Playing Poker With My Parents

By Mr. Nanyou

My mom is the “Queen of Gamblers.”

She can use all sorts of unexpected tricks, like switching, stealing, and palming cards, to clean us out at the game.

Although we lose a lot of money every time, we’re happy.

When I began working after graduation, I had less and less time to play poker with my parents. I was either busy at work, attending parties, or accompanying my girlfriend somewhere.

Recently, I have been on leave to look after my dad at hospital.

One day, I suddenly thought of this matter, so I went downstairs to buy a pack of poker cards. I played with my mom and dad on the hospital bed.

A nurse walked into our room to give IV fluids to my dad. “What happened? Why are you so happy?” she asked.

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“No, we’re not,” my dad said.

“My mom just beat us by cheating again,” I said.

Unlike my mom, my dad isn’t fun at all. He likes to make arrangements instead of following orders. Since he was hospitalized a month ago, my whole family hasn’t truly smiled.

His health has worsened considerably, and he can only take liquid food. So I tried to make carrot and corn juice for him, and vegetable and bone soup as well.

After a great deal of work, I brought the food to the hospital.When he finished the carrot and corn juice, and was ready to try the soup, he found out that I didn’t bring a spoon. “You’re such a fool not to bring a spoon for the soup!” he said, poker-faced.

He even called me a “fool.”

In fact, my dad was much grumpier before, and his voice was so loud that the whole village could hear him. But now he is sick, he can’t manage to speak as loud as he used to. Therefore, I wasn’t mad at him for calling me a “fool,” as it meant that he was in good spirit today.

At around 3:00 am, my dad still couldn’t fall asleep, so I fetched hot water for him to soak his feet.

Suddenly, a dreamy expression crawled over his face, and he said, “Sooner or later we’ll all face death. It’s just a matter of time.”

I toweled his feet dry, and sat up watching him. There was no sparks in his eyes, and he was less irritable than earlier that day.

“But I’ll try my best anyway,” I replied calmly.

Life is like a train ride. Once you get on board, there is no return trip. Perhaps the only thing we can do is to keep company with our parents, and enjoy the view along the way as much as possible.

我媽是“賭王”。

她能換牌、偷牌、渾水摸魚，總之，用一切我們想不到的小聰明，贏光我們的壓歲錢。

雖然我們每次都會輸很多，可是，我們依舊快樂。

畢業后參加工作，能陪家人玩撲克牌的時間越來越少，不是忙工作，就是忙著聚會、戀愛。

最近一直休假，在醫院陪著爸媽。

某天突然想起這件事，下樓買了一副撲克牌，和爸媽三個人在病床上玩。

護士姑娘進來，給我爸打點滴，一臉驚訝，問：“哇，你們要不要這么開心？”

我哭笑不得。

“不開心。”

“我媽剛剛又耍詐，贏了我們。”

相比我媽的搞笑，我爸剛好反過來。他很喜歡安排事情，不愿意別人安排他的生活。一個多月前，他生病住院，我們很少開心笑過。

他的身體狀況差，只能吃流質食物，我第一次給他榨胡蘿卜玉米汁，燉骨頭蔬菜湯。

捯飭半天，送到醫院。他把胡蘿卜玉米汁全喝完了，準備倒蔬菜湯給他的時候，他看我沒有帶湯勺，面無表情地說：“蠢貨，帶湯也不知道帶湯勺。”

他居然說我是“蠢貨”。

我爸脾氣從前更大，一嗓門能讓全村子人都聽到；現在生病了，再也沒有辦法聲如洪鐘。他能坐起來罵我“蠢貨”，我也不會不開心，這代表他今天很精神，有力氣了。

凌晨三點多，我爸睡不著，我給他打熱水，讓他泡腳。

他神情恍惚一下，說：“人總有死的一天，只是有的人快，有的人慢。”

我幫他擦干腳，坐起來看著他。他的眼里不再有光，脾氣也沒有白天暴躁。

我淡淡地回他：“反正我要盡最大的努力。”

人生就像一列永不回頭的火車，你只能往前，沒法回頭。或許我們唯一可以做的，就是在這段路程中，坐在火車上陪著爸媽，盡可能看更多的風景。