The Third Brother - Strip Poker

It was nearing 7:30 when the sun began to set. Suzy, James, Mei and I kept to one end of the table, but Gordon did a relatively good job of keeping us involved in conversations, asking questions when he could. And he did a good job of keeping people drinking. At 8:30 it was nearly pitch black and I'd almost forgotten to be scared of what was coming. Cold white wine. I was in love with it just then. Unexpectedly Gordon stood at the end of the decking and rapped a fork on his plastic cup. It didn't work at all well and people laughed.

"Okay, okay, listen up guests," he boomed. We all shushed each other to stop talking and listen. It was like that when Gordon spoke.

"Okay. Here's the deal. Thank you for coming. It's been a great time and a great dinner, thank you Brett." There was a ripple of cheers and applause.

"Except the onions, of course." This time there were giggles of laughter. Suzy and I went bright red.

"But it's sad to say, some of you will need to leave now. Not all of you, just some of you," he said, clearly surprising the group. He let the pause linger, before someone mumbled 'what are you talking about?'

"Why?" Gordon continued loudly. "Why? Because I have decided that we shall dedicate the rest of the evening to adults, and only to adults. Other people should not be here."

Again, Gordon let it sink in a little.

"Now, before you get all worried that we are going to be running drugs or opening illegal casinos, rest assured we are not. There will be no drugs apart from those available from the shelves of supermarkets and no gambling with anything other than your clothes."

Just a small moment of pause, then, "From nine o'clock on, we will be adjourning for a game of strip poker so I'm afraid I shall need all the young people to leave the property now. For a start, is there anyone under eighteen here?"

No one answered.

"Okay, good. Is there anyone who does not have the ability to play strip poker here? If so, I need you to leave the property right now."

Again, he stopped. Stony silence. I shook my head. It was brilliant. By being so up front about it and challenging us all in front of the group he cornered the shy ones into participating. He wasn't asking who was in; he was asking who was out. Gee it was good.

"Right. Just let me check once more, let me make it absolutely clear. From this moment on, only adults can remain. We are going to play a very serious game of strip poker. I know, I know, you could argue that even young teenagers play strip poker, so it's no big deal for us, but I want to make especially sure that only proper adults remain here tonight. We don't want any mucking around later. I ask you a last time, if you are leaving, stand up now and do so."

Gordon had given no time for discussion. Jack stared at me, Mei and Suzy looked like they wanted badly to speak with each other. I looked over at Jenny. Even in the darkness I could tell she had become pale, her bravado perhaps not what it was earlier. It seemed the others knew what was going on beforehand and were mostly looking around to see how me and my friends were handling it. Billy and Liam were eying Suzy and Mei as if they were for sale, it was lucky the girls didn't notice.

"Okay. All in. Good. I have to say there is no going back now. Once you are in, you are in till the end. We will not tolerate people who sit there and selfishly watch others exhibit themselves then run away at their turn. Is that understood?"

No one said anything. Jack and Mei and Suzy were frozen in their seats. What had I gotten them into?

"Right. First thing, I want all of your keys put in this bag." Gordon picked up a drawstring soft-cloth bag that usually held his big headphones. He walked to his own friends first and they chuckled as they dropped their keys in it. At Jack's turn he didn't know what to do, so he complied. Suzy had to find her bag over by the table first. I could tell she was shaking. Mei followed her over, and they exchanged a few quick whispers, but both came up with their keys, dropping them in the bag.

"Thank you, ladies," Gordon said politely. "Jenny. Last one. Please."

Jenny hesitated. Really hesitated. Liam sensed he was going to lose his date for the night so leaned over and spoke quietly in her ear. Jenny nodded to what he said, and Liam went over to the table by the kitchen door. He fished around in Jenny's bag and brought back a set of keys, the last set for Gordon's bag.

"Okay. I will be putting these keys in the safe. They will be retrievable once you have satisfied the group of your full participation in the game. The game starts at nine, so be seated at the dining table by then, couples together for the evening. More drinks, freshening up, toilet, all that stuff, you've got about twenty minutes to get ready. Six pieces of clothing people, six pieces each. No more, no less. If you don't have enough and want to borrow some then see me or Brett, though you can count sandals and watches and things if we need to- but NOT if they mean more than six pieces. Now, let's start by charging our glasses. Here, Billy, pass a couple of bottles around will you. That's it, that's it. Good. Everybody full? Okay. Here's cheers to a wonderful night's entertainments. CHEERS."

