Deuces and One-eyed Jacks

 

Twice upon a time, in a land even farther away, lived a frog named Henry.  Henry enjoyed all aspects of being a frog.  He thought green was the perfect color, and for him, jumping high was just as good as flying.  In other words, Henry was a very positive frog.  Nothing got Henry down, even though he lived in a kingdom that was ruled by a terrible dragonfly, named Leslie.

Everyone in the kingdom, and even a couple miles over that way, hated Leslie.  She made unreasonable demands, held meetings at odd hours, and refused to pay time and a half for Sundays.  There was no health care to speak of.  She would play country music over the castle loudspeakers, and the sound quality wasn’t all that good.

One evening, when the frogs were having their weekly poker game, Henry suggested they play a few games using wild cards.  This sent a minor shockwave around the table.  “We never use wild cards.  What’s the matter with you Henry?”  Henry explained to them that it would just be something different, a change of pace.  Not always playing the same game over and over again might –

But then Bob interrupted.  “Have you heard what Leslie wants now?  She has put a curfew on fireflies.  From now on they can’t light up after 9 pm.” 

Apparently, this interruption was enough to change the course of the conversation, for Wendy jumped in and said, “If any of you repeat this, I’ll deny it, but personally I’m tired of living under a Frank Burns type.  Not that I’d ever want to see us go to a Ward Cleaver, but something in the middle might be nice.”

Of course, a few around the table didn’t understand her references.  “Who’s Frank Burns? And Who the heck is Ward Cleaver?”  Needless to say, the game fell apart from that point, until Ned spoke up.  “They are wild cards that nobody wants to play with.”

Henry could tell he’d been out voted.  There would be no wild cards in this game, but he was okay with that.