"No."

"Do you want to learn?"

She shrugs. "Sure."

"Do you even know how to play Go Fish?"

"No."

"Ill teach you blackjack first," he said, thumbing through the deck and pulling the jokers out. "Its really easy." The deck rattled as he shuffled it. He dealt them two cards each, one face up and one face down, flipping them expertly across the table.

She listens.

He looked at his own card. "We used to play a lot, back at the camp. There wasnt much else to do at night without a TV, apart from listening to the coyotes howl...okay, Im the dealer this round, so youre trying to beat me. The goal is to get as close to twenty-one points as you can without going over. Wait, we need something to bet with..."

Shoving back his chair, he delved into one of the grocery boxes and found the large bag of M&Ms

She glances at it.

Alex opened the bag and scooped out a handful, then slid it across to her. "Okay, the face cards are ten points each, the ace is worth either one or eleven, and the rest are what they say they are."