Gordon toasted.

"CHEERS!" came the reply. Not universally, more proportionately to age.

"Brett, come with me," Gordon beckoned. I hesitated briefly, thinking I needed to talk with Suzy, but Gordon hurried me inside to the dining room away from the others momentarily. "Okay, quick, listen, shove those keys under your bed or something."

"I was wondering what safe you were talking about...," I smiled nervously.

"Now, after you do that, listen carefully. These twenty minutes are crucial. If people are going to pull out it will be now."

"But I thought you said..."

"Forget all that ranting I did, that's just opening the topic for debate. Getting to the table is key. Run this bag away and go and get in the ear of your Jack. If he pulls out, you'll lose both your girls. If you can hold him together, chances are you'll be fine, girls worry less than guys about it."

"Ah. Okay," I said looking nervous now. Really? Girls worry less than guys?

"Brett. Look at me," he said. I looked at him. He smiled at me. "You've done good so far baby brother. Real good. Now go and hide those keys, then close the deal out there. Got it?"

"Got it," I confirmed. I know a cynic might say that Gordon's pep-talk was made in self-interest, but I do know my brother. He was doing this for both of us, I felt that. I ran to my room and hid the keys in the place I hide all my porn and love-letters, but then rethought. What if Gordon or someone else had to come get them and I had to tell him where...that would blow my hiding spot. Instead I threw the bag up on top of the wardrobe. Someone would need a ladder and a torch to get it down from there.

My head was spinning. Would this be real, would this really happen? I was so scared, and yet the excitement I felt was unparalleled. I couldn't imagine reliving the high I was on. As Gordon instructed, I made my way quickly back out to where Suzy, Jack and Mei were in deep discussion. Coincidentally Jenny came out of the toilet and out the backdoor the same time as me. Suzy noticed and gave a rotten glare. When I got to the three of them, I went to speak with Suzy, but Jack grabbed me first and pulled me away from the girls. I saw Suzy still giving Jenny an evil stare. I wanted to tell her we were not inside together; it was just by chance we walked out at the same time.

"Brett. Fuck. What is this? You knew about this?" Jack was almost angry. But not quite, I knew him too well. He was certainly panicked, but not as angry as he wanted to appear.

"Not exactly. I knew Gordon was up to something, but not to this extent," I said as best I could. I knew that Jack knew me well too, so it wouldn't be easy to lie to him. I was tempted to say, 'what do we do now?' but resisted.

"The girls are not happy," he whispered. I remembered what Gordon had said, the key to this was Jack.

"Ok, but you're good, yeah?" I asked him. That hit the point.

"Fuck Brett. How can I be? You gonna take your schlong out in front of those girls? I'd die of embarrassment, wouldn't you?" he said touching on his real fears.

"Jack, the girls won't care. And you won't be the only one," I tried to water down the issue.

"Hey. You gonna have a dirty big boner, you going to be in a room with all those people with a fucking boner pointing at them? You can do that?"

It was a strange spot I was in. I agreed with him, completely. I didn't want to do that either. But it was my job to coax these people to the table. Fuck.

"It's not just you," I repeated, it was the only thing I could think of.

"That's the other point. How you going to feel when those fucking guys stand there hung like horses and you flip your tiny little pecker at them. They're going to fucking laugh at you Brett, they are going to fucking laugh," he added. Now we were really getting to it.

"You don't know how big they are...," I countered.

"Jesus fuck!" he said. We were both silent for a moment.

"Don't you wanna see Josie Cameron naked?" I ventured, quietly so the girls didn't hear.

"Well fuck yes," Jack replied honestly. But he added, "But that also means all those guys get to see Mei, and Suzy. You really want Suzy to show her tits to those other guys. To me? Doesn't that drive you mad just thinking about it?" he put to me. It did. But I had to ignore it.

"Well. I don't know. It's worth it isn't it? How can you go through life without having been in a single game of strip poker? Pretty lame, don't you think?" I said. I could tell I was getting him. "Anyway, Gordon said we're sitting around the dining room table, so apart from the people sitting next to you, no one is going to see anyway. Might actually be a bit lame even."

I had him.

"Fuck, Brett. You knew about this, didn't you?" was all he said.

"Gordon's the wild man Jack, not me. We better go check on the girls," I suggested. As we walked up to them, Suzy leaned up to tell me she was going to the toilet. I couldn't tell what she was thinking. Mei went with her, then turned back.

