and card playing? Is there a genetic connection to the tracking of small details, an awareness of patterns, just good memory, or something else? Maybe there is no connection. I can't decide how card playing is related to the Dry Farmer.