"Suzy, you go first, I'll be there in a minute," she told her. Once Suzy had gone inside Mei turned on me and made the same accusation Jack did. "Brett, you should have told us about this."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Seriously, I knew Gordon had some couple things planned, but not this. I thought we'd just sit around, get drunk and pair off," I tried to say. It was just plausible enough.

"Jack, are you okay with this?" Mei asked him. He seemed surprised by the question.

"Me okay? How about you?" he put back to her.

"Well, I'm okay, as long as you keep feeding me drinks," she told us.

"What's Suzy think?" Jack asked on my behalf.

"Well," she turned to me, "You might just get lucky. She's fucking crazy about you and she is completely worried that if she leaves you here, you'll get caught by that Jenny slut. But whether she'll be able to take her clothes off, I don't know. She's not like that at all. You know as well as I do, she's never even kissed a guy. How many girls do you know that haven't kissed a boy get undressed in a room full of people?"

I didn't answer. It seemed Suzy hadn't told Mei we kissed earlier in the kitchen, and she'd gotten a little bit undressed already. Maybe Suzy had something more to her than we thought? I prayed it was so.

"So," Mei continued, "You better keep both of us full of wine if you want to get your jollies, got it?"

Fucking hell. It was real now. I felt my boner pushing out my shorts. I needed my second course of therapy and had about six minute still we started. I dashed inside and saw Suzy coming out of the toilet I wanted to use.

"Wait right here, I'll be straight out. Right here, okay?" I told her.

Even with all the sexual excitement running around my veins, I found it took longer to drain my sperm a second time. That's good, I thought, it's working. The problem was by the time I was done Suzy was gone. I dashed outside and around the back yard. Damn, I couldn't see her. We hadn't the chance to talk about this at all and now, shit, surely, she can't be gone? Surely? Not now, not after all of this.

"Brett!" Gordon yelled out, "Get in here!!"

"I don't know where Suzy is," I yelled back.

"She's in here, you dope. Now get over here!"

Huh? I ran back inside and sure enough Suzy was at the table. The full glass of wine she held before was empty and Liam rolled around the table filling everybody up. I looked at her and sat down beside. Suzy turned and put an arm over my shoulders, leaning over for a sloppy kiss. She was more than just a bit tipsy. I pushed her newly full wine glass out of her reach as she kissed me. Her breath alone could have made me drunk.

"Suzy, you okay?" I asked, breaking the kiss, embarrassed by the grins I was getting from the group as they found their positions. Did Mei think we just had our first kiss?

"Fine. I'll be fine," she said, more lucidly than I expected. Okay, she said she was fine. She sat up straight and made for her drink.

"You sure you want that right now?" I asked, worried she would fall asleep before the game finished.

"I'll just look at it," she said, holding it with two hands on the table in front of her, as if protecting it from being stolen. Lucky we were playing in pairs.

"Okay, everybody, sit down. Maryanne, what are you doing, come down to this end, you've got sit in your pair. Everybody, in pairs. Sit down, let's get going," Gordon instructed, standing at the head of the table. There was a way he had about him. I'm sure if I used the exact same words, I would come across bossy or pushy, yet the way Gordon speaks, he's charming. The bastard.

"Okay. Let's start. Everybody, again, welcome to the entertainment part of the evening. I'm sure it will be special. I'm certainly looking forward to getting to know a few of you better, as is Maryanne here."

There was a ripple of giggling around the table. I was at one end of the oval shape, opposite to Gordon. Mei was on my right, Jack next to her. On my left was Suzy and beyond her was Liam. Liam was checking Suzy out as much as his own Jenny, though I guess all us guys were thinking similar thoughts. It was an electric atmosphere; the anticipation was as intoxicating as the drink. These girls right next to me, in just a little while they might lift their shirts from their body and slide their pants down their legs. I still couldn't believe it would get so far. Someone would chicken out before the dream was realized, maybe even me.

"Ladies and gentlemen the name of the game is strip poker. There will be two halves to the game. The first half is played out here, at this table, the second down that corridor over there to the lounge room outback, most of you know where I mean. Now, Rule One. No backing out. Not now. None of you have to be here. You had your chance to leave, you chose to stay. We cannot have some people considerate enough to show themselves to their friends whilst others back out, it's disrespectful. You agree? In the back of your mind remember your keys are all in our safe and only I have the combination, not even Brett."

Safe, huh? Still, I was glad he was calling me Brett as I'd hoped, not little brother, or baby brother.

"The goal of the game is for everybody to get naked, then move onto the dares."

Jack and Mei looked at each other, then me. Dares? I just shrugged. Suzy wasn't really catching on and I chose not to explain.

"The game we will be playing is draw poker, and we'll be playing one hand per couple so you'll both be part of the decisions on what to toss and what to keep. No fighting, please! If there is any fighting within a couple, there will be a one-clothes penalty."

Again, some laughing. Billy yelled out "Who's the judge?"

"Of course, I am," said Gordon without skipping a beat. He moved over to the wall and picked up a large piece of paper and used tape to stick it to the closest door. "Here are the values of the hands in order in case of any dispute. But, listen carefully. The losing couple takes something off. The four other couples do nothing. There is no prize for winning, just a penalty for losing. Does everyone understand that?"

It certainly was a good idea to play in couples, especially for Suzy, she wasn't following much. It wasn't just the drink; she really had no clue about poker. Gordon continued.

"Whichever group has the worst hand, both of you take off a piece of clothing, got it? You should have six pieces of clothes each, right? No one asked Brett or me to borrow anything so I'm going to assume you sorted yourselves out. It will be an honor code on this, I'm not going to run around now counting what you've got, but I ask that you respect your friends and don't cheat. Everyone okay with that?"

"Yes, yes, ok," said most people.

"The losing team takes the glass in the middle there," he explained, pointing at the ruby-red port glass in the middle of the table, and takes a shot. Shots will either be of vodka or of white wine depending on your state of drunkenness at the time. We don't want anyone passed out too early, but we know that sometimes we all need Dutch courage, too. Now, listen up, listen up, the couple that loses, you must put your own clothes in here. Billy, give me a hand, will you?"

Everyone watched as he walked over to the big wooden double doors that led to the side garden. We never use that entrance, ever. Even I wondered what was going on. He unlocked the doors and there was some sort of large box on the side path covered with a sheet. Some of us stood up and watched as Billy lay a plank then helped as Gordon tipped the box back onto what looked like a sack truck.

"What the fuck is this?" Jack asked me. People could see that I was genuinely stunned. I had no idea. Billy and Gordon rolled it into the opposite corner of the room then set it down, straightening it up.

"Thanks Billy, you can go back now," said Gordon. Billy smiled, closing and locking the doors again. He obviously knew what it was.

"Okay everyone, okay, okay, sit back down. Okay. As I said the couple that loses needs to take off a piece of clothing. Well, once it's off you need to come over and put your clothes in here," Gordon explained.

With a swish he pulled the sheet from the box.

"Holy shit," I said. All the others come up with their own profanities. "Where the fuck did you get that?"

"Doesn't matter where. All that matters is everything you take off goes in it," said Gordon.

What he was standing next to was a clothes donation box, clearly pinched off a street somewhere. Fuck. How did they get that here without me noticing? The whole table was up looking at it. Jack went over and opened the slot. Once clothes went in, they wouldn't be coming out. To his credit he just shook his head.

"Fuck, this is one crazy night," he said to no-one and everyone.

"Okay everyone, back in your places, back in your places. Ok, thank you! Ok, so the couple that loses need to take their clothes off and put their own stuff in the box. One other thing. Whoever loses gets to choose which music we listen to if they want, CDs connected to the old Hi-Fi system over there. Any other questions, then we can start?"

There were some minor questions; re-clarification about the rules of poker and what classifies as clothes. The most common query was about what's next, what's down in the room. Gordon would say no more than 'dares'. Some were intrigued by this, and clearly some were terrified.

"So, we're done, let's start," Gordon cracked on, "I'll deal first, then in turn person-by-person to my left."

We were actually playing. I wish I could have captured that moment and kept it in an old lunch box, I don't think there will ever be a feeling of sheer exhilaration greater than I had then. It was hard to deal all the way around the large table. Gordon had to lean over to give each of us the cards; we had to step up to reach them. That could be an issue later, I thought. I got our five cards and showed them to Suzy. I had her hold them, so she felt she was participating. I explained what we had to do, but it was a difficult concept for a rookie. The chart with the score of the hands was right down the other end, not easy to see from where we were. The first hand we had was pretty safe though, we picked up two pair from the outset. Twos and fives were low, but no way could it be the worst out there. I showed Suzy how we had to dump one